Hide Behind Me, Stay Close (5k)

A majestic, ancient whale cry echoed across the crimson fields covered in Volcano Linbu forests, as flowing lava froze and churned up layers upon layers of frost and snow.

A patch of crimson sky suddenly turned blazing white, and the enormous Baleen Whale Shadow slowly emerged, carrying with it endless cold currents drawn from beyond the void. It spread its thousands of white sail-like fins and gently enveloped the blazing, surging golden-red flames in the sky.

"Laugh--"

The collision of two extreme forces unleashed billowing white waves, and the towering water vapor, under the influence of the magical fluctuations, formed a massive mushroom cloud that rose rapidly and then slowly dispersed.

"Splash splash splash—"

The condensed water vapor rose into the air and turned into a torrential downpour.

When all the noise subsided, this fiery land, which had been dominated by dryness and heat for millions of years, was unusually cool.

Beneath the crimson sky that had returned to its deep purple hue, the red lava, which had gradually broken free from its confinement and begun to flow slowly again, vanished completely. In its place stood two figures that were almost fused together.

Ronan pursed his lips slightly, his blue-gold eyes gleaming with an icy light.

Suddenly, he heard a soft sobbing sound coming from his arms.

His tense face relaxed, and he looked down to see Moriel curled up in his arms like a wounded little animal, her slender shoulders heaving violently.

She slowly raised her head, her exquisite and beautiful face now completely covered in tears.

"I'm going to kill them!"

Moriel's eyes were bloodshot, the tip of her nose was coral-colored, and her tightly clenched lower lip left a deep crescent-shaped mark between her teeth.

A sound like a sob, or a curse escaping her throat, came from her throat as she said to Ronan, word by word, "Whoever they are!"

Ronan looked at her, the coldness in his eyes gradually melting away.

He slowly released his grip on Moriel's arms, then reached out to wipe away the tears on her face and nodded calmly.

"Good.

I'll go with you.

Moriel sniffed hard, and a glimmer of light appeared in her eyes, which had somehow turned violet. Then, the heat emanating from her body instantly evaporated all the tears on her face.

She carefully and quickly gathered the two bodies on the ground and began to regain her composure.

"I need to go find my uncle."

Moriel gripped her staff with an icy expression, and brilliant flames flowed down her fingertips along the staff, releasing bursts of intense magical energy.

"Then, find out who exactly killed Laubner and Abu."

After speaking, Moriel raised her cane and gently swept it across the void before her, leaving a striking golden line in the air.

The space, like a pocket, opened to both sides along the golden zipper, and Moriel disappeared into the entrance with a "bang" as she turned into a ball of flame.

"No need, Damien."

Just as Ronan was about to enter, Alazan's voice whispered in his ear, "This is a sinister scheme deliberately targeting the Phoenix bloodline. If you rashly get involved, you may lose your life."

Ronan stopped in his tracks, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke, "Haven't you always wanted to know what I saw in the death prophecy?"

"I saw myself die right here."

"The Prophet Eve took the initiative to send me here. Her hints were clear enough—to break the deadlock, the first thing to do is to step into it."

Otherwise, she should have made me give up the idea of entering the Fire Leaving Realm and get as far away from here as possible.

So, this trip...

"I'm not just doing this for Moriel, I'm doing it for myself too."

Ronan looked at the slightly floating spatial entrance in front of him, lowered his head, and a golden ladybug slowly crawled out from his tiger's mouth.

Ronan whispered to the ladybug in his palm, "Alazan, if I fail, you will take the Mirror of Emptiness and go find another person who can inherit your will."

I know you can do it.

After saying that, Ronan completely severed the connection between his consciousness and Alazan, and calmly stepped into the space entrance.

After passing through a layer of space, the sky above was still a deep purple, proving that we were still in the Fire Leaving Realm.

Moriel was not far from Ronan, her back to him, using her staff to open the second entrance.

Moriel seems to have the authority to travel freely in the Fire Leaving Realm, but for some reason, she didn't use this ability when she led Ronan earlier, and the two "wasted" a lot of unnecessary time on the road.

Ronan followed closely behind Moriel, and the two passed through four or five passages in succession. Finally, Moriel stopped, and they arrived at an unusually spacious area.

The sky here is no longer a deep purple, but a normal light blue.

A massive and ancient cracked stone platform sits at the center of the space, surrounded by a red abyss, with waves of heat emanating from every crack in the platform.

In the center of the platform stood a massive, dark red palace, but it had been shattered, with dark red rubble scattered everywhere, like scrambled, congealed, dirty blood clots.

Beneath the Sky Dome, atop the collapsed palace roof, several streams of energy intertwined.

In Ronan's perception, almost all the fire-type free energy particles in this space, as well as the Fire Element that kept surging out from the bottom of the blazing red abyss, were flowing towards that location.

There seemed to be an enormous, invisible vortex in that location, with the center of the vortex resembling a tripod.

A handsome young man in a magnificent robe, holding a beautiful feathered bone staff and surrounded by countless golden and red flames; a white-robed man with platinum bull horns on his head whose face was obscured; and a tall man with a towering, imposing figure, wearing a huge, strangely shaped helmet, exuding overwhelming deathly aura.

The three of them exuded an incredibly terrifying aura, like three stars—one blazing, one icy, and one gloomy—constantly colliding with each other in a spectacular fashion.

The entire space trembled and shook violently under the spells cast by the three people, as if it would collapse at any moment.

Level 7.

Ronan stared at the three people in the midst of the fierce battle, a slightly solemn expression on his face.

Just as Alazan had guessed, this was a sinister scheme deliberately aimed at the Phoenix Family.

The young man in the magnificent robe, wielding a feathered bone staff and surrounded by countless flames, was clearly Moriel's uncle, another Undying Bird bloodline of the Phoenix Family.

This is his home turf. With the support of the endless Fire Element accumulated beneath the Fire Leaving Realm, the fire magic he releases is like a world-destroying flame, enough to melt the void.

Even with the combined efforts of the other two level-seven individuals—the white-robed man and the tall, imposing man—he could not completely suppress the terrifying aura; instead, he gained a slight advantage.

As soon as Moriel arrived, she rushed straight toward the broken palace.

Ronan felt a slight unease and hurriedly followed, but fortunately Moriel had not lost her mind and stopped at a certain point near the edge of the battle.

Ronan landed beside her, and neither of them spoke, only staring at the battle between the three Twilight Level 7 wizards.

Moriel's eyes followed the figure of the young man in the magnificent robe in the battle, her pretty face tense, and her hands gripping the staff so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Ronan's attention, however, was focused on the other two Level Seven Wizard fighting the young man in the splendid robe.

The white-robed figure with platinum bull horns on his head stood motionless in the void. Beneath the billowing white robes, streaks of platinum crescent-shaped light continuously shot out. These magical arcs were sharper than the Keen Edge blade in the world, capable of cutting even the flames of Undying Bird. Ronan, merely by looking at them from afar, felt a faint, stinging pain in both his eyes and his mental energy, as if they were being torn apart.

Dense, dark gray death energy surged towards the ubiquitous golden-red flames in the void like a tidal wave. The two forces continuously canceled each other out, and the tall, imposing figure was half-hidden in the endless death energy and black smoke. It was hard to imagine that this vast, midnight-like death energy almost entirely originated from this one person's body.

In a fleeting moment when the flames gained the upper hand and the deathly aura thinned, Ronan finally caught a glimpse of the tall figure within the deathly aura.

He had always mistakenly thought the man was wearing a strange and enormous helmet, but now he realized that it was actually an evil and bizarre creature, like an octopus, clinging tightly to the man's head.

Its slender limbs and jagged, serrated teeth were deeply embedded in the tall man's scalp. Its skin was frighteningly pale, and its face had almost no features, only rows of slender eyes that shimmered with an eerie purple light.

The possessed tall man had a deathly pale face, empty eyes, and his face was covered with dense, fine black veins.

With each blink of the eerie creature's eyes, a massive ring of death energy would erupt from the tall man beneath it. The mechanical casting of the spell made it seem as if he were merely a tool, while the eerie creature perched atop its head was the true controller.

Ronan noticed the tall man's corpse-like skin and the gray-gold hair peeking out from his shoulders. He seemed to suddenly realize something, and his eyes flashed rapidly.

"Walk."

After observing quietly for a while, Ronan suddenly spoke, reached out and grabbed Moriel's arm, turning her around.

"Where are you going?!"

Moriel forcefully pulled her hand away from his, her eyes red as she looked at him. "I'll stay here. You said you'd stay with me!"

"I know what you're worried about. Your leaving now is the best thing you can do for him."

Ronan glanced at the elegantly dressed young men in the distant battle group and calmly said, "These people are here for you."

Do you remember what you told me?

Your uncle is the most powerful Fire Magic Wizard on this continent.

With his strength and the characteristics of the Phoenix Bloodline, I firmly believe that even if two wizards of the same level joined forces, he would still be able to escape.

But if you stay here...

"Call--"

Ronan took a deep breath, looked into Moriel's eyes, and said in a deep voice, "He has a fatal weakness that can be attacked."

Moriel paused slightly, her expression shifting as she stood there, seemingly pondering Ronan's words.

A moment later, Moriel turned and gazed deeply at the young man in the magnificent robe in the distance. She then grabbed Ronan's hand, bit her lower lip, and said forcefully, "Let's go."

Ronan gripped Moriel's cold little hand and quickly flew back the way he came.

But before the two could fly out of the area of the huge stone platform, transparent ripples quickly spread out in the void in front of them.

A pair of metal feet with cold, hard lines, yet with a distinctly feminine style, walked towards them step by step through the void.

Then come the calves, knees, and waist.

Accompanied by the void ripples that bloomed like water droplets, a tall and graceful female figure slowly appeared in front of the two, blocking their path.

The woman had short, dark gray hair tied into small braids, slightly brown skin, and a beautiful lapis lazuli ring around her gray pupils.

She wore a light-colored, close-fitting short armor, holding a platinum dagger in each hand, and looked at the two men with a half-smile, the kind of look one would give when looking at prey.

After the woman with the gray braid appeared, two more figures dressed in black robes silently emerged from the platform, one on the left and one on the right.

The three formed a semi-encircling formation, subtly blocking Ronan and his companion.

Ronan narrowed his eyes and examined the three people in front of him one by one, including the gray-braided woman. All three of them who suddenly appeared and blocked his way were emanating the mental energy fluctuations of Level Six Wizard.

"Two level 6 early game characters, and one Mid-Level Six or late game character."

Ronan turned to look at Moriel beside him. At that moment, Moriel understood his thoughts and immediately picked up her staff.

The cane swiftly swept through the air in Moriel's hand, tracing a beautiful golden path, but the expected crack did not appear.

Moriel repeated the action several times, then her expression gradually turned ugly.

She looked back at Ronan pleadingly, "They've sealed off this space."

"They can't possibly seal off the whole area."

Ronan quietly spread his mental energy, and with the keen sense of spatial fluctuations inherited from the Minotaur, he easily explored the entire sealed space.

An invisible, gigantic glass dome, which had been erected at some unknown time, was placed over the heads of the two people.

To leave using Moriel's teleportation privileges, one must break out of this spatially sealed area.

However, the nearest breakthrough point was located at the edge of three Level Seven Twilight Legion members behind them; in all other directions, their path was blocked.

Ronan's eyes flickered as he quickly considered his next move.

At this moment, the gray-braided woman standing in mid-air chuckled and spoke, her gaze lingering briefly on Ronan before naturally shifting to Moriel.

"Moriel, your name is Moriel, right?"

The Phoenix Family's heiress, the apple of Valitz Phoenix's eye.

The woman with the gray braids gently raised her arm, the platinum dagger in her hand spinning in dazzling patterns. "You are more foolish and adorable than I imagined."

Will you cry or scream?

I have heard that the Undying Bird is the most beautiful sound in the world.

The woman's voice, as if talking to herself, echoed softly across the open platform.

Moriel stared intently at the woman in front of her, slowly loosening her grip on the hand beside her, trying little by little to pull it away from the other's palm.

"Ronan, you need to leave quickly."

Moriel murmured, "Their target is me. I'll try to distract them later, and then you..."

Before Moriel could finish speaking, she suddenly felt her hand loosen; the large hand that had been holding her tightly just moments before had decisively let go.

She couldn't see the expression on the face of the person beside her; she could only see her own hand that had lost its grip. Although it was the result she wanted, a strange sense of loss and emptiness welled up in her heart.

Moriel remembered that last time, that hand was just as unbreakable; she never expected that this time...

She bit her lip lightly, but quickly took a deep breath and handed the staff in her other hand to the other person.

"The runic key to breaking through space is in the staff."

Just as Moriel was about to give her final words to the other party, suddenly at this moment...

"Call--"

A terrifying shockwave, visible to the naked eye, suddenly exploded beside her. The gale blew her hair into disarray, whipping it across her face and blurring her vision.

She heard a series of loud, cracking sounds.

Then came the sound of the tides crashing against the rocks, like the wailing of Deep Sea Demon Snail.

A deep, viscous dark red color spread rapidly, and in a daze, countless blood vessels bloomed, like blood-stained poppies in full bloom.

The spells roared, metal clashed, and muffled groans echoed.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and then quickly subsided.

When Moriel recovered from her brief daze, she was shocked to find that the annoying woman who had been standing in mid-air, looking at her with a predatory gaze, was now on a platform further ahead, kneeling and slowly rising with a grim expression, clutching two daggers.

The two level-six Black Robe Wizard were originally positioned on either side of the woman were no longer in their original places.

One of them stood far away, looking terrified, as if facing a formidable enemy.

Another.

His body was covered with tiny, pinhole-sized blood holes, and he lay quietly on the ground, already a cold corpse, his face still frozen with the horrified and incredulous expression of his dying moments.

Before her lay a still, Dead Sea that resembled a pool of thick, fresh blood.

The person beside him, who had removed his robes, now stood silently on the Dead Sea, his body covered in bloodstains and grotesquely powerful.

Countless Dark Red Threads surrounded him. His blood-red hair stood on end as he tilted his head back, manipulating the crimson threads to quickly pull back a blurry, twisted soul that was trying to escape.

He took a deep breath, as if he were swallowing the soul whole.

Then he turned around, looked at Moriel, and calmly whispered, "Don't think about anything."

Stay quietly behind me.

Then stay close to me.

Moriel stared blankly at the person in front of her, momentarily speechless.

After giving Moriel his instructions, Ronan stretched out his demonic body, and a long, narrow gash on his chest was slowly healing.

With the activation of the "Innocent Body," the Ancient Mara Body, blessed by the Eighteen-Layered Spiral Palace, naturally drooped down, revealing his unusually long and ferocious arms.

Bright red blood flowed rapidly down his arm muscles, slowly dripping from his fingertips.

This is not his blood; it is the blood of the Level Six Wizard who just died.

Ronan looked up and stared at the gray-braided woman in the distance, only to see figures silently appearing behind her.

Ronan's heart remained calm, but the crimson in his eyes burned slowly like the siren's fire of the Dead Sea.

He slowly raised his hand and picked up the corpse of the Level Six Wizard who had been caught off guard and killed by his thunderous attack.

This was the first Level Six Wizard he had ever killed.

But for today...

This will certainly not be the last.