With Bone as Blade, You Want to Stop Me Too?

Lola and the other two stared blankly at the "reborn" Ronan in front of them.

Not only were his injuries healed and his aged, decaying body regained its youth, but he also exuded a terrifying power that they could not understand yet trembled at.

"Impossible, this is impossible."

Lola spoke in a rapid yet Awakening voice, but her face still showed lingering shock and disbelief.

"You're clearly dead?"

What kind of power is this?!

The golden olive leaf pattern pulsated, and the dozens of broken golden tentacles behind Lola began to grow back. She kept retreating, the first time she had ever chosen to back down.

Ronan didn't react much to her actions, but simply extended a hand naturally and began to chant a spell in a low voice.

"... With Bone as Blade"

A unique resonance was achieved, and a strange energy fluctuation spread out from Ronan as the center.

In an instant, the grass, trees, and soil within a radius of several miles trembled slightly.

The bones of animals and humans buried beneath this land, stripped of their decay and kept as the most precious fragments, converged on Ronan under the spell's call.

"This is... the Undead Arts [Bone Spear Technique]?"

Jerome murmured softly in the sky.

At that moment, he found Ronan in front of him to be even more unfamiliar.

"Use the skeleton as a blade!"

Countless tiny bone fragments coalesced in front of Ronan, forming the shape of a blackish-gray spear.

Ronan calmly reached out and gently grasped the spear shaft, while his other hand, fingers together, traced the spear shaft inch by inch.

Large swaths of deep blue flames, like the gentle hand of a lover, covered the entire bone spear, adding a profound and mysterious aura to it.

Ronan held the bone spear, his long, white hair flying behind him, and his mirror-like blue eyes reflected Lola's retreating figure.

I see you.

With a whispered utterance, Ronan's figure vanished silently from the spot.

Almost simultaneously, Lola's expression tightened, as if she were being stared at by something extremely dangerous, and a chill ran down her spine for no apparent reason! "[[Bloodthirst]]!"

Lola's face, which had been dominated by gold, regained a faint color. Her expression was ferocious as she growled and extended five fingers toward Ronan: "[[Embrace of Mad Vines]]!"

As her spiritual energy surged and the spell took shape, the dozens of golden vines behind her swelled and swelled with blood, resembling dozens of [Bloodthirst] and frenzied giant pythons, lunging forward fiercely.

"Boom!"

A golden vine slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

Ronan, who was originally in this location, has now appeared in another place.

"Boom boom boom!"

The terrifying vines kept striking down, each time precisely targeting Ronan's figure, but each time they missed.

Ronan was too fast, like a flickering light and shadow. Every time he disappeared and reappeared, he greatly reduced the distance between himself and Lola.

The onslaught of rampaging vines turned this small area into a disaster zone, but Ronan remained calm and composed throughout, casually holding his bone spear as if he were strolling in his own garden.

In a flash, Ronan appeared less than ten meters away from Lola.

Lola's eyes began to flicker as she tried to recall the released vines. In the second flash, Ronan stood less than five meters away from Lola, slowly raising his right hand as if to thrust with a spear.

Panic finally appeared on Lola's face. She used hysterical madness to cover up the fear that was growing deep in her eyes. She let out a shriek, and the vines wove an unbreakable wall in front of her! With the third flash, Ronan finally appeared completely in front of Lola, with only the wall of golden vines separating them.

Ronan thrust out his spear, the tip of the blackish-gray bone spear leaping with eerie blue Spell Breaking Flame. The power of the magic domain intertwined, and then, propelled by an even more terrifying force emanating from the white flames surrounding Ronan's body, it instantly tore through the wall of vines! In fact, the bone spear had already shattered midway; Ronan practically pierced the wall of vines with his bare hands! The instant Ronan completely passed through the wall of vines, a large amount of bone essence converged again, the broken bone spear reformed, and the eerie blue flames reignited.

Everything happened too fast. Lola, behind the wall of vines, had no time to react. A terrifying, mysterious force had already crushed the mental energy field around her. The burning bone spear instantly pierced the golden leaf between her eyebrows, then pierced through her skull, pushing her entire body forward. Her feet plowed a long track in the mud. "Bang!"

Lola's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief as she was pinned to a large tree, as thick as several people could encircle, by a black bone spear. The light in her green pupils quickly dimmed.

"Ronan!"

At that moment, a deep, urgent voice suddenly rang out in the room.

Ronan, holding a spear to Lola's forehead with one hand, turned his face slightly to one side, revealing a pair of calm and cold azure eyes beneath his white hair that fluttered in the wind.

"Lord Jerome, are you also trying to stop me?"

"I"

Jerome, who was trying to approach, froze. His lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he ultimately chose to remain silent and stop where he was.

Ronan turned around and met Lola's eyes, which were staring straight at him.

"What kind of power is this?"

Actually, I'm not quite sure either.

Ronan raised a hand, looking at the shimmering flames flowing along the edge of his fingertips, and replied after a moment's thought, "Probably... the brute force of the physical body that you all look down on the most."

"Brute force?"

Lola paused, stunned by the answer, then gritted her teeth and said, "No matter what power it is, next time, you will die in the most painful and gruesome way! Ahhh!"

After she finished speaking, the last glimmer of light in her eyes vanished completely.

Next time? Before Ronan could understand what Lola meant, he saw her head droop, and then she vanished like a flower withering away in just a few breaths.

Only a single leaf, radiating golden light, remained, gently drifting to the ground.

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly as he bent down to pick up the golden leaf and examined it closely.

The white flames around him gradually faded, and his dancing white hair fell down.

The pure white orb of light, which only Ronan could see, located in the center of his chest, had noticeably shrunk in size.

To Ronan's surprise, the golden olive leaf lying quietly in his palm was releasing a strange power that was constantly flowing into the sphere of light, replenishing its previous losses.

"This is the Leaf of Innocence."

A voice rang in my ears.

Ronan turned his head and saw Jerome walking slowly towards him with a beautiful witch in a gray-blue robe.

"The dean obtained a seed of the Tree of Innocence in his early years and carefully nurtured it, refining it into his natal Magic Pet."

This is a leaf from the Tree of Innocence; its purpose is to help wizards heal quickly.

Jerome looked at the spot where Lola had turned to ashes, a complex and indescribable expression on his face.

The complex emotions quickly subsided, and he whispered to Ronan, "It can also be exchanged for a life."

"In exchange for a life?!"

Ronan's eyes narrowed slightly as he finally understood the true meaning behind Lola's harsh words before her "death."

"Actually, the effect isn't as exaggerated as you imagine."

To resurrect using the Leaf of Innocence, the resurrected person must first leave their own Soul Seed on the Tree of Innocence. After the Soul Seed is activated, it requires a large amount of precious and rare resources to water and cultivate. The resurrected person not only has a long 'regeneration period,' but their soul will also suffer permanent damage. This method of resurrection can only be used once.

Jerome began to explain.

Ronan nodded and said nothing more.

The two remained silent for a while before Jerome broke the silence.

"Ronan, will you go back?"

"What do you think, Lord Jerome?"

Ronan looked Jerome in the eyes and answered calmly.

Jerome's eyes flickered, his lips pursed slightly, and he finally spoke.

So where do you plan to go next?

"I don't know either."

Ronan shook his head. "Hoddam is the first and only grey-robed Wizard Land I've ever encountered."

Jerome thought for a moment, then took out a fist-sized crystal that shimmered with runic light from his Storage Waist Pouch and handed it to Ronan. "This is a map of Hoddam and the surrounding area. I hope it will be helpful to you."

Ronan did not refuse and readily accepted the crystal from Jerome, briefly scanning it with his mental energy.

The crystal itself was quite ordinary, just an alchemical stone enchanted with a level 0 [Imitation] rune, but the contents recorded inside were priceless to Ronan.

"Thanks."

Ronan sincerely thanked Jerome, but Jerome simply shook his head.

The two said no words of farewell, a simple goodbye. Ronan picked up Lola's belongings and disappeared into the forest ahead, quickly vanishing into the vast sea of trees.

Jerome only withdrew his gaze when he could no longer sense Ronan's presence.

He lowered his head, and his demeanor began to subtly undergo some indescribable changes.

"Jerome Jerome."

Seemingly sensing the subtle shift in Jerome's emotional state, the beautiful witch in the grey-blue robes called out softly.

But what he received was an unprecedentedly cold response from Jerome.

"Lola has completely destroyed any future that could have brought Hoddam back to its former glory."

"Well?"

The beautiful witch was stunned and didn't react for a moment.

Jerome, however, just continued speaking to himself.

"Having just advanced one level, without condensing Soul Rune, and without even having time to learn a single first-tier spell, I am able to master two Extraordinary Magic Domain powers, as well as that terrifying, unknown, mysterious power. Although the greatest function of the Leaf of Innocence is only healing, its assistance to Plant-Type Wizard is qualitatively transformative."

Lola, who recklessly extracted all the essence from the Leaf of Innocence, ultimately unleashed power that touched the very pinnacle of the First Level Wizard realm, yet she still fell to him.

Jerome spoke with an indescribable numbness, stating his points without any emotional fluctuation, revealing a sense of utter disappointment.

"It's not impossible for such a magical genius to reach the level of the Dean, or even surpass him, in the future."

But now... that madwoman Lola has forcibly driven them away!

As Jerome finished speaking, his numb tone gradually turned sinister.

He slowly turned his head to look at the beautiful witch beside him, his face displaying an indescribable, strange yet serious expression.

Do you know?

He looked at the beautiful witch and said, word by word:

When I called out to Ronan, I didn't actually want to stop him from killing Lola. Instead, I wanted to tell him the correct way to truly kill Lola before the Leaf of Innocence Effect could be fully activated.

Pity"

He didn't say anything more.

The beautiful witch's pupils were undergoing an unprecedented earthquake.

She stared blankly at Jerome in front of her, having never seen Jerome like this before.

She felt as if she had never truly understood Jerome, yet a voice deep inside her kept telling her that Jerome's incredibly erratic behavior was perfectly justified.

Deep in the secluded forest, countless ancient trees, some over a thousand years old, intertwine their branches and leaves to form a thick natural barrier. Large swaths of thick ivy spread out in all directions. In this almost impenetrable thicket of vegetation, a small tree, only about a foot long, grows quietly.

It has pale golden branches and emerald green leaves, looking vibrant and full of hope.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew by, and a simple yet distorted woman's face abruptly appeared on the slender trunk of the pale gold sapling.

With its eyes closed and mouth open, it let out a silent shriek. Before long, a large group of palm-sized, ugly Forest Sprite hurriedly sprang out of the grass and rushed toward the small tree.

These Forest Sprite each carried a bulging little cloth bundle or a small wooden bucket filled to the brim.

They came to the pale gold sapling and immediately poured what they were carrying onto the base of the sapling. The wooden buckets contained an unknown liquid of a strange color, and the packages contained various unknown powders with pungent smells.

The Forest Sprite kept busy. Once they finished scattering what they had in their hands, they would turn around and run back to the grass without stopping. A little while later, they would come back carrying buckets or packages full of potion powder.

The pale gold sapling, nourished by continuous resources, emitted joyful sounds, its leaves rustling softly.

But the terrifying woman's face on the trunk of the sapling kept opening and closing its mouth, as if urging or cursing.

The Forest Sprite seemed terrified of that face, so busy that they could barely breathe and dared not stop to rest. Several days later, the pale golden twigs unfurled, and the emerald green leaves increased significantly. The twigs also appeared to have grown taller and stronger.

On the grass around it, the corpses of Forest Sprite who died from overwork were scattered everywhere. The remaining Forest Sprite also looked extremely tired, moving slowly and swaying as if they would collapse at any moment.

The woman's face on the pale gold tree trunk did not stop urging and cursing. At the moment when another Forest Sprite collapsed under the weight, all the fairies' accumulated resentment and anger finally reached a peak and completely erupted.

They dropped what they were holding and angrily yelled at the woman's face in the tree. In the end, they even rushed up and began to tear and gnaw at the roots of the sapling.

Just as this small rebellion broke out deep in the deserted forest, suddenly, the light of Rune Array shone from the shadows of the dense forest, and a beam of rich golden light shot out from the array, landing straight on the pale gold sapling.

In an instant, the slender and weak sapling began to grow rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the woman's face on the thick trunk became more and more vivid.

In just a few minutes, the sapling, which was originally only the size of a seedling, broke through the thick barrier of leaves above and grew into a tall tree covered with golden leaves.

All the forest tree spirits stared blankly at this scene, having long forgotten about their rebellion. When they finally came to their senses, they knelt on the ground in fear and trembling, desperately begging for mercy and kowtowing to the great tree in front of them.

At that moment, the trunk of the tree suddenly split open, and a little girl, who was only about seven or eight years old and had a head of seaweed-like green hair, jumped out with tears streaming down her face.

The girl lay on the grass, gazing up at the sky. Her innocent face was filled with pain and resentment. She gritted her teeth and uttered the most vicious and venomous curse in a direction she seemed to be facing, "Crimson Tower... Ronan swears on his soul! I will make you all pay the most terrible price! I will!"

Under the azure sky, the salty sea breeze blows.

In front of a green cottage filled with white seabirds and black ravens, a young girl stood with her head down, her long flaxen hair cascading down like a waterfall.

Beneath her hair were delicate yet exquisite features and pearly white skin. Although she wore a slightly old-fashioned and conservative dark-colored long dress, she still gave people a stunning feeling.

The girl held a snow-white envelope in her hand and hesitated at the door of the green house.

With constant encouragement from a blonde girl traveling with her, the girl finally mustered the courage to step into the cabin.

A moment later, she came out, still holding the same snow-white envelope she had gone in.

"Oh no! Why hasn't it been mailed yet?!"

The blonde girl traveling with them stomped her feet in exasperation.

The young girl seemed somewhat dazed. She walked forward listlessly, the envelope in her hand falling to the ground, and she kept muttering to herself.

"They say, they say... Hoddam no longer exists."

"Ah?!"

A traveler in a gray robe trekked across the boundless wilderness when a sudden wind arose, blowing away the thick fog that had been shrouding his path.

A huge, mountain-like silhouette appeared behind the thick fog.

From a distance, the mountain peaks seemed to gleam with a silvery sheen under the sunlight, surrounded by numerous black, dot-like floating islands.

The traveler stopped, facing the mountains and floating islands, and pulled down his hood, revealing long chestnut and white hair and a handsome yet spirited young face.

"We've finally arrived."

Ronan squinted at the strange and hazy scene in the distance and murmured to himself, "The Silver Magic Ring of Wizard Land closest to Hoddam."