Magic Backlash

"Ye, Ye Luo?" the captain shouted in terror.

Thomas, who was in the middle of channeling magic, sent a strand of mental energy to investigate the area. When he saw the youth clad in black armor with hair reaching his waist, his entire body shuddered, and the previously stable magic inscription began to shake violently!

"Guild Master, watch out for the magic backlash!" the vice-master of the Keren Magic Guild screamed in horror. War magic possessed immense power, requiring tens or hundreds of times more mana than ordinary spells. Once the magic fluctuated, the resulting backlash could inflict fatal injuries on every mage providing mana to Thomas!

Massive surges of elemental energy began to backflow through the magic inscription toward Thomas. The mana of nearly two hundred people nearly shattered his mental sea in the blink of an eye!

His robes billowed without a breeze, as if caught in a gale-force wind, and Thomas's face and body swelled up significantly!

"Ha!" Thomas widened his eyes and roared. His staff radiated brilliant light, and under his desperate control, he finally forced the surging elemental energy back into the inscription, causing the formation in the sky to gradually stabilize!

"That's more like it... one should be focused in life and work..." Before Thomas could catch his breath, a playful voice suddenly sounded from behind him. Thomas's eyes bulged; he felt a cold chill on the skin of his neck, a chill that seeped through his pores and into his veins, instantly flooding his entire body!

Ye Luo stood behind him with a grin, his right-hand claws extended and resting against Thomas's neck. Ye Luo leaned toward Thomas's ear and whispered slowly, "Mage, spellcasting requires focus, and of course, so does researching magic. Lack of focus in spellcasting leads to backlash, but lack of focus in one's actions is far more terrifying than any backlash. Tell me, do you regret leaving your magic towers to come here now..."

"Ye Luo, die!" Within five seconds of Ye Luo's appearance, Yarman had spotted him and rushed out from the central command tent. His Diamond-grade battle aura flared, and his chilling killing intent locked firmly onto Ye Luo.

Ye Luo merely chuckled and applied slight pressure with his hand!

"Stop!!!" Yarman's eyes were bloodshot.

"Clang!" The cold, gleaming claws swept gently across Thomas's neck!

However, the sensation from the blade was not that of cutting through a throat, but rather like sliding across a smooth mirror—slippery, deflecting most of the force!

"Hum!" A silver light flashed on Thomas, and he vanished from the spot!

"Boom! Boom!" Without Thomas's guidance, the magic inscription, which had been ninety-five percent complete, instantly exploded. The elemental energy returned to where it came from, and the violent surge slammed into the bodies of the two hundred mages present!

They collapsed to the ground in agony; some clutched their heads and rolled, others bled from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, and some developed large, bulging lumps on their heads that seemed to squirm like insects! The two most miserable ones coughed up blood and died on the spot!

"Ye Luo!!!" Yarman gritted his teeth. The Keren Magic Guild was the cradle of mages for the Keren Kingdom, yet due to his momentary carelessness, Ye Luo had approached silently and interrupted their war magic, causing a backlash!

"What? You look quite angry?" Ye Luo sneered at him. "Since you started this war, you should have considered both victory and defeat. Did you only focus on the beauty of victory and forget the cruel twists of war?"

"Boom! Boom!" Before Ye Luo finished speaking, two massive, long white spikes erupted from the ground at the Nicia Magic Guild in the east! In an instant, they pierced through Taren's body!

In the west, the Goriu Magic Guild had also prepared their incantations. As Guild Master Gilbert was about to lock in the spell, his hand suddenly trembled. The massive magic inscription slammed into the heavy infantry on the front lines. Beneath the orderly ranks of the heavy infantry, huge fissures suddenly split open. The shattered ground turned crimson in the blink of an eye, and then, streams of boiling lava surged forth!

Their sturdy iron armor, combined with their tight formation and the support of spearmen behind them, was enough to withstand the constant charges of the Zergling, but facing lava with temperatures reaching thousands of degrees, the armor turned red-hot instantly!

As the lava spread, the second row of spearmen in leather armor burst into flames, wailing in agony as they ran, only to collapse seconds later as charred corpses. The heavy infantry in the first row fled frantically from the erupting lava. Everyone knew how terrifying red-hot iron was. Over a hundred heavy infantry soldiers, having accidentally touched the lava, saw their iron armor rapidly heat up. The armor that once provided them with a sense of unparalleled security now became searing death traps. The contact between the iron and their flesh produced a "hissing" sound; before they could strip off their gear, the armor burned chunks of dead flesh right off their bodies...

The Kereierbode Magic Guild suffered an even more miserable fate. A figure wielding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other knocked the First Legion captain protecting them unconscious with a single bash, then closed in on the mages before the surrounding soldiers could react, finishing them off with clean, efficient strikes...

The combination of the magic backlash and that person's slaughter made Kereierbode the fastest guild to fall!

"No, no, no!!!" Yarman roared as he charged at Ye Luo, his thin sword thrusting rapidly with a chilling silver light. Ye Luo slammed his right hand upward, and the claws collided fiercely with the thin sword!

"Clang!" A crisp sound of metal striking metal rang out; the first exchange between the two ended in a draw.

Yarman's eyes were bloodshot. "How did you sneak into my camp? How did you get in!!!"

Ye Luo's right lip curled upward, and he glanced toward Yarman's left. "Your answer is over there!!"

Yarman didn't want to look back, but the screams from the left forced him to turn his head. He saw Yaheng, the Guild Master of the Rosace Magic Guild, looking in disbelief at the incredibly arrogant Empire citizen Ulysses behind him. A frost arrow as thick as a human thigh was rapidly draining his life force from his chest...

"Ulysses! It's your people!!!" Yarman whipped his head back, but in that split second of distraction, Ye Luo had already vanished from his sight.

"You really are obedient when told to turn your head!" Ye Luo's voice suddenly sounded from behind him, followed by the excruciating pain of a spine being severed. "But this is war. In war, even the slightest distraction will lead to your total destruction!" Ye Luo's soft voice sounded like a mentor's earnest instruction.

However, Yarman would likely never have the chance to correct his mistake...