Murphy spun around sharply, his icy gaze sweeping across the scene like blades.
Standing there were the seven Advanced Apprentices who had just arrived to regroup, originally Mitchell's followers.
"Speak!" Murphy's voice was hoarse and piercing, brimming with boundless fury.
"Where did Mitchell go? How dare you leave him behind alone?"
The seven Advanced Apprentices trembled under the crushing pressure and overwhelming killing intent of a Liquefaction wizard.
The leader barely steadied himself and answered in a trembling voice:
"R-Reporting to Lord Murphy, the young master... he took the defecting Leon and headed... southeast to pursue a Shadowmoon apprentice."
"Southeast... Stone Forest..." A flash of blood-red light passed through Murphy's eyes, and he did not ask another question.
The sensation transmitted before the mark vanished had not been far from here!
His body abruptly transformed into a dazzling bloody streak, shooting toward the southeast.
The instant he rose into the air, his withered fingers flicked casually toward the ground.
A rain of hair-thin threads flickering with eerie blood-red light fell soundlessly.
Before the seven Advanced Apprentices could react, they were effortlessly pierced by the blood threads.
The next moment, their seven living bodies rapidly melted and collapsed like snowmen beneath the blazing sun.
Amid brief, shrill screams, they turned into seven pools of murky blood that smoked blue-green, leaving not even their bones behind.
Nearby, Sares and Phantom took in the entire scene, exchanging a furtive glance.
Each saw deep wariness in the other's eyes.
They vaguely guessed what had happened. The only thing that could enrage Murphy so greatly, even causing him to vent his fury by slaughtering his own apprentices, was something happening to his beloved grandson, Mitchell.
Mitchell was Elder Murphy's most cherished and most highly regarded direct grandson. He possessed exceptional talent, and his strength was