Frontline Collapse

Dago cast a sharp gaze their way, and the two of them felt a howling chill wind rise around them.

Seeing Selena supporting Mariko, Dago finally dispersed the deep-blue halo in his eyes and walked toward them.

Dago asked Mariko worriedly, "You're injured? Is it serious?"

He had noticed the blotches of blood on Mariko's robe and his pale face.

Mariko forced himself to say, "That severely injured Black-Robed Wizard caught me off guard. It's fine. I won't die."

After thinking for a moment, Dago crouched down and carried Mariko onto his back.

Mariko hesitated slightly, but in the end, he climbed onto Dago's back and said complicatedly, "Thank you, Dago. I'm a burden."

Dago shook his head and comforted him. "Get back and recover properly. Don't overthink it."

He gestured for Selena to follow, and together they went to the frozen Black-Robed Wizard to loot the spoils.

These Black-Robed Wizards were getting poorer and poorer. There were only a few Low-Grade Magic Stones.

Mariko's weight was naturally no burden to Dago, and before long, they returned to the clearing of the Treehouse Outpost.

Dago glanced back at the gate and saw Selena gritting her teeth, bracing herself against a wooden gatepost as though enduring some terrible pain.

After gently settling Mariko against a tree stump in the clearing, he ran back to Selena and lifted the hem of her robe slightly.

Her snow-white little foot was revealed beneath her robe, her ankle swollen like a steamed bun.

His rough action instantly made Selena blush. She lowered her head and did not dare look at Dago.

Dago frowned and said sternly, "Why didn't you say you were hurt? Do you think forcing yourself to endure it makes you impressive?"

Selena bit her lip and said nothing, looking exactly like a child being scolded.

Dago crouched down and used the Ice Crystal Technique to condense a fist-sized block of ice, pressing it against her ankle.

"I have the Healing Technique, Lord Dago. You don't need to do this," Selena murmured in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Before long, the swelling in her ankle had gone down considerably. Only then did Dago rise and help Selena into the clearing.

Dago discovered that Selena was actually quite well-endowed.

Although Dago was an honorable man, he could not avoid some physical contact.

Usually, it was completely hidden beneath her loose, oversized apprentice robe.

Ever since Dago had taken hold of her to support her, Selena had kept her face red and her head lowered, shy as a rabbit at someone else's mercy.

After the fierce battle in the forest today, all three of them had suffered injuries to varying degrees...

Sitting around the campfire, Selena continued using the Healing Technique on Mariko, whose injuries were the most serious.

Several strands of corrosive energy clung to Dago's pale arm, constantly trying to erode and corrupt his flesh...

Fortunately, ice elements could block and wear down corrosive energy.

He circulated the Meditation Technique and continuously cast the Resonance Art, strengthening the ice elements to consume the remaining corrosive energy.

As time passed, the setting sun, like a red-hot bronze disc, slowly sank into the western sea of forest.

Dago's injuries had nearly healed. He took out the frozen crocodile monster meat from the treehouse.

He skewered the monster meat on branches and roasted it beside the campfire, while also making Selena a pair of wooden crutches.

Most of Selena's mental power had been spent healing Mariko's injuries. Her sprained ankle had received little healing, and she still had trouble moving.

When Dago handed the wooden crutches to Selena, she was almost moved to tears.

Dago had no time to concern himself with her feelings and began his inherited craft: roasting meat.

Though Dago's roasting was not as good as Mariko's, the ingredients were excellent. The fragrant monster meat made all three of them keep swallowing.

Before long, the three began wolfing it down. After Mariko ate the monster meat, even his complexion became much rosier.

Just as the three of them were enjoying their meal, the footsteps of an uninvited guest sounded at the gate of the Treehouse Outpost.

Dago instantly became alert. The deep-blue halo in his eyes began to spin, a blue ice sphere gathered in his hand, and the chill wind surged, making the campfire flicker unsteadily.

He shouted, "Who is it?"

The person outside was also startled by his shout and hurriedly cried out nervously, "A wizard from Ainak Wizard Academy!"

Holding the ice sphere in his pale hand, Dago walked out and saw a middle-aged wizard in tattered robes, his face filled with terror. A stitched Academy insignia was indeed emblazoned on his chest.

He dispersed the Ice Crystal Technique and instead cast the Detection Technique. If anything was wrong, a storm of Air Bullets would greet the man.

When the middle-aged Academy wizard saw that Dago was also wearing Academy robes, he sighed in relief, gave Dago a friendly smile, and said wearily, "I saw smoke rising from this outpost nearby and wanted to come over to rest."

Dago nodded, remaining vigilant as he led him into the clearing.

Selena and Mariko had already climbed to a high point in the outpost, watching Dago with puzzled expressions.

"One of us," Dago told the two confused people.

Only then did they lower their guard and come down to join Dago. The four of them then began another round of roasted meat and questioning.

The middle-aged wizard tore into the roasted meat like a starving ghost reborn.

Dago stared at him and asked, "Where did you come from? How did you end up in such a miserable state?"

The middle-aged wizard froze with the roasted meat in hand. Recalling something terrifying, he muttered, "It's all over. The Frontline Fortress has fallen. A huge number of Black-Robed Wizards rushed in and began a massacre."

"Everywhere, there were collapsed, burning wooden houses and ground blasted apart by sorcery. The alleys were filled with wizard corpses, either burned black or frozen by frost."

"I barely escaped and kept running toward the Academy. I haven't eaten in three or four days. Those Duskblood Council demons will be here soon. We're all going to die."

By the end, his whole body was trembling, and he began to cry uncontrollably.

Dago watched him cry with a grave expression, feeling that something was off. The Black-Robed Wizards would not simply let a wizard on the verge of starving to death keep running away.

He took out the Purple Mental Potion he had seized last time and drank it in one gulp. Combined with the Meditation Technique, it rapidly restored his mental power.

If he was right, this was a fishing operation, and the bait was meant to catch forest rats like them.

Just as he was thinking that, a mass of dark-green energy suddenly struck the wooden fence around the outpost. The energy licked at the wood and burrowed into it like something clinging to bone.

The wooden fence collapsed like rotten wood soaked to mush, scattering wood chips mixed with a pungent stench of decay.

That familiar smell—it was corrosive energy. Dago had been injured because of it.

"Enemy attack! Retreat!" Dago shouted.

He then fired an Air Bullet toward the collapsed section, buying time for the three wounded people to retreat.

A Black-Robed Wizard stood silently outside the outpost, a basketball-sized dark-green energy sphere gathering before his Spinal Bone Staff.

The dark-green energy sphere rapidly flew toward Dago, punching through the casually fired Air Bullet...

An explosion of air formed in midair, while the remaining half of the sphere continued flying toward him.

Dago's protective ring had run out of energy and could not stop the dark-green energy sphere.

He raised his pale arm. The ice elements covering it rapidly condensed into a ferocious Frost Ice Claw, which grabbed toward the energy sphere.

The dark-green energy sphere was firmly clasped in the Frost Ice Claw's palm. Ice patterns on the claw's surface instantly lit up, locking the sphere tightly within its grasp.

The two energies collided violently. The energy sphere continuously corroded the ice armor, producing a sizzling sound.

Dago increased his mental power output into the Resonance Art, and the ice patterns on the armguard emitted a dazzling blue glow.

He rotated his wrist. The joints of the Frost Ice Claw cracked crisply as its five fingers slowly tightened, its ice patterns piercing into the energy mass along with the motion.

The originally twisted, churning Shadow Energy Ball suddenly froze. Then a crisp sound like shattering glass came from within—web-like ice patterns appeared across its surface.

Those ice patterns spread at an astonishing speed, freezing the entire energy mass into a black ice crystal.

"Shatter." Dago spat out the word, and the Frost Armguard clenched fiercely. The black ice crystal exploded at once.

At that moment, a soft click of the tongue came from the Black-Robed Wizard.

He was an ugly, short-haired man, his deathly pale skin covered in dark-red tattoos.

He looked at Dago with great surprise. When he smiled, he resembled a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

In a hoarse voice, he said, "What an excellent Academy wizard. He should make fine Blood Offering."