Frontline Collapse

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

When he saw Selena supporting Mariko, Dago finally dispersed the deep-blue halo in his eyes and walked over.

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

He had noticed the bloodstains 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 briefly before finally climbing onto Dago's back. He 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 signaled Selena to follow, and together they went to the frozen Black-Robed Wizard to search for spoils.

These Black-Robed Wizards were getting poorer and poorer. They only had 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 looked back toward the gate and saw Selena gritting her teeth, leaning against one of the wooden gateposts as though enduring some kind of pain.

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

Her little feet were white as snow beneath the robe, but one ankle had swollen up like a steamed bun.

His rough action instantly made Selena blush. She lowered her head, not daring to look at Dago.

Dago frowned and said sternly, "Why didn't you say anything if you were hurt? Does forcing yourself to endure it make you look 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 whispered, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Before long, the swelling in her ankle had gone down considerably. Only then did Dago stand and support Selena as they walked to the clearing.

Dago discovered that Selena actually had quite a figure.

Although Dago was an upright gentleman, it was impossible to avoid a little 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 like a rabbit at someone else's mercy.

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

They sat around the campfire as Selena continued using the Healing Technique on Mariko. His injuries were the most severe.

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

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

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

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

Dago had mostly recovered from his injuries. He took some frozen magical beast crocodile meat from the treehouse.

He skewered the magical beast meat on branches and roasted it beside the campfire. He also made 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 so touched that she nearly cried.

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

Although Dago's roasting was not as good as Mariko's, the ingredients were excellent. The fragrant magical beast meat made all three of them swallow repeatedly.

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

Just as the three of them were enjoying their meal, the sound of an unwelcome visitor's footsteps came from the gate of the Treehouse Outpost.

Dago instantly went on guard. The deep-blue halo in his eyes began to swirl, a blue ice sphere gathered in his hand, and a cold wind rose, making the campfire flicker unstably.

He shouted, "Who is it?"

The person outside the gate was also startled by his voice and hurriedly called out nervously, "A wizard from Ainak Wizard Academy!"

Holding the ice sphere in his white hand, Dago walked out and saw a middle-aged wizard in tattered robes with terror written across his face. An academy insignia stitched with thread was indeed printed on his chest.

He dispersed the Ice Crystal Technique and instead cast the Detection Technique. If anything was wrong, the man would be greeted by a barrage of Air Bullets.

When the middle-aged academy wizard saw that Dago was also wearing academy robes, he let out a sigh of relief. He gave Dago a friendly smile and said wearily, "I saw smoke rising from this outpost nearby and wanted to come over to rest for a while."

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

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

"He's one of us," Dago said to the two of them.

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 reincarnated.

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 meat in his hand. Recalling some terrifying scene, he muttered, "It's all over. The Frontline Fortress has fallen. A large number of Black-Robed Wizards stormed in and began slaughtering everyone."

"Collapsed and burning wooden houses were everywhere. The ground had been blasted apart by witchcraft, and the alleys were filled with wizard corpses burned black by fire 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 devils 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, but something felt off. The Black-Robed Wizards would not let a wizard on the verge of starving to death keep escaping for so long.

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

If he was not mistaken, this was a fishing operation, and the bait was people like them—the rats hiding in the forest.

Just as he thought this, a mass of dark-green energy suddenly struck the wooden fence outside the outpost. The energy licked at the wood and bored into it like gangrene clinging to the bone.

The wooden fence collapsed like rotten wood soaked through with water, and the flying splinters carried a pungent, decaying stench.

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

"Enemy attack! Retreat!" Dago roared.

He immediately fired an Air Bullet toward the collapsed fence, buying time for the three wounded people to withdraw.

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

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

An air blast erupted in midair, while the remaining half-sized sphere continued flying toward him.

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

He raised his white arm. The ice elements covering it rapidly condensed into a savage Frost Ice Claw, which grabbed at the energy sphere.

The Frost Ice Claw firmly clasped the dark-green energy sphere in its palm. The 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, making a sizzling sound.

Dago increased the mental power flowing into the Resonance Art, and the ice patterns on the armguard emitted a dazzling blue radiance.

He turned his wrist, and the joints of the Frost Ice Claw crackled crisply. Its five fingers slowly tightened as the ice patterns pierced into the energy mass.

The twisted, roiling shadow energy sphere suddenly froze. Then came a crisp crack from within, like shattering glass—spiderweb-like ice patterns emerged across its surface.

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

"Shatter." Dago spat out a single word. The Frost Armguard clenched fiercely, and 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 looked like a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

In a hoarse voice, he said, "What an excellent academy wizard. You should make very good blood food."