Third Street

It was soon 1:50 p.m. The five members of the task team stood atop a relatively tall building on Second Street in the eastern district of the town.

Five black dots flew in from the direction of the Academy, rapidly scattering toward different parts of the town. One of them sped straight toward Dago and the others.

As time passed, the black dot drew closer and grew larger. A ten-meter-long airship slowly came into view.

Everyone silently watched the quiet Third Street in the distance. A crimson membrane, centered on the fifth house and spanning dozens of meters in diameter, obscured everything within.

All they could hear were the occasional shrill, piercing roars of groups of Blood Slaves.

Ed took out his pocket watch and glanced at it. It was exactly two o'clock. The airship's magical bombardment was about to begin.

The airship descended to a height of more than ten meters above Second Street. Vast quantities of energy particles gathered around the cannon ports beneath it, while the wizards aboard began chanting spells.

"Boom, boom..." The fireballs forming at the airship's cannon ports were each a full meter in diameter. They slammed viciously into the crimson membrane, sending enormous ripples spreading across its surface.

They were followed by all manner of dazzling spells, which stirred countless tiny ripples across the crimson membrane. About two minutes later, scattered balls of magical energy shot out from the blood membrane, beginning a magical exchange with the airship.

By the fifth minute, the crimson membrane could no longer withstand the airship's ferocious bombardment. It shattered with a series of cracks, revealing a hellscape of blood and white bones before them.

Blood Slaves swarmed through their field of vision, and it seemed as though the wails of souls echoed in their ears. The atmosphere instantly became grim and terrifying.

A powerful stench of blood and decay wafted from Third Street. Piles of white bones covered the road, blood smeared the buildings and ground, and tiny mushroom-sized bloody lumps grew everywhere.

The fifth house on Third Street resembled a blood tree. Dozens of human-sized Blood Cocoons hung from crimson branches connecting it to the surrounding houses, constantly pulsing.

More than a dozen Black-Robed Wizards stood on the rooftops of Third Street, casting spells at the airship above.

"What a pack of beasts."

Ed, the leader, frowned and muttered a curse before taking out a bottle of Mental Potion and drinking it.

The other wizards did the same, taking out Mental Potions and consuming them. It seemed the task team's mission was about to begin.

Dago's lips moved soundlessly as a faint blue-violet glow appeared in his eyes. He activated the Detection Technique and scanned the surroundings.

His Detection Technique, which he had painstakingly trained to the Metamorphosis level, not only took less than a second to cast, but also allowed him to see far more information and traces after activation.

In Dago's eyes, Third Street had turned completely crimson. Vast amounts of negative energy particles filled and lingered throughout the entire street like mist.

Within that blood mist, bright crimson streams of energy resembled transmitting blood vessels, ultimately converging in the fifth house. He could faintly sense tides formed from immense energy.

His expression instantly darkened. He had no idea what was hidden within this hellish Third Street, and unease rose in his heart.

But the eighth minute had already arrived. The airship had taken more than a dozen spells from the Black-Robed Wizards on the rooftops, and the glow of its protective barrier had dimmed considerably.

Third Street was not doing much better. Several buildings had been blown apart, while the street was riddled with craters and belched black smoke.

Yet the protective membrane raised once more around the fifth house had absorbed much of the airship's damage, leaving it standing firm.

The airship ceased its magical bombardment, turned around, and rose into the air, preparing to withdraw from Second Street.

The Black-Robed Wizards counterattacking from the rooftops had suffered heavy losses as well. The airship had killed five or six of them outright. Looking at the devastation beneath their feet and their comrades whose bodies had been completely obliterated, their surging fury was so intense that even Dago could feel it.

Two of the Black-Robed Wizards actually rose into the air, chasing after the airship along the rooftops while continuously firing spells at it.

The task team jumped down from the building and entered Third Street. Countless streams of blood made the gray brick-paved road extremely slick beneath their feet.

"Task team, prepare yourselves—attack the Blood Pool in the fifth house with full force."

Ed's face was icy as he raised his wand above his head. His gaze remained fixed ahead, as though he could see through the black smoke to the fifth house on Third Street.

The snow-covered team members gripped their wands tightly, released their mental power, and chanted spells. Their robes fluttered wildly in the wind of energy, while the entire task team waited silently for Ed's command.

Once the two Black-Robed Wizards chasing the airship disappeared from sight, Ed let out a slight roar from his stern face. "Cast your spells."

"Boom—!!!!"

A massive Ice Crystal Cannon shell tore through the street with a piercing howl, carrying a violent gale that shook the collapsed buildings along the road. It swept up countless droplets of blood and white bones before smashing into the protective barrier around the fifth house.

The Ice Crystal Cannon shell shattered into countless icy snowflakes that drifted through the air, freezing many of the hanging Blood Cocoons.

The house's protective barrier immediately dimmed to nearly nothing.

The team members could not help turning to look. At the same time, it drew the attention of a large number of Blood Slaves and Black-Robed Wizards, who rushed toward the task team.

The Academy wizard Lai Qiong unleashed his spell next. A Lightning Spear formed before him and shot straight into the charging horde of Blood Slaves. Arcs of electricity leaped wildly as large numbers of Blood Slaves were charred into blackened husks and collapsed to the ground.

Captain Ed cast a Wind Blade Vortex, raising several spinning wind blades as sharp as knives and shredding two approaching Black-Robed Wizards into pieces.

Wilton cast the Group Protection Technique, placing a protective barrier around every member of the task team. It could withstand two or three attacks from an Advanced Apprentice wizard.

The young wizard Herid cast the final spell. He threw a head-sized fireball into the Blood Slave horde, burning several Blood Slaves to ash.

"Phew—"

Dago let out a breath. Wilton's protective barrier blocked much of the bloody stench and energy, making him feel considerably better.

The next second, he raised the Ice Crystal Wand. The air and light around its tip began to distort.

A great quantity of gathered ice elements formed an invisible freezing wind that whipped at the hem of Dago's robe, once again drawing everyone's attention.

An enormous blue sphere of light, as large as several human heads, condensed into shape and shot toward the Blood Slave horde.

"Bang!" As the blue sphere exploded among the Blood Slaves, large numbers of them were frozen mid-run, toppled to the ground, and shattered into fragments.

This made the Academy wizard Lai Qiong approach Dago with an unhappy expression. He lowered his voice and said resentfully, "What do you mean by this, kid? Are you trying to steal first place in team contributions from me?"

Dago could not be bothered with him at all, focusing only on recovering and preparing his next spell.

Having been ignored outright, Lai Qiong found it hard to save face. But with the clustered Blood Slaves and several Black-Robed Wizards right in front of them, he could not say anything more.

Still, they were merely a group of mindless walking corpses. Even with several Black-Robed Wizards at the Advanced Apprentice level following behind them, they could not cause any real trouble for the task team and were quickly slaughtered to the last.

Before long, the task team followed the straight road forward, fighting their way to the fifth house in the middle of the street.