Third Street

It was soon 1:50 p.m. Their five-person task team stood atop a relatively tall building on Second Street in the eastern part of the city.

Five black dots flew from the direction of the academy and quickly scattered toward different areas of the town. One of them sped straight toward Dago's group.

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

Everyone silently watched the quiet Third Street not far away. A blood-red 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 howls of Blood Slaves in groups.

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

The airship descended to a height of more than ten meters above Second Street. A large number of energy particles gathered around the cannon muzzle beneath it, while the wizards aboard began chanting and casting spells.

Boom! Boom! The fireballs gathering at the cannon muzzle beneath the airship were each a full meter in diameter. They slammed violently into the blood-red membrane, sending enormous ripples through it.

Various dazzling spells followed, stirring up countless tiny ripples across the blood-red membrane. After roughly two minutes, scattered balls of spell energy shot out from the blood membrane, beginning a spell duel with the airship.

By the fifth minute, the blood-red membrane could no longer withstand the airship's fierce bombardment. It cracked apart, revealing a hell of blood and white bones before them.

Blood Slaves scurried everywhere in their field of vision, and the wails of souls seemed to echo in their ears. The atmosphere instantly became grim and terrifying.

The stench of blood and decay wafted over from Third Street. Massive piles of white bones covered the road, while blood smeared the buildings and ground, all of it covered in tiny mushroom-sized blood lumps.

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

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

"What a bunch of beasts."

Wizard Ed, the leader, frowned and muttered a curse. He took out a Mental Potion and drank it.

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

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

The Detection Technique he had painstakingly trained to the Metamorphosis level had not only reduced its casting time to less than a second, but also allowed him to see far more information and traces after using it.

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

Within that blood fog, bright crimson energy streams connected like blood vessels carrying something, ultimately converging in the fifth house. A faint tide formed from surging energy could be sensed there.

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

But it was already the eighth minute. 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 faring much better either. Several buildings had been blown apart, and the road was riddled with smoking craters.

Yet the Protection Rune that rose around the fifth house once more blocked much of the airship's damage, and the house remained standing.

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

The Black-Robed Wizards fighting back from the rooftops had also suffered heavy losses. Five or six of them had been taken out by the airship. As they looked at the devastation below and their comrades whose bodies had been obliterated, even Dago could feel their surging fury.

Two of the Black-Robed Wizards actually rose into the air. They pursued the airship over the rooftops while firing spells at it.

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

"Task team, prepare yourselves—attack the Blood Pool in the fifth house with everything you have!"

With a cold expression, Ed raised his wand overhead. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, as if it could pierce through the black smoke and see 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 silently waited for Ed.

Once the two Black-Robed Wizards pursuing the airship could no longer be seen, Ed's stern face erupted in a low roar. "Cast your spells!"

Boom—!!!!

A massive Ice Crystal Cannon shell tore across the street with a sharp howl, bringing with it a raging gale. It shook the collapsed buildings along the road and swept up countless streams of blood and white bones as it struck the Protection Rune around the fifth house.

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

The glow of the house's Protection Rune instantly dimmed to almost nothing.

The entire team turned to look, and it also drew the attention of a large number of Blood Slaves and Black-Robed Wizards, who converged on their group.

Academy wizard Lai Qiong's spell followed immediately. A Lightning Spear gathered before him and smashed straight into the charging pack of Blood Slaves. Arcs of electricity shot everywhere, turning large numbers of Blood Slaves into charcoal before they fell stiffly to the ground.

Captain Ed cast Wind Blade Vortex, raising several spinning Wind Blades sharp as knives and shredding the 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 block two or three attacks from Advanced Apprentice wizards.

The young wizard Herid cast the last spell. He threw a head-sized fireball into the Blood Slave pack, burning several Blood Slaves into ashes.

"Huff—"

Dago let out a breath. Wilton's protective barrier had 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 large amount of gathered ice-element energy formed an invisible cold wind around him, whipping at the hem of Dago's robe and drawing everyone's attention again.

A huge blue orb, as large as several human heads, condensed into shape and shot toward the pack of Blood Slaves.

Bang! As the blue orb exploded among the Blood Slaves, many of them were frozen mid-run, toppled over, and shattered into fragments.

This made 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 to respond. He simply focused on recovering and preparing his next spell.

Having been ignored outright, academy wizard Lai Qiong had trouble saving face. But with the Blood Slaves gathered before them and several Black-Robed Wizards among them, he could not say much more.

Still, they were merely mindless walking corpses. Even with several Black-Robed Wizards of Advanced Apprentice strength behind them, they could not stir up much trouble before the task team and were quickly slaughtered to the last.

Before long, the task team fought their way down the straight street and reached the fifth house at its center.