The two teleportation arrays, one large and one small, shone in concert. Nox stood before the larger array, guarding against the Furious Giant.
The teleportation could not be interrupted at this critical moment.
The Furious Giant, in turn, watched Nox warily. He did not want Nox interfering with him either.
"Gru, what happened? Why did you activate the teleportation array?"
A voice first emerged from the teleportation spell array in the Furious Giant's hand. It belonged to the vice dean teleporting over from Tiyama City.
"Vice Dean, a wizard from Black Skull Academy got here before me. Alice and Leo have already been captured. I arrived a step too late, so all I could do was hold him here."
The Furious Giant's voice boomed like a thunderous drum, every word carrying ten thousand meters.
Leo was startled. The arriving wizard was actually the vice dean of Purple Flame Academy. Someone of that standing should be level three—a level three great wizard!
The vice dean stepped out of the teleportation array and stood on the Furious Giant's palm. Dressed in long wizard robes and leaning on a staff, he looked utterly relaxed.
A level three great wizard truly had few opponents in the Wizard World.
But the moment the vice dean emerged, he saw Nox guarding the teleportation array opposite him, as well as the hundred-meter teleportation array in operation. He also took in Leo and Ice Woman, bound tightly in the distance.
Only after seeing that both were unharmed did the vice dean feel somewhat reassured. As long as they were all right, this was no great matter.
Yet the instant the vice dean appeared, Nox's expression changed dramatically, and he braced himself as though facing a formidable enemy. With a turn of his palm, a black skull appeared in his hand.
It looked unremarkable, merely a small black skull, but the aura it gave off was incomparably heavy. The moment it appeared, the entire space seemed to freeze.
The vice dean's relaxed expression changed the instant the little black skull appeared. He had just thought he had few opponents, and now he had encountered one.
"Nox, what enemy has forced you to use the great Black Skull Stigmata Wizard's gift?" A voice came from the teleportation array behind Nox. Along with it, ten wizards radiating powerful auras stepped out.
Seven were first-level wizards, and three were level two wizards!!!
This was Black Skull Academy's hidden contingency. If it was used, things must have reached a critical juncture.
Black Skull Academy had prepared hidden contingencies for some of its powerful wizards. Nox's was this teleportation spell array.
This hundred-meter void teleportation array was never something a single level two wizard like him could set up. It had taken the combined strength of the entire academy.
The ten figures stepped confidently out of the teleportation array. The first thing they saw was not the enormous Furious Giant, but the figure standing in his hand.
Their hearts instantly sank. The moment that figure fixed his gaze on them, their hair stood on end and their scalps tingled.
A level three wizard!!!
At that moment, the ten wizards immediately understood why Nox had taken out the Stigmata Gift. They alone could not defeat a level three wizard!
Especially with a Furious Giant enraged to the extreme beside him. That Furious Giant alone could finish off all their first-level wizards.
As for the remaining three level two wizards fighting a level three wizard, they would be better off running away sooner!
The ten wizards' lips twitched as they all looked at Nox in bewilderment. Although their actions would anger several major academies, the response should not have been this extreme.
Sending out a few level two wizards would have been enough to handle them. Why had a level three wizard shown up?
Nox had no way to explain his plight. He had only teleported Masen and the others over to prevent complications from a delay, defeat the Furious Giant Gru in one stroke, then hurry away with the two apprentices. This was Purple Flame Academy's territory, after all. Lingering too long could easily lead to trouble.
He was stronger than Gru, but he could not defeat him in a short time, so he had decisively chosen to call in help.
He had never expected Gru to act just as he did, directly teleporting over a level three wizard.
The situation, in which he had originally held the upper hand, had instantly taken a sharp turn for the worse. If he had not been holding the Stigmata Gift, those two opposite him would probably have attacked already!
Boom!
Just as the confrontation reached a stalemate, a pillar of light suddenly burst skyward from Ice Woman, and two figures strode out of it.
Before he even saw the two wizards' faces, Nox instantly activated the Black Skull Stigmata Gift in his hand.
He could hardly be blamed for panicking so badly. Those two wizards had the same aura as the level three wizard standing in the Furious Giant's hand. They were level three wizards too!
Nox felt as though he had stirred up a hornet's nest. Three level three wizards had appeared in succession!!!
Normally, level three great wizards were each busier than the last. Even Stigmata Wizards had to be somewhat courteous when seeking them out, yet he had run into three. It was not as though he had attacked Purple Flame Academy. Was this really necessary?
Nox understood that Leo and Ice Woman were far more important than he had imagined. Otherwise, so many level three great wizards would not have arrived within a mere twenty breaths!
The very instant Nox activated the Black Skull Stigmata Gift in his hand, thunder suddenly erupted in the sky. Countless bolts of lightning writhed wildly like dragons and snakes, and a pitch-black spatial rift slowly tore open amid them.
An oppressive might descended from above, as though a god were arriving, and the atmosphere across the entire battlefield instantly froze!
Even a thousand meters away, Leo did not escape it. He felt as though a primordial beast had fixed its gaze on him and he might lose his life at any moment!
"What's going on?"
The two level three wizards who emerged from the teleportation array beside Ice Woman were also taken aback when they sensed the auras present. Seven first-level wizards, three level two wizards, and on their own side, a level three vice dean and Gru, a level two body refinement wizard.
In the sky, a spatial rift connected to the Stigmata Secret Realm was slowly opening. Countless savage auras poured down into the Wizard World, as though countless slaves who lived for slaughter would tear them apart the very next moment!
But this was not an otherworld battlefield. Who would open a spatial rift connected to the Stigmata Secret Realm for no reason?
Such a situation was exceedingly rare in the Wizard World.
"The two little apprentices actually got captured. Not having much luck, are you?"
One level three wizard teased with a smile, then lightly tapped the mud-and-stone chains binding Leo and Ice Woman with his staff. The chains Leo could not break free of instantly crumbled section by section into ash and drifted away on the wind.
They were saved!
Before Leo could thank them, the two level three wizards flew toward the battlefield, while Gru, with his enormous eleven-meter frame, flew toward Leo.
By the time Gru reached Leo, he had deactivated his bloodline power and returned to his original appearance.
"This no longer has anything to do with us. We're going back to Tiyama City," Gru told Leo, his expression unusually grim.
Leo nodded faster than anyone. This place was about to become an apocalyptic battlefield. With his puny limbs, he was better off running first.
Leo looked at Ice Woman beside him. Without even glancing at him, she took a step and vanished from his sight, leaving his invitation to flee together stuck behind his teeth.
"Kid, Alice is that important figure's disciple. If you want to pursue her, you'd better give up on the idea now."
In a rare playful mood, Gru teased Leo with a smile.
"What are you talking about, Teacher Gru? I just wanted to thank her for protecting me." Leo waved his hands repeatedly. He could not afford to get involved with someone of such noble standing and such strength. He was only being polite.
With one sweep of his large hand, Gru tucked Leo, who wanted to refuse, under his arm. With a boom, he launched himself upward and was already high in the sky.
Flying was a dream shared by everyone on Earth. Leo had imagined countless times what it would be like to fly under his own power, but he had absolutely never imagined flying tucked under someone's arm.
It felt awful!
Absolutely awful!!!
Especially with how fast Gru flew and how high he went, Leo was deeply worried that he might fall and die!
On top of that, the killing intent around Gru was so dense it seemed almost tangible, making Leo tremble involuntarily.
It was not that Leo was afraid of Gru. His body was feeling fear instinctively!
Before they flew out of the battlefield, Leo could not help looking back. He could no longer make out the wizards, but countless huge claws were struggling to reach through the spatial rift in the sky, as though trying to grab something to eat.
The claws reaching through were each over ten meters long. Leo could not imagine how large the complete bodies of such strange beasts would be.
Sure enough, what he had seen of the Wizard World did not even amount to a single corner!
Leo understood. He still needed to keep a low profile and develop. One day, he would be like that too!
Once Leo could no longer see anything on the battlefield, he could only sense unimaginably vast auras erupting one after another. That stretch of sky was instantly dyed in all manner of colors.
Gru said nothing, but Leo was so shocked that he could not recover for a long time!
He could not even withstand the battle between Gru and Nox, two level two wizards, let alone a chaotic battle involving so many wizards now!
After returning to Tiyama City, Gru simply tossed Leo into the city lord's residence, then hurried away without leaving any instructions or saying anything.
"Brother Leo, you're back! We didn't get to spend much time together last time. You must stay a few more days this time."
Samatchi, the city lord of Tiyama City, appeared from somewhere and greeted Leo with solicitous concern.
Leo's face, still solemn a second earlier, instantly blossomed into a smile. "Then I'm sorry for the trouble, City Lord."
"Brother Leo, you're being far too formal."
Before long, Leo and Samatchi were acting like brothers reunited after years apart, speaking heart to heart about anything and everything. All that remained was to acknowledge their kinship and swear brotherhood on the spot.
From Samatchi, Leo learned what had changed over the past year. The disappearances had been investigated, as had the beast tide rampage. Both were Black Skull Academy's doing.
For some unknown reason, they had moved against all five neighboring academies at once, seizing large numbers of people under twenty.
Moreover, to avoid discovery in the early stages, they had triggered a beast tide, leading the five academies to believe those people had all died in it.
The scheme had worked well. It took the five academies several years to uncover Black Skull Academy's plot.
Over the past year, Purple Flame Academy's wizards and Black Skull Academy's wizards had already fought dozens of battles, with casualties on both sides.
At present, Purple Flame Academy had begun sending reinforcements, seeking to drive Black Skull Academy's wizards out.
As for why they were not attacking Black Skull Academy's territory and taking back the people who had already been seized, Leo did not ask, and Samatchi did not say.
But Leo had already sensed that Black Skull Academy was far stronger than Purple Flame Academy—or rather, stronger than the five academies being invaded.
What terrifying power!