Full-Time Magister: The Strongest Summoned Beast is Actually Myself

Chapter 162, The Cause of the Drowning Curse

Pei Li was powerless to resist under Chen Hao's holy light. The seven pillars of judgment struck him one after another like divine punishment, each carrying destructive holy power, tearing his last bit of mental defense to shreds.

Blood gushed from his mouth and nose, his body was charred black, his bones were broken, and he could barely stand. He staggered to his knees, his eyes filled with resentment and terror.

“You… how could you…” Pei Li roared hoarsely, but his voice was drowned out by the thunder and the echo of holy light.

Chen Hao coldly looked down at him, his body surrounded by lightning and holy light, like a god hanging high on the throne of judgment, his power overwhelming the surrounding area.

"The executioners of the Black Vatican are nothing more than this." His voice was icy cold, devoid of any humanity. "On your way."

As he spoke, Chen Hao suddenly swung his right arm, which he had raised high—

"Sin-breaking light wheel!"

Endless light gathered in his hand, and the world-destroying Wheel of Light suddenly rose into the sky, descending with the power of judgment and end!

"I'll fight you to the death!!!" Pei Li roared to the sky, using up his remaining magical energy. An ice python rose up in front of him, solidified, and violently pounced on the halo of light!

However, it was nothing more than a dying mantis. The light wheel crushed down, and the ice python exploded with a roar, scattering ice crystals everywhere. Like a fragile bubble, it could not withstand even the slightest attack!
Pei Li's expression changed completely. He stopped resisting and suddenly pulled out a space scroll glowing with blue light from his sleeve, then tore it open!

"Don't even think about running away!"

Almost the instant Pei Li tore open the spatial scroll, Mo Fan and Mu Ningxue simultaneously unleashed their power!
—Mu Ningxue activated her Frozen Domain, freezing the air instantly. A chill surged forth like a raging tide, causing the temperature to plummet to its lowest point. The parking lot seemed to have fallen into an abyss of extreme cold, and even the fluctuations in the spatial rifts began to stagnate!
—Mo Fanlei constellation spread out, seven stars shone and lightning intertwined to form a net of heaven and earth, one after another long snake of lightning slashed down from the void, accurately hitting the torn space gap, the thunder was deafening!
— Chen Hao's hand reached out like a thunderbird or eagle, his five fingers precisely gripping the core of the crack. The expanding spatial scroll seemed to be clamped down, instantly losing control!

boom! ! !
Space rebounded violently like a shattered mirror, and the entire spatial scroll exploded in Pei Li's hands!
"Aaaaaah—!!!" Pei Li screamed in agony as his entire arm was swallowed and torn apart by the spatial turbulence, leaving it a bloody mess with broken bones. Blood sprayed onto the frozen ground, instantly freezing!

Before he could react, the beam of judgment in the sky was already approaching!

Like a spinning top, the ring of judgment, carrying the dual will of holiness and destruction, plunges down at a speed that almost transcends time!

"don't want--!!!"

Pei Li roared in anguish, trying to mobilize the ice-type star sea within his body for a final struggle. However, the ice-sealing domain had already restrained all his energy flow, the lightning had shattered his meridians, and the holy light made his soul tremble, leaving him completely unable to move!

The next moment, the wheel of judgment crashed down—

Boom! ! !

The entire parking lot seemed to have been struck by a giant hammer. The ice shattered, the ground collapsed, and holy light burst into flames at the center, turning it into a field of light execution. Thunder roared and raged within it, annihilating all life!
Pei Li's body was completely disintegrated under the impact of the confluence of light and lightning. His flesh and bones were reduced to ashes, and even his remaining soul was stripped away and burned away inch by inch by the holy light!

In mid-air, the remaining halo slowly spun around, eventually dissipating into countless golden-white feathers.

Chen Hao stood in the center of the ruins, surrounded by lightning and holy light, like a god of judgment, majestic and awe-inspiring.

Mu Ningxue stepped forward, her gaze cold and calm: "He's dead."

Mo Fan breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at the scorched and icy ground, and clicked his tongue, "Tsk, that was terrifying..."

Not long after, the mages from the Temple of Liberty arrived and confirmed Pei Li's true identity through surveillance footage, bringing the matter to a close.

Ultimately, however, the incompetent Temple of Liberty was still stolen.

The Dimensional Triangle Mirror still ended up in Leng Jue's hands.

……

A few days later, as the sun set over the Caligari coast, its golden-orange glow softly reflected on the glass of the airport terminal, a large white passenger plane slowly descended.

A pretty young girl with two long ponytails walked out alone, dragging a bag of luggage.

"Lingling!"

Mo Fan was the first to rush forward, beaming, "Why are you here? You can't see my match right now."

"Tch, who's coming to watch your match? Don't be so narcissistic." Lingling's disdainful gaze passed over Mo Fan and landed on Chen Hao, who was standing in the distance: "When do we set off?"

"Anytime," Chen Hao said calmly as he walked over.

The next stop is Portugal, a place where drowning curses are prevalent. Lingling was summoned by him to solve the drowning curse.

Although we have the advantage of being prescient and know about the existence of the evil maggots, extracting the vaccine from their gallbladders is a specialized task. Rather than entrusting it to someone we don't trust, it's better to let Lingling do it.

……

Soon, the National Government team members assembled, and with the tacit approval of their mentors, Chen Hao led the team on a specially approved flight to Europe.

The plane skimmed through the clouds and slowly descended toward the west coast of Portugal.

"Tinoaya Port is just ahead. Prepare for landing." The pilot's announcement came from the cockpit. Outside the window, a vast blue sea and a winding coastline gradually came into view.

Mo Fan peered out the porthole and suddenly exclaimed, "Holy crap, what's that? A capsized cruise ship?"

Everyone looked out the window and saw the remains of a huge creature lying on the shallows about three kilometers outside the port of Tinoaia.

It is larger than a medium-sized cruise ship, with most of its snow-white skeleton protruding above the water, as if it had been washed back to shore by the tide after sinking for months.

The entire skeleton was completely dried out, with no flesh or blood visible. Only the broken joints and collapsed ribs lay silently in the sea breeze, like an altar of death.

"This is a boat? And it even has bones!" Zhao Manyan clicked his tongue in amazement. "This thing must be at least two hundred meters long..."

Chen Hao slowly stood up, staring at the pile of corpses with piercing eyes: "That's not a ship, but the remains of a monarch-level sea beast."

"A monarch-level... monarch level??" Jiang Shaoxu turned her head sharply, her voice shrill. "Are you kidding me?"

"Such a large creature, and it died so cleanly..." Lingling's expression turned solemn. "What could possibly do that?"

Chen Hao did not answer, but continued to gaze at the sea skeleton. After a long while, he whispered, "Prepare to disembark."

……

Not long after, the Nationalist team disembarked.

The vehicle we were in drove along the main road of Tinoua Port, heading towards the port. Outside the window, the streets were deserted, and the sea breeze carried a pungent, salty smell and an unknown stench of decay.

Soon, the convoy reached the coastline and stopped at a safe distance from the skeletal sea monster carcass.

One by one, everyone got out of the car and walked to the edge of the cordon, gazing up at the enormous skeleton. It was like a sunken ancient ship seeing the light of day again, bizarre in shape, with exposed bones, four eye sockets on its skull, and neat, sharp teeth, resembling some kind of deep-sea predator, yet far more eerie than any known sea monster.

“It looks like a whale… but it has five vertebrae and horns.” Nan Jue frowned. “I’ve never seen a creature like this before.”

“Perhaps it’s a mammoth from the sea frontier.” Lingling’s voice was calm but tinged with suppressed emotion. “But it’s too clean, as if it’s been completely hollowed out, yet the color of the bones makes it seem like it hasn’t been dead for long…” “If I’m not mistaken, this should be related to the drowning curse,” Chen Hao said.

"How so?" Lingling asked curiously.

"Actually, I've already investigated the Drowning Curse. It's not some kind of curse or heresy at all, but rather the work of a microbial demon," Chen Hao said slowly, his gaze fixed on the enormous skeleton that was unusually clean.

"Microbial demons?" Lingling raised an eyebrow slightly.

“That’s right.” Chen Hao nodded. “But they have evolved into a special kind of demonic species—I call them evil maggots. These creatures are extremely small and transparent, invisible to the naked eye.”

"Did you keep any samples?" Lingling asked excitedly.

“No, but the incidence of drowning curse is quite high here. We can get it from a drowning curse sufferer,” Chen Hao said.

……

"What if we challenge them?" Mo Fan asked.

Chen Hao glanced at everyone and decisively said, "Let's split up. I'll go investigate the source of the Drowning Curse, prioritizing the infected individuals that can be extracted. Lingling, Mu Ningxue, and Mo Fan will come with me."

He turned his gaze to Ai Jiangtu: "Old Ai, you lead the team to the Portuguese Pavilion and win the Challenge Medal."

“No problem, leave it to me.” Ai Jiangtu nodded.

……

Soon, with the help of money, Chen Hao and Lingling found the key clue to the drowning curse case.

Drowning curse sufferers typically experience symptoms such as abnormally increased appetite, mental confusion, and rapid physical weakness. Once the "evil maggots" in their bodies have consumed a certain amount, it triggers their second stage—driving the host to drown itself and detach from the body to seek out a stronger life form to parasitize.

Bobby is a mid-level water mage. His brother died suddenly from a drowning curse some time ago. When his body was found, it was already soaking in his own bathtub, and the manner of his death was extremely bizarre.

This kept Bobby on high alert for similar symptoms. Until a few days ago, he noticed his younger brother was also exhibiting similar behaviors—a sudden increase in appetite, muttering to himself, and sleepwalking at night. He didn't dare to take it lightly, locking his brother inside and even magically interfering with the water supply.

However, tragedy still struck.

Just last night, his brother created the conditions for drowning in an extremely crazy way—he stabbed his wrist with a knife in the room and slowly poured his blood into a basin until the basin of crimson completely submerged his airway.

"In an attempt to drown himself, he actually squeezed out a basin of blood..." Lingling's voice trembled.

The room still reeked of blood. The basin of red-stained water was covered by an isolation barrier, and the water surface was as smooth as a mirror, eerily red.

Chen Hao stood by the basin, his gaze slightly narrowed, and suddenly his right hand plunged into the water.

Lingling was startled: "Chen Hao, you—"

The next moment, Chen Hao yanked his hand back, holding a ball of water between his fingers, in which was a nearly transparent writhing creature.

The thing resembled some kind of sticky glass nematode, curled up in a ball, and was almost undetectable if it hadn't been constantly trembling.

"This...this is..." Lingling's eyes widened, her voice trembling slightly.

Mu Ningxue frowned, her eyes serious: "I understand."

“That’s right, it’s this one.” Chen Hao said in a deep voice, “The second-stage maggot has broken away from its host and is looking for a new ‘shell’.”

"Quickly put it in; it must still be very fragile in this form." Lingling immediately took out the crystal sealing jar she had prepared beforehand, moving with extreme care, as if afraid that even the slightest breeze would disturb the transparent creature.

……

After a whole night of research, Lingling's expression became increasingly serious, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

“This thing is far more terrifying than we imagine,” she whispered, her voice carrying an unprecedented sense of unease.

“Right now it’s in its larval stage and seems harmless, but once it enters the ocean and gets enough water and magical energy, it will grow at an astonishing rate and complete its evolution.” Lingling paused and continued, “The key is that its current form is essentially a malleable embryo… As long as it gets entangled with any life form, it can mimic its characteristics and even absorb genes and magical structures to gradually ‘grow’ into that target.”

"You mean... it can turn into anything?" Mo Fan's mouth dropped open. "Like, if it bumps into a Crimson Demon, it can turn into a Crimson Demon? If it touches a sea monster, it can turn into a sea monster?"

“That’s right.” Lingling nodded, her voice as cold as frost. “And what’s most chilling is that this includes even humans.”

The air fell silent for a moment.

Mo Fan's eyes widened: "Then...then doesn't that mean...if a vile maggot entangles itself with a sea mammoth—it can grow into a new sea mammoth? That's a monarch-level demon!!!"

Lingling gritted her teeth: "Judging from the timeline of her growth, it is highly likely that this has already happened."

"You mean, that skeleton..." Mu Ningxue whispered.

Chen Hao nodded.

"The forerunners of evil... have probably already returned to the seas in the guise of a king."

……

"I've analyzed it carefully." Lingling stood in front of the whiteboard, speaking slowly.

"The maggots have three forms. The first stage is the mayfly form, which is extremely small and has a low survival rate. Even if they enter the human body, they may not be able to successfully parasitize it. They are like jellyfish larvae floating in the sea. They cannot be touched or pressed, or they will die if you are not careful. Therefore, many people do not get sick even if they accidentally inhale them."

She picked up a microscopic image and magnified it: "The maggots in this state are the most unstable and the most vulnerable."

"The second stage is the jellyfish maggot form. After successfully parasitizing the human body, they use nerves as tentacles to infiltrate the host's brain and begin to control the person's mental will. At this stage, there is basically no cure."

Her tone turned cold: "If you want to kill the maggot, the host's body will be drained of its energy in an instant; but if you don't kill it, the host will sooner or later be driven to the sea and drown itself."

“The third stage,” Lingling shifted her gaze to the sea outside the window, her voice lowering, “is their mimicry form after killing their host, detaching from the human body, and returning to the ocean. At this stage, they are still just newly hatched infants, but they already possess basic perception and imitation abilities. They will parasitize and devour powerful demonic individuals, eventually growing into a new, fully-fledged form.”

The expressions of the crowd gradually turned serious, and the entire room fell into an eerie silence.

"This is our next goal." Lingling looked at Chen Hao, Mo Fan, and the others again, her gaze firm.

“I have confirmed that there is no vaccine tissue on this juvenile. I guess that only after they have completed their separation from the parasite, entered the ocean, and gradually grown into their full size will they generate that kind of vaccine antigen on their surface or inside their bodies.”

“If we can capture a complete maggot and extract the vaccine tissue, and then hand it over to the International Magic Association for global distribution of injections…” She took a breath, a glimmer of hope flashing in her eyes, “then from now on, the maggot will no longer be an invisible nightmare. Humanity will truly have immunity against the Drowning Curse.”

“It sounds like… a global vaccine revolution,” Mo Fan said in a low voice.

(End of this chapter)