A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 444 Offending the Grand Master and still wanting to leave?

Without a word, the chief mage of the army raised his hand and released an arrow.

The seemingly ordinary arrow, formed from magic, actually pierced through the barrier. This was the first time Pascal had ever witnessed such an easy breach of the blue light barrier developed by his junior brother Rorschach.

Caught off guard, Pascal could only twist his body with all his might to dodge, but he was still hit in the leg, fell down the stairs, and rolled to Richard's side.

The wound resembled the flesh of an overripe apple; the oozing fluid quickly turned from bright red to black and became viscous. Richard, forcing himself to stay alert, placed his hand on the injured man's thigh.

Before the unfortunate Pascal could even say thank you, he felt another wave of excruciating pain, along with a strange "fragrance" – Richard's emergency treatment method – his palms radiated immense heat, directly searing Pascal's wounds.

"Ah—" The intruder finally let out a scream that pleased the chief of the army.

As the saying goes, an observer sees more clearly than the observer. Paul witnessed the unusual nature of Pascal's wound and understood that Richard was providing emergency treatment for his senior. He also erected a blue light barrier and then created a force field wall behind it.

"Grab my hand!"

Richard took out the second crystal of [Vacuum Form], made the three of them touch each other, and quickly activated it to prepare to escape.

The three figures blurred again and were about to float towards the secret door. Although Richard had mixed feelings, he didn't know if doing this now was futile, since he couldn't find any outside help to fight against his teacher even after leaving the fortress.

The chief envoy was actually delighted by the three men's intention to escape, because their distance from the core of the ceremony allowed him to act more freely. Since leaving headquarters to be on the battlefield, he had always faced various restrictions.

As a necromancer archmage, once he made a move, he would inevitably attract the attention of the archmages belonging to his guild, resulting in a righteous mob attack from the Arcane Senate. On his first attack, he encountered an old charlatan from the Church of Order who was his weakness. He detonated the airship while the anti-magic device was in effect, severely injuring the old charlatan, and then summoned a small sun, which roasted him until he was completely dazed.

When it came time to make a final stand for His Majesty the Emperor, the ritual was witnessed by students bursting with a sense of justice, and was also discovered by two Valuwa mages. Now the ritual was at its most critical and vulnerable moment, and they had to be wary of them or themselves interrupting the ritual, causing the super-level magic they had prepared for years to go to waste.

"Fate, do you really enjoy working against me?" The necromancer could sense that whenever he took action, he was met with numerous setbacks, but he was not discouraged; in fact, he enjoyed the situation. Now, the three young men had finally given him room to maneuver. He raised his hand again, and the tattoo absorbed the breath of death, transforming it into the eighth-circle spell, "Wave of Withering."

Within the cone-shaped space centered on the caster, the spell touched the barrier, which turned from blue to dark green before collapsing. It touched the three ethereal escapees, nearly blowing away the three wisps of "qi". As the [Wave of Withering] swept over their bodies, Richard and Paul were instantly drained of their strength, and Pascal, whom they were supporting, once again made intimate contact with the stairs.

Their bodies were in a state of extreme decay, truly "exhausted": not only were they unable to summon magic to cast spells or run, but even their breathing and heartbeats became slow and increasingly weak.

The remains of Schmidt, controlled by the necromancer, came over and picked up Paul horizontally. The archmage also walked up to his disciple, grabbed his head tightly with his large, withered hands, lifted it up, and injected negative energy into it.

Richard felt immense pain, a biological instinct to reject it, yet unable to resist; all his pain receptors were first activated, then disconnected. The chief of staff transformed Richard into a death servant similar to Schmidt, but spared his life, preserving his consciousness.

Richard, under control, also picked up Pascal and returned to the secret room one after the other with Schmidt.

The floor of the secret chamber warped, and the remains of the unknown sorcerer seemed to have become the private property of the necromancer, whom he could manipulate at will. They arrived below the ritual site, on the second level of the secret chamber.

The ceiling here, which is also the floor of the first floor, has mutated blood vessels hanging from the cracks in the stone, connecting the core of the ritual with the blood pool in the center of the second floor.

The archmage made a grand gesture; unlike ordinary blood pools, this one was filled with the blood of spellcasters, shimmering with mysterious spiritual light and resentment. The temperature on the second level was extremely low; when Paul and Pascal were carried in, it was as if they had plunged into ice water, the intense chill penetrating their bodies.

Legend has it that part of the symbolic realm belongs to the underworld of the god of death. The end of the underworld is a cold place where everything is stagnant and all heat is gone. Every soul left in the real world is a window reflecting the underworld, naturally conveying its harshness.

This place is filled with resentful souls. They were mages in life, and after death they were imprisoned by the necromancer, who provided them with cold energy in the real world to prevent their flesh from decaying and deteriorating, while also ensuring that the spirituality and magic of the blood pool would not dissipate.

With two splashes, Richard and Schmidt, under the master's control, threw their fellow disciples into the blood pool. With another wave of his hand, the master caused their blood vessels to burst, continuously pumping out red liquid.

They should have been in extreme pain, but they were so exhausted that they didn't even groan before passing out in the pool.

After finishing, the chief snapped his fingers, returning control of Richard's mouth. Richard thought he was about to say his last words: "Kill me, and return my remains to my parents."

"Do you still think I'm going to kill you? My dear student." There was a hint of melancholy in the chief's voice: "I've changed my mind."

He looked at Richard and said, "Your father was just an ordinary man. His only advantage was that he was born into a good family. If I were to study reincarnation someday, he would be a worthy subject of study."

"You went to great lengths, spending favors and money, to have your offspring become an apprentice of a necromancer, with the sole condition that he cannot teach you necromancy. Isn't that ridiculous? No, what your father wanted was simply for you to obtain the title of 'Chief Mage Disciple of the Army,' to pave the way for your future, consolidate the family's power, and even hope that you, this outstanding descendant, would go further."

This is an obvious fact. Since Richard entered the war, he has experienced various abnormal transfers, and the attitudes of different generals are not the same. In short, the influence of external interference is quite obvious.

Clearly, the external factor wanted Richard to achieve great deeds, yet didn't want him to be in danger. It was as contradictory as the external factor wanting Richard to become an apprentice of a necromancer but not wanting him to learn necromancy.

"I have decided not to transform you into a mindless slave, but only to transform your body, so that you and your future teacher will be immortal."

"At the same time, I will indulge your erroneous ideas. I want you to witness the greatness of the future empire with your own eyes, and to wholeheartedly agree with it. After figures like the Crown Prince and your father turn to ashes, I want you to sincerely admit that your teacher was right."

At this point, the necromancer looked at Richard expectantly, but his student simply kept his mouth shut, giving up the chance to speak, leaving the necromancer to suppress his disappointment.

Soaking in the pool of blood, Pascal was surprised to find that his mutated blood vessels were slowly drawing blood back into him, restoring some of his strength. Pascal exclaimed, "My...teacher is Master Cano, he won't let you get away with this."

The chief's mind was already focused on the spell he was about to cast, and he didn't notice the abnormality in Pascal's blood vessels. He only left behind the words: "No one can completely destroy a qualified necromancer, not even a ninth-tier mage."

Apart from Feuerbach's disgusting reverse ray chief, who, with a gloomy face, took Richard away, leaving Schmidt to monitor the situation on the lower levels.

The improved version of the super-tier spell [Islem's Longevity Spell] is officially activated.

(End of this chapter)