A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 544 Fatal Mistake

"Errand Master" Rorschach had no idea that both of his acquaintances were in deep trouble, nor could he have predicted such a coincidence that would bring Pascal and the others together with Richard again.

It wasn't a dramatic coincidence, but these young people were all outstanding in their respective camps. They were like pebbles floating in the center of a whirlpool, constantly being pushed by the irreversible current, and would inevitably swirl and collide with each other from time to time.

Rorschach's spirit ascended to the boundary, where he saw a great deal of light emanating from the intersection of his space and the astral plane.

The flow rate of transmutation dust has increased.

He confirmed several things in turn:

Everything was normal on the Tree of Law, but on the Tree of Truth in the Original Text Layer, spots were constantly surging from its roots, unusually active.

Next was the starship. Rorschach condensed the physical form of [Axiom Creation], using his new body to escape the boundary and come to the outside world, where he saw that the starship had broken away from the incredibly turbulent metamorphic dust layer.

He quietly approached and sensed the surroundings; the three crew members inside seemed to be functioning normally. The starship had ample supplies, so there was no need to worry about them starving.

The only concern is when this astral sea composed of transmutation dust will return to calm. Otherwise, if the giant ship continues to cruise on stored fuel without being replenished, the three will have no choice but to abandon the ship and let it crash and mutate without any shields.

Finally, there's the situation under the starry sky.

Looking down through the transmutation dust, Rorschach discovered that a force was indeed enveloping the prime material plane. From the edge, in addition to the transmutation dust layer, there was an arc of light, indicating its presence.

In addition, dark spots appeared on the ground, which startled Rorschach, but upon closer inspection, the mountains and rivers within the dark spots appeared normal.

Is this not actually real? Rorschach decided to enter a discrete state, and he slid into the back side of the real world once again. After that, he superimposed the effect of [Arcane Vision], and the light-dark distribution of the prime material plane was reversed.

The magic in the "dark spot" area is unusually active.

He mentally compared it to the map, in which Oward, shrouded in mist, was also present.

After confirming the situation, he made some arrangements at the border.

"Alright, let's go now." There's no need to cherish the body created by Axiom. Rorschach plunged headlong into the surging laminar flow, then unleashed a powerful shield, transforming into a meteor trailing a blue tail as he rushed straight toward Oward.

"Our enemies are endless and can regenerate repeatedly. It's only a matter of time before we are worn down." Paul felt like his head was going to split open, with a dull pain attacking him from his temples, the back of his head, and then around to the acupoints on the other side.

This is a sign of over-spellcasting. The most delicate organ of the human body, the vessel of the soul, and the wellspring of spellcasting is in a state of extreme fatigue, warning him that he needs to stop using magic and rest in time.

Richard's symptoms of exhaustion were slightly different. He also had a headache and felt like his blood vessels were about to burst, but he experienced more of a blurring of perception. His spellcasting accuracy had greatly decreased, and the delay was getting higher and higher—it seemed like he was about to "go offline" from the spell cloud.

He couldn't voice this worry; he wasn't sure if he could still cast so many spells smoothly and skillfully without the magic cloud.

A subtle mindset is like a handsome guy actually wearing a wig.

The other mages were in even worse shape; many were injured. The attacks of flesh and blood seemed to have an infectious and assimilative effect, causing their wounds to itch terribly, and granulation tissue could be seen growing.

Fortunately, two mages in the team possessed holy purification abilities, and their silvery light could suppress the granulation tissue from continuing to absorb nutrients from the wounded. However, the same problem plagued the two dedicated wound care workers—they had also reached their limit on the number of spells they could cast.

Even after repelling several attacks from the Blood Riders and successfully relocating his troops, Pascal couldn't help but utter discouraging remarks:

"We're not going to die here, are we? Paulina remarrying or something? I don't want that! At least wait ten years, no, twenty years."

Paul, at this moment, disregarded any formalities of respecting his superior—no, he was now Pascal's superior. So, the junior colleague decisively delivered a chop to the man who was disrupting morale.

"Aren't you two married yet? How can you talk about remarrying?"

"We will absolutely not be killed by these disgusting things. Look, the Magic Guild's stronghold is right in front of us, and it hasn't been breached yet."

"Once we get here, we'll be in a temporarily safe area. After resting, calling for reinforcements and breaking through the city won't be a problem."

The magic guild's headquarters was now surrounded by high-voltage electric walls.

In some cities, the garrison escorted civilians to the guild for refuge, bringing with them barbed wire.

Originally, barbed wire was useless against monsters that did not feel pain or fear bloodshed. Fortunately, the guild discovered during the battle that these evil creatures were afraid of electric current, and used lightning magic and these good conductors to create a highly effective defensive line.

In the area enclosed by the electrified wire fence, many civilians huddled together in fear, while the guards and bolder civilians used long poles to push back the flesh and blood creatures that "crossed the line."

Some monsters are so large that they can crush the barbed wire. Although they are paralyzed, other monsters can step over them to enter the enclosure and wreak havoc. This is when both the military and civilians must join the fight.

As a tough nut to crack, the area around the outpost was extremely dense with monsters, their sheer numbers creating a stench of burning and decay. The mage squad unleashed their last few spells and struggled to reach the inner circle.

"Hey! Let us in right now!"

"We are spellcasters." "We're from the guild, let us in quickly." At this moment, the blood tide receded, and the number of monsters decreased significantly, giving the mages hope.

However, the electric circle showed no signs of stopping. The guild's apprentices and staff were nowhere to be seen, and the people inside just glanced at them numbly, treating them as a bunch of outsiders who were about to be wiped out.

The members of the mage group gritted their teeth, but under the threat of the surging tide of flesh, they pleaded desperately. Ultimately, they realized that those inside didn't want to help them, nor did they want to risk stopping the high-voltage power lines for them.

"Do you have any more barbed wire? And any other supplies?" Paul gave up and decided to ask the people inside the security perimeter for supplies instead.

Fortunately, the people inside agreed to share this time, probably at the behest of the guild staff. Unable to enter the building, the ordinary people on the edge of the circle reluctantly threw several bundles of barbed wire, along with some full water jugs and dry rations, to the mage group.

"Thanks. It seems to have calmed down for a while now, let's go." Paul led the bewildered group up into the adjacent building and set up barbed wire on the second floor.

Richard was somewhat confused: "Why isn't the meeting going? We should continue negotiating." Right now, all they needed to do was guard against the flesh monsters climbing up the stairs and windows, and the guild's headquarters had attracted a lot of attention, giving the mage group a chance to catch their breath.

Paul gulped down a concentrated energy potion, which eased the pain in his head somewhat. He looked out the window, flicked an arc of electricity to knock down the monster, and thus revealed the guild buildings outside.

"They made the same mistake we did at first," Paul said, his eyes fixed on the safe zone around the electric fence. "They didn't consider an enemy attack from underground."

The relentless onslaught of the flesh-and-blood monsters finally ceased, leaving only immobile clusters of fleshy buds around the electric circle. Those who had resisted were suddenly bewildered, unsure whether the nightmare had truly ended or was merely a pause before the climax.

No one expected that the guild's tightly closed doors would suddenly be smashed open by the force inside, sending out several blurry spherical objects and fragments of unidentifiable parts flying out.

One after another, blood knights appeared, brandishing their sabers and ruthlessly reaping the lives of ordinary people seeking refuge. Behind them, a dark red torrent surged forth, clearly indicating that the guild members had also been wiped out.

(End of this chapter)