Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Dagona's long hair, which had been flying wildly due to the surge of energy, now hung down listlessly like a banner that had lost its soul.

His burly body staggered, each step backward leaving deep cracks in the ground.

The savagery and coldness deep in his eyes, seemingly from ancient times, receded rapidly like a tide under the influence of the "aging" rule represented by the gray halo.

Instead, a deathly stillness descended—a signal that reason had regained control of the high ground, the wizard's instinct to calculate chances of survival in dire straits.

As he retreated, Dago raised his cracked hand again and made an extremely ancient and obscure horizontal gesture in the air.

"Buzz—"

The void trembled, and countless dense, mysterious energies, which were not weakened by his weakness, instead surged forth wildly as if in a final burst of energy.

In the void, three tranquil, flowing, multicolored black rivers of despair suddenly appeared.

This is the "River of Despair," a concrete manifestation of the rules.

The three rivers converged in the air, merging into one, as if flowing from a legendary, long-fallen land of death, carrying a silent roar, rushing towards the black-robed figure standing like a mountain at the head of the Fushou Society.

"Dual Dharma Domain Resonance?!"

Even from a great distance, the wizards watching from the sidelines felt a chill run down their spines and let out incredulous gasps.

This kind of profound manipulation of the rules is simply beyond the reach of ordinary third-ring wizards.

At this moment, even the gaze cast from beneath the ever-silent black robe seemed to show an extremely subtle fluctuation.

But it's just fluctuation.

Dark Head slowly raised his hands, the movement as simple as pushing open two doors and windows, making a gesture of expanding to both sides.

There were no incantations or complicated gestures.

Countless thick, viscous shadows, seemingly capable of swallowing light, surged forth from between his arms.

It was a pure arrangement of dark element particles, a black hole that devoured all colors.

The magnificent and dazzling River of Despair crashed into the shadows, without a deafening explosion or a thunderous roar.

Only a hissing sound of extinguishing echoed, like a red-hot iron block being thrown into a bottomless, icy pool.

Despair was swallowed up, and rules were negated.

Silent yet breathtaking.

"cough--"

Dago's body trembled violently, almost retreating to the edge of this isolated space, his back touching the cold and unstable spatial barrier.

He appeared utterly defeated, and his once godlike aura quickly faded.

He began to cough violently and uncontrollably, his chest feeling like a broken bellows being pulled.

"puff!"

A mouthful of black blood, exuding a strong, putrid stench, spurted from his mouth, landing on the ground and instantly corroding it, sending up a plume of blue smoke.

"A high-level curse? It involves the fundamental rules of 'decay'..."

Dago looked down. His hands, which were once strong enough to tear steel apart, were now showing signs of aging. The veins on the back of his hands were rapidly disappearing, and his skin was dry, loose, and slightly wrinkled.

His life force was almost completely exhausted, and even maintaining the high-energy-consuming combat form of "complete despair" had become a luxury.

He can only rely on the most primal cellular strength of his body to resist the erosion of the rules from the half-step miracle powerhouse.

That power was insidious and eerie.

It causes cells to age, blood to wither, and the soul to decay.

It was like a greedy termite, constantly consuming the last bit of life force within him.

"Pat-pat-pat-"

Footsteps sounded.

It was very light, yet very clear, like someone walking barefoot on the icy, bone-chilling water of a morgue.

As Fujue looked away, the terrifying being that had blocked his desperate gamble with the enhanced version of the [Double Prism] [River of Despair] was slowly and deliberately approaching him.

Every step felt like stepping on the beat of his heart.

Dago struggled to lift his head, his cloudy yet calm eyes watching the other man approach with composure.

"Click—"

Suddenly, a crisp, teeth-grinding sound rang out in the deathly silent space, like a giant mirror shattering under immense pressure.

The recovery efforts quietly came to a halt.

Everyone instinctively looked up and were horrified to see that clear, winding silver cracks, like snakes, had appeared on the once-solid void barrier around them.

The aura of spatial turbulence seeped in from the crack, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

"Dark Chief!"

One of the Resurrection Society wizards at the back whispered urgently, his voice filled with obvious panic.

Dark Chief merely raised his hand slightly to quell the restlessness of his subordinates.

"The entire Rubik's Cube space is on the verge of collapse, and the power of that miraculous artifact is waning... The spatial anchor has failed."

Dago, leaning against the crumbling spatial barrier, exhaled a breath of stale air mixed with fragments of his internal organs. He looked at the formidable enemy before him, as powerful as the unconquerable night, and spoke in a hoarse but calm voice:

"Aren't you going to leave quickly? If you don't leave soon, you'll all get lost in the spatial turbulence."

"This is all the time left."

Beneath the deep black robe, a pair of cold, emotionless eyes fell indifferently on Dago, as if looking at a lamb to the slaughter. "Killing you is enough."

Dago fell silent.

Since that's the case, there's no point in saying more.

Fusu continued walking with his head down, this time much faster than before, clearly not wanting to linger in the collapsing space any longer.

That gray halo of aging always surrounded him, and wherever he passed, even the dust in the air seemed to have undergone ten thousand years of weathering.

The closer he got, the weaker Dago appeared, like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

ten meters.

five meters.

three meters.

As the black robe that symbolized death approached Dago, within a few meters of him, an absolutely dangerous distance.

Dagona's head, which had been hanging low, suddenly rose up.

His aged, withered face showed no fear, but rather a strange smile, and he suddenly uttered:

"You don't necessarily have to kill me to get the World Stone coordinates I have, do you? Sometimes the memories of the dead aren't so easy to read."

Fusuhui paused in his steps, two meters away from Dago.

This is a rational judgment.

"Indeed, it's unnecessary." The dark-skinned man's voice remained indifferent. "You, alive, are of greater value."

Dago blinked his slightly dull eyes, struggled to lift his heavy head, adopting a pragmatic stance, and then spoke:

"How about I join you with the coordinates?"

They abandoned the light and embraced darkness.

To be honest, I'm already tired of being in the Thorn Ring.

Those hypocritical bastards who spout righteousness are nowhere near as satisfying as us dark wizards.

I've longed for the black robe for a long time!

"White-robed wizards and stuff are really boring, too restrictive, too dull..."

"I've longed for the black robe for a long time... The white robe is really boring..."

This clear yet absurd voice echoed in the collapsing space, sounding completely out of place.

The response they received was a series of bewildered, confused, and even absurd faces that emerged quietly from beneath their black robes from the elite wizards of the Revival Society.

This guy who was fighting like a god of war just now, is now trying to switch jobs when he's about to die?

Even the seemingly unperturbed Fusseng Association leader was visibly taken aback by Dagger's words.

This is not logical.

This doesn't fit his psychological profile of someone of this level of strength.

He lowered his head slightly, as if weighing the options, or perhaps considering whether it was a poorly executed trap.

"Crackling sound—"

The sounds of space cracking around them gradually intensified, and large fragments of space began to peel away, revealing the dark and turbulent void outside.

Finally, Fu Lei's gloomy emotions stabilized again, and the rationality of a superior led him to make a judgment. As long as the person was in his hands, he could do whatever he wanted with them.

He calmly began, "If..."

If this is your last words, or if this is your pledge of allegiance.

But his prepared reply was abruptly interrupted by a burst of extremely abrupt, somewhat manic laughter.

"Ha ha."

Dago laughed.

To everyone's astonishment, the man who had just looked half-dead slowly but firmly stood up.

With his left hand, he swiftly stuffed a piece of amber-colored, vibrant golden material into his mouth.

"Crunch! Crunch!"

That was the sound of teeth crushing a high-hardness crystal—crisp, piercing, and chilling in the silent space.

The heartwood of the Tree of Life!

That's an immense life force, enough to bring flesh back to bones!

At the same time, he raised his right hand, his five fingers like hooks, and without the slightest hesitation or pity, with a "plop," he plunged it deep into his heart in his left chest!

It pierced through the skin and flesh, tearing through the ribs.

He pressed down, gently yet firmly, on the deepest part of his heart, along with the faintly beating heart, on the hard, sharp crystal of his bloodline that represented the source of his power!

He looked up.

The defeat and fawning in those eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a madness and fighting spirit that burned everything.

He looked at the black robe that was so close to him.

His gaze was piercing, as if he could see through the deep darkness to the true, astonished face beneath his black robe.

Dago's lips curled into a smile, revealing teeth gleaming with the golden liquid. Looking at the resurrected member before him, who had just pulled off a prank, he resembled a child who had succeeded in a trick, or a madman about to detonate a bomb. He said with a laugh:

"I was just kidding."

After saying that, he suddenly squeezed his right hand together, his five fingers snapping shut!

"Snap—!!!"

A dull yet soul-shaking explosion resounded inside his chest.

The entire bloodline crystal, which had been forged through countless trials of life and death, was crushed to pieces by his own hands!

This is self-destruction, this is mortgaging the future, this is... living towards death!

The shattered bloodline crystals transformed into the most violent torrent of energy, accompanying the heartwood of the "Tree of Life," which he had just chewed and swallowed and was now frantically releasing its vitality.

Despair and rebirth.

Destruction and repair.

Two unprecedented and diametrically opposed surging forces collided violently within his body like a torrent, producing a terrifying reaction akin to nuclear fusion!

"Bang—!!!"

A visible shockwave erupted from Dago's center!

The long hair that had been hanging down behind Dago suddenly flew back, standing straight up and tinged with golden light.

His skin was instantly torn apart and then instantly healed, with countless dark runes running wildly across his body and lighting up.

It possessed a terrifying aura, like ten thousand dormant volcanoes erupting simultaneously, suddenly spreading out and even forcing back the surrounding fragments of space that were about to collapse by several meters!

A hoarse, almost indistinct voice, yet brimming with boundless power, resounded softly, like thunder, in the ears of everyone in the arena.

"Again!"