Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

"Buzz—"

The communication stone, which was gleaming faintly, was gently pressed down by a long, strong hand.

Barker's silvery-white eyes flickered slightly, and a subtle change appeared on his face.

Is he coming?

Soon, the communication stone was put away, and Barker put aside any thoughts about the person on the other end of the communication stone.

His handsome face was once again covered by coldness and solemnity.

Barker raised his head, his eyes slowly narrowing as he looked at a spot in the distance directly ahead.

There, the air is distorted, and the view is distorted by the high temperature and radiation, creating a bizarre and fantastical effect.

Above an ancient ruin, a figure shrouded in endless, eerie green light floated high in the sky.

That was not just light; it was a highly compressed stream of negative energy particles, like a materialized plague, eroding the surrounding rules with an overwhelming and domineering force.

It was surrounded by five enormous white skulls, which were not the skeletons of inanimate objects, but magical artifacts made from the heads of some high-level creatures.

They floated in the void, their jaws snapping open and closing with a teeth-grinding "click-clack" sound, as if they were chewing on unseen souls.

From the eye sockets and mouths of each skull shot out ghastly green beams of energy, each beam piercing the heavens and tearing through the void, like ancient and evil forbidden blades.

Vast, boundless energy gathered above it, forming a small energy vortex.

Countless ghosts howled within, the final lament of imprisoned wills released in despair.

This mournful cry resonated with energy, releasing waves of terrifying magical pressure, even causing Barker, several kilometers away, to feel a needle-like stinging pain on his skin—a physiological reaction to the forced suppression of his mental field.

Around this incredibly evil and terrifying figure, there were seven or eight young wizards whose auras were as powerful as Barker's.

They are not weak; each of them would be an elite capable of suppressing a region in the outside world, yet they appear utterly disheveled at this moment.

Some were engulfed in crimson elemental fire, attempting to build a defense; others transformed into shadows, trying to move around; still others erected pale blue force field shields, maintaining their magic output with pale faces.

They were all looking serious as they joined forces to launch a siege against each other, trying to find even the slightest flaw in the green light barrier.

But the powerful spells—exploding fireballs, acid arrows, and mental piercings—that struck the ghastly green light screen only caused insignificant ripples before being greedily devoured by the five skulls.

In return, however, came the increasingly loud and arrogant shrill laughter of the evil figure.

"You incompetent scum—"

The sound, amplified by mental power, struck the consciousness of every wizard present like a heavy hammer.

"This is what you call 'all-out'? It couldn't even penetrate my automatic defense field. With this level of skill... you dare to dream of entering the Fairy Castle and competing with me, Kolcro, for a place?!"

Kolcrow suddenly spread his arms wide, and the five skulls floating around him suddenly swelled in size. The pale green beams of light instantly turned into a deep, dark green, a color full of death and decay.

"Die! If you don't want to leave, then all of you can die now!"

He needs no allies, no compromises. On the path of the wizard, resources are limited, and truth is for the sole enjoyment.

"The path to the underworld has been opened! I've come to send you off in your funeral!!!"

As his last syllable fell, the five skulls simultaneously let out a piercing shriek, and the beams of energy they spewed instantly intertwined into a net of death, indiscriminately covering all the rebels below.

The terrifying sound waves, accompanied by a vast ocean of energy, directly unleashed an invisible tsunami upon the ruins. The seven or eight besieging wizards didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly engulfed by this torrent. Their shields shattered, and their bodies withered and disintegrated rapidly in the green light.

This is the gap.

It's not a difference in quantity that can be made up for; it's a fundamental difference in energy level.

In the distance, Barker's pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.

He was calculating.

Calculate the peak mental energy consumption of Kolcrow at this moment, calculate the cooldown interval of the five skull artifacts, and calculate the fleeting magical stagnation behind that maniacal laughter.

"Now."

Barker gritted his teeth and did not back down.

Because he knew that to get that ticket to the temple of truth, he had to climb over the corpses of the strong.

He radiated a crystal-like brilliance, a manifestation of an extremely pure and extremely hard rule.

Instead of casting a ranged spell, he transformed into a streak of light, his gaze resolute as he charged forward, like a crystal meteorite swimming against the current, crashing straight into the arrogant green sun.

........

From the other perspective, the world presents a completely different hue.

Above the damp, humid swamp, a majestic peak stands like a sword piercing the sky, proudly planted in the earth.

Terrifying explosions often echoed through this area, the air filled with a numbing, explosive power, and free-floating electrical charges leaped on the surface of the swamp, mercilessly driving away the weaker creatures—this was a forbidden zone for life, but a feast for the lightning element.

And the source of all this is the summit of Mount Meru.

There was an enormous runic array that appeared out of thin air.

The lines of the magic array are not physical objects, but are drawn by pure plasma. They rotate slowly in the void, and each rotation pulls on the magnetic field changes within hundreds of kilometers around.

It continuously attracts free-floating energy particles between heaven and earth, forcibly stripping and compressing them, transforming them into large, dense currents that converge here like rivers flowing into the sea.

At the center of a massive interplay of lightning and plasma, a huge, deep purple ball of electricity rolled.

It doesn't look like a sphere; it's more like a beating heart.

It continuously released waves of terrifying energy, and with each pulsation, it caused tiny black cracks to appear in the surrounding space, as if it were gestating some terrible existence, some ancient will capable of destroying this area.

In a certain instant, countless bolts of lightning in the sky suddenly converged to a single point.

The previously violent thunder disappeared, and the world fell into an eerie silence. All the light, all the sound, and all the energy were absorbed into that deep purple ball of electricity.

It is collapsing, it is accumulating, until it reaches a critical point.

The enormous, deep purple electric sphere expanded rapidly, its aura growing increasingly terrifying, until finally, at its peak...

"Boom!"

This was not a thunderclap, but a roar of the collapsing sky.

The sound of hundreds of lightning bolts exploding simultaneously overlapped, enough to shatter the souls of mortals.

The enormous, deep purple ball of electricity exploded with a roar, but instead of scattering in all directions, it transformed into a highly orderly destruction.

Endless electric currents formed a thick, dazzling waterfall that cascaded down in all directions, instantly dispelling the dense fog below, evaporating the water vapor, and transforming the vast swamp into a barren wasteland dominated by electric fire and thunder.

The soil was sintered into crystals, the pool of water was instantly vaporized, and even the mutated creatures deep in the swamp were turned into charcoal in that instant.

Meanwhile, in a bright and clear sky washed clean by torrential rain, at the heart of the devastation ravaged by thunder, between the towering peaks and the sky, a figure surrounded by countless bolts of lightning stood silently.

This is an extremely handsome young man.

His skin was as pale as paper, yet it had a jade-like quality.

His eyes were like clouds of thunder, without pupils, only two swirling bolts of lightning.

Every strand of hair was crackling with electricity, dancing wildly in the wind, and the robes he wore seemed to be woven from lightning, flowing with liquid lightning paste.

He calmly looked down at the earth beneath him, at the destruction he had caused, his eyes showing neither pity nor triumph, only a matter-of-fact indifference.

He possesses an innate noble air, like a legendary king wielding the power of thunder and lightning, or an ancient being born from thunder and fire. Every movement and glance silently interprets the mystery and majesty of the sky.

"German".

A deep, majestic sound emanated from within the giant peak, a sound that seemed to come from the depths of the earth, or perhaps it was the will of this ancient magic array, carrying an undeniable meaning.

"Go, go and reclaim the glory you have briefly lost."

In the seat established by Isidore, your name shall be engraved.

The handsome man did not answer. He simply touched his left shoulder with his right hand, his movements as elegant as if he were attending a noble ball, and bowed calmly in the direction of the giant peak.

Then, his deep gaze was cast toward the distant horizon, his eyes seemingly piercing through layers of spatial barriers, locking onto a distant target.

The next instant, he transformed into a dazzling ball of lightning and suddenly shot through the air. His speed was so great that he left behind a charred vacuum band in the air that lingered for a long time.

In the wind, only a whisper remains, as light as a sigh, yet as cold as an icicle in the dead of winter:

"Anglio."

"You should prepare yourself... to taste what it's like to have lightning pierce your heart."