Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

Meanwhile, on a certain dark plain...

The "blackness" here is not the darkness of night, but rather the excessive amount of dark element particles in the soil, causing all vegetation to appear charred and lifeless under prolonged radiation.

Thick, blood-red clouds obscured the sky and moved rapidly across the plain.

It was not a natural aggregation of water vapor, but rather a semi-gaseous, semi-liquid aggregate formed by countless tiny, active blood cells under a high-pressure magical field.

Wherever the thick clouds, resembling congealed blood, passed, the force field was violently distorted.

The small creatures that roamed the plains below—the black-armored rats and carrion insects that had long adapted to the harsh environment—were now facing annihilation.

Before they could even escape, their blood vessels burst instantly, and their blood seemed to be summoned by some higher law, defying gravity as it seeped out from their pores and skin cracks.

"Pop, pop, pop..."

The subtle, dense crackling sounds blended together, dying silently without even a scream; only death and despair spread.

For wizards, this is the gathering of "resources"—ruthless, efficient, and utterly merciless.

Amidst the crimson clouds, a fleshy monster over four meters tall, its entire body seemingly stripped bare of skin, leaving only exposed tendons and muscles that coalesced into some bizarre armor-like form, was galloping wildly with an icy expression.

Rufus, the wizard who transformed his own body into a "flesh golem," is currently in an extremely dangerous state of energy overload.

His crimson muscle fibers writhed on his body like living snakes, each contraction accompanied by a surge of dark red steam.

He was like a super-powerful magnet that could naturally absorb blood. The blood that had been forcibly stripped from the bodies of the creatures on the plains gathered in mid-air into a babbling red stream, like rivers flowing into the sea, all converging towards him and merging into his ever-growing back muscles.

The aura emanating from the terrifying monster, whose flesh and blood had solidified into armor, was constantly rising. This rise was not benign; it was more like a final burst of energy before its imminent collapse.

His eyes occasionally flashed with a solemn and wary light. Every now and then, he would turn around, his gaze piercing through the layers of blood mist, staring intently at the void behind him, as if he were being chased by someone.

Rufus has rarely been this disheveled.

"call--"

Suddenly, a terrifying, sharp sound pierced the air.

That's not the sound of wind; it's a sonic boom produced by a high-density object forcibly compressing the air.

A blurry black shadow streaked across the void. It was a piece of obsidian weighing several tons, its surface roughly polished into a prismatic shape to reduce air resistance.

It traversed vast distances, tearing through the blood cloud in an instant, carrying enough kinetic energy to destroy a small mage tower, heading straight for the flesh-and-blood monster's spine.

The flesh-and-blood monster seemed to have anticipated this, as his mental energy field constantly covered a radius of 500 meters.

With a violent expression, he twisted his body abruptly, his right arm instantly swelling to three times its normal size, countless veins bulging and transforming into a giant hammer, which he then punched at the dark figure.

"Boom!"

A terrifying magical shockwave and energy aftershocks exploded outwards.

This was a clash between pure physical kinetic energy and the biological energy of flesh and blood.

The obsidian shattered into countless fragments under immense force, scattering like black shrapnel.

The surrounding crimson clouds shattered, revealing the scorched earth below.

The flesh monster also seemed to have suffered a severe injury. Its swollen right arm was unnaturally twisted, and its bones were obviously broken. But in just a moment, the broken bone fragments rejoined under the wriggling of the flesh.

Even so, the enormous reaction force still sent him stumbling backward, his feet carving two deep furrows in the ground.

But before he could catch his breath, the air was torn apart again.

Then a second and a third group of even more dark figures broke through the air and arrived.

The angles of these stones were extremely tricky, as if they had been precisely calculated to block out all of Rufus's evasive maneuvers.

The flesh-and-blood monster threw punches in succession, its fists colliding with the rocks and producing a deafening clang of metal striking metal.

He kept shattering the dark figures attacking him, each shattering accompanied by the splattering and reassembly of flesh and blood, and his body kept retreating. The momentum he had been building was abruptly interrupted by this round of unreasonable physical bombardment.

He appeared incredibly frustrated and irritable. For a wizard skilled in blood curses and life drain, facing an attack method devoid of blood, pain, and even life was his greatest nightmare.

Instead of retreating, Rufus stopped in his tracks. The muscles on his skinless face twitched wildly as he began to let out inhuman growls toward the direction from which the shadow had come.

Soon, on the black plain behind him, the earth began to tremble rhythmically.

"Thump—thump—thump—"

The sound of heavy, muffled footsteps echoed continuously, each step feeling like a beat on a heart.

A black rock giant, tens of meters tall, appeared on the plain.

This is not some crudely made elemental summon, but a mobile fortress, an ultimate interpretation of the physical law of "mass".

This giant has no facial features, only a simple head and four limbs. Its entire body is composed of huge and hard black rocks, stacked together seamlessly, as if it had just crawled out of the soil that had been submerged for countless years, carrying the vicissitudes of ancient strata.

Thick, long vines even twined and grew between the rocks. These vines were not decorations, but rather served as "tendons," shimmering with a faint, earthy-yellow magical glow.

The black rock giant waved its two arms, which were as thick as giant peaks, from time to time. It didn't need to look for weapons; it was an arsenal itself.

With each swing, a small piece of rock would automatically detach from its body, instantly accelerating to the speed of sound under the influence of gravity magic, before being violently flung away towards the dense blood cloud.

This barbaric and crude offensive tactic, resembling a fight between ordinary farmers, has evolved into the most terrifying long-range suppression due to its extreme quality and speed.

This method forced the flesh-and-blood monster, which controlled the blood cloud and was capable of corroding everything, to jump up and down repeatedly, letting out frustrated and helpless roars.

Rufus's "Corruption Field" had no effect on these stones, and his "Life Drain" couldn't find any target either.

It's hard to imagine the terrifying and domineering power infused in each rock throw of this black rock giant—pure, uncomplicated kinetic energy.

On the shoulder of the black rock giant sat a boy dressed in strange robes.

The boy had rough skin with an abnormal grayish hue, and a peculiar appearance with stiff features, like a doll made entirely of clay and gravel.

He had no vital signs, no breathing, no heartbeat; he was merely a puppet vessel carrying some kind of will.

He smiled as he watched the fleshy monster being chased and fleeing for its life by the black rock giant. As he spoke, clumps of sand and mud continued to fall from its nose, eyebrows, and mouth.

The clods of mud fell onto the giant's shoulders and immediately blended in, as if the two were originally one.

"I heard your name is Rufus? Quite a few people have died at your hands?"

The boy's voice was dry and harsh, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.

"Too bad, you have no blood left for me to suck..."

The boy tilted his head slightly, his muddy eyes, devoid of pupils, filled with mockery, as if observing a fly trapped in a glass bottle.

"You look much weaker than the rumors say. Last time I met someone who could transform into various beast forms, and he was much stronger than you..."

As he spoke, the strange boy's eyes, which looked like they were made of clay, rolled around. With each word, a piece of clay peeled off his cheek, revealing a black inner shell covered with runes.

A cold and vicious look suddenly appeared on his stiff and rough face, a natural consequence of eliminating the weak on the path of seeking "truth".

He stared intently at the fleshy monster in the distance, making a sharp sound like hard stones rubbing together.

"Kill him, Nus!"

"Kill him! Let's find the next toy..."

As if receiving a command from the boy, the enormous black rock giant named "Nus" pounded his chest with both arms, producing not the dull thud of flesh and blood, but the clanging sound of rocks colliding. The deep and majestic roar echoed across the plain, making the air tremble.

Ancient earth-based runes lit up on its dark, hard body, a manifestation of the earth's pulse.

An indescribable, terrifying aura emanated from it, instantly increasing the surrounding gravity field several times over, even pressing the flying dust back to the ground.

He strode forward, and wherever he passed, the earth beneath his feet seemed to turn into liquid, transforming into waves of black earth that rolled outwards—the ultimate application of the high-level earth-based sorcery, [Earthwalking].

At the same time, the fleshy monster being chased not far away also turned grim.

Rufus knew that simply running away would only make him a sitting duck.

In a duel between wizards, only those who demonstrate power sufficient to destroy their opponent can gain the right to survive.

He no longer suppressed the turmoil within his body, but instead completely lifted the restrictions on cell proliferation.

He opened his blood-red maw, revealing no vocal cords deep in his throat, only countless writhing fleshy buds, spitting out one evil, ancient syllable incantation after another.

With each syllable uttered, the surrounding air was tainted with a rusty, fishy smell.

A moment later, all the crimson clouds around him gathered into his body, forming a huge, scarlet vortex.

Its already bizarre and eerie body continued to twist and swell under the infusion of this power.

Bones pierce through muscles and grow outward, turning into ferocious bone spurs. Since there is no blood to suck, they will use their most primal flesh to crush this pile of rotten rocks.

Similar scenes were constantly unfolding in various corners of the southern part of the continent, and as a certain date drew ever closer, a prelude was slowly being drawn.