Ancient Wizards: A Little Progress Every Day

After listening, Dago seemed thoughtful; he also felt that there was something wrong with those lunatics in the Darkblood Council.

He finished the hot milk in large gulps and left the wizard's hall.

He decided to take advantage of the daytime to explore the forest on the outskirts of town and find out what the Darkblood Council was doing.

He chose a deserted spot in the town and unleashed his mental energy field.

The cold wind flowed like water along the contours of the body, lifting every inch of clothing upwards.

Suspended at a height of fifteen or sixteen meters, one can clearly see how the town's houses are woven into a grid below, forming a region.

Dago spread his arms slightly, feeling the change in the airflow, as if he had become a free bird.

For the first time, he became aware of his superhuman abilities, that feeling of looking down on everything in the air...

I flew along a familiar route, the route I used to take when I sold venison hunted in the forest in town.

We flew over the scorched ruins of the northern part of the city, and over the pitted fields on the outskirts of the town.

Finally, we arrived at the forest we knew best, a network of trees crisscrossing under a leaden sky, always shrouded in a thin mist.

Silence is the main theme of the forest, a deathly stillness like a vacuum.

There was still a faint smell of blood and decay in the air.

The entire forest resembled a terrifying monster that devoured everything, waiting for its prey.

Dago steadied himself and flew straight toward the forest.

He arrived at his first stop, the former treehouse outpost of the forest patrol.

It had now become the temporary lair of the black-robed wizard, with dozens of treehouses densely packed together, hanging on the bare trees.

The campfire in the center of the open space had long since gone out, and blackened bone fragments were mixed in with the ashes.

Dago landed and poked at the bone with a branch, revealing half of a finger bone with teeth marks.

The surrounding permafrost was soaked in blood and frozen into hard, black and red lumps.

The air was thick with the stench of blood and decay, emanating primarily from a pile of dozens of enormous wooden cages.

The wooden cage was littered with shredded cloth and tattered straw sandals, and the teeth marks on the wood were so deep that it looked as if it had been gnawed by a wild animal.

Dago looked at the fabric's texture; it resembled the coarse linen clothing commonly worn by farmers. As for the teeth marks, he dared not contemplate that even more horrifying truth.

Each wooden cage had a capacity to hold dozens of people, and now the gates were open, and everyone was driven in one direction.

Dagger picked out a treehouse that looked rather exquisite, flew up to it, and kicked the door open.

Inside the treehouse was a copper basin, the blood inside of which had frozen into dark brown ice.

A few strands of grayish-white hair were embedded in the ice surface, and twisted runes were engraved on the rim of the basin...

The bloodstains in the rune grooves were frozen and shiny, like solidified snakes.

Next to the treehouse was a simple bed and some things hanging on the wooden wall.

Dago went over to take a closer look and saw that they were several pieces of human skin that had been peeled off and nailed to the wooden wall.

The skin was covered with eerie incantations drawn with cinnabar, and some of the skin still retained the twisted shape it had before death.

The space where the eyeballs should have been was empty, leaving only two black holes filled with a thin layer of frost.

They wriggle slowly, telling of the pain and resentment they felt before they died.

In the wizarding world, death itself is a ritualistic event.

With a heavy heart, Dago left the place and flew into the sky, following the footsteps of the large number of civilians who had moved.

During his journey, he also passed by his home, the shelter stone house, where he had spent the longest time in the world.

Unfortunately, it has been destroyed by the black-robed wizard and is now just a pile of stones.

Dago imagined that some unlucky wizard might have come to plunder the place and found only a bare sanctuary.

In a fit of anger, I blew it up.

Continuing to fly along the massive movement trail, heading straight for Moonlight Lake.

Flying over the dense forest and approaching its target, Dago landed, withdrawing his mental energy field and refraining from casting any spells.

He hid behind a tree on the outskirts of the dense forest and looked towards Moonlight Lake. The scene before him terrified him.

The footprints of a large number of civilians stretched straight from the dense forest to the shore of Moonlight Lake....

At this moment, Moonlight Lake had completely transformed into a blood lake, with a dark purple blood mist floating in the center, containing countless twisted blood vessels, eyeballs, and bone fragments.

Dozens of black-robed wizards knelt in a circle, their hoods hanging low, obscuring most of their faces.

Only his jawline was visible, taut and hard, his fingertips digging deep into the mud on the shore of the blood lake.

They were praising Ersog loudly, praying for its arrival and blessings.

The blood mist in the center of the lake rose and fell rhythmically with the prayers, gleefully devouring all the blood in the lake.

Each rise and fall splashed up tiny droplets of blood, which traced arcs through the air but never touched the ground...

Instead, it transformed into floating blood droplets, weaving a rain of blood above the wizards' heads and showering them with blood.

The stench of the blood lake was so thick it felt almost tangible, mixed with the ancient incantations chanted by the black-robed wizard.

It ferments in the cold air into a suffocatingly viscous substance, so much so that even the wind avoids this area, as if afraid of being entangled by its pungent, sweet taste.

The two wizards closest to the lake began to sway, their shoulders trembling violently beneath their black robes...

An off-key growl rolled out of his throat, as if he were blessed by some power.

The remaining wizards slowly raised their hands and pressed their palms against the bloodstains on the lake shore.

The skin on his palms quickly developed red spots the same color as blood, which spread upwards along the blood vessels and covered his entire body.

The wizards began to writhe in agony, their hoods slipping down to reveal faces covered in blood-red markings.

Their eyes rolled back, leaving only a trace of crimson in the pupils; their lips opened and closed mechanically...

The chanting grew faster and sharper, like countless rusty knives scraping against each other.

As the prayers reached their peak, the blood mist in the center of the lake suddenly shot into the sky, condensing into a giant maw made of congealed blood.

The gigantic maw spewed out countless drops of blood, raining down on the wizards' heads like a storm.

The wizards did not flinch; instead, they tilted their heads back, opened their mouths, and let the blood droplets fall into their throats.

Their bodies began to swell, their black robes stretched into grotesque outlines, and veins bulged beneath their skin, as if something alive was crawling under their skin.

They let out satisfied sighs, but their voices were hoarse like sandpaper rubbing together, mingled with the stench of blood, echoing across the empty lake of blood.

As the giant maw of blood slowly receded into the blood lake, the rocks on the shore were covered with fresh bloodstains, and even the marks left by the wizards kneeling became deeper.

They lowered their heads again, their hoods concealing the bloodstains on their faces.

Only the fingertips were still twitching slightly, as if savoring the burning sensation that had just flowed through the body.

The blood lake returned to calm, but deep within its depths, the crimson vein of light continued to pulsate slowly, as if awaiting the call of the next prayer.

Dago's heart was pounding as he witnessed a sacrificial ritual performed by the Darkblood Council.

And if he wasn't mistaken, one of the two wizards closest to the lake was Darkblood Councilor Flax.

Those kneeling, crimson-robed wizards who received Ersog's blessing were at least third-level apprentice wizards.

He quietly retreated into the depths of the dense forest. Fortunately, the group of black-robed wizards were still in a high state and did not notice him.

Once out of the dense forest, Dago flew at breakneck speed toward the town.

Along the way, he also froze and destroyed the Darkblood Council's temporary hideout in the forest.

He dared not make too much noise, for fear of disturbing the group of madmen in black robes still in the Blood Lake.

Under the leaden sky, in the direction of the Blood Lake, a thick, impenetrable curtain of blood, resembling a congealed blood clot, was slowly spreading.

Two suns, seemingly embedded in the surface, lifted the blood-red curtain and flew towards the academy.

Dago saw this unusual movement and was immediately alarmed.

"Is this some kind of plan to move the entire Blood Lake up and sacrifice everyone in the academy?!"

He guessed this in his heart.

Gritting his teeth, he resolved to get ahead of those lunatics and return to the town to evacuate as many people as possible.