A small amount of the silver liquid moved to Kuirman’s face, trying to rush into his mouth, ears, and nose.
Kuirman pursed his lips as he attempted to break the solidified metal layer. After several seconds, the metal coating started cracking. Kurmain raised his left hand and tried to punch Angele. His force was so strong that the water started whirling.
*BAM*
Kuirman’s fist hit Angele’s metal barrier but barely did any damage.
The two quickly stepped away from each other in the turbid water and started preparing for the next strike.
It was dark and blue under the water, and the only thing around them was the sea. The two controlled the Water energy particles to prevent themselves from sinking. An endless deep fosse was right under their feet.
*CHI*
Kuirman pulled the broken metal layer off his body, raised his scimitar again, and slashed forward.
The water was pulled to his scimitar and the strike created a small vortex that was about to hit Angele.
Kuirman raised his left hand, and five finger-long green needles appeared above his palm. They spun several times before being pushed towards Angele.
The needles mixed with the vortex, approaching at full speed.
The pressure brought by the vortex was pushing water into Angele's mouth and nose, he could barely breathe. He quickly raised his right hand and created a silver shield in front of himself.
*BOOM*
The vortex was stopped by the shield, and the green needles were also blocked.
Angele hid behind the shield and kept adding extra layers to harden it.
He could feel the force Kuirman applied to the strike as the vortex and the needles were blocked.
*CLANK*
Angele’s face turned pale and blood came out of his mouth.
*CHI CHI CHI*
Three of the needles still penetrated the shield, and they were only several centimeters away from Angele’s face. The green glow casted reflections on his skin.
Before Angele could react, he saw a green shadow coming to his lower left. It was Kuirman, and he was sneering.
*BAM*
Angele took the painful hit from below.
He flew into the air after being kicked out of the water, drops of blood splashing everywhere.
Kuirman floated on the surface and watched Angele dropping. He held the scimitar in his hand and slashed upward, hard.
*Clank*
Kuirman moved to the other side of Angele and slashed again after the first strike hit. The silver armor on Angele’s body started shattering.
The man kept switching positions while hitting Angele; the battle looked very one-sided.
"Weak! You’re too weak!" Kuirman roared.
*BAM*
Angele was kicked into the air again. A cruel smile appeared on Kuirman’s face, and the green gas surrounding his cursed blade became more intense. He charged at Angele again.
It was the first time Angele felt so helpless. He could barely think after taking so many strong hits.
He saw Kuirman sneering while trying to hit him with the scimitar.
"I have to do this…"
Angele pursed his lips and spat out some blood. A blue heart slid into his palm as his silver armor broke into pieces. At the same moment, three silver scars appeared on his face.
"That’s enough!" suddenly, Melissa shouted.
A white light dot traveled through the air and stopped between Angele and Kuirman. The light dot expanded and transformed into a translucent crystal plate that separated the two completely.
Four twisted blue runes were blinking on the surface of the plate, their shapes changing to four strange creatures.
Angele and Kuirman stared at each other through the translucent plate. They could see killing intent evident on the other's face. However, they knew that Melissa would not let them continue the fight now she had released her aura.
"There’s no point in fighting anymore. The ruins are dangerous and we can’t waste our energy here," she stated, her voice echoing through the area.
Angele stepped off the plate, jumped into the sea, and swam to the shore.
Kuirman returned his scimitar into the robe and followed Angele. They used Fire energy particles to dry their clothes after leaving the water. White steam rose from their clothes and their bodies were coated in red glows.
The result of the fight seemed obvious to the rest of the team.
"Green doesn’t stand a chance against Kuirman. However, as a Gas stage wizard, he’s above average."
Old man Belem laughed.
The others did not comment on the result of the fight but Angele noticed the disappointment in Ainphent’s eyes.
Isabell took a glance at Angele but her expression was blank.
"You’re way too weak. I thought you could at least leave several wounds on my body…" Kuirman shook his head. "Master Melissa, why did you stop us? You should’ve let me kill this kid. There’s no reason for us to share the reward with him."
"Shut it. Let’s move."
Melissa turned around and pointed at the translucent plate.
*Crack*
The plate exploded into pieces and vanished into the air. It sounded like a window being broken.
Angele lowered his head. His eyes were filled with hatred.
He was certain that if Melissa hadn't stepped in at the last second, the explosion of the heart bomb would have killed Kuirman. But her timing was way too perfect.
The only good thing was that no one knew what he was going to do during the fight, so he would have plenty of chances to backstab Kuirman in the ruins.
The wizards’ followers did not say a single word as they did not want to offend anyone here. None of them was stronger than a formal wizard.
Melissa was leading the team at the front and Kuirman followed after her.
Ainphent and Belem were surrounded by followers, staying at the back of the team.
Angele wanted to keep the distance from the others, but Isabell and her three Grand Knights walked beside him.
He hadn't had the chance to fight back during the battle. Although he was not severely injured and the blood was just from the impact, he still felt depressed.
Kuirman’s Strength, Agility, and Stamina were all much higher than Angele's. There was no point for him to use his sword skills under such circumstances. He should’ve tried to cast spells, but Kuirman’s combo strikes were too furious, and Angele could only try to defend with the metal force field. Three layers of silver metal armor had barely stopped Kuirman’s scimitar.
However, Angele noticed that although the signet was not fully activated, it still confused Kuirman for a second. It birthed a plan in his mind.
The team kept advancing. They were going deeper and deeper into the island.
The surface of the island was covered with black rocks.
The only things Angele could see were broken stone pieces and empty grounds. There was not a plant or animal around.
The whole island was deadly silent.
The ground was covered in small pieces of stones, and the team advanced between the black rocks. The howling wind was freezing, so even the Grand Knights had to pull their collars up.
Angele stayed in the middle of the team. He glanced around and realized he was going uphill.
He picked up a black stone from the ground and started observing it.
The stone looked like a piece of charcoal and was coated in some black dust, but the dust had no smell.
‘Strange… I can sense the Necromantic negative energy from it…’ Angele thought as he dropped the stone to the ground.
Melissa was leading the team at the front. She was still following the direction pointed out by the accessory on her palm.
Half an hour later, the team arrived at a large cliff with a square built upon it.
On the gray square, there was a humongous stone sundial standing in the center. Its diameter was about ten meters.
The sundial was black, and it looked a bit strange on the gray platform. The inclined edge on its surface was about seven meters tall, but the number was unreadable as the sun was covered by the clouds.
"This is the entrance to the ruins!" Melissa shouted out, stepping onto the sundial. "The main entrance to the ruins changes every day. Let’s try to find it as soon as possible."
The wizards spread to different areas of the sundial. Angele crouched by the edge and started observing the runes and strings painted there.
The rune in front of him looked like a ‘V’ that was written upside down.
Isabell’s voice came from behind. "This is a rune used by an ancient wizard organization called the Axis of Time and it represents the number five."
.
"The Axis of Time...?"
Angele had never heard of an organization like that.
"It’s an ancient organization that worshipped time, they considered time as their God. Their ultimate goal was to control the time and then change their destinies," Isabell explained slowly. "However, the whole organization disappeared during the war, thousands of wizards vanished into the air together on the west coast. It was almost like they had never existed. People tried their best to locate the abandoned ruins of the organization but only a few of them successfully retrieved some valuable information."
"Interesting." Angele stood up. "Do you know anything else about them?"
"I do." Isabell stared Angele in the eyes. "The legend says that there were several stage 4 wizards in the Axis of Time and the organization was the strongest on the west coast."
"Stage 4…?"
Angele was surprised. He already knew how hard it was for a wizard to reach the next stage. Long meditations barely increased his mentality. Without resources and potions, he was almost certain that he would stay at the Gas stage for the rest of his life.
Zero could show him four decimal places when displaying attributes, however, the number had not changed for a while, and it indicated that Angele needed better meditation methods or potions that would help him gain mentality immediately.
This was the reason why Angele decided to join the mission without hesitation. Zero had already listed the required materials for making the Tree Killer potion, so the only thing he needed to do now was to obtain the materials at any cost.