The thin man noticed that someone was looking at him through the communication orb. The mysterious man turned around, revealing a pale face and a pair of glowing purple eyes.
"Leader, it's great that you decided to contact me now. I've tracked the target down; I've been following the target for two days. However, I found the servants of the Shadow Lord around, and that's the problem." It was Victoria. The living beings around him, like the squirrels and rabbits, were turning into blood. The blood floated in the air and moved toward Victoria, it was the effect of his blood aura.
"Well, she's a general that has served Shadow Lord for years after all," Angele responded. "What about the negotiations? I thought Turin was working on it."
"Shadow Lord declined our offer. Also, the guards that are protecting the woman are from the council. I don't think this will end peacefully…" Victoria sneered.
"What about Lela? She communicated with the underground world, right?" Angele wondered.
"They're already here, they're waiting for the chance to come—just like me." Victoria licked his lips. "A bunch of dark wizards from the underground world. However, Lela is not here, she said she had something related to the big plan that she needed to take care of."
"That's fine. Nothing is more important than the big plan." Angele nodded. "Also, there are more than 10 strong wizards that are wanted by the central council. Those wizards are nothing if they don't work together, however, they'll become a strong force with proper guidance. We can definitely use them."
"You should've asked me to complete that mission. I'm a better choice than Lela," Victoria replied.
"I'll never do that," Angele disagreed.
"I'm just joking." Victoria smiled. The man had nothing to worry about and he could do anything he wanted to. If he became the leader of those criminals, the situation might get out of control.
"Right, have you heard about the thing going around in random cities? There are madmen spreading a certain rumor. It seems like someone is going after us. You should lay low for a while after this."
"Sure," Victoria agreed. "How many quest points can I get if I can capture her alive?"
"500. I'll request 500 quest points for you, but you must work hard for it. This'll be a warning to Shadow Lord," Angele responded in a light tone.
"Great. Now, I have the motivation to complete the mission as soon as possible." Victoria chuckled. It seemed like he had many chances to kill Eugene, but he wanted a big reward from Angele and decided to wait for Angele's message.
Somewhere in the Mist Vine Forest in the Molten River area.
In the vibrant green forest, a black dot that was surrounded by several white dots was advancing at full speed.
The black dot was a tall woman wearing black full-body armor. She was protected by a group of white robes. The woman had a muscular body, but her head had the appearance of a four-year-old girl. There was an enormous trident in her hand.
The white robes were holding short golden scimitars in their hands and their robes were covered with glowing black runes. They were all wearing white masks and checking the surroundings constantly.
"Hurry! We're getting closer to the Dillion Mountain, the territory of the council, and we'll be able to protect the master with our army!" a female white robe shouted in the front.
No one responded, but they all increased their speed. They were moving at a speed of 50 meters per second and they looked like a ball of white shadow in the forest.
Several minutes later, the black shadow in the middle questioned, "How far are they from us?"
"Master Eugene, only the Golden River Army of the Elemental Hand is still chasing after us. The leader of the army is Soul Evocator Ys Reagan, the strongest Soul Evocator of Elemental Hand; it's very likely that he'll become an elder if any of the elders retire," a male white robe responded.
"The Golden River, huh? I didn't expect them to chase us down here. It seems like Ys Reagan is trying to make me pay for what I did to him…" Eugene was running at full speed, but she did not sound tired at all. Turning her head around, she noticed that a blurry golden shadow was approaching her group, she had no idea what that was.
"It must be the one who ambushed us last night…" Eugene spoke in a deep tone.
"Master, you made a wrong decision this time. Wizard Green is the only son of Vivian, an elder of Elemental Hand. He's the only inheritor Vivian has. Her family will be over if you killed her son. The situation has already escalated because of that." The female wizard had a bitter smile on the face. "I'll be honest with you. We're pressured by Elemental Hand and some other organizations this time. We're members of the Shadow Dragon Army and we need to take you to a safe area as soon as possible."
"Huh?" Eugene narrowed her eyes. "That's the reason why you forced me to return to the headquarters?"
"Correct. We can apologize and solve the problem if it's just the Elemental Hand, however, the situation is complicated this time," the female wizard responded.
"Well, that's…" They suddenly stopped before Eugene finished her words and their expressions changed.
*BOOM*
A large translucent vortex exploded in front of the team.
The air vortex had a diameter of more than 30 meters—the force stopped Eugene's team from advancing. Trees, mud, and stones were all pulled into the center of the vortex and broke into pieces.
If they did not stop, they would also be pulled into the vortex.
"Air Vortex?! They're from the Valley of the Wind!" The female wizard's face turned pale and she quickly took out a small black statue from her pouch, holding it tight in hand. "The Valley of the Wind and the Golden River, they're all from Elemental Hand. We'll try to stop them here, you should retreat with the master!"
"Yes!" The white robes accepted the order. Five of them went around the vortex with Eugene and started running again. The rest of them got into position and black glow surrounded their bodies.
Eugene did not seem concerned; she glanced at the air vortex.
"Why're we running? We can easily deal with two rank 4 wizards since they don't have the Legacy Magic Circles."
"Master, the spell they casted is not a normal spell, it's a war spell. If the spell is casted by multiple rank 4 wizards, the power of the spell will double or triple," the male wizard explained.
"Huh? They're casting war spells here? Elemental Hand is a stronger organization than I expected. This is a great trip, ha." Eugene suddenly stopped and released some black smoke.
*CHI*
The five white robes were blown away by the smoke and quickly took more than ten steps back.
"Don't act like a child, Master!"
"Master Eugene!"
The white robes were surprised, they already knew what Eugene was about to do.
"I'm Eugene the Abyss Slayer and I shall not leave my teammates behind. I've never done that in my whole life!" Eugene rotated the black trident in her hand and rushed to the air vortex with a cold expression on the face.
The black trident turned into black smoke and expanded by dozens of times. It hit the center of the vortex like a humongous hammer.
*BAM*
The wind blew mud and sand into the air after the noise. The whole area became a mess.
Trees, bushes, and other plants were all blown away. There was nothing left in the area and Eugene was standing on the empty ground created by her weapon.
The color of the ground turned from yellow to black-yellow.
There were five black robes standing on top of a small hill on the far side. Three of them were standing behind a man with red hair.
The other man was standing on the other side alone. It was a Lela. She had a balanced body and her long smooth black hair trailed over her shoulder. Lela was the princess of the underground empire who joined the Dark Wizard tower.
"Prince Panko, only three wizards from the famous Nomia Family? Really? Eugene had successfully escaped the hunt of the avengers twice. Why're you so confident this time?" Lela smiled and looked at the man with red hair.
"Eugene killed one of the royal wizards from the Magic Ant Empire, right? You probably know how strong she is." The man with red hair was Prince Panko from the Nomia Family. He was speaking in a calm and slow voice.
He stopped for a second and continued, "At this level, there's no point for me to bring weak wizards here. Her aura could easily kill all the weak wizards around her so it'll be a waste of resources if I take a whole army with me. We should utilize the available resources properly. Three elders from my family and I are more than enough for this task."
"Alright then, it sounds promising. I'll see how you kill the Abyss Slayer." Lela chuckled, she stepped back as her body turned translucent and disappeared into the air.
"Let's start now. They have crossed the border—Elemental Hand will not cross the border for political reasons. No one wants to initiate a war now." Prince Panko smiled, it felt like everything was under his control.
"I'll work with my ally and eliminate Eugene this time."
At the same time, Victoria, who was hiding on the other side of the area, created countless rays of red light around his body, which started expanding right away.
"Blood Aura… Let me get rid of the weak ones first…" Victoria chuckled and threw a crystal orb into the air. He opened his arms and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.
Victoria was in the center of his aura. The land, trees, grasses, and everything in the effective range turned red. The red light was expanding and striking into the sky.
Elemental Hand, Prince Panko, and Victoria formed a triangle in the area. Eugene was in the center of the triangle.
In the ruins under the volcano.
Angele watched the scene calmly using the crystal orb. Victoria's communication orb was in the air and he had a clear view of the battlefield.
"This might be the start of an age of chaos. Shadow Lord, what'll you do if your beloved granddaughter is about to be slaughtered…"