Passerby Villain In A Wizard World

"Bang!"

As soon as Ian saw Morgana's figure disappear from the garden, a sudden loud sound echoed, and the whole hanging garden swayed more than before.

In fact, now that Ian was outside, he could easily see that it wasn't this place being attacked as they had thought, but someone seemed to be destroying the array in this chamber violently.

"Okay, since I promised you, let's take you out of this place."

For now, Ian looked at the old tree in front of him and spoke before placing his hands on its bark.

'Let's see if it works the way I thought.'

He thought before channeling the mana inside his Life Core, which had already returned to his dantian from his consciousness platform.

And, without surprise, the Life Core responded to his call, rotating slowly. Only this time, Ian could already feel control over it, unlike before.

So, without waiting, Ian suddenly channeled all the mana toward the green streaks while controlling it with his mind.

"Swish!"

And suddenly, Ian felt the streak leave the Life Core, traveling through his meridians, heading directly toward his hand rapidly from inside his body.

'So, I can indeed control those chains.'

Ian smirked as his eyes suddenly turned green just like before.

"Shrreekkkk!"

It seemed the Sylvan Warden also sensed Ian's change as it roared in excitement because it suddenly felt Ian was very close to its elemental nature.

"Okay, it might hurt a bit, but bear with me."

Ian also smiled as a piercing chain suddenly left his arm, drilling into the old tree in front, traveling so fast that the Sylvan Warden couldn't even react.

"Shrreekkkk!"

However, that didn't mean it didn't feel pain.

Unlike before, this time its roar was so loud and agonized that even Ian felt uncomfortable.

Its tendrils and thorny vines thrashed wildly, dancing around and smashing everything nearby in pure agony.

Fortunately, it seemed to respect Ian, as it never targeted him, even though he was the one causing all of this.

"Okay, it's already over. Why are you crying like a baby?"

Ian felt quite annoyed as it looked like he was bullying this guy.

So, he removed his hand and reprimanded it a little while withdrawing the green chains inside his body.

Only, this time the chain wasn't empty but had a tiny portion of the Elemental's soul he had forcefully cut off from this guy that was somehow embedded inside this old tree.

After using his green form to look at this guy carefully, he could already see that the main reason why this Elemental was trapped in this place was because someone had used his soul as a link, binding him to this ancient tree like a cursed guardian.

The soul had been fragmented, twisted into chains of energy that merged with the roots, keeping the Elemental in place no matter how violently it struggled.

So, what he did was simple: he just severed those connections and directly engulfed it inside his body, forcefully binding this Elemental to him.

"Swish!"

Sure enough, as soon as Ian severed the bindings, the old tree decayed rapidly, and the few vines around condensed into a small Elemental, formed of twisting vines and glowing leaves, floating in front of him.

It looked almost similar to those phantoms floating around, except it was a solid physical existence floating in front of him with dense wood elemental energy.

"Okay, now that you're free, you can come with me. I also need your help."

Ian nodded with a smile and waved his hand, opening a portal mid-air that led to his Arcane Grotto.

As for the part of the soul he extracted from this guy, he didn't return it immediately.

He had some plans for it which he would try later.

"Grrr... thhhsss... waahh..."

But it seemed the Elemental didn't mind, as it suddenly gently rustled its leaves and emitted a soft harmonic hum indicating its gratitude to Ian.

Then, just like he ordered, it directly entered the portal without complaint and disappeared from his view.

"It seems quite intelligent!"

Ian felt good, as the more intelligent the Elemental was, the better it was for him as a Gardener.

"Now that this is over, let's snatch that thing, shall we?"

He suddenly mumbled while looking directly below, as if his eyes could pierce through and see the massive cauldron floating atop the lava.

'Dawn Cauldron, Breath of the First Flame!'

Ian hadn't forgotten the quest he got.

He already knew that the item was inside that cauldron.

And from the extreme swaying of the garden that was about to topple over, it seemed someone was destroying the array around it from the outside.

He could even feel multiple breaths rapidly converging here from all directions due to the loud movements.

BAM!

KERRANG!

But just when Ian was about to leave the garden and head to the bottom, suddenly the whole hanging garden swayed strongly as if impacted by something.

Then, as if those invisible chains holding it firmly in the air had been broken, it tilted to one side, throwing Ian out of his place.

"Damn! This guy is relentless."

Ian cursed and suddenly used the Feather Fall spell, floating aside before the whole hanging garden dropped to the ground.

"Boom!"

Such a large garden floating up like this dropped down suddenly. Of course, the noise was too loud while the dust and debris flew everywhere.

'Fortunately, I already picked up all those herbs. Otherwise… what a waste.'

Ian thought while shaking his head.

'But, why is that bastard hellbent on destroying this garden? Isn't it better to loot it first?'

Ian was quite puzzled. He knew that behind all of this, there were the hands of Carl, although he still couldn't spot him.

But seeing how the big cauldron was still standing strong, floating just like before, unaffected by the garden's fall, Ian was confused.

'Let's watch what is happening here. It is better to be careful.'

Ian thought while slowly moving a little farther from the massive cauldron as he began to notice some movements from inside.

Then, he suddenly noticed the sound of boiling lava, sizzling and bubbling, accompanied by the subtle shaking of the cauldron—as if some existence was about to be born from within it.

At the same time, Ian realized the temperature in the chamber was rising rapidly, to the point that sweat began pouring down his face in mere seconds.

It felt almost identical to the sensation he experienced when he had dived into the lava pool earlier.

"Sir Ian, what happened?"

As soon as Ian landed in a far corner, Morgana appeared beside him, asking confused.

Following her appearance, multiple figures draped in black robes also appeared inside the chamber, as the array that had stopped them was now gone.

These wizards also saw Ian and Morgana, both dressed in black robes like themselves.

Although curious, no one said anything and simply waited to the side, as if trying to see what would happen next.

After all, everyone could see that someone behind the scenes was destroying the array in this entire core chamber to let out the entity inside that massive cauldron.

"I have no idea! It seems someone wants what's inside that cauldron. Who knows?"

Ian replied while shaking his head.

Although he knew what Carl wanted was the Breath of the First Flame, the reaction from the cauldron was still something he had no idea about.

'Is it spiritual or what?'

Still, Ian suddenly guessed something after analyzing all the clues.

'If it is, then it will be a hard find. Damn, where did that bastard go? He didn't notice such a thing right below his nose?'

Ian was quite surprised by his own guess as his heart skipped a bit. Then, suddenly, he cursed Ignysyl even more.

A spiritual fire that had intelligence was a real treasure that couldn't be found that easily.

Of course, capturing such fire was a hell of a task though, as Ian himself wasn't sure even after the promotion.

From the information he knew, even a newborn fire had strength equivalent to a Second Ring Wizard.

But Ignysyl could help.

'No wonder that bastard Carl didn't care about that garden.'

The more Ian thought about it, the more he felt that his guess was correct.

'No! I cannot stay inside this chamber anymore. Once that Breath of the First Flame comes out...'

Ian suddenly conjured a wall of water around him, covering his body, and backed out from the chamber, slowly heading outside.

Now he understood why that bastard wasn't present here throughout this event.

It was a plan all along to capture this spiritual fire, and in front of it, those herbs and treasures were really nothing.

"Sir Ian?"

Morgana saw Ian slowly backing out, heading outside through the opening that had just appeared after the array disappeared, and asked.

Not only her, even other wizards looked at Ian weirdly, as his reaction was quite intriguing.

"My affinity is the opposite of fire, and I don't feel comfortable here."

Ian simply replied to Morgana and quickly climbed the makeshift stairs behind the wall, directly disappearing from everyone's vision.

"Well, let that bastard do his thing first. Then, I will snatch it from behind."

He mumbled while climbing the stairs, heading outside of the lava river rapidly.

If his guess was correct, this place would be beaten to the ground after that thing awakened completely.

Spiritual fire with sentience was no joke.

Even Ignysyl, with his Rule of Fire, couldn't do anything to it—because the flame itself embodied a higher rule.

"Wait!"