Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 157: Chapter 57: Return to the Ground

In the Source Sea Abyss, Richard braced his magic barrier, carefully searching for the entrance to the insect nest.

A year had passed, and it was time for the insects to calm down.

Entering through a tunnel, Richard returned to the moist and warm insect nest. But this time, he did not seek a hiding place to continue harassing the Black Crystal Insects from the rear.

On the contrary, he planned to leave the insect nest and return to the wizard-controlled area.

The rescue operation organized by the Puppet Wizard Organization had caused heavy losses to the Black Wizards within the Black Mushroom Worm Country. Coupled with the previous hunting activities by the Black Crystal Insects and the losses over the years, the remaining Black Wizards in the Black Mushroom Worm Country now numbered less than a third of what they were before the operation began.

Of course, Richard was not aware of the exact figures; he only vaguely sensed that there were not many Black Wizards left within the Black Mushroom Worm Country, and continuing the harassment operations would be much more dangerous.

So, he decided to withdraw from this insect country, which was allowed under the Black Wizard regulations.

Every Black Wizard behind enemy lines should prioritize preserving their own lives. In the face of irresistible forces, Black Wizards can return to the Wizard Headquarters ahead of schedule.

The current situation clearly qualified as an irresistible force.

As a One Ring Wizard, Richard was actually very dangerous within the insect nest.

Walking through the insect nest, Richard could clearly sense that something was off about the atmosphere.

The insect patrol teams had significantly decreased.

This was not compared to the patrols during the Mother Goddess Temple operation but to when Richard had infiltrated the insect nest.

Where had these reduced patrols gone?

Richard’s heart tightened as he thought of something Lawrence once said.

“It seems the insects’ counterattack will arrive soon.”

Following the tunnel, Richard soon arrived at a small settlement.

According to the Imaging Crystal Ball display, this settlement was almost a necessary pass on his way up. At least within the range of the crystal ball’s detection, he could not find a second route.

“Ulysses, prepare to move,” Richard communicated with Ulysses via a spiritual message.

“Got it,” responded Ulysses.

Ulysses shrank in size and turned into a sparrow the size of a palm before flying into the settlement. Richard, on the other hand, used shadow shuttling and shadow infiltration to stealthily sneak in.

There weren’t many insects in the settlement, with only five Warrior Worms present. But what caught Richard’s attention was one of them wearing silver metallic armor. Based on Richard’s experience, this kind of insect should be a Second-level Creature, and even among Second-level Creatures, it wasn’t weak.

But this one was different.

On it, Richard didn’t feel the nearly overwhelming life energy characteristic of Second-level Creatures; all he felt was decay, withering, and the heaviness of death.

“It seems to be an old insect,” Richard thought to himself.

The younger insects were probably already preparing for the battlefield.

Suddenly, the silver-armored old insect seemed to sense something; its body disappeared instantly.

Richard’s hairs stood on end, and he thrust his magic wand forward with force.

Clang!

The figure of the silver-armored old insect appeared in front of Richard, with its blade arms fiercely striking the magic wand.

Had Richard been a moment later, he would have been beheaded.

“Ulysses!”

Richard shouted, and the magic wand in his hand instantly ignited with black flames.

Since they had been discovered, it was time for a head-on confrontation!

The old insect stepped back to retract its blades, its wings flapped, and it disappeared again from Richard’s sight.

But this time, Richard caught its trace; he moved his magic wand a step ahead to block the insect’s blade arms.

Clang.

“You’re too old, insect,” Richard said coldly. “You’re so old you can barely fly.”

Age had given this insect a sharp perception that the young ones lacked but also weakened its body.

If it had been a young silver-armored insect, Richard would never have been able to track it.

The silver-armored old insect shrieked and attempted to strike again but felt the ground beneath it soften suddenly; the solid ground underneath turned into mud.

Seizing the opportunity, Richard blocked the old insect’s evasive path with three black fireballs.

At the same time, he lunged forward, his magic wand swinging through the air with a whistling sound.

Boom!

The fireballs exploded.

Black flames engulfed both the insect and Richard’s figure, but when the flames died down, the old insect’s blade arms were smashed, and its head was crushed into pulp by the magic wand.

After fusing a significant amount of pure gold, Richard’s magic wand had become a divine weapon; the blade arms of a mere Warrior Worm were as soft as mud in front of his magic wand.

“How does it feel, any sense of breakthrough?” Ulysses landed on Richard’s shoulder and asked.

Richard shook his head: “No, this insect wasn’t enough.”

A characteristic of physique evolution was how difficult it was to break through a bottleneck.

Richard’s physique, having reached 99.9, made conventional methods of enhancement ineffective. If Richard wanted to advance further, he had to undergo life-and-death struggle or use something extremely rare and valuable, such as a large amount of life essence.

“No worries, life advancement isn’t easy. I don’t know how many fierce battles I went through to reach the power of a demigod. Even if you don’t breakthrough in physique, you can still go for spiritual evolution,” Ulysses reassured.

Richard exhaled and quickly left the settlement.

…

After a small incident, Richard faced no more obstacles on his path and soon he arrived at a part of the ground insect nest.

Compared to the lax underground insect nest, the ground insect nest was akin to an armed fortress bristling with weapons to the teeth.

The small Mother Goddess Cannons that Richard had seen before were now widely deployed amongst the swarming insects, with piles of artillery shells coated in green mucus everywhere.

Besides, Richard also discovered some strange insects that had not appeared in the previous war, presumably new creations by the insects.

Considering they could come up with things like Spider Knights, they must have an impressive level of expertise in bioengineering.

The tight security of the ground insect nest made Richard somewhat unsure of where to start, but in the end, he chose a method that seemed foolish yet surprisingly effective—he simply rushed out.

He found an underground tunnel near the edge of the nest and had Ulysses lead the way, charging from the underground nest to the surface.

Now, good and bad news lay before him.

The good news, he really did rush out of the nest, and the insects did not pursue him.

The bad news, the place where Richard emerged was within the firing range of the small Mother Goddess Cannons; as soon as he left the range of the nest, he was greeted by several arc acid liquid balls.

“What a thrilling welcoming ceremony!” Richard remarked as he watched the incoming acid liquid balls, keeping up his magic barrier and flying wildly. Acid exploded behind him, spattering on the magic barrier and emitting a sizzling noise.

The war fortress wasn’t far from the insect nest, and after about ten minutes of frantic flight, Richard found one.

About five kilometers from the war fortress, Richard suddenly stopped.

Although the land in front of him seemed ordinary, as an Alchemy Wizard, he could easily sense the magic array traps hidden within.

At this moment, the wizards within the fortress also caught sight of him.

“Is that a Black Wizard coming out of the insect nest?” a White Wizard with glasses on, with runes flashing on the lenses, remarked.

With the help of his magic equipment glasses, Richard appeared as if he was right in front of him, his eyelashes even countable.

“A wizard is running out from that place?” another White Wizard asked, leaning forward, “It seems something has happened inside the nest.”

The glasses-wearing wizard glanced at his companion:

“You know it’s a wizard, and you still crowd around, go and receive him! The area ahead of him is our trap zone; if he dies, you can look forward to a court martial.”

The wizard who wanted to join in waved, then stood up to prepare to greet Richard.

But before he moved, he heard the glasses-wearing wizard exclaim:

“Damn, he’s just marched right in!”

…

Richard switched his view to energy vision, and instantly the ground before him took on a different appearance.

Vast energy filaments appeared before Richard’s eyes, intersecting with each other, linking together, with even brighter energy nodes at the intersections; according to Richard’s experience, those nodes should be the places where the runes were located.

The area covered by these energy filaments was extensive, all the way up to the front of the war fortress.

“Not bad, the trap zone,” Richard muttered, but immediately, he revealed a confident smile.

“But it’s of no use against me.”

Richard skillfully wove through the energy filaments, deftly avoiding all the magic array traps, and his speed was impressively fast.

“What’s going on? How did that kid just barge into the trap zone!” the wizard asked his companion.

“He… He really did march in, but…” the glasses-wearing wizard said with a dry voice, “He avoided all the traps we set, went around every single one.”

“He avoided them all!”

The other wizard’s voice rose sharply; he and the glasses-wearing wizard had painstakingly set up those magic array traps, and there was no question about their concealment.

“Send word to the command,” the glasses-wearing wizard took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“Such a master escaping from underground, it seems there really is a serious problem below.”

Ten minutes later, Richard met the earnestly waiting White Wizards in the hall of the war fortress.

The commander, radiating strong energy fluctuations, quickly walked up to Richard and anxiously asked.

“Master, what’s the problem down there?”

The commander was a One Ring Wizard at his limit, having experienced two plane wars, and was somewhat experienced. Yet compared to the master before him who easily bypassed the trap zone, he felt it was best to keep a respectful attitude.

“Don’t mention it, don’t mention it,” Richard greeted the White Wizard commander with the Wizard’s Salute.

“I can hardly consider myself a master.”

The White Wizard commander shook his head:

“A master need not be modest; to bypass our trap zone with such ease, you are either a master from the Shape-shifting School or a master from the Alchemy School.”

“Uh…” Richard was somewhat speechless, but he didn’t linger on the topic, instead turning to the matter at hand.

“Are you not aware, gentlemen, that a year ago this Number Twelve Insect Nest fell into disorder, and thousands of wizards were slaughtered by the insects?”

Upon hearing this, the entire hall instantly fell silent.

The White Wizard commander’s expression turned severe. He pulled out an Image Capturing Crystal Ball from his magic pocket.

“Master, please give us more details.”

COMMENT
0 comment

Vote
3 left

SEND GIFT