As the Blood-striped Giant Tiger charged out of the smoke, the invaders of the secret realm did not follow, their aim was not to kill and destroy, but to snatch the water scalding bubble fruit produced by the secret realm. The Blood-striped Giant Tigers were pawns they had thrown to distract the academy apprentices’ attention.
It wasn’t until they got enough water scalding bubble fruit that they would make a move against the academy apprentices, or figure out a way to flee the secret realm.
This was the scheme they had plotted.
“Hahaha, this is the water scalding bubble fruit, truly extraordinary.”
“So hot, hahaha, what a thrill.”
The joy of harvest caused laughter to continuously resonate amidst the high-temperature smoke.
When they entered the secret realm, it was already close to the ripening period of the water scalding bubble fruit, and with the high-temperature smoke generated by the energy storage crystals prepared by Percy, the environment in a nearby area had exceeded the critical point, and water scalding bubble fruit began popping up from the ground one after another.
However, their joy did not last long before a slight hiccup occurred in the plan.
“Not good, the giant puppet beast I was controlling is dead.”
Suddenly, an apprentice’s face turned ashen as he cried out, causing the atmosphere around to come to a quiet halt.
“This—can’t be possible,”
Some found it hard to believe, deeming it too sudden.
Yet, the person had no reason to lie.
“It’s dead, I’ve suffered some backlash,” the person stressed, looking somewhat wilted from the backlash, but thankfully the situation was not severe.
The sudden turn of events caught others by surprise, and they turned their gazes towards the leaders, Percy and Hank.
“Don’t worry about that, focus on collecting the bubble fruit, we don’t have much time left,” Hank told his subordinates.
“Right.”
Although Percy had his doubts, he didn’t speak out against it.
With both of them saying so, the others could only hurry to capture the water scalding bubble fruit, taking as much as they could, as Hank had said, it was foreseeable that soon they would not be able to calmly collect the bubble fruit.
Unexpectedly, the time the second Blood-striped Giant Tiger died came too quickly.
“Not good, my giant puppet beast is dead too.”
Another cry of pain arose, casting a deeper shadow on everyone’s faces, including Hank and Percy.
The death of the first giant puppet beast could have been attributed to the opponents using some sort of trump card.
The immediate following second one unequivocally indicated that the academy apprentices had a way to counter the giant puppet beasts, and if this continued, their plan would be declared a failure. Those people would soon break into the smoke.
The smoke surrounding them was indeed toxic, but it was predominantly aimed at ripening the water scalding bubble fruit, and it could not possibly stop the academy apprentices.
“Mr. Hank, this won’t do. We must take the initiative to attack and join the battle alongside your beast,” Percy could not sit still any longer, his goal was not just the water scalding bubble fruit.
“There’s no need, our agreement has already ended, now it’s every man for himself,” Hank did not agree. His goal was only the water scalding bubble fruit, and fighting to the death with the academy apprentices was out of the question.
“You must have other motives. As long as you don’t interfere with us, do whatever you please.”
“Hank is right, don’t even think about using us for your dirty work.”
“Get lost, or don’t blame us for turning on you.”
Hank’s words echoed the thoughts of his companions; now inside the secret realm, it was no longer Percy who called the shots.
“Fine, fine,” Percy said with an embarrassed face, glancing at the others before waving to his own people and running towards the fog outside.
On the other side, the battle with the academy apprentices was fierce.
But not all apprentices were hunting down the living creature puppets, others tried sneaking into the smoke-covered area, fishing in troubled waters, like Jefferson; however, they didn’t dare to go deep, afraid of the numerous opponents.
There were also those who, uninterested in fighting over the three vials of Aqua Alva, captured the sparsely numbered water scalding bubble fruit in areas far from the living creature puppets, like Wayne.
“Boom!”
In the heat of battle, under Ivan’s ‘Magic Palm’, the third Blood-striped Giant Tiger fell.
He did not rush to eliminate the other tigers, instead choosing to stop and drink a Mental Power Recovery Potion to replenish his mental power, not forgetting that more enemies were possibly joining the battlefield from within the smoke.
After three consecutive victories, the others were also significantly drained, in no rush to advance and encircle the remaining Blood-striped Giant Tigers.
“These foreign apprentices have many tricks up their sleeves, they must be collecting the water scalding bubble fruit, but how much have they gathered?”
“It doesn’t matter how much, they’re merely holding onto it temporarily.”
“Pay extra attention later, don’t let those people get away with ‘our’ water scalding bubble fruit.”
To most apprentices, no matter how much water scalding bubble fruit the outsiders gathered, it was only a temporary storage on their part. Once the dense smoke dispersed, they could kill and retrieve it; the outcome would be the same.
Bearing this in mind, there was no rush to deal with those people.
While these apprentices were recovering and resting, other academy apprentices continued to slay the Blood-striped Giant Tigers, with the fight raging on.
It wasn’t hard to see that the Blood-striped Giant Tigers possessed most characteristics of laboratory-synthesized creatures: strong power, thick endurance, quick recovery, high elemental resistance, primarily tough-skinned and robust.
Typically such puppet creatures have another name—giant battle beasts, war machines specifically researched by sorcerers to combat the Alien Race, and in large-scale wars, these puppet creatures often become meat grinders on the battlefield.
Using mental tactics was the optimal approach against such beasts, provided one could generate enough mental shock or concussion; otherwise, mental spells were as futile as scratching an itch.
Combined attacks were also ineffective, as mental magic often involved a spell check, surpassing the opponent’s resistance to deal damage, failing which, the magic would be ineffective. A quantitative change was unlikely to induce a qualitative change unless there was a specially designed runes sorcery array for combined attacks.
Clearly none of the apprentices present had one, and the situation remained tense.
Ivan rested for dozens of seconds before stepping forward again to join the battle, with many others following his lead.
‘Black Magic Hand’
The Black Magic Hand could be considered the nemesis of the Blood Striped Giant Tiger; the giant beast that had been resisting stubbornly under the others’ prolonged attacks suddenly stiffened up after being ambushed by the Black Magic Hand, its internal and external energy flow delayed, and its defensive power greatly reduced.
Under the siege by the others, the fourth Blood Striped Giant Tiger was slain.
Percy had just led his people to the edge of the smoke when he saw Ivan leading his team to kill that living creature puppet, and he realized that the opponent indeed had restraining measures. This guy caused a serious deviation from the plan, which made Percy swear under his breath.
“If we get the chance, we’ll take that guy down first.”
“Understood.”
After giving the order, he led his people forward to meet up with the remaining two giant puppet beasts.
They had items emitting a special aura on their person, which meant the giant puppet beasts would not attack them actively.
“Go over there.”
After all the commotion so far, the remaining two giant puppet beasts were quite a distance apart. Seeing that Ivan led his people to slaughter one of the beasts, Percy reluctantly chose to join the other one.
No sooner had Percy and the others emerged from the smoke than they were targeted by the academy apprentices. In terms of methods, they didn’t believe they would lose to these intruders whose origin was unknown.
“The cowards are coming out. I’ll handle them; no one else interfere.”
“Do it together, at least back each other up.”
Giant puppet beasts are difficult to kill; some people thought it would be better to deal with those intruders in their various attire, and soon numerous people reacted.
In the blink of an eye, the team split into two.
…
The steeple over the sea.
Apart from issuing new commands, the sorcerers also stopped the accelerated operation of the secret realm, preventing the temperature from continuing to rise.
Unexpectedly, the intruders were well-prepared with energy storage crystals to ripen the water scalding bubble fruits on their own, leaving the sorcerers with grim faces until they felt better seeing the living creature puppets fall one after another.
“Sorcerer Bernardson, that young fellow is a student from your academy, isn’t he? The Spell he developed is quite interesting,” Ivan said as he kept destroying living creature puppets, catching the attention of the sorcerers.
“Indeed clever; based on the Mage’s Hand with Aqua Alva as the magic-casting material, he must be a potion maker,” Hubick commented.
“There are runes on it; his knowledge of runes is not shallow, likely an Enchanter,” Pense opined, worth mentioning that he himself was an Enchanter.
Hearing these words, Bernardson’s face broke into a smile. He had to admit, Ivan’s actions indeed brought honor to the academy.
“Just like Wayne, he’s also among the recent batch of students to join the academy,” Bernardson added.
“Oh, and how is his talent?” Pense curiously inquired.
Bernardson fell silent.
“Not so great?”
“3rd Class talent.”
This qualification was indeed a bit surprising, and the conversation turned somewhat awkward after Bernardson’s revelation.
Whether a 3rd Class talent could eventually become a sorcerer was in question; without that ability, no matter how impressive in other areas, everything was in vain.
“Why do all of you only talk about talent? 3rd Class is also not bad. If he could transfer to our Rapid Flow Twin Towers, I would like to take him as an apprentice and help him become an official sorcerer with all my might,” Pense said with excitement, attempting to make an offer.
“He has a mentor.”
Bernardson dismissed the idea without a second thought.
For an apprentice nearing sorcerer status, switching academies was out of the question; it was a shame some people could make such a brazen proposal.
“Haha, just joking,” Pense laughed it off, no longer pursuing the topic.
While the sorcerers chatted leisurely, they did not forget to keep an eye on the energy particle light screen, watching for changes within the secret realm.
With Ivan’s lead, the fifth living creature puppet was vanquished, his contribution almost certainly securing him a share of the Aqua Alva.
Not far away, the students of the Four Great Academies clearly outmatched the apprentices of the Wandering Sorcerer Fellowship, inflicting heavy casualties on them in a short amount of time.
“What’s that?”
In the image, Percy took the opportunity to throw something at a living creature puppet, resembling a black heart.
The black heart came into contact with the blood on the puppet creature’s wound and abruptly burrowed into the body of the puppet creature.
The puppet creature began to roar wildly, its flesh writhing and even bursting, generating wisps of blood mist.
The next second, a Blood Light Ring emerged around the puppet creature.
“This is a Blood Light Ring.”
“It seems like a high-danger creature—Blood Hunter.”
Seeing this scene, two sorcerers blurted out.
The Blood Hunter is a high-level giant battle beast created by sorcerers, inherently equipped with a Blood Light Ring and able to draw strength from blood to heal and strengthen itself. The more creatures die on the battlefield, the harder it becomes to kill a Blood Hunter, giving rise to the phrase ‘As long as the blood flows, the hunt never ends.’
Due to an incident of living creature puppets going out of control, causing massive casualties among their own, Blood Hunters were subsequently listed as forbidden high-danger creatures. They could only be synthesized and sent to the battlefield under many stipulated conditions.
This time, one appeared in the Flash Vortex Secret Realm, these treacherous and hateful lunatics certainly went too far.