Chapter 150: The Descent of the Nightmare

The Magic Swamp remained as damp and gloomy as ever each day, resembling a pool of foul, stagnant water.

Yet beneath the turbid and filthy water, a terrifying undercurrent was surging.

The quasi-apprentices, trapped day and night on the ground floor, were filled with envy toward the full-fledged apprentices who walked past them every day with their heads held high. Little did they know, however, a death storm capable of destroying everything was sweeping toward them, blotting out the sky and covering the earth.

In this storm, those who failed to make adequate preparations would find no escape.

Enduring yet another ten days in such a harsh environment, the dreadful day finally arrived!

It was a gloomy and freezing dawn. Most of the apprentices were still immersed in sweet dreams, while the formidable Wizard Anderson had just completed the construction and refinement of the mysterious wizard array.

The moment he stepped out of the specially sealed alternate dimension, Anderson's spiritual force swiftly embedded itself into the core of the tower's control system, taking in all the information of the entire tower at a single glance.

He had been busy in the alternate dimension for all these days and lacked a thorough understanding of the outside world. Yet, relying on his highest authority as the resident tower wizard, nothing inside the tower could escape his perception and prying senses.

Perhaps vaguely reacting to his chilling spiritual prying, those few quasi-wizard-level spiritual sources successively became active, seeming to have all awakened from their sleep.

Humph, since the targets that ought to be present were all here, there was no time like the present—the execution of the plan would be set for today!

Wearing a pointed hat and draped in a grey wizard robe, the lean and withered Wizard Anderson stood silently in the tower's control hall, his hands making continuous sweeping motions in the void to condense dazzling spell runes one after another. The moment these runes appeared, they vanished instantly, and immediately the tower would experience a slight tremor.

Under the control of Wizard Anderson, the entire Magic Swamp was densely shrouded by billowing thick fog, and even those prominent entrances and exits vanished. Amidst the slight vibration, the body of the tower lit up.

When the azure-gleam stones used to construct the tower were traversed by the surging elemental energy, they emitted a cold and desolate magical fluorescent glow. Those specters and resentful spirits that usually hid in the depths of the swamp swarmed out, beginning to circle ceaselessly around the tower while continuously letting out soul-shaking, haunting wails.

Those terrifying magical beasts that entrenched themselves across the Magic Swamp and had signed witchcraft contracts with the swamp tower all became restless and active. They successively left their nests and gathered around the tower, remaining vigilant against the approach of any outsiders.

Layers of magical halos lingered around the tower's body, and countless witchcraft traps and magical mechanisms had already been activated. All the magical secret doors and hidden paths leading in and out of the tower were sealed, and even the numerous narrow windows on the tower body were shielded by countless transparent gaseous barriers.

At almost the exact same moment, all the tower apprentices were immobilized in place, utterly unable to stir even the slightest bit.

"Entick, bring them all over!" Anderson commanded coldly.

Following his order, the Evil Insect Entick, who had been sitting rigidly in the secret room like a corpse, abruptly raised his head, blazing and brilliant soul fires igniting within his eye sockets. Under his waving and commanding gestures, countless scorpions and insects surged out, instantly flooding the entire corridor.

The doors to the apprentices' living quarters—originally protected by numerous witchcraft defenses—were blasted wide open. Swarms of scorpions and insects poured in like a tidal wave, quickly lifting, wrapping around, and carrying out the apprentices one by one.

With the assistance of Entick's numerous scorpions and insects, all the tower apprentices were centrally transported to the fifth floor, a high level of the wizard tower they had never set foot on before.

In the spacious and bright magic hall on the fifth floor, scorpions and insects surged back and forth, successively transporting all the tower apprentices. Greem and the other two quasi-wizard apprentices occupied the front ranks, tightly bound like mummies by semi-transparent air shackles, their eyes closed and completely unconscious.

To avoid trouble, Wizard Anderson used the power of sleep runes to plunge all the apprentices into dreamland.

When all personnel were fully in place, Wizard Anderson floated mid-air into the hall, looked down at the unconscious tower apprentices covering the floor, and a chilling smile curled the corner of his mouth.

"There's no need to feign sleep. Did you really think I couldn't perceive your restless spiritual fluctuations? In front of a wizard, all the tricks you play are futile!"

Upon hearing Anderson's words, the three quasi-wizards in the front ranks simultaneously opened their eyes.

"Respected Lord Anderson, what on earth are you trying to do? Surely you don't intend to kill all the tower apprentices here, do you? If so, how will you ever account to the Sarupo family?" Greem struggled a few times, utterly unable to break free from the shackles on his body, and angrily questioned the floating Anderson.

"Humph! The family? Once your flesh, blood, and souls are used to shatter that shackle, I will become a great Second-Rank wizard. By then, the Sarupo family will be too busy trying to ingratiate themselves with me to ever call me to account on behalf of a group of mere wizard apprentices!"

"What? You truly intend to kill us all? I—"

Bothering no longer to listen to the dying lament of a doomed lamb, Anderson flicked a finger, and a silencing rune instantly landed on Greem, rendering him mute on the spot.

Meanwhile, Marie and the one called Alice struggled with all their might, yet remained completely powerless to break free from the restraints on their bodies.

Wizard Anderson reached out and gently pointed. The storage belt on Greem's body instantly detached and flew up, landing in his hand. He closed his eyes to inspect it slightly, his brows beaming with joy a moment later. With a flip of his palm, a crystal-clear magic puppet core radiating intense elemental fluctuations appeared in his hand.

Such elemental puppet treasures were rare even among full-fledged wizards. If he could erase the consciousness imprint Greem had left on it, it might just provide him with a free servant. Gesturing casually twice, he simply sealed this wizard-level core and tucked it into his robe with a smiling expression.

Scanning the surroundings once more and feeling that nothing had been missed, Wizard Anderson raised both arms high. As intense spatial fluctuations arose, the entire hall was enveloped in a soft white light. By the time the white light slowly faded, the group was no longer on the fifth floor of the swamp tower, but inside an unknown magic secret chamber.

The space of the magic secret chamber was not small, easily the size of three football fields. Right in the center of the chamber, a bizarre triangular altar stood towering. The altar was not large, yet it was divided into three tiers, each about two meters high, connected by ten-step staircases.

On the stone walls of each tier of the altar were embossed exquisite and lifelike human face reliefs—some in pain, some wailing, some weeping bitterly, some sorrowful... Their expressions varied yet were so vivid that it felt as though living people had been cast directly into the stone, making anyone who looked upon them shudder with dread!

Anderson flew up to the topmost tier of the altar and stood firmly there. As an obscure and profound witchcraft incantation resounded across the heavens and earth, the magic secret chamber completely sealed itself amidst a rumbling vibration, severing all connection with the outside world.

This was also one of Anderson's insurance measures.

To avoid outside interference, he had temporarily sealed this space. Until his successful blood sacrifice, not a single entity would escape from here. Perhaps by this time tomorrow, the figure stepping out of this space with head held high would be a reborn Anderson, a Second-Rank wizard!

At that time, everyone who had once looked down upon him would bow their heads beneath his dazzling radiance, offering their respect with trembling hearts. And the entire Land of Ruins would chant the birth of a new Second-Rank wizard!

Filled with infinite, beautiful aspirations for the future, Anderson lowered his head to survey the sprawling mass of wizard apprentices lying horizontally and vertically, and waved his hand to release the wind chains binding Marie.

The very first moment she regained her freedom, Marie moved with lightning speed, lunging toward Anderson almost instantly. Her sharp, blood-stained, and cruel claws slashed across his throat at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

Had it not been for that bizarrely appearing transparent barrier, Marie might truly have had a chance to injure Anderson. Unfortunately, facing a veteran wizard who had advanced over three hundred years ago, no matter how fast Marie's surprise attack was, it could not outpace a mere thought of Anderson's spiritual will.

Swish, swish, swish...

Countless crisscrossing claw marks successively appeared on the transparent barrier. Marie gritted her teeth and attacked desperately, yet still failed to pierce that thin protective barrier.

Backed by the entire swamp tower behind him, a continuous stream of pure magical energy crossed space to be transmitted over, constantly injecting into the transparent barrier outside Anderson's body. Unless Marie's attack was powerful enough to shatter this barrier in a single blow, she could never exhaust the wind-attribute energy replenishing the barrier.

"My beautiful and elegant personal guard, no longer restrain your wild and untamed free nature, give up your meaningless resistance, and from this moment onward, continue to grovel at the feet of your great master Anderson..."

Accompanied by a murmur from Wizard Anderson on the altar, Marie—who was in the midst of her frantic attack—abruptly shuddered, her crimson blood-red pupils instantly turning pitch white. At the same time, she involuntarily halted her movements.

"That's right, just like that! Go on, go on... Beneath the altar are countless lambs I have prepared for you; go taste their fresh blood, and let that scalding hot blood warm your ice-cold body once again..."

A look of painful struggle surfaced on Marie's pretty face, but her individual will was utterly insignificant under the binding of Wizard Anderson's runes. It took less than three snaps of a finger for her primary consciousness to be overthrown by the surging vampire instinct.

A rattling gurgle echoed in Marie's throat. She leapt down from the altar in a flash and violently pounced upon the nearest wizard apprentice, her sharp vampire fangs protruding past her lips instantly piercing the other's carotid artery. The apprentice, jolted awake from deep sleep, cried out in loud wailing; alas, his cries for help and struggles were completely in vain. Moments later, his breathing gradually faded.

By the time Marie left his body and lunged toward her next target, one could faintly perceive a sweet smile lingering on the face of the apprentice whose blood had been completely drained, as if he were still immersed in some blissful, happy dream.