Chapter 713 You Thought You Didn’t Confess?
The light was so dazzling that it almost blinded the observers.
But it disappeared as fast as it appeared.
Due to the lagging of the optical nerves, the whole world was dark in the eyes of the Summoner girls for quite a few seconds.
Then, a ma.s.s of white flames rose, slowly dimmed, and rose higher, until they became a red mushroom cloud. Observing from the hilltop, they could see that a circle of red airwaves was spreading out at a high speed and consuming everything. It soon reached the foot of the hill. The leaves on the trees had already been set ablaze before the airwaves came.
The noises of the pressing airwaves, as well as the shrieking wind, could be distinctly heard even though they were far away.
The airwaves stopped after they climbed to the middle of the hill.
The bottom half of the hill became an ocean of flames where everything burned.
This was a sunny and windless day, but the intensely hot air currents had pushed up the mushroom cloud, and the cooler air around it dropped. Due to the accelerated air flow, a strong wind blasted the hill.
All the trees on the hilltop were rustling.
The creatures that the Elven Summoners summoned were intelligent. The unicorn, in particular, was as smart as an ordinary human being. Also, they all loved nature, so they all looked uneasy and angry when they saw the hill on fire.
The unicorn even stared at Roland’s fiery form as if it were going to extinguish that thing.
Fortunately, it could tell a friend from a foe and didn’t do it.
Roland didn’t turn back into a human being until the fire burned for a while in the valley.
At this moment, he only had one third of his mana left, but in terms of quant.i.ty, his remaining mana was actually a lot more than what a Mage player of his level had in their best state.
At this moment, the army of Summoners had already surrounded the valley.
Then even voluntarily created a firebreak to stop the fire from burning up the hills.
The altars and bones in the valley had been burned to ashes. The whole area was blackened. Naturally, the walking skeletons didn’t survive either.
About half an hour later, thanks to the joint effort of all the summoned beasts, the fire was extinguished. With the perk “Roland’s Zeal” and the magic power regeneration equipment he was wearing, Roland had almost recovered all his magic power.
Solisa led the unicorn close and asked, “Do you want me to search the area?”
Roland looked at the unicorn, which was glancing at him with a pair of beautiful golden eyes.
It looked rather angry.
“Is it possible?” Roland looked at Solisa. “I don’t think the summoned creatures like ruined woods or places with excessive dark magic power.”
Solisa said with a smile, “That’s all right. They know what to do. Besides… the will of the Summoners matters too.”
That was the benefit of a high Charm.
A high-Charm Summoner could ask the summoned creatures to do things they didn’t like. If an average-Charm Summoner did the same, they might consider. If the Summoner was hideous, they would probably betray and kill their master. Screw you! How can you make me do such a disgusting thing? That was exactly why girls loved being Summoners. By adding Charm, not only would they look beautiful, but their summoned creatures would also be loyal to them.
“Then please do search the area.” Roland made a suggestion. “However, the enemy may be hiding in the cave. If the cave is more than ten meters deep, it’ll be untouched by the explosion. Watch out in case they suddenly ambush you in there.”
“Got it. We’ll hide behind the summoned beasts.”
Solisa and the others went on mercenary missions all the time and knew how to protect themselves.
But the reminder just showed how considerate Roland was.
Offering a warm suggestion tended to leave a better impression on other people.
After nodding at Roland, Solisa mounted her unicorn and led her ocean of summoned creatures downhill.
The other four Summoner girls were far away, but when they saw that Solisa’s “troop” took action, as her good friends and teammates, they realized Solisa’s intention without having to receive her order. They urged their summon creatures to press on to the valley too.
Very soon, the whole valley was surrounded. Abundant summoned beasts were even flying in the sky. n.o.body could possibly escape from so many searchers. However, after the ground was fully scoured, nothing was found except for a thick layer of ashes and soil. Eventually, everybody gathered before the cave with the summoned beasts.
This place was rather cold compared to the ground where wispy steam was still rising. A cool breeze was spreading out of the cave.
Solisa and the other girls all looked at the cave unhappily. Solisa turned around and said to Roland, “Sorry, but we don’t want to go into the cave. Even if we do, we’ll still be greatly weakened.”
Roland nodded to indicate his understanding.
The Summoners were only strong when they surrounded the enemy with their advantage in numbers.
Caves and other narrow s.p.a.ces were easier to defend than to attack.
All the Summoners’ advantages would be wiped out by the terrain.
“However, we can help you guard the entrance of the cave. Not another enemy will be let in.”
“Thanks.”
Roland smiled and dropped three magic spiders. He then turned into fire elements and walked into the dark cave.
With the three magic spiders leading the way, Roland didn’t purposefully slow down.
The liches, or the Dark Mages, were best at curses, but those curses usually worked on living creatures only.
The few curses that did work on the mind were restricted by the “Soul Protection” rule of the system. It was safe to say that the Dark Mages had no advantages at all against Roland.
The three magic spiders moved very fast and went deep down the cave quickly.
Roland, on the other hand, paused near the entrance of the cave.
The magic stripes on the wall became red, getting brighter and brighter.
At this moment, Roland finally realized the function of the barrier inside the cave.
It was meant to absorb the non-dark magic power elements.
The absorption was quite subtle; Roland didn’t even sense it.
But fortunately, Roland had a system.
At this moment, system notifications of “Magic Power -1, -1, -1” kept popping up.
No wonder the previous magic spiders disappeared.
Also, the magic spiders that had deeply entered the cave lost touch with him again.
Roland laid his hand on the stripes and skillfully injected magic power into the barrier.
He mixed his mental power in the magic power and soon found the core barrier through the circuits. Then, his mental power burst out and destroyed the whole barrier.
It wasn’t an easy task.
Normally speaking, every barrier had a defense mechanism that would be triggered when it was attacked.
When triggered, it would temporarily close the barrier to protect its core.
However, Roland was an expert of magic barriers himself, and his control over magic power was one of his talents, verified by the system.
His talent, Magic Power Control, gave him inhuman control over magic power.
He was probably only second to the G.o.ddess of Magic.
Therefore, he could easily transmit a tiny amount of magic power that wouldn’t trigger the defense mechanism of the magic barrier and even track the circuits down to the core.
That was definitely an unbelievable matter for an ordinary Mage.
Looking at the dimming red stripes on the wall, Roland put on a gloating smile and dropped three magic spiders again.
Let’s see how you can destroy these three “eyes” that can hardly be noticed.
After the magic spiders stepped into the darkness, Roland strode on.
Because his fiery form was luminous by itself, he didn’t need extra spells such as Illumination.
After walking for about five minutes, he suddenly stopped, because the magic spiders had sent pictures back.
At the end of the dark cave was a round s.p.a.ce that looked like a burial pit.
An infinite number of undead creatures had crammed into the pit, with a lich at their center.
It was a stereotype that liches were smelly creatures with ulcers on the top of their head and oozing puses at the bottom of their feet.
But this lich was different. He was quite handsome with his golden hair and blue eyes, and he was very strong. He could’ve easily impressed others as a descendant of a n.o.ble family had it not been for all the undead creatures around him.
He seemed to have noticed the magic spiders. He smiled in disdain and curled his finger at the magic spiders.
It was almost as if he were shouting, “Just come here!”
Roland sped up and soon came to the end of the cave.
Seeing a fiery man walking over, the lich snapped his fingers, and the undead creatures that surrounded him slowly split up, making a straight pathway between them.
“Fiery man. It’s really you, Roland.” Intense hatred burst out of his eyes. “The magic attack on the ground just now that was almost a forbidden spell must be the fireball spell that you’re famous for.”
“It’s indeed my work.” Roland’s voice sounded dull in the fire element form. “You can’t get away. My companions have surrounded this area. Speak. How many accomplices do you have? Why did you come after me?”
The lich laughed so crazily and madly that his body was shaking nonstop. “You’re threatening a lich? Do you not know that you can’t kill me until you find my phylactery?”
Roland nodded. “Of course I do, but I’ve remembered your mental power waves. It’s all right. I’ve tried to create a spell that can search for mental power and distribute quests for you everywhere. I’m weak as an individual, but money can be very powerful as long as you have enough of it.”
He wasn’t lying.
The Church of Magic was giving him more money every month. Also, magic teleportation arrays had been set up in one third of the major cities in Fareins.
Many smaller countries were starting to construct magic arrays too, which made transportation and administration easier.
As the magic teleportation arrays were established throughout the world, Roland would make an unbelievable amount of money every month.
But of course, the Church of Magic would make even more money. They had more shares.
Money could get things done on most occasions.
Hearing what Roland said, the lich couldn’t have looked more awful.
He had imagined a lot of scenarios. For example, Roland was furious to see that he was a lich, but knowing that it was impossible to deal with him, Roland would give in and negotiate with him.
He didn’t expect Roland to threaten him in such a way.
If people everywhere started searching for him as Roland threatened, there would be few places he could go to.
It was probably impossible for him to come to Hollevin again.
When he thought of that, he said gloomily, “Roland, that’s truly brutal of you.”
“Not as brutal as you. There’s no grudge between us. Why did you come to me for trouble?” Roland raised his eyebrows. “Why do you and your wolf-masked fellows want me dead? Did I ruin your business?”
After a chuckle, the lich put on his wolf mask. “There’s no hate. We simply want to hunt you down.”
They were really trying to take him down?
“Roland, we’ll go after you alone in the future and spare your friends and lovers,” suggested the lich. “In return, you can’t hunt us with helpers.”
“Do you take me for a fool?”.
Without further ado, Roland threw a small fireball at him.
That was exactly the “basic attack” of the fire element form.
The lich reacted fast too and threw out a black spear, which hit the fireball. Both of them were neutralized.
“Why didn’t you accept my offer?” asked the lich grimly. “That’s a fair deal!”
“Fair?” Roland burst into laughter and crazily threw out fireb.a.l.l.s, while he said, “You really think I’m stupid. Is there anything worth negotiating between us?”
The lich’s offer seemed fair at first.
If Roland didn’t hunt them with other forces, they wouldn’t go after Roland’s family and friends.
One condition for another.
But the problem was that they came to Roland for trouble first. How could they get away easily?
One would’ve ignored that if one were beguiled by them and focused on so-called “fairness.”
Then, one would be taken advantage of.
The innate fireb.a.l.l.s of the fire element form could explode too and were reasonably powerful, but naturally, they couldn’t compare to Roland’s own fireb.a.l.l.s.
That being said, when the fireb.a.l.l.s exploded consecutively in the cave, it was like a whole team of soldiers were throwing grenades nonstop.
The noises of the explosions were echoing nonstop.
The undead creatures all fell like wheat that had been cut down.
The lich could only create a dark magic power s.h.i.+eld and look at Roland’s attack coldly.
He couldn’t attack.
The lich was best at curses and summoning undead creatures.
But those advantages were useless against Roland.
Very soon, the undead creatures in the cave were cleared.
The lich was left alone, with a feeble magic power s.h.i.+eld.
“Your friends and lovers will die miserably, I swear on my blood.”
“Humph!”
Having no time for his nonsense, Roland simply condensed a small blue fireball and tossed it out after it grew to twenty centimeters in diameter.
After an intense explosion, the lich was gone. Even the cave had half collapsed.
In reality, the blue fireball of such a size would’ve been as powerful as the explosion of a 100-millimeter cannonball.
In the game, boosted by the high stats and talents of the characters, the explosion was at least as powerful as that of a 250-millimeter cannonball.
Roland resumed his human form and put on a mysterious smile.
It seemed that the lich didn’t confess anything, but Roland had still gathered a lot of intelligence from the conversation and his own observations.
It was well-established that Mages were smart and keen observers.