Earth's Greatest Magus

Three hundred miles away not long before such destruction occurred, a massive cloud could be seen filling the sky. The loud roars of thunder resounded, yet not a drop of rain fell.

Two figures soared within the clouds of smoke and flames, blasting each other with spells that wrecked their surroundings almost entirely until the two stopped.

"Ghost of Lymhurst, you really live up to your name!" the dark elf sneered while gritting his teeth. A large amount of blood rushed up the dark elf's throat, and he angrily brushed his mouth with the back of his hand.

Both figures were covered in numerous severe wounds, but it was the dark elf who ultimately admitted defeat. Despite his unwillingness and displeasure, the dark elf grand magus chose to flee.

Delbrand instinctively refused to let him go. However, as the sounds of battle from the other sides continued to reach his ears, he chose not to go after the dark elf and instead investigate the situation.

It was a battle that involved a terrifying presence. Although the owner of the power wasn't anywhere within his sight, Delbrand could tell that it was a powerful beast at the mythical level, if not higher.

At this thought, the headmaster immediately moved toward the source of the presence.

The closer he got, the louder and clearer the sounds of explosions became. His feelings of anxiety quickly grew, but with the severity of his injuries, it was difficult for him to go faster.

As Delbrand was about to arrive, he saw one bright light before all ceased completely.

The headmaster's heart dropped. Was he too late?

He hastened his movement once again. It felt as if invisible blades were viciously tearing his insides, but he could no longer care about his injuries at this point.

Still, it took him almost a full minute before he finally arrived at the edge of an enormous crater, the location of the calamity.

It was as if a meteor had fallen onto the site. Hundreds of dark elf corpses, many of which were in incomplete pieces, were scattered. As the headmaster got closer to the center, one stood out among the numerous others. It was a familiar human body.

The headmaster reflexively heaved a deep sigh. Upon recognizing the owner of the charred body, he thoroughly rushed to check on it. There was still a string of energy inside, however, his core was cracked apart and his soul was nowhere to be found.

The young acolyte was no longer alive.

The headmaster felt as if countless stones were weighing on his heart. He couldn't help but take another look at the motionless acolyte, regretful, before letting out a powerless sigh.

"You did very well, Emery. I'm sorry it ended this way."

At this moment, a voice sounded from his communication device, pulling back his thoughts.

[More elven ships reinforcement will be arriving soon]

The headmaster scanned the area for a while. Feeling that there was nothing else that he could do, he decided to leave. He shouldered Emery's corpse and put it into a special tube, which he stored in his extra-dimensional ring.

He immediately flew straight into one of the closest gates, passed through the barrier and up to the sky. As he flew toward the great space beyond, the sun crested the horizon, yet it brought his heart no solace.

Hours later, Delbrand finally managed to rendezvous at the cargo ship as planned.

There, he was able to see the fruits of his mission as hundreds of acolytes gathered in one of the cargo rooms. The moment they noticed his arrival, they immediately bowed with both respect and gratitude.

"Thank you, Headmaster, thank you for saving us"

Voices thanking the headmaster filled the room for a brief moment until a group led by two women approached him.

"Headmaster, did you see my Eeshoo?" one of the young women asked.

The headmaster regretfully shook his head. "I'm sorry, I could not find him."

The woman's eyes dimmed, but the person next to her quickly reassured, "Don't worry, I'm sure that Emery is with him. Didn't you see his new power? With his space magic, they will definitely be able to escape."

However, in contrast to her words, Klea's eyes were slightly dazed. Instead of reassuring the other party, it was more as if… she was trying to convince herself.

At this, the headmaster involuntarily sighed before taking out the two-meter tube from his storage ring.

"What's this, Headmaster?"

The headmaster didn't respond. His silence caused a terrible premonition to quickly creep up Klea's heart, but she still braved herself to open it.

The moment its content was revealed, her knees immediately turned weak.

"No… No, this can't be…"

Her trembling hands moved to cast a healing spell, but it was futile. No matter how hard she tried, the body remained cold. Still, she didn't want to believe it.

Looking at the desperate expression on her face, no one dared to stop her.

"He's not dead! He's not…!!" Klea turned to face the headmaster. "I can feel a bit of energy in his body, he's definitely… he's definitely still alive!!"

The headmaster's words got stuck in his throat when he saw her pleading look, and it took him a moment to slowly explain.

"It is not something unusual to happen to a person after such a battle. The fact is, the core of the magus is already broken…  it is only a vessel without a soul. I'm sorry, but he's gone."

"No… no!!!" Klea hysterically shouted and covered her ears with her hands. She couldn't accept such a result.

Emery's death dealt a heavy blow to most of the acolytes within the room.

They might be friend or foe but the simple young acolyte from the lower realm was an inspiration for all of them. The fact that he fall on a mission to save them just added to the despair of all these acolytes. It was such a shame for it to go down like this.

Noticing the suffocating atmosphere in the room, and unable to bring himself to provide wisdom, Delbrand decided to leave and give them some space.

The headmaster received the full report of the mission. From the known 3218 missing acolytes, they managed to rescue a total of 1362 of them. However, the price they had to pay was not small at all.

Other than the acolytes who died during their escape, three magus instructors fell, along with Magus Xion. As for the acolytes who bravely chose to join the mission, three did not return. Eeshoo Nephilim, Silva Ouroboros, and Emery Ambrose.

Delbrand couldn't help but fall into deep thought if this could really be considered a successful mission.