End of the Magic Era

Viper Bandits’ Camp

Lin Yun first outlined the crisis of the Bojinsen Family before pointing out how they would all perish. This threw Patriarch Bojinsen’s mind into chaos. He was unable to reason properly. That and the fact that the poison had been cleansed made his mood swing up and down. He then looked at Lin Yun with a complicated expression.

The hidden poison that could kill him was easily cleansed away with a few potions from the Gilded Rose.

Patriarch Bojinsen remained silent for a few minutes before suddenly raising his head.

“Sir Mafa Merlin, my son is in the hands of the Viper Bandits, I can’t go against their command.”

Lin Yun nodded.

“Give me the coordinates, I’ll bring your son back..”

Patriarch Bojinsen promptly nodded when he heard Lin Yun’s words.

‘It was rumored that the true owner of the Gilded Rose was a man called Mafa Merlin. I hadn’t expected that rumor to be true. Furthermore, his alchemy experience is terrifying. That Health Potion is at least seven to eight times stronger than any healing potion I’ve ever seen. With his strength and alchemy techniques, he definitely won’t fear the Viper Bandits’ leader.‘The Rodney Family tried to snatch the Gilded Rose, only for that infamous Necromancer to almost be killed in front of the Gilded Rose. Even if the Gilded Rose isn’t as powerful as the Rodney Family, it’s not that far behind.

‘My son can be rescued, and we can endure this crisis with the help of Mafa Merlin. This is the most important thing right now. The rest can wait…’

“Sir Mafa, those are the coordinates of the camp…”

Patriarch Bojinsen gave a set of coordinates but didn’t know what to say after that. Lin Yun glanced at Patriarch Bojisen and casually opened a Spatial Door. It appeared at a high altitude above the coordinates to make it harder to discover. The fluctuations caused by its appearance wouldn’t spread far since space was even more unstable at a height of five thousand meters above the ground.

Patriarch Bojinsen’s face turned pale as he watched Lin Yun casually opening the Spatial Door and going through it.

Opening a Spatial Door was an instinctive spell for Heaven Rank powerhouses. All mages would gain some comprehension of the Spatial Law after advancing to the Heaven Rank. After all, it was involved in the process of establishing a Demiplane.

But most Heaven Ranks, or at least those under the 5th Rank, would have huge restrictions when using a Spatial Door.

They would at most be able to open a Spatial Door once or twice a day, would need a coordinate imprint prepared in advance, and would need the place to be devoid of any strong interference. In short, they were extremely restricted. It wasn’t very practical and could only be used in some fixed settings.

Those able to rely on coordinates to calculate a definite position and open a Spatial Door near it were at least at the 5th Rank of the Heaven realm and had a good comprehension of the Spatial Law.

Mages who specialized in the Spatial Law were also able to do it.

Patriarch Bojinsen was a bit pale. He hadn’t been able to feel Lin Yun’s strength earlier, but seeing that casually opened Spatial Door, he felt that his selfish scheming wasn’t very sensible.

On the other side, Lin Yun appeared five kilometers above the ground. The temperature was very low, and the mana was chaotic and continuously bursting. But fortunately, the mana density was a lot lower than on the ground, making it unlikely for elemental storms to form.

Lin Yun’s comprehension of the Spatial Law grew at a rapid pace as he spent more time comprehending it in his Demiplane. He had also deciphered 300 more truth runes. This wasn’t a small amount of progress… It meant that he was just one step closer to becoming a Saint Alchemist.

The number of law runes condensed from the Spatial Law rose up to over two hundred. This meant that Lin Yun could already use Spatial Spells in battle, and the power of those spells could already influence a battlefield.

When it came to opening a Spatial Door based on coordinates, Lin Yun could already compare to a spatial mage specialized in the Spatial Law.

Floating in the sky, Lin Yun cast Eagle Sight and looked down. A dense fog was covering the ground, and not a single sound could be heard from within, as if there was not a single living being inside.

Three kilometers away, he noticed some traces of buildings.

There was a barrier blocking mana fluctuations and silhouettes. Lin Yun slowly descended and entered the dense fog, which contained traces of green light containing violent poison. Aside from the dark green trees with high resistance to toxins, only some magic plants remained as part of the vegetation: Vampiric Vines, Flesh-Eating Rafflesia, as well as Bone-Marrow Flowers growing out of piles of bones.

It was very peaceful in the forest. Only the sounds of rustling leaves echoed. Lin Yun frowned… From what he could sense, anything that could move in this forest was poisonous or venomous, like poisonous insects, snakes, birds, and beasts. Not a single lifeform wasn’t.

The report mentioned that although the location of the Viper Bandits’ camp was known to many people and wasn’t hidden, the Viper Bandits were still able to remain carefree. The biggest reason behind that was that their camp was completely covered in a poisonous fog that would never dissipate.

The Viper Bandits previously provoked a first-rate family of the Odin Kingdom, making them dispatch an army to eliminate them. A Heaven Rank Wind Storm Mage released a Howling Gales Extraordinary Spell, which tore through the entire forest. It blew more than half of the vegetation and lifeforms away, but it didn’t disperse the poison mist.

It wasn’t that the poison mist wasn’t blown away, but even after the density of poisonous fog decreased, it quickly regained its original density. Aside from Archmages and Heaven Rank powerhouses, every member of the army that entered the poisonous fog at that time quickly got infected by the poisonous fog. Their skin festered, their flesh was torn apart, and they ended up as bones before they could be treated.

Later, they gave up on their revenge, and the Viper Bandits’ abilities were put on display. Moreover, the bandits wouldn’t provoke the forces that could exterminate them and were able to survive in the Odin Kingdom due to their hideout.

After sensing the poisonous fog, Lin Yun felt that something was abnormal because the root of the poisonous fog simply wasn’t in the forest. The poisonous plants and animals didn’t infect the forest. In fact, they had been infected by an already existing poisonous fog, which developed to this stage.

But as time passed, the scope of the poisonous fauna and flora had progressed to a developed stage, making the poisonous fog even more complex and toxic. Anyone under the Sword Saint realm would be poisoned to death upon entering the Viper Bandits’ camp.

The strength of an Archmage would start dropping after thirty minutes. After two hours, it would already be decreased by 20%, and a Low Rank Archmage might even be in danger of losing a rank after twelve hours.

But that kind of poisonous fog was only useful against the living, and it could hardly influence a Heaven Rank powerhouse.

Lin Yun casually opened a Planar Path, and Xiuban, Reina, and Pabiete came out of the Demiplane. They were followed by an army of puppets, which slowly formed in the forest within ten minutes, with the weakest puppet being at Level 35.

Due to the activity, the forest’s flora and fauna frantically converged towards them, waiting for the massacre to unfold.

After the appearance of the puppet army, the mage army also came out of the Demiplane. The temperature rose with the appearance of the fifty mages.

The Law of Fire became akin to a sapling growing branches that mimicked the appearance of volcanoes in the southern part of the Demiplane, and the fifty mages had kept training in that area.

With Lin Yun’s meticulous guidance, the Law of Fire was nearly always surrounding the fifty mages. Even if they were incapable of truly comprehending the Law of Fire, it was enough for them to lay a very good foundation and rapidly increase their rank.

Kurumu was already a 7th Rank Archmage, and the lowest-ranked one was already a 5th Rank Archmage. At those ranks, they could already start getting in touch with the Law, but all they could get in contact with was the manifestation of the Law.

Archmages had to slowly interact with the Laws from the 5th Rank up until the peak of the Archmage realm. Once they established their Law Foundation, they could only wait to complete their Extraordinary Transformation.

The truth runes and the Law of Fire were open to the mage army, and the speed at which they improved was inevitably faster. After all, ranking up was more troublesome starting from the 5th Rank, as it was no longer a matter of mana accumulation, but rather a matter of law comprehension.

The fifty mages walked out, and it was like a Heaven Rank fire elemental lifeform had appeared. The surrounding plants started dehydrating due to the heat, and the poisonous smaller lifeforms that rushed over halted and gave up due to the increase in temperature.

“Destroy this fog-covered forest, turn everything in our path into ashes.”

Following Lin Yun’s command, a thousand sword puppets took the lead and tore apart everything in their path. The two thousand casting puppets spread out and kept casting spells, destroying everything in their wake.

The mage army flew up under Kurumu’s lead, and the mana they released rapidly condensed into elemental flames. The fifty mages were spread in the shape of a rune, and the converging mana formed its outline.

A few seconds later, Kurumu solemnly lifted his Dragonscale Staff.

“Burn!”

It was like an incantation, yet not an incantation… It was more akin to a mantra. Following that word, the rune formed by the mage army started shining crimson red, and a crimson halo spread out around the mage army. Everything coming into contact with the halo was set on fire. Even the moist trees and the river flowing through the forest were set ablaze.

The halo spread for less than a kilometer, but all the places affected by it started burning, and the soaring flames spread through the forest.

The fragments of vegetation sliced by the sword puppet army were especially vulnerable, as the aura of the mage army alone was enough to burn them to cinders.

Xiuban raised Carnage and grinned as he watched the forest turning into a sea of flames.

“Sir Merlin, surely you didn’t call me to watch Kurumu and the others play with fire? Who do you want to eliminate? I’ll bash their skull in! Carnage hasn’t tasted blood for a very long time.”

Lin Yun looked into the distance.

“The Viper Bandits’ camp is over there. We came to turn these vipers into dead snakes.”

Xiuban grinned and raised Carnage as he rushed in the direction Lin Yun pointed towards.

Lin Yun led Reina and Pabiete. The other side should be honored that Lin Yun even showed up. He had originally planned to simply exterminate the Viper Bandits’ hideout.

There would be a lot of people looking to get their revenge after the Viper Bandits lost their hideout. The Rodney Family wouldn’t be able to shelter them, at least not openly. The Rodney Family couldn’t display any connection to the Viper Bandits.

Lin Yun became curious after discovering that the poisonous fog was strange and even a bit familiar.

In less than half an hour, more than twenty kilometers of the forest was thoroughly set ablaze. This place had completely turned into a sea of flames, and the poison fog occupying the place had somewhat weakened. However, it didn’t have that much of an impact, which showed that the poisonous fog was special. An ordinary poisonous fog couldn’t last in this kind of sea of flames.

Sounds of battle could be heard from the front as the puppet army was already engaged in a melee battle against the Viper Bandits. Unfortunately for them, the weakest puppet Lin Yun had dispatched was already at Level 35. Level 35 puppets were produced rapidly, and they were all accumulated over time.

An army of three thousand Level 35 puppets was enough to sweep through every bandit group in the Odin Kingdom, provided they didn’t have a Heaven Rank powerhouse.

“Idiots, don’t run! Come taste Lord Xiuban’s warhammer!” Xiuban roared in the distance.

It was already a bloodbath by the time Lin Yun arrived. The Viper Bandits only had two Heaven Rank powerhouses, one of whom had half of his body shattered when Lin Yun arrived.

The other one was wearing a long, dark green robe and was holding a viper-like magic staff. All kinds of poisonous spells and venoms were frantically flying towards Xiuban, but how could his poisons and venoms compare to the Ancient Poison Dragon’s? They had no effects on Xiuban.

Less than ten seconds later, Viper fled deeper into the camp with Xiuban in close pursuit.

Flames were burning and buildings were collapsing. There had been no accidents. It went as smoothly as Lin Yun expected. The Viper Bandits’ camp didn’t have a defensive wall, as they had been depending on that omnipresent poisonous fog to keep intruders out.

Unfortunately, the Heaven Rank powerhouses that came this time didn’t fear the poisonous fog, the puppets were immune, and the heat produced by the motionless mage army was enough to disperse the poisonous fog near them.

He had Xiuban, Reina, and Pabiete come out not because of the Viper Bandits, but because of the appearance of this poisonous fog. Viper was escaping towards a denser part of the poisonous fog. It could even be said that the fog seemed to be coming from that direction.

The puppets got rid of a few hundred vicious bandits, but they still didn’t find the son of Patriarch Bojinsen.

He was finally discovered a few minutes later in a cell. There was only one guard watching him, and he was only a Great Swordsman.

Clearly, the Viper Bandits didn’t think that someone would attack their hideout, and they certainly hadn’t expected anyone to come so fast.

It was impossible for the Odin Kingdom’s first-rate forces to be unaware that the Rodney Family was behind the Viper Bandits. As long as the Viper Bandits didn’t provoke them, they wouldn’t waste their energy eliminating the Viper Bandits and becoming enemies with the Rodney Family.

Those willing to spend the energy but not having the strength had no other choice but to endure the Viper Bandits’ plundering.

Lin Yun looked at the young Bojinsen and confirmed that he was neither poisoned or fatally injured before ignoring him. He left Pabiete and the mage army to deal with the rest and took Reina with him to chase after Xiuban.After a dozen minutes, they saw Xiuban angrily smashing everything inside a small valley, but Viper was nowhere to be seen.

As he entered the valley, Lin Yun immediately discovered that the density of poisonous fog was at its strongest here and that even flames didn’t affect it. The poisonous fog was continuously spreading from this location, but there was no influence on its density.

Noticing Lin Yun’s arrival, Xiuban sheepishly smiled.

“Sir Merlin, that green-skinned guy disappeared. I chased him and only took my eyes off him for a couple of seconds when he suddenly vanished…”

A rune appeared in Lin Yun’s eyes as he checked the surroundings. He then walked to the end of the valley and spat out a dozen law runes.

An instant later, a wisp of spatial fluctuation appeared as a Planar Path emerged.

A dense poisonous fog was coming out of that Planar Path, coupled with a dense aura of death.

Lin Yun frowned, opened his mouth, and spat three runes into the Planar Path before leading his group through the Planar Path.

They reappeared in a desolate world covered in some dark red weed-like vegetation. The plane wasn’t big, only about twenty kilometers in size with a dusky sky. It was a small plane that had yet to form its day and night cycle. The Laws weren’t developed, and it didn’t have the possibility of further development.

As soon as Lin Yun came in, a wave of mana fluctuations appeared above him as dark green poisonfire fell down from the sky. Viper, who was waving his staff with a twisted face, suddenly crushed a potion bottle, and the dense poison contained within this small plane started converging.