The Wizard's Pursuit of Truth

A massive wave of fire erupted from the tip of the long blade in Wang Ya’s hand, spreading outward. It formed a circular ripple with him at the center, scorching the flora to a crisp and baking the very ground with blistering heat.

Moreover, an Energy Flame with an intensity of twenty-eight, enough to make one’s scalp tingle, enveloped his entire body. From a distance, Wang Ya looked like a Demon God wreathed in fire. The sheer act of standing there unleashed an immense power that swept in all directions.

[Flame Demon Doppelganger]

Wang Ya didn’t hesitate. Sensing something was wrong, he immediately unleashed his strongest Witchcraft.

There was no need for probing. Every Wizard on this battlefield was an absolute powerhouse.

To control the pace of the battle, one had to go all out from the start, displaying their greatest strength to overwhelm all opposition.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

A large number of flying objects shot out high-temperature rays that pierced the Yin Wood as they flew straight into the sky, escaping the steadily rising heat.

Some of the cloaked ’Gray’ Floating Assistants were simply too close to Wang Ya. The intense heat melted them into molten iron that splattered and fused with the soil.

Their internal mechanics, circuitry, and energy conduits all failed.

This made Aitri, who was monitoring the battlefield through his Floating Assistants, twitch his eyelid. ’Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of Witchcraft is this? The power is absurdly high.’

’I coated those Floating Assistants with plenty of extraordinary materials to resist extreme temperatures. Even a direct blast of Witchcraft’s Energy Particles shouldn’t have destroyed all my Gray floaters instantly.’

Aitri used the few remaining Gray floaters, which were farther away, to continue observing.

’The area with the most concentrated Energy Flame should be the Elemental Wizard himself... To cover his whole body in Energy Flames, what kind of Witchcraft is this? It’s too bizarre.’

’But its power and effects are unexpectedly terrifying.’

’For now, I can’t determine the specific effects of this Witchcraft. All I know is the extreme heat, which gets higher the closer you get.’

’The weakness should be Speed. Maintaining such a state requires a constant supply of internal Particle Energy, which is extremely taxing.’

’In that case, I’ll have to use the Red floaters for a long-range attack.’

’For a Mechanical Wizard, direct combat is not the best option. It’s better to first use Mechanical Witchcraft Creations to observe and probe the enemy. Only after gaining a clear understanding should one go for the kill.’

’Right now, the opponent still hasn’t detected my position and knows nothing about me.’

’This will allow me to strike second but gain control, dictating the pace of the rest of the fight.’

’At least I’ve forced this Wizard Freshman to reveal his trump card Witchcraft.’

Aitri’s mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn’t help but curse, ”Fire Element Wizards are the bane of Mechanical Wizards. Why am I so unlucky to run into one? This is such a pain in the ass. I hope things are going smoothly for my brother.”

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he cursed again, ”No way. There’s a third party hiding.”

Wang Ya stood amidst the firelight. The high temperature and Energy Flame were his means of attack, but also a powerful defense.

The Particle Energy within his body could sustain this state for about fifteen minutes.

Wang Ya didn’t waste any time. He had a clear battle plan in mind: find the enemy Wizard Freshmen and knock them out of the Secret Realm.

This was something he had been planning for ever since he entered the Secret Realm.

He sneered inwardly and stomped his right foot down hard. Even higher temperatures began to suffuse the surrounding ground, penetrating deep beneath the surface. Even an earthworm deep in the soil would be cooked by such heat.

Finally, the ground suddenly churned, and seven or eight figures shot out from within. They were eight Soul-Devouring Snakes, but their colors were all wrong, and their skin patterns didn’t look like flesh and blood. They were half-overgrown with wood, and half in their original state.

The snakes’ bodies writhed and rolled on the ground. The intense heat was their bane as well, and some of them even spontaneously combusted.

If it were ordinary wood, it would have turned to charcoal long ago.

These were wooden creations with Extraordinary Properties, able to last for a while even within the Energy Flame’s field.

Wang Ya frowned, his pupils emitting a fine, blue luster.

’So these are the creatures that my Harak Phage-infected hosts sensed as an anomaly. There were several encounters where my Harak Phages could have corroded and infected them, but I reined them in, allowing these wooden creatures to remain.’

’My infected hosts would even proactively avoid these wooden creatures when they encountered them.’

’This must be the technique of some Wizard Freshman. It’s similar to Harak’s Bacteriophage infection, but clearly not on the same level.’

’Based on my estimates, there should be around eight or nine hundred of them in total.’

Wang Ya glanced up at the red floaters hovering in the distance and deliberately said, ”What a boring trick.”

He then rushed towards the truly intense battlefield ahead.

Both the mechanical floaters and the wooden Soul-Devouring Snakes buried underground were just methods of probing and surveillance.

The masters of these abilities were not here either.

Wang Ya was fearless. Since they wanted to probe him, he would just overwhelm them with brute force and seize control of the battlefield’s rhythm.

After fighting Riley Shebel and some other Wizard Freshmen, Wang Ya had a clear understanding of his own Power and knew where his strengths lay.

’Fire Elemental Particle Energy Witchcraft uses active particles, prioritizing explosive power. The current environment isn’t to my advantage, but as long as I control the rhythm, I can use Flame Demon Doppelganger to create a sea of fire, forging my own home-field advantage. It isn’t impossible.’

With the high defense, high attack, and high burst damage of Flame Demon Doppelganger, Wang Ya’s tactics didn’t require him to be timid. No one could fight him head-on.

「Freshman Square.」

Lando Wizard glanced at the many Wizard Freshmen who had withdrawn from the Secret Realm and were now standing dejectedly in the square.

These freshmen were, so to speak, the losers. Not only were the results and rewards now irrelevant to them, but they had also become the backdrop for the Wizard Freshmen still inside the Secret Realm.

Their skills were inferior; there was nothing more to be said.

He rubbed his chin, nudging the Wind Wizard beside him with a wink and a grin. ”Who do you think the final winner of this Secret Realm competition will be? They’ve all shown their respective Witchcraft. How about we open a small betting pool?”

He then looked towards Gusai Wizard, who was standing ramrod straight, watching the projection screen with a blank expression.

”Gusai, come on, join in the fun.”

The Wind Wizard shared his opinion, ”Dante Qiuji seems to be following the ancient War Body Wizard Path. His Power appears to have increased in the Chaos Zone. I don’t know what his Combat Body Traits are.”

”Jim Novy is an Elemental Wizard, likely specializing in Earth Element Witchcraft. Very standard. His Power should be on par with Wang Ya Harak’s. Although the latter has an Inheritance Witchcraft from the Rhine Lineage, Earth Element Witchcraft is a relative counter to Fire Element Witchcraft.”

”Those two brothers from the Mad Clan are on the Mechanical Wizard Path. Their individual Power is not to be underestimated, and they’re even stronger together since they complement each other. Perhaps the final winner will be them.”

”Zack Antuun...” The Wind Wizard glanced at Kaze Antuun standing nearby and didn’t continue.

Lando Wizard said with a grin, ”I’m actually more optimistic about Wang Ya Harak. I just have a feeling he’s going to give us an even bigger surprise. He’s so proficient with Flame Demon Fear Witchcraft, who knows what else he has? Maybe a Flame Demon Roar, a Rhine Hand, a Rhine Light Burst, something like that...”

”Based on his performance so far, he’s the most outstanding one. And his Fire Elemental Particle Energy Witchcraft also counters the Mechanical Wizards and that Zack.”

Although he could see which Wizard Path Zack had taken, Lando Wizard was being deliberately vague due to the presence of the boy’s father.

The Wind Wizard shook his head and said, ”He’s too reckless. Activating Flame Demon Fear Witchcraft without even confirming the enemy’s position is rash. Once his Particle Energy runs out, even the most powerful Witchcraft is useless.”

”It might seem like he has a counter, but it goes both ways. Each side has its own characteristics. And don’t forget, there aren’t just two enemies. This is a chaotic free-for-all between four, maybe even five parties.”

”One misstep could lead to a crushing defeat in this Secret Realm competition. At this stage, it’s a greater test of a Wizard’s own combat instincts and their judgment of the situation.”

The Wind Wizard sighed, ”Wang Ya Harak has already lost his rhythm. His assessment of the battle situation is also skewed. A single wrong step leads to a cascade of errors. He shouldn’t be so reckless.”

Gusai Wizard didn’t speak, but merely nodded slightly, tacitly agreeing with the Wind Wizard’s assessment.

Quite a few people shared this view, including Wizard Yi Si and the others from the Salon Association.

In the projection conference, Kaze Antuun, Ocam Mad... a host of Wizard Clan leaders all breathed a small sigh of relief.

’Finally, something was going their way.’

’This Wang Ya Harak had made a fatal mistake, and a foolish one at that.’

’In a melee, the stronger you appear, the more attention you attract. It wasn’t impossible he’d even be targeted by everyone at once.’

.....

BOOM!

A tremendous roar, accompanied by a dazzling flash of fire. The resulting heat was so intense it even melted a large swath of Yin Wood.

In his Flame Demon Doppelganger state, Wang Ya had no shortcomings, no weaknesses. He rampaged wantonly through the Yin Wood Forest, causing a huge commotion.

A powerful Biological Force Field spread out in all directions, announcing his presence. Overhead, the very air seemed to coil and press down, its focus shifting towards him.

Even the most oblivious Wizard Freshman could sense his presence.

Jim Novy was currently fighting a large number of red floaters. The methods of a Mechanical Wizard were hard to predict, but he had done his homework before entering the Secret Realm competition and knew the characteristics of this Witchcraft System.

So, he didn’t unleash his trump card Witchcraft. Instead, he used attritional Witchcraft to defend against the concentrated beams of high-heat energy being fired at him.

The earth flowed like water around him. Guided by his Spiritual Power, it shifted into various formations, at times wrapping him in a protective blanket, at others rising like a tidal wave to engulf the energy beams.

No matter how the red floaters flew through the air, changing directions and angles, they were unable to attack Jim Novy’s physical body, their attacks absorbed by the thick earth.

In terms of defense, Jim Novy was impenetrable. This gave Gutris, who was controlling the red floaters, a massive headache. ’How am I supposed to collect any information like this?’

’The news from Aitri was also troubling: another Elemental Wizard, and a Fire Element Wizard who countered them, no less.’

’Wait... What’s this?!’

Inside a mechanical combat platform constructed within a distant grove of Yin Wood.

Gutris stared at the image projected by one of the Gray floaters, his jaw hanging open, his face filled with disbelief.

”Are you kidding me? Is this guy insane?”

On the screen was a figure completely enveloped in flames. Wherever he passed, burning Energy Flames spread across the ground and clung to the Yin Wood.

He was like a Flame Demon walking the earth, his aura terrifying. Especially with the Yin Wood catching fire, the spreading flames were threatening to become a full-blown forest fire.

The most crucial point was that this guy’s aura was rising continuously along with the expanding inferno. It had already surpassed all of theirs.

”Damn it. Artificially creating a favorable environment... Who would’ve thought of that?”

Gutris gritted his teeth. ”No, I have to stop him. He’s a complete madman.”

Jim Novy’s expression changed drastically. His horrified gaze snapped in a particular direction.

Over there, black smoke billowed and flames lit up the sky, spreading in all directions with incredible speed.

Something was coming, its aura swelling with the firelight.

’So fast, so strong, so terrifying!!’

Jim Novy’s heart pounded wildly. ’I absolutely cannot let this guy continue. I have to stop him.’