Advent of the Archmage

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Lord, look over there!” Merlin started yelling. “Oh, oh my god, what is that?!”

Right now, Link’s eyes were listless. He seemed to see it, or he did not. His two black eyes reflected the strange sight before the airship. There, a beam of dark red light fell from the sky, landing somewhere on the ground.

The place it landed in was very tall. One couldn’t see the top. The beam was also thick—more than 1000 feet wide. Around the solid beam of red light, there were countless dark red storm clouds spinning counterclockwise. They swept up the rocks and clouds of the forest and the water vapor and clouds in the air.

From afar, a world-ending red storm was being born.

Less than two seconds after Merlin yelled, the destructive force of the dark red storm already affected the airship.

“Merlin, the wind speed is rising and affecting the ship’s balance. What do we do?”

Clack, clack, clack. The ship shook clearly as it was blown towards one side.

“Add more Mana to the turbine power. Keep it steady, steady!” Merlin cried.

The wind strengthened. After the airship added more power, the two forces turned the airship into a tug of war. The ship shook even more.

Clang, clack, creak… The ship shook violently as if it would fall apart.

After three seconds, Merlin knew this couldn’t continue. He immediately changed his order. “Retreat, retreat. Follow the wind back—”

“No! Go against it!” Link suddenly said. His eyes were still blank, but his voice was abnormally determined. There was no room for negotiation.

“Lord, the ship can’t survive it…Ah, go against the wind. Hurry, left turn!” Merlin followed Link’s orders in the end. He knew the ship would definitely fall apart, but this was the army. They were fighting an unknown force. He must follow the lord’s orders.

The crew immediately turned and started going against the wind.

During this short period, the windstorm’s range had expanded again. The wind had doubled in intensity too. The airship had adjusted its direction and was going against the wind, but its speed was pitifully slow. They could only go 300 feet per second. Usually, it could go at almost 2000 feet per second!

The wind continued strengthening. The airship continued slowing. After three seconds, its speed had been halved. It could only go 150 feet per second and was shaking violently.

Crash! Clang! Creak… All types of sounds formed a cacophony. It was about to scatter into pieces.

“Lord, we can’t keep going!” Merlin saw many magic seals had already lost control. If they continued, the airship’s core would explode.

“Keep going…keep going…turn 90 degrees to the right. Right now, hurry!” Link made another crazy order!

They’d been going against the wind. If they made a right angle turn, they’d be going straight into the storm. Any logical person could see that this was the same as suicide.

But this time, Link’s voice contained a spiritual spell. As soon as his voice sounded, his intent carved directly into Merlin’s brain. He couldn’t refute at all.

“Right turn, right turn, extreme output of power. Charge!” Merlin yelled. The bright voice unique to the Yabbas rang throughout the command cabin.

Every crew member was terrified, but they instinctively followed the orders. The cabin charged towards the storm at full force.

Creak, creak, creak. The noises made one’s insides curl. Runes on the floor and walls kept breaking apart. Many places already had cracks. The only fortunate thing was that the critical parts had all been specially fortified. They were still as strong as before, undamaged by the windstorm.

Just as the ship charged towards the storm, a ten-foot-wide black beam of light flashed past the end of the ship. It was so close that it practically brushed past the airship. There were less than 100 feet between them.

It had already reached the outer edge of the airship’s defense barrier. The magic seal inside immediately displayed its stats.

“Level-13, power scale of 13000, a powerful Dark Magician is secretly attacking us!” an operating yelled in terror. Everyone in the airship paled. They couldn’t imagine the consequences if they were hit.

It was Level-13 and at 13000. If the airship was hit, it would be decimated immediately. Less than ten people would survive. Now, the airship had used a series of strange and illogical actions to avoid this fatal attack.

The instant the beam brushed past the airship, Link ordered, “Retreat with the wind. Now!”

He didn’t have to worry about disagreements. Merlin immediately yelled, “Right turbine! Open lower right wing…”

The airship shook and made a turn. The huge ship nearly flipped over as it retreated to the outside of the windstorm.

Almost simultaneously, Link used the Spiritual Transmission spell to order the Magicians from Ferde, “Magic cannon, shoot at coordinates 78, 751, 281, 232!”

These were spatial coordinates that corresponded to numbers on the Magic Locking Wheel. Though the airship had been damaged in the windstorm, the cannon was the core. It had been fortified and was still unaffected.

Half a second after Link sent the order, the cannon fired.

Whoosh! The entire airship shook. Below, a white-gold arc around 300 feet wide appeared. Like a sword of divine punishment, it cut to the source of the black beam.

The cannon attack reached Level-16 and was unbeatable. When the white-gold arc streaked past, the space in its path distorted. Rings of spatial ripples spread in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, the attack reached the ground.

Kaboom! There was a ground-shaking explosion. A huge white-gold fireball burst from the earth. It glowed blindingly, turning the entire battleground snowy white.

This was the cannon’s first true attack. Its power captivated everyone on the airship.

“Slow down and stop!” Link suddenly made another strange order.

This time, Merlin didn’t hesitate at all. The airship was already outside the storm. The wind wasn’t strengthening anymore. He easily stopped the airship in the sky.

At the same time, Link ordered the Magicians again. “Second attack, coordinates 89, 232, 231, 2323. Fire!”

Boom! The airship shook again. Another “white-gold sword” pierced down.

Almost at the same time, the white flash of a transmission came from the target destination. One could make out a Magician with a black robe and curled horns under the light.

It was Black Blood Demon Glyn.

He hadn’t completely materialized from the transmission when the airship’s attack arrived. The Level-16 attack was unstoppable.

The demon Magician was powerful too. Faced with this situation, he screamed, and the transmission light flashed again. He’d forcefully started another transmission.

One must know that before the first transmission ended, the surrounding space wouldn’t fully consolidate. If one started another transmission, the Magician would use up immense energy. Accidents were also highly possible. It was quite common for one to lose limbs from the second time. In more extreme cases, one could lose a head too.

But the Magician should be praised for his decisiveness. If he’d hesitated at all, he would have been destroyed by the cannon.

Boom, kaboom!

Almost the exact moment that he left, the attack arrived. An instant later, Glyn reappeared miles away. This time, the Magicians on the airship saw him. As soon as he appeared, he collapsed onto the ground, spitting out blood. He was clearly hurt.

Seeing him, a Magician asked, “The cannon only has one attack left. Should we continue?”

If they continued, the demon Magician would definitely die. But strangely enough, Link didn’t order a third attack. He kept silent.

It stretched for two seconds. On the battlefield where changes happened instantly, two seconds was like a year. Then Link said, “Cannon prepare. Coordinates 2342, 2325, 52, 987, standby!”

As soon as he finished, everyone realized that the dark red pillar of light was fading. The windstorm around it reduced too. Around three seconds later, the storm that was about to destroy the world disappeared completely.

“What happened?”

“What?”

“Look, there’s someone under the light. They’re so tall!”

“Looks like a Naga Warrior!”

On the ground in the center of the pillar, a female Warrior with dark red skin and bloody wings appeared. She was more than 30 feet tall and grasped a blood-red spear with dark gold flashes of lightning.

Perhaps because of her power, the air around her distorted clearly. From afar, it looked like a translucent dome.

As soon as she appeared, a voice rang out through space. “Mortal, accept a true god’s judgment!”

Here, a Magician who reacted quickly understood what was happening. “Oh, God of Light, please!” he yelled. “This is the God of Destruction’s divine punishment!”