The Sorcerer's Handbook

The expert assassin sensed it before he saw it. He turned his head slowly, just in time to see a gargantuan spider emerge from the Ascending Golden Rain.

Its body was a hunk of polished obsidian, and its eight eyes glowed more brilliantly than rubies. Its mouthparts were a jagged cluster of razor-sharp edges, the kind of sight that could paralyze a witness’s courage in a heartbeat.

A figure sat cross-legged on its furry back. Before Amodo could even glimpse the rider’s face, the Eight-Eyed Weaving Spider spat a torrent of silk that engulfed him instantly.

”Shattering Fang Pillar! Mechanical Mind! Earth Barrier!”

Amodo knew this was the threshold of death. He unleashed a flurry of defensive Miracles in a desperate attempt to buy a few more seconds of life. Yet, every offense and defense failed. The white silk seemed intangible as it passed effortlessly through his barriers and wrapped around him. It didn’t look like he was being bound against his will. Instead, it looked as if he were stepping into the web voluntarily.

The moment the silk touched his skin, his mind began to drift.

His thoughts wandered to a far-off life. He saw himself killing Ashe and reaping a fortune in points. He found a perfect lover through the Book of Gospel. He ascended to the rank of a Sacred Realm sorcerer, became a partner in Blissful Peace, and founded his own dynasty in Azura.

This was neither an illusion nor hypnosis. Amodo knew that if he truly wished it, he could break free at any moment. Yet he found that he did not want to. He could not bring himself to struggle because this felt like his fate.

Fate... Woven...

His eyes glazed over, becoming lifeless. The spider silk cinched tight around him before tossing him to the rear support forces. There, Wyverns, Fire Dragons, and Fish Dragons fell upon him, eagerly devouring the prize. Compared to the native creatures of the Continent of Time, the unrefined souls of sorcerers, untouched by the trials of hell, were like deep-fried delicacies: rich in oil, salt, and spice. To the Knowledge Creatures, he was a feast.

The commander atop the Eight-Eyed Weaving Spider didn’t spare a second glance for the unfortunate passerby. He stared at the tire tracks in the mud, a flicker of frustration in his eyes.

He really can run. Has he mastered advanced logistics?

Denzel the Sentinel gazed through the Ascending Golden Rain. Her sight seemed to pierce the curtain of water, locking onto the sports car racing desperately ahead.

To ambush Star Shepherd Bledo, they had prepared more than a dozen different strategies.

Among the Six Nations, the Star Hall was not particularly powerful. However, if they could kill Bledo, the Incarnation of the Stars, also one of the highest-ranked Heroes in combat strength, the Spider Tower could seize the chance to occupy Star Hall’s territory.

If Bledo escaped, the ambush would be a total failure. Even if Bledo lost his army, this was an era of peace. Resources were abundant across the Six Nations, and Star Hall could quickly assemble a new force for him.

They had to keep up the pursuit. They couldn’t allow him to escape back into Star Hall’s turn. They either had to kill him during the Spider Tower’s turn or trap him within their borders until the next cycle arrived.

Denzel hadn’t caught him yet, but she had deliberately funneled Bledo’s escape routes, cutting off the path back to the Star Hall region. As long as the target remained within Spider Tower’s territory, his defeat was a matter of time.

Denzel opened the Spider Tower map. Her gaze suddenly sharpened as she noticed a specific structure nearby. They wouldn’t...

It was precisely that thought, they wouldn’t, that proved correct. A Red Hat Ranger reported that the sports car had driven into the wooden house area, where the three occupants had stepped out and entered one of the buildings.

Soon, the Spider Tower army completely surrounded the house. Yet, since the Virtual World prevented the Knowledge Creatures from stepping into the courtyard, the hundreds of armed units could only wait outside and watch.

Denzel fell into deep thought. A Hero would never seek refuge in a special structure. It’s meaningless. Once the Celestial Ox leaves, time will fall into stasis, and staying inside such a building is no different from waiting for death.

Besides, Heroes instinctively avoid these structures. They seem to carry an invisible sign stating ”Commanders and dogs not allowed,” and Heroes feel no urge to enter them.

Denzel had already retrieved a fragment of her soul from hell to fill her inner emptiness, but she still followed the logic of a Hero. In the double room of her mind, only two tenants remained, which were logical reasoning and absolute rationality.

Heroes would never enter special structures, so they are not Heroes. They were sorcerers who had killed a Hero Commander and seized a Conjuring spirit, which was why I mistook their identities.

Once Denzel shifted her line of thought, she quickly noticed many inconsistencies. They had no accompanying forces. They moved as a trio. They rode a bizarre alchemical machine, and their appearances did not match any known Star Hall commanders. Most likely, they were not Heroes at all, which meant Bledo was already dead.

Yet the Incarnation of the Stars still existed. The order Denzel had received was to destroy that entity, and since it now resided within these sorcerers, her mission remained incomplete. Moreover, they were sorcerers. This meant they could sever their connection to the Virtual World from within the building and return safely to reality. If that happened, her mission would end in total failure.

Nevertheless, while Denzel herself wouldn’t enter these structures, the operational rules of every building within Spider Tower’s territory had already been mapped. After a brief review, she realized she might still have a chance to salvage the situation.

While she was thinking, another sorcerer crashed into her forces. The Red Hat Rangers and Bluebeard Disruptors swiftly killed the uninvited guest. If it had been any other faction, the sorcerer might have escaped, but Spider Tower’s forces excelled at control. In Denzel’s thousand-year campaign, no one had ever escaped their pursuit. Those three inside were the only fish that had ever slipped through the net.

Having reached a conclusion, Denzel dismounted from the Eight-Eyed Weaving Spider and walked alone toward the wooden house. Ordinary troops could not enter special structures, but a Hero Commander who was once a sorcerer still retained the qualification to step inside.

A typical Hero Commander would never take such an action because their hollow minds could not support flexible judgment. Only those who had reclaimed a few seconds of heartbeat from hell, regaining a trace of humanity, possessed the right to act with such reckless freedom.

The moment she pushed open the wooden door, Denzel felt her body grow light, as if a weight had vanished. The roar of thoughts in her mind fell silent.

There were six people inside the cabin. One man and one woman stood in a tense confrontation while another woman cowered in the corner, trembling. The remaining three stood calmly to the side, watching. What could not be ignored was that the three observers looked exactly like the three caught in fear and conflict.

As Denzel stepped inside, the man and woman in the center both turned to look at her and spoke in unison. ”Who are you?”

Denzel looked at the strangers. ”The same as you. Someone who has already lost their memory.”