Chapter 511
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Chapter 511 Search
The barren, gray plains stretched to the horizon, and the sky was an unchanging, lifeless, leaden gray.
The air was filled with thin, inert elemental dust, and occasionally, energy turbulence would flash like silent lightning across the depths of the clouds, bringing a brief, pale light.
Jemin hovered in mid-air, his gaze calmly fixed on a figure fleeing in disarray in the distance.
The opponent was the fastest and most cunning member of the twenty-person hunting team. When Jemin's first wave of attacks came, he decisively abandoned his teammates and shot towards the horizon with some kind of explosive secret technique.
“Correct judgment, but unfortunately…” Jemin murmured, raising his right index finger.
At the fingertip, a point of dark golden light suddenly shone, solid as a needle.
But the instant it left the fingertip, the light "grew" from the slender needle into a huge beam of light more than 10 meters thick.
The beam of light precisely obscured the figure on the distant horizon who was desperately changing direction, trying to use a spatial fold for cover.
The wizard who was hit had several hastily activated shields explode around him, but they were easily torn apart by the extremely concentrated energy the moment they came into contact with the beam of light.
His body stiffened for a moment, and he vanished silently, like a wax figure thrown into a furnace.
Along with the surrounding shield fragments and dissipating elemental energy, it turned into a wisp of rising blue smoke.
"For the average level of a hunting squad, these people are quite capable."
Jemin slowly lowered his hand and landed back on the ground.
The earth beneath their feet had been completely transformed, riddled with energy erosion pits of varying depths, depressions melted into glass-like shapes by intense heat, and jagged ravines torn open by spatial ripping magic.
The air still held the lingering effects of volatile fire, chaotic spatial fluctuations, and a chilling aftertaste of annihilated souls.
Twenty enemy wizards, whose average strength was between level four and five, including three level five peak wizards who cooperated well and tried to trap him with combined magic, were wiped out by him in less than a few breaths, like autumn leaves being swept away by the wind.
"Hiss..." A gasp of surprise, accompanied by a distinct gasp, came from the side.
The air rippled like water, and Blake's pale figure slowly emerged.
His deep purple eyes swept over the devastated battlefield, then looked at the composed Jemin, whose robes were barely dusty, and his lips twitched involuntarily.
“I said…Jermin…” Blake’s tone was a complex mix of amazement and relief, “I am now absolutely certain that teaming up with you was the wisest decision I’ve made in a long time.”
He pointed to the slowly dissipating energy remnants: "A twenty-man hunting squad, at least three of whom were elites under the Chaos Cult's 'Pain Whippers'... You dealt with them more efficiently than we Soul Systems handled a squad of low-level ghosts."
Jemin smiled, ignoring the compliment, and instead asked, "Has this area been cleaned up? Are there any traces of the spirits of any survivors?"
“It’s clean.” Blake nodded affirmatively; he had just thoroughly scanned it with a soul scan. “Even the faintest echoes of the soul were completely annihilated by your attack. However…”
He abruptly changed the subject, his expression turning serious: "Don't you think the patrol density in this area is... a bit ridiculously high? The number of 'hunting squads' and fixed outposts we've encountered in the last three days is more than the total number in the previous ten days."
"Moreover, this team is clearly stronger, more like... an elite guard, rather than just hunters."
Upon hearing this, Jieming also dropped his relaxed expression.
He looked around at the desolate plain, his mental energy spreading out like invisible ripples, carefully sensing the subtle anomalies in the environment.
“Something is definitely wrong. Although the energy background is chaotic, the residual 'orderly' disturbances at certain frequencies are much more pronounced than in the outer regions. And…”
He pointed to several rune marks left on the ground that were deliberately concealed but were still conspicuous under his enhanced energy vision: "There are traces of a large-scale, systematic defensive array or concealed barrier being activated and then deactivated not long ago."
The two exchanged a glance and saw the same judgment in each other's eyes.
"Did we hit the jackpot?" Blake licked his dry lips, his voice lowered, filled with suppressed excitement and tension. "Either we've found one of their important temporary command nodes or supply depots, or... we've stumbled upon one of their 'trump cards' that they're setting up?"
“It could also be a carefully laid trap,” Jemin calmly added, pouring cold water on Blake’s excitement.
"We've encountered this at the workshop several times already. They use false energy signals and high-intensity patrols to lure our elite forces deep into our territory, then ambush them. We've used similar tactics quite often on our side as well."
"Want to take the risk?" A purple light flashed in Blake's eyes, a sign of his highly focused mental energy.
“Since we’re already here,” Jemin said succinctly. “Even if it’s bait, we need to find out what kind of bait it is and how hard the hook is. If it’s real… then the value of this information is enough to make us take the risk.”
The two quickly reached a consensus.
However, now that they knew something was amiss ahead, the two did not rush forward recklessly, but instead reaffirmed their division of labor and contingency plans.
“Same as always, I’ll scout ahead, you bring up the rear,” Blake said, his figure beginning to become transparent and blurry. “Keep the mental link open. Once I mark something as ‘dangerous’ or ‘abnormal,’ you’re in charge of deciding whether to intervene. If I mark it as ‘retreat’… well, that’s up to each of us.”
He concluded with a half-joking remark that his figure had completely blended into the environment and was stealthily moving forward.
Jemin nodded without refuting.
He remained where he was, seemingly casually finding a relatively flat rock to sit on, but in reality, his mental energy was highly concentrated, silently sensing Blake's gradually receding location and condition through the soul link. At the same time, the energy pool in his inner world slowly circulated, replenishing the various magical artifact energies he had just consumed, ensuring that he could unleash his strongest combat power at any time.
Since switching to the new cooperation model, the combination of Blake as the "ghost scout" and Jemin as the "mobile fortress and terminator" has been extremely efficient.
Just as Jemin had expected, even though Blake was only a level four soul wizard, his detection range and perception abilities were still much stronger than his own.
When the two work together, he is always able to spot the enemy and assess the threat first.
Jemin's straightforward and ruthless attack capabilities ensured that they could quickly resolve most encounters and avoid getting bogged down in prolonged battles.
As a result, the way the two cooperated also changed.
Initially, the two agreed to keep a certain distance between them and search side by side, but as Jemin and Black discovered each other's strengths, the situation has become what it is now:
Blake scouted ahead, while Jemin followed at a certain distance.
After Blake discovers the enemy, he will pass on the relevant intelligence to Jemin, who will then decide whether to attack or retreat.
However, so far, Jemin has not encountered a situation where he needs to choose to "retreat".
In most cases, he ceases to exist before the enemy can force him to use his full strength.
The wait wasn't long.
After roughly estimating the distance between them, Jemin got up and headed in the direction Blake had gone.
After flying rapidly back and forth for about half an hour, Jemin felt a slight vibration from the magic network terminal inside his personal space bag.
He took it out to check; it was a message from Black's encrypted channel.
The message was brief, consisting of only two words, but it instantly put Jemin on alert:
Something's amiss ahead.
Instead of providing the usual detailed descriptions of enemy numbers, levels, types, or energy readings, the text used only the vague term "abnormal."
This is not in line with Blake's usual style.
Something went wrong?
Or did they discover something that cannot be measured by conventional standards?
Jemin immediately replied: [Received. Coordinates? Status?]
Blake's reply came a few seconds late, still brief: [Coordinates shared. I am unharmed and currently hiding. I suggest observing from a distance while concealed; do not enter directly.]
The coordinates were transmitted, indicating that the distance to Jemin's current location was about 500 kilometers, which was not far for a level 5 wizard.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jemin immediately acted on Blake's warning.
He first stopped any energy probing and mental extension in that direction to avoid alerting the enemy.
Then, his figure vanished from the rocks like a phantom.
[Phase Space] Activated.
It also mobilized the spirituality of the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror to stabilize the space and cover up the spatial fluctuations generated by the activation of the phase space.
After confirming that he was well hidden, Jemin slowly moved toward the coordinates provided by Blake.
The area where the coordinates are located is an even more desolate Gobi desert, filled with huge weathered rock pillars.
Jemin maintained the state of the phase space and silently reached the edge.
Almost the instant he stepped into this area, a faint yet familiar sense of unease, like a cool spider silk, gently brushed across the surface of his consciousness.
Jemin was familiar with this feeling because he had experienced it with Blake a few days earlier—the discomfort of having one's presence obscured.
“I see…” Jemin felt a chill run down his spine.
The “abnormality” that Blake mentioned was precisely the “sense of being spied on” and “sense of presence contamination” that only those with exceptionally keen soul perception, or those who, like him, have evolved special environmental adaptability through body tempering, could vaguely perceive.
This means that a highly skilled soul-based wizard specializing in stealth and interference is lurking nearby.
He instantly understood why Blake was being cautious, and also understood the purpose of the other party calling him over.
To deal with such an environmental ghost-like opponent, and a troublesome fellow who is likely even higher level than Blake, being an outsider like myself might be more effective than pure soul reconnaissance.
(End of this chapter)