Black Hearted Mage

The next morning, sunlight filtered through the cracks in the forest, casting tiny specks of light on the ground. Caesars slowly opened his eyes, feeling his strength gradually returning. He tried to stand. Though still a little weak, he was able to stand firmly. The wound still hurt, but it was within his tolerance.

Caesars looked around and found that the puppy was hiding in the corner, looking at him from a distance, as if a little afraid of him. For some reason, the puppy always showed special interest in his back and always wanted to lick the scales on his back.

The little black snake, on the other hand, preferred to cling tightly to his back, as if that was its most comfortable position. Caesars felt the coolness of the little black snake and couldn't help but wonder why it was like that.

Caesars reached out and touched his back, feeling a layer of hard scales. These scales had grown after his injury, and they would only fall off naturally when the wound was fully healed. He remembered that when he was injured last time, similar scales had grown in the wound area, and they only fell off after his ribs repaired.

"Old Ethan, when will the Elven Council arrive?" Caesars asked the old elf sitting beside him while scratching his scales. His back was extremely itchy, making him feel a little restless.

Old Ethan looked at Caesars and reminded him, "We should be here soon. Boy, put on your clothes quickly and don't let other elves see the scales on your back!"

As Old Ethan was speaking, he suddenly stood up as if lifted by an invisible force. He swung his right hand as fast as lightning, and three balls of light emitting a mysterious purple light shot out like meteors.

The three purple balls of light traced three arcs in the air, flying straight towards the large tree not far away. However, unexpectedly, the three balls of light did not cause a violent explosion like a normal attack, but instead seemed to directly penetrate the tree trunk, which was several meters thick.

Caesars' eyes widened, his face filled with astonishment as he watched the scene unfold. He had originally expected the three orbs to shatter the tree, but the reality was completely different. Even more astonishing was the fact that the trunk, with its mottled bark, showed no signs of damage at all, not even a scratch.

Just as Caesar was lost in shock, a shrill cry suddenly rang out from behind the trees. The cry pierced the air, sending chills down his spine. Then, a dark red puppy darted out like an arrow, its speed as fast as lightning, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished from Caesar's sight.

The noise behind the tree grew louder, as if something was struggling violently. Not long after, the puppy returned, dragging a lizardman corpse. The corpse looked heavy, and the puppy had clearly exerted considerable effort to drag it to Caesars.

Caesars was shocked by the scene before him. He turned to look at Old Ethan and asked curiously, "Old Ethan, what kind of magic did you just cast? How could these three balls of light pass through such a thick tree trunk so easily?"

Old Ethan smiled slightly and explained, "This is Arcane Missiles. It's composed of three arcane orbs. It can attack in an arc as needed, or it can directly pass through various obstacles and accurately attack targets hiding out of sight. Although arcane magic has spatial properties, only Arcane Missiles can pass through obstacles. Other arcane spells will only destroy the obstacles before attacking the target."

Caesar nodded, found a black spider silk robe, and put it on with swift movements.

At that moment, a resounding eagle cry resounded through the sky, as if the entire forest was shaken by the sound. Old Ethan's heart tightened, and his hand trembled unconsciously. The white magic ball that he had been holding tightly in his hand shot straight into the sky like an arrow from a string.

There was a deafening explosion, and white smoke rose up like a huge mushroom cloud above the forest and spread out. This was Old Ethan guiding the elves, directing Nighthawk to land here.

Then, several nighthawks with shiny black feathers swooped down like lightning. Their nimble figures were like black ghosts, and they quickly landed in the open space in the woods. The nighthawks' wings were huge, and every flap brought a gust of wind, blowing the fallen leaves in the woods everywhere and raising dust.

As the Nighthawks descended, several hunched, old-looking elves slowly dismounted from their backs. Their steps seemed a bit unsteady, but their gazes were exceptionally sharp, fixed on the lizardman's corpse on the ground.

In the nearby forest, many figures could be vaguely seen rapidly approaching. Caesars took a closer look and saw that they were hundreds of elves riding shadow leopards. They were galloping towards them like the wind, and in an instant, they were in front of everyone.

"Rodriguez, this is the corpse of the Lizard Man!"

There are only a few last names for arcane elves, and Old Ethan's last name is also Rodriguez.

One of the oldest elves slowly walked up to Old Ethan. His voice was low and hoarse, as if it contained the vicissitudes of countless years. His eyes were fixed on the lizardman's corpse, as if he wanted to see through the cold shell and see what it looked like in life.

Meanwhile, the puppy was concentrating on using its innate abilities. Its snout nudged the lizardman's corpse, sniffing gently before unleashing a mysterious power. As the puppy's movements unfolded, a trace of demonic blood slowly shone from the lizardman's corpse, coalescing into a glowing red bead.

When the puppy finally swallowed the blood bead, the eyelids of the old elves who had just arrived twitched at the same time, as if they were shocked and disturbed by this scene.

"Don't worry, it's the Abyssal Beast that Riven sent back. It's specifically designed to cleanse the remaining demons and the corruption of demon blood!"

Old Ethan looked at the startled old elves and began to explain.

"It's the Abyss Monster!"

Several old elemental elves lost interest in the lizardman's corpse. They were now looking at the fat puppy with burning eyes.

"Of course, it will eventually reach level 38. Put away your little tricks, its intelligence is not much worse than yours!"

Old Ethan warned the greedy old elves. He knew what they were planning at a glance.

"Rodriguez, we have no other intentions, just to observe the abyssal beast!" An old elemental elf said. He turned to look at Caesar, looked him up and down and said, "Rodriguez, this young man must be the descendant of Riven, what a handsome man!"

"Stop talking about these useless things and quickly clean up the lizardmen. I'll give you the route map to the volcanic cave now, so copy it first!"

Old Ethan urged as he projected a three-dimensional magic map in front of him. This move seemed casual, and Caesars could only sigh inwardly, as he could not control magic so precisely.

Old Ethan pointed to the route map of the volcanic cave and told the elf where to pay attention. The elf shadow warrior began to draw the route map and then marked it.

"The Lizardmen will change color. Once the Shadow Warriors enter, prepare your defenses first and wait for the Magicians to detect and mark their lives. The Magic Archers will hunt them last. Avoid close contact with the Lizardmen. There are about 3,000 of them!"

Old Ethan pointed to the lizardman corpse on the ground and explained to the elemental elves the lizardman's animal tooth dagger and the special properties attached to the dagger.

"Rodriguez, you said that there is a magic profession among the lizardmen?" an old elemental elf asked in surprise.

"Shamans are similar to Ogres, but they can't cast spells, but they can cast buff spells on Lizardmen. One of them, Bloodthirst, is quite powerful, increasing attack speed and attack power by 50% for two minutes. Lizardmen are very agile nowadays, and after casting buff spells, their attack speed won't be much slower than that of Shadow Warriors. Plus, there are so many of them, so getting in close contact with them will be very disadvantageous!"

After hearing Old Ethan's explanation, the other old elves nodded repeatedly. They assigned tasks to the elf team and then set off towards the Great Swamp.

"Old Ethan, aren't we going?"

Caesar looked at the backs of the elves and asked old Ethan.

"Go, but don't rush. Wait until the elves have cleared the path."

Old Ethan said this as he walked toward the edge of the Great Swamp, with Caesars quickly following behind. The elemental elves ahead had already abandoned Shadow Leopard and quickly paddled their rafts toward the island. Several old elves spread their elemental wings and flew toward the island with the magician.

A few miles away, the elven magicians arrived first. They circled the island, using life detection to survey the perimeter, and then began to cast spells downward.

"Kaisas, your injuries haven't healed yet, so it's best not to use violent spells. Grab the little black snake, and I'll fly you over!"

Old Ethan's magic hand grabbed Caesars, and with the other, he grabbed the plump puppy, and flew towards the island in the middle of the swamp. Not far away, on the edge of the island, elves cast spells into the water, marking the lizardmen who had been marked by the spell and had lost hope of escape.

The columnar basalt was very thick, each one was hexagonal and about five meters in diameter. Old Ethan placed Caesars down on a basalt rock on the south side of the island.

At the entrance to the two-meter-high, five-meter-wide stone cave, more than a dozen lizardman corpses lay on the ground. The elven magician poured his spells into the cavern. The gluttonous puppy grinned widely. Using an unknown skill, it began to form glowing red blood beads above the lizardman corpses. Each drop, about the size of a walnut, drifted into the puppy's large, dustpan-like mouth.

After swallowing the blood bead, the puppy smacked its lips and shuddered in comfort.

"Dead dog, how does it taste?"

Hearing Caesars' question, the puppy hummed with great satisfaction.

The Lizardmen's ranged attacks were thrown weapons, thick, unpolished triangular iron pieces that looked like they had been cast in a mold, with extremely rough edges. However, due to their great strength, the Elf Magicians would try to avoid them.

"I can't bear to look directly at the magic of the elemental spirits. Their spellcasting is so bad!"

Old Ethan stared at the elf magician in front of him, a look of disappointment on his face, and said slowly.

When the other old elves heard what old Ethan said, their eyelids suddenly began to twitch violently, as if they had a premonition that their old faces were getting hot.

At this moment, several elderly elemental elves also joined the ranks of the magic cleansing. They unleashed powerful magic power, sweeping the area ahead like a violent storm.

With the addition of several powerful old elves, the speed of the entire team's advance towards the volcanic cave suddenly increased, and it seemed that they were unstoppable.

Under the baptism of magic, the lizardmen's corpses became horrific. Some were riddled with holes from piercing spells, resembling piles of rotting flesh; others were burned black, emitting a sickening burnt smell; and the worst of them were chopped into pieces by cutting spells, with blood and flesh flying everywhere, creating an extremely bloody scene.

After a somewhat winding passage, the team arrived in front of a staircase extending downward. These stairs were naturally formed from basalt, each step was about five meters wide, and the height varied from a few feet to several meters, staggered and orderly.

The elven magician who was leading the way was casting life detection spells all the way, while also continuously releasing magic for cleansing to ensure that the road ahead was safe.

Caesars followed closely behind Old Ethan, holding his staff, at the back of the group. His eyes kept falling on the battered corpses of the lizardmen, and a feeling of powerlessness welled up in his heart. The elven magicians in front of him were stronger than him.

The puppy was incredibly excited at the moment, jumping up and down like a child. It seemed unfazed by the bloody scene and instead filled with a craving for food. It had already devoured all the demonic blood in the corpses on the ground.

After going over a hundred meters underground, the volcanic cave suddenly became much larger. The Lizardmen occupied the advantageous terrain, throwing darts from above, and their counterattacks became more fierce.

Faced with the overwhelming triangular darts, several elven magicians were also injured.

"Damn it, are you trying to kill yourself? Don't use meteor showers, the basalt caverns might collapse. Use blizzards or ice storms!"

Hearing an old elf chanting a long spell, Old Ethan immediately stepped forward to interrupt him and teach the old elf a lesson as he was about to cast the forbidden spell.

Kaisas was shocked. He knew the names of these forbidden spells. The elemental elves were actually going to use forbidden spells to deal with the lizardmen.

"The spell selection should be unified. Use all ice spells. This way, the spell attacks will have additional damage!"

Old Ethan reminded several old elemental elves that the spells they used were too messy.