Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"Could it be that the Cold Cave Worm King's abilities have evolved? The gas that originally controlled living beings has turned into crystals?"

Jae-Hero guessed.

That makes sense, since with the intelligence of the Cold Cave Worm King, controlling these magical beasts would not be difficult for him.

but……

"Then why are the magical beasts that aren't controlled by the crystals fighting each other?"

Hughes retorted.

"..."

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

After a moment, Bilim spoke:

"So you mean... something happened in the Cold Cave Worm King's lair?"

Hughes nodded, his voice lowering slightly.

"I think right now... either the Cold Cave Worm King's side is resisting the monsters controlled by the crystal, or—the Cold Cave Worm King has already been controlled by the crystal!"

Bilim gently swallowed his Adam's apple, his tone tinged with skepticism as he said:

"Impossible... The Cold Cave Worm King is a level two magical beast, and the overlord of this underground lair. No matter how strange those crystals are, how could it possibly control them?"

Unless these crystals themselves are also secondary!

However, all three of them kept quiet, tacitly agreeing not to voice this alarming speculation.

A being at level two, possessing the terrifying ability to control magical beasts, clearly exceeds the scope of their current mission.

"In any case, let's report the situation to Lord Clotilde first. I think he's the only one capable of investigating this matter thoroughly right now."

Jaeiro suggested.

Bilim nodded, then took out his communication crystal and informed Clotilde, who was far away in the open area, of the situation.

"Buzz, buzz..."

Just as Bilim sent the message, the communication crystal flashed again, revealing that it was Clotilde replying.

"What?!"

To everyone's surprise, Bilim's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he almost dropped the communication crystal from his hand.

"What's wrong?"

Jaeiro was taken aback, and his body instinctively took a step forward.

The next moment, Bilim's expression shifted, and his voice carried a hint of barely concealed panic as he said:

"Just now... Lord Clotilde said that almost all the teams exploring the passage encountered the exact same situation!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the other two changed simultaneously.

Hughes's face suddenly darkened as he looked into the depths of the passage ahead.

It was pitch black and completely silent there, yet he could almost hear the faint sounds of fighting and roaring.

"So... the entire underground lair has now been invaded by crystals?"

Jaeiro murmured softly, his voice filled with disbelief.

In retrospect, what they initially thought were just crystals of some kind of parasitic organism were far more terrifying than they had imagined.

"The situation is probably not that simple."

Hughes frowned, while silently sensing the teleportation point he had placed near Mount Kudo.

"Don't forget, in the beginning—those crystals blocked the entrance to the cave."

Upon hearing this, Jaeiro immediately realized what was happening, and his originally rosy face turned even paler.

The crystals had been tightly blocking the entrance, but the moment Clotilde was about to touch and explore, they all began to shatter, opening the entrance.

Now that we know these crystals possess a certain degree of autonomy, it's not hard to guess...

"You mean...those crystals—were let in on purpose?"

He said in a trembling voice, his hands unconsciously clenching.

Hughes nodded, his face showing a hint of seriousness:

"But what worries me more is that since those crystals deliberately let us come here, does that mean they're confident they can take us down?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere among the three of them suddenly became heavy, and even the temperature around them seemed to drop a few degrees.

If things are really as Hughes said, then this incident is no longer as simple as their group accidentally entering the worm's nest in the cold cave where things suddenly changed.

Rather, they had all fallen into a deadly cage meticulously laid out by these strange crystals!

"Damn it! It seems that those chilling poisons from before... were also prepared on their own!"

Bilim's voice deepened, and he became even more wary of these intelligent crystals.

"So what do we do now? Leave this place? Or keep moving forward?"

The three were silent for a moment, then Hughes spoke first:

"Bilim, what is Lord Clotilde's opinion now? Didn't he send an urgent message to the academy? Has he reported the current situation to the academy?"

Undoubtedly, the key to everyone's survival now lies with the wizard Clotilde.

Not only because the other party was the only second-level wizard present, but also because the other party possessed the only communication crystal that could directly contact the academy.

The Cold Cave Worm King's lair is at least a thousand meters underground, not to mention that the lair is also covered with force fields and fluctuations emitted by various creatures.

Therefore, ordinary communication crystals can no longer connect to the outside world; only specially made communication crystals that establish a targeted connection with the academy can function.

Now the situation is different. If Clotilde also feels that this is dangerous, he will definitely use the communication crystal to summon the pre-arranged support team from the academy.

"Lord Clotilde means... he wants to investigate the situation himself before making a decision."

Bilim glanced at the communication crystal; it was a message Klotir had sent to all the squads, indicating that the other side also realized that things were not simple.

"I think he probably went to find the Cold Storage Worm King himself."

The logic is simple: if the Cold Storage Worm King has not yet fallen, it means that the threat level of these crystals is lower than or equal to that of the opponent.

Then they can handle it.

Conversely, if even the Cold Cave Worm King's forces have fallen, then that would be enough to prove that the threat posed by these crystals is far greater than that of the Cold Cave Worm King!

"In that case, let's rest here for now."

Hughes suggested.

Regardless of what happened elsewhere, this place has been cleared up by them, so it is undoubtedly one of the safest places right now.

The other two naturally understood this as well, so they simply rested where they were.

"..."

Soon, the three found a relatively clean place, sat down, and began to recover their magic.

Bored, Bilim drank a low-level mana potion while fiddling with the communication crystal in his hand, trying to find out about the other teams.

Jaeiro then took out a metal floating eyeball from his storage bag, infused it with magic, and sent it to float away to investigate the situation.

Compared to the two of them, Hughes was noticeably calmer.

He sat alone in the corner, engrossed in studying the knowledge of other towers of knowledge, preparing to graduate from them.