Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"Yeah, pretty much. After all, that place is closest to the exit and doesn't have those strange crystals."

Hughes nodded slightly.

"After all, Lord Clotilde has already begun searching for the Cold Cave Worm King, so our mission—in theory—should be over."

"As for the rest—that's a battle between the second-tier teams."

"..."

Bilim and Jaehero fell silent for a moment, silently weighing Hughes's plans.

"Well... I think you're right, Hughes."

After a moment's hesitation, Bilim was the first to express his opinion.

"After all, I wouldn't dare gamble that the Cold Cave Worm King might be hiding right next to us."

Jaeiro, standing to the side, remained silent but tacitly agreed to the plan.

Without any delay, the three immediately activated their flight magic and returned to the open space along the same route.

In fact, not only their team, but many other teams that had witnessed the terrifying power of the crystal also chose to turn back or planned to search for Clotilde.

At this moment, the entire underground lair was filled with the figures of wizards fleeing in panic.

During the evacuation, to prevent ambushes by monsters, Jaeiro used the metal eyeball to probe the way.

The eyeball hovered several meters in front of the three, its pupils constantly rotating, transmitting all the surrounding fluctuations and the scenes in the darkness to Jae-Hero's mind behind them.

If there is the slightest unusual movement, the other party will immediately alert the two people beside them.

Hughes and Bilim were also on edge.

One of them sensed what was behind them, while the other sensed what was outside the rock face, remaining on alert the entire time.

Just as the group reached a fork in the road, Hughes suddenly narrowed his eyes and said:

"Someone's there! Such a powerful fire elemental!"

Upon hearing this, Bilim and Jaeiro immediately became alert.

Although they weren't magical beasts, they couldn't be sure whether the wizard they were about to encounter had been controlled by the crystal.

"There's a fork in the road ahead! Grendes, run!"

Soon after, they saw several elves of the Chelca family stagger out of another passage.

Their expressions were panicked, and the witchcraft tools in their hands were flickering, clearly indicating that they had been overused.

It's easy to see that this group of elves has already gone through a fierce battle.

The elf leading the group was someone Hughes and his companions were familiar with—it was Grendes, the one who had initially given them a protective shield.

Upon seeing Hughes and his group, a hint of surprise flashed in Gwenth's eyes.

Ignoring the large patches of blood still clinging to her body, she was about to step forward when a shout abruptly stopped her.

"Stop!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a chilling aura instantly emanated from Hughes's palms.

"Are there any crystals on your bodies?"

Upon hearing this, Gurness quickly waved her hand and said:

"No! You can check it yourself if you don't believe me!"

As she spoke, she removed the mental barrier around her, and the elves behind her followed suit.

Once one becomes a formal wizard, one can create a mental barrier to shield oneself from the mental probing of others.

After they removed their mental barriers, Hughes and the others exchanged glances and began to examine each of them one by one with their mental power.

The three quickly concluded their investigation.

"What happened between you two?" Hughes asked.

Clearly, there was no crystal on the other person's body.

"It's magical beasts! We've encountered several level-one magical beasts that are being controlled! And leading them—are five Frostback Trolls!"

Gwyneth's breathing was rapid, and her tone was somewhat anxious.

"Quick! Go help Lapplins! He's holding off those monsters and trolls for us! It'll be too late if we wait any longer!"

—Knock knock knock knock

But as soon as she finished speaking, heavy footsteps came from not far away.

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw a large group of blank-faced magical beasts rapidly approaching from the dimly lit passage.

They were all well-known level-one magical beasts, and leading the charge were three burly Ice Spine Trolls with ice crystal spikes covering their backs.

They marched with heavy steps, rampaging through the landscape, even cracking the rock walls in their path; their destructive power was truly astonishing.

Frostback trolls are one of the favorite foods of the Cold Hole Worm, and also its most loyal servants.

Like trolls, they possess extremely high physical defense and abnormal regenerative abilities.

Moreover, as a branch of the ice-attribute mutation, their skin naturally has extremely high resistance to ice elements, and they also possess many melee-type ice magic spells.

At that moment, the group of Frostback Trolls were chasing after a figure—Laplins.

"Whoosh—boom boom boom!!!"

At this moment, his entire body was engulfed in blazing flames, and he had transformed into a human torch.

But this was not an attack; rather, it was due to their unique flying magic.

With the roar of flames, his speed was pushed to the limit, but even so, he barely managed to dodge the Frostback Troll's vicious slaps time and time again.

The Frostback Trolls wear witchcraft, or more accurately, orcish craftsmanship.

That is why Lapris and his team were repeatedly defeated.

Of course, given their intelligence, they are clearly incapable of controlling those complex magical tools.

Hughes speculated that this might be because the crystal he was parasitizing was manipulating it.

Just then, Lapris suddenly accelerated.

"Whoosh—whoosh!!"

A flash of light appeared, and the next moment he was trailing a straight tail of flame above him before heading straight to the fork in the road.

"Bang--!"

He crashed heavily to the ground, rolled a distance, and then collapsed unconscious from exhaustion.

"Lapris!"

Gwenth exclaimed in surprise, then quickly ran to the other person's side and cast Fire Healing on them.

Meanwhile, Hughes and his group, along with the other elves who were still able to fight, all looked toward the horde of beasts that was approaching them step by step.

"My God! They're all level one magical beasts?"

Bilim couldn't help but swallow.

"Could these level-one magical beasts be a group of monsters that the crystals deliberately gathered together to hunt us?"

Jaeiro's expression was also not very good, clearly indicating that he had tacitly agreed with the other party's idea.

As for Hughes, he frowned deeply, staring intently at the Iceback Troll in front of him.

"Hmm? The troll doesn't seem to be under control?"

Unlike the magical beasts, their egg-shaped eyes were scarlet, clearly indicating that Lapplins had aroused their aggressive desire.

"I guess they're too naive; as long as there's food, they're easy to control."

Hearing Hughes's mutterings, Jaeiro guessed:

"The crystals probably didn't bother to force them to be controlled in order to save trouble."