Wizard: I crush legends with martial arts.

It was a gigantic monster, which from a distance looked like a giant eagle that had lost its head. What should have been its head was wrapped in layers of tattered black cloth.

Its body is covered with large patches of dark red veins that resemble blood vessels.

The outstretched wings were not feathers at all, but a pair of bat wings about ten or twenty meters wide, tattered and riddled with countless holes in the wing membranes.

Its tail feathers were thick, twisted tentacles that were still wriggling.

A dark gray miasma emanated from its body, spreading in all directions and obscuring the sky.

This is also why the sky suddenly darkened.

Alphonse was stunned and bewildered. This was the true form of the hidden sage Groki; he was actually a demon.

Thinking back to the corrupted sage Suguna I had encountered before, the body hidden under that guy's magic robe seemed to be similar, with many tentacles.

Why do demons all like to use tentacles?

In contrast, the Hell Knights I'd seen before seemed much more normal.

Could it be that all the sages of the demon race are tentacle monsters?

A subtle vibration, like the chirping of insects, rang out all around.

Alphonse turned his head sharply and saw that the dark light that had just blasted Edson away was actually a living thing. Now it had broken into pieces and scattered, turning into countless large insects that looked like black shuttles, flying around Edson at high speed.

A dazzling platinum-gold light shone from Edson's body, releasing high temperatures that melted many insects that invaded the light. However, it seemed that he could not withstand the insects' penetrating attacks. His scales were constantly breaking, and his white feathers fluttered down.

In the blink of an eye, his entire body, including his three pairs of wings, was riddled with holes, and golden blood flowed all over his body, making him a truly gruesome sight.

His body was twitching and shaking abnormally, and some of the exposed flesh was still grayish-black, forming deformed black tumors.

Even under the white light, one could clearly see his flesh wriggling and regenerating, and even his scales were slowly returning, but it seemed that the speed of recovery could not keep up with the speed of erosion.

"Edson, are you poisoned?" Alphonse's heart sank. Groki was only hovering in mid-air, too far away to get close enough to unleash the Body-Breaking Formless Sword Qi. If he were to unleash the Body-Breaking Formless Sword Qi right here, Groki would definitely have the time to dodge.

"It's nothing! Just a superficial injury! I'll be able to purify all the poison soon!" Edson replied quickly, grinning as he unleashed a beam of golden flames that pierced the sky and struck Groki in mid-air.

He was quite helpless; after a barrage of attacks, Groki seemed to have suffered no damage.

Now that his wings are damaged, he can only fly by magic, and his flight speed is not fast.

Although he caught a glimpse of the enormous figure that had come with Alphonse out of the corner of his eye, and was somewhat surprised, he also knew that Alphonse was not good at flying and could not be of much help at this moment.

Boom!

Groki's head, the part that resembled a neck, suddenly bloomed like flower petals, spewing out a dark purple light.

Boom!

The black light and the golden beam of light that struck him canceled each other out.

A sharp, resounding voice, laced with countless echoes, reverberated throughout the area: "Young dragon, you should be glad, for you are facing only a version of me that has not yet fully recovered my strength! But death will be your only end!"

It was impossible to tell if his mouth was the same as the organ on his neck, and the voice didn't seem to come from there.

As he spoke, his tentacles trembled incessantly, and countless black insects flew out wave after wave like tides.

At the same time, his mouthparts opened again, and a ball of black light rapidly condensed there.

Even standing still, Alphonse could feel layers of immense pressure descending from the sky, filled with an aura of terror and despair.

The sheer power of the stored energy had already startled Alphonse.

Edson swiftly swung his claw, sending a golden light crashing down on Alphonse and carrying him away into the distance. "Watch out for the miasma spreading over here; it's highly poisonous. This barrier won't protect you for long!"

He clearly intended to take Grocchi's blow head-on, pushing Alphonse aside.

Alphonse, not wanting to stand idly by, quickly ordered Cassobia, "Shoot that guy down!"

Without receiving any instructions, Kasobia, who was simply following his master and running away, immediately took action. With a raised hand, thick black smoke instantly gathered in his palm.

The rapidly gathering smoke instantly materialized.

Like flowing black mercury, it stretched out in the air with incredible speed, and in just a moment, it transformed into a black spear that was over ten meters long and extremely thick.

With a wave of his hand, the spear, like a black lightning bolt, swirled through the air, shooting towards Grocchi.

The dark sphere of light that Groki had condensed in his mouth struck Edson first, like a small black sun suddenly descending, plunging the world into darkness.

In an instant, Edson exhaled again, and a dazzling white light pierced the darkness and broke through the miasma.

A clash between light and darkness!

It exploded against a backdrop of overwhelming, gloomy miasma.

The blinding white light made Alphonse's vision go black.

Within a radius of hundreds of meters, the ground collapsed, and the rubble and soil rippled outwards like waves.

A mushroom cloud rose into the sky, countless churning rocks and sand instantly vaporized, a hurricane blew away distant soil, and a visible spherical shockwave spread outwards from the point of impact between the two attacks.

An endless gale swept through the city, which had been transformed into a wasteland. Even Edson couldn't withstand it, tumbling and being swept far away.

Even as the shadow warrior Kasobia staggered backward, unable to regain his balance.

Alphonse was even worse off, losing its strength rapidly in the gale like a fallen leaf.

A burning sensation ran through his chest, a metallic taste filled his mouth, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Even the aftershocks were enough to damage his internal organs.

Looking up sharply, Alphonse realized that Cassobia's dark spear seemed to have hit its mark.

However, Groki seemed to have taken the blow without dodging or avoiding it. His wings were still flapping slowly, and a black vortex was constantly spinning on his massive body.

Without any blood splattering, he seemed not to be a physical entity.

Grocky even had the composure to comment, "Not bad dark power, very pure!"

Edson was horrified. After all, he had never participated in the great war against the demons a thousand years ago, nor had he witnessed the power of the hidden sage Groki.

When he first came to spy on Groki, he could only make a rough assessment: he was no match for Groki, but not by much.

However, Groki, having revealed his true form, proved to be far more formidable than anticipated. (End of Chapter)