Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 142 Fierce Battle

On the outskirts of Ander Market, Joachim Frishwitz was riding a horned zebra at full speed, using his tracking magic to pinpoint Richard's location.

He could feel himself getting closer and closer to Richard.

The Swifthornbear is a low-level superhuman creature with good endurance and explosive power, especially adept at long-distance travel. It is relatively rare, and it was because of its existence that Joachim was able to catch up with Richard.

What he was holding between his right index finger and thumb was a strand of Richard's hair. This strand of hair was collected by the Ignis School six months ago after news of Richard's disappearance broke.

At that time, he used the tracking technique several times, but it did not work, so he was certain that Richard was dead.

In retrospect, the distance between the two was simply too great, causing the tracking spell to have a negligible effect, or perhaps it was beyond the tracking range of the spell.

However, this time, the tracking technique reacted noticeably.

Along the way, whenever Joachim used his tracking spell, the strands of hair in his hand would clearly point him in the right direction, just like a mobile phone navigation system, guiding him all the way to this place.

Joachim glanced at the illusion array surrounding the Ander Market not far away.

Having spent many years venturing out into the world, he naturally knew that the market ahead was Ander Market, managed by the Pete family.

Joachim originally planned to go straight in to find Richard, but then he thought it would be too much of a commotion.

After all, in his mind, Richard was only a "second-level wizard apprentice". If he wanted to take down Richard, he would have to use witchcraft. And the use of combat witchcraft was strictly prohibited in the wizard market.

In his memory, the Pete family was a wizarding family with a formal wizard.

There's no need for me to provoke the authority of a formal wizard or antagonize a wizarding family just for the sake of Richard.

After some thought, Joachim decided to wait for Richard to appear in a forest more than ten miles from the market exit.

-

Rossby.

The study in Earl Harris's castle.

"Your Excellency, we have just received a letter from Sir Rollins, the Sheriff of Silverpine Town. Silverpine Town has been attacked by a large monster, and all the townspeople have been evacuated to Baron Clavel's castle and are in dire need of rescue," a white-haired old man in a tailcoat respectfully reported.

At the same time, he placed a bloodstained letter on his desk.

The old man in the tuxedo did not open the letter. What he knew was from the cavalryman in Silverpine Town who had survived a bloody battle.

He said that they were originally a group of three, but in order to break through the monsters' blockade and come to Rossby City to deliver a message, the other two cavalrymen were killed.

but

On the count's enormous mahogany desk lay seven or eight similar letters, stained with blood.

Each letter had a large steel stamp with the word "Express" stamped on its opened red circular sealing wax seal.

The tall Earl Harris was facing the window with his back to the door, seemingly enjoying the view with great composure.

But if anyone could see the count's face, they would notice that his brows were furrowed into a deep frown.

The old man in the tuxedo glanced at the Earl and knew that the Earl was actually extremely anxious. The entire Rossby County was the Earl's fiefdom, and now that monsters were rampant in his own fiefdom, it was impossible for him not to feel distressed.

But now, the Earl has received more than nine letters of appeal for help from various towns, and there are even a few towns that he can't deliver the letters to.

Currently, Rossby has dispatched seven or eight rescue teams. Lord Stefano and all the sorcery apprentices from various academies, as well as the recruited witch hunters, have all been sent out. Earl Harris now has no more troops to send.

The elderly man in the tuxedo realized that the count had no intention of speaking, so he gave a slight bow and left the study.

"Chirp! Chirp!" Two extremely loud bird calls rang out over Earl Harris's castle!

Two enormous griffins, one large and one small, were seen circling above the castle.

Less than two minutes later, the elderly man in the tuxedo returned to the study and said happily, "Your Excellency, the sorceress Daenerys, sent by the royal family, has arrived."

"Please come quickly!" The count turned around instantly, his worried expression vanishing.

He had certainly heard of Daenerys the Wizard. Her full name was Daenerys Bannings. She was His Majesty the King's younger sister and the aunt of several princes. She had spent more than twenty years at the Hydashia Academy on the continent of Vitlor.

Hydashia Academy, on the other hand, is a wizarding academy that focuses on the study of water elements, and it is said to be far stronger than the wizarding academies on the continent of Byers.

Daenerys the Wizard returned to the Kingdom of Heron last year after becoming a full-fledged wizard. It is said that she lives a secluded life, focusing on her research, and almost never attends banquets or balls in the capital.

-

When Richard once again rode his wildebeest out of the market.

Before long, they arrived at a wooded area. The winding road stretched across the entire woodland, but for some reason, Richard felt his eyelids twitching wildly, as if something bad was about to happen.

Richard slowly reduced the wildebeest's speed.

Suddenly, he felt a strong force coming from his right side and thought to himself, "This is bad!"

Richard barely had time to cast the dark elemental shield that came with the Black Jade Ring before he and his unicorn were lifted into the air by a violent whirlwind.

The wildebeest's hooves lost all footing and had nowhere to brace themselves, so it immediately let out a panicked neigh.

But Richard, who was also in mid-air, knew that he had been ambushed by the enemy, and that the magic that had lifted him and the wildebeest into the air was just an appetizer for the enemy's attack.

If it were Richard himself, given that they were in mid-air and unable to gain any leverage, he would immediately follow up with a powerful single-target spell, essentially making them easy targets.

Richard manipulated the [Mimetic Bracers] into a tower shield, blocking his own side, and at the same time, immediately activated the Skeleton Armor.

Sure enough, just as Richard finished chanting the incantation, he caught a glimpse of two black energy arrows shooting straight at him from the dense forest beside him, one after the other.

However, at this moment, Richard's skeletal armor was just completed. In addition to the thin film of the dark element shield, he was now covered with a layer of white knight armor, and a huge tower shield appeared on his left forearm.

"Boom!" The immense impact of the two consecutive secondary Shadow Arrows sent Richard flying dozens of meters away, with nowhere to get a foothold in mid-air.

This turned out to be a good thing, because Richard was blasted into the dense forest on the left side of the road.

A low curse came from the dense woods on the right side of the road!

Clearly, the ambushing enemy hadn't anticipated the power of two consecutive Lesser Shadow Arrows, which ironically allowed Richard to escape into the dense forest.

Thanks to the triple protection provided by the Dark Element Shield, the Bone Armor, and the shield formed by the Mimicry Bracers, the two Lesser Shadow Bolts from the enemy did not cause any substantial damage to Richard. They only left Richard covered in soot and looking rather disheveled from the impact of the magic.

At this moment, Richard still had grass on his head and branches and dirt hanging from his body in many places!

After landing, Richard quickly did a somersault to further cushion the impact of falling from mid-air.

Because the two Lesser Shadow Bolts had just shattered his Dark Element Shield, Richard only needed 0.2 seconds to reapply a Dark Element Shield to himself.

At this moment, the wildebeest in mid-air also fell down, crashing heavily to the ground. It struggled to get up, but it looked like it had broken bones and couldn't stand up.

Suddenly, a tall, fat figure rushed out of the dense forest on the left side of the road, crushing trees the size of bowls in half. With each step, the ground trembled slightly.

Richard peered through the dappled branches and saw that the obese humanoid monster appeared to be based on a tall human body, with body parts from several different people pieced together.

For example, in addition to its two exceptionally strong arms wielding an axe and a chain hammer, it also has several much smaller arms growing on its back, shoulders, and abdomen, which are clearly not naturally grown.

One of the thinnest arms appears to be a child's, while the other, with its prominent skin folds, seems to be an old man's arm, but both are wielding weapons such as daggers and iron hooks.

Richard was startled; this was a monster!

Abomination whose power rivals that of a formal wizard!

No, if the opponent had the ability to summon abominations, I would have died in mid-air just now!

The attack he just received was merely a Lesser Shadow Bolt, indicating that the opponent was definitely not a formal wizard.

Richard took a closer look and indeed, although the fat and burly figure was tall, it was still not as large as the normally sized Abomination.

Generally speaking, a normal-sized abomination is at least three meters tall, but this abomination in front of us is only about two and a half meters tall.

The fighting power of the abomination is directly proportional to its size.

This calmed Richard down a bit, but he didn't dare to be careless. He waved the Bone Summoning Staff forward, and a huge inverted pentagram magic circle appeared on the ground in front of him. Instantly, four skeleton guardians holding shields appeared inside the magic circle.

"Huh!" This caused even the hidden enemy on the other side to exclaim in surprise.

Three skeleton guards immediately engaged the small abomination, while another skeleton guard stood in front of Richard.

Although that abomination was smaller than a normal abomination, it was still like the difference between an adult and a ten-year-old child compared to the skeleton guardians.

When the Abomination swung its axe and chain hammer, it knocked all three skeleton guards away in just three or four strikes, demonstrating its formidable attack power!

This made Richard frown deeply. He immediately cast a skeletal armor on the skeleton guard beside him and ordered it to step forward to block the way, while he immediately took off the [Griffin Wings] from his back and began firing!

"Chirp!" With lightning speed, the eagle-tailed arrow struck the abomination's chest in a blur, leaving a transparent hole the size of a child's fist in the abomination's right chest!

"Ouch!!!" the abomination cried out in pain.

"What!" Joachim, who was in the dense forest, could no longer hide his shock and immediately shouted out.

The attack power of that arrow just now exceeded that of the vast majority of level three wizard apprentices!

He finally understood why Lucius's three second-level wizard apprentices had all failed in their attempts to defeat the enemy.

Richard before him, in reality, is probably no less powerful than him.

Now, Joachim no longer had the mind to watch the show from the sidelines. He thought that after sending out the Abomination, he could easily control Richard.

Immediately, he chanted a spell to cast a dark elemental shield on the abomination.

A dark, thin film appeared on the surface of the abomination's body.

But this delay allowed Richard's three skeleton guards, who had been knocked away, to surround the Abomination once again.

Richard sneered, thinking, "I know the defensive power of the Dark Element Shield better than you do!" He immediately drew three eagle-tail arrows, nocked them on the griffin's wings, and unleashed his secret technique: Multishot!

"Chirp chirp chirp!" Three black lightning bolts, arranged in a triangular shape, shot straight at the abomination.

The abomination was too large to dodge, so when it saw Richard's arrow coming again, it was terrified and immediately covered its head and chest!

"Tap tap tap!" The dark element membrane withstood the first and second arrows, but when the third eagle tail arrow struck the membrane, it finally gave way and burst like a bubble.

However, the three eagle-tailed arrows were exhausted and did not cause much damage to the abomination.

But Richard quickly fired another arrow, using the secret archery technique: the guide arrow!

Just as the arrow was about to reach the abomination, it was raised slightly, bypassing the abomination's arm and striking it directly in one of its eyes.

Immediately, Hatred let out a terrible scream!

Upon seeing this, Joachim's face turned ashen. He immediately knew that he could no longer allow Richard to continue attacking. He quickly took out a blood-red sphere from his pocket and began chanting a spell.

As the deep incantation resounded, the crimson liquid inside the blood-red sphere split into three streams, shooting directly at the abomination's body!

Suddenly, the abomination, which was originally 2.5 meters tall, turned red all over and its size expanded further, reaching nearly 3 meters in height. The wounds on its body also began to heal rapidly.

"Boom!" The Abomination stomped heavily on the ground, and a powerful shockwave collapsed a large section of the ground.

The four skeleton guards surrounding it were all knocked off their feet by the shockwave. The Abomination's huge arm slapped the two nearest skeleton guards away twice, and then rushed towards Richard.

"Thump thump thump!" With each big step it took, it produced a huge vibration!

Moreover, the Abomination's movement speed and attack speed are greatly increased when it is in its enlarged state!

At this point, Richard had used up his daily five special arrows from [Griffin Wings], and continuing to fight head-on would be quite unwise.

Immediately, Richard began to chant the incantation for the Shadow Dance. Under the cover of the large trees in the jungle, dappled shadows filled the dense forest, and Richard's figure was instantly draped in a dark veil, making him move as fast as a ghost.

In an instant, Richard disappeared from Abomination's sight.

Hatred immediately widened its only small eye, searching everywhere for Richard's whereabouts.

Clearly, Richard believed that the witchcraft that caused the abomination to swell and turn red was a kind of magic that stimulated potential and caused the abomination to erupt in a short period of time, and therefore could not last.

Although Richard was protected by multiple shields and wielded the knight's longsword [Frost Guardian], he wasn't arrogant enough to engage in a direct confrontation with the enemy's summoned creatures. After all, he hadn't even seen the real thing yet.

With the aid of his shadow dance moves, Richard had already quietly circled around to a position dozens of meters behind Joachim.

A figure in black robes was hiding in the dense forest, controlling the abominations to search for him.

Upon comparing their profiles, Richard instantly knew who had attacked him!

It's Joachim, the third-level wizard apprentice from the North Ring!

It was also the bounty he issued that led to Lucius and two other second-level wizard apprentices attacking him.

However, judging from the aura he sensed, the other party was only a level three wizard apprentice, but for some reason, he was able to summon a creature with combat power close to that of a formal wizard.

Keep in mind that Richard himself is someone who has reached the pinnacle of control over summoning skeletons, and he also possesses the Bone Summoning Staff. Yet, even under these circumstances, the four skeleton guardians could not withstand the opponent's summons.

The other party clearly possesses some secret technique or treasure.

Thinking of this, Richard felt a surge of warmth in his heart!

"Secondary Spiritual Upgrade!" Richard unleashed his trump card, simultaneously throwing out three red Fire Dance Stars!

Instantly, Joachim, who had been attacked by Richard, froze on the spot!

The next second, Richard silently chanted Shadow Grip, and a large dark elemental hand flew very stealthily along the ground in the dappled shadows of the trees, heading straight for his opponent.

But just as he was about to touch his opponent, Joachim recovered from the secondary mental shock and suddenly conjured four figures on the spot, one in front, one behind, one in the left, and one in the right.

Unfortunately, Richard the Fire Star arrived at that moment as well.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The sound of shattering glass rang out!

"Boom boom boom!" After a series of explosions, only a figure with a shield remained in the original spot. Richard was overjoyed and immediately manipulated the dark elemental hand to grab the opponent.

Joachim instantly felt like he had been caught off guard. His Shadow Trick had been broken in less than a second. If he hadn't cast an instant shield, he would have been seriously injured if not dead!

Just as he was about to run, a large hand made of dark element slammed down on him!

"Boom!" Although his shield could still hold on with great effort, the huge impact still made Joachim dizzy!

Meanwhile, the four skeleton guardians summoned by Richard were gradually surrounding Joachim.

The enemy's hatred is still rushing towards us from behind, but it will probably take a while to catch up.

Richard immediately sent a message to the Soul-Devouring Spider in his arms, "Crystal, Fear Spell!"

Just as Joachim was recovering from the violent explosion, he saw Richard's four skeleton guards surrounding him and knew he was in trouble, because his Abomination was still dozens of meters away.

If we really let the other side's four skeleton guardians surround us, we're really doomed!

Anxious, Joachim got up and ran, trying to break out of the encirclement.

Suddenly, everything went black, and various terrifying faces appeared before his eyes, such as the furious mentor Gildarts, and so on. But the next second, he realized that he had probably been hit by a fear spell.

As soon as Joachim regained consciousness, he found a skeleton guardian blocking his way.

However, Joachim remained calm and instead let out a sneer, thinking to himself that such a thing could not possibly catch up with him when he was enchanted with Swift Wind. He immediately tried to bypass the other party and run to join his hatred.

However, the next second, the skeleton guardian, as agile as a monkey reincarnated, blocked his escape route and thrust out a sword fiercely.

It was Richard's secret technique: possessing a skeleton!

Joachim was instantly shocked, but it was too late. He barely managed to dodge the fatal blow to his heart, but one of his arms was severed on the spot, spurting out a spray of blood.

"Ah!!!" Joachim screamed in pain and stumbled to the ground.

The remaining skeleton guards immediately followed suit, swinging their swords to chop at the enemy!

A few seconds later, Joachim's body had been stabbed into a rag doll.

Meanwhile, the Abomination, which was a dozen meters away, could only roar in anger, unwilling to watch its original master fall into a pool of blood, while it was forcibly teleported back to the Netherworld!

Another tracking mark was now aimed directly at Richard, but Richard, who was already experienced, was not surprised.

Immediately, he took out the substitute doll from his pocket, chanted a spell, and transferred the tracking mark to the substitute doll.

Richard then used Shadow Grip to capture a peregrine falcon, tied the stand-in doll to its leg, and released it.

After completing the operation, Richard felt a surge of unclaimed spiritual energy, thicker than a thumb, emanating from the crystal and merging into his spiritual sea.

Instantly, the exhilaration surpassed that of the last time with Muken, and Richard once again experienced a feeling of ethereal bliss!

After the crystal finished devouring the soul, it crawled into Joachim's body through his mouth, and the memories in Joachim's mind were transmitted to Richard's mind like slides.

However, this time the slides are different. The previous slides were silent, but this time they are audio slides.

After the crystal evolved to the adult stage, the transmitted images were accompanied by sound, which delighted Richard immediately.

This means that Richard can know almost everything about his opponent's key memories.

For example, Richard could originally only see Joachim talking to his mentor Gildarts, but now he can hear their conversation.

A moment later, Richard's face lit up with ecstasy!

It turns out that Joachim, as a promising disciple under his mentor Gildas, had been recommended to the Ring of North two years ago and signed an agreement, thus learning the first level of the Ring of North's advanced meditation method—the "Hate Meditation Method".

Last time it was Muken from the Gluss Academy, and this time it's Joachim from the Ring of North. Unexpectedly, after two battles, Richard's second plan, the limit-breaking plan, has miraculously progressed past the halfway mark and is currently two-thirds complete.

This really left Richard speechless!

In that case, Richard could easily obtain an advanced meditation technique from the school simply by agreeing to sign a training agreement with the Ignis School.

Before the first plan even came to fruition, the second plan he had prepared was already close to success!

However, Richard's face darkened again after a short while.

He discovered that the reason he was being hunted was because of the red-haired girl Jenna. It was Jenna's mentor, the wizard Gildarts, who sent Joachim to find him and carry out his revenge.

This is far from his prediction that Jenner and Joakim were in a romantic relationship!

(End of this chapter)