Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 172: Let's just treat it as waste.

Gildas was about to remind Harley to retreat, but before he could even speak, a deafening roar echoed from inside the cave!

The next second, a giant lizard monster, over twenty meters long and covered in fine golden scales, shot out of the cave like a golden lightning bolt!

"It's a golden-scaled lizard! Run!"

The opponent was so fast that Gildas didn't have time to come to the rescue and could only warn them.

Harley, who was closest to the cave, was completely unprepared for this scene. His face turned deathly pale with fear, as if he were imprisoned by the powerful aura of the golden-scaled lizard. Harley stood frozen in place, unable to move even a finger.

"Ah!!!" A heart-wrenching scream rang out!

Harley, like a spicy snack standing upright, was instantly bitten in the middle by the golden-scaled lizard, its spine snapped in one bite. Then, with a flick of its massive jaws and a tilt of its head, it swallowed Harley whole with a "gulp!"

While Gildas was encountering the golden-scaled lizard, his son Donato was also busy fighting Richard.

Donato retreated rapidly, quickly pulling a crooked, pure white bone staff from his pocket with his right hand. The next second, he swung the short bone staff forward, and a huge green inverted pentagram array quickly lit up on the ground. Three humanoid creatures suddenly appeared within the magic array.

These three humanoid creatures were hunched over and ugly, resembling rotting corpses, but their limbs were strong and powerful, and they possessed extremely sharp claws.

Three pairs of blood-red eyes were now staring intently at Richard, sending chills down one's spine!

"Ghouls!" Richard was also a little surprised, as this was the first time he had encountered such a famous undead monster.

Although it was Richard's first time fighting this ghoul, as a fellow undead creature, he knew quite a bit about ghouls. Ghouls had corpse poison on their claws, moved with incredible speed, and primarily used physical attacks such as biting with their claws or mouths. Very few of them possessed a special magical talent.

but

These three ghouls in front of us seem to be a bit special; their claws are much longer than those of ordinary ghouls described in the "Undead Creatures Compendium".

The claws of these three ghouls are estimated to be at least 30 centimeters long!

A thought flashed through Richard's mind: Could this be a mutated form of ordinary ghouls—a clawed ghoul?

Richard tried hard to recall the Claw Ghoul. It was almost identical to a regular ghoul, except for one thing—super strong physical attack power!

"Heh! This is interesting. My Abomination is mainly based on physical attacks, and so are the opponent's ghouls. It's going to be a head-to-head confrontation!" Richard thought to himself.

Sure enough, as the enormous abomination strode forward, the three clawed ghouls quickly shifted their attention from Richard to the attacking behemoth.

The three clawed ghouls showed no weakness and charged fiercely at the massive abomination.

"Crack!" The Abomination cleaved a clawed ghoul away with its giant iron axe.

Although the ghoul managed to parry with its claws, the abomination's immense strength was certainly beyond its small size to withstand. One of its claws broke off, but thanks to the parry, it survived the abomination's attack.

But the other two clawed ghouls, the instant their companion was knocked away, quickly approached the fat abomination and scratched its body several times.

"Swish swish swish swish!"

In just a second or two, several long, deep cuts appeared on the abomination's enormous body. If it were a normal person, their internal organs would probably have been pulled out by now.

Fortunately, Richard's abomination was exceptionally large, but at this moment, its fat belly was also scratched, revealing white fat mixed with yellow pus.

Clearly, these wounds deeply aggravated the abomination, making it extremely angry!

"roar!"

The massive chain ball swept across the area, instantly sending two clawed ghouls flying several meters. However, ghouls are tough undead creatures, and although they were injured, it was not fatal.

At that moment, the ghoul with sharp claws that had just been knocked away by the giant axe also charged forward, brandishing its broken claws.

Immediately, the two sides clashed, with blood and flesh flying everywhere. For a short time, it was difficult to determine the winner, and the two sides seemed evenly matched.

"You've got some skills, no wonder Joachim died at your hands. But the game should end here!" Donato's expression changed when he saw that even his clawed ghouls couldn't defeat Richard. He roared ferociously, "Blood Amber Power!"

Donato swiftly pulled a jade-like object, shimmering with a bewitching, blood-red light, from his robes with his left hand, accompanied by a short incantation.

The next second, three streams of crimson liquid gushed out from the blood amber in Donato's left hand and shot onto the three clawed ghouls.

Instantly, the three clawed ghouls were surrounded by blood-red light, and their original height of 1.9 meters increased to more than 2.2 meters. Their claws became even faster and more powerful, and their attack speed increased by at least 30%!

Now, the three clawed ghouls forced the abomination into a retreat, roaring repeatedly!

"Admit defeat, Richard! If you surrender and tell me the whole story about your relationship with this Spider Woman, I can guarantee your safety." Donato, seeing that he had victory in his grasp, smiled and began to persuade Richard to surrender.

Richard raised an eyebrow, ignoring Donato's question. Instead, he also took out a piece of blood amber from his pocket and unleashed the power of the blood amber even faster than Donato!

As a stream of crimson liquid, as thick as a baby's fist, poured into the abomination, its size instantly increased, its attack speed greatly increased, and each slash seemed to have the power to split mountains and shatter rocks.

Now, Richard's hatred had the opposite effect, suppressing Donato's three clawed ghouls!

"The power of Blood Amber!" Donato stared in astonishment as Richard displayed the power of Blood Amber with even greater skill than he had, his heart filled with unparalleled surprise!

"How did you learn this witchcraft? It's one of the unique secret arts of our North Ring."

Richard rolled his eyes at Donato, annoyed, and said, "Don't you think you're talking a bit too much?"

"And why should I tell you the answer?"

Just as Donato was feeling embarrassed and annoyed by Richard's two words, Richard turned around and shouted to Stephanie from afar, "Stephanie, stop playing around and finish this quickly!"

"Hehehe, yes sir! Master!" Stephania immediately flew back and quickly cast a spell. A huge, green-glowing inverted pentagram spell circle appeared under her feet. The next second, a human-faced spider the size of a bull was summoned.

Stephania leaped aboard, landing lightly on the back of the human-faced spider, and silently chanted, "Merge!"

Amidst the stunned expressions of the wizard apprentices, the graceful Stephania slowly sank from the back of the Spider-Man into its body, and the human and the spider actually merged together!

Donato was also incredibly surprised to see this, feeling for the first time that the battle had slipped out of his control.

Their initial confidence in victory began to waver slightly!

After combining, Stephania's sword arms increased from two to four, and her movement speed increased again. She was so fast that she could not be seen. A black shadow flashed by and she had already darted more than ten meters away!

"Swish, swish, swish!"

The two level-three wizard apprentices, even with their dark elemental shields, could only hold out for a second before being instantly overwhelmed by the rapidly swung blades.

When the others looked closely again, they discovered that the two men had suddenly broken apart at the waist, with their organs mixed with blood spilling all over the ground.

"ah!!!"

Hiss! Stephena's slashing arm was so fast that neither of them felt any pain when they were cut in half at the waist.

Instead, it was only a second later, when her upper body slid down through the cut at her waist, that she realized what had happened and immediately let out a miserable wail!

In fact, this was already the result of Stephena showing mercy!

Show mercy?

That's right, it's because Stephena, at Richard's request, left herself alive!

Otherwise, the incredibly sharp blade wouldn't have cleaved horizontally, but rather from top to bottom, and these two wizard apprentices would have been cleaved in two symmetrical halves by Stephena!

The third-level wizard apprentice had extremely strong vitality. Even with such a fatal injury, he could still hold on for a few minutes. At this moment, he was groaning on the ground, desperately trying to piece himself back together by gripping his lower body with both hands.

This bloody and tragic scene greatly dampened the morale of the remaining four wizard apprentices!

Among them was a female second-level wizard apprentice from the North Rings, dressed in hunting attire and with a curvaceous figure. Her once innocent face was now almost distorted with terror, as if she could not withstand the horrifying pressure. Her legs trembled incessantly, and a faint wet line ran from her crotch to her heels.

A foul odor wafted over.

Stephania gave her a disdainful look, and then vanished from the spot in an instant.

When she reappeared, the female apprentice had her limbs severed, turned into a human pig, and planted on the spot.

This put the remaining three under unbearable pressure as they were picked off one by one, causing them to break down and shout:

"Lord Donato, please save us!"

"Help us!"

Donato frowned deeply, feeling quite troubled. Richard's strength was one thing, but this Spider Woman's strength was simply too great.

But he couldn't leave them to their fate. If the Spider Woman managed to kill all three of them, she would join forces with Richard to launch an attack on him.

Extremely disadvantageous!

So Donato quickly pulled a scroll from his pocket and tore it open in the direction of the three wizard apprentices. Instantly, three white bone shields appeared out of thin air on the three of them.

"Bone Shield!"

"Level One Sorcery: Bone Shield!"

Upon seeing this, the three couldn't help but exclaim, "The Bone Shield is a level one sorcery, and its defense against physical attacks is particularly high!"

This caused the three of them to relax instantly, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

There are quite a few good items. Richard could tell at a glance that Donato had used a group bone shield scroll!

This thing is so rare that even magic stones can't buy it.

No wonder he is the offspring of a formal wizard!

However, Richard immediately seized the opportunity when Donato was distracted while using his scroll technique and shouted two words to Stephanie: "Combined attack!"

Since you used your official wizard-level protective scroll on someone else, who else should we kill if not you!

Stephania immediately turned her cold gaze to Donato, and the next second, the ground on the spot exploded, revealing a depression half a meter deep.

Immediately, alarm bells rang in Donato's mind, and he knew something was wrong.

Richard then unleashed a series of spells, casting Slow and Weakness on Donato in less than half a second. Because Richard's mastery of these two level-zero spells had already reached its limit, each spell only took 0.2 seconds to cast.

Suddenly, Donato felt weak and powerless all over, and his movements became extremely slow.

He instantly realized that in the half second it took him to draw the potion, he had been hit by both the Slow and Weakness spells.

This terrified him!

That casting speed is too fast!

But that wasn't all. After casting the spell, Richard quickly performed the Shadow Dance.

Richard seemed to be instantly draped in a layer of hazy, dark veil. His movements were as fast as a ghost, incredibly swift. He drew the Frost Guardian with his right hand and gripped the knight's longsword transformed from the mimicry bracers in his left. With a speed no less than Stephena's, he charged toward Donato with both swords!

Just as Richard and Stephanie were about to touch Donato, Donato finally managed to pull out a scroll from his pocket, tear it open, and a black light flashed, causing a black spherical force field to rise around him.

He blocked both of their attacks!

But before Donato could catch his breath, he discovered that the energy of the black spherical force field was decreasing at a visible rate!

The originally dense black energy gradually faded and turned gray.

"How...how could you possibly have such high attack power!" Donato's eyes bulged out of their sockets!

"This is a level one sorcery scroll—Skecher's Shield!"

It's no wonder Donato was so surprised. A defensive level one spell was about to be broken by two wizard apprentices in just seven or eight seconds. Nobody would believe it if they told anyone!

What Donato didn't know was that Richard's twin swords were constantly oscillating at a high frequency, and with the rapid slashing of the four sword arms after Stephena and the Spider-Man merged, the attacks he was enduring were almost no less than those of a formal wizard!

No wonder this black spherical force field deflated at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Donato was terrified and quickly pulled out a bottle of unknown potion from his pocket, gulping it down.

Instantly, a dense red light flashed from his body once again.

Richard frowned deeply at this sight, thinking to himself, "The offspring of wizarding families must have far too many good things!"

"Snapped!"

Skechers' shield is broken!

Below is the red shield!

Donato, his face filled with terror, shouted as he fled, "Stop! Richard, it's a misunderstanding!"

Richard completely ignored him and instead intensified his chopping.

"High-frequency oscillation!"

"Cross Slash!"

Stephena also cooperated perfectly, swinging all four bladed arms out powerfully at the same time!

"Snapped!"

Red shield broken!

"Sizzle!"

Donato felt a chill on his waist. Looking down, he saw a thin line of blood on his abdomen. After a dizzying moment, he found himself lying on the ground, but his legs were still in place, and blood was gushing from the cut.

In an instant, he realized what had happened and let out a horrifying wail in disbelief!

"ah!!!"

It turns out that Richard and Stephena's perfectly coordinated attack not only shattered the red shield, but Richard's cross slash also severed Donato's waist!

Ignoring Donato's cries of pain, Richard hesitated for a moment before drawing his sword again.

"Swish!"

He cleanly and swiftly severed Donato's tendons, preventing him from pulling anything out of his pocket.

Meanwhile, the three wizard apprentices, protected by the first-level defensive spell—the Bone Shield—were huddled together, trembling.

Like a nest of quails in the dead of winter!

Even with the protection of the bone shield, the three of them felt a chill run straight to their heads!

Ten seconds later, the battle was over without any suspense!

Richard began to inscribe a spirit-gathering magic circle beneath Donato's half-body.

Seeing Richard's meticulous movements, Donato felt a chill run down his spine and managed to ask with difficulty, "What...what are you doing?"

"Draw a magic circle," Richard said calmly without looking up.

"What are you going to do to us?" Donato barely managed to lift his head, looking at the slender Stephania, who was dragging the bodies of several apprentices who had helped him chase after the enemy but were killed in the process, and casually tossing them aside beside him.

Judging from their appearance, they were all half-dead, barely clinging to life.

"I just wanted to make use of it, otherwise it would be too wasteful!" Richard said calmly.

Looking at the witch apprentices who had joined him in the attack, their faces were pale and dying.

Donato shuddered. "You...you don't really want to kill us, do you? Richard, I...I'm telling you, this is all a misunderstanding. Let's leave it at that."

"I can swear an oath, and I can sign a contract; you can trust me."

Seeing that Richard continued drawing the magic circle without being moved at all, Donato's face grew more and more terrified!

"Li Richard, it's not too late for you to stop!"

"If you kill us, you're dead too. Do you know who my father is?"

When Donato, who was all bark and no bite, saw that begging for mercy was useless, he suddenly became anxious!

"Your father is Gildas, isn't he?" Richard replied casually to Donato while precisely drawing the magic circle.

"How...how did you know?" Donato's eyes widened in disbelief.

Only then did he realize that the entire situation had taken an unexpected turn from the very beginning.

"I knew from the beginning, and that's why I wanted to avoid you. Otherwise, do you think you have the ability to make me avoid you?" Richard retorted.

"this"

Donato was filled with endless regret!

It turns out the other party already knew all along.

Moreover, he mistook Richard's retreat for cowardice and pursued him relentlessly, even resorting to a low-level sorcery artifact—the War Shackles—leaving Richard with no way to escape!

I really regret it!

Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world.

Seeing Richard stand up, Donato knew that the witchcraft array had been completed, and his face turned ashen.

Richard gave the group another long look.

The next second, a giant black hand slammed down.

With a series of crackling sounds, the eight or nine people in the witch formation who were already severely injured and on the verge of death were instantly turned into mincemeat, their bones broken and their flesh turned to shreds, and they were dead beyond any doubt.

In an instant, four tracking marks of different colors were imprinted on Richard and Stephena.

However, Richard didn't care at all!

He had anticipated this outcome long before he took action.

"Thank goodness, I controlled the force fairly well; I almost destroyed the magic array I just drew."

Richard glanced at the witch array on the ground and found that the patterns were still intact. He then softly recited the incantation to control the vengeful spirits to collect the witch array.

The next second, a bright red light shone from the spirit-gathering array. Seven or eight souls with ferocious faces, who died with extreme resentment, were pulled from their corpses and quickly sucked into a small black double-eared water bottle.

Richard nodded in satisfaction; the first wave of vengeful spirits had been successfully collected!

"Master, what should we do with the few who slipped through the net?" Stephania asked sweetly from the side.

"Why don't we just kill them all? We can make good use of them, hehehe." Stephania glanced at the few wizard apprentices who were watching their battle from afar but dared not intervene.

Richard thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, let's just knock him out!"

Richard didn't consider himself a bloodthirsty person, and he felt there was no need to be so ruthless towards the wizard apprentices who hadn't heeded Donato's call to join in killing him and Stephania.

If the concern was that some of these people might tip off Gildas or leak information to the three academies, Li realized that at most, he could just cast a forgetting spell on them.

Although the side effects of this amnesia technique can be quite significant—it can damage the hippocampus in the medial temporal lobe of the brain, leading to a decline in a person's wizarding aptitude—it is still a serious problem.

But it's better than dying!

Who told them to love watching the excitement?

There's always a price to pay for watching the excitement.

In an instant, Stephanie, carrying out Richard's orders, moved like a tornado, quickly sweeping towards the group of onlookers in the distance!

"Oh no, run!"

"Run!"

"Split up and run!"

The group instantly turned pale, panicked, and began to scatter and flee.

I couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. Why did I even bother coming to watch the spectacle?

In the end, none of the apprentices were able to escape Stephania's clutches. They were all knocked unconscious and brought back.

After Richard cast a forgetting spell on each of them, he and Stephanie quickly packed up their spoils and left the scene.

When they woke up again, the group looked around, their faces filled with confusion. After exchanging bewildered glances for a long time, they finally asked each other:

"Where am I?"

"Yeah, how did I get here?"

"What just happened? I remember I was definitely hiding in a cave!"

After a while, a wizard apprentice exclaimed, "Why has the power of my magic decreased so much!"

"Me too!!"

"Oh my God!"

(End of this chapter)