Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 184 Preparing for the Pursuit

Gildarts's situation is most likely due to his werewolf clone being killed by the night elves within the secret realm.

"Who can explain the situation?" a female wizard asked from the side.

"Your Excellency Archmage Graf, fellow wizards, we suddenly heard a piercing scream coming from Wizard Gildas's room, followed by the sound of something heavy falling to the ground. We immediately felt that something terrible might have happened."

"After repeatedly knocking on the door without any response, we decided to push it open. What we saw was the wizard Gildarts lying on the ground, unconscious."

"We'll report this to our superiors immediately. By the way, Wizard Gildas fell unconscious about twenty minutes ago," the wizard apprentice said with some certainty after a moment's thought.

Grand Wizard Graf nodded and said to the several formal wizards beside him, "Let's go in and check on Gildas's condition."

After entering the room, Archmage Graf gently stroked Gildas and said, "Your soul power has dropped significantly. Although you can still barely maintain the level of a formal wizard, it will probably take more than ten years to recover, even with the help of precious soul repair potions."

"It seems our previously planned rescue operation in the secret realm is going badly!"

This caused the assembled wizards to become solemn and fall silent.

At this moment, a formal wizard from the Gluth Academy suddenly raised an eyebrow and said, "Honorable Archmage Graf, something extremely strange has happened. I have sensed my deflected magnet."

"Both are there, right inside our base!"

"What? How is this possible?" exclaimed Linda, the wizard, standing nearby.

"Yeah, didn't you give your deflector to the rescue team? How could it possibly be at the base? Could it be..." another official wizard blurted out, but then glanced at Gildas, who was still unconscious, clearly puzzled.

Since the wizard Gildarts's clone, who was leading the group, was killed, could it be that a wizard apprentice will emerge and turn the tide in the Norman Secret Realm, defeating the night elves?

This is rather unbelievable!

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor outside the door. Judging from the sound, it was the footsteps of a wizard apprentice, and they were in a bit of a hurry!

"Gildas the Wizard, Stefan." The wizard apprentice was stunned when he saw the situation in the room, and the words he had just started to say suddenly stopped.

Like a male duck whose neck has been choked, his face was flushed red, and he looked quite ridiculous.

"Greetings, Archmage Gergraf, and also, Wizard Linda."

When the wizard apprentice saw that there were so many important figures in the wizard Gildas's room, including even the highest-ranking person in charge of the stronghold, the great wizard Graf, he immediately became flustered and panicked.

It's important to know that if wizard apprentices don't follow proper wizard etiquette, they're in for a world of trouble and could be punished by a bad-tempered or in a bad mood at any time.

"No need for formalities, please continue!"

Grand Wizard Graf waved his hand, signaling the wizard apprentice to ignore the formalities and continue.

The wizard apprentice was clearly taken aback, but he immediately recovered and, his face flushed with excitement, continued his narration, obviously wanting to leave a good impression on the high-ranking members of the stronghold.

"Here's the thing, nine wizard apprentices were just teleported over from the secret realm teleportation array. They should be the first group of wizard apprentices teleported back from the Norman Secret Realm in the past few days. One of them is Stefan, who is a member of the same rescue team as the wizard Gildass's clone."

"I originally came to inform the wizard Gildas of this situation, but I didn't expect..." The wizard apprentice glanced at the wizard Gildas, who was lying motionless on the bed, and then stopped talking.

"You said nine wizard apprentices have returned?" a fully-fledged wizard asked, his face filled with disbelief.

Just moments ago, everyone was discussing that the secret realm rescue mission was essentially a failure now that Gildarts' clone had been killed!

But what's going on now?

"Are these nine wizard apprentices all members of the rescue team sent out a few days ago?" Linda, the wizard standing nearby, asked a question that the group was quite concerned about.

"Well, no, apart from three who are rescue team members, the remaining six are all wizard apprentices who were originally trapped in the Norman Secret Realm." After thinking for a moment, the wizard apprentice said with certainty.

"Summon these wizard apprentices immediately. Let's go to the conference room and ask them about the situation in person," Archmage Graf decided immediately.

"Also, arrange for the sorceress Nymphadora to come over and treat Gildas."

Before leaving the room, Graf gave some instructions to the person beside him.

-

Stefan and the other nine wizard apprentices had just stepped out of the teleportation array when someone came over and led them to the base's conference room.

When they saw more than ten formal wizards sitting upright in a row waiting for them, especially the one in the very center who was Graf, a second-level wizard whom they could not usually touch, their hearts clenched violently, and a large amount of blood was pumped out instantly.

The nine people, who had no idea what had happened, were all completely bewildered.

However, instinct reminded them, and the group quickly bowed and stammered:

"Your Excellency Archmage Graf, and all esteemed guests!"

"Sit down, don't be shy!" Graf said kindly.

Seeing that the surviving wizard apprentices were able to return to the stronghold alive made Graf feel much better, because it at least showed that the situation in the Norman Secret Realm was not as bad as he had imagined.

"Come on! Ask your questions first," Graf said, turning to look at the three formal wizards from the three academies on either side.

It may be due to the principle of women first.

Linda, the female wizard, was the first to speak: "My fellow apprentices, let me ask you a question first."

"What's the situation inside the Norman Secret Realm now?"

Just by glancing around, Wizard Linda knew that her direct descendant was not among these people, so she was either still trapped in the Norman Secret Realm, or...

Her direct descendant possessed excellent wizarding aptitude and was considered one of the family's future wizarding talents, whom she valued highly.

People always have hope for the unknown future, and wizards are no exception.

So, after asking this question, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

But the reaction of the wizarding apprentices to this question left Linda and the other formal wizards astonished.

The nine wizard apprentices exchanged bewildered glances with their companions, and the entire conference room suddenly fell silent.

Such a simple question, yet not a single wizard apprentice volunteered to answer it.

Stefan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Lady Linda, within the Norman Secret Realm, we should currently have the upper hand, right?"

"What do you mean by 'should'? It means yes or no." Clearly, Linda was very dissatisfied with Stefan's answer, and she frowned as she spoke.

This made Stefan a little nervous. He didn't know why the beautiful witch in front of him was angry, so he stammered:

"Hasn't that Gildas wizard's avatar returned? He should have arrived at the base before us and informed you all of the details, right?"

The words had barely left his mouth!

Stefan felt a sudden increase in pressure, and he realized that all the wizards, including the Archmage Graf, had their eyes fixed on him.

This made his face turn pale instantly.

My mind started racing. Had I said something wrong?

"Gildas's clone hasn't returned to the base, and it's almost certain that his clone was killed within the secret realm," a North Ring wizard who knew Stefan said, trying to help him out.

"So, I'd really like to know, what do you mean by 'we have the upper hand'?"

"What! How is this possible!" Stefan exclaimed in disbelief.

This made Graf frown slightly. Things seemed to be getting interesting. It seemed that the third-level wizard apprentice in front of him was not lying.

"Stephen, don't be nervous. Just tell us everything you've seen and heard in detail," the wizard, also from the North Ring, said softly.

The comforting words from his fellow wizards helped Stefan gradually calm down, and he began to recount what had happened after he entered: "...The battle at the camp...I can't remember that part, but judging from the scene, the night elves suffered far more casualties than we did."

"A large group of spider knights died in the center of the camp."

Stefan also emphasized the dense circle of Spider Knight corpses, indicating that he was not just guessing.

At this moment, the other wizard apprentices also echoed:

"My lord, that is indeed the case. I was the first to wake up, and the scene that greeted my eyes was exactly as Stefan described."

"Indeed."

"Yes, I saw that too."

Suddenly, the conference room door was opened, and a pale-faced Gildas appeared in the doorway, saying, "High Wizard Graf, the tracking mark of my clone has been triggered, it's not far from here!"

"What?!"

This immediately stunned everyone present, and the entire conference room fell silent.

If what was previously merely a guess by the great wizard Graf, now it is a confirmation from the person involved himself.

but

It wasn't said that the Night Elves killed Gildarts' clone. If the Night Elves killed it, how could the clone suddenly appear in their controlled area?

"According to my senses, that person is heading north, rapidly moving away from us. Grand Wizard Graf, I request that the second combat team accompany me in the pursuit," Gildarts said through gritted teeth.

Clearly, the heavy loss of his clones in this battle was beyond his expectations.

It was worse than he had anticipated, even worse than the worst-case scenario.

As for why the second combat team was to accompany him, it was because the three wizards in the second combat team were all from the North Ring, and were old acquaintances of Gildas.

The team leader, Andino Neville, was not only his friend but also a stronger fighter than him.

Unlike him, Ondino is particularly skilled at abomination modification and has a very powerful modified abomination—the Bile Spitter.

While retaining the powerful physical attack capabilities of the ordinary Abomination, Ondino also modified its internal structure, mixing several highly toxic substances to create bile, which was then placed inside the Abomination's gallbladder.

This gives the abomination a strong ranged attack capability.

Because bile is highly toxic, once it is sprayed onto an enemy with weak defenses, the enemy will be instantly corroded. Even for enemies with strong defenses, the toxins will quickly seep into their bodies, causing poisoning.

Gildass had witnessed firsthand the enemy's abomination—the Bile Spitter—spraying out a deluge of bile in a battle, instantly corroding seven or eight high-ranking murloc warriors who were attacking it into a pool of pus.

Their combat power is quite formidable!

Most importantly, the opponent also has a giant vampire bat, a rare flying mount.

Although the giant vampire bats are not very strong, with this mount, their pursuit will be much faster, and the enemy will have no chance of escaping.

Graf nodded and said, "Then let the second combat team accompany you."

"Ahem. Thank you, Archmage Graf!" Gildas exclaimed with delight.

"Gildas, your body"

"Don't worry, Archmage Graf, I will see for myself who killed my clone." Gildas's clenched knuckles, now white, showed his anger.

-

By this time, Richard had arrived in the dense forest to the north and had taken over a mountain brown bear's den.

Several miles away in the dense forest, Richard had also set up some early warning formations in advance, such as the Green Vine Formation, which was mixed in with the vines in the dense forest, but would cause a shock as soon as a high-energy creature passed by, allowing Richard to sense the other party immediately.

These formations have no offensive capabilities and only serve an early warning function. They are a gift from Ophelia and are all simple formations belonging to the nature element.

Because of its simplicity, and the fact that it is located in a dense forest, the nature-based early warning array is very difficult to detect.

Even a formal wizard can easily trigger it without a very thorough search, thus serving as an early warning.

The array can be considered the simplest type of witch array, generally having only one or two simple functions. Therefore, the array pattern is extremely simple to construct. Many second- or third-level witch apprentices will come into contact with and learn some introductory arrays.

In the den of a mountain brown bear.

After Stephena quickly cleaned up, Richard took out a teleportation array blueprint that he had already copied, as well as a bottle of ethereal ink. He dipped his finger in the ink, infused it with his mental energy, and began to draw a six-pointed star magic array on the ground.

The internal patterns of the entire witch array are almost identical to those of the teleportation array in the blind fishman tribe.

Stephania watched intently as Richard drew the teleportation array. She knew a little about teleportation arrays, but it was almost impossible for her to draw the entire array. However, she could draw a few simple array patterns.

(End of this chapter)