Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

A dull thud came from behind.

Morgan lay weakly on the ground, the Windtalker slipping from his grasp and rolling to the side.

His face was as pale as paper, and beads of sweat mixed with dirt covered his forehead.

His chest was heaving rapidly, and his breathing was heavy and labored, like a bellows.

The magic has been completely exhausted.

He sat on the ground, turned his head to look at Lin Gui squatting beside the two severed arms, and at the calm profile of the black-haired youth.

"What...is that magic?"

Morgan's voice was hoarse, filled with an barely suppressed confusion.

He was a legendary mid-ranking mage, and one of the most promising magical geniuses in the City of a Thousand Towers.

He had seen all kinds of shield magic.

Light element's Holy Light Barrier, Shadow element's Dark Veil Protection, Earth element's Earth Shield, Wind element's Cyclone Barrier, Ice element's Frost Armor, and Lightning element's Lightning Protection.

He knew every shield spell by heart, including its casting method, construction principle, advantages, and disadvantages.

But he had never seen the one that Lin Gui had just used.

That unusual kind of magic, which he didn't recognize as shield magic at first glance.

Lin Gui slowly squatted down, laid his oak staff on his knees, and stared at the two severed arms on the ground with his black eyes.

"It's extraordinary magic based on light."

"Light Scale Shield"

Morgan's pupils contracted slightly.

Lightscale Shield?

He had heard of this magic.

Light magic has always been rare, and there are only a handful of mages in the City of a Thousand Towers who can master it. Moreover, there is not a single person willing to pass on this rare magic.

Lightscale Shield is a very comprehensive defensive spell. When the spell is completed, it will present a hemispherical barrier that completely envelops the caster.

This applies to any shield spell.

Whether it's ice, earth, wind, or light, the final form of the shield is a complete, seamless barrier, like an inverted bowl, covering the caster inside.

This is the basic logic of shield magic.

Complete, seamless, and without any blind spots.

But what Lin Gui just did completely violated this logic.

Instead of maintaining the shield as a complete hemisphere, he disassembled the armor plates that made up the shield, peeling them off piece by piece from the ring, and then rearranging, stacking, and combining them to form a new shape.

Those scales were originally part of the shield.

He took them apart.

Morgan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Being able to achieve this level means that the mage's control over magic has reached an unbelievable level.

It's not because of fast casting speed, nor because of a large amount of mana.

It is meticulous.

It's the kind of absolute control that allows you to mold every bit of magic into the shape you want, place it in the position you want, and make it work when you want it.

Even a master with a title cannot do this.

But the black-haired magician in front of us did just that.

Morgan stared at Lin Gui in surprise, a complex and indescribable emotion churning in his blood-red eyes.

It's incredible.

If Lin Gui knew Morgan's lament, he probably wouldn't react at all.

After all, this magic had absolutely nothing to do with him.

It was simply the result of Dalton's transportation commission.

Once the goods are delivered to the shelter, the system will indicate that the mission is complete.

Lin Gui chose defensive magic without hesitation.

This is the part of Lin Gui's personal abilities that are most lacking.

He had almost no means of defense.

Once someone gets close, it's basically game over.

He's the crispy little mage.

Having no means of defense, he was knocked down by Shia's small, pink fist in Avalon, and then almost slept with.

In Dragonbone City, I was ridden by Elvia, knocked over by a cup, and almost slept with.

If he had shield magic, Lin Gui wouldn't be in such a passive position.

He was also quite lucky, drawing a light-elemental shield spell.

Although its defense isn't top-tier, it's incredibly versatile.

Even after being pierced by Cassius and his team, it still maintained its shield-like appearance, effectively trapping the opponent.

Morgan suddenly remembered something, and the expression on his face changed from amazement to tension.

"Where is Miss Elvia?"

His voice became urgent.

"She lured the young man away...she..."

"She's alright."

Lin Gui interrupted him, his tone indifferent.

"She won."

Morgan was stunned.

"You won?"

He repeated it, his voice filled with an unbelievable absurdity.

"She, a high-ranking knight... defeated the one who possessed three semi-divine artifacts..."

"We won."

Lin Gui interrupted him again, his dark eyes calmly looking at him.

"She's in Deadwood now, and Eileen is taking care of her."

Morgan opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

He stood there stunned for a while, then his expression turned strange.

His lips twitched, as if he were laughing, or as if he were crying.

"High-level..."

His voice was low, as if he were talking to himself.

"A high-ranking mage used extraordinary magic to trap and kill two legendary mid-rank assassins."

"A high-ranking knight defeated a soul mage who possessed three and a half divine artifacts."

He paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

"I may... never be able to look directly at the higher ranks again."

Lin Gui did not respond.

Morgan was silent for a moment, hesitated for a while, and finally asked the question that concerned him most.

"Why...did you not return as promised?"

His voice was soft, tinged with a cautious unease.

"Why didn't you bring Freeman back with you?"

Lin Gui remained silent for a moment, his dark eyes gazing into the distance.

"The perception barrier disappeared when I arrived at it."

"The magic family led the half-demon warriors to evacuate in different areas."

"I cannot determine their direction by sensing the position of the barrier pillars."

"We can only rely on the speed of the airship to conduct a thorough search."

Morgan gasped.

The perception barrier disappeared.

This means that when those magical families retreated, they took the barrier pillars with them or destroyed them.

They knew that someone would locate their position through the barrier pillars.

They were prepared.

Morgan broke out in a cold sweat.

"And what was the result?"

Lin Gui looked at him, his gray eyes calm as still water.

"We have rescued 324 soldiers..."

He paused for a moment.

"Three are missing."

Morgan paused for a moment, then let out a huge sigh of relief, his shoulders slumped, and he felt completely drained.

"It's Levy and the others..."

His voice was low, carrying a bitter, helpless sigh.

"Freeman didn't know that they were the ones who were arrested."

Morgan paused for a moment, then remembered the other two half-demon warriors who had fought against Arthur.

Ian and Colin.

They are still in the wilderness.

He suddenly scrambled to his feet, staggered, and ran away into the distance, shouting something as he ran.

"I'm going to find Ian and Colin!"

Lin Gui did not follow.

He sat on the ground and rested for a while, his breathing gradually becoming steady.

Then he took a blood-stained cloth bag out of his pocket and glanced at it.

The cloth bag was stained with dark red blood, some of which had dried, while others were still damp.

And extending from the thin line of the soul, the direction is eastward.

The eastern side of the barren wasteland.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the dead wood, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Arthur leaned against the roots of a dead tree, one hand tightly covering his eyes, blood seeping from between his fingers, streaming down his cheeks, dripping onto his robes and the withered leaves.

His breathing was rapid and heavy, each inhale accompanied by an uncontrollable, beast-like growl.

"Damn it...damn it..."

His voice was forced out through clenched teeth, low and venomous.

"That blonde bitch... I must kill her..."

"Gouge out her eyes..."

"Make her kneel before me and beg for mercy..."

He cursed as he pulled a sound transmission stone from his pocket.

The stone has a delicate and smooth texture, with a faint silver sheen on its surface, and is a size larger than ordinary sound transmission stones.

Thousand Sound Stone.

The highest-grade communication magic item in the City of a Thousand Towers is capable of maintaining clear communication over a distance of 500 kilometers.

Arthur infused magic into the Thousand Sound Stone.

The stone shimmered with a faint silver light.

rustling—rustling—

Noise.

no respond.

He increased the output of his magic, and the stone shone even brighter.

rustling—rustling—

It's still background noise.

"Damn it..."

His voice carried a restless anger, a frustration born from being repeatedly crushed by reality.

He looked up and glanced around.

In the distance, a pair of blood-red eyes shone brightly in the darkness.

A hero-level demon peeked out from behind the rock, its nostrils flaring as it sniffed the fresh scent of blood in the air.

Arthur gripped the Thousand Sound Stone tightly with his fingers, and with his other hand he pulled a scroll from a hidden pocket.

The demon stared at him for a few moments without moving.

Arthur didn't move either.

After a brief standoff, the demon withdrew its gaze, turned, and disappeared into the darkness.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, stuffed the scroll back into the dark bag, and re-infused the magic into the Thousand Sound Stone.

The stone gleamed with a silvery light.

This time, the noise disappeared.

A deep male voice came from the stone.

"Arthur?"

It was Edwin's voice.

Arthur's lips twitched, and his lips trembled for a few breaths as he tried to tell the whole story.

The words were stuck in my throat, but I just couldn't say them.

He couldn't explain that he had been forced to use that spatial scroll by a high-ranking knight.

Unable to explain that his eyes were pierced by a spirit that appeared out of nowhere.

Those words were like fish bones stuck in my throat; I couldn't swallow them or spit them out.

"I... encountered a powerful demon attack."

His voice was dry, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"My eye is injured."

"I used up one of those scrolls the teacher gave me."

"Come pick me up quickly."

"My vision is getting blurrier and blurrier."

There was a moment of silence on Qianyinshi's end.

Edwin's voice rang out again, tinged with a barely perceptible hint of skepticism.

"With that semi-divine artifact shield, the more powerful the demon, the less likely it is to harm you."

"How could you—"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Arthur's voice suddenly rose, sharp and shrill, carrying a hysterical anger that came from being hit where it hurt.

"Come pick me up!"

There was another moment of silence on Qianyinshi's end.

Then Edwin's voice rang out, calm and steady, without a trace of anger.

"it is good."

"Where are you?"

Arthur gave a rough location, his voice still urgent and anxious.

After listening, Edwin remained silent for a moment before asking a question.

"Where are Cass and Victor?"

"How is their mission going?"

Arthur's lips curled up slightly, his smile carrying a smug, self-satisfied air.

"They have captured Morgan."

"Those damned half-demon races were captured too."

"We have completed the teacher's task."

He paused for a moment, then his tone became even lighter, even carrying a hint of generosity.

"Edwin, I will report your merits to the teacher this time."

"It won't be long before you're transferred back from the transport team and become the true Dark Tower Master."

There was a moment of silence on the other side of Qianyin Stone.

Edwin's voice rang out, flat and devoid of any emotion.

"Then I'll trouble you to put in a good word for me."

Arthur nodded in satisfaction, about to say something more—

"Hey, look up."

A voice came from above him.

Calm, indifferent, even with a hint of nonchalance.

Arthur subconsciously looked up.

A brick came crashing down on us.

"Snap—"

A dull thud echoed through the night sky.

The brick hit Arthur squarely in the face, the sound of his nose breaking crisp and subtle. Blood spurted from his nostrils, mixed with powder from broken teeth, covering his face.

A violent wave of dizziness instantly overwhelmed his senses.

Arthur's eyes rolled back, and his body fell straight to the ground like a sawn-off log.

The Thousand Sound Stone slipped from his hand and rolled into a pile of withered leaves, its silvery light flickering uncertainly.

Above, Lin Gui sat on his oak staff, his gray eyes coldly watching Arthur lying on the ground.

The target of the dizziness spell is someone of a lower rank than oneself; a light tap with a brick is usually enough to knock them unconscious.

Lin Gui's brick-throwing was driven by a great deal of emotion.

The staff slowly descended and landed on the ground.

Lin Gui got off his staff, walked to Arthur's side, and glanced down at him.

He fell into a coma.

He squatted down, picked up the Thousand Sound Stone from the ground, and held it in his palm.

The silver light within the stone still shimmered, and the magic continued to flow.

He didn't infuse it with magic; he simply held the stone to his ear.

Edwin's voice came from the stone, tinged with a hint of doubt.

"Arthur?"

"Arthur?"

"What happened? Answer me."

Lin Gui was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"Hello, Tower Master Edwin."

Thousand Sound Stone fell silent.

Dead silence.

Then Edwin's voice rang out, no longer a question, no longer calm, but a cold, murderous interrogation.

"Who are you?"

"I?"

"I?"

Lin Gui chuckled softly, looking down at Arthur, who was lying on the ground beside him, his face covered in blood from his nose.

"You should know who I am."

His voice was unhurried, carrying a lazy, nonchalant ease.

"A legendary, hidden tower master actually allows a high-ranking person to ride roughshod over him."

Lin Gui's tone carried a hint of disbelief.

This was very surprising to him.

He crouched down, his gaze sweeping over Arthur's luxurious and extravagant attire.

Three semi-divine magical items gleamed with a cold, eerie light under the moonlight.

His gaze fell on the pouch at Arthur's waist.

Lin Gui extended his senses and actually felt a spatial force.

Space equipment?

Lin Gui reached out and slipped his hand inside his belt.

My fingers touched a vast, boundless interior space.

He then took out a bunch of magic scrolls from inside.

One, two, three...

Extraordinary magic scrolls, with various attributes including ice, fire, wind, and lightning.

Then he touched a black scroll.

The shaft was made of jet-black wood, with dark red runes that emitted an ominous glow under the moonlight.

And the incantation text inside was so familiar...

A hint of surprise flashed in Lin Gui's eyes.

Then he looked at Arthur on the ground.

As I got closer, a familiar sense of space washed over me.

Lin Gui smiled knowingly, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"I take back my previous disdain."

"He certainly has the power to make you bow down."

"so……"

He paused for a moment.

"Let's trade Cedric and the others."

"Lord Edwin."

"As for the location... let's leave it at the Wasteland Overlord's place."

"The time... is in 3 days."

"After all... it takes us quite a while to get there from Drywood Town."