Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 144 A Mushroom Cloud in the Sky

Isco did it on purpose.

It wasn't because of nervousness or not understanding the command.

He had had enough of Link Grand's condescending and bossy attitude.

I'm even more fed up with Lanny Taylor's submissive and obedient attitude towards Link Grand.

Consider Isco Alex; no matter what, he's a fifth-class talent, ranking fifth in his grade.

Despite all this effort, Lani Taylor still ignored her.

Aside from when I need him to do something, I never really communicate with him much.

The contrast between the two was so stark that Isco was very unhappy.

Moreover, no matter who he is facing or what happens, his opinion will be ignored.

Not just once or twice, but every single time.

Yes, he admitted that he had ulterior motives.

But his ulterior motives were never directed at Lani; he just wanted to show off and save face.

In addition, he opposed teaming up with Link Grand from the very beginning, and strongly opposed it.

He was ignored again by Lanny Taylor, who even demanded that he unconditionally obey Link Grand's orders.

What angered Isco the most was that Bamir Valvez actually "knelt down".

Not only did he willingly accept the team and command, but he also cooperated with Lutz Berg to persuade the others.

Isco had no choice but to feign compliance and outwardly accept the team assignment.

The few days when we didn't meet up were fine; out of sight, out of mind.

It's just doing things according to "instructions".

These things could advance the main and side quests, so Isco tolerated them and didn't get angry.

However, after they reunited...

Why are so many women flocking to Link Grand?

Especially Lani Taylor.

You are a super genius with a fifth-class aptitude, the top student in your grade, and the dream girl of so many people in the "New Blood Mutual Aid Association"!

Why are you so unreserved?

For the sake of the inter-regional competition, for the sake of faction missions, for the sake of some bet, would you really lower yourself to serve a thief?

He already has Jasmine Kidman by his side who's always clinging to him!

Isco couldn't understand it.

Isco was consumed by jealousy.

Isco doesn't want to be a lapdog anymore.

Isco is prepared to give up.

Isco wanted to make his voice heard.

His rationality collapsed, his emotions became extreme, and he inexplicably lost his senses, which led him to do something that surprised both sides in the conflict.

Howling and roaring like madmen, they charged forward with unstoppable ferocity.

Iris exclaimed, "That's amazing!"

Monroe angrily retorted, "Idiot?"

The pursuers: "Who's that guy over there? So fierce! Is he even more vicious than that crazy woman, Iris Clark?"

For a moment, Isco's imposing presence subtly suppressed the pursuing force of over sixty men.

Even the fierce attacks have slightly reduced in intensity.

The relentless, water-like offensive surge slowed, leaving a tiny opening.

Link seized this fleeting opportunity.

He threw out three self-destructing fire bombs in succession to clear a path.

At the same time, he leaped out of the trench, activated maximum acceleration, and launched a charge with an even more ferocious momentum than Isco.

Fully activate the "Brain Lockdown Technique" and engage the "Multi-Threaded Thinking" status card.

Instantly transform into a humanoid supercomputer equipped with top-tier AI.

The absolute limit is 8 seconds!

Pseudo-natal sorcery, including "continuous casting", "parallel casting", and "triple casting".

It instantly transformed into a humanoid witchcraft machine gun.

Enveloped in a fiery red glow, Link appeared to have three heads and six arms.

While cutting along the weak points of the offensive, dodging attacks, and charging at high speed, he continuously threw self-destructing fire grenades and endlessly cast the same 0-level sorcery: Water Ball.

Bang, bang, bang...

The self-destructing grenades kept exploding.

biu, biu, biu...

Water spheres the size of fists appeared one after another.

Relentless firing.

The pig lurches forward.

The Water Ball technique is severely lacking in offensive power and cannot break through defenses at all.

But its main feature is the extreme release within a very short time.

It was aimed at the eyes of the pursuers.

Even if it's dodged, intercepted, or destroyed, it doesn't matter.

The rising water vapor can greatly impair the pursuers' vision, even for just a second.

Link's desired effect was to disrupt the pursuers' attack rhythm during the brief lull in their offensive.

This will buy time for Iris's team and Monroe's team to adjust, and then launch a counterattack.

As for what will happen next, Link has faith in the power of the team.

The pursuers were completely stunned by Link's Gatling gun-like barrage of fire.

With trepidation, they ruthlessly and effortlessly killed the seemingly fearless man who had charged ahead and startled them.

My tense heart relaxed, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Another guy suddenly appeared on the other side, charging headlong into the fray.

I couldn't help but feel extremely depressed.

Is this meant to scare the monkey?

One wasn't scared enough, so why not another one?

Enraged, they immediately confronted Link.

They were immediately overwhelmed and lost their perfectly rhythmic and continuous offensive.

When Iris, who was flying in mid-air, saw Link leap out of the trench, she was instantly ignited.

A surge of madness immediately welled up in my mind.

Reason? What kind of bullshit is that!

"Charge!"

Iris let out a strange cry and changed direction.

Two jets of flame suddenly shot out from under the boots, increasing the speed to maximum and accelerating the dive.

Her two small hands moved with lightning speed, like a flowing stream, pulling out various modified versions of self-destructing grenades and other deadly weapons from the small bag held in front of her chest!

"madman!"

Monroe, who had just completed a turn by drawing an arc, couldn't help but curse.

Is madness contagious?

But there's no other way now that things have come to this.

Monroe shouted "Charge!" and launched a counterattack ahead of time.

Those following Iris and Monroe were the elite of the elite.

They work together seamlessly and react incredibly fast.

He was only half a body length behind the two men, and then he launched a desperate counterattack.

After being chased for nearly two days, several of their comrades chose to sacrifice themselves to cover the retreat.

These people had been harboring a tremendous rage for a long time.

Isco's charge had no effect on them.

Because this is clearly a mindless and meaningless act.

Link's charge instantly ignited their morale.

Damn, how come there are such fierce new blood in the Storm Sea?

One person dealt tons of damage, making over sixty people unable to lift their heads.

He can truly be called an unparalleled hero.

That's awesome.

Jasmine knew what Link wanted to do when she saw the look in his eyes before he jumped out of the trench.

"Throw out all the self-destructing grenades! Use all available offensive methods!"

She acted decisively, bypassing Lanny Taylor, and resolutely took over command of the battlefield, issuing orders in a firm and unquestionable tone.

Without hesitation, the "Brotherhood" and the "Social Anxiety Group" immediately carried out the order.

They were all like they were on steroids, throwing out self-destructing grenades as if they were free.

Regardless of whether the assigned offensive rune items or your own rune items can hit, just use them blindly.

Lani's team's reaction was both strange and unsurprising.

Startled by Isco's actions, the nine team members all turned to look at Lanny Taylor.

"beat!"

At Lanny's command, she was the first to obey Jasmine's order.

Is now the time for a power struggle?

This is a matter of life and death!

Why can't any of them think straight?

Although the four waves of attacks led by Link were spaced very close together, less than a second apart, they still formed a tiered attack sequence.

The entire mountain basin was filled with the booming sounds of explosions.

The firelight illuminated the sky, and the mountains collapsed and the earth cracked.

Wailing cries filled the air, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The pursuers were suddenly confronted with such a powerful counterattack, just like the high-intensity raid that Monroe's team encountered at the entrance to the basin. They were simply unable to withstand it for a while.

There's no way to defend effectively; we can only use human lives to hold them off!

Combat casualties quickly ensued.

Eight seconds seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

To maintain his state, Link must turn off the "Multi-threaded Thinking" state card.

Iris, the battle maniac, had seen Link's "Witchcraft Machine Gun" mode once and had a cooperative experience with him, always hovering near Link during the dive bombing.

Seeing that Link's "Witchcraft Machine Gun" had stopped, he began to leap into the sky, trying to break free of the encirclement.

She took immediate action.

"WooHoo!"

Iris pulled out two powerful weapons from the bottom of her pack and threw them into the crowd without caring whether the explosion would affect herself or her teammates.

At the same time, she lowered her altitude to the minimum, skimming low so that Link, who was leaping upwards, could grab her ankle.

"Crazy woman!"

Monroe, leading a group of companions in a ground-based counterattack, saw Iris making such a crazy move to rescue Link Grand and couldn't help but curse out loud.

He dared not delay and immediately took out the life-saving magic artifact from the bottom of his leather pouch, activating a movable bowl-shaped shield to protect himself and his companions.

"defense!"

"Full defense!"

Many of the pursuers reacted quickly, activating various defensive measures while alerting their companions.

Some people, blinded by rage, ignored the two deadly weapons falling from the sky and launched an attack on Link and Iris, who had not yet gained enough height and speed.

When a person is in the air and is locked onto by an offensive magical artifact, dodging is not actually that convenient.

When Iris is carrying a person, her speed and agility are greatly affected.

Many tactical maneuvers cannot be performed.

Link gritted his teeth, risking damage to his "Defender 3202" armor set, over-activating its defensive effects, and then activated a hastily acquired one-time-use life-saving artifact, creating three layers of water shields around his body.

Then he took the initiative to meet several powerful attacks that came at lightning speed.

A violent collision erupted.

The one-time-use life-saving magical artifact and the "Defender 3202" set withstood the direct damage from several consecutive attacks from the magical artifacts.

A powerful impact was then generated.

It broke through three layers of water shields on all four sides and headed straight for Link's internal organs.

Link groaned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he endured it.

He's not dead, just slightly injured, and can still fight.

That's a good thing!

Iris, however, used the powerful recoil to passively accelerate, struggling to maintain her flight posture and escape the pursuers' attack range.

"withdraw!"

Seeing that Link was out of danger, Jasmine immediately gave the order.

He led the group of men and the social anxiety group to retreat to the underground fortifications.

Without hesitation.

Before retreating, all traps were activated.

Including the two deadly weapons Link planted.

They completely ignored Monroe's team, who were still trapped on the outskirts of the trap area and had not yet shaken off their pursuers.

However, a few members of Iris's team remained circling near Monroe's team, providing support.

soon.

Four deadly weapons were activated in succession.

The combined attack from above and below amplifies the power several times over.

boomm~

After a massive, earth-shattering explosion.

Heaven and earth were still, and all sounds were silent.

A medium-sized mushroom cloud rose into the sky above the basin.

The low hills on both sides of the basin shook violently, creating several large cracks.

Rocks and broken logs tumbled down.

A small lake-like deep pit appeared in the center of the basin.

One after another, streaks of white light descended.

Dozens of seriously injured and dying apprentices were promptly moved away.

Not all local apprentices in the North District are rich enough to afford the "Defender 3202" set and possess life-saving magical artifacts.

The pursuers consisted of only a few purebloods or half-bloods from well-off families.

He barely survived the massive explosion caused by four deadly weapons and dozens of ordinary and modified delayed-detonation fire bombs.

But the impact, comparable to a mountain crushing down, also caused the survivors immense pain and mental confusion.

It's good that they didn't faint on the spot, but only lost the ability to move.

Let's lie down for a while and talk about it later.

Riverside.

Iris put Link down and landed herself. Seeing the blood trickling from Link's mouth, she asked, "Are you alright?"

"fine."

Link shook his head, looking at the mushroom cloud that showed no signs of abating, and asked, "Have Monroe and the others managed to evacuate?"

"have no idea."

Iris's gaze was also fixed in that direction, but she said casually, "Who cares? We won't die anyway, so being eliminated is fine."

At first glance, this statement doesn't seem particularly special.

Link couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Iris told him about the function of that "keychain".

Now Iris is saying with absolute certainty that Monroe and the others won't die. What does that mean?

This means that all the local apprentices in the North District, regardless of how serious the conflict between purebloods and halfbloods is, and no matter how irreconcilable the conflicts between families are, have reached an agreement not to actually kill each other during the competition between the two districts.

However, the Rukia family, with their "pure-blood will," were able to kill Link without any scruples.

New blood in the Storm Sea, no human rights!

This is a fact.

Link had already realized this, but now he realized it again, and more deeply.

Taking a deep breath and clearing his mind, Link said, "We can't stay here any longer. Let's go into the underground fortifications."

When setting the trap, Link calculated the explosive power of the weapon and deliberately placed the underground concealment outside the blast radius.

They also used a lot of witchcraft, defensive rune items, and defensive magical artifacts to increase their defensive strength.

However, Link is now unsure whether the underground fortifications can withstand the explosive impact of four powerful weapons and so many delayed-detonation mines.

Jasmine, the Brothers, and the Social Anxiety Group all withdrew as planned.

Don't get buried alive!

As for the Monroe team and the Iris team, Iris herself doesn't seem to care, so Link naturally doesn't either.

Let each mind their own business.

"You go ahead, I'll wait a bit."

Iris rejected Link's offer, contrary to her earlier statement that she was indifferent to the safety of her companions.

"Um."

Link nodded, found a tunnel entrance, and headed towards the real hidden fortifications located deep underground.

Yes, there are two concealed fortifications.

One was a hidden fortification on the surface, known to Monroe and Iris, used for rest and preparation for war.

Another one is located deep underground, used to withstand massive explosions, and also to defend against backstabs!

After Link disappeared and the mushroom cloud dissipated, Iris went down to the bottom of the pit and began cleaning up the battlefield.

If you encounter an enemy who is still breathing, kill them outright and send them to their doom.

After searching for a long time, they finally found Meng Luo and the others, who were buried by rocks and broken trees.

Through the shaky protective shield, confirming that Monroe and the others had not been lost, Iris breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness he's not dead!"

(End of this chapter)