Spellcasting Gods

"Big news? If I remember correctly, the biggest news is the longevity potion you handed over to Polman for auction. Right now, everyone in the world with a bit of power is desperately trying to find out your whereabouts and preferences. If nothing unexpected happens, someone will be coming to visit you soon. You need to understand, in the path of delaying aging and death, you are already the most powerful alchemist in the world." Lavern's tone was full of emotion.

If he hadn't absorbed enough divinity, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist following the same old man's obsession with this magical potion that could extend his life by ten to twenty years.

But now that he has something better, he no longer needs to act like a dog chasing a bone.

"Is that so..."

Just as Zhang Cheng was about to say something more, the phone lying on the table suddenly rang.

On a whim, he picked up the phone and pressed the answer button: "Hello?"

“My God! Honey! I finally got through! Quick! Come help me! I’m in trouble!” Elizabeth’s anxious voice came through the receiver.

"Calm down! Tell me, what trouble have you encountered?" Zhang Cheng asked calmly.

He could tell from the sound that his girlfriend was a little flustered, but had not been seriously hurt.

"It's...it's a manticore! That scoundrel smuggled a manticore from Iran to New York! Damn it! If you don't get here in ten minutes, you can expect to be collecting my corpse." Elizabeth shouted breathlessly, abandoning her usual ladylike image.

"Hold on! I'm coming right away."

Upon hearing the name "Mortaloy," Zhang Cheng's expression changed slightly. He immediately pressed the location function on his phone and quickly confirmed the girl's location on the virtual map. He then said directly to Lavern, "Excuse me, I'm afraid I'll have to excuse myself for a moment."

The words had barely left his mouth!

He immediately cast a teleportation spell, disappearing from the spot.

Sensing the residual energy vibrations in the air, Lavern couldn't help but shake his head with a smile and tease, "Sigh, women, no matter what age, are always so troublesome."

But jokes aside, seeing that the house owner had already left, he saw no point in staying any longer. After dealing with the large feline that was locked in the room for a while, he also chose to leave.

No one noticed that, just after everyone had disappeared, the ancient book covered with a napkin suddenly released a thick black fog, forcibly dragging all the animals inside and outside the villa into the book.

In less than a few seconds, a large amount of viscous blood slowly flowed from the middle of the pages, staining the expensive handmade carpet red.

Chapter 0820 Scorpion

The manticore, as its name suggests, is a special creature with a red lion's body, a human face, human ears, and blue eyes. It has three rows of sharp teeth on both its upper and lower jaws, and a deadly stinger at the end of its tail like a scorpion.

Moreover, these stingers can be fired in any direction, and once they hit, they will not only cause physical damage, but the toxins will also quickly spread throughout the body via the bloodstream.

In addition, according to ancient Persian records, this monster's throat could mimic the sound of a flute or trumpet to lure its prey.

Generally speaking, the powerful manticore, which terrified humans in mythical times, now only has a small number living in the Arab sphere of influence in West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia, with a total number not exceeding three hundred. They are strictly protected by local powers, and anyone who tries to do something wrong will be 100% targeted by their combined forces.

However, as the saying goes, the reward is always proportional to the risk.

Because manticores are highly tameable and their tail venom can affect a variety of magical creatures, many people are secretly willing to pay high prices to buy one or two, which naturally leads to poaching and smuggling businesses.

Comparatively speaking, the demand in Europe, with its longer history, is slightly stronger, while in North America, few dare to touch this forbidden zone.

The reason is simple: back in 1903, someone transported a hidden manticore to Atlantic City, but an accident occurred en route, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries. The entire street was covered in blood and dismembered bodies, almost exposing the underworld to ordinary people.

To ensure that a similar situation would not happen again, the perpetrator was sentenced to three hundred years of indentured slavery, and to this day his descendants are still providing special services to a certain member of parliament.

Because of this living example, no one dared to attempt to transport overly dangerous magical creatures to America for a hundred years.

But now, more than a hundred years later, it seems some guys have forgotten the lessons of the past and are starting to get restless again.

Abraham Borroman, a fallen druid expelled from the church for violating its rules, is currently the only guy on the entire East Coast of the United States who dares to engage in the smuggling and trafficking of dangerous magical creatures.

However, he was clearly in a bad mood today. Sitting in his office with a gloomy face, he roared furiously at his subordinates, "Idiots! Tell me! Were you raised on shit? You actually let a woman sneak into the warehouse! And you even let the 30,000 gold dinars worth of manticore escape!"

“Boss, she’s not an ordinary woman, she’s a witch,” a black man who looked to be around thirty years old whispered, correcting him.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear your excuses! Remember, I'm giving you twenty minutes to clean everything up. The lord and the council must not find out, understand? Otherwise, we'll all die!" Abraham Boroman threatened viciously.

"Twenty minutes? Capture a manticore and a witch in the maze of dock warehouses?" The black man's eyes widened, his face showing disbelief. "You have to understand, this is the Port of New York! The annual throughput reaches hundreds of millions of tons! Just the containers outside are densely packed and stretch as far as the eye can see! Add to that the uniformly built warehouses, and even if you mobilize thousands of people, you might not be able to check every corner in a day."

"You don't need to worry about this! I'll send my little darlings to search! Your job is to capture both the man and the manticore! Especially that damned little bitch! I'll make sure she knows how serious the consequences are for disturbing my business."

After saying this, Abraham Borroman put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly.

moment!

Countless seagulls flew in from the seaside, circling continuously over the entire dock logistics area.

In no time at all, more than half of them suddenly swooped down towards the eastern corner.

Seeing this, he immediately opened the window and pointed to where the seagulls had landed: "They're over there! Hurry! Don't let them get away..."

Before he could finish speaking, a poisoned needle flashing with a black light pierced the wall with a thud, startling everyone in the room into breaking out in a cold sweat.

It's important to know that the venom of the manticore is unparalleled by any other venomous creature on Earth. Rather than a poison, it's more like a magical energy that can affect bodily functions.

With just a small cut to the skin, even an adult elephant can die from the poison within seconds.

"Meow!!!!!!!!!"

Before these people could react, a small, cat-like animal covered in black fur suddenly jumped out from behind a container, knocking aside the manticore that was chasing the girl, while letting out a threatening growl.

"Come on, Cody! Just hold on for a few more minutes, Zhang will be here to save us!" Elizabeth shouted as she ran for her life without looking back.

"Get lost! I swear! If I make it back alive this time, I'll scratch your ass raw."

As they spoke, the black, furry creature, which was originally only the size of a house cat, rapidly expanded and transformed into an elegant leopard.

Especially its exaggeratedly large claws, the tips of which gleamed with a metallic sheen under the sun, clearly indicated that it was no vegetarian.

However, the volatile manticore was clearly not intimidated by this threat. After getting up from the ground, it immediately shot out a highly venomous stinger from its tail without saying a word.

Clap clap clap!

With a dazzling golden spark, a row of holes, each about the thickness of a little finger, were suddenly punched through the thick, sturdy container shell.

Cody, not to be outdone, brandished claws sharper than a machine tool tool and charged straight at the manticore, slashing a deep, bone-revealing wound into its body.

"Ugh!!!!!"

The intense pain made the manticore increasingly frenzied, opening its blood-red maw and attempting to tear its opponent apart with its three rows of sharp fangs.

Since the two are currently locked in combat, if it bites down, it will almost certainly cause significant damage to Cody, who has transformed into a giant cat.

At this critical moment, a black dot suddenly appeared in the air, and time around them immediately stopped.

next second...

boom!

A huge fireball shot into the air!

The poor manticore was thrown back by the explosion and shockwave from the fireball, crashing hard into the stacked containers behind it with a deafening roar.

"Sorry, I wasted a little time figuring out the coordinates. Are you alright?" Zhang Cheng asked the girl with a half-smile as he approached her.

"God! You're finally back!"

Elizabeth jumped up and hugged her boyfriend's neck, trembling with excitement.

Chapter 0821 Colleagues are Enemies

"Roar!!!!"

The manticore was clearly not seriously injured by the huge fireball. It quickly staggered out from under the collapsed container, letting out a roar full of anger and pain.

Especially at the tips of the bat-like wings, you can even see faint black flames burning. Any steel plate that comes into contact with them melts into bright red molten iron within seconds.

"Oh my God! It...it's still alive?" Elizabeth gaped, her face filled with disbelief.

“Death? No, the manticore is not so easy to kill, and besides, I had no intention of killing it.”

After saying that, Zhang Cheng gently pushed the girl aside and looked at this magical creature that had survived from the distant mythological era with great interest.

Without a doubt, this was the first time he had ever seen a manticore, and it was a young manticore that was far from reaching its peak condition.

However, judging from the attack power, vitality, and special magical abilities that the opponent has shown so far, even if it is not as powerful as a dragon, a prehistoric beast that can stand at the top of the food chain in any fantasy world, it will not be much worse after it grows up.

Especially after being injured, the black flames enveloping the tips of its wings are a highly advanced application of magical energy, estimated to be at least several thousand degrees Celsius. A normal person who accidentally touches them would have absolutely no chance of surviving.

"Be careful! There aren't just manticores here, there are also some pretty vicious bastards." Elizabeth glanced at the abnormally large number of seabirds around and cautiously warned them.

"Heh, relax. Have you forgotten who I am? Besides, this is New York, my territory..."

As someone who likes to be vigilant at all times, how could Zhang Cheng not notice the densely packed seabirds standing around him?

However, for him now, these trivial matters are no longer worth paying too much attention to; at most, they are just little games to pass the time.

Of course, the opposite was true for Abraham Borroman.

If you were to find a point of reference for his smuggling activities, it would be equivalent to a mob boss in New York who engages in illegal drug trafficking and arms dealing.

Moreover, since much of his income cannot be made public, he is also a "tax evader," meaning he has not paid the required amount of taxes to his superior lord.

Once this behavior is exposed, he will face not only punishment from the Supreme Council, but also the furious wrath of the superior lord.

If nothing unexpected happens, they probably won't even wait for the Supreme Council's envoy to arrive before being torn to pieces by the superior lord.

After all, the lords of the underworld are not like those empty-headed congressmen and politicians in the United States; they will defend their rights and dignity with blood and death.

Most importantly, if the current crisis cannot be resolved, the smuggling network that Abraham Boroman built through violence will quickly fall apart, and his men will no longer obey orders unconditionally as before.

So even to maintain his authority, he had to grit his teeth and roar at his subordinates in the office: "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come with me to deal with the intruder! Don't you want to live?"

The words had barely left his mouth!

He immediately leaped out of the window, transforming into a huge bald eagle, and flew straight towards the scene of the incident.

"Damn it! Hurry! Move! If the intruders escape this time, we're all doomed."

Another middle-aged man nearby also reacted quickly, grabbing a blowpipe covered with densely engraved ancient patterns and symbols and following closely behind.

It's not that he's particularly loyal, but rather that anyone in this line of work, if one gets caught, the rest are often doomed; no one can escape.

Before long, these outlaws from the underworld surrounded the scene from all sides, and at the same time used supernatural powers to drive away the dock workers and security guards who came to deal with the sudden situation.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Abraham Borroman transformed back into human form, looked down at Zhang Cheng who had subdued the manticore, and narrowed his eyes to probe, "Who are you? Why are you interfering with my business? Who is your employer?"

“Employer? Darling, I think you should answer that question, shouldn’t you?” Zhang Cheng gently stroked the thick mane on the manticore’s head, then turned to look at the girl beside him.

"Uh... is it okay if I reveal my employer's name?" Elizabeth blinked uncertainly.

Zhang Cheng shrugged nonchalantly: "It's alright! Believe me, the guy who hired you isn't a good person either. If I'm not mistaken, what he did is probably not much different from this gentleman's."

"You mean... I was used?!" Elizabeth was clearly not stupid and immediately realized the dirty tricks hidden behind the whole thing.