Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

He was happy because he was too timid to be as beautiful as Hannah. Like an ordinary old man who slipped and tumbled awkwardly into the mud.

The sun has set, and today has felt exceptionally long.

Each time they were separated, Rex held Leah tightly in his arms. She had cried herself hoarse, her head buried in his chest, her chest wet with tears.

"Things will get better, Leah. Someone will come to our rescue."

Rex repeated what the old man had said.

"Grandpa lied! Dad lied too!" The little girl's experiences had taught her that black was the most terrifying thing, and that black had taken away her loved ones.

“Daddy’s not lying to you, Lydia.” Rex smiled and lifted his daughter high in the air. He had just promised Nastan that he would treat her well from now on, and he didn’t want to mess up something as small as this.

The man lifted the girl up, supporting her by the back of her neck and buttocks, making her look up at the sky.

“Look, Dad put Leah in the sky, he put Leah among the stars, so that the black things can’t find Leah.”

"……Really?"

"Oh really."

Black mud crawled up his chest. The man suppressed his fear and uttered his last words.

Chapter 800 Under the Black Tide

Time does not stop flowing because of sensory stagnation; it waits for no one.

The arm that once belonged to Rex was now completely covered in black mud. The transformation from hard bone to loose, soft material lowered the height of the woman being supported. She curled up, her eyes tightly closed, and murmured. The only hand supporting her back gradually softened, and the black, soft material slowly engulfed the last child.

The moment the divine power touched the girl's clothes, violent magic tore open the space in front of her, and a young man in a long robe appeared from behind the portal. He picked up the girl, and facing the submerged village, he let out a deep roar from his throat, which never roared loudly.

“Uncle Noyce.” Lydia opened her eyes slightly in his arms, her drowsy consciousness barely recognizing the magician who had suddenly barged in. She clutched the hem of the man she knew tightly, buried her cold face in his chest, and sobbed softly.

"I'm here, don't be afraid, Leah." The magic she controlled vanished silently upon entering this area. A warning bell rang in Noyes's mind as he reassured the girl with swollen eyes. This was no place to linger; the mage reopened the portal, intending to leave.

The portal, which he had skillfully maintained to the height of a person, suddenly contracted the moment it was fully formed, shrinking by half a circle as if intestinal spasm, its smooth, silvery edges turning a similar black to the ground beneath his feet. Before the portal collapsed, Noyce tossed the girl inside without any gentleness. Watching the familiar little girl disappear from sight and hearing her final scream, the man felt a sliver of relief.

Only the mage remained to face this desolate place.

"Efficient rescue, spellcaster, you resisted the infection and saved that individual from your perspective." Intermittent applause rang out before him. Noyce watched as a corner of the black liquid bulged, giving rise to a clump of black mud that continuously transformed, finally forming a young and handsome humanoid figure. Soft golden hair, androgynous and beautiful features, a smile that seemed etched on his lips but lacked any real feeling, and the radiance reflected from his dazzling eyes gave this doll an eerie and sinister aura.

Noyce's heartbeat drowned out his breathing; an indescribable fear completely overwhelmed his ability to think. With his fingers trembling and his legs yearning to flee, his brain abandoned his tongue, resorting only to the most primal muscle memory to engage in conversation. Noyce happened to choose the most effective way to alleviate his fear: uttering some mindless nonsense.

“Praise is usually accompanied by flowers, perhaps you should give me some reward…” Noyce thought greedily, perhaps by letting me go. He didn’t understand why he had inexplicably placed his enemy in a position superior to himself. The other party’s response also gave the mage a pleasant surprise of being acknowledged.

"To manifest an image and descend before you is my reward. Noyce, to see the form I have specially created is my grace upon you. This is the image of the first believer who freed me from my shackles, and I will use it as the sole form for my coming this time, to reward Sheriu's wisdom before everything returns."

"It is your honor to meet you." This tone stirred Noyce's arrogance as a mage, and his mind began to work like a rusty gear with a few drops of lubricant, using words to mock his enemy.

"Oh, you must be an important person. How strange, I actually forgot your name." So powerful? Never heard of you, you nobody?

Perhaps they didn't notice, or perhaps they didn't care.

“Names mean nothing to me, I am the whole, I am one. My rebellion gave me a name to define my separation from myself, to use titles to separate you and me. Sleeper, origin, creator, first and last parents, or you can call me Triton, my child, like Jemotar.”

The coldest form of love is divinity. In the moment of Triton's interpretation of the definition, Noyce understood His existence. The sudden pressure that shaped his heart made the magician involuntarily believe in Him, but the hardest thing about the frail spellcaster's body was his mouth.

"Really? But I'm an orphan. My parents died a long time ago."

The malice expressed in those words was so obvious that even a blind, foolish god unaccustomed to thought could sense the offense. Yet Triton didn't bend his handsome eyebrows even slightly, and his gaze toward Noyce remained unchanged, as calm as ever, the gaze directed at an inorganic object, like that of a cold machine.

"Blood ties are fragile; we have transcended that relationship."

Terry agreed, and Noyce followed his gaze until it shifted downwards, at which point he realized his predicament. He couldn't feel his feet; his leather boots were swallowed by the black mud. Noyce tried to lift his legs, but could only command his knees to bend slightly. His legs were frozen in the black tide, like a toy soldier glued in place. Assimilation had begun.

"The magic of time and space cannot forever isolate me from your erosion. Your survival is merely a coincidence of fate, but clearly you did not cherish it." Triton "moved" over, and the incapacitated Noyce became a sitting duck. Sensing the spellcaster's panicked terror, the sleeping man calmly described the current situation unfolding on his body.

"Everything on this planet is my degenerated branch, my child. Do not be afraid. You are simply returning to the original darkness, which is much easier than death and childbirth."

His response was a taut tentacle piercing Sheriu's skull. Noyce looked at his masterpiece with some surprise.

"I can actually control your abilities?" The spellcaster had intended to summon spacetime magic to open a portal for the slumbering being, but using familiar incantations and postures, he summoned tentacles lurking in the black mud, though with the same effect he had envisioned. The assimilation of flesh began; Noyce and Triton gradually merged, allowing the weak spellcaster to taste the wonders of controlling flesh and blood.

"What returns to your true self is not only your body, but also your power, your thoughts, and your soul." The hole in his head was harmless; Triton twisted the tentacles connecting to his head into new flesh and blood. This body was originally a puppet, so it didn't matter if it was torn apart by his own power.

"Magic is the blood flowing outside the body, and we are closer now."

Noyce sensed the abnormality in his body; the more he channeled his magic to fight back, the faster his body twisted. Triton had shared a portion of his power, simply to allow him to squander it recklessly and accelerate the fusion. His lower limbs dissolved into a pulp; Noyce could no longer feel his intestines, and he could feel foreign objects gushing upwards from his trachea with each breath. Fear gradually filled his eyes.

His face, gradually sinking into despair, was reflected in his star-like bright eyes.

Triton cupped his face and slowly said, "Noyce Harvey, the child born here." Noyce's thoughts began to muddle, as the gods were interfering with his memories.

"Yes……"

“Godwin Harvey is your brother.”

Hearing the familiar name, I felt my nerves suddenly throb.

"elder brother……"

That handsome face suddenly became human, and pity appeared in his cold gaze.

“Godwin is one of my followers. He summoned me to this place. He hated the village that raised him and was jealous of his talented younger brother. He prayed day and night in the darkness, asking me to destroy this place. Even at the last moment when you were assimilated by me, your brother still hated you for walking the right path.”

The head atop the fleshy pillar had a vacant stare, its eyes devoid of any light. A mutated trachea emerged from its mouth, and the soul named Noyce would soon be plunged into darkness.

“I…respect…him…”

The memories were connected, and the intertwined memories gave Noyce a final burst of energy. He answered slowly, like a broken hourglass spitting out the last grain of gold from its belly.

“I know what he did… I know how he raised me… I’ve seen the bruises he hid under his clothes… and I’ve heard the villagers’ vicious words…”

"Harvey's stray dogs have ravaged my field again..."

"That little beast is a thief who deserves to be hanged..."

"He kept it from me... thinking I didn't know about his shady friends... He refused my help... because he didn't want me to get involved with them..."

“I can even recognize the tuition fees that funded my further education… whose pockets those muddy coins came from… but he doesn’t intend to tell me anything…”

"Talent... If it weren't for me being a burden... my brother wouldn't waste his time on petty theft... and there would be no jealousy involved..."

"I became a magician to help the villagers. Not to show these lapdog-like peasants how kind I am, but to stand tall and say, 'What the Harvey family owes, the Harvey family will repay themselves. My brother wasn't born a bastard.'"

“He left long ago, perhaps carrying with him a deep resentment. I protect this village because I want to preserve a place for him to return to…”

"He hated me until he died..."

"Heh, just like he never explains his evil deeds to me, I won't tell him either..."

"I will always love him..."

Triton removed Noyce's head, pressing the melted face close to his own, merging them completely.

"Emotion, the direct expression of an individual's yearning for connection, is a fatal flaw."

"Separation leads to misunderstanding, estrangement, jealousy, and hatred. Your suffering stems from your own flaws."

“But not anymore. Everything, like the Harvey brothers entangled in love and hate, the thirst of blood, the intertwining of emotions, will be sustained in my flesh and blood. There will be no more fear, no more loneliness, you will be one with each other, eternal in my form.” Triton’s voice gradually rose, the black tide surged, and the overlapping, ever-accelerating sermons sounded like singing.

"The times have degenerated you to the point of killing each other."

"I will swallow the bitter pill of all the deformities."

"Return to the Black Tide, son of the waves."

"Children, return to the embrace of the Lord."

Chapter 801 You're an Accident

"The Black Tide is an expanding divine realm, a materialized concept of [unification]. Entering the divine realm means the death of the individual and the return to the whole. There is no way to save yourself. All the power and talent you acquire through learning will be incorporated into the knowledge of the evil god, and you will go mad in the most primitive knowledge."

The scholar presided over the meeting. On a makeshift platform erected in the central square of the Wandering City, leaders of various races listened to the intelligence shared by the Blue Dragon Priest. The black tide surging onto the land had already eroded many areas, alarming all races. Although, due to the current population size, humans were currently the only victim, the future of the annihilation of all races was already imminent.

They don't want to become parts of the sleeping beings' bodies; only by uniting can they survive the apocalypse.

With this conclusion in mind, the literary society actively mobilized for war. Flamboyant speakers could be seen in every region, and the once leaderless "Entertainers" group now seemed to have a more profound reason than the Dragon's Kin. A gentleman, wearing a ball mask and a faded tuxedo, sat in the place of the literary society's president.

“There is a way to resist the Black Tide. Just 'remove' yourself from the whole.” The scholar’s ​​voice eased the tense atmosphere. His calm and gentle voice had a calming effect. Just a few minutes earlier, it was this composed old city lord who kept everyone quiet as they witnessed the magical image of the Black Tide devouring the village.

"Dimensional portal spells, any enchantment that can add otherworldly attributes to clothing. The Black Tide is a continuous ritual, and the beings on this planet are, in essence, part of the evil god. Therefore, we will be identified as 'sacrifices' by the ritual and then 'integrated'. Thus, we must separate ourselves, using the power of another dimension to isolate ourselves, so that the ritual cannot detect our true nature. Now, the Secret Council will provide all spellcasters with tomes of portal spells free of charge. Those interested, please gather in Silver City. Friends from other dimensions should not be careless either; the evil god's corrosive power can penetrate all obstacles. Integration is only a matter of time. We are just prolonging the time we can breathe freely as much as possible."

Grand Duchess Pomfrey of the Black Abyss rose, her gaze meeting the scholar's. The softened demonic aura added a touch of gentleness and credibility to her generosity. "The Hellish plane will open to those who consider themselves incompetent. I have reached an agreement with the Lord of the City; the Black Abyss demons will restrain themselves and refrain from attacking the cowardly who have no will to fight." The demon duchess's display of benevolence was more like a provocation and mockery. We do not yet know her true intentions, but the effect was excellent. Many spellcasters who had previously been hesitant were now filled with righteous indignation, declaring, "Only the dead go to hell."

Tribal leaders continued to respond to the Blue Dragon Priest's call, creating an inspiring scene of unity and determination. This situation was not unexpected by the scholars; the inhabitants of the Wandering City were mostly leaders in their respective fields, proud and arrogant, and unafraid of divine power. This brings to mind Carlos's original plan to divide the Light and Shadow Districts. The spellcasters who fled in fear of the Holy Light had considered building armies, turning the entire city into an arena, like breeding poisonous insects, where only the strongest races could occupy the districts. Although some races joined the Wandering City through trade and other means, they were not weak. After all, the Dark Seventh District was home to the Andrei Liches; could any race that could maintain a superficial balance with these pests be naive and foolish?

The Dean coughed lightly, his cane tapping the floor tiles. The nearby lich straightened his robe, which had been ruffled by the shockwave, and turned his gaze to his own boss.

"Andre Academy can give away some solidified enchantment scrolls for free. In the field of alchemy, to add the attribute of indestructibility to an item, one needs to be familiar with the 'Separation' rune. This happens to be related to the evil god system that the scholar introduced, which separates an item from a whole to make it a new whole. Achieving the desired result with runes of opposite nature was a problem that once puzzled me, and I am glad that this puzzle has been solved. My old friend, I really want to award you an Andre Scholarship Medal right now."

"Thank you, Dean. I'll collect it from the academy later." Although the scholar didn't care much for the numerous symbolic medals he already possessed, he still responded humbly to the Dean. He was trying to curry favor with this vain old lich, hoping he could better control Andrei and his group of restless, eccentric colleagues.

"Dean, where did Mr. Raymond go?" The power of the Holy Light Calamity made the Blue Dragon Priest envious. He glanced around Lyle, who was sitting in the president's seat, and made sure that the radiant figure was not there.

The old lich tilted his beard and gripped his enchanted staff so tightly it made a sickening sound.

"I wonder where he's off gallivanting off to. Don't worry, he can take care of himself." Although the evil god has been revived and most of the land has been eroded, the dean is not worried at all about the guy who gives him a headache.

The scholar said nothing more, then turned to speak with the other dragon priests, displaying the information on the magic network model above his head in no time. In the virtual spherical projection, the southern hemisphere had completely turned black, with a few bright spots like lighthouses marking the boundaries in the black tide.

“We dragon priests have experience fighting the Sleepers. We have formed a barrier using several magic network nodes as anchor points, separating part of the land from the Black Tide. This is our last land. The Sleepers will not devour us as easily as before. The ritual will be put on hold, which will also bring out the evil god's kin, those ancient armies that serve the Sleepers.”

The magic network nodes guarded by several dragon-kinds will undoubtedly become the main battlefield, facing the armies of divine servants loyal to the Sleepers. However, the scholars have no intention of diverting their forces to support other nodes.

"Because of the foolish actions of my descendants, the barrier I designed has a flaw." The five dragon priests who once sealed the evil god occupy several important nodes in the magic network, firmly securing the barrier and constantly guarding against the evil god's counterattack. The white dragon priest's ocean node, Moshui, is both a probe of the ocean and a warning sign. The fallen dragon priests of Moshui were prepared; theoretically, the stable four-cornered barrier should have completely resisted the invasion of the black tide.

But now the Wandering City, which serves as a fixed anchor, is a floating city that moves everywhere. During the scholar's slumber, his son Carlos moved the foundation he had set up, turning it into a mobile fortress, but the barrier anchor point does not move with it.

One location on the map became particularly eye-catching.

"Moonnafar, the former capital of the Kingdom of Arcanes, is now a ruin bombarded by magic. This is the edge of a fragile barrier, a corner of a shaken magical web. If the Sleeper takes over this place, His tides can surge inland and overwhelm all our footholds. He will surely descend here, and we must defend this place. This will be the center of the battlefield, the place where we will fight the Sleeper to the death."

"We must concentrate our forces and fight for a future in our homeland. The dragon-kindled beings in other magic network nodes will buy us time and distract the evil god."

……

Scholars were giving pre-battle speeches on the stage, while liches were whispering among themselves below.

That sounds good.