The Wizard World

Angele walked down the tunnel slowly with Becky following him.

They did not cast any spell to brighten up the area. They just advanced in the darkness since Angele had no problem seeing things ahead.

He noticed the road ahead was no longer wet.

"It seems like we chose the right tunnel," Becky said.

"If nothing happens, this tunnel may not lead us to the destination."

Angele turned at the corner and found a collapsed tunnel ahead, the path was completely blocked by broken stone pieces.

He walked to the stones and pressed on a stone with his eyes closed.

Several minutes later.

"Let’s teleport through the tunnel. The two tunnels will merge into one ahead. I’ll go through it first and you can teleport to my location using the bloodline ability."

*BAM*

Angele disappeared into a ball of dark flames.

On the other side of the collapsed tunnel.

In the darkness, red light flashed in the tunnel and Angele recreated his body. Some white light flashed beside him and turned into Becky.

They could hear the noise made by the rats; a rotten smell permeated the air.

With a flick of Angele’s finger, a pink aura appeared around his feet. He remained silent as he started advancing.

His footsteps were quite loud in the tunnel, echoing.

Becky hated the dirt on the ground and decided to stay away from it.

There were balls of black sticky liquid on the ground, they were wet and stinky.

"How long do we have to walk?" Becky was getting impatient.

"Calm down. We’re getting close. I know where Mincola is and our direction is correct. Don’t worry." Angele increased his ability slightly.

Time passed.

Several hours later, Becky wanted to say something else again, but Angele stopped her.

"Something isn’t right. The two tunnels will merge ahead and it must be Suman’s team. They’re in trouble. We should check on them."

************************

On the other side of the tunnel.

The walls of the tunnel were glowing. Suman held a scimitar and was staring at a man that was walking to him. Sella, Mincola, Messiah, and Dorman were lying on the ground.

Bella was leaning against the wall, one of her swords broken. She supported her body using the other sword. She was not sure if she could stay conscious if she fell to the ground as well.

"Damn... This guy was waiting here the whole time." Suman inhaled deeply, he could feel that his lungs were burning and there was blood in his throat. Suman used most of his power and his lung was slightly damaged for that.

"Guys, are you still alive?" he questioned in a low voice.

Messiah who lay on the ground responded in a low voice, "We’re alright. Don’t worry."

"If we can’t figure out a solution, we’ll lose the ability to fight back. Mincola, do you have anything that can help us?" Sella asked; she sounded weak.

"I would’ve used it if I had one." There was a bitter smile on his face. "The man has an aura that reduces our stamina gradually and the effective range is incredible. Also, the man is definitely stronger than us since we didn’t even last a minute in his aura. There’d be nothing I can do even if I had a secret technique."

"I didn’t expect the Dark Wizard Tower to guard a random spot with a strong wizard." Suman was speechless. "Damn, not again!"

He suddenly jumped to the left and some twisted energy waves exploded where he’d stood.

The man walked toward Suman. He was a strong man with a muscular body. The man had no hair, no beard, and no eyebrows. His face was smooth and clean. The man’s paper eyes were coated with a silver glow and it felt like there was liquid flowing in his eyes.

"Sorry, young ones. Your journey will end here." He walked to Suman slowly with a strange smile on the face. His upper body was naked, but it was covered in wounds left by Suman’s scimitar.

Suman lowered his body and inhaled deeply. "I haven’t used all my power yet."

"Qansi!" he shouted.

*CHI*

Color disappeared from the tunnel, the world turned black and white.

Everything stopped moving.

Messiah and Bella’s bodies were surrounded by purple light and dark blue light, it seemed like they could still move.

Sella and the other team members all stopped moving.

The muscular man was also stopped by the concept gear, but it seemed like he did not care.

’Same crap.’ Suman tried to guess what the man was thinking.

He inhaled deeply and slowly slashed forward using the scimitar.

*CHI*

Suman’s body turned into a silver line, charging at the man.

He was aiming at the enemy’s throat; the scimitar was moving so fast that it felt like there was wind blowing.

However, the scimitar was stopped when it was several centimeters away from the man’s throat.

Green blood veins appeared on Suman’s face and his muscles’ size increased like crazy. There were tiny red dots on the surface of his skin, it seemed like the capillaries in his body were breaking.

A golden rune appeared on the blade of the scimitar. The rune started glowing and intense golden light covered the man’s body.

*WOO*

Color returned to the world slowly after the noise.

Suman’s scimitar hit the man’s throat and blood was running down the man’s neck.

"It’s over." Suman moved his scimitar away and took several steps back.

The man could not believe what just happened and tried to stop the bleeding, but he failed. A green glow surrounded his hands; it seemed like he was trying to heal the wound. Nothing worked, he fell to the ground and stopped moving.

Mincola stood up and asked, "How much power did you release?"

Suman lowered his scimitar and responded, "Around 82%."

"That was a short distance and you released 82% of the concept gear’s power..." Mincola’s expression changed. "Should we keep moving?"

"I’ll take care of the rest. You guys should head back. The enemies we encounter will be stronger as we advance further. Although we can stop them from sending the information out, we’ll be detected sooner or later," Suman spoke in a low voice.

"What are you talking about? We’re here for the same goal!" Messiah shouted. "Bella and I also put our hands on concept gears so that we can move even when the time is paused. We’ll go with you. Sella, Dorman, and Mincola, you should head back."

Suman shook his head. "I can activate the sun rune five more times and I can make it to the end. Alright, let’s stop wasting time. Also, you know that I can escape when necessary. Don’t worry."

Suman’s team quickly recovered after the man was eliminated. They all stood up and checked their condition.

"Just go. We have no time to waste." Suman returned the scimitar to the sheath and hugged Sella. "I need to start moving. Wait for my good news." He finished the word and disappeared into the darkness.

Messiah and Bella followed after Suman. Mincola, Sella, and Dorman were speechless, but they knew there was nothing they could do.

"Alright, let’s head back. We’ll become their burden if we decide to go with them. Suman has to rely on the concept gear to deal with the enemies," Dorman said.

They were a bit disappointed, but what Dorman said was true. They turned around and decided to head back.

*BAM*

Suman, Messiah, and Bella were blown away by the impact, they rolled several times on the ground and stopped after hitting the wall.

*CHI*

The colors disappeared from the world. Suman stood up and charged forward.

*BAM*

With a noise, Suman was blown away again, his face pale. He stabbed the scimitar into the wall. The tip of the scimitar left a black trail on the wall—that was the only way to handle the impact.

Suman had no time to think, he just shouted, "Bella!"

*CLANK*

Fire sparked in the tunnel ahead before he could say anything else. Messiah rushed to Suman with Bella in his arms after he dodged the attack made by a large hammer.

*BAM*

The hammer left a large hole in the wall. Broken pieces of stone and dust were everywhere.

A creature that was half human and half snake appeared. He was holding a hammer in one hand and a shield in the other. Intense yellow light surrounded the man’s body.

"Concept gear? That’s how you sneaked into the sewer." The snake man sneered. "My name is Anman and this will be the ending for you."

The snake man swang his hammer and some yellow energy waves spread into the air.

"Wait! He’s trying to inform the Dark Wizard Tower. We need to hurry. We’ll have no chance if the Dark Wizard Tower decides to send more people here." Suman pulled his scimitar out of the wall and charged at the man.

Bella stopped Suman and said, "Let me handle this guy. You need to go, we don’t have much time left and we can’t let the Dark Wizard Tower summon the Dream Lord."

Suman and Messiah exchanged eye contact.

"Take care, Bella." They tried to move past the snake man from left and right.

The snake man tried to stop them, but he was attacked by a short sword with black strings on the blade. It seemed like the black strings were formed by some mysterious energy and the snake man had to block the strike.

*Clank*

Messiah and Suman successfully passed the snake man.

"Damn! I’m going to devour you!" The snake man was enraged; he charged at Bella at full speed.

***************************

Angele was still in the other tunnel; he looked confused.

"Suman’s team separated into two after they encountered the enemy, but we haven’t seen anything. I already casted a spell and I think this might be an abandoned tunnel. Let’s move faster, we just need to find the altar."

Becky had a blank expression on the face. "There’s no point to explain it to me. You can do whatever you want."

"We’re partners, you know." Angele smiled and patted Becky’s shoulders. They started advancing again.

They turned to the right and proceeded with caution.

Finally, they heard people fighting ahead. Angele checked the energy waves they released quickly.

Angele increased his speed again and grasped forward using his right hand. A large rock appeared on the ground and turned into a one meter wide and three meters long blade.

He did not check the situation, he just grabbed the blade and slashed forward.

*BAM*

Broken pieces of stone splashed in the air with a noise and the two people that were fighting ahead quickly leaped away from each other.