Chapter 151: The Inheritance Protocol, Who is the Prey
"Persistent pests!" The Traveler grimaced as if in pain, yet there was little fear in his expression. Unlike before, he now had Sunan by his side.
In no time, Black Hand and Bloodmouth arrived near the Dragon Bone Tower. The sight before them left them momentarily stunned, their gaze fixed on the towering structure.
"The control... center!" Bloodmouth's voice rumbled from beneath his gray robe.
"Most likely!" Black Hand's tone couldn't hide his excitement.
After discovering the ecological park, he'd considered bringing it under his control, but without any leads, he was at a loss. Seeing the Dragon Bone Tower, he now knew the key to controlling the park lay within.
However, the immediate priority was dealing with the Traveler.
Regaining his focus, Black Hand turned his attention back to the Traveler, his crimson eyes under the hood briefly resting on Sunan.
"Who are you?"
"This is between the Immortals and that guy. Leave if you know what's good for you!" Black Hand's tone was assertive.
He was clearly trying to use the Immortals' name to intimidate Sunan, thinking he might scare him off.
Unfortunately, he miscalculated.
Sunan chuckled, "I'm not exactly uninvolved."
After all, Ugo of the Immortals had died by his hands.
Misunderstanding his words, Black Hand looked him over, his tone growing cold, "You're with the Forest Cabin too!"
When Sunan didn't respond to his question, Black Hand scoffed.
"If you're so eager to die, I'll oblige!"
His black robe billowed, and countless dark tentacles extended from beneath it.
"Wizard apprentices... so tasty!" Bloodmouth's giant maw rumbled, and he lifted his hood, revealing a wrinkled face with a single eye.
The cold gaze fixed on Sunan, filled with unmasked greed and cruelty.
Faced with their undisguised murderous intent, the Traveler grew serious, the Azure Spirit Branch in his hand glowing with a soft green light.
But just as the battle was about to erupt, a tremor ran through the Dragon Bone Tower nearby.
A mechanical, monotonous voice suddenly filled the air.
"Five qualified biological sources detected. Initiating Dragon Forest Ecological Park inheritance protocol."
"Distributing park control keys. Collect all keys to gain ownership of Dragon Forest Ecological Park."
The unexpected announcement seized everyone's attention.
Upon understanding the mechanical voice's message, all four were visibly moved.
The ecological park keys!
All four were overjoyed.
Possessing the keys meant controlling the entire ecological park!
For any wizard apprentice, this was a massive temptation, a park teeming with countless sub-dragons and rare magical plants.
Black Hand and Bloodmouth instantly shifted focus, eyes locked on the Dragon Bone Tower.
Once they controlled the park, they could close the entrance and trap the Traveler and Sunan, killing two birds with one stone!
Buzz!
The dragon skull atop the tower suddenly blazed with blinding light, sending five beams of brilliant silver light shooting in all directions, like meteors falling into the distance.
Almost immediately, Sunan, the Traveler, Black Hand, and Bloodmouth soared into the sky, each pursuing one of the silver beams.
Meanwhile, from the forest a few hundred meters away, another figure shot up, chasing the fifth beam.
Catching this in his peripheral vision, Sunan understood.
No wonder the voice mentioned five qualified biological sources—there was a fifth person hidden nearby.
Refocusing, Sunan activated a high-grade Rune Stone without hesitation. Enveloped in a cyan glow, his already swift speed surged, rocketing towards the silver light.
About four to five minutes later, the silver light slowed, descending towards the ground.
Invigorated, Sunan accelerated, soon reaching the spot where the silver light had fallen.
Looking down, he saw a crater in the earth with a coin-sized silver metal piece resting at its center.
Sunan's mental command summoned a Mage Hand, which scooped up the silver metal piece, depositing it into his palm.
"Is this the key to entering the Dragon Bone Tower?"
The surface of the silver metal was covered in intricate, mysterious patterns, complex yet exuding an arcane allure.
Shaped like a triangular metal piece, each of its three sides had an indentation resembling a slot for fitting.
Recalling the mechanical voice's message, Sunan quickly understood.
This silver piece wasn't a complete key, merely one-fifth of it.
The five silver beams each represented a key fragment. Only by gathering all five could one form the complete key.
"So that's it, the inheritance protocol means this."
"We five wizard apprentices are to compete for the key fragments, and the final victor inherits the park's ownership."
"Who would have thought the creator would leave such a program—perhaps to ensure the park they painstakingly built wouldn't be destroyed?"
Unable to glean more, Sunan shook his head, choosing not to dwell on it.
The creator was long dead, and he couldn't fathom their thoughts. His task was clear—collect all five key fragments and claim ownership of the park!
With a plan in mind, Sunan took to the skies, heading towards where the fifth person had been.
To his surprise, after flying several kilometers, the key fragment in his hand began to emit a faint glow.
Moreover, the glow intensified as he flew forward.
Realization dawned on Sunan.
"This key fragment can sense the others!"
With this feature, finding the other key holders became much easier.
Clearly, the creator had gone to great lengths to ensure the inheritance protocol proceeded smoothly.
Soon, as the key fragment's glow became blinding, Sunan spotted his target.
Unexpectedly, Black Hand was there too.
He was wielding countless dark tentacles, furiously attacking the fifth wizard apprentice.
Recalling the directions everyone had chased the silver beams and combining it with his current location, Sunan quickly deduced the fifth person and Black Hand had both headed here, colliding.
However, the wizard apprentice was evidently weaker, struggling under Black Hand's assault.
In the time Sunan pondered, Black Hand seized an opportunity, using his tentacles to bind the apprentice's limbs and neck, brutally tearing him apart!
Amidst the gory spray, a tentacle deftly snatched a flash of silver, delivering it to Black Hand.
"Foolish wretch, with such paltry power, how dare you vie for the key fragment!"
Accepting the key fragment, Black Hand cast a disdainful glance at the corpse, then turned to Sunan, sneering.
"Another prey comes willingly to my door."
"Who's the prey is hard to say." Sunan advanced slowly.
"You seem confident in your strength." Black Hand scoffed, "Which member of the Forest Cabin are you? The Staff? Or Black Forest?"
Sunan smirked, "I thought you would have looked into me by now, given that I've shed the blood of your Immortals."
Black Hand immediately realized.
"You're Sunan!"
Upon learning Sunan's identity, Black Hand was not alarmed but delighted, laughing coldly:
"So, it's you!"
"If you'd stayed hidden in your territory, I couldn't touch you. But now you've come alone before us, fulfilling our wishes!"
"Kill you, and the Starlight Tower's key will be ours!"
Black Hand had considered targeting Sunan.
But his investigation revealed Sunan spent most of his time near the bases in Shimmering City or Lake U City in the underground world.
Both were his strongholds, heavily guarded by golems.
Even Black Hand didn't assume he could kill Sunan in his own lair.
But now Sunan had left his territory, changing everything.
The prospect of not only acquiring the Azure Spirit Branch to solve his bloodline rejection, but also gaining control of the park and the Starlight Tower's key filled Black Hand with wild joy.
It was a veritable bounty!
In his glee, Black Hand's robe surged, releasing dozens of tentacles.
In an instant, over a hundred dark tentacles tore through the air, sweeping towards Sunan like a tidal wave!
Sunan's expression remained unchanged as he opened his mouth, releasing a visible sound wave that rippled forward, shattering over a dozen tentacles instantly!
Sonic Boom!
Following this, Sunan raised a hand, unleashing nine Magic Missiles that shot forth, obliterating tentacles one by one.
A hundred meters away, Black Hand was aghast at the sight.
"Spell Quickening!"
He saw clearly; Sunan cast two spells successively without the slightest delay!
Even spell-storing magical items exhibit imperceptible delays during casting, and Sunan's casting was seamlessly smooth.
The only explanation was Spell Quickening!
But how was this possible?
How could a wizard apprentice master Spell Quickening, a high-tier metamagic technique?
Even a prodigy like Saulo had only mastered Silent Casting!
How could this brat surpass Saulo?
Black Hand was momentarily stunned.
What happened next nearly made his eyes pop out.
Sunan's figure split into eight, each casting a scorching red ray.
Mirror Image and Scorching Ray!
Compound Casting!
Black Hand couldn't help but gasp.
Another high-tier metamagic technique!
Along with Spell Quickening and the prerequisite Silent Casting, Sunan had demonstrated three metamagic techniques!
A third-level wizard apprentice mastering three metamagic techniques?
Unheard of!
For a moment, Black Hand felt as if he were dreaming!
Sizzle!
As dark tentacles shattered illusions, they were in turn shattered by Sunan's successive spells.
When all illusions were dispelled, revealing Sunan's true form, only a dozen tentacles remained.
At that moment, Black Hand snapped back to reality, a fierce killing intent surging.
The stronger Sunan's talent appeared, the more Black Hand wanted to kill him here.
Allowing him to grow would inevitably make him a grave threat to the Immortals.
With a beast-like growl, Black Hand's robe bulged and writhed, as if something were about to burst forth.
In the next second, two blobs of viscous darkness fell from the robe, rapidly expanding into two menacing quadrupeds.
Each beast stood seven to eight meters tall, resembling tigers or leopards, with sharp claws and fangs, entirely black, like silhouettes.
Formed, the beasts roared and charged Sunan, a gust of foul wind in their wake.
Simultaneously, Black Hand melded into the shadows beneath his feet, vanishing.
Reappearing from Sunan's shadow, he lunged, arms transformed into sharp black spikes, stabbing viciously at Sunan's back!
Thunk!
A muffled sound like a blade hitting leather rang out!
The black spikes halted mere centimeters from Sunan's skin, stopped by an invisible force field.
Black Hand wasn't surprised; any third-level wizard apprentice would have a couple of protective magical items.
But all defenses have limits. They just need to be broken!
Black Hand vanished into the shadows again, seizing moments while Sunan dealt with the beasts to launch surprise attacks from unexpected angles.
Gradually, he sensed something was wrong.
"What's going on?"
"He's taken so many of my attacks; why hasn't his protective magic item been breached?"
"Even a low-tier magical item should have exhausted its energy by now!"
Black Hand was bewildered.
Distracted, Sunan seized the opening. Instantly, silver light flashed around him, countless metal spikes materializing and sweeping over Black Hand!
In a heartbeat, the multi-layered defenses of spells, magical items, and shadow energy were breached!
The black robe shattered, revealing a short, shadow-formed body.
In the next instant, the metal storm engulfed him.
Black Hand's semi-shadow form could withstand most physical attacks, but not the onslaught of the magic core.
He let out a piercing wail.
His shadowy form rippled and writhed like a storm-tossed lake, dimming visibly!
Reeling from the blow, Black Hand's will to fight crumbled, leaving only fear.
He vanished into the shadows, reappearing a hundred meters away under a tree, fleeing without hesitation.
Sunan's terrifying defense and attack had broken his resolve.
His sole thought now was to escape.
At that moment, two figures appeared in the sky, flying swiftly from the east and south.
It was the Traveler and Bloodmouth.
Both had secured their key fragments and, using the sense between them, rushed over.
Seeing Bloodmouth, Black Hand rejoiced, shouting urgently:
"Bloodmouth, help me!"
The Traveler paused, glancing at the fleeing Black Hand, then at Sunan, who pursued calmly, surprise flickering in his eyes.
What was going on?
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