End of the Magic Era

“Gaugass?” Lin Yun froze. ‘What is Lys talking about? Why did he mention Gaugass?’ At first, Lin Yun thought that Lys made a mistake and jokingly said, “Leader Lys, Gaugass is a few thousand kilometers from the Four Seasons Canyon.”

But he didn’t expect that these words would make Lys flinch, his gaze empty, as if he had seen true horrors. He stared at Lin Yun in shock for a few seconds, not even looking at the Thunderbirds pouncing over. Lin Yun helped him maintain his side of the shield, but Lys didn’t even notice and asked with a shuddering voice, “Mer… Merlin, this really isn’t Gaugass…?”

“Leader Lys, this is truly not Gaugass…” Lin Yun realized that Lys was being serious.

‘What happened? Lys doesn’t look clear-headed… How could he think that this was Gaugass, the land of the battlemages? That place is several thousand kilometers away. No matter how formidable the Fortune Box was, it couldn’t teleport over ten people across such an incredible distance. Could they have had such a different experience? Different to the point that they thought they were in Gaugass?’

“How could it not be Gaugass… How… How could this be?” While Lin Yun was mulling it over, Lys was still stunned.

“Leader Lys, this is truly not Gaugass.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, it truly isn’t…” Lin Yun sighed and finally was forced to believe that Lys truly considered this place Gaugass. He was doubtful as he asked, “Leader Lys, I think there must have been some issues, can you recall what happened after everyone scattered? Where did you guys go?”

“We… After we got separated, we entered an underground castle and met a large swarm of Lava Spiders. Fortunately, these Lava Spiders weren’t too powerful so we managed to escape…”

“Lava Spiders?” Lin Yun now understood why Lys kept thinking that this was Gaugass. It was because Lava Spiders were part of the fauna of Gaugass. The Gaugass Battlemages had been fighting the Lava Spiders for over a thousand years. Every year, a large number of Gaugass Battlemages would die in the fights against Lava Spiders.

But Gaugass wasn’t the only place with Lava Spiders.

In Noscent, there were hundreds of large and small volcanoes, and each of them could be inhabited by Lava Spiders, so why did they think that this place was Gaugass?

As Lin Yun thought about it, Lys continued, “At first, we didn’t figure out that this was Gaugass, but after walking for several days, we found out that we would regularly lose our way, so Badrack started drawing a map. During the next month, we had to fight dozens of battles, and Badrack’s map…”

“Hold on, a month?” Lin Yun felt that this wasn’t right… Several days? A month?

Lin Yun clearly remembered having been separated from the others less than a day ago, so how could they have been here for a month already?

Lin Yun felt that the problem was rather serious…

“Yes, a month. What is it?” Lys looked at Lin Yun in bemusement. He then continued, “A month later, Badrack had finished enough of his map for us to realize that we were in the middle of Gaugass, and thus, after some discussion, we decided to head southwest. We wanted to return to Okland first… and that was two months ago…”

“No way…” This wasn’t just a bit serious. According to Lys, they had been on the road for three months, and furthermore, they had been in Gaugass for three months. What did that mean?

“Merlin… What… What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Lin Yun shook his head, “I just feel that there must be something strange going on, Leader Lys…”

“What is it?”

“First of all, this is definitely not Gaugass. Sir Suyass and High Mage Solomon can testify to that, they can also confirm that we are on the 4th floor of a stone tower. Moreover, we didn’t separate three months ago…”

“Not three months ago?” Lys was confused. “Then… How long?”

“A day…”

“Impossible!” Lys almost jumped up on the spot. ‘How could this be, I clearly remember every detail of the past three months, how could it have been a day?’

“Well, Leader Lys, we can deal with the details later, let’s first deal with these Thunderbirds…”

After the discussion, the two directed their focus back onto the battlefield. At this time, they had already managed to regain the advantage. Suyass was controlling the Alpha Thunderbird in the sky while Lin Yun, Solomon, and Fran, who were still full of power, joined the fight and reversed the situation.

The joint exploration team quickly counterattacked and casualties quickly piled up within the flock of Thunderbirds.

The outcome was already decided.

After Solomon shot two Thunderbirds, Lin Yun’s attention moved away from the main battlefield as he began to pay attention to the other battle in the sky.

The fight between Suyass and the Alpha Thunderbird had already reached its climax, and no clear victor was emerging. Although Suyass had overbearing power, the sky was still the main field of the Alpha Thunderbird. By relying on its nature and its flying ability, the Thunderbird remained equally matched with Suyass. When Lin Yun saw the situation, he knew that if no one intervened, Suyass’ fight could drag on for at least 30 minutes.

30 minutes was too long…

Lin Yun thought for a moment before pouring mana into the Lava Dominator to activate its Flight ability. He cast an Ice Fire Shield before ascending, only leaving behind a blue and red afterimage.

“Merlin, cover me…” When Suyass saw Lin Yun joining him, he knew that the outcome of the battle had already been decided. As an Archmage, handling a magic beast below level 30 should definitely be a piece of cake. The only problem was much more familiar with flying. It was too fast and too nimble. He would suffer if he was caught off guard.

But Merlin had already come to his aid. With the strength of that young Great Mage, covering for him would be no issue. As long as he could buy ten seconds of time, Suyass would be able to completely suppress that Alpha Thunderbird. He would have no problem killing it in one shot then.

But he hadn’t expected Merlin to not hear him. The latter flew like a meteor towards the belly of the Alpha Thunderbird.

“Merlin! Watch out!” Suyass was startled when he saw that. This was far too rash. Although the belly was the weak point of Thunderbirds, it was also the most dangerous part. This was a sentient magic beast whose instincts far surpassed ordinary humans. It would naturally know to protect its vitals, and Merlin’s flying speed with his magic tool was truly inferior to a Flight Spell. Flying so close to its belly was like delivering himself to the Alpha Thunderbird’s claws.

Sure enough, just as Suyass warned him, the Alpha Thunderbird’s long wings spread ferociously in the sky as two sharp claws used the momentum to fiercely slash down.

‘Shit…’

Suyass felt terrible. The Alpha Thunderbird’s reaction was so fast that even Suyass was surprised by it. The pair of sharp claws were rushed at the young Great Mage’s flight path. When the lightning fell, the young mage would be unable to dodge.

Sure enough, just as Suyass thought about it, the pair of claws almost sealed the youth’s fate. Wind howled as Lin Yun barely managed to dodge the attack. Then, the Thunderbird shook before a thousand feathers were shaken off.

In a flash, these flickering feathers turned into boundless lightning bolts, covering the sky in an instant, like a huge net ready to swallow Lin Yun within.

“Shit!” Suyass cursed.

That young Great Mage’s strength was definitely amazing, and he had already shocked him multiples times. Unfortunately, he was only a young Great Mage… His greatest fault was that he was too rash and impulsive. That was a level 25 magic beast, how could he rush towards it like that?

They obviously already had the upper hand.

As long as Lin Yun helped restrain it for a bit, Suyass would have been able to easily finish it off. There would have been no problem, so why had he acted so rashly?

Unfortunately, it was already too late. The earth-shattering lightning had already surrounded him, and even if Suyass could reach Heaven Rank, he still wouldn’t be able to save him.

All Suyass could do was to prepare some spells, hoping the young Great Mage would somehow survive.

If he could survive the wave of lightning, Suyass would use his first spells to give him some time.

But even if he survived, he would most likely be critically injured.

It was certain to be the case, as the attacks from the Alpha Thunderbird were too ferocious. Even he, as an Archmage, was not certain he could endure that attack directly, let alone a young Great Mage that was not even twenty.

Suyass was in deep thoughts as he was finishing up his casting. Just as the storm of lightning burst out, Suyass heard a wail, before seeing a huge silhouette fall down from the sky.