End of the Magic Era

‘As for Elder Logan… He was a tyrant in the Elder Council, yet he still ended up turning into a pile of ashes alongside his two subordinates when faced with the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel…

‘Those are the consequences of provoking Cousin Mafa!’

“Leon, what do you mean by this? Is an insignificant branch member worth you protecting like this? I shall let you know that I have proof in my hands! If Mafa Merlin’s punishment doesn’t satisfy me, I’ll hMMMFF-”

Orson finally got the taste of being interrupted, and it wasn’t just with words. Leon had sealed his mouth with his hand, so he could only let out some muffled sounds.

After struggling a bit, Orson finally got away and got an opportunity to speak. He glared at Leon while almost jabbing his finger into his nose. “Leon, you are too much! Shit, there really is nothing good in the Merlin Family!”

“Slap!”

‘Not only do I want to shut you up, but I also want to beat you!’

Leon expressionlessly withdrew his right hand before slowly turning around, disinclined to look at Orson. With that kind of reckless friend, he wouldn’t even know how he drew someone’s ire.

‘Branch member?’

Leon couldn’t help sneering inwardly. ‘Could a branch member cause havoc in the Elder Council, kill a few Elders, and come out unscathed!? And not only that, but also gain control of half of the Raging Flame Plane’s puppet legion from an ancestor?

‘This is someone you can’t afford to offend…’

“You, you… You dare hit me! Leon, you bastard, do you know where we are?! We are in the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Gr-”

“Slap!”

Orson didn’t even get to finish his sentence before he was slapped once again.

“Who are you!?” Orson’s eyes were glaring so hard that they seemed on fire. Apparently, one slap wasn’t enough… He got hit again! Leon’s slap just now woke him up and made him realize that he had just insulted the entire Merlin Family… If he was the reason that the relationship between the Merlin Family and the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group was severed… the consequences would be unthinkable. He couldn’t afford to take the blame, so a slap was fine, he could endure, as long as Leon was willing to forget that sentence.

But, what was with that second slap?

‘Shit, why are you hitting me!’

“My name is Ross Merlin…” Ross had slapped Orson with his left hand, and was now scratching his chin as he smiled at him.

“…”

Orson was incredibly confused. ‘How could it be another Merlin! Moreover, someone as famous as Ross!’ Orson had heard of Ross, one of the three outstanding geniuses of the Merlin Family, the one who waged war in the Raging Flame Planes and single-handedly took over the Crimson Fort. In the entire younger generation, only Stan Watson had been his match in a direct fight…

Although Orson was extremely prideful, he still had some awareness, so he clearly knew that Ross Merlin wasn’t someone he could offend…

‘Okay… I shall continue to endure… It’s my fault for being a loudmouth.’

“Mafa Merlin, I won’t forgive you. The humiliation I suffered today is because of you…” Orson took a deep look at Lin Yun as he snarled under his breath. He could no longer do anything to that greedy mage here. ‘How come the Merlin Family came here in numbers?’

He silently turned to go back to camp, a gloomy expression on his face.

“Hold on…”

A voice stopped Orson right on his tracks. He calmly turned and saw the stranger who had stopped him just now. Orson coldly asked, “What do you want?”

“Slap! Slap”

Both sides of Orson’s face were completely swollen now. William chuckled as he revealed his intentions. “Sorry, I wanted to hit your face… I am William Merlin…”

“So this is how you Merlins are going to act!?” Orson was extremely angry, he roared as he was cursing in his mind, ‘The Merlins are all crazy! Why did you come over to the Tulan Mountain Range… Hold on, that Beastman wouldn’t be a Merlin, would he?’

Fortunately for Orson, the Beastman apparently had no intention to rush over. He only smiled menacingly while baring his teeth.

Orson suddenly recalled that William, that scoundrel, had even hit him twice!

‘Fuck, Leon and Ross are famous, so they can slap me and I wouldn’t be able to say anything, but who are you? You are a nobody! And you slapped me twice!’

“One slap was on behalf of Cousin Mafa,” William said with a joyful smile, and before Orson could even react, he walked over to Lin Yun’s group.

As the three figures left, Orson’s clenched his teeth so hard that he bled.

His eyes were full of anger and hatred.

To Orson, who had become a High Mage at such a young age while never encountering any big problems, today’s matter was an unprecedented disgrace.

And Orson’s only choice was to bear with this disgrace…

There was nothing he could do because the difference in power was too high.

Leon was a High Mage with the backing of the Cloud Tower. At such a young age, he had already become a 7th Rank High Mage… He was an existence that Orson usually had to look up to. Ross was also someone not to be trifled with, as he was the strongest in terms of fighting power in the younger generation of the Merlin Family, and that wasn’t just for show. Any of these two could do something and Orson wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences, let alone when they stood together.

Orson couldn’t bear with it.

All he could do was remember his anger and hatred and fixate it on that Mafa Merlin.

‘You Merlins are bullies… Just wait… I, Orson, will make you pay this debt sooner or later…’

After that flock of Wyverns appeared, the three Merlins and the Beastman had helped with the battle against the Wyverns. Because the battle was so fierce, most of the mercenaries hadn’t even noticed the existence of the Wyvern King at first, but the sharp Merlins noticed it.

When the aura of death spread through the camp and those flickering blue and red lights appeared in some sort of spinning circle, the three Merlins understood that their cousin was there, even if those effects only last a handful of seconds.

They had called out to the Draconic Beastman and rushed toward that place, where they found the Wyvern King’s corpse.

When Lin Yun’s group returned to camp, they noticed that the last pockets of fighting were about to wrap up. The three mercenary groups originally each had a Vice Leader at the Sword Saint or Archmage realm overseeing them, but the appearance of another Archmage-level powerhouse and the Wyvern King’s death immediately reversed the situation.

On the way back to camp, Lin Yun still dispatched the Draconic Beastman to get some more experience.

“Awoo, awooo, awooooooo…”

Lin Yun put his hand in his pocket and grabbed the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf. He had been sent to the Traces of Misfortune after he captured the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf in the Aurij Mountain Range. Over the course of spending three days fighting his way through before reaching the camp of the Three Great Mercenary Groups, he had forgotten about the Secret Wolf.

The Three-Eyed Secret Wolf let out some whining howls, its claws scratching Lin Yun’s palm in dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, its fighting power was even weaker than that of a level 5 magic beast, so it simply couldn’t leave any marks on Lin Yun’s palm.

After Lin Yun grabbed it, the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf curled up and laid down on his palm. It let out two howls before closing its eyes and remaining motionless.

“…” Lin Yun scratched his chin. Since he lost a dozen mana crystals that were over level 20, he put the mana crystals for replenishing mana in another pocket and hadn’t taken the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf out for three days. Looking at its belly, Lin Yun was sure that it was hungry.

Fortunately, it was only three days. If it had been longer, that Three-Eyed Secret Wolf’s growth might have been inhibited, and the gains would definitely not have made up for the loss.

“Eat less, these are all valuable…” Lin Yun fished out a dozen mana crystals from his other pocket. These were all Level 20 or higher and were usually used to replenish his mana. He originally thought that spending 37 million golds in an auction was luxurious enough, but that simply couldn’t compare to this Three-Eyed Secret Wolf, which was eating a few million golds each meal.

Even with his wealth, Lin Yun couldn’t bear it.

But the worth of the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf couldn’t be weighed in golds.

“Awooo, awooo, awooo!”

The Three-Eyed Secret Wolf became lively once again when the mana crystals appeared. It no longer remained prone, and it pounced on the mana crystals…

Lin Yun simply meditated on the side while the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf was eating the mana crystals. But he couldn’t focus as he was thinking of the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf. ‘How should I feed it later…’

Eating mana crystals that were worth millions… Although Lin Yun could afford it, anyone else would have already gone bankrupt.

No matter how reluctant he was, that little monster had to be fed.

Especially after that character representing Lightning and Thunder appeared.

“Awooo…”

After finishing the mana crystals, the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf laid down on its back, its two front paws holding its plump belly as it let out a perfectly contented howl.

Lin Yun carefully looked at the Divine Character on its forehead thoughtfully…

He looked at it for a few minutes, not understanding why that Divine Character had appeared on the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf, not to mention that it was the earth-shattering Lightning and world-deafening Thunder. He curiously poked the belly of the Three-Eyed Secret Wolf, but discovered it had already fallen asleep. He could only scold inwardly, ‘Shit, you only know how to eat and sleep…’

Feeling too lazy to take care of it, he picked it up and put it aside…

Lin Yun thought about the letter he had William send to Faleau a few days ago. ‘Faleau should be leading the Gilded Rose’s mercenary group to Okland soon.’

As this thought came to his mind, Lin Yun itched to take a look at the situation in the Demiplane. The Book of Death appeared in his hand as he started opening the Planar Path…

A strand of Divine Aura suddenly rushed out.

The Three-Eyed Secret Wolf reacted; it suddenly woke up and instantly fled towards the Demiplane.