A Sorcerer’s Journey

After several attempts of continuously avoiding the Eye of Destruction, Grimm, who had been trapped in the fantasy world of the Phagocytic Shell, had always maintained his absolute rationality as a sorcerer. He always left the illusion on time and never clung on to the happiness in the wonderful illusion.

Although they were like refugees avoiding the imminent disaster, Grimm had never seen the real Eye of Destruction.

As they were flying…

In this Spectral World composed of floating Phagocytic Shells, a mountain abruptly appeared in front of his eyes. The mountain was so majestic that Grimm had a simultaneous sense of awe and being dwarfed when facing the Human Will Mountain Range.

The entire mountain was fiery red, emitting a pale red shimmering light, which formed a stark contrast to the backdrop of this dark Spectral World.

“This is Mount Serpentine, the center of the maze of the sea serpent.”

The pupae’s body suddenly shrunk, and his sticky green skin began to turn into a shade of pale red as if to integrate with Mount Serpentine.

This race had the camouflage ability to change their skin color.

The pupae turned to look at Grimm and said, “Be careful here, there are many creatures from various worlds on Mount Serpentine. They are the strongest in their respective world as they are able to survive and look forward to leaving this world.”

“Okay.” Grimm nodded. He generated a Darkness Pool as a cloak to cover his body.

Unfortunately, there was no distinction between darkness and light in this Spectral World. Otherwise, Grimm, who had the Darkness Pool, would form the perfect visual disguise in a dark place.

For the time being, this was the only way. After all, using camouflage was better than not doing anything.

Grimm and the pupae climbed between the rocky gullies of Mount Serpentine. Grimm was surprised to find that the mountain did not have any cracks between the rocks, as if the entire mountain had integrated into one giant rock.

After a long while, Grimm and the pupae stopped their climb and looked up.

The grayish whirlpool in the sky slowed down gradually to a stop.

“The Eye of Destruction is coming! Remember, you must not leave the red light range of the mountain, otherwise, you will die!”

Grimm was panting heavily under the Mask of Truth as he felt indescribable coercion begin to pervade this world. He was certain that the coercion must come from a Level-7 or even Level-8 Eternal Dominator!

Grimm lifted his head and looked at the center of the whirlpool that had stopped spinning.

A big fissure cut through the sky, followed by the abrupt appearance of a blood-red eyeball. The eyeball seemed like it was frustratedly trying to penetrate into this world to no avail, and its irritable breath permeated the entire Spectral World.

Grimm and the pupae stuck their bodies in the gullies of Mount Serpentine. Grimm could not help but shiver in fear.

Grimm was panting anxiously, he felt weak and he was shuddering, a drop of sweat dripping from his chin.

“An Eternal Dominator!”

As if syncing with the Eye of Destruction, except for the colorful shells, countless Phagocytic Shells in the maze began to tremble violently and slowly opened up.

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew…

In the blink of an eye, what looked like a miniature version of the Eye of Destruction appeared in large numbers.

A blood-red eyeball flew out of each Phagocytic Shell, with a blood-vessel-like tadpole tail behind it. Hundreds of millions of these eyes gathered together and flew dazzlingly in the sky like a red-colored hurricane.

They were the sea serpent’s pearls awakened by the Eye of Destruction.

“Look, over there!”

Grimm pointed at the grayish stone giant with a height of approximately seven meters. It rushed out of the red light protection range of Mount Serpentine and dashed towards the pearls that were falling behind.

In a swift motion, the stone giant hunted and killed these pearls and flew back to the red light range of Mount Serpentine.

However, there were a few fellows trailing behind the stone giant. After the humanoid with dragonfly wings was surrounded by dozens of sea serpent’s pearls, these tiny Eye of Destructions blasted a red ray at him.

“Argh…”

Following a loud cry, the humanoid melted like an ice cube and disappeared into thin air.

“Did you see that? That is the terror that ensues when the Eye of Destruction comes. If we remain awake outside Mount Serpentine, we will certainly die. These pearls dominate the maze of the sea serpent. There are only three choices here: the pearl, the sea serpent, and the creatures who are unwilling to become sea serpents.”

Grimm nodded.

Despite their fearsome characteristics, the pearls dared not approach the red light range of the mountain.

“Cuckoo!”

The pupae kicked hard with his strong hind legs and disappeared into the grayish sky. The next moment, he emerged next to a pearl outside the red light range of the mountain. He grabbed the blood-red tail of the pearl and returned to Grimm’s side.

“What are you doing?” Grimm asked curiously as he looked at the pearl the size of a human skull.

“These pearls awakened by the Eye of Destruction are valuable resources collected by every biological community of Mount Serpentine. They are the key to leaving the maze of the sea serpent! You’ll get the hang of it soon.”

Suddenly, with Mount Serpentine as the center pillar, a crowd of strange creatures began to emerge in the sky to catch the sea serpent’s pearls.

Although a small number of creatures were killed by the pearls, most of them successfully captured one or more pearls and returned to the red light range of the mountain.

Eventually, Grimm got used to the horrible situation of the coercion of the Eye of Destruction and the pearls that were spilled all over the sky.

Soon, the coercion of the Eye of Destruction slowly weakened.

About half an hourglass, the Eye of Destruction seemed to have fallen into drowsiness as it reluctantly yet gradually clamped shut. The sky around the Eye of Destruction began spinning again, forming a huge whirlpool.

Howl, howl, howl…

In the midst of evil-like howling, some comatose creatures were spewed out from the center of the whirlpool and were caught by the Phagocytic Shells. Due to the closing of the Eye of Destruction, the pearls had fallen into a curse-like sleepiness and drifted back to their own Phagocytic Shells.

A new ‘day’ had begun in the maze of the sea serpent.

“The Sorcerer Coalition is just around the corner up there, come on.”

***

Inside a cave.

Even in the cave, Grimm could not spot any rocky gaps as if it was integrated as a whole with Mount Serpentine.

The cave was more than a hundred meters high. One sorcerer after another was staring at Grimm.

“Cuckoo, Master Grandalph, I present to you a new sorcerer and this pearl awakened by the Eye of Destruction. You owe me two Springs of Serpentine as my reward.”

There were about sixty sorcerers in the cave, led by two of them.

One of the leaders was an old sorceress with Level-3 Sorcerers Breath. She was Grandalph, the one whom the pupae was talking to.

The old sorceress was dressed up as a Bright Sorcerer. What surprised Grimm was that she was wearing an Elemental Coat. Was she able to use Elemental Sorcery here!?

The other person looked like an Anatomy Refinery Sorcerer. He was about the same height as Grimm, with thick short black hair and black stubble, he stretched his eyes round and wide.

“Cuckoo.”

The pupae threw the ice block into his mouth and grinned pleasantly. He then turned around to leave the cave.

“Oh yes, I nearly forgot to tell you. This sorcerer, Grimm, can manipulate his sorcery abilities in the maze of the sea serpent.”

Whoosh!

The pupae left after dropping the massive verbal bomb, stirring an uproar among the sorcerers.