Walking on a street that seemed to be paved with countless dark red blood clots, each step of his deerskin boots squeezed out an unknown liquid that looked like a mixture of corpse fluid and fresh blood.
On both sides of the street were collapsed houses and hills of flesh and blood formed by the corpses and dismembered limbs of countless Blood Slaves.
Dago's expression was grim, and he kept planning his next move in his mind.
Although the task force was in the center of Third Street, as they got closer to the Fifth House, a strange, low whisper grew increasingly noisy and frantic, making them restless and uneasy.
Having reached this point, the task force members had expended a considerable amount of energy, but fortunately, there were no casualties.
The five of them gazed at the houses before them, countless of which were interconnected by a large number of vine-like blood vessels, with dozens of blood cocoons hanging from them.
As everyone raised their Magic Wands, preparing to unleash their respective Witchcraft to bombard the houses, a violent energy fluctuation spread from the houses along the blood vessels.
Except for some blood cocoons that had already been frozen to death by Dago's Ice Crystal Cannon and showed no reaction, twenty to thirty blood cocoons fell to the ground and burst open.
Inside, four-legged crawling beasts, resembling Lickers, were gestating. Their entire bodies were covered in exposed, bulging muscles, their beast eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty light, and copious amounts of saliva dripped from their hideous, terrifying mouths.
They climbed on the street and ruins using all four limbs, approaching the five at an extremely fast speed, not much slower than a Shadow Leopard.
The five instantly paled with shock and aimed their Witchcraft at these Blood Beasts, releasing their spells.
Wind Blade Vortex, Lightning Spear, Fireball Spell, and Ice Crystal Technique flew out, instantly transforming the scene before them into a sea of ice, fire, electricity, and wind.
Despite the task force's fierce offensive, ten Blood Beasts still broke through the encirclement. Amidst the rot and crimson, their ghost-like figures drew closer and closer.
They opened their gaping maws towards the five, their mouths full of sharp teeth clearly visible.
Four of them rose into the air, hovering above the ground to avoid the attack, while Wilton carried Helid and retreated rapidly, flying away.
Ed and Laiqiong looked at Dago in surprise, not expecting this young man to have reached the Half-step Formal Witches level at such a young age.
Just then, with no time to even catch their breath, the attacking Blood Beasts, having missed their target, let out a shriek that vibrated eardrums and flew straight towards Dago.
"Bang!"
Dago, without time to think, pointed a finger at the incoming Blood Beast, instantly firing an extremely fast Air Bullet.
The casually launched Air Bullet flashed past, piercing directly into the Blood Beast's body and exploding it into a cloud of blood mist.
The next moment, another Blood Beast's figure burst out from the blood mist, spreading its four limbs and pouncing on Dago at lightning speed.
"Swish-----"
A massive ice claw grew from Dago's right arm and struck down with the force to pierce through a skull, pinning and freezing the Blood Beast. Then, with a powerful grip, he crushed the Blood Beast's head into ice shards.
Dago, raising his left hand and gripping his Ice Crystal Magic Wand, released Air Bullets continuously and very "elegantly" while hovering half a meter above the ground.
His right hand's ice claw continuously condensed Ice Crystal energy balls, bombarding the charging Blood Beasts without pause.
By the time the other four reacted, most of the pursuing Blood Beasts had been slaughtered by Dago, with only two or three remaining.
Then, they each unleashed their signature Witchcraft, harvesting the remaining Blood Beasts.
At this point, Laiqiong, as if venting his anger, furiously bombarded the Blood Beasts, harvesting two of them. Dago realized it was a display of impotent rage.
The five gathered again on the street.
"Captain Ed, those two Black Robe Wizards who left are at least Half-step Formal Witches. They could return at any time, so perhaps we should retreat first."
Dago said to Captain Ed while taking out a bottle of Mental Potion from his storage ring, twisting open the cap, and slowly drinking it.
"No," Laiqiong and Helid said in unison.
"Our mission is to destroy the Blood Pool stronghold. If we don't complete it, do we still want the mission reward?" Laiqiong continued.
"Exactly, what kind of surrender is this?" the young Wizard Helid echoed.
Dago ignored the two of them, his gaze calmly fixed on Captain Ed.
"Dago has a point, but giving up now would be too much of a pity. In three minutes, we'll launch another full-force attack on the Fifth House. If that doesn't work, then everyone retreats," Ed said firmly after a moment of thought.
Seeing Ed's firm stance, Dago said no more and continued to drink his Mental Potion, recovering his mental energy. He heard Wilton also sigh lightly, presumably sharing the same thoughts as him.
As time passed, minute by minute, it always seemed as if something within Third Street was disturbed or startled, yet no other movement occurred.
Dago felt something was amiss. He looked down at his feet; the blood was gently boiling, and the whispers in his ears gradually became excited and frenzied.
Things were developing in an unpredictable direction.
As soon as three minutes passed, Academy Wizard Lai Qiong eagerly rushed towards the Fifth House. He believed that if he destroyed the stronghold, he would surely become the top contributor in the team.
Dago kept his Detection Art on, monitoring the house, only to see the energy fluctuations within growing increasingly violent, as if some monster was awakening. It abruptly jumped from the Advanced Apprentice level to Half-step Formal Witches, and was still rising.
He let out a low shout to the four: "Don't go any further, there's danger!"
However, the leading Academy Wizard Lai Qiong acted as if he hadn't heard, continuing to fly forward with his head down, a large amount of electric light surging from the Magic Wand in his hand.
The three behind Laiqiong, however, listened and stopped in their tracks.
"Swish~~~"
Dago heard the sound of an extremely sharp weapon cutting through the air.
A gigantic, blood-colored, illusory scythe flew out of the house, like a car speeding towards them.
Vertical slash!
The energy shield on Academy Wizard Lai Qiong, who was only about ten meters away from him, shattered like a fragile eggshell under the scythe's attack.
Immediately after, Laiqiong within the shield, his mouth slightly agape, was silently split in half in mid-air.
Blood and internal organs splattered onto the ground, greedily sucked up by the Blood Leeches that had appeared on the street at some unknown time.
"Ugh!"
The immense visual impact caused the young Wizard Helid, who was closest to him, to vomit on the spot.
His father, Wilton, also looked terrified, but quickly flew in front of him to protect him.
Ed and Dago reacted instantly, raising their Magic Wands, chanting spells, and unleashing Witchcraft towards the house.
They immediately cast their signature Witchcraft, Ice Crystal Cannon and Wind Blade Vortex, which flew towards the house one after another.
The boiling blood on the ground wriggled and coalesced into a giant leech, which swallowed both of their Witchcraft in one gulp. The Witchcraft exploded inside the Blood Leech's stomach, inflating it into a massive balloon.
One was churned into mud by the Wind Blade, the other turned into an ice sculpture and exploded into scattered ice shards.
At this moment, from the shadowy doorway of the house, a withered old hand, gripping a Magic Wand made from an entire spine, emerged first.
An old man in blood-red robes slowly walked out, a phantom of countless Blood Leeches coiled into a ball above his head.
As his robe's hem swept across the blood on the street, that red was more somber than congealed blood.
The dark runes embroidered on the edge of his robe, however, glowed with a flowing light as he moved, like a black snake crawling.
Three pigeon-blood rubies hung from the edge of his hood, gently tapping his collarbone with each step, emitting a clear chime like jade stones clashing, forming a strange resonance with the thudding sound of his staff hitting the ground.
When the hood was gently lifted by a bony finger, the aged wrinkles spreading from the corners of his eyes revealed a non-human lifespan.
As he raised his hand, his wide robe sleeves slipped down, revealing intertwined blood-colored patterns on his wrist that formed a mysterious design.
"Your arrival, I'm sorry for the lack of a proper welcome," his voice, like honeyed poisoned wine, said to the four.
