Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1518 - 1079: Your Admirer?

Chapter 1518: Chapter 1079: Your Admirer?

On the other end of the passageway, beyond the corner, a large number of mercenaries hid in safe spots on both sides, watching Archmage Dukes in action.

Dukes closed his eyes, controlling the entire Elemental Field. Six gigantic flames surrounded him, each radiating terrifying heat. Yet everyone present felt the flames weren’t hot enough and desperately added more fuel.

His followers tossed every burnable object they could find into the fire. A massive amount of Fire Element was released into the surrounding space, causing the concentration to skyrocket.

Dukes was busy as well. He pulled out a bag of Fire Magic Crystals, thrust his hand inside, releasing Fire Element as the bag was instantly burned to ashes.

"Sir, we’ve run out of material to burn. Only some captives remain—should we throw them in too?" his follower reported, having exhausted all resources suitable for combustion.

Dukes nearly spat blood when he heard that. Without even opening his eyes, he cursed, "Are you out of your mind? Haven’t you studied the basics of magic and combustion? A living body is seventy percent water—do you want to burn them or neutralize the fire? Copy the basics of combustion a hundred times as punishment!"

The follower stumbled backward nervously, bowing in apology while muttering under his breath, "I’ve never studied magic. I’m just a swordsman..."

However, Dukes was entirely focused and couldn’t care less who was speaking. Whether they were students or followers, he scolded them all the same.

Running out of burnable materials, Dukes had no choice but to throw in more Magic Crystals—one bag after another—painfully aware of the cost.

As this continued, the surrounding Fire Element became so intense that blowing a breath could ignite the air itself. Dukes suddenly opened his eyes, his mind focused.

The surrounding flames obeyed his gaze. The flame in front stretched out first, forming a fire tornado, whipping toward a nearby flame, devouring it whole.

Then, the second flame stretched out its own fire tornado, flying toward the third flame. Initially, this tornado was slender, but after entering the third flame, the fire dragon became exponentially larger, surging through the fourth, fifth, and sixth flames...

After passing through all six flames, the fire transformed into a massive fire dragon, rushing toward the passageway’s end. This scene was eerily reminiscent of the forbidden Undying Phoenix spell cast by Misha in South Swamp Town, under Ange’s ’guidance.’

As an Archmage, Dukes might have struggled to replicate Misha’s forbidden fire dragon, but its power was undeniable. The colossal dragon blocked the entire passageway, ready to devour everything past the narrow corner.

The remaining mercenaries saw the fire dragon advancing and immediately gripped their weapons, ready to follow up. The best effects could only be achieved by coordinating their push after the fire dragon rampaged forward.

However, just as they raised their weapons, there was a soft "poof," like someone spitting out a mouthful of water. The raging fire dragon abruptly vanished.

The standing mercenaries stared in confusion at the now pristine and cool passageway. The ’poof’ was so quiet and unobtrusive that many didn’t realize whether the fire dragon had been extinguished or had simply disappeared around the corner.

Only Dukes suspected something had happened, though he wasn’t entirely sure. Instinctively, he muttered, "Chaos Disruption?"

The scene froze into silence as everyone exchanged puzzled glances before turning their eyes toward Dukes.

Dukes cast an Eye of the Wizard to investigate. As it curved around the corner, he immediately saw the Violet Mercenaries fully prepared for battle. Before the Eye could observe anything further, an arrow shot out of nowhere, shattering it.

"My... my forbidden fire dragon—where did it go? How could it just disappear after burning everything and using up so many bags of Fire Magic Crystals?" Dukes was stunned, unable to comprehend what had occurred.

Caught off guard, Dukes had no immediate plan and turned to search for reinforcements among the most capable attackers.

By mere coincidence, the Heisuo Mercenary Group’s elite team had just returned. Leading them was a Dark Elf wielding a black whip, followed by two towering Heavy Armor Swordsmen, an Elven Archer, over ten Sword Saints, six Magic Tutors, and a fellow Archmage.

This was the god-level elite squad from the Heisuo Mercenary Group.

Seeing Dukes looking their way, Heisuo shook her head and asked, "No other routes? What’s going on over there? Why have you stopped?"

Dukes replied, "Something’s off. My forbidden fire dragon, once released, disappeared without breaking through the enemy’s defenses."

Heisuo nodded, "Seems like the environment isn’t favorable for Fire Magic. There’s insufficient Fire Element here."

Dukes opened his mouth, wanting to argue that it wasn’t about a lack of Fire Element, but before he could speak, he felt an elemental disturbance.

Turning back, he saw large amounts of Fire Element outside the corner gathering into a fire dragon, cautiously poking its head toward their side.

"Stripped...? Stripped?! Impossible—how could this happen?!" Dukes shouted in terror.

It wasn’t stripping, though. Ange had dispersed Dukes’ fire dragon and simply reassembled the scattered Fire Element. For Ange, magic was far too effortless. Using tens of thousands of low-level spells, he forcibly regenerated the forbidden fire dragon and manipulated it far more fluidly than Dukes ever could.

Originally, Ange had planned to wait and see if there was a second wave of Fire Element. But instead, all he received was an Eye of the Wizard. Left with no choice, he took control himself.

The curious fire dragon peeked around the corner but ultimately fixed its gaze on the Dark Elf holding the black whip.

In a split second, a torrential rain of arrows, spells, and projectiles followed.

The fire dragon swiftly withdrew its head but then surged forward, transforming into a blazing torrent that engulfed everything.

Right afterward, a commanding voice boomed across the battlefield: "The Lord says, the path ahead is overgrown with thorns. Retreat."

As this voice echoed, the mercenaries were horrified to see clusters of thorny vines sprouting from the ground ahead.

In the fading realm of Divine Arts across the Alliance territory, this type of attack was almost unheard of and unnervingly bizarre. Mercenaries instinctively swung their weapons, cutting at the thorns as they retreated step by step.

"Listen—the sound of gold." Taking advantage of the situation, a Goblin carrying a sack bounded forward, scattering gleaming gold coins across the area.

The gold shimmered brightly, entrancing many mercenaries who immediately reached for it. Yet they were pricked by the thorns ahead, screaming in agony as they watched the coins fall amidst the overgrowth.

Most mercenaries fell back in pain, but some overcome by greed surged forward, grabbing a handful of coins only to stumble into the thorny growth. Their agonized screams faded with their struggle until silence fell.

Indeed, the allure of gold was powerful enough to make people abandon reason—even their lives.

At this moment, another voice abruptly sounded: "No, her—Heisuo."

The Dark Elf Heisuo hesitated, bewildered by someone mentioning her name.

A puff of smoke uttered an "Oh," took a sudden turn, and drifted away elsewhere.

With Ange’s forbidden fire dragon tearing through the enemy lines, Anthony’s Divine thorns forcing a retreat, and the Goblin’s gold distracting the foes, Ziora led the Violet Mercenaries to swarm forward, ending the battle swiftly.

Heisuo immediately ordered a retreat, leading her team back. Yet she was puzzled—despite clearly having the strength to detain them, the enemy deliberately ignored her.

It wasn’t until she boarded the airship that a Crystal Dragon suddenly materialized from the Void and charged at their airship. Someone let out a shout and waved, and the dragon veered away, heading to intercept another airship instead.

Everyone stared at Heisuo in shock. Dukes was even more stunned and asked, "Lady, do you know them? Are they your admirers?"