Mage Manual
Chapter 478 - 394: Falling into the Trap a Second Time

Chapter 478: Chapter 394: Falling into the Trap a Second Time

"It seems we still can’t smuggle our way to the third layer of the Void Realm," Ash sighed.

In fact, this was normal; if there were easy and understandable ways to smuggle into the Realm, the skies of the Time Continent wouldn’t occasionally echo with the cries of Mages being attacked by knowledge creatures. Perhaps many Mages were aware of the theories of the Golden Mages and the White Bull, but these theories were too difficult to implement. Desperate, they could only fly directly into the skies, trying to grasp the elusive Seven-colored Tail.

Golden Mages were the most difficult group to submit to reality.

They were more talented than Silver Mages and usually held top-level management positions in the mundane world; they had even likely seen the boundless glory of Holy Sanctuary Mages—the ordinary world considered them geniuses, and they too thought of themselves as such.

But the chasm posed by the Realm Faction was more challenging than any other obstacle. If your girlfriend didn’t love you, you could use Charm to hypnotically retain her; if you were shot in the head, a Medical Mage could use Water Therapy to rebuild you; even spilled water could be gathered back by reversing time. But if you couldn’t understand high-level knowledge, then that was that.

Even the smartest group of people, who had spent hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years searching, hadn’t found a smuggling route. Consequently, Ash, a Mud Species with no formal education, held no hope for himself.

"Damn," said Sonia, biting her fingernail, "if we could get to the third layer of the Void Realm, all our troubles would be solved."

"Trouble’s here," Ash suddenly said, steering the sports car at a sharp 45-degree angle and accelerating diagonally upward.

Sonia immediately grasped and slightly drew her sword handle, while Diya pulled out her watery threads with both hands. The two of them dropped any semblance of playfulness and instantly switched into combat mode.

In Ash’s Void Realm Map before him, the eastern region had become populated with swift dragons and several Bird Dragons—clearly, a mixed brigade of the Heroic Soul Army.

They had arrived in the Spider Tower area tonight.

Throughout the journey, Ash had scarcely stopped to scavenge any resources, except when crushing Mage projections to rest for a while. Most of the time, he was driving the car chasing the White Bull.

Their goal tonight was not scavenging, not getting stronger, but survival. According to their contract agreement with the Empress, they only needed to stay in the Spider Tower area for more than three hours to leave the Void Realm directly. Hence, the best strategy for Ash was naturally to keep driving and changing locations until the three hours were up, then immediately return to reality, preventing the Empress’ Soul from encircling and annihilating him.

As for the naive thought that ’perhaps the Empress’ Soul can’t lock onto his coordinates,’ it had never lingered in Ash’s mind—Ash even suspected that the contract marks on his own body might naturally serve as a locator.

Eventually, the mechanical strength was superior to the flesh. Under fully leveraged performance, Ash easily shook off the Heroic Soul Army to the east. But just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, another appearance of the Heroic Soul Army emerged to the northeast.

After pondering for a moment, Ash decided to speed through when the Heroic Soul Army also immediately sped up, attempting to block their path. Driven by expediency, Ash continued making 45-degree turns, sprinting towards the northwest corridor.

However, just as Ash tried to head directly north, the Heroic Soul Army again attempted to block his path.

But this time, Ash finally sensed something wrong.

"It’s a hunt!" Ash exclaimed sharply, braking hard. The sports car skidded on the grass, tracing the arc of a doughnut: "They’ve been herding us west... The west is definitely their ambush circle. We have to charge through, are you ready?"

"One!"

"One!"

After the operators emitted a burst of rapid short sounds, the sports car roared like a ferocious beast, its front sprouting wicked tusks—prepared for battle!

The steel beast passed through layers of Rain Curtain, and as Ash saw the armed troops in the direct north, with gaps still on either side, he finely maneuvered the sports car. Just a moment before the collision that would have shattered them to pieces, the sports car elegantly traced a right angle, its rear spewing a dark green, thickening-agent-like poison fog, splattering it directly onto the face of the trailing troops before zooming ahead, striking the fragile northeastern defense line!

The wind howled, the rain sprinted, and monsters on both sides fled in disarray!

Boom!

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The thin and fierce Bird Dragons transformed into Red Hat long gun soldiers, lowering their hats and raising their long rifles aimed at the sports car. Although their firing rate slowed considerably from their original state, their accuracy was extremely high, and the damage was remarkable!

The "Refraction Curtain" stirred with ripples. The shield energy quickly decreased, but it was all worth it. As expected, the Heroic Soul Army immediately surged from the south and west. Ash pushed the sports car’s performance to its limits, frantically heading towards the blocked northeast, swiftly leaving them behind, leaving only the eternal stench of the poison fog!

Watching the Heroic Soul Army members disappear one by one from the Void Realm Map, Ash breathed a sigh of relief, "We should be safe tonight...right?"

At that moment, he saw a special golden region that occupied three grids appear in the northeast direction on the Void Realm Map.

The description of the special region was—’Everyone will die of old age, including you, so you need to hurry.’

"The Flowing Gold River is up ahead..." Ash muttered, "Could it be..."

From far behind, the sound of marching thunder that shook the earth reached him. Ash lowered his head to look at the Void Realm Map, only to find the Heroic Soul Army emerging from all directions!

Lots of Swift Dragons!

Lots of Dog-Head Dragons!

Lots of Fish-Slicing Dragons!

The outermost areas of the Void Realm Map were painted a vivid, dripping blood-red, with the only path of survival being the golden region in the northeast direction, although that was the Flowing Gold River, which could reduce them to skeletons within seconds!

The roar of the sports car engines slowly halted, and the mages just sat there on the grass, quietly awaiting the butcher’s entrance. The operators seemed to understand something, Diya stood on the seat and turned toward the back, and Sonia gently placed her hand on Ash’s shoulder.

"Don’t apologize," she said.

The real direction of the ambush was the northeast.

The Heroic Soul Army had intentionally herded them west, inducing them to break through in the opposite direction and deliberately dive into the ambush pocket prepared for them by the Empress’ Soul!

There was even the Flowing Gold River blocking the way, making it more convenient for the Empress’ Soul to arrange her forces!

Heaven’s timing demanded that Ash and his companions linger for three hours.

The territorial advantage was that the Empress’ Soul knew the surrounding terrain well.

As for human harmony, the Empress’ Soul had mobilized numerous legions from the Spider Tower!

Ash lost this time so swiftly and so cleanly that there wasn’t even room for casting blame or complaints.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out amidst the golden rain.

"You are clever people," Denzel’s words sent a chill through them. "Fortunately, I’m best at handling clever people. All I need to do is to deliberately leave a few inconsequential flaws, put on a regretful demeanor as if you’ve seen through my schemes, and your caution will become like a well-fed lion, deeply asleep."

"You have been tricked a second time and, of course, it will be the last."

"However, since we’ve met, I’m not without some consideration. There’s still a bit of time before the three hours are up, and you can thoroughly squander these final moments of your lives. Whether you desire love or amusement, do as you please. After your death, you might even leave behind a decent Mage’s Handbook."

The spirit wavered, the will faltered, and the battle intent crumbled.

In the seemingly compassionate words of the Empress’ Soul, there was nothing but overflowing killing intent. Even though she had already driven them into a dead end, the Empress’ Soul didn’t miss any opportunity to strike at them, perhaps out of retaliation for the setback in the cabin or maybe it was just her personal malevolence—Ash tended to believe the latter.

In this tense moment, Sonia suddenly leaned close to Ash, whispering in a hushed tone, "You haven’t answered me yet."

"What?"

"What were you really thinking about just now?"

Ash’s attention was forcibly extracted from their desperate situation, "Why are you so curious?"

Blinking, Sonia said, "Because you haven’t talked to me about your real-world stuff in a long time."