Chapter 87: Accident (II)

The addition of the magic puppets proved to be extremely helpful. It was still unclear how puppets, which initially seemed quite small, could possess bodies similar to those of adult humans—a truly incredible fact.
No such phenomenon had ever been reported among magic puppets before. After all, most of their bodies were made of various precious metals from this world, such as moonsilver, meaning their forms were fixed and unchangeable. Yet, Jiang Zhe’s puppet army defied this fundamental law of the world.
Especially the Queen Puppet, Queen Kunin—she had been dragging her master Ravia’s hair and standing on her shoulder throughout the journey, but now…
What exactly constituted their bodies?
Jelbart, the professor who created these puppet soldiers, had mentioned that he had found puppet-making blueprints left by the prehistoric mechanical civilization of Meikander in ancient ruins. While studying those blueprints, he created six puppet soldiers in total: King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Castle, and Soldier.
But after giving four of them to Jiang Zhe and the others, Jelbart destroyed the other two—King and Bishop.
At that time, the children didn’t see anything special about these four puppet soldiers; they thought they were just fun toys. But in reality, they were extremely rare puppets. It was certain that Jelbart hadn’t used ordinary metals in creating them.
What kind of metal could achieve such remarkable results?
These puppets were even stronger than their masters. First, the Castle Puppet, Kanso, had extraordinary defensive capabilities. Though its movements were painfully slow, its durability was several times greater than that of the rock puppets summoned by Reid. It also possessed a special ability: it could switch places with its master at any time, provided Allen and his puppet Kanso were within a certain range.
Second, the Queen Puppet, Queen Kunin, appeared like a beautiful noblewoman—elegant and charming. Unfortunately, she was like a thorny rose. Her pale, slender fingers were as sharp as blades, and her speed was the fastest among all the puppets, even faster than the wind. It was impossible to track her movements with the naked eye; all that could be heard was a whooshing sound as the frost skeletons in front of her were shattered like withered branches and fallen leaves.

It was Scott’s puppet knight, Knight, who, armed with a long spear and shield, excelled in speed, strength, defense, and offense among the four puppets. He could serve as both a sharp spearhead for the team and a sturdy shield, and his silver armor made Allen extremely envious.

As for the last soldier, Sodgers…
To be honest, his offense, defense, speed, and strength were all mediocre. Compared to the other three puppets, he seemed like a failure—there was nothing special about him at all.
The other three puppets could each handle themselves independently, but Sodgers couldn’t even take on a Frost Skeleton—he was completely useless!
Still, the addition of the puppets greatly reduced everyone’s pressure. After all, aside from Allen, the others were pure magicians. If they got too close to those Frost Skeletons, it would be dangerous. But with the four—no, three—highly capable puppets in battle, that risk was greatly diminished.

The Frost Skeletons in the library were being eliminated one by one. Aside from their terrifying cold flames, their bodies were extremely fragile. Not only could Allen’s slashes deal damage to them, but even Jiang Zhe’s fireballs could shatter their bones.
“Crack! Crack!”
“Boom! Boom!” Waves of violent blue flames exploded around the lich Amos Harwell. These blue flames were already causing damage to him.
Harwell was furious. His skeletal face grew even more grotesque, and dark blue flames ignited on his body—flames even colder than those of the Frost Skeletons!
“Unforgivable! Unforgivable!” Harwell spread his arms, and a faint blue mist began to fill the air. Soon, this mist formed a massive vortex, like flowing water. Amidst the cold winds, abundant wind and water elements gathered at the center of the vortex. Strangely, frost appeared in the air, resembling ice flowers with a strong sense of danger.
“Oh my god!” Bernie widened his eyes in terror and shouted urgently, “Quick! Quick! Shields!”
The children instinctively created the strongest shields they could. Allen promptly summoned Kanso back to the team to serve as a solid shield.

“Buzz!” After a sound similar to tinnitus, the entire library erupted with a loud crash. The countless ice crystals, resembling tiny flowers, exploded instantly, turning into dense shards of ice that flew in all directions.
[Frost Burst]
Everyone felt dizzy, and soon, a sound like breaking glass was heard. They were terrified because the protective shield they had created with all their strength was as fragile as thin paper in the face of the lich’s powerful attack.
By the time they regained their senses, the library had completely changed. What used to be rows of bookshelves was now…
Everything around was covered in white ice. The ancient bookshelves had been shattered by the Frost Burst. Looking at the frozen wood fragments on the ground, it was easy to see the power of those ice crystals.
The walls were also covered in broken ice, with pits and craters everywhere. It was hard to imagine what would happen if those storm-like shards hit a person—would they be reduced to bones like those frost skeletons?
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Bernie said with lingering fear, “It’s Frost Burst at level four of the ice magic—comparable to a minor forbidden spell…” By minor forbidden spell, he meant a level six magic.
“Ugh…” Reid got up from the ground. Having exhausted his magic, he had been stunned by the loud explosion and still felt dazed. He patted his forehead and said anxiously, “Are you all okay, kids?”
Similarly, among the girls, Dia, Lisa, and Lailira were all stunned by the loud explosion and were helped up by the boys beside them. Only Ravia managed to stay standing, though there was a large patch of blood seeping through the fabric of her right arm.
Seeing her puppet, Queen Quinn, looking at her with guilt and concern, Ravia smiled slightly and shook her head. “It’s fine. I was just scratched by a small piece of ice…”
“Just scratched and that’s it? That’s terrifying…” As she spoke, Allen suddenly seemed to remember something and quickly turned to look at Kanso, who was now frozen into a large block of ice.
“Kanso… Kanso?” Allen’s eyes showed urgency and worry. He shook Kanso, who was crouched with his arms crossed over his chest, loudly shouting, “Hey! Hey! Kanso?”

“Crack!” Several cracks appeared in the ice covering Kanso’s body, and soon the ice shattered. Kanso, now free from the broken ice, stood up again. It was clear that his rocky exterior had suffered severe damage, covered in wounds from countless ice fragments. Yet strangely, his rocky shell healed almost immediately, leaving no trace of the fact that he had just shielded everyone from the intense hailstorm.

“Hey!” Allen, who had been worried, let out a long sigh of relief. He, who had initially found Kanso’s ugly appearance distasteful, smiled and gave Kanso’s rough rocky surface a firm pat, saying in approval, “Good job, buddy!”

Kanso scratched his head with his large hand, confused.

“Kanso is amazing!” Lisa, standing next to Allen, said cheerfully, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Not only Lisa but even Scott couldn’t help but stare at Kanso in astonishment. He had clearly seen the power of that hailstorm—even his own puppet, Knight Knight’s sturdy iron shield, couldn’t withstand it, becoming pitted from the intense fragments. Yet such a powerful storm hadn’t caused serious harm to Kanso…

That puppet’s defensive ability was terrifying!

Bernie glanced at the tall Kanso with concern. Then, as if remembering something, he looked around urgently and said in a low voice, “Watch out, kids! Now isn’t the time for chatting!”

Only then did everyone remember that there was also a terrifying lich lurking nearby.

“Where is that guy?” Allen asked, looking around. Everything around was covered in white, dust-like frost.

“He’s over there!” Lailira, with her sharp eyes, pointed in a certain direction and whispered.

“Hm?”

Everyone followed Lailira’s gaze and saw the lich Hallevell floating quietly in the white frost, staring at them coldly.

“What’s he doing?” Dia asked softly.

As soon as she spoke, Hallevell’s icy, cold voice came from afar.

“Amos is very surprised. Humans, you actually didn’t die from that Frost Blast just now… It seems Amos really underestimated you,” said Halverton, pausing for a moment before extending his bone-white fingers toward the humans before him and speaking with icy coldness, “You have failed to live up to Amos’s kindness. Now Amos has changed his mind. Amos wants you to fully realize the terror of ice and frost. Amos will freeze you all into ice sculptures, along with your souls.” A solid, thick ice wall rose up behind everyone at the large door.

【Glacial Barrier】

“Damn it,” Bernie said, glancing at the ice wall behind them. He swallowed hard and muttered in fear, “This guy has completely blocked our escape route. It seems he doesn’t intend to let us run… Damn!”

“It must be serious to become one of yours…” said someone, holding their knight’s sword aloft and pointing at the lich Halverton with a smirk, “Let’s see how the great battle mage Lord Allen deals with you!”

Next to him, Castle Kanso seemed to be influenced by its master as well, rubbing its hands together, ready to join the battle at any moment.

“Don’t be reckless, Allen!” Ravia, holding her right arm, hurriedly called out to the eager Allen, whispering, “I can sense that this guy still has plenty of magic power…” But before she could finish, Bernie interrupted her.

“How could it not be abundant?” Bernie said with a bitter smile, “Liches were originally necromancers. Legends say they are terrifying beings who broke free from constraints. They cast magic without being limited by mana. Even if they cast a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand spells, don’t expect their mana to run out…”

“Wait, really?” Allen was stunned and exclaimed, “So they can cast as many spells as they want?”

“Yes!” Bernie nodded bitterly. “That’s the power a lich gains at the cost of their own body… So, don’t expect a lich to run out of mana. All we can do is hold them off as long as possible and wait for reinforcements from the headquarters—although defeating this lich is almost impossible, escaping from here is still possible!”

“Hey, I say…” Lisa interrupted Bernie, arms crossed and her body trembling slightly as she whispered, “Have you guys felt it… it’s getting colder?”

“Indeed…” Lelira, also wrapped tightly in her coat, glanced around before pointing at the wall and exclaiming in shock, “The wall, the wall… it’s freezing!”
“What?” Everyone turned in astonishment toward Lelira’s direction and saw the walls around them freezing at an astonishing rate. The library had now become a giant ice cellar.
“Crack, crack!” Not only the walls but even the ground and the air were gradually freezing. Huge ice spikes formed in midair before falling to the ground and shattering due to gravity.
“It’s so uncomfortable…” Lisa’s cheeks turned red from the cold, but more importantly, the air in the room was becoming thinner, as if even the air had been frozen by the cold wave.
“This can’t go on…” Muttering to herself, Ravia seemed to want to use fire magic to raise the temperature, but when she instinctively raised her arm, pain appeared on her face—her injuries weren’t as mild as she claimed.
“Let me do it!” Jiang Zhe clearly saw Ravia’s painful expression. He gently patted her shoulder and then said in a low voice, “Don’t stay too far away from me!” With that, his eyes sharpened, and a massive amount of fire elements surged from his body at incredible speed. Within seconds, the flames formed a fire giant bear over twenty yards tall, enveloping everyone.
“That brat…” Bernie couldn’t hide his shock.
“Hm?” Halverell, the lich who seemed to be admiring the scene, was also shocked by the sudden appearance of the fire giant bear. He instinctively floated backward and then stared at Jiang Zhe in surprise, saying, “Amos is very surprised, extremely surprised, humans…” He then changed his tone, sighing with deep regret, “It’s an amazing magic, but it’s useless. If you still want to fight…” As he spoke, a faint blue light flashed in his empty eye sockets. Then, the frost surrounding them strangely condensed into a bird-like chimera.
This blue chimera was entirely made up of countless ice blocks of varying sizes. Its huge wings could generate fierce cold winds, its abdomen had two powerful claws that gleamed with a cold light comparable to steel, and its tail, four or five yards long, was as sharp as a spear.

Of course, the most deadly part is its beak on its head—just looking at it is terrifying, and it’s strong enough to pierce through any object. Blowing on her small hands, Lisa said in a slightly fearful voice, “What is this? A bird?” “A griffin?” Scott adjusted his glasses uncertainly. “It’s a phoenix! An ice magic transformation spell that’s quite rare—[Ice Crystal Phoenix]!” Dia, who specialized in water magic, naturally understood ice magic better than the others. After all, ice magic wasn’t just a combination of water and wind magic; it often relied on water magic principles, just like the [Ice Blast] and [Frost Blast] spells used by the lich Halverell earlier, whose predecessors were level-four water magic spells, [Water Magic Blast]. “Ice Crystal… Phoenix? Phoenix? What’s that?” Scott frowned slightly and asked softly. He was always curious about such things due to his strong thirst for knowledge. Before Dia could explain, Bernie voiced what everyone was thinking. “A phoenix is a legendary bird or beast from history, just like the terrifying dragons. They belong to the legendary class of magical beasts. They appeared during the Alchemy Era but disappeared later, just like dragons—perhaps they’re extinct. After all, back then, warriors preferred to become famous by slaying fierce magical beasts… I’ve heard of the Fire Phoenix, but this Ice Crystal Phoenix…” He instinctively glanced at the giant fire bear surrounding them, scratched his head, and said with a wry smile, “Of course, I’ve never heard of a Fire Bear either…” “Of course you haven’t heard of any Fire Bear!” Lavia said coldly with a hint of mockery. “Ordinary fire mages use beasts like foxes, snakes, and birds as the basis for their transformation spells. Bears as transformation subjects are only used by earth mages—who would use fire magic to transform a bear?” Lavia was right. The essence of transformation magic was to turn elements into the form of certain beasts to gain their special abilities—such as a fox’s speed and agility, a bear’s toughness and strength, or affinity for a certain element. For example, sand snakes living in hot regions could be transformed using fire magic to enhance the intensity of the fire they emitted. All of this was based on the fundamental laws of the world.

After all, the essence of mimicry magic is to endow one’s spells with the special abilities of certain beasts or monsters. But using fire magic to mimic a bear originally of earth element and enhance its flames with power and durability makes no sense at all—how can you expect flame without a physical form to knock out your opponent?

Glancing at Ravia, Jiang Zhe said irritably, “I was planning to use it as a defensive spell. Is that not allowed?”

“You!”

“Alright, alright, don’t forget our current situation,” Bernie said, wiping the sweat from his forehead in exasperation. Then, as if sensing a gust of wind, he turned around urgently and said, “It’s coming!”

Actually, there was no need for Bernie to remind them—Jiang Zhe had been keeping an eye on the giant ice crystal phoenix all along. Its size was almost on par with that of the Flame Giant Bear. If caught by it, it wouldn’t be a joke.

“Roar!” The Flame Giant Bear let out a deep roar and thrust its flame-formed claws at its enemy, slamming them onto the wings of the approaching ice crystal phoenix. With a hiss, a clear melt mark appeared on the phoenix’s left wing.

“Great, Thors!” Lisa exclaimed joyfully at the sight. “Fire is the natural enemy of ice!”

“Not necessarily,” Ravia interrupted calmly. “Look at the bear’s claws again!”

Everyone looked up and was shocked to see that a large chunk of ice had frozen on the bear’s front claws.

“Oh my god, such extreme cold…” murmuring, Dia instinctively glanced at Jiang Zhe beside her. She felt the boy’s magical output double in an instant, and soon the bear’s frozen claws returned to normal.

“Can you hold on, Thors?” Dia asked worriedly.

“Mm,” Jiang Zhe nodded, staring at the frost phoenix. “I still have plenty of magic left. I should be able to hold on for a while. Besides, that lich, in order to control this ice crystal phoenix, has to ease up on our attacks…” He paused here.

Because he sensed something unusual in the lich Halverell’s magical fluctuations—was the other party casting another spell?

How is that possible?

The only difference between mimicry magic and summoning magic is that the caster must constantly control the mimicked creature; otherwise, the mimicry creature, reduced to just a shell, would become inert. But the lich before them clearly defied this rule—while casting spells, the ice crystal phoenix continued to fight against the Flame Giant Bear.

How is that possible?

“Shields!” Bernie also noticed this immediately and hurriedly helped the children set up several layers of shields. Just as the shields were erected, a barrage of ice arrows poured down from the ceiling like a storm. If the shields had been delayed by even a few seconds, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

“How is that possible? Is he controlling the Ice Crystal Phoenix with his mental power while also casting magic?” Ravia said in surprise, holding her injured arm. She seemed to have noticed the abnormality of that transformed beast as well.

Indeed, the Ice Crystal Phoenix was quite unusual. Comparing its movements with those of the Flame Giant Bear, it was clear that the Flame Giant Bear, controlled by Jiang Zhe, attacked in a human-like manner—simply using its claws and occasionally biting, which was far from typical bear behavior. After all, it was controlled by Jiang Zhe, a human.

But the Ice Crystal Phoenix was different. It skillfully utilized various parts of its body as weapons—its beak, talons, wings, and the spear-like tail feathers. After taking a swipe from the Flame Giant Bear, it kept staying just outside its reach, using its agility to counter the bear’s clumsiness. This was incredibly remarkable for a transformed beast that lacked intelligence.

Even under the control of a lich, could one achieve such control? Judging from its movements, it was as agile as a living creature, not some kind of transformed beast.

“Projection transformation…” Bernie frowned as if realizing something, holding his forehead and saying weakly, “The situation was already grim, and now it’s even more troublesome!”

Projection transformation is a type of abnormal transformation magic.

Once, some magicians who specialized in transformation magic classified it from a different perspective. Instead of dividing transformation magic into [Transformation] and [Enchanted Transformation], they categorized it into [Normal Transformation] and [Projection Transformation].

[Normal Transformation] refers to the common types of magic, including [Ordinary Transformation] and [Enchanted Transformation], which are used by almost all magicians in the world. But the latter type might be something many magicians have never even heard of.

Among the illusion magic used in the world, there are generally two forms. One is the kind used by Jiang Zhe nowadays—a very simple form of illusion. By adding bytes representing a bear to the illusion spell, one can make the fire take on the shape of a bear. If one wants the fire bear to spew flames or fireballs, simply adding a segment of spell bytes for that effect will do, and this falls under the category of enchanted illusions. However, whether it’s a regular illusion or an enchanted one, the resulting fire bear is not a true bear in the conventional sense; at most, it’s just a shell formed of fire, devoid of any intelligence.

Projection illusion, on the other hand, is different. It doesn’t just involve adding bytes representing a certain creature to the spell; instead, it includes bytes representing its soul. In other words, the illusion beast summoned through projection illusion is not just a puppet-like figure but one that traps a soul. That is, the Ice Crystal Phoenix contains the soul of a once-powerful bird. Perhaps its soul was summoned here from the Land of Death using some form of projection, or perhaps its soul was completely trapped to enhance this illusion magic. In any case, it’s a rather evil form of magic, as these illusion beasts differ from ordinary ones. If they are injured, though it might not be visible on the outside, their souls will be harmed. In severe cases, it can directly affect the soul, even leading to its complete destruction.

As a result, this type of illusion isn’t widely accepted by magicians, nor is it included in the textbooks of the Imperial Magic Academy.

“Projection illusion…” After hearing Bernie’s explanation, Lavia sighed softly, looking with a pained expression at the Ice Crystal Phoenix fighting against the Fire Giant Bear. Such an evil magic made her, who upheld justice, feel uncomfortable. With a soft sigh, she murmured, “Sos, although it’s a bird… free that poor soul!”

“That’s easy for you to say!” Jiang Zhe retorted irritably.

Hearing Jiang Zhe’s words, those who had been listening intently to Bernie’s explanation finally noticed that sweat was beginning to appear on Jiang Zhe’s forehead. They immediately looked up and were shocked to see that, at some point, a small part of the Fire Giant Bear’s body had already frozen over.

“Huh!” The Ice Crystal Phoenix kept spewing frost from its mouth, while the clumsy movements of the Flame Giant Bear made it impossible for it to keep up with its speed.
Over the next ten minutes, everyone watched in horror as the giant fire bear was gradually frozen solid, eventually turning into a massive ice sculpture. The Ice Crystal Phoenix, aside from the scratches it suffered at first, didn’t take any further damage. It continued to fly in front of them, flapping its huge wings and sending waves of bitterly cold wind.
Looking at the giant ice bird before her, Lisa turned to Jiang Zhe and said in a trembling voice, “It’s… so cold… Thos…”
Like Lisa, everyone present felt the deadly cold after losing the protection of the frozen Flame Giant Bear.
“Thos?” Dia looked at Jiang Zhe worriedly. She saw that he was sweating profusely—something highly unusual in such a cold environment. In other words, he had expended a great deal of magic power during the battle between fire and frost.
Glancing at Jiang Zhe, Ravia lowered her hand from her wound and began whispering spells. But her mental strength and affinity for fire elements were clearly inferior to Jiang Zhe’s. In this room filled with ice elements, there wasn’t even a chance of creating a single flame.
“It’s over now…” Bernie shook his head with a bitter smile. He could tell that the boy they had placed their hopes on had exhausted his magic power and could no longer buy time.
“Not bad, kid!” Bernie tried his best to appear relaxed, but he failed. After all, humanity’s fear of death never truly disappears.
“I’m surprised you lasted this long, Amos,” said the lich Hallevell, shaking his head slightly. He raised his right hand and chanted, “O undead from the land of extreme cold, I, Amos Hallevell, call upon you—my servants—to kill all humans!”
As he chanted, another giant pentagram magic circle appeared on the library floor. Soon after, endless frost skeletons reappeared before everyone’s eyes.
“Amos said… since you want to struggle, then struggle! Hehehehe…”

Rather than letting that giant ice crystal phoenix eliminate the humans in an instant, the lich Amos Harwell seemed more inclined to have the relatively weaker frost skeletons kill them. Watching them struggle endlessly only to fail in escaping their fate and be killed one by one by the frost skeletons was truly wonderful—for lich Harwell, it was the best way to vent his anger.
“Keep struggling, humans… You rejected Amos’s kindness, so Amos will make you die in the most painful way!”
“What a joke, bastard!” Snarling through gritted teeth, Allen raised his knight’s sword and shouted, “Have you forgotten my existence? You wretched skeleton!”
“Skeleton…” Faintly, it seemed as though lich Harwell’s soul trembled slightly. Immediately afterward, filled with intense anger, he roared, “Kill him! Kill all humans!”
At once, the frost skeletons around them swarmed forward like bees. Seeing this, Scott frowned and said, “You idiot, did you have to provoke him?”
“Should we beg him instead?” Holding his knight’s sword, Allen gently stroked Lisa’s hair, then patted Kanso’s back and said softly, “Go, buddy!”
“Ugh!” As if understanding his master’s words, Kanso nodded and stepped forward with heavy steps toward the frost skeletons not far away.
“Allen?” Scott called out, frowning.
Stopping, Allen turned back with his knight’s sword, glancing at his companions behind him. Notably, Lisa, who seemed to have understood something, smiled and said, “Why such a gloomy face? Stay right behind me!” Then he glanced at the frost skeletons nearby and, with a rare serious expression, said softly, “Humility, honor, sacrifice, bravery, compassion, spirit, honesty, justice… Tch, why isn’t honor ranked first? On the battlefield, leading one’s companions to victory and doing one’s utmost to protect them is a great honor for a knight. The highest honor, however, is to charge at the enemy first when the team faces the most critical moment of life or death…” As he spoke, red and green lights burst from his body as he rushed into the group of frost skeletons like a whirlwind. Cracking bones could be heard, along with spikes, wind blades, waves of fire, and ice—one after another frost skeleton was destroyed by him, leaving a thin layer of broken bones on the ground.

“Stupid idiot!” Scott shook his head helplessly, pushed up his glasses, and said to the knight puppet Knight beside him, “That showoff won’t last long—let’s go too!”
Knight nodded firmly, then glanced at his dented shield, threw it on the ground, and held his spear in front of Scott.
“Scott…” Lailira sighed slightly as she watched the boy in the distance. She looked at Lisa, wiped the tears from her eyes, and said softly, “Don’t worry, they’ll protect him. But… we also need to do what we can, Lisa!”
“Mm!” Lisa nodded, seemingly forgetting the cold for a moment. She murmured an incantation, and with three thuds, three clouds of smoke appeared in front of her. Three white, baboon-like beasts rushed out from the smoke.
Glancing at Lisa, Ravia said to the queen puppet Queenin beside her, “Ignore me. Go help them!”
It was clear Queenin hesitated.
“Queenin!” Ravia snapped softly.
After a moment’s hesitation, Queenin ultimately couldn’t resist her master’s authority and joined the battle.
“You go too!” Ravia said to the soldier Soghes in a commanding tone.
Soghes hesitated and glanced at Jiang Zhe before mustering the courage to charge forward. Though with his abilities, he might not be of much help.
“What remarkable kids!” Reid, who had remained silent, whispered to Bernie. “I have a feeling that if they can get out of here alive, they’ll all become great people!”
“Yes,” Bernie nodded with a smile, speaking casually. “Reid, we can’t let these kids surpass us. We’re national magicians of the Galic Magic Association’s branch!”
“Hmm!” Reid nodded seriously. Then he glanced at Jiang Zhe, who was crouched on the ground, holding his forehead. “Is he okay?”
“Sos…” Dia knelt down, took out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the cold sweat from Jiang Zhe’s forehead, and held his hand, saying softly, “Are you alright?”
Jiang Zhe took a deep breath, shook his head, and frowned. “I’m fine. It’s just the aftereffects of using up all my magic power… That Ice Crystal Phoenix is more troublesome than I thought…”
“It’s okay…” With a gentle smile, Dia leaned her head slightly on Jiang Zhe’s shoulder and whispered, “You’ve done your best. Don’t push yourself. The power of a lich is beyond our reach…”

He glanced at Dia, especially her calm smile, which made Jiang Zhe feel a hint of bitterness.
“Dia is right. You don’t need to blame yourself!” Coming over to Jiang Zhe, Ravia held her injured arm and said softly, “No one, not even me, will blame you!” She pointed at the people fighting and, in a rarely gentle tone, whispered, “Don’t you trust me, Thors?”
Jiang Zhe stared deeply at Ravia, then at Dia, before slowly standing up. “I’ll try again!” he said. He gathered the little magic power he still had, but with his power exhausted, he couldn’t even cast a fireball.
“Don’t force yourself. Trying to gather magic power when it’s depleted could cause it to backfire…”
“So what!” Watching others fight and feeling powerless once again, Jiang Zhe continued to gather magic power. But no matter how hard he tried, his depleted magic power couldn’t be restored in such a short time, even if his recovery speed was dozens of times faster than normal.
Damn it!
His heart grew anxious.
At that moment, due to his anxiety, he once again felt that cold aura emanating from the back of his left hand…
As if remembering something, Jiang Zhe instinctively raised his left hand, took off his glove, and stared blankly at the magic circle on his back.
“Don’t doubt it, child. This is a very special seal. It won’t bring you any harm. On the contrary, it will help you learn magic better…”
“Hey, kid! I can sense a powerful dark force inside you!”
Vaguely, Jiang Zhe seemed to recall Father Andrew and Argus’ words.
Seal… dark force…
He calmed himself down, closed his eyes, and used his mental power to sense this strange magic circle. Then, his expression changed slightly, as he could feel a faint, eerie dark aura continuously seeping from the magic circle on his back. It was subtle, but very clear under his mental perception.
So it really is a seal…
Under Ravia and Dia’s puzzled gazes, Jiang Zhe crouched down, picked up a palm-sized piece of ice from the ground, and thrust it hard into the magic circle on his back…
“Thors?” Ravia and Dia exclaimed in disbelief.
The milky white hexagram magic circle was gradually covered by the flowing blood. More importantly, due to the wound, a large part of the magic circle was missing…

“Huh!” Like a violent storm, a dense force of darkness surged instantly from Jiang Zhe’s body—a profound and pure darkness, carrying a mesmerizing magic that could devour hearts.
“Bear! Roaring bear!” An unknown black flame ignited on the back of his left hand, and immediately, the wound on his hand began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. Yet, the hexagonal magic array did not recover as a result…
Under Dia’s astonished gaze, the boy’s dark golden hair gradually turned black, with hints of grayish-white within that deep darkness. In contrast, his dark eyes subtly revealed streaks of dark gold.
“Thors…” Feeling the increasingly intense pressure emanating from the boy, Ravia quietly pulled Dia back a few steps, as the boy now seemed extremely dangerous to her.
“Thor… Thors?” Dia, pulled back by Ravia, stared wide-eyed at the boy before her. She felt that he was utterly unfamiliar now.
“Crack, crack!” Amidst the sound of ice breaking, the flaming giant bear burned fiercely once again—but this time, the flames were black…
“What’s going on?” Realizing something was wrong, Allen and Scott raised their heads, stunned by the sight of the massive dark giant bear. After all, they had no idea what was happening.
Regaining his composure from shock, Scott, puzzled by the appearance of the dark giant bear, instinctively turned his head only to find Jiang Zhe’s puppet, soldier Sogjes, frozen among the frosty skeletons, as if paralyzed.
“Sogjes?!” Scott shouted.
As soon as his words left his mouth, the frosty skeletons swarmed at Sogjes, trying to tear him apart. Sogjes’ eyes seemed vacant and dull, and soon, a dense darkness surged from his body. Endless darkness enveloped him, sweeping up all the nearby frosty skeletons and slamming them heavily to the ground.

And when that storm-like darkness passed, Scott noticed that Sordges, not far ahead, had suddenly changed his appearance—once dressed as a mercenary, Sordges reappeared from the endless darkness wearing a heavy and magnificent silver-gray armor set, a horned helmet that only revealed his eyes, and a black cloak beneath his steel shoulder plates. His armor was even more splendid than Knight Knight’s, along with a massive steel greatsword in his hand that rivaled Allen’s knightly sword. There was not a trace left of his once humble appearance.
“Sordges?” Allen rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he saw.
“Sordges? Who is that? My name is Kane!” came a deep voice from within the silver-gray armor.
Pawn Puppet, [King—Kane]!