Chapter 1228: 391. Magic Propulsion
“What were you five doing? Why did you leave the battlefield?”
Tarsali’s voice boomed in the minds of every Metal System Wizard, pointedly directed at the five who had just returned to the scene.
The five wizards trembled in fear, their hearts pounding as the others around them, unconcerned with their plight, looked on with schadenfreude. noveldrama
If they could have captured the Earth Vein Wizards who fled the battlefield, these five would now be feeling very confident.
But unfortunately, not only had they left the battlefield without authorization, but they had also let the weak Earth Vein Wizards escape.
All because of some inexplicable shell that appeared on the scene, an object that bafflingly used kinetic shocks as its killing mechanism.
...
Now facing Tarsali’s interrogation, the five looked at one another, and eventually, they all lowered their heads, not daring to boast.
Tarsali was furious, venting all his rage about the stolen Anti-Demon Material on the group of five.
Their metallic bodies were torn apart by tremendous strength, twisted into strips, turned into countless metal threads, and then fused into a ball that became a tangled mess.
A compressive force, far mightier than any hydraulic press, bore down upon the ball composed of the five Metal System Wizards.
As the five were about to be flattened into a sheet of iron, one of the wizards blurted out in desperation,
“My lord! We went chasing after a few Earth Vein Wizards! We could have apprehended them, but somehow our casting state was interrupted! Please forgive us, my lord, we only wanted to capture those who had fled the battlefield!”
Tarsali was in the throes of anger.
He was about to scorn the wizards for their excuses when he suddenly stopped squeezing the metallic mass and asked,
“What did you say? Someone interrupted your casting?”
“Yes, my lord! We didn’t even see where the enemy was when we were shot through the chest with Non-metallic Shells, forcing us to end ‘Metallic Torrent.’ Those Earth Vein Wizards, who were not stronger than the Five Rings, would never have escaped from us otherwise!”
The Metal System Wizard loudly defended himself, and his companions echoed his protestations, each taking a turn to recount their experiences.
When Tarsali heard that the fleeing Earth Vein Wizards were less powerful than Five Rings, and that they were aided by a mysterious helper, he immediately linked the thieves with these Earth Vein Wizards.
Considering the mysterious person had the skill to break through the Nine Rings Metal Spell ‘Metallic Torrent,’ why had they not rescued the higher-level wizards at the subway entrance instead of saving those lowly, weaker ones?
Clearly, rescuing higher-level wizards would be more cost-effective, right?
After freeing the high-level wizards, rescuing the lower-level ones should have been a piece of cake.
The only factor that could have made the mysterious person abandon the high-level wizards in favor of the lesser ones had to be only one possibility: “The low-level wizards were carrying treasures!”
An idea clicked in Tarsali’s mind in that moment.
He grunted heavily, released the great force applied to the five Metal System Wizards, and meticulously inquired about the entire incident.
The five Metal System Wizards confessed everything, not daring to hide any details.
They emphasized two points.
First, when the mysterious person broke the metallic barrier and created an escape route for the Earth Vein Wizards, they had no sensation of the barrier being damaged—which was incredibly astonishing for Metal System Wizards, who relied on sensing metal to make a living.
Second, the mysterious person had fired the Non-metallic Shells without any sign. The Metal System Wizards only realized they had been attacked when the shells hit their bodies.
Putting these two doubts together, Tarsali and the Metal System Wizards came to the same conclusion:
The enemy lurking in the shadows was incredibly skilled at concealing themselves.
The fact that this person chose to use non-metallic ore to make shells also proved they knew their opponents were Metal System Wizards and the Metal Ancestor Dragon, adept at controlling metallic entities.
By deducing this far, Tarsali was certain of his conclusion.
He asked the five Metal System Wizards to present the Non-metallic Powder they found at the scene.
He designated a few high-level Metal System Wizards to immediately investigate the source of this Non-metallic Powder and to conduct a thorough investigation into the fleeing Earth Vein Wizards.
Unbeknownst to them, Noland’s act of firing the non-metallic shells to rescue Morster not only saved the latter’s life but also inadvertently let him take part of the blame, easing some of the pressure from the Metal Ancestor Dragon.
One could say this was the play of destiny…
After issuing the orders, Tarsali turned his attention to the wizards trapped in the underground space.
They were completely blocked underground, with Metallic Giant Apes, Metal System Wizards, and Death Steel Soldiers guarding near the subway entrance, and the roads inside the subway tracks sealed off with metal walls and Transparent Barriers.
Tarsali originally planned to use the Anti-Demon Material and the Undead Ceremony to turn all these wizards into Undead Spirits made out of metal for his own purposes.
Now, without the Anti-Demon Material, this scheme seemed to be put on hold.
Tarsali hummed in frustration, ordered someone to inform the Undead Cult, and decided to first transform the wizards into Undead beings before preparing new Anti-Demon Material.
However, Tarsali’s plans were destined to fail.
At that moment, Morster had reached the Pollution Zone and immediately opened a Teleportation Gate to the capital of Ulnas Circle, promptly reporting the events within the Pollution Zone to his mentor.