Chapter 428: The Guardian Puppets Awakened

High up in the clouds, a gigantic Alchemy Creature which was pitch black from head to toe softly landed on the ground. Standing behind the Alchemy Creature was Wizard Blackmurk, whose cold and pacifying gaze fixed onto Merlin as he laughed mirthlessly. “Wizard Merlin, after fleeing for so long, surely you understand that you have no way to escape? Hand over Darkness Eye and the Neverending Book!”

These two Wizards were Merlin and Wizard Blackmurk. Merlin had cast Flash Wind, and his speed was incredible. However, he did not expect that Wizard Blackmurk was not slow as well, and he seemed to possess a special Speed casting tool.

By relying on the casting tool, Wizard Blackmurk was merely marginally slower than Merlin and was able to catch up in the end. Throughout this period, not even Merlin knew how long he had been fleeing. He did not even know where he was going and flew aimlessly until he reached this place.

Even since Merlin had obtained Darkness Eye, he had never fled so desperately as he had done now, hunted down by someone. Now it looked as if he could not shake off Wizard Blackmurk. Even if he would pay a certain price for releasing the seal on the fourth form of Darkness Eye, he did not care about that now.

“Cackle cackle.”

The giant ghostly face above Merlin’s head suddenly became clear and distinct as it unleashed bursts of sinister, petrifying laughter. The crimson eye in Merlin’s palm began to glow with an eerie, blood-red light, shrouding half the sky, and lighting it up in blood red.

The ghostly face above Merlin’s head became clearer and clearer, and one could see faintly that it was a crimson apparition with disheveled hair. Although its outline was clear, its features were still hazy, which was to say that it was shifting constantly as the appearance of the ghostly face was transforming every second.

If one looked closely, one would see that these faces belonged to those who died due to Darkness Eye. Among them was Wizard Leo’s face.

Merlin had now descended into an extraordinary state. He felt a power – a formidable power he had not felt in a long time. The strength of this power made him feel as if he could deal with any threat.

Merlin had experienced the power of a Legend for a brief time when he controlled the Ship of Nikola. Only then had he felt so powerful. Of course, when he had used the Flame Maxim to control the Ship of Nikola, his capability far surpassed his current state, but that feeling of immense power was similar.

Besides this feeling of power, there was also a sort of brutality in him that wanted to wipe out everyone he saw. This was the negative energy that accompanied the unleash of the fourth form of Darkness Eye. Merlin was currently incapable of suppressing it effectively and could only let it out.

“Your Alchemy Creature is unafraid of dying?”

A peculiar smirk appeared over Merlin’s lips. He gradually rose into the air, after which he pointed at the Alchemy Creature in the distance.

“Bam!”

At the start, the tenacious Alchemy Creature could not be killed no matter what. Merlin’s Incinerating Fire in addition to the force of Glacier Country was unable to deal with the Alchemy Creature. However, after Merlin pointed, it now grimaced in pain.

The huge ghostly face above Merlin’s head was transforming at an increasing speed, followed by bursts of menacing laughter. A tremendous force seemed to tear the Alchemy Creature apart.

“Rip.”

The Alchemy Creature was viciously torn into two by an unseen force yet Merlin still felt that there was not enough bloodshed. He pulled furiously with both hands, and the imposing bulk of the Alchemy Creature was immediately ripped into shreds. The spray of blood splattered all over the ground, emitting a pungent, horrid smell.

“No, no, how could this be?”

Seeing that the Alchemy Creature was easily killed without any resistance by Merlin’s hands, Wizard Blackmurk was struck by momentary disbelief. He had transfigured the Alchemy Creature himself, so naturally, he knew that without the peak of the Eighth-level strength, one would be incapable of causing his Alchemy Creature any harm.

However, his Alchemy Creature was ripped apart alive by Merlin in a cruel and bloodthirsty manner. It was unable to put up any resistance at all.

Even though he was astounded to his core, Wizard Blackmurk reacted very quickly. Fluctuations of Wind Element appeared over his body, following which he pointed and a wild gust of gale roused a windstorm. The storm rumbled toward Merlin while he quickly escaped at the back.

“Trying to escape?”

The unfathomable depths of Merlin’s eyes turned crimson. He raised his palm, with the eerie blood-red eye pointed in Wizard Blackmurk’s direction. Then he commanded softly, “Control! Deprive!”

“Hoo….”

The gale vanished and the Wind Elements quietened down. Wizard Blackmurk suddenly felt as if he could no longer mobilize a single shred of Magic Power. No Element would comply with his command.

“The power of control is so formidable!”

Merlin was currently drunk on the power of the fourth form of Darkness Eye. He was able to control the power of Elements, and Elements themselves in addition to stripping the power of Elements too.

Therefore, even Eighth-level Spell Casters, when faced with the fourth form of Darkness Eye, would have no way of controlling the Elements. Back then, Wizard Leo had relied on the fourth form of Darkness Eye to exterminate two Eighth-level Wizards.

At last, Merlin now tasted the greatness of the fourth form of Darkness Eye for himself – the power to control Elements! Under the “control” power of the fourth form, Wizard Blackmurk could not put up the slightest bit of resistance. He was now a prisoner of Merlin’s for Merlin to deal with as he wished.

“Fire!”

Merlin’s expression was icy as his body brimmed with a murderous force. He pointed an effortless finger at Wizard Blackmurk. Instantly, Wizard Blackmurk’s body was caught in raging flames. In the midst of frantic, pitiful wails, the troublesome Wizard Blackmurk of Subzero Snowfield was reduced to ashes just like that.

However, the tyranny in Merlin’s heart had not yet faded. He directed his furious gaze at the three strangers on the ground.

Gustin and the rest watched with their mouths agape, trembling all over as they fixed their eyes upon Merlin in mid-air. The fearsome battle between Merlin and Wizard Blackmurk had far surpassed their framework of understanding.

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Moreover, now that Merlin had disposed of Wizard Blackmurk through merciless methods, his attention had shifted to them. Naturally, Gustin and the rest were filled with dread.

“Screech screech screech…”

Suddenly, a peculiar, disturbing sound came into their ears. It was abnormally ear-piercing in the vast snowfield.

Gustin saw that the stone statues, lying about in disorder, had begun to vibrate. He suddenly recalled the warning of Ecuador’s secret treasure. Once someone touched those stone statues, the fossilized guardian puppets would be awakened.

At that point, the unrivaled guardian puppets would wipe out all intruders. Evidently, the transformation of the stone statues had occurred because those terrifying guardian puppets were awakening.

“Oh no, the guardian puppets are waking up. We’re all going to die!”

Gustin bit his lip furiously. He was more afraid of the legendary guardian puppets than he was of Merlin. People were usually more fearful of the unknown, and Spell Casters were no exception.

Those stone statues were an unknown entity. No one knew how terrifying the guardian puppets would be after the stone statues had been transformed.

“Swoosh.”

Merlin’s attention was attracted to the peculiar sounds coming from the stone statues. However, his consciousness was slightly sober now. He had been affected by the intense negative emotions and had descended into a brief frenzy.

“Oh no, the fourth form of Darkness Eye had produced a huge amount of negative emotions. I have no way of suppressing it effectively, and will face its backlash soon!”

Merlin seemed able to perceive the glee of Darkness Eye. He had no wish to become a second Leo, dying from the backlash of Darkness Eye. Although he had broken the seal on the fourth form under inescapable circumstances, things were not at their worst yet.

“Flame Maxim, suppress!”

Merlin mobilized and gathered all his Mind Power. At the moment, he had no way of activating the Ice Maxim. Only the Flame Maxim, under the full force of his Mind Power, could be shifted slightly in his Awareness.

Fortunately, the Flame Maxim seemed to have made Merlin’s Awareness its “territory”. The invasion of Darkness Eye promptly induced the suppression of the Flame Maxim.

The tremendous power of the Maxim immediately suppressed the backlash force of the fourth form of Darkness Eye. In that instant, the large, ghostly face above Merlin’s head was still there but it seemed to let out a series of miserable shrieks.

Merlin was still able to wield the power of the fourth form of Darkness Eye but now he could control it completely. It was just that he would have to consume the power of the Maxim at all times. This was the price he had to pay for unleashing the fourth form of Darkness Eye.

“Screech screech.”

The stone statues were still making that strange noise. Merlin stared at them. Only now did he carefully observe his surroundings. He noticed that this mysterious ancient castle had something mystical about it as if an enigmatic force was hidden within.

“Boom!”

The statues exploded and rock fragments flew everywhere. From within the shattered stone, a few large and imposing puppets, each with two horns, appeared.

“Hahahaha, freedom at last. Master had sealed us for thousands of years. Today, some fools have finally touched us, setting us free!”

These stone statues all looked the same, and there were many of them. The only different one was a statue in the middle, which was dark red all over. It looked extremely agile, and the guardian puppets which emerged from the statues all gathered by the side of this dark red puppet.

“Puppet?”

Merlin shot a baffled look at these stone puppets. He recalled some ancient books he had seen in the Dark Magic Region. Some of which mentioned that during the Spell Casters’ most glorious era, when alchemy was developed to its pinnacle, many techniques of transfiguring puppets were discovered, using all sorts of materials.

Among these, one could use the most common materials to transfigure powerful puppets. For instance, rock, wood, and so on, could be turned into powerful puppets in the hands of a Great Alchemist.

These puppets were built completely from stone and were clearly puppets described in the ancient books. However, that sort of alchemy technique was lost to the ages.

“We’re goners. The unrivaled Ecuador’s guardian puppets have awakened. We’ll all be killed by them!”

Gustin could only mumble this over and over, his eyes filled with despair as he looked at the stone guardian puppets.

“Not bad, not bad. There’s still someone who knows of our power. We’re the great guardian puppets of Ecuador. All of you intruders must die!”

The dark red stone puppet let out a sharp hiss, following which it directed the army of stone puppets to press down Merlin like a raging flood. The ensuing tremor was not a small one for it seemed to make the vast snowfield quake. The thick blanket of snow melted, revealing the black floor beneath.

“The unrivaled guardian puppets of Ecuador?”

An odd expression crossed Merlin’s face. As far as he could tell, there were many of these guardian puppets indeed, but they were far too weak…

“Glacier Country, descend!”

A burst of light flashed, and an icy chill engulfed the entire ancient castle. The translucent Glacier Country descended in an instant.