Chapter 151: Inheritance Protocol, Who Is the Prey?

Chapter 151: Inheritance Protocol, Who Is the Prey?

"Those two pests!"

The traveler winced as if he had a toothache, but his expression didn't show much panic. After all, things were different now. He had Su Nan by his side, a valuable ally.

In no time, the Mage Hand and Blood Mouth arrived near the Dragon Skeleton Tower.

The two of them stared at the tower for a long while, clearly stunned by the sight before them.

"The control core!" Blood Mouth's muffled voice came from beneath his gray robe.

"Most likely!" Mage Hand's voice was tinged with excitement.

Ever since discovering the ecological garden, he had wanted to bring it under his control but had no idea how. Now, seeing the Dragon Skeleton Tower, he knew the key to controlling the garden lay within.

However, the immediate priority was to deal with the traveler first.

Regaining his composure, Mage Hand refocused his gaze on the traveler, his crimson eyes lingering on Su Nan for a moment.

"Who are you?"

"This is a matter between the Eternal Life Society and him. Unrelated people should leave!" Mage Hand's tone was firm and unyielding.

He clearly saw that Su Nan and the traveler knew each other and tried to scare Su Nan off by invoking the Eternal Life Society's name.

Unfortunately for him, he had miscalculated.

Su Nan sneered, "If you put it that way, I'm not exactly unrelated."

After all, he had killed the Eternal Life Society's Ugo.

However, Mage Hand misunderstood, sizing up Su Nan for a moment before his tone turned cold. "You're also from the Forest Cottage!"

Seeing that Su Nan ignored his question, Mage Hand snorted.

"Since you're determined to die, I'll grant you your wish!"

His black robes billowed, and pitch-black tentacles emerged from beneath them.

"The flesh of a wizard apprentice smells so good!"

The massive blood-red mouth on Blood Mouth's chest let out a deep growl, and he lifted his hood, revealing a withered face with a single, cold eye. His gaze fixed on Su Nan, filled with unbridled greed and cruelty.

The traveler's expression grew grave as he sensed the unhidden malice from the two men. The Green Spirit Branch in his palm began to emit a gentle green light.

Just as the battle was about to erupt, the Dragon Skeleton Tower suddenly trembled.

A mechanical, monotone voice rang out.

"Five eligible biological sources detected. Initiating Dragon Forest Ecological Garden Inheritance Protocol."

"Ecological garden central core keys are now being distributed. Collect all keys to gain ownership of the Dragon Forest Ecological Garden."

The sudden voice immediately drew the attention of everyone present.

When they understood what the mechanical voice was saying, all four of them were taken aback.

The keys to the ecological garden!

All four of them were filled with uncontrollable joy.

Whoever obtained the keys would control the entire ecological garden!

This was a place that had cultivated countless sub-dragon species and rare magical plants, a tremendous lure for any wizard apprentice.

Mage Hand and Blood Mouth immediately shifted their focus, their eyes fixed on the Dragon Skeleton Tower.

By controlling the garden and sealing the entrances and exits, they could trap the traveler and Su Nan, achieving two goals at once!

Buzz!

The skull dragon head at the top of the Dragon Skeleton Tower burst into blinding light, and five brilliant silver beams shot out in all directions, falling like meteors into the distance.

Almost immediately, Su Nan, the traveler, Mage Hand, and Blood Mouth all took to the sky, each chasing one of the silver beams.

At the same time, a figure in the forest hundreds of meters away also shot up, pursuing the fifth silver beam.

Catching a glimpse of this, Su Nan understood.

No wonder the voice mentioned five eligible biological sources. There was a fifth person hiding in the shadows.

Retracting his gaze, Su Nan activated a high-level rune gem without hesitation. A layer of green light enveloped him, and his already swift speed increased even more, shooting toward the silver beam like a meteor.

After about four or five minutes, the silver beam slowed down and began to fall toward the ground.

Su Nan's spirits lifted, and he accelerated, soon reaching the point where the silver beam had landed.

Looking down, he saw a deep pit on the ground, with a small, coin-sized silver metal piece lying in the center.

With a thought, Su Nan cast Mage Hand, which snatched the silver metal piece and placed it in his palm.

"Is this the key to enter the Dragon Skeleton Tower?"

The surface of the silver metal piece was covered in intricate, mysterious patterns, both complex and profound.

Its overall shape resembled a triangular metal piece, with a depression on each of its three sides, looking like three interlocking slots.

Recalling what the mechanical voice had said, Su Nan immediately understood.

This silver metal piece was not the complete key but only one-fifth of it.

The five silver beams represented the five key fragments. Only by gathering all five fragments could one form the complete key.

"So that's what the inheritance protocol means."

"We five wizard apprentices are supposed to compete for the key fragments, and the ultimate winner will inherit the ecological garden."

"Who would have thought the builder would leave such a program in place, perhaps to ensure the hard work put into the ecological garden wouldn't go to waste?"

After a moment of contemplation, Su Nan shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it. The builder was long dead, and he couldn't guess the builder's intentions. What mattered now was gathering the five key fragments and claiming ownership of the ecological garden!

With that in mind, Su Nan shot into the sky, heading toward the position of the fifth person.

To his surprise, after flying a few kilometers, the key fragment in his hand began to emit a faint glow. As he continued, the glow grew brighter.

A thought struck Su Nan, and he quickly understood.

"The key fragments can sense each other!"

With this ability, finding the other key fragment holders would be much easier. The builder had clearly put a lot of thought into making the inheritance process smoother.

Soon, as the key fragment's glow became extremely bright, Su Nan spotted his target.

To his surprise, Mage Hand was also there, controlling a mass of pitch-black tentacles to attack the fifth wizard apprentice.

Recalling the directions everyone had chased the silver beams and considering his current position, Su Nan quickly deduced that the fifth person and Mage Hand had been heading toward each other and had collided.

However, the fifth wizard apprentice was clearly not very powerful and was struggling to survive Mage Hand's relentless attacks.

In the moment it took Su Nan to think, Mage Hand seized the opportunity, grabbing the apprentice's limbs and neck with his tentacles and tearing him into pieces!

As blood and flesh flew through the air, the black tentacles precisely caught a glint of silver and presented it to Mage Hand.

"Foolish fellow, to think you could compete for the key fragment with such weak skills!"

Mage Hand took the key fragment, glanced disdainfully at the remains on the ground, and then looked at Su Nan, smirking.

"Looks like the second prey has delivered itself to my door."

"Who the prey is, is yet to be seen," Su Nan said, flying forward slowly.

"Seems you have a lot of confidence in your strength," Mage Hand sneered. "Which member of the Forest Cottage are you? The Wand? Or the Black Forest?"

Su Nan smiled wryly. "I thought you would have investigated me by now, considering the blood of your Eternal Life Society members is on my hands."

Upon hearing this, Mage Hand immediately recognized him.

"You're Su Nan!"

Learning Su Nan's identity, Mage Hand's anger turned to glee, his laughter cold and cruel.

"So it's you!"

"Hmph, if you had stayed in your territory, I wouldn't have been able to touch you. But now that you've appeared alone in front of us, it suits our plans perfectly!"

"Kill you! The key to the Starlight Tower will be ours!"

Mage Hand had considered dealing with Su Nan before. However, his investigations showed that Su Nan mostly stayed at the base near Flashlight City or in the underground world's Azure Lake City. Both places were Su Nan's strongholds, heavily guarded by puppets. Even Mage Hand wasn't arrogant enough to think he could kill Su Nan in his stronghold.

But now, Su Nan had ventured out of his territory, making things very different.

The thought of not only resolving the bloodline rejection issue with the Green Spirit Branch but also gaining ownership of the ecological garden and the key to the Starlight Tower filled Mage Hand with ecstatic joy.

This was a bountiful harvest indeed!

Overwhelmed with excitement, Mage Hand's black robe billowed, and dozens more tentacles emerged. In an instant, hundreds of pitch-black tentacles tore through the air, sweeping toward Su Nan in a massive wave!

Su Nan's expression remained calm. He opened his mouth and let out a powerful shout, a visible wave of sound distorting the air and slamming into the oncoming black tentacles, shattering over a dozen of them instantly!

Shattering Soundwave!

Following that, Su Nan raised his hand, and nine magic missiles materialized in the air, shooting forward and exploding the tentacles into pieces.

A hundred meters away, Mage Hand was stunned.

"Instant casting!"

He could clearly see that Su Nan had cast two spells in quick succession without any delay.

Even with spell-storing magical items, there would be a slight delay in casting, which was impossible to achieve as smoothly as Su Nan had.

The only explanation was instant casting!

But how could that be possible?

How could a wizard apprentice master such a high-level metamagic technique?

Even a prodigy as remarkable as Saurol had only mastered the ability to cast spells silently!

How could this boy possibly be even more powerful than Saurol?

Mage Hand was momentarily stunned with shock.

What followed nearly made his eyes pop out of their sockets.

In the blink of an eye, Su Nan's figure split into eight, and he simultaneously raised his hand to unleash a scorching red beam.

Mirror Image combined with Scorching Ray!

Composite casting!

Mage Hand couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

Another high-level metamagic technique!

Combined with the Instant Casting and Silent Casting he had already demonstrated, Su Nan had now shown three metamagic techniques in total!

A third-level wizard apprentice who could master three metamagic techniques?

It was unheard of!

For a moment, Mage Hand felt as if he were dreaming.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

The black tentacles continuously shattered the illusions, but they were also destroyed by Su Nan's consecutive spells.

By the time all the illusions were destroyed and Su Nan's true form was revealed, the once-dense black tentacles had been reduced to a mere dozen.

At this point, Mage Hand finally recovered from his shock, his desire to kill burning intensely.

The more talent Su Nan displayed, the more he wanted to kill him right here.

Otherwise, if he were allowed to continue growing, he would eventually become a major threat to the Eternal Life Society.

With a bestial growl, Mage Hand's black robe billowed violently, as if something was about to burst out from inside.

In the next second, two black masses, resembling thick, viscous liquids, fell from his robe and instantly swelled into two menacing four-legged creatures.

These two creatures were about seven to eight meters tall, resembling tigers or leopards, with sharp claws and fangs, but their bodies were entirely black, like dark silhouettes.

As soon as they formed, the two creatures roared and pounced at Su Nan, a fierce wind sweeping through the air.

At the same time, Mage Hand seemed to merge into the shadows at his feet, vanishing from sight.

He reappeared from the shadows behind Su Nan, his hands transformed into sharp black spikes, viciously stabbing at Su Nan's back!

Thud!

A dull sound, like a blade piercing leather, echoed!

The black spikes stopped just a few centimeters from Su Nan's skin, blocked by an invisible force field.

Mage Hand wasn't surprised; any third-level wizard apprentice would have at least one or two defensive magical items.

But defenses had their limits, and they could be broken!

Mage Hand disappeared into the shadows again, taking advantage of the moments when Su Nan was dealing with the two four-legged creatures, repeatedly emerging from unexpected angles to attack him.

But gradually, he realized something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

"Why hasn't his defensive magical item been broken after so many attacks?"

"Even a Glowing-level magical item should have run out of energy by now!"

Mage Hand was filled with shock and confusion.

This lapse in concentration was immediately seized upon by Su Nan. In an instant, silver light flashed around him, and countless metal spikes materialized, sweeping over Mage Hand in a torrent!

In an instant, the multiple layers of protection from his spells, magical items, and shadow power were shattered!

His black robe was instantly shredded, revealing his small, completely black, shadow-constituted body.

In the next second, the metal storm continued to overwhelm him.

Mage Hand's partly shadowified body was immune to most physical attacks, but it was completely ineffective against the attack from the rune core.

In an instant, he let out a shrill, agonizing scream.

His black body trembled violently, like a lake surface in a storm, becoming visibly darker at an alarming rate!

Under such a heavy blow, Mage Hand's fighting spirit rapidly waned, his previous intense killing intent replaced by sheer terror.

He quickly vanished into the shadows, reappearing a hundred meters away in the shadow of a tree, and shot into the sky, fleeing without a moment's hesitation.

Su Nan's terrifying defense and attack had shattered his will to fight.

All he could think about now was escaping.

At that moment, two figures suddenly appeared in the sky from the east and south, speeding toward the scene.

It was the traveler and Blood Mouth.

Both had already obtained their key fragments and were rushing over, guided by the fragments' mutual attraction.

Seeing Blood Mouth, Mage Hand was overjoyed and shouted desperately:

"Blood Mouth, save me!"

The traveler, who was also rushing over, was momentarily stunned. He looked at the fleeing Mage Hand and the calm, determined Su Nan in pursuit, his eyes filled with confusion.

What's going on?

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end