Free Web NovelChapter 547: Chapter 468: Curse and the First Round Showdown
On the ground, Jeming shook his head.
This action was more instinctual.
Given his current physical condition, even if he fell freely from ten thousand meters in the air and struck this desolate land, it would at most stir up a circle of dust without even grazing his skin.
Moreover, only the innermost Ruins Armor was broken at that moment.
Although the seven outer shields had been damaged by the powerful elemental turbulence structure, they had largely self-repaired before he landed, cushioning the impact to a negligible degree.
He stood up, his gray Wizard Robe dusted with some grayish-white powder, appearing particularly conspicuous under the dull daylight.
Jeming’s first instinct was to look around vigilantly.
Within his line of sight, there were no traces of enemies. However, many Wizards from Nolun Workshop, having observed Jeming’s condition, descended quickly while remaining alert.
But clearly, judging from their reactions, they had not discovered any traces of enemies either.
Moreover, not just the enemy’s traces, even the residual fluctuations of energy were so faint they were almost imperceptible—except for the lingering nauseating malice in the air, like the smell of rotting organs mixed with rust.
It seems the enemy didn’t strike directly.
Jeming furrowed his brow, his consciousness sinking into his body.
The protective force that exploded at the last moment...
Undoubtedly, it was the Profound Gang Red Dust Barrier.
Jeming quickly reviewed the situation.
The Profound Gang Red Dust Barrier targets all kinds of curses, prophecies, mental interference, and illusions.
Among the seven layers of protection, the "True Vision" Rune Array specifically targeting illusions did not activate.
Prophetic attacks usually wouldn’t cause such direct destruction.
And the Ruins Armor did indeed take effect—it clearly absorbed some high-intensity energy impact before shattering.
Then, only one answer remains.
"Curse."
And it was a powerful curse capable of instantly crushing the Ruins Armor.
"It seems I’ve been targeted... no, all the geniuses from Nolun Workshop have been targeted!"
Jeming looked up, his gaze sweeping towards the sky.
Just as he expected, under the lead-gray sky of this barren plane, dots of light constantly fell from above.
Some Wizards turned into a handful of ash during their descent, scattered by the wind; others had their bodies twisted and inflated, like a balloon filled with too much gas, bursting mid-air with a "boom," flesh and blood fragments spilling like rain; others emitted wailing screams mixed with the pain of soul-tearing, abruptly ceased after several seconds.
But more Wizards steadied themselves.
Some erupted with dazzling brilliance, others displayed dense protective runes, or directly expanded some kind of black hole domain that devoured all energy—each showed unique abilities, forcefully resisting the curse’s sneak attack.
Jeming carefully observed those who were shot down.
Without exception, from their residual energy traits, the intensity of spiritual power displayed before falling, and the quality of Witchcraft Artifacts they wore, these individuals belonged to the best among Wizards of the same level.
"Targeted assassination of geniuses, huh..." He tugged at the corner of his mouth.
A classic tactic.
At the start of the war, using one-time high-cost curses to prioritize eliminating the most promising young Wizards in the opponent’s camp, weakening the enemy’s future growth potential.
And obviously, he was also listed for assassination with a curse.
Thinking of this, Jeming instinctively sensed the depletion inside the Profound Gang Red Dust Barrier and couldn’t help but grimace.
Half!
A full half of the Flower God Poison and Evil Qi were consumed in that moment.
Mind you, for this war, he specifically upgraded the Profound Gang Red Dust Barrier.
Not just talking about the high-quality Dead Evil Qi and Red Dust Qi, all the collected Flower God Poison and the incense poison gathered from hundreds of billions of Black Giants were stuffed in.
And now, the stockpile has been directly halved.
Combining with the fact that the Ruins Armor was instantly penetrated, this signifies a rather terrifying reality: the curse against him was likely from a Seventh Level Wizard!
"Considering the scattered energy of those unlucky ones, it’s at most the work of a Sixth Level Wizard, why aim a Seventh Level Wizard at me, they really prioritize me, huh?!" Jeming felt a bit toothache.
While getting up from the ground, he once again cast the Ruins Armor to equip himself with defense.
"However..."
Jeming’s expression shifted from aching to a near-savage grin.
The Profound Gang Red Dust Barrier is a counterattack-type treasure.
That half of the poison and Qi didn’t just disappear into thin air.
While blocking the curse, they have already reversed into the soul of the caster along that invisible curse connection.
"If the opponent consumed this level of dose directly, I hope they suffer."
Even if the opponent is Seventh Level, having taken this reverse infusion head-on, they would lose a layer of skin if not die.
The most optimistic scenario is soul damage, where combat power plummets, basically categorizing him as "lost threat" in the upcoming war.
If luck is on our side, their Seventh Level may be outright gone.
Just entered the field and got ambushed, but then exchanged a Protective Treasure to take out an opponent’s Seventh Level Wizard combat power...
"Profitable."
Jeming dusted off the robe, inexplicably feeling better.
Dozens of kilometers away, high in the air.
Professor Clark stood in the air, the black robe unmoving in the chaotic elemental airflow.
Seeing Jeming lose control and plummet towards the ground, in his right palm, a faint silver-white light was slowly dissipating.
That was the remnant of a "fate interference" type witchcraft.
The moment Jeming encountered the curse, he had already prepared three different intervention plans.
But ultimately, he did not intervene.
Because that boy handled it himself.
On Clark’s indifferent face, the corners of his mouth raised in an extremely subtle arc, then it returned to normal.
Almost at the same time, a spiritual fluctuation arrived from above at an angle, carrying obvious surprise and admiration:
"Impressive, junior brother!"
The sender was Dionysius Spencer.
Wearing a silver-blue magic robe, he was currently suspended higher, forming a complex Dharma Seal with both hands.
In front of him displayed a translucent light curtain with a diameter of over ten meters, flowing with tens of thousands of data streams.
Dozens of kilometers, to a Seventh Level Wizard, is akin to face-to-face.
"Unexpected that your disciple had such a move." Dionysius’s spiritual fluctuation carried a smile, "The curse’s intensity just now had reached the threshold of mid-Seventh Level. For a regular Fifth Level Wizard, even with a High Tier Witchcraft artifact specifically protective against curses, they’d be heavily injured and downed. Your disciple, on the other hand, not only withstood it, but seems even unscathed?"
Clark did not raise his head, his gaze calmly continued to sweep the battlefield below, but the returned spiritual fluctuation carried an unusual hint of barely contained boasting:
"He’s all right. The boy’s strength is solid enough, just like his senior sister, always eager to advance before being ready."
"Ha!" Dionysius laughed aloud, "Anyway, it doesn’t seem to affect his combat power, advancing quickly doesn’t matter at all."
At this moment, another spiritual fluctuation cut in, from a Tier Six Wizard wearing deep green vine-entwined battle armor, with obvious envy in her tone:
"Sir Clark, your disciple’s technical level is truly remarkable... That Protective Treasure, it must have been refined incorporating Divine Spirit technology, right? Just now during the counterattack, I detected high purity Power of Faith fluctuations in the energy features here."
Clark neither confirmed nor denied, simply shifted the topic lightly:
"How’s the war statistics?"
Returning to business, all the High Tier Wizards’ spiritual fluctuations instantly became solemn.
A Tier Six Wizard had just finished casting curse resistance witchcraft, helping a targeted genius block an attack, calculated the results quickly and reported:
"Our first round of curse attacks, a total of three thousand seven hundred forty-two were released, all targeting enemy-detected ’high potential seeds.’ Hit rate... eighty-nine point three percent."
An impressive figure.
This meant in those few seconds, over three thousand young genius Wizards from the Chaos Secret Sect and the Tower of Annihilation were hit with lethal curses.
"What about enemy interceptions?" Clark asked.
"The Tower of Annihilation’s interception efficiency was low," another Seventh Level Wizard replied, his voice carrying some pride, "Their curse protection technology leans towards materialization and energy deflection, insufficient against our new type curses mixing soul attacks and concept anchoring. Based on feedback, they intercepted only about twenty percent, the remaining eighty percent targets... either dead or crippled."
"What about the Chaos Secret Sect?"
"A bit troublesome," this time the speaker was a Tier Six Wizard skilled in prophecy and anti-prophecy, sounding somewhat serious, "They seem to have made specific preparations in advance, likely released a ’causal confusion’ type witchcraft hosted by a Seventh Level Wizard. About fifty percent of our curses were misled or weakened in power, only achieving kills or severe injuries on about fifty percent."
Data continued rolling on the light curtain.
High Tier Wizards from various regions reported real-time battle updates:
"Team Seven, completed six percent elimination."
"Team Eleven, two enemy Seventh Level Wizards already set up a mass purification barrier, only completed forty percent."
"Team Three didn’t intercept completely, casualties are heavy... Sorry."
"Team Nine, perfect execution, twelve enemy targets completely annihilated."
Information accumulated rapidly.
Eventually, Dionysius provided a preliminary evaluation:
"Overall, in this round we used curses to inflict damage on approximately fifty percent of enemy’s high potential seeds. In return, enemy’s similar curse attacks on us... according to monitoring, we intercepted about fifty percent."
Fifty percent to fifty percent.
On the surface, it seemed evenly matched.
However, considering the disparity in total number of participants, using the same exchange ratio, the Nolun Workshop side actually gained slightly.
With fewer forces, they exchanged an equal proportion of high-value targets from the opponent’s side.
Though somewhat brutal, it indeed counts as a minor tactical advantage.
