Advent Of The Archmage - Chapter 722

Three days later, the God of Destruction had located Celine.
They had left the Golden Plains behind them and were now in the southern marshlands of Firuman.
Rivers crisscrossed the region like cobwebs. The landscape was pockmarked by bottomless pits of mud, most of which were covered by leaves and turned into natural deathtraps.
Dangerous Magical Beasts lurked among the vegetation, which had grown rampant thanks to the area’s high water content.
For instance, a green boa could release a lethal dose of venom capable of stopping the hearts of 100 ordinary men. Its fangs were also endowed with the ability to pierce most magical barriers with ease. Even a Naga master would not be able to survive its bite.
The Nagas began making their way across the marshland with caution. The fact that they did not have Celine’s exact location did not help matters at all.
The God of Destruction too did not dare let her guard down. She could not care less about the creatures that lurked in the area. The only person she was afraid of at this very moment was Link, who, for all she knew, might be lurking in the shadows, waiting for his chance to strike. She knew that the moment she let her guard down, Link would not hesitate to move in and end her on the spot.
A woodpecker cooed as it fled into the dense forest. The other animals in the marshland followed after it.
“Argh!” shouted one of the Nagas. The others turned around and saw that a palm-sized spider had crawled up her neck. The markings on the back of the purple-black spider were reminiscent of a specter’s violent red eyes.
The Naga tried to pull it off her neck, but the spider had sunk its fangs deep into its prey. She finally managed to rip it out, but in doing so, the spider had taken a chunk of flesh with it from her neck. Black veins began spiderwebbing the area around her neck at a frightening speed.as blood poured out of her wound like black ink.
In a split second, the Naga’s entire face turned black. Her gait had also become unsteady, as if she might collapse at any moment.
The other Nagas hurried over and flattened the spider under their feet. They then tried to cure their companion of the boa’s poison with an antidote that they had brought with them.
The antidote did little to curb the poison’s spread across the Naga’s body. Blood was now coming out of her mouth, eyes and nostrils. It would seem that the Naga did not have much longer to live.
“Mistress…” said one of the Nagas pleadingly.
The God of Destruction bit her lip. With a powerful enemy waiting to ambush her, she could not afford to waste any of her power right now. However, the Nagas had been more than loyal to her. To let one of them perish would be a waste as well. After weighing her options, she flicked her fingers at the poisoned Naga, sending a Detoxification technique her way.
Her Detoxification technique immediately took effect. The poisoned Naga let out a sigh of relief. Her face had regained its vigour. She had also stopped bleeding. However, she was still weak from a severe loss of blood. She would need at least two hours’ rest in order to regain her full strength.
Seeing this, the God of Destruction said, “It’s too dangerous here. All of you stay back, I’ll go on ahead by myself.”
None of them were familiar with the geography of the marshland and so were extremely vulnerable to the creatures that lurked there. They would only weigh their mistress down if she had to cure them every time they got themselves hurt or poisoned.
“Be careful, mistress,” said a Legendary Naga.
The God of Destruction nodded. She then turned around and headed towards the depths of the marshland.
As she proceeded deeper into the forest, a thick yellow mist thickened before her.
A breeze blew one of the sickly yellow smoke towards the God of Destruction. When she reached out to feel it, a sharp pain pierced her fingertips. She quickly withdrew her hand back and saw that the skin on her fingers was burned black.
She had a feeling that if she were exposed to the mist any longer, her body would probably be eaten away by it.
“Never knew that such a place exists in Firuman,” muttered the God of Destruction. Realizing that the yellow mist had enveloped only a small section of the forest, she decided to walk around it.
Though she could walk through the yellow mist by casting a magical barrier around herself, it would put a considerable strain on her energy reserves. Flying over it also did not seem like a safe option. Her only way forward right now was by walking around the yellow toxic mist.
The yellow mist swirled ceaselessly in the forest, shifting its domain from time to time. Half an hour later, the God of Destruction had traversed 100 miles forward through the forest.
After a while, a huge body of water appeared before her. The corrosive yellow mist hung low over the water’s surface.
Her path was now completely blocked by this body of water.
Looks like a huge lake. It’s completely shrouded by this yellow mist… Celine Flandre should be up ahead. She was able to sense Celine’s aura beyond the mist.
However, she now faced a new problem. The yellow mist floating above the surface of the lake had made it almost impossible to pinpoint Celine’s exact location.
She now had two options. Her first option was to penetrate the corrosive mist and directly confront Celine in the middle of the lake. This seemed like a less risky option. However, she would be forced to use up a lot of her power. Also, she ran the risk of being caught in a pincer attack by both Celine and the lord of Ferde on both sides. She would have a hard time extricating herself from such a position.
Though her mission was to kill Celine, she would rather go about it without being killed for her troubles. Only a fool would sacrifice her life for the Ruler of Light and Darkness.
Her second option was to evaporate the entire lake with a Level-19 Legendary area-of-effect spell, which would instantly seal Celine’s fate.
However, she would still be exposed to an ambush from the lord of Ferde during the spellcasting process.
The second option seemed even riskier than the first. After weighing the two options, the God of Destruction decided to proceed with the first option. She plunged into the yellow mist with a dark red magical shield around her body.
She could feel Celine’s presence even more acutely in the mist. This must mean that her quarry was nearby.
In her excitement, she began to accelerate. However, at that moment, a sharp ripple of power entered her field of consciousness.
The ripple of power had appeared from the other side of the lake. It seemed to be making its way towards the middle of the lake, where Celine was.
The God of Destruction’s blood went cold. I’ve been expecting you, lord of Ferde. However, it would seem that your power is still inferior to mine!
Like an arrow, she streaked across the lake’s surface towards Celine’s supposed location.
The God of Destruction emerged from the other end of the mist in a matter of seconds. There, her eyes fell on a small island.
Not a shred of the toxic yellow mist could be found on the island, whose area was no more than 300 square feet. Trees grew lushly around the island. A wooden cottage stood in the middle of a small clearing. A blue-haired woman was watering her flowers in front of the building.
“I’ve finally found you!” exclaimed the God of Destruction. She immediately lunged at her target, ready to spill her blood on the island.
However, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Someone else had appeared on the other side of the island.
The person was clad in a silver-black battle robe. A crystal crown sat on top of his dark hair, dazzling like starlight. It was the lord of Ferde himself.
Link raised the Ode of a Full Moon sword in the air. No sooner had the sword vanished into the runes swirling around it than it appeared a foot away from the God of the Destruction.
If the God of Destruction had not reacted quickly enough, the sword would have penetrated her head. Even if she had nine lives, all of them would be blown away by the explosion of power from the sword.
She stared coldly at Link. “I’m here to kill Celine. Don’t try to stop me!”
Even though both of them were equally powerful, there was no way Link would be able to defend Celine from the God of Destruction’s attacks. The fact remained that murder was a less inhibited act than trying to protect someone’s life.
However, Link suddenly smiled and pointed at the island. “Pale Hunter, you’ve been chasing after an illusion this whole time.”