Advent of the Archmage

"Ah, ah!" The poisoned mercenary convulsed and panted. He puffed out faint green vapor with every breath.

The night wind spread the vapor to all directions.

"Move, move out!" mercenary leader Miro yelled. "This vapor is poisonous!"

Link watched this with shock from afar. Such toxic poison. Not only is it incurable, but it also seems to have some spirit. It turns the victim's body into a new poison database to create new toxins. You'll die with just a bit of poison. If the people around the poisoned are ordinary, the entire camp will probably be wiped out.

These thoughts flashed past Link's mind. He used his mind to quietly cast the Spatial Folding spell.

Instantly, the space around the poisoned mercenary stretched and folded. With every fold, the poison was sucked deeper into space. Then it was broken down into harmless elements by a Spatial Rend so that the poison couldn't spread.

To the surrounding mercenaries, they only saw the poison spread through the air and then just disappear for some reason.

They obviously wouldn't think of something as complicated as Spatial Folding. They would just think that the poison had dissipated and wasn't a threat anymore.

This movement had woken up the rest in the caravan. Many people crowded around, staring in fear at the poisoned mercenary, convulsing and screaming by the campfire.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Is he going to die?"

"Why do I think that he's survived?"

"Don't you think that he's looking more and more like that Beastman?"

There were various comments, but the volume wasn't high. Still, the feeling of fear spread throughout the camp.

The campfire wavered and flickered. The night wind whistled across the plains. Occasionally, there would be the chilling howls of wolves. The entire atmosphere turned eerie.

Under this fear and confusion, the poisoned mercenary suddenly stopped shaking. Cracking, his joints snapped into place, and he slowly stood up.

By now, other than his body type, he looked completely like the Beastman. He seemingly wasn't used to his body yet. His joints twisted around, cracking loudly.

"K-kill him!" Arda, third in command of the mercenaries, yelled. "Shoot him!"

The archers had been ready for a long time. Hearing Arda's orders now, they released their arrows without hesitation.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The poisoned mercenary's head was shot through with six arrows. He was also forced to the ground by the momentum of the arrows.

Huff. He fell onto the ground and panted heavily. His body kept twisting unnaturally. After struggling for five or six minutes, he finally fell quiet. However, he wasn't completely dead yet. His limbs would jerk every now and then.

The merchants all held their breaths at this scene. They didn't dare breathe loudly lest their actions wake up this strange creature.

Sometime later, someone's eyes moved on to leader Miro and the second in command. At dusk, they had been the two who killed the Beastman with their own hands. They'd been hurt and poisoned. Their skin was green right now. They might turn into that strange mercenary soon.

Slowly, a second and third person turned to look. Finally, everyone was staring at the two.

The mercenary beside Miro retreated subconsciously, but leader Miro grabbed him. "It's useless, Eyre. We're dying tonight."

A Level-4 Warrior, Eyre was the second strongest in the group. It was a loss today.

Miro sighed and took out the sword at his waist. He tossed it at Arda, saying, "Arda, this group is yours now."

"Leader!" Arda grasped the sword with his hands and fell to his knees. "There's still hope before we get to the end. We need you!"

Miro had reached his current status by gaining their loyalty and affection. He was also very talented. It wasn't easy to make a name for oneself in the Golden Plains ruled by the Beastmen.

Seeing that their leader was poisoned and was willing to die, the mercenaries all fell silent. The surrounding merchants were quiet too.

The silence lasted for some seconds before someone yelled, "Stop hesitating! There's no cure."

"Kill him! The poison will act up soon, and it'll be more painful!" someone else yelled.

"He already gave up. Do it now!"

The people were all affected by fear of the unknown. They just wanted to get rid of the threat and couldn't be bothered by the feelings of the victims.

Many mercenaries grew furious. They took money to kill for others, but this time, they had to kill their leader. He'd also given up on fighting. Faced with this situation, the mercenaries all felt that their future was hopeless. They couldn't do it.

And now, these regular people were being selfish and didn't even treat them like people. Anger burned inside of many mercenaries. They wished they could turn their weapons and kill the people who were shouting.

Just as the mercenaries and merchants were at a stalemate, a girl jumped out from the shadows. "No, why should we give up?" she cried. "There must be hope!"

It was Shallie. Behind her, Olan was shocked and caught by surprise.

Shallie strode to the campfire, clenching her fists. Her face was red due to fear and nerves. She trembled too. "And you all, Leader Miro was poisoned while trying to protect us. Now, he's like this, but instead of trying to help him, you just want him to die, so he doesn't affect you. You're all cowards! Selfish!"

The merchants lost their temper.

"Girl, what do you know?!" an unknown person yelled from the crowd.

"Shallie, shut up and get back here!" That was Olan.

"Olan, watch your daughter!"

That was the head of the Red Earth Firm. Middle-aged, slightly fat and tall, he looked authoritative. Walking out of the crowd, he gazed at the poisoned mercenary leader.

"Miro, I'm sorry. After you die, I will double your payment."

"Thank you." Miro nodded. With that, he closed his eyes, awaiting death.

Shallie was still by the campfire. Looking at Miro, she asked, "Why are you giving up? You're so powerful."

"Little girl, thank you for your good intentions, but I'm not powerful at all." Miro chuckled bitterly.

"How? Isn't it just poison?" Shallie said, not giving up. "Every poison has an antidote. Why don't we try something else—"

Before she could finish, Olan burst out from the crowd and grabbed her back.

Even as she was being pulled, Shallie struggled and cried, "There's so many of us, but no one has a solution? Miro is such a good man. He was poisoned to save us. Are you just going to watch him die?"

She was right, and many people felt uncomfortable at these words. But the truth was, everyone was helpless against this strange poison.

Nothing could be said now. Miro looked at Arda. "Do it now so I won't die so horribly."

Arda clenched his jaw, tears forming in his eyes. After a moment, he grabbed a bow from another mercenary. Knocking the arrow, he slowly pulled the bow back, aiming it at Miro.

Link watched this entire thing from his carriage. In the crowd of ordinary folks, he saw Miro's wisdom and Shalie's bravery. It was like two stars appearing in the dark sky.

Humans may be mostly unaccomplished and filled with disgraceful people. However, one or two pearls would always be found in the sand.

Most of the time, pearls would only shine once. Then, they would be assimilated by the sand around them, or be crushed into powder by life. The people couldn't protect the pearls.

However, it was different this time because Link was there.

No antidote could get rid of the poison. Link didn't have spells for that either, but this didn't mean he was powerless. He still had the game system and 700 Omni points.

He hadn't bought spells in a long while, so he almost forgot about this feature.

Seeing that Arda was about to shoot, Link quickly started buying spell cards. His eyes flew past all the shining cards. Finally, they stopped on one surrounded by countless faint green runes.

Natural Spell: Wild Windstorm

Wild Windstorm

Legendary Natural Spell (Level depends on the spellcaster's level)

Cost: (10 to 5000) Depends on the target's physique. The stronger they are, the higher the cost.

Effect: Summon the source energy that is tainted in the target's body. Strengthen it and drive it out. This spell can eradicate the contamination done by curses and poison.

(Note: The windstorm has arrived and will grow wildly.)

This was a very powerful dispelling spell. Its theory was different from most spells of this type. Instead of targeting the poison itself, it strengthened the target's vitality until they could drive out the poison naturally.

It was because of this principle that it could be traceless. After using, the poisoned would gradually recover by himself. However, it could dispel practically all poisons and curses in Firuman!

Screech. On the other side, Arda was pulling his bow back to shoot the arrow. At that time, the sky suddenly lit up. Silver light appeared above Miro and Eyre. Like moonlight, the light shone down and poured into the two mercenaries.

Under the "moonlight," they looked divine and godly.

Soon after, the greenness of their faces faded. Their eyes that had been turning black instantly returned to normal.

Anyone could see that they were okay now.

The crowd was in an uproar. A white later, someone exclaimed, "It's a miracle! It's a blessing from the God of Light!"

"They're blessed by God!"

With that, everyone in the camp fell to their knees, awed by the sight.

At the same time, twenty pairs of black eyes watched this scene from outside the camp. They were the Strange Beastmen who'd come for a sneak attack.

Just as they were about to act, the silver moonlight appeared. Even at a small scale, Legendary power was still impressive. Link's Realm Essence was especially pure, so people would naturally be frightened by it.

Taken aback, the Beastmen turned and left without hesitation.

Link wasn't going to follow this merchant caravan anymore. He slipped away and followed the Strange Beastmen.

It's not easy to come up with this poison. I'd like to see who's making this mess.