Passerby Villain In A Wizard World

"Hm? What do you mean?"

Morgana was confused hearing Ian's query and looked in the direction he pointed, only to be stunned.

"Screech..."

The silence that finally arrived after her deadly sonic attack was once again destroyed by the piercing cry that deafened their senses. Although it wasn't as powerful as her Conch, it didn't lose much in terms of momentum.

"What... how many of them are in this forest?"

Morgana couldn't help but mumble with her beautiful eyes wide open, gawking at the dense shadow that suddenly enveloped the entire forest in front. Now that she looked at the dense crowd of disgusting larvae covering everything in her vision, she felt that what she killed wasn't even one percent.

"Did I... poke a hornet's nest?" She couldn't help but mumble, shuddering a little. The vision was so creepy that she really wanted to return the way she came, never to return again.

"Tempest Shroud!"

Arvhael also saw the dense crowd ahead and hurriedly applied mana, covering them once again in his lightning tempest.

"Bang!"

As soon as he finished covering them, a loud sound of collision echoed, followed by crackling and screeching noises.

"Ugh..."

And surprisingly, this time, Arvhael grunted a little from the impact instead of being fine inside his shield.

"They are... weird!"

He couldn't help but mumble while applying more mana and shrinking the size of the shield to increase its defensive power.

The attack this time didn't come from the tree roots controlled by the larvae like before. Instead, the larvae themselves collided with the barrier violently, unlike before.

So, of course, a lot of them died from the lightning around the shield, exploding in blood foam no different from Morgana's attack earlier. It almost looked like they were committing suicide willingly.

"Are they crazy?"

Morgana also thought so as she looked at the tempest that was dyed red by thousands of larvae bursting after the collision.

But from the numerous human-like shadows made up of Nyxroot Larvae that were still approaching, it seemed they weren't going to stop.

"They are being controlled."

Ignysyl, who had been looking at everything silently until now, answered with a grim voice.

"Controlled? By whom?"

Morgana was stunned by the Raven's words and asked again, only to get ignored.

"So, that guy can use the power of Rule, huh? Is that why you want my help?"

Ian asked Ignysyl through telepathy.

Unlike Morgana and Arvhael, whose attention was focused on the endless swarm of larvae, Ian was instead watching the blood.

He noticed how the blood sprouted after the larvae burst, latching onto the tempest and violently eroding it bit by bit.

That explained why Arvhael still took damage even while inside his spell.

Moreover, Ian observed that the blood which dripped onto the ground seeped away, as if being recalled by someone.

From the angry, violent behavior of the larvae that were otherwise intelligent but now fought in reckless, suicidal waves, Ian could already tell: they were being controlled.

"Yeah, kind of?"

Ignysyl answered, tilting his head.

"The Rule of Blood that guy controls is nothing. At most, he couldn't be killed as long as the blood essence is there," he analyzed.

"And besides, it isn't his own, so of course, he is no match for me," he then said with a little pride, being true to himself.

"However, that guy is a damn lunatic. It just won't let me come near the Bloodflare Bloom. If I force it, it will try to self-destruct everything. Stupid worm."

Ignysyl cursed, remembering the fight he had had before Ian came.

"Bloodflare Bloom?"

Ian caught a new word in his voice and asked, confused.

"Yeah, Bloodflare Bloom! A mature one."

Ignysyl suddenly became a little excited, as seen from his visibly excited eyes that he couldn't hide.

"And it is fused with dragonfire no less. Do you believe it? Damn, even I didn't believe it when I first saw it with my own eyes."

The little Raven on Ian's shoulder purred in delight, causing more and more confusion for Morgana, who was awaiting her answer.

Poor girl, she didn't realize Ignysyl had already forgotten about her existence.

"Hey, I will tell you already. That fruit is mine, and you cannot take it away from me. In fact, I don't even need that Dream Potion of yours if you give me that one."

As if feeling that Ian might also be interested in the Bloodflare Bloom, Ignysyl hurriedly warned a little anxiously.

After all, this was the key treasure for his next promotion that he had been awaiting for a while now.

He didn't want Ian to have any idea about the fruit that he had finally found.

He wanted to get promoted, fast.

"Yeah, yeah, you can keep it. I am not interested. But..."

However, unlike Ignysyl's fear, Ian didn't seem to be interested in the fruit but in something else.

"Besides that fruit, did you see or feel anything different in the core?"

He asked, looking at Ignysyl intentionally or unintentionally.

"Other thing? Hmm, I didn't see anything there more precious than Bloodflare Bloom, though."

After getting Ian's assurance, Ignysyl finally breathed a sigh of relief and answered seriously,

"Besides that fruit, there is that fat worm and the blood crystal, and nothing else."

For him, Bloodflare Bloom was everything. So, he didn't really care about other possible treasures in the core of this blood forest.

"A Blood Crystal?"

"Yeah, to be honest, rather than a crystal, it seems to be the blood essence of some mighty being in the past. But... it is of no use as it is bound by rules, and almost on the verge of disappearing. It seemed that fatso somehow managed to consume everything."

Whenever Ignysyl mentioned that fat worm, he couldn't help but gnash his teeth in hatred. It seemed he had some tryst with that guy, whoever it was.

'Blood essence that has the power of rules,' Ian mused internally, feeling more and more that he somehow knew whose it was.

However, he still needed to see for himself to be sure.

"Stormlash!"

"Bang!"

"Abyssal Torrent!"

By the time Ignysyl and Ian were deep in discussion, the dense swarm of larvae had already destroyed half of the surrounding shield.

If Arvhael hadn't brought out his vast wealth of resources to replenish his mana while maintaining the barrier as if his life depended on it, it would have shattered long ago.

He even summoned Stormlash to ease his burden.

Not to mention Morgana, who had also started helping by using the spells she was most proficient in.

Although she had been suppressed by Ian's presence earlier, she was still a First Ring Wizard.

It was only because she feared her poison backlash flaring up that she couldn't display her full power and often relied on artifacts instead.

From the outside, it looked as if Morgana and Arvhael were desperately casting spells to save Ian from danger, while Ian simply stood there, silently watching everything unfold.

Strangely enough, neither Arvhael nor Morgana thought to ask him for help. It seemed they both instinctively regarded him as the leader.

"Well, okay, this is enough. Let me clear this up."

Ian also felt that it was time to head to the core of the forest.

Besides, he also didn't like this disgusting fighting style of larvae, not to mention, their blood seemed to be being absorbed by someone somehow.

So, he suddenly took out his somewhat luxurious staff and asked both Morgana and Arvhael to stop.

Then, without waiting for them to respond, he began to chant.

In fact, after becoming a First Ring Wizard, this was the first time he was chanting a spell outside.

And he also had a very bold idea in his mind that he wanted to use in this situation.

"Screech..."

Although Arvhael and Morgana stopped as ordered by Ian, the shadow surrounding them didn't, as they lurched high, directly landing on the thin barrier, impacting it hard.

From their attack, it didn't seem like the barrier could hold on for another round of attack.

The blood had already corroded the spell from within, and it couldn't sustain even if Arvhael supplied more mana now.

"Inferno Burst!"

However, Ian had already finished his chanting as the tip of his staff suddenly glowed brilliantly, gathering mana from his body and the surroundings.

Then, in a flash, a circular wave of fire spread outward from him as the center, traveling at the speed of light and engulfing everything in a fiery blaze.

"What are you doing?"

However, despite the momentum the spell showed, it didn't perform all that well.

In fact, aside from the larvae caught directly in the path of the fiery ring, the rest of the makeshift shadows weren't even affected.

It just looked like a ripple of water spreading across a calm lake—only, the ripple was made of fire.

Morgana was so confused that she asked involuntarily.

If she hadn't experienced his power firsthand, it wouldn't be wrong to laugh at this display of power that just disappeared in a puff.

But her confusion was quickly answered by Ian as he chanted yet another spell, this time with a solemn look on his face as he shouted the spell once again in a cold voice,

"Ember Wake! Burst!"

"Boom!"