Chapter 51: Prince of the Wind

Upon hearing the conversation between Wallace and the noble, the Arch-Mage remained unconcerned.

He calmly instructed, "These two cultists are undoubtedly connected to this evil altar. You should take this opportunity to practice the swordsmanship I taught you... Leave them alive; my experimental workbench has been lacking living subjects lately."

With that, the Arch-Mage walked away, accompanied by the noblewomen.

A knight galloped off to summon the soldiers and hunters.

Seeing how confident Wallace was, Roland relaxed and began to observe the people around him.

First, it seemed the wizard hadn't taught his students anything legitimate... perhaps he lacked true capability.

Second, this group indiscriminately treated people as black wizards and fiends. Yet, they appeared to have never dealt with genuine evil entities; their victims were always the elderly, women, children, and outsiders.

Judging by their conversations, they frequently committed atrocities under the banner of "purging evil."

Next, looking at the hunters, cooks, private guards, and servants: about half of them wore expressions of eager excitement, as if they were accustomed to aiding the nobles in eliminating the innocent. They gained no benefits from it, yet they happily served as accomplices to tyranny.

Roland then glanced at the laborers still working near the distant stone circle.

Most of these laborers lacked shoes, suggesting they were temporarily conscripted peasants. They were sallow, emaciated, and numb-eyed, turning a blind eye to the unfolding events as if long accustomed to the lords' malicious deeds.

'The wizards of this world are truly unbridled... That Arch-Mage is practically the ruler here.'

Gathering his thoughts, Roland looked back at the retreating wizard.

The man had mistaken Wallace for a human and the teleportation magic circle for an evil altar... clearly not a competent wizard.

However, the aura of magic emanating from him was genuinely that of an advanced apprentice. Although his magic power wasn't as potent as Wallace's, the two were on the same tier.

At this moment, the enemies had closed in, surrounding them.

Roland's expression grew slightly solemn.

Both nobles possessed the strength of low-level knights, while the two knights were of intermediate rank.

Crucially, their armor was of exceptional quality, seemingly forged from something better than ordinary iron, and embedded with apprentice-level enchantments.

Chain Lightning was ineffective against such full-plate armor; he would likely have to resort to close-quarters combat.

Furthermore, the hundred-plus soldiers and hunters were armed with crossbows and longbows, and the group was accompanied by dozens of ferocious hounds... This force was rather troublesome.

Roland believed Wallace could handle the advanced apprentice.

As for himself... the magical stone in his lantern was nearly depleted, and it could not withstand a volley from so many bows and crossbows.

Therefore, if those four knight-tier combatants dispersed to pin him down, he would be slowly worn to death by this hundred-man mob.

If a real fight broke out, the four knights would certainly die, but there was an eighty percent chance he wouldn't survive either.

'Wallace has really stirred up a massive trouble... I cannot fight these people head-on. Brother Wallace, my capabilities are limited. If things turn south, I'll be slipping away.'

Just as Roland was pondering in secret, Wallace suddenly smiled at the crowd and chanted a hellish incantation in a gloomy, demonic tongue. Immediately afterward, the four knights and nobles who had just surrounded them clutched their abdomens and rolled on the ground in agony.

Following that, pairs of skeletal hands forcefully burst from the chests and abdomens of the four men. The bony hands tore through their ribs and armor, ripping out their hearts.

Wallace reached out toward the distant hearts, and the four hearts flew up one after another, dropping deep into his shadowy hood.

"Fine flesh, prime sacrifices (chewing sounds)..."

The crimson eyes (flames) beneath Wallace's hood flickered, and he swept a sinister gaze across the crowd like a wolf observing lambs led to slaughter: "What a magnificent feast... Heh heh heh heh."

A sharp, piercing shriek from one of the noblewomen shattered the silence.

The numerous private guards and hunters snapped out of their daze; like stray dogs encountering a formidable lion, they fled in all directions!

——"A fiend!!! It's a fiend!!"

In their panic, some private guards randomly discharged the bolts from their crossbows. While a few arrows passed harmlessly through Wallace's hollow form, most struck their own companions.

Roland sidestepped to dodge a stray bolt. Looking at the chaotic mob, he felt a profound sense of surprise.

Roland had originally thought the knights, private guards, and hunters would be a major headache, but he had been viewing the problem with the mindset of a swordsman.

If Wallace had displayed some supreme swordsmanship, these ignorant folks wouldn't have reacted this way.

However, Wallace was a wizard—a mysterious, terrifying fiend. The less these people knew, the more intimidating the fiend's magic became.

Thus, once Wallace revealed his true nature and killed a few of the ringleaders, the remaining people's will was shattered by the unknown.

Wallace began his massacre. He waved his arms toward the fleeing soldiers and chanted an incantation in demonic language, whereupon several individuals in the crowd instantly ignited like torches.

This was hellfire, which reduced those few people to ashes in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, ashes danced on the wind; wherever the ashes landed, whatever they touched would instantly catch fire like dry straw and burn into ash with a crackling roar.

In just this brief moment, twenty or thirty people had perished!

Roland's face drained of color: 'Is this the power of an advanced apprentice?! After leveling up, this fellow's strength is definitely no less than that abyss demon (lesser) in the palace!'

The ashes multiplied, the raging fire spread wider and wider, threatening to engulf the entire forest!

At that moment, a sudden gale swept through, lifting the ash-filled sky into a roaring vortex. The source of the spreading flames among the crowd was cut off, and they gradually died out.

The one who intervened was none other than the rogue wizard who had been teaching his students swordsmanship.

This man was not incompetent; rather, he was exceedingly skilled!

Sending people over earlier had been purely a test, and his deliberate retreat from the battlefield was meant to avoid getting entangled in the skirmish.

Now that Wallace had depleted a fair amount of magic on the foot soldiers, and the rogue wizard had gained a preliminary understanding of Wallace's techniques, he decisively made his move.

"Evil entity! Your time of death has come!"

Amidst the swirling winds, the Arch-Mage held a longsword in one hand and a grand staff in the other, his white beard whipping in the gale as he chanted spell after spell.

Vaguely, Roland sensed that the tornado in the sky was actually exuding a surging, terrifying magical power.

As the Arch-Mage chanted, the whirlwind gradually took physical form, as if the Arch-Mage was summoning an extraordinary elemental creature!

——"Ancient Prince of Winds~! Obey the ancient covenant and heed my summons~"

In the blink of an eye, the towering, building-sized tornado transformed into a wind giant with a human upper body and a swirling vortex for a lower body!

Upon closer inspection, a crown of winds rested upon its head!

It positioned itself between the Arch-Mage and Wallace, using its massive body to shield the Arch-Mage and the crowd behind him. To defeat the Arch-Mage with magic, one first had to defeat this entity!

Roland stared at the towering wind giant before him, his mind completely blank.

"Is this an advanced apprentice?! Is this something a wizard apprentice can accomplish?!"

The Arch-Mage's titles were indeed exaggerated and sounded like deceptions, but some of those titles were the real deal.

Yet why did Wallace still call him a rogue wizard?

So-called rogue wizards referred to three types of people.

The first type consisted of wizards expelled from formal wizard factions.

The second type were those who cultivated under a solitary wizard without joining any organized faction.

The third type were individuals who accidentally acquired some wizard heritage and cultivated themselves to success in the mundane world through their own abilities.

To put it plainly, rogue wizards were independent practitioners.

If Roland were ever expelled from his sect, he would also be branded a rogue wizard.

Roland believed this independent practitioner possessed genuine strength.

Relying solely on this wind magic technique, creating a minor magical sect would be entirely effortless for him... Vice President, he indeed seemed to have established a faction in the mortal world (the Radiant Magic Guild).

"Hmph, all show and no substance."

Wallace let out a cold snort and said, "Roland, you haven't dealt with true wizards, so your exposure is far too limited. Watch closely how I handle this thing. When you travel in the outside world in the future, don't let these minor faction tricks intimidate you."