Translator: AnubisTL
Following Jack and Levin Mills through this bizarre world where gravity was inverted and the sea of clouds served as the ground, Jieming soon spotted over a dozen figures floating in the distance.
He immediately recognized them as the remaining members of Jack's Team, whom he had seen earlier at Intersection Point Plaza.
However, they were now drifting silently in place, each separated by a considerable distance.
Some had their eyes closed, seemingly focusing their minds as if remotely controlling something.
Others kept their eyes open, but their gazes were vacant, clearly indicating that their primary attention lay elsewhere.
After a long silence, one of the wizards, a particularly stout figure, slowly opened his eyes.
His small eyes were filled with undisguised disappointment.
He sighed heavily before noticing Jack and Levin Mills approaching, followed by Jieming and the other newly arrived wizards.
"Jack, you're back," the stout wizard greeted him listlessly.
He then glanced at the number of wizards standing behind Jack, his face showing even greater disappointment.
"Why are there so few?"
"Given the current situation, finding anyone willing to cooperate is already a win," Jack said, shrugging helplessly.
"...You're right," the corpulent wizard replied after considering the circumstances outside, and said no more.
After finishing his conversation with the corpulent wizard, Jack turned to the newly arrived wizard behind him and said sternly, "Get ready to work."
The corpulent wizard nodded silently.
Suddenly, the exposed skin on his body began to writhe violently, like rippling water!
Then, a small lump of flesh, about the size of a bean, detached itself from his massive frame as if it were a piece of clay forcibly pinched off.
Under the astonished gazes of the others, the wriggling flesh rapidly transformed, stretching and contorting into a grotesque creature resembling an enormous mosquito.
In the blink of an eye, the corpulent wizard had conjured a swarm of these colossal "mosquito" that filled the sky around him!
His already massive body visibly shrank after shedding so much flesh.
Under the corpulent wizard's control, the buzzing "mosquito" swiftly divided into twelve groups of varying sizes and flew toward the assembled wizards.
During the initial recruitment, Jack had already explained the mission's specific procedures to everyone, so the others present didn't raise any objections.
Each wizard activated their mental power and signed soul contracts with the "mosquito" that flew before them, one by one.
Jieming faced the largest swarm of "mosquito," outnumbering the combined swarms of the other eleven first-tier wizard "colleagues."
He could only patiently mobilize his mental power, which far surpassed that of his peers, and extend his mental tendrils like threads, immersing each "mosquito" one by one.
These reconnaissance-type biochemical modification beasts differed from ordinary cannon fodder units used for frontal assaults.
For standard cannon fodder, a basic contract ensuring remote control was sufficient.
But these sophisticated reconnaissance beasts required deeper soul contracts to transmit the captured visuals and information back in real-time without loss.
Although these contracts could be terminated after the mission, if the contracted creatures were killed before termination, the wizard would suffer a spiritual backlash.
Even upon their death, the soul shock generated by the mosquitoes would still impact a wizard's mental power.
If too many died at once, it could even cause permanent damage to the wizard's soul.
Given this fatal flaw, only specialized "reconnaissance-type" wizards with exceptionally resilient souls would dare use this method.
Most ordinary wizards would opt for safer and more convenient "reconnaissance-type wizardry."
However, the advantages of using mosquitoes were undeniable: they drastically increased a wizard's scouting range and provided far more precise intelligence.
Once everyone had established contracts with their mosquito swarms, Levin Mills nodded. "We've already searched this area thoroughly. Now, we need you to advance further and conduct the next round of reconnaissance."
The wizards nodded silently.
The experienced Jack stepped forward first, leaving behind a small, faintly glowing metal sphere as a reference point for their return.
Seeing this, the other hired wizards followed suit, each using their own methods to mark their coordinates.
Jieming flicked his wrist, sending forth a nearly invisible "Glimmering Eye" that vanished silently into the swirling mists below.
Sensing the stable connection between this "Glimmering Eye" and the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror, Jieming nodded in satisfaction.
He then glanced at Levin Mills and the others, who had already begun moving, his expression slightly puzzled. "They're starting already?"
He frowned briefly but said nothing, falling into step behind Levin Mills.
Under Levin Mills' direction, Jack's Team and the newly arrived wizards gradually dispersed.
Based on the number of "mosquito" bound by their contracts, they formed a massive fan-shaped formation, flying forward while scattering their contracted mosquito like dandelion seeds at intervals ranging from tens to hundreds of kilometers, maintaining a safe distance between them.
Each wizard meticulously searched the conical area ahead of them, employing a dragnet-like approach.
The search process proved remarkably tedious.
The landscape was oppressively monotonous, offering little variation.
Occasionally, they encountered bizarre creatures that had spontaneously evolved in this region.
The attacks launched by these creatures had become mere amusements, like toys to relieve the monotony of the group's search.
As Jieming flew forward, he suddenly glimpsed through the shared vision of a mosquito flying at the vanguard—a blurry, distant sight of a group of incredibly fast creatures hurtling straight toward them!
These beings moved at astonishing speed.
The sonic booms trailing behind them confirmed they had effortlessly surpassed the speed of sound!
Their velocity was so extreme that Jieming could barely make out their forms even through the mosquito's enhanced vision.
He could only discern that every inch of their bodies was streamlined, like living white bullets streaking through the air at hypersonic speeds!
Two minutes later, when the creatures entered his standard reconnaissance range, Jieming's transcendent vision allowed him to clearly discern their forms.
After a quick calculation based on their approach speed and his reconnaissance range, Jieming was astonished to discover that these beings were averaging speeds well over triple the speed of sound!
Fortunately, Jieming had activated his rune-imbued magical artifact, the "Acceleration" talisman, the moment he detected the creatures.
The "Acceleration" talisman drastically enhanced his neural reaction speed, preventing him from being unable to even discern their forms as he had moments before.
As the swarm of creatures rapidly approached without slowing down, it was clear that being struck by them would be disastrous.
Jieming extended his finger, aiming at the distant, high-speed attackers.
He tentatively unleashed a fireball compressed several times over.
The fireball expanded explosively the instant it left his fingertip.
Originally the size of a fist, the fireball swelled to a diameter exceeding a hundred meters after traveling several hundred meters, transforming into a blazing crimson "mini-sun"!
It tore through the sky faster than the creatures, leaving a long, fiery red trail in its wake.
At the moment of impact, it detonated with a deafening roar!
BOOM!!!
A terrifying force erupted violently!
In the mid-air collision, a colossal fireball, over a kilometer in diameter, erupted in a swirling inferno!
Infinite light and heat were unleashed in that instant, instantly vaporizing the surrounding clouds and creating a brief vacuum-like zone.
This was the true destructive power of a normal second-tier wizard.
Its force was already sufficient to effortlessly obliterate Jieming's former village or town.
And not just the kind of destruction that kills living beings, but the kind that completely levels an entire precinct, including the earth and buildings, leaving nothing but scorched earth—true annihilation!
Suddenly confronted with such an attack head-on, the high-speed creatures suffered catastrophic casualties.
Yet several vanguard creatures, their strength already at the peak of the second-tier, endured the explosion's aftershocks thanks to their sturdy carapaces and formidable vitality, retaining their mobility.
Watching them merely adjust their posture before charging toward him again with even greater speed, Jieming couldn't help but frown.
"This is quite troublesome. Without access to 'matter manipulation' and 'force field' spells, capturing these creatures alive without killing them will be no easy task."
After a moment's thought, Jieming glanced at the rune-imbued magical artifact on his wrist but decided against using it.
Instead, he raised his fingers again, focusing elemental power at his fingertips.
The battle continued for a while longer.
Ultimately, Jieming relied on his destructive spells, carefully controlling their power, to severely injure the living missile-like creatures one by one.
Only after incapacitating them could he successfully capture them.
At the same time, Jieming keenly sensed violent energy fluctuations coming from the distance.
It seemed the other wizards were also under attack.
"But since no one has called for help in the team channel, there's probably no immediate cause for concern."
With that thought, Jieming didn't linger. He continued his exploration deeper into the area.
(End of the Chapter)
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