Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Obtained
’He’s not in the trees, not on the ground... Don’t tell me he’s in the earth?’
An unlikely idea popped into Rite’s head as he looked around and stomped on the ground.
"In the earth? What would he be doing in the earth?"
Hearing this, Jesse’s brow furrowed even deeper.
’Why would Andre go into the earth for no good reason?’
’There are no treasures in the earth, nothing special. If there *is* anything special, it would only be the Magical Beasts that live underground.’
"That’s possible. Otherwise, why would the Lightning Leopard and the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf be circling this spot?"
Ferguson’s brow smoothed out as he looked at the ground beneath his feet.
"Don’t tell me Andre hid the Divine Blood underground?"
’Jesse still didn’t understand why Andre would go underground. By hiding it there, wasn’t Andre afraid the Divine Blood would be eaten by a subterranean Magical Beast?’
"Whether he is or not, we’ll find out by looking," Rite said with a nod. He turned to his Lightning Leopard and shouted, "Continuous electric shock!"
The Lightning Leopard let out a roar, lowered its body, and began to gather power.
The moment the Lightning Leopard crouched down, Jesse also took a deep breath and shouted to his own Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf.
"Storm, chain of Wind Blades! Target: the ground below!"
After Jesse finished speaking, the Lightning Leopard spat out a series of lightning bolts, blasting the ground beneath them.
As the lightning flashed, the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf also spat out streams of Wind Blades at the ground.
In an instant, wind and thunder raged. The entire ground trembled, dust filled the air, and dirt and rocks flew everywhere.
But when the Lightning Leopard and the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf finished unleashing their Talent Witchcraft, there was only dirt and rock on the ground—no trace of Andre.
’Nothing... Impossible. Where else could he have gone besides underground?’
Jesse stared at the ground in confusion. Logically, a tunnel dug by Andre’s own power should have collapsed after being attacked by two Level 1 Magical Beasts like the Lightning Leopard and the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf.
’By now, Andre should have sent out a distress signal to the outside world.’
But there was still no sign of Andre in the deep crater.
"No, he *is* underground."
Rite shook his head as he watched the movements of the Lightning Leopard and the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf.
At this moment, the two Magical Beasts were circling the deep crater they had created with their Talent Witchcraft, sniffing constantly. Then, they leaped into it and began digging furiously with their claws.
"The man’s in the ground. You two, get the Lightning Leopard and the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf out of there."
Ferguson watched the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf and the Lightning Leopard start to dig, a flicker of eagerness in his eyes.
Then, he called over his own Gale Eagle.
The Gale Eagle let out a cry, spread its wings, and flew into the air.
A series of Wind Blades rained down on the ground with every flap of its wings.
The moment the Wind Blades appeared, the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf and the Lightning Leopard leaped out of the crater and ran to their masters’ sides, roaring incessantly at the Gale Eagle in the sky.
"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM." The Gale Eagle directed the Wind Blades to strike the same spot repeatedly.
After a long time, the Gale Eagle landed back on a tree and folded its wings.
"Storm, blow away this dust."
Jesse took out a piece of unidentifiable beast meat, stuffed it into the Wind-Chasing Giant Wolf’s mouth, and patted Storm’s head.
Storm nodded, swallowed the meat, took a deep breath, and cast the Level 0 Witchcraft, Gale Technique, blowing all the smoke and dust away.
When the dust settled, Jesse, Ferguson, and Rite walked up to the crater and looked inside.
But they still couldn’t see Andre, who should have been in the crater.
"If he’s really underground, just how deep is this!"
Jesse’s expression soured as he looked at the scene before him.
’Did we guess wrong? Is Andre not underground?’
At this point, Rite, who had just been insisting that Andre was underground, couldn’t help but doubt his own idea.
Meanwhile, Andre had already left the spot where he had carved out his underground space.
After waking from his sleep, Andre used witchcraft to manipulate earth and stone, burying the underground space where he had slept the previous night.
At the same time, he carved out a new tunnel and continued to explore underground, occasionally letting Potato out of the Servant Bag to sense the surrounding Earth Element.
By the time Rite and Jesse had their Magical Beasts bombard the ground, Andre was already more than a hundred meters away.
’As I expected, someone’s chasing me!’
Andre’s face darkened as he felt the tremors in the earth and rock behind him.
’Why didn’t the Four Great Clans come looking for this drop of Divine Blood before? Why wait 3,000 years to search for it now?’
Andre pushed forward relentlessly. Every so often, he would seal the tunnel behind him, cutting off any possibility of pursuit.
At the same time, he pondered the Four Great Clans’ motive for seeking the Divine Blood.
’Could it be that someone from the Four Great Clans, just like me, has discovered the Secret Realm left by my ancestors?’
Andre thought of the Secret Realm he had found in the Black and White Forest. If that were the case, it would make perfect sense for the Four Great Clans to only now, after three thousand years, be searching for the Divine Blood.
’My ancestors’ wealth must absolutely not fall into their hands!’
As Andre thought of this, a vicious glint appeared in his eyes.
These Secret Realms were all left behind by his ancestors before they died.
In other words, all the treasures within these Secret Realms belonged to him. They were also the steps that would help him become stronger.
But now, the treasures that should have been his were being targeted by the Four Great Clans.
’Is there any way to change all this?’
Andre walked through the tunnel, pondering this point.
But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with a solution.
Unless he could bring that Secret Realm under his own control. But to do that, he would have to forge his own Ladder of Truth and become an Official Wizard.
Otherwise, his only option was to use a treasure containing the Power of Space to sever the connection between the Secret Realm and the outside world, preventing it from being opened by others.
If he didn’t, it was only a matter of time before the Secret Realm was opened.
If the people within the Four Great Clans got desperate, they could ask a Morning Star Great Wizard from one of their clans to attack it.
No matter how many safeguards his ancestors had left in the Secret Realm, it wouldn’t be able to withstand such an assault.
’Damn it! I absolutely can’t let them steal what’s mine. But right now, my own Power is too weak. I can’t change the situation at all.’
Andre walked through the tunnel, extremely frustrated and helpless about his situation.
He was completely outmatched, and not just by a small margin.
The gap between a Morning Star Great Wizard and a High Level Wizard Apprentice... a gap like that was truly difficult to overcome.
’What should I do...?’
Andre continuously wracked his brain for a countermeasure, cross-referencing everything with the books he had seen in the Wizard Inheritance Hall.
But even after going through everything, he couldn’t think of a solution.
And just as Andre was racking his brains, a sharp pain shot through his forehead.
’What’s happening?’
Andre clutched his forehead, his mind pulling away from his memories. He looked at what was in front of him and saw a massive Crystal had appeared before him.
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