Water Mage in the Flame Realm-Chapter 407 - 392: The Vanished Teleportation Gate

Chapter 407: Chapter 392: The Vanished Teleportation Gate

"It’s over, this is the true end—I’m the winner, and you’ve lost, Lily."

The dragon breath comprised of the Fire of Greed not only made all the Water Mages in front of him disappear, but also devoured a large chunk of seawater, forming a massive crater on the sea’s surface.

The black flame receded, and after a moment, the seawater around the crater slowly then quickly rushed back into the pit. For a time, the waves were surging, and the sea roared with tumultuous waves.

And Aran, he stood silently on the sea surface, a pair of crab pincers hanging down, submerged in the seawater.

"In the end, I’ve walked the same path as my father, grandfather, and all the Arans before me..."

He thought to himself, "I’ve also become a Desolate Beast."

The Flame Warriors practicing the regular Dragon Transformation Combat Techniques ultimately lose control and transform into Desolate Beasts resembling sand lizards. Such is the case for the Desolate Beasts of the Inner Sea Desert.

Flame Warriors practicing the new version of the Dragon Transformation Combat Techniques seemingly resolved this issue, but in reality, they’ll still lose control eventually, and in a more complete manner. Once completely out of control, they turn into crab-shaped Desolate Beasts. This is true for all the Flame Warriors in the Water God Realm, including generations of Aran.

It is said that regardless of the new or old Combat Techniques, once out of control and transformed into Desolate Beasts, they no longer retain their sanity.

However, this generation’s Aran has broken through in the extreme, unprecedentedly transforming into a Desolate Beast while retaining full rationality.

With such power, returning to the Flame Realm could have an incalculable impact on the Second Dual Fire War.

But Aran was not happy about this, because: "The generation of Arans who created the new Dragon Transformation Combat Techniques also thought they had solved the problem of loss of control due to practicing Combat Techniques, but in the end, it only ’delayed’ the loss of control. Now I retain my sanity, which doesn’t mean I can always maintain it—it’s probably just another delay."

Of course, he wasn’t particularly sad either. At this moment, Aran merely felt relieved and indescribably weary.

The crater burned by the Fire of Greed on the sea surface was now filled again.

It began to drizzle.

Aran calmed his emotions—or rather, he couldn’t really calm them—but as a soldier, he constantly remembered his orders.

So he let his stormy emotions flow freely, hardly considering "whether returning to the Flame Realm in his current form would cause turmoil, especially among the Flame Warriors of the Flame Realm," and silently drew out the Teleportation Gate.

He planned to take the Great Wilderness War Chariot, which generations of Arans and Flame Warriors had transformed into, to leave this battlefield and go home.

He lifted his crab pincers from the seawater and raised them high above his head.

Between the two pincers, a dazzling portal quietly emerged.

It was the Teleportation Gate linking the Water God Realm and the Magic Guild!

The Teleportation Gate appeared.

Then.

The Teleportation Gate disappeared without a trace.

"...?" Aran was stunned.

Now, having lost his human identity and completely in the shape of an odd crab, he found it difficult to display any specific facial expressions.

But his entire crab body froze noticeably at the sudden disappearance of the Teleportation Gate.

"What’s happening?" Aran paused for a moment, and black flames silently ignited on him again.

He was certain that there was nothing wrong with the Teleportation Gate itself.

Nor was there any error in the way he controlled the Teleportation Gate earlier. Abandoning his human form and transforming into a crab did not affect his control over the Teleportation Gate.

If his feeling wasn’t wrong, it seemed as if the Teleportation Gate was... stolen by someone?

"Who’s there? Show yourself!" Aran growled low.

At this moment, despite the drizzle, beams of sunlight penetrated the patchy clouds, casting down alongside the raindrops.

It was a sun shower.

For a time, the space between heaven and earth seemed filled with the misty sunlight and rain, and their intersecting halos, with no sign of any living person besides Aran.

Aran stood amidst the sunlight, rain curtain, and rainbows, his crab legs trembling slightly, fully alert and probing for something.

Until a certain moment, he suddenly shouted, and his left crab pincer swung out fiercely, transforming into a shadow imperceptible due to the speed—it was even faster than the most elite Crimson Knights could manage.

This blazing fast and forceful strike, infused with the Fire of Greed, resulted in directly tearing apart a section of the space.

The sky seemed to be slashed open.

Though the slit quickly healed itself, the time was enough for Aran to catch a glimpse through the breach: behind it lay an ocean, an island, and on the island, a group of injured gathered on the beach.

It turned out to be... the Water Mages that had supposedly been erased by Aran!

"This...?! How—??" Aran was truly shocked now, "What is happening? Weren’t those Water Mages all killed by me just now?"

Thus, though he was reluctant to accept it, he immediately recognized: the Water Mages glimpsed through the breach were not illusions, nor a mirage.

Those were all real!

"And if those were all real, doesn’t that mean..." Aran looked at the scene before him—the sea, the sky, and the sun shower between the sky and the sea—thinking with disbelief, "These are my illusions? Has someone unknowingly dragged me into an illusion realm, making me think I killed all the Water Mages...?"

...

...

"Oh man... this gate is heavy!"

Andrew was controlling a gigantic and intricately detailed Water Element Giant, catching a massive teleportation gate that appeared out of thin air in mid-air.

The moment the gate was caught, the entire body of the Water Element Giant sank suddenly, causing Andrew, the caster, to sway twice.

The massive teleportation gate wobbled in the hands of the Water Giant, appearing as though it was about to topple over.

With a booming sound, another Water Giant appeared out of nowhere, instantly coagulating and forming to hold the gate steadily. The two Giants worked together to securely place the teleportation gate down.

The gate was dim, far from the radiant appearance it had in Aran’s possession. This was because the gate was not in an "activated" state, but rather contained a "resistance" force.

Andrew furrowed his brow, "It seems, to truly use this teleportation gate, we still need to get rid of its owner." He then chuckled, "That’s okay. I wasn’t expecting to secretly get this gate over and use it immediately anyway."

The two Water Element Giants stood on either side, holding the teleportation gate. On the hands of the Giants, water patterns extended and crawled onto the gate, eventually forming an array.

This was an array used to "seal various magic artifacts."

The other end of this teleportation gate was connected to the Magic Guild Headquarters in the Flame Realm.

Andrew thought to himself that although he couldn’t use this teleportation gate for now, he couldn’t let the other side use it either.

Otherwise, if their army received support, or any of the three Earth Fire Scholars came for assistance, it would be very troublesome.

Just like that, Andrew quickly completed the entire seal array.

After confirming that the "sense of connection" between the teleportation gate and the other side in the Flame Realm was indeed temporarily severed, Andrew nodded with satisfaction and then turned around, saying, "Everyone, wait here for a moment, I’ll be right back!"

The teleportation gate, supported by the Water Element Giants, stood on the shallow beach on the east side of an island, its base submerged in shallow seawater.

Andrew was right at the foot of the teleportation gate.

And not far away on the beach, were Silver, Pasha, Natalie, and other Water Mages that Aran had briefly glimpsed through a crack in the illusion realm not long ago.

So yes, Aran indeed did not kill the Water Mages.

The scene of the Fire of Greed engulfing the Water Mages was entirely an illusion created by Andrew using Water Magic.

From the perspective of Silver and the others, they had thought all was lost, watching helplessly as the raging Fire of Greed came towards them, many had already closed their eyes in despair.

However, the expected death did not arrive. Upon coming back to their senses and reopening their eyes, they found themselves on this island.

"What’s... what happened?" Silver was a bit bewildered.

Her silver eyes fell on Andrew, exclaiming in surprise, "It’s you? What did you do? Did you bring us here? Where did you go earlier? After Lady Li transformed into human form, I couldn’t locate you at all."

"Oh, oh, my bad, my bad."

Andrew scratched his head, a bit embarrassed, and said, "When Lady Li shed the whale body, the space-times within also disappeared one by one. But I was in the deepest inner world, so I came out a bit slower than you all."

Silver listened, feeling astonished, thinking to herself, really? At such a critical moment, he was missing, and it was just because he was slow? Are you kidding me!

But that was indeed the reason Andrew had "disappeared" for a time.

With the disappearance of the whale’s body, each small world within it also vanished.

However, the inner world is somewhat different from ordinary space-times. As long as Lady Li is alive, the inner world does not disappear.

Conversely, if Lady Li were to die, the inner world along with those in it, would be annihilated.

So it was indeed a bit dangerous: perhaps due to Lady Li being close to death, his inner world was also on the verge of collapsing, which directly resulted in Andrew being stuck when leaving that inner world!

"Thankfully, there was Pasha!"

Andrew looked at Silver with lingering fear in his heart and said, "I shared memories and experiences with Pasha, so when none of you could find me, she sensed me and pulled me out of that inner world."

Silver looked towards Pasha.

She saw Pasha nodding repeatedly like a little chicken pecking grains, indicating that Andrew was indeed telling the truth.

"Okay." For a moment, Silver didn’t know what to say, feeling a sense of unreality.

She steadied her mind, trying to organize her thoughts, then looked at Andrew again and asked the truly critical question of the moment: "Andrew, did you succeed in your cultivation? Lady Li mentioned earlier that defeating Aran is up to you, which is why she took you into the inner world for special training..."

At this moment, not just Silver, but Pasha, Natalie, and the large group of Water Mages who had narrowly escaped death and stabilized their spirits on the beach also focused their gaze on Andrew. "What is your current state and power, exactly—"