Advent of the Archmage

After crawling in the dark tunnel for a long while, Link finally reached the Red Dragon Queen’s mouth. There were huge fangs all around him. Three layers glinted coldly and overlapped like a forest of blades. It was indeed the mouth of a beast.

Link had only taken a glance before the tongue under his feet suddenly moved and pushed him out the mouth.

Once outside, Link immediately cast a cleansing spell to get rid of the saliva on him. On the other hand, the Red Dragon Queen’s body flashed with red light. Under this light, her body kept shrinking until she looked as she did in the Creation Hall.

There were two things with her too. One was a dark purple rock the size of a skull; the other was two poisonous thorns. It had fallen off of the dragon form.

Gretel’s face was ghastly pale. She was dazed too and had completely free fell from the sky.

Link quickly went to catch her while collecting the dark purple astral rock and thorns. He’d already used all his strength in blocking the thorns but thankfully, he wasn’t poisoned. His Dragon Power recovered quickly as well. Right now, he already gained 1000 points.

Activating the Void Walk, Link went towards the ground.

He only knew that he was inside the Firuman Realm but he didn’t know the specific location. There was a large island with residents below. He prepared to go ask them. However, he wasn’t familiar with the situation here and didn’t want to appear suddenly. He cast an Invisibility spell on them both before descending.

The island was truly large. Even from tens of thousands of feet in the sky and with a dragon’s amazing vision, Link could barely see the borders. This island was probably more than 300 miles wide.

While descending, Link checked Gretel’s state.

Her body was limp as if she didn’t have an ounce of power left. Her eyelids were half-closed but her eyes moved slightly. This meant she was still conscious. However, her Dragon Power aura was very faint. Other than her Dragon Power, a powerful Void aura radiated from her.

These were the classic symptoms of being poisoned. After a player was poisoned in the game, a Magician’s Mana bar or a Warrior’s Battle Aura would keep getting eroded until it disappeared. Then it would turn into something called the Chaotic Rot.

The poisoned would die at this time and become a puppet controlled by the Chaotic Rot. The poisonous centipede had two choices. One was to absorb the Chaotic Rot and transform it into its own power. The second was to keep it as its slave and eat when needed.

The Void Centipede’s poison was very unique. All antidotes in Firuman were ineffective against it. However, Link knew two ways to detoxify it.

The first was the orthodox method. He would use a new antidote. There was a mission in the game that described how an alchemist experimented on a poisoned person to find the antidote. The player’s mission was to collect all the materials for the alchemist.

This was the best solution; it could completely eradicate the poison. However, Link didn’t know the recipe and specific method of creating the antidote. He was mostly clueless about advanced alchemy. He had to scrap this idea.

The other solution was to seal it. He could seal all the contaminated power with a spell. However, the poisoned would lose all power and become an average person.

This solution couldn’t eradicate the poison; it could only buffer it.

"Your Highness, how do you feel?" Link asked.

"I can’t control my body. My power is completely eroded." Gretel’s voice was as quiet as a mosquito.

Clearly, this poisoner’s power was extremely strong. The poison effect was abnormally intense too. Even a Level-11 Legendary figure couldn’t withstand it.

Link stopped the Void Walk and changed to a falling spell that was easier on his mind. He carried Gretel bridal style and opened her eyes to check the situation.

Her eyes used to be red and white; they were beautiful. Now, the red iris was unchanged but black vessels appeared in the white part. She was deeply poisoned. If he didn’t use the sealing spell quickly, Gretel would probably lose consciousness.

During this time, another 1000 Dragon Power points had recovered. He didn’t know specific sealing spells but he’d saved 800 Omni Points.

Open spell list, Link thought.

His vision flashed. Countless spell cards shone before him; they were all Legendary cards. Link scanned them and quickly found what he needed.

Void Shackle

Level-12 Legendary Spell

Cost: 13000 Dragon Power points

Effect: Use unparalleled strength to create a special shackling magic. It can seal any type of power in the world and is impossible to open.

(Note: Other than the spell-caster, no one can undo the seal.)

Link had around 2000 Dragon Power points now and was recovering at a rate of 39 points per second. He’d also activated the recovery effect of the Dragon King Belt. It would take around three minutes to reach 11000 Dragon Power points.

This wasn’t too long but Link worried that Gretel couldn’t survive until then. He checked her eyes again. There were more black vessels. The crystal-red irises were slightly contaminated too, turning dark red.

Link knew that when her eyes turned pure black, Gretel would become a puppet. Judging from the speed that the poison was spreading, she might not last until Link could cast the spell.

The most important thing now was to keep Gretel’s consciousness strong. She couldn’t defeat the poison with a strong desire to live, but she could at least delay it.

"Your Highness," Link murmured comfortingly. "You are in extreme danger but I have a way to cure you. I just need time to regenerate Dragon Power..."

Gretel’s eyes were still half-closed. "Link," she mumbled. "It’s eating away at me. I can’t keep going. I see the boundless darkness."

Link grew anxious. Grasping her hand, he exclaimed, "Your Majesty, can you hear me? I can cure you!"

"I’m not Your Majesty. Call me Tellie."

Her voice was very soft but still clear enough. Link hesitated a bit before saying, "Tellie, do you know when we first met?"

Link changed his tactics. He stopped using flat language to persuade her. Instead, he tried to distract her.

As expected, Gretel was attracted by his words. "Wasn’t it in the Dragon Square?"

"No, it wasn’t there. It was in my dream."

"Dream?" Gretel’s voice was confused but also louder.

"Yes. In the dream, we met in the Delonga Kingdom. At that time, the Norton Kingdom hadn’t stopped the Dark Army and the Dark Elves went South with their divine gear. Just as the humans were about to be defeated, you appeared with the Dragon Army. The entire sky was burning with the fire of dragons and you—you were the queen amongst the flames."

Link was describing a scene from the game. It was a video of the Dragon Army joining the battle between light and dark. New careers such as Dragon Warrior and Dragon Magician were opened after that.

In the video, the Red Dragon Queen’s appearance was incredible. No one could stop her Dragon Power. She was also gorgeous like an ideal first love and gained many fans. For two consecutive years, she was rated as the most beloved game character. As expected, all gamers would fall for a true queen.

Link thought back to the video and smiled. He was already a Level-9 Magician at that time. He’d seen Milda and Herrera without feeling much but that video really left an impression.

Clearly, Gretel liked listening to this. "Then what?" she murmured. "Did we talk?"

Link chuckled. "Yes. In my dream, I was just an insignificant Magician. After seeing you, I cried out, ’Your Majesty!’ Then you asked me, ’Mortal, what do you want?’ I couldn’t say anything after that and you left because you were busy. I was so sad."

"Dreams aren’t real. I would never... Ah, I’m so dizzy. I see the hallucination. That insect is coming. It’s looking at me!" Gretel’s voice grew heavier. She was panicking.

Link was a bit shocked. He checked his Dragon Power—it was more than 8000 points now. He would have enough power after one more minute.

The whites of Gretel’s eyes were completely black. Her red irises were turning black too. Link couldn’t hold back anymore. "Tellie, I have something I’ve always wanted to say... Are you listening?"

"Yes...I’m listening." Her words were broken but her pale face still filled with anticipation. Her eyes opened a bit wider too. She looked at Link, waiting for him to utter the sentence.

She looked as if she could die in peace after hearing Link say it.

Seeing her like this, Link changed his plan. He couldn’t say everything he’d planned. He needed to use this sentence to keep Gretel alive. "Tellie, you are the most elegant, beautiful, and moving woman I’ve ever seen. In my eyes, you aren’t a high and mighty queen..."

To drag out the time, Link spoke very slowly. Half a minute passed with this one sentence. As he spoke, he observed Gretel’s reaction. Seeing that she kept staring at him in anticipation, Link was a bit assured. He continued, "Actually, I..."

He stopped here; he looked hesitant.

Gretel waited for five full seconds. She was anxious when Link didn’t continue but she didn’t have the energy to urge him. She could only grit her teeth and force herself to stay awake so she wouldn’t miss it.

Link knew what she was thinking so he just wouldn’t say it. One second, two, three... The seconds ticked by. Eight seconds later, Link had enough Dragon Power.

He was relieved. Looking into Gretel’s eyes filled with anticipation, he lowered himself and whispered in her ears, "Tellie, actually, I can save you."