Chapter 522: Erosion

Chapter 522: Erosion

"A few frenzied magical beasts suddenly charged at the city gates. Fortunately, the guards spotted them in time and closed the gates before any casualties occurred," Saniate explained.

Li Wei looked down below. The flying snow gradually settled, revealing the figures of four magical beasts.

Roar! Howl!

All four beasts showed signs of demonic transformation—black veins covered their bodies, their eyes were bloodshot, and their nature had become violent and cruel.

One beast raised its head toward the people on the city wall.

It leaped up and sprinted along the wall.

"Stop it quickly! Attack!" shouted a guard atop the wall.

Everyone swung their weapons, attacking the beast as it raced up the wall, trying to prevent it from reaching the top.

Even though filled with rage and cruelty, the beast knew that if struck, it would fall.

It swiftly dodged attacks from the guards while running horizontally along the wall, heading for where defenses were weakest.

"Howl!"

Seizing an opportunity, the beast leaped again and landed on the wall.

Boom!

The moment it touched the ground, it whipped its tail fiercely, knocking several guards aside.

Other guards rushed forward immediately to surround it.

Clang clang...

Weapons clashed continuously against sharp claws, echoing across the battlefield.

From time to time, someone was sent flying.

Though individually weaker than the beast, the guards outnumbered it greatly.

Using this advantage, they managed to restrain the demonically transformed creature, preventing further chaos on the wall.

However, such peace did not last long.

The other three beasts followed suit.

While one was successfully knocked off the wall, the remaining two found openings and climbed onto the ramparts, wreaking havoc.

Defense upon the walls grew increasingly chaotic.

More and more soldiers fell wounded under the assault of these corrupted creatures.

"Ahhhhh..."

A valkyrie collapsed beneath the strike of a demonized beast. As she stared into the gaping maw dripping with blood before her, she screamed in terror.

"Ice Prison!"

Gusewei cast a spell; elemental ice rapidly spread across the wall.

Crack crack crack!

Frost enveloped everything, instantly forming three icy prisons that tightly trapped the three beasts within.

Bang bang bang!

The beasts slammed violently against the pillars of their frozen cages but could only shake loose some frost—they couldn't break free.

Li Wei gazed at the demonized beasts below the wall and casually released a spell.

"Ray of Freezing!"

A beam of azure-blue light shot out, striking a beast too slow to dodge.

In an instant, the beast froze solid like a statue, losing all life.

Ray of Freezing was a fourth-tier spell.

It proved more than sufficient against beasts whose strength barely reached third tier after being demonically transformed.

Indeed, one might even call it overkill.

Amidst the snowy landscape, ice-element spells gained additional power from environmental enhancement, making them even stronger.

Taking advantage of this natural boost, Li Wei chose to fight using ice-based magic rather than fire-based ones.

Why waste energy when you don’t have to?

With Gusewei controlling the three demonized beasts, orders were given to take them back for study.

Guards attacked through the icy prisons until each beast lay severely injured and unable to resist, then locked them securely inside real cages bound for the Ice Jade Palace.

Li Wei and Gusewei departed ahead of the others.

On the way, they encountered Guze hurrying toward them.

"Why are you leaving so urgently? What happened?" Guze asked anxiously.

"Nothing much—a few demonized beasts attacked the gate. We've already dealt with them," Li Wei replied lightly.

Guze frowned curiously. "You keep mentioning 'demonized beasts.' Just what exactly are those things?"

"We'll explain as we walk," said Li Wei.

As the trio returned to the Ice Jade Palace, Li Wei took the chance to briefly explain demonic transformation and transformed creatures to Guze.

Guze gasped in shock. "Are you saying these demonized beasts are connected to ancient demon gods?"

"That seems highly likely based on current evidence," Li Wei responded.

"At least prior to the appearance of the Demon God Apostles, there were no traces of transformed creatures anywhere in the Far North Ice Plains."

While speaking, Li Wei glanced at Gusewei.

Understanding his meaning, Gusewei paused in thought before replying, "That's true. I grew up in Volred City and never heard of such beings—not even the Snow Queen herself knows anything about these monsters."

After recovering from his initial shock, worry crept into Guze’s voice. "So does that mean these transformed creatures are harbingers of invasion by ancient demon gods? Is our world now in danger...?"

But Li Wei hadn’t dwelled much on such thoughts.

According to Basam, apostle of the Demon Gods, the ancient deities had never ceased attempting to invade the Celestial World.

Only divine forces kept them barred beyond its borders.

Even should transformed creatures appear, the demonic race banished eons ago surely wouldn’t return easily to the Celestial World.

Rather than fretting about demons whose arrival remained uncertain,

Li Wei preferred focusing instead on the growing threat posed by increasing numbers of demonized beasts.

His plan was simple—to abandon Volred City, leave the Far North Ice Plains altogether, and distance themselves from the source of peril.

But Gu Guwei would certainly not agree.

And, Li Wei did not want to run away anymore.

Fleeing from the Elemental Tower to this place, he had no desire for a vagrant life.

What Li Wei wanted was very simple, merely a place where he could cultivate in peace and feel free.

In the face of a massive potential threat, it was still far too early to speak of freedom.

The City of Ice and Snow had done no more than provide him with a sanctuary.

Li Wei did not want his peace to be shattered.

He was trying to find a way to resolve the crisis of demonization.

Returning to the interior of the Ice Jade Palace, Gu Ze finally beheld a demonized magical beast.

"So this is a demonized magical beast? It does look somewhat peculiar." Gu Ze stood beside the cage, looking at the heavily injured beast crouching on the ground inside.

"Roar!"

The magical beast was covered in blood, breathing its last from severe injuries.

Yet upon seeing Gu Ze, it remained entirely ferocious and full of aggression.

Even Gu Ze was startled by the beast's roar.

Taking a step back, he composed himself, his old face flushing instantly with a touch of embarrassment.

Li Wei and Gu Guwei, however, paid no mind to his movements.

The two of them each chose a demonized magical beast to study.

From the perspective of mages, they explored and researched various factors such as the causes, transformations, characteristics, and abilities of the demonized beasts.

Mental power was an exceptionally useful research tool.

Li Wei’s powerful mental strength allowed him to discern the internal structure of the demonized beast’s bodily tissues without having to dissect it.

It even possessed the effect of a microscopic lens.

The premise for this was that the demonized beast would not resist Li Wei’s unbridled perception.

Therefore, keeping the demonized beast heavily injured was a prerequisite.

For a mage possessing absolute strength, there was no need to care about so many conditions.

One could simply suppress it directly with mental power.

"Hmm?"

As Li Wei withdrew his mental power from the demonized beast's body, he felt as though his mental strength had suffered the corrosion of an abnormal force.

He hurriedly turned his head to look at Gu Guwei, warning her, "Be careful, the power of the demon seed will corrode mental strength."

Gu Guwei nodded with a grave expression; even without Li Wei’s reminder, she had already perceived it.

Li Wei possessed the Sacred Power and the Sun of the Sea of Mind, granting him extremely potent resistance against all kinds of abnormal statuses and corrosive forces.

The corrosive effect wrought upon his mental power by the demon seed was swiftly purified and cleared away.

Yet this did not mean he could ignore the threat of demonization.

What he was encountering now was merely the weakest force of demonization.

It was poles apart from the true power of demonization.

"Demonization, just what kind of power is it?"

At night, Li Wei pondered within his dream.

The silhouette of a demonized magical beast manifested before his eyes.

Based on his understanding of demonized creatures, he had constructed this demonized creature within the dreamworld.

However, Li Wei constantly felt that the demonized creature before him was vastly different from a real one.

Li Wei felt that demonization was not merely a physical mutation, but might also involve the mind, and even the soul.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sound of knocking echoed.

Li Wei looked toward the door of the dreamworld.

Seeing the person outside the door, he was somewhat surprised, and he opened the door to let her walk inside.

"Why have you come here?"

Li Wei looked at Gu Guwei in considerable astonishment.

Gu Guwei had mastered the method of entering the dreamworld within the Secret Realm of Time.

However, she was not a true dreamwalker; detached from Li Wei, she could not remain conscious to control the dream at all times.

Especially after leaving the Secret Realm of Time, Gu Guwei had not entered Li Wei’s dream again.

This was the first time.

Gu Guwei walked before him in silence, suddenly leaning against his chest, remaining completely motionless.

Li Wei froze on the spot, his raised right hand unsure of what to do.

Sensing the agitation and panic within Gu Guwei’s heart.

He gently caressed her back.

"It's alright, I'm here, everything will be fine."

After comforting Gu Guwei for a while, and waiting until her emotions returned to normal.

Only then did Li Wei inquire why she had come here.

He minded her abnormal behavior deeply.

A trace of dread surfaced in Gu Guwei’s eyes, and she said with some fear, "I dreamed of demonization..."

Gu Guwei said she had dreamed that she herself was demonized.

And then, she had appeared in the dreamworld.

Li Wei’s brow furrowed as he spoke in haste, "Do not move, let me examine your body."

Within the dreamworld, what manifested was the most essential existence at the level of the soul.

If there were any abnormality in the soul, signs would bound to be revealed.

Utilizing the rules of the dreamworld, Li Wei examined Gu Guwei’s soul.

A moment later, he let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, no signs of demonization had appeared in Gu Guwei’s soul.

He had suspected just now that the power of demonization could affect the soul, which was why he had been so worried.

After all, when Gu Guwei was studying the demonized creatures in the afternoon, her mental power had suffered the corrosion of the demon seed’s power.

Li Wei worried that this would leave behind lingering consequences.

After completing his examination, he still felt uneasy.

"Wait here, I'll come find you right away," Li Wei said.

Gusevi seemed somewhat surprised. "Ah, there's... there's no need for that, is there?"

Li Wei's expression turned serious. "The demon seed comes from the power of the Demon God—it must be treated with the utmost caution."

Having finished speaking, Li Wei first helped Gusevi exit the dream world.

Upon leaving the dream world, he immediately rushed to Gusevi's room.

Gusevi sat on the bed wearing a light, thin nightgown.

Knock knock knock!

A knocking sound echoed.

Li Wei's voice came from beyond the door.

"I'm coming in."

Li Wei pushed open the door and walked inside.

Moonlight streamed into the room through the window, and Gusevi sitting on the bed resembled a fairy who had descended from the moon itself.

(End of chapter)