What Master Haber pulled out were all casting materials required for the spell [Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound].
He tossed these three items into the air, chanting that familiar incantation in a clear and powerful tone.
Following the completion of the spell, a massive figure composed of pure force field energy, with a transparency of about 15%, appeared out of thin air in the passage.
That was a Saxon Shepherd a full size larger than ordinary ones of its kind!
Its entire body emitted a faint magical aura. Although its form was illusory, those sharp fangs and vigorous muscle lines were full of a sense of power.
“Awooo, woof!”
The faithful hound let out a powerful roar, then turned into an afterimage, pouncing fiercely toward the direction of those two Britannian mages without hesitation!
This sudden change startled those two Highland Mages.
It should be known that they had actually been staying in this underground research institute for several days. They hadn’t rested well at all in the previous days, let alone prepared spells.
The [Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere] thrown out earlier was already their last high-tier spell.
So fighting up to this point, they had truly reached the point of almost running out of spells.
“Damn it! Stop it quickly!”
One of the mages shouted in panic. He hastily pulled a revolver from the holster under the armpit of his robe, preparing to cover the other companion to release a magical attack.
But the speed of the faithful hound was too fast. And as a creature purely composed of magic, it had extremely high resistance to most physical attacks.
So the already inaccurate marksmanship, after emptying the six rounds of the revolver, also failed to cause any damage to this massive Saxon Shepherd.
Before his Fireball could take shape, that massive fierce dog had already pounced right in front of the two of them, opening its bloody maw and biting down fiercely.
Seeing this, the other mage couldn’t care about attacking the instruction unit either. He hastily threw out his last [Fireball], backing away wretchedly while pulling his gun, trying to open up distance.
Friends who are often chased by vicious dogs know that humans will somewhat develop fear in this situation, not to mention this was a giant German Shepherd a size larger.
The appearance of [Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound] successfully pinned down these two enemies whose spells were basically depleted and whose marksmanship relied on fate.
On the other side, Master Haber did not stop.
He knew the real threat was those “Sentinels” continuously trying to attack from the other side.
This Tier-4 Conjuration School mage pulled out a handful of grayish-black powder from another pocket of his mage robe and threw it fiercely toward the position of the “Sentinel” unit.
As he calmly completed the spellcasting process, the temperature in the passage plummeted again in an instant.
The Tier-3 Conjuration School spell [Sleet Storm] took effect.
In an area about forty feet wide and twenty feet high, a biting freezing rain mixed with hail fell very unscientifically.
“Whoosh—”
Hail the size of beans smashed down covering heads and faces. Accompanied by the icy rain, it instantly turned that area into a “heavily obscured” environment, visibility dropping sharply.
And the two dragons of fire just spewed out by the instruction unit’s flamethrower teams, in this sudden blizzard, were like being poured with a basin of cold water. They struggled a few times and quickly extinguished.
Because one of the effect descriptions of this Tier-3 spell is “all exposed open flames in the area will be extinguished”…
“Are you kidding me, bro?!”
Seeing this scene, Morin almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.
He was pressing down on Heinrich, only feeling the intense pain in his chest almost taking away even his strength to curse.
Master Haber! What are you doing?!
We finally established an advantage relying on the flamethrowers with great difficulty, and you completely wiped it out with one spell?
Sure enough, the instant the wall of fire extinguished, those “Sentinels” who had been suppressed for a long time immediately seized the opportunity and launched a new round of charges.
Master Haber’s [Sleet Storm] formed a layer of slippery ice on the ground.
This might indeed be trouble for ordinary soldiers.
But for those “Sentinels” whose physical balance ability was also outrageously abnormal, this wouldn’t affect them much, and even had an “acceleration effect”!
With wind under their feet, one by one, they used the ice surface to charge over in a posture similar to a slide tackle, their speed increasing instead of decreasing!
“Stop! F*cking stop!”
Using his last bit of strength, Morin roared at Master Haber, who was still continuously casting.
Master Haber also realized he seemed to have done a disservice and hastily stopped casting.
Because [Sleet Storm] is a spell that requires continuous casting, following his “physical interruption,” the effect of the spell quickly disappeared, and the freezing rain and hail also stopped.
The soldiers of the flamethrower teams pulled their triggers again, and two dragons of fire blocked the passage once more.
“Master! Do you know [Grease]?!” Morin lay on the ground, shouting weakly.
“Yes! Yes!” Master Haber nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice.
As a signature low-tier spell of the Conjuration School, [Grease], of course he knew it.
“Then stop using those flashy ones! Use [Grease]! Spread it under their feet!”
“Okay! Okay!”
Master Haber didn’t dare to act on his own this time. He hastily pulled out a few greasy pieces of pigskin from his mage robe, aimed at the direction of the “Sentinels,” and released several [Grease] spells consecutively.
Patches of slippery magical grease quickly covered the ground in front of the “Sentinels.”
“Burn!” Morin roared.
The flamethrower soldiers understood immediately and adjusted their spraying angles.
The scorching flames instantly ignited the grease on the ground, forming an even more turbulent and long-lasting wall of fire!
“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…”
The flames burned the grease, thick black smoke billowing up, completely cutting off the “Sentinels'” charging route.
If it were any other army unit in this world, facing quite a few “Sentinels,” two Highland Mages, and a Tier-5 Necromancer turning traitor internally at the same time, they probably would have been torn to pieces and wiped out eight hundred times over long ago.
But they unfortunately ran into the “Saxon Empire Imperial Guard Assault Instruction Unit.”
It was this unique elite infantry unit single-handedly forged by Morin.
They possessed tactical literacy far exceeding this era, were equipped with automatic weapons enough to crush any peers, and this team going deep underground was even reinforced with flamethrowers.
The fire density they could project was brought into full play in a narrow engagement environment like the underground research institute.
For a time, whether it was the powerful out-of-control “Sentinels” or those Highland Mages whose spell slots were almost depleted, they were all firmly suppressed by the temporary defense line formed by the veterans of the instruction unit’s 1st Company, unable to advance a single step.
The wall of fire burned fiercely, illuminating the long and narrow passage like purgatory.
Thick black smoke mixed with a pungent smell of burning constantly surged upward, making the already oppressive air even murkier.
Relying on this natural barrier, the instruction unit soldiers finally gained a moment of respite.
They seized this precious time to change magazines, treat wounds… or drag heavily wounded comrades to the rear.
Everyone’s face was written full of anger after suffering heavy losses, but there was not the slightest flinching in their eyes.
On the other side, Morin still firmly controlled Heinrich beneath him.
He felt like a big hole had been broken in his chest. Every breath was accompanied by heart-tearing intense pain.
Taking a Tier-5 spell head-on is no small matter. Although the improved saving throw effect of the “Guardian Necklace” successfully halved the spell’s power, the damage caused by [Negative Energy Flood] was still continuously eroding his body.
So Morin’s consciousness had already begun to blur, and the scenery before his eyes also became somewhat distorted.
He knew his body had already reached its limit.
“Seems like I’m really going to kick the bucket here this time…”
Morin continuously set up “reverse flags” (jinxes) for himself. He felt his vitality rapidly draining away like a leaking balloon.
So they had to hurry and evacuate from here…
Morin raised his head and looked at Master Haber, who was equally still in shock not far away, and that surviving Section III Captain.
His gaze finally fell on this unmoving old guy beneath him.
“This guy, do you want him alive… or dead?”
His voice was very weak, but his tone was exceptionally cold.
If he could, he wanted to shoot this wicked old geezer right now.
But reason told him this old guy’s value was too great. The knowledge in his brain was indeed very important to the Empire.
If they wanted to maximize benefits, it was best to drag him back and pry the knowledge out of his brain.
“Try… try to keep him alive…”
That surviving Section III Captain’s lips trembled, and it took a long time to squeeze out this sentence.
His two companions had just died at the hands of this old guy. He wished he could hack Heinrich into ten thousand pieces.
But his duty forced him to make the most rational judgment.
A living Victor von Heinrich was far more valuable than a corpse.
“Okay.”
Morin nodded, considered agreeing.
He took a rope from the others, preparing to tie this old guy up solidly.
However, just as he was about to make his move, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
This old man beneath him, seemed… too quiet.
Since being slapped to the ground by him just now, there hadn’t been any movement at all.
Morin’s heart skipped a beat, and he hastily reached out to check Heinrich’s breathing.
No breathing.
He touched the other party’s carotid artery again.
No pulse.
Morin was stunned.
He quickly did a check and was surprised to find that the other party actually really had no vital signs at all.
At the same time, he finally noticed that on the system map in his field of vision, that red unit card representing Heinrich had also quietly turned into gray representing death.
“F*ck, wait…”
Morin raised his head and, in an extremely bizarre tone, said to the people around:
“The person seems… like… was slapped to death by me…”
A bizarre silence fell between Morin, Master Haber, and the intelligence personnel.
Everyone looked at Morin with strange eyes.
One massive slap… slapped a Tier-5 Archmage to death?
“Im… impossible, right?”
Master Haber was the first to react. He hastily squatted down and frantically examined Heinrich’s corpse.
The result of the examination left him completely dumbfounded.
Heinrich… seemed to really be dead completely.
Heartbeat stopped, breathing severed, pupils dilated…
From any angle, this was a standard corpse.
“This… how could this be…” Master Haber muttered to himself, feeling his worldview had been refreshed once again.
“Ahem, ahem…”
That Section III Captain cleared his throat, trying to use a relatively reasonable explanation to break this awkward atmosphere.
“Um… Lieutenant Colonel Morin, according to the files we have, Master Heinrich… he should be 92 years old this year.”
“An old man in his nineties, even as a mage, his body would be relatively fragile… Suddenly taking a hit like that from you, Lieutenant Colonel… sudden cardiac death on the spot… doesn’t seem impossible?”
This explanation, which the Captain racked his brains to organize the words for, sounded extremely outrageous, but in this magical realism scene right now, it actually seemed to make that much sense.
After all, a fierce man who could take a Tier-5 spell head-on and counter-kill, and a ninety-year-old mage slapped to death by one slap, putting these two things together, it seemed… well… it wasn’t that hard to accept anymore?
Morin’s eyes twitched listening to this.
He wanted to refute, but the intense pain in his chest made him unable to even speak a complete sentence.
That negative energy that invaded his body did not disappear because of Heinrich’s death, still frantically crashing and destroying inside his body.
He felt like his internal organs were churned into a paste. Every heartbeat was accompanied by a tearing intense pain.
“Forget it, can’t care about that much anymore, first connect…”
Using his last bit of strength, Morin squeezed out a few words to Kahn.
Then, he could no longer hold on. His vision went black, and his whole person collapsed limply.
“Sir!”
“Lieutenant Colonel!”
The people around immediately turned pale with fright.
Kahn rushed over in one stride and supported Morin’s falling body.
“Medic! Medic!” He held Morin, roaring hoarsely.
But the medics in the team had already sacrificed themselves in the first wave of the Freezing Sphere attack.
Seeing their backbone fall, the eyes of the instruction unit soldiers all turned red.
“Kill them! Avenge the commander!”
“Ahhhhh—!”
They roared, turning all their anger and grief into bullets shot at the “Sentinels” and Highland Mages, the firepower instantly becoming much denser.
Master Haber and the remaining intelligence operative were also scared silly.
They knew better than anyone what Morin meant to this team.
He was not only the commander of this unit but also their hope of leaving here alive.
If Morin fell, then the subsequent battle would really be hard to say!
“Quick! Quickly see how he is!” the intelligence operative yelled anxiously.
The two frantically unfastened Morin’s chest rig and military uniform.
When they saw the scene on Morin’s chest, they both couldn’t help gasping.
They saw Morin’s front chest, exactly where he was hit head-on by the [Negative Energy Flood], had completely turned into a terrifying patch of black.
The skin and muscles were all ulcerating as if corroded by some strong acid.
What was even more terrifying was that this location was exactly where the heart was.
In Master Haber’s view, Morin being able to hold on until now to fall, not dying suddenly on the spot, was already a dual miracle of medicine and magic.
“What do we do? Master! What do we do now?!” This Captain of Section III was truly anxious now.
And Master Haber’s face also became extremely ugly. He quickly examined Morin’s injuries, his heart growing colder the more he looked.
Negative energy had invaded deep into the body, and vital signs were rapidly decaying.
And as a Conjuration School mage, he didn’t know any healing spells, completely powerless to reverse the situation.
“There’s no way… unless… unless a miracle happens…” Master Haber shook his head despairingly.
Just then, his gaze inadvertently caught a glimpse of that briefcase brought out from the “Finished Product Warehouse” by his feet.
A crazy and bold thought instantly popped up in his mind.
He violently opened the briefcase.
Three ampoules containing green liquid lay quietly on the velvet lining, emitting a bizarre light in the dim passage.
Second generation “Sentinel” modification potion!
“We… still have one last resort.”
Master Haber raised his head, looked at the intelligence operative, his eyes full of struggle and resolve.
“Master, you… you can’t be thinking of…”
Looking at the green potion in Master Haber’s hand, that Section III intelligence operative instantly understood his intention, turning pale with fright.
“Are you crazy?! We don’t even know what this thing is yet! Can that old liar Heinrich’s words be trusted? What if… what if this thing is poison?!”
His instinct told him doing this was truly too unreliable.
Inject a potent alchemical potion of unknown origin and unknown effect into the body of this young Lieutenant Colonel?
What’s the difference between this and murder?
“Do we have any other choice?! And judging from Heinrich’s reaction just now, this potion is most likely truly effective!” Master Haber’s eyes were bloodshot. He stared fixedly at the intelligence operative, his voice trembling slightly with agitation.
“Look at him! He’s dying!! In a few more minutes, even if a Holy See priest comes, they won’t be able to save him!”
He pointed at Morin on the ground, whose breathing was getting weaker and weaker, almost roaring.
“Using this, he might still have a glimmer of hope! If we don’t, he will definitely die! You choose!”
This cruel multiple-choice question left the intelligence operative instantly speechless.
He looked at Morin’s face twisted in pain on the ground, and then looked at the surrounding soldiers still fighting to the death.
He knew Master Haber was right.
They had no retreat left.
How important Morin’s combat power was went without saying. He was the soul of this unit, the backbone of everyone.
Taking a gamble, there was still hope to survive.
Not gambling meant certain death.
“Do it!”
The intelligence operative gritted his teeth, as if making some kind of resolution.
“Damn it! Treat a dead horse as a living horse! Do it, Master Haber!”
“Alright!”
Master Haber no longer hesitated. He took a deep breath and carefully took out an ampoule containing green potion from the briefcase.
The briefcase also came equipped with a dedicated set of injection tools.
He picked up a metallic syringe that looked very precise, steadily attached that bottle of green potion to it, and then expelled the air inside.
Throughout the entire process, his hands, which were usually only used for conducting spell experiments and writing papers, did not tremble in the slightest.
And Kahn, seeing Master Haber actually preparing to inject potion into his company commander, was also stunned for a moment.
“Master, what are you…”
“Stop talking nonsense! If you want him to live, do as I say!”
Master Haber didn’t have time to explain. He pointed at Morin’s arm:
“Roll up his sleeve! Quick!”
Although Kahn didn’t know what was happening, the instinct to survive made him choose to trust this mage.
He and that intelligence operative together clumsily held Morin down, and then rolled up the sleeve of his left arm.
Master Haber knelt on the ground, simply disinfected it with an alcohol cotton ball, then patted Morin’s arm hard until clear veins showed on it, and took a deep breath.
He steadily pierced the sharp needle into Morin’s blood vessel.
Then his thumb exerted force, slowly pushing that tube of green potion into Morin’s body.
The cold liquid quickly flowed towards Morin’s entire body along the veins, and then surged into his heart with blood circulation.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The surrounding gunfire, explosions, and roars seemed to become distant.
In the eyes of Master Haber and the intelligence operative, there was only that young man lying on the ground, his life or death uncertain.
Who knows if it was dozens of seconds or longer…
Morin on the ground still had no reaction whatsoever.
Even his breathing grew weaker and weaker, his heartbeat almost imperceptible.
“Is it… is it useless?” The intelligence operative’s voice carried a trace of despair.
Master Haber’s face also turned deadly pale, feeling his hands and feet go cold.
Could it be… he really made the wrong bet?
Just as the two were dead in their hearts, almost ready to give up, Morin’s body lying on the ground suddenly jerked violently!
He directly broke free from Kahn and the Captain, like a fish thrown onto the shore. His limbs convulsed uncontrollably, and a series of meaningless hoarse sounds came from his throat.
Master Haber was startled in his heart: “Not good! It’s drug rejection! His body is resisting this potion!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Morin’s convulsions became even more violent.
Under his skin, it seemed as if countless small worms were wriggling. Veins bulged out one by one, and his entire face flushed red, looking exceptionally terrifying.
“Quick! Hold him down! Don’t let him hurt himself!” Master Haber shouted.
Kahn and the intelligence operative hastily used all their strength, firmly holding down Morin’s limbs.
But the strength Morin erupted with at this moment was astonishingly great.
He was like a trapped beast, struggling frantically. The two of them actually almost couldn’t hold him down.
“Damn it… the effect of this drug is too strong…” Kahn gritted his teeth, feeling like his arm was about to be broken.
The surrounding soldiers also noticed the commotion here, casting worried glances one by one.
“What’s wrong with the commander?”
“I don’t know… Doesn’t seem right…”
Just as everyone’s heart was in their throats.
Morin’s struggle suddenly stopped, and then he violently opened his eyes.
Those eyes were bloodshot, the pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints, flashing with a crazy light.
Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes.
Morin did a somersault, leaping up from the ground!
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