Chapter 872: Sell Out

"So we're out already?"

Abel was speechless when he looked around. He was already by the crystal clear lake. It was a shame, truly. He expected to get more from the Ancient Ruin, but he was already sent out after getting a few rewards.

"Damn!" he couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment. It would be about ten years before he could go in again. That was not very long for the others, but it was for him. Still, perhaps there was a chance that he would become stronger in the next ten years. If he was to make his entrance at that point, there was probably a greater chance for him to have a real exploration.

"Thank you so much this time, Wizard Abel!"

Ruin the Barbarian walked beside Abel. He made a bow as he spoke sincerely that he could.

Abel smiled and returned a wizard's bow, "It's only natural, Ruin! We're partners on an adventure, aren't we?"

Ruin replied, "You know, I wish I could see you here in ten years. We can explore this ruin a second time.

Abel didn't know what to say in response to that. He's never heard that there was going to be another adventure team in ten years. Actually, even if this "invitation" was for real, it should've come from Priest Big Horn and not Ruin.

Leon the half-elf made a bow as well, "Thank you so much, Wizard Abel!"

Priest Big Horn interrupted everyone and pointed towards the sky, "It's getting dark, everyone! We'll leave this place to set up a camp elsewhere. Spare the chat for another time."

Abel was just about to decline. He could've left the adventure team since the quest was already finished. Instead of walking back with the team members on foot, it was much easier to ride his flying mount back to Silan City.

Priest Big Horn seemed to notice what Abel was thinking, "Wizard Abel! I've some urgent matters to discuss with you after the tent is ready."

"Yes," Abel nodded his head without saying anything back.

The tent's set-up was quite straightforward. Everyone had their own portal item after finishing the great war. It didn't take that long for the four tents to be ready. Once again, Priest Big Horn went around to set up some trigger mechanisms. Meanwhile, Ruin went over to hunt down a wild boar. It was rather inconsiderate of him, actually. This wasn't the safest place for him to act on his instincts. He should've stayed here, not going out to find things in the wild. Still, when he came back with a wild boar on his back, a smile was all over his face.

He shared the wild boar with Abel, "Have some of our Barbarian cooking, Wizard Abel!"

Leon joined in, "I'm not the biggest fan of meat, Ruin, but the stuff you've cooked up is actually quite unforgettable."

Abel smiled, too, "I guess it's quite a good treat, then."

Both Abel and Leon's had the "hunger-stopping" potions, but Ruin was still quite keen to share the meat he cooked. He was fast. After some time, they could all smell a very alluring scent in the air. It got stronger after some paste was put on it. Ruin decided to give a well-done roast leg to Abel to show his goodwill. It wasn't just for the fact that Abel saved his life, but it was also to show his will to become friends with him.

In the valley, everyone chatted in laughter as they all had their roast meat. The team finished without anyone drinking any liquor because, apart from Ruin, everyone here used spell casting as their means of attacking. They couldn't have any alcohol unless the cold got really bad.

"My skeletons will be on patrol tonight. Take a rest now," Priest Big Horn said to everyone, then turned his head towards Abel, "Get some rest first, Wizard Abel. I'll talk with you again next morning."

Abel wasn't sure what to make out of that. He was told that the talk would happen right away, but now it changed to the morning of the next day. He supposed that it wasn't all that hard to grasp, given how long they've been fighting this whole day. He went along and nodded his head. Everyone did the same, actually. The only ones that didn't rest were the summoned creatures and death spiritual creatures like the skeletons, but they had no sense of exhaustion, to begin with.

Abel went to his own camp. After setting up a defensive circle outside the tent, he got another seclusion circle inside the tent. When he was finally done, he got Johnson out. The first thing that Johnson did was to transform his body. The multi-surfaced metallic spheres spun continuously as they transformed the tent's structure into that of a metallic fort. He was about to get into his daily meditation session, but as soon as he got into the mood for it, a strange but subtle sensation came to him. He had never overlooked something like this, no matter how insignificant it might feel. His current physical status and power of the Will were definitely not to cause it, as far as he could see.

So what was the problem? There was only one possibility, as far as he could see. His body was trying to warn him that something dangerous would happen if he continued with the meditation. His face started to look quite sour with that thought. He only stayed since Priest Big Horn wanted to say something to him. Come to think of it, though. All Priest Big Horn was stalling time.

While searching the "Valaya's ring" with his power of the Will, the invisibility cape appeared right on him. His body disappeared from the ground after that. At the same time, he used the transformation necklace to conceal his own presence completely. It was a way to hide completely as long as the cape didn't move. Actually, he could remain in invisibility mode if he was using the "instantaneous movement."

Abel could remember the giant tree was about 800 meters away. That was where his goal was supposed to be. To get the stuff there, he was planning to use the mystery headband that he flushed to the invisibility cape. With the terrifying ability to strengthen his power of the Will by two times, it's not something that he was willing to use in public. Besides, he got this from killing Adolf, the elven prince. It was a headband created by a deity. There was no telling what sort of enemies would come after him if he showed it in front of everyone.

Abel disappeared silently inside the tent. From there, he stood on one of the branches that were on the big tree eight hundred meters away. It was completely silent in all directions. The four tents could still be seen in the night. Apart from that, there were also the skeletons that were patrolling around. Everyone seemed quite calm. He didn't think so, however. It's getting too quiet for him. This was a valley. There were supposed to be noises of birds, insects, and whatnot, but there was just no sound around him.

After switching his soulspeaker's ability, he placed his hand on the tree bark next to him. The leaves on this tree started moving on their own. In response to this, a tree that was even further away shook its leaves as well.

"Big circle!"

Having used the soulspeaker's ability, Abel could sense this message that the tree was trying to convey to him. Within the circle of a thousand-meter diameter around the campsite, someone's already set up a giant circle. The circle was capable of secluding any sound and presence from the outside world. The tree he was at only responded to the trees that were nearby. A circle was formed inside his brain. This was the range of the giant circle.

Due to the circle's seclusion effect, the tree couldn't make contact with the trees outside.

"Just what cost have they gone through for this?" Abel couldn't help but ask himself. This was a giant circle that was made just to target him, and given the fact that it could move, which was already quite unbelievable in itself, it just showed how dedicated the one after him was. Even without considering the materials needed to make this, one could only imagine the number of top-level gemstones required to activate a spell circle of this magnitude.

There were only so few enemies that would do this much to go after him. The blizzard clan came to his mind quite quickly because apart from the crusaders on the central continent, they were about to only ones that had both the motive and the drive to do something to this extent. As for the central continent crusaders, it was simply not possible for Priest Big Horn to collaborate with them.

No, Abel didn't bother to check if it was possible to leave the circle's range with his "instantaneous movement" There would be no point in doing so if the circle was designed for him. He was not completely out of options, though. No one really knew that he was hiding here, so he still had some chance to take the initiative.

At this time, there was a white light that appeared right outside the very simple tent. The powerful presence of the wizard crystal swept across the entire camp.

"Who?" Leon screamed in surprise. He was already out of the camp.

"Ha?'

For Ruin, the response was even more straightforward. He just screamed and leaped out of the camp. They all saw the wizard that was in a black robe. There was a very frightening look in his eyes.

"Rank nineteen!" the thought all came to their heads. Rank nineteen wizards were supposed to be the elites of the Wizard Organisation. Most missions were done by rank seventeen and eighteen, whereas rank nineteen spent most of their days in training. Now there was one right in front of them; Leon and Ruin both looked towards each other in the eyes. They kind of knew who he was after.

The two of them looked towards Priest Big Horn, who was not hesitant to come out of the tent. His attitude explained that he knew about what just happened.

Priest Big Horn bowed to Wizard Tamil, "Welcome, Wizard Emir."

Wizard Emir responded with a nod, "So where's Abel?"

As Wizard Emir said that, his eyes looked towards the last direction where the tent was at. There was a very obvious presence of the spell circles there.

Priest Big Horn smiled as he pointed towards the tent, "Wizard Abel is probably still doing his meditation, I think. His portal item is mine. Mind if I state that this was written in our agreement?"

Leon called out to scold, "Big Horn! How dare you sell out one of your companions! Are you not afraid of what your contract will do?"

Priest Big Horn just laughed back, "What? Ha, haha! Wizard Abel just came to the central continent! He didn't know about the contracts, now, and there's not really any obligation for me to inform him about it, is there?"

Wizard Emir nodded and spoke, "Sure, Priest Big Horn. Bring everything on Abel away. Keep them to yourself, if you like. I'm just here to kill him and bring back his head."

Ruin rushed in front of Abel's tent with his two axes, "Don't you dare hurt Wizard Abel now! You're a strong enemy, I'll give you that, but I'm not going to step down this time."

Leon threw a look of disdain towards Priest Big Horn, "Your actions disgust me, Big Horn. Ruin, we'll join forces. We must wait for Wizard Abel to wake up from his meditation."

Ruin laughed as he waved the axes in his hands, "Haha! Of course, of course! I'm only alive since Wizard Abel saved me! I'll be happy to return the favor anytime!"

"Don't blame me for killing your friends, Big Horn," Wizard Emir said with a cold smile on his face. Priest Big Horn hesitated. It wasn't that easy to find an adventure team to join comfortably. Having the contract signed was one thing, but it was not that easy to find quality partners like Leon and Ruin. That wasn't to say that he was going to back away from his decision. What was done was done. The two partners already thought less of him now. There wasn't turning back at this point.

He still lusted for Abel's wealth. He knew that Abel had the "melting potion," a specialized potion designed to target ice elemental spells. There were also the light stones. He had forty right now, but that didn't stop him from wanting the one hundred that Abel had. There was also the stuff that Abel collected just in the midst of his adventure. There were the twenty training puppet beasts and secret rewards. He had no idea what they were going to be, actually.

Other than that, there was the bottle of the golden "healing potion" Abel took out in the middle of the battle. It just showed him how much top-quality potions that Abel's got in his portal item. Wizard Emir knew as well. Ever since he bought information from the Wizard Union, he knew about Priest Big Horn's contact with Abel. After that, he followed the lead he got and negotiated for a set-up. Priest Big Horn agreed quite quickly due to his greed. That, and the fact that he didn't think Abel was going to be tougher than a rank nineteen advanced wizard.

Wizard Emir didn't seem like he wanted to waste too much time, "There's probably no need for me to say this, but I'm from the Blizzards."

The looks on Ruin and Leon's faces changed quite quickly. It was one strong Wizard Organisation. They both had their own backgrounds, but neither wanted to challenge the very powerful Wizard Organisation.

Wizard Emir asked in a louder voice, "Abel! Abel has killed two advanced wizards that belonged to my clan! After he came to the central continent, another rank sixteen and two rank seventeen wizards died. Another rank eighteen was executed by the Blizzard Clan because of him. Do you really want to join this bloodshed?"