Versatile Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Lingling’s suggestion was to let Mo Fan try the method out first.

At night, Mo Fan approached the mines alone. As they didn’t need to sleep, the monster apes were still patrolling the area. They would let out piercing cries that echoed across the night sky periodically.

Mo Fan went to a slightly remote place, just so he would not be chased around by a huge group of monster apes.

The strength of the White-Headed Monster Apes was similar to the monster birds. They were not as agile as the flying creatures, but they had strong and sturdy muscles. A single punch from the monster apes was enough to break all the bones in an ordinary human.

Mo Fan reached a little basin. He glanced into the dimly-lit valley and discovered around two hundred monster apes in it.

“You will be my test subjects!” Mo Fan took out the Shadow Constellation Scroll and silently laid out a Nyx Regime across the place.

The light of the stars and the moon shone down upon the barren mountain. The movement of the Nazca Monster Apes was clearly visible, but the basin Mo Fan was looking down on was shrouded by a black cloud.

The monster apes had slow reactions. They were not aware of the darkness surrounding them.

“Fleeing Shadow!” Mo Fan snuck into the Nyx Regime. He was basically invisible inside it.

The Nyx Regime was able to strengthen the effects of Shadow Spells. When Mo Fan cast Fleeing Shadow inside the darkness, he was able to move freely inside it while staying invisible.

The monster apes had no clue that a human was weaving through them. They were wandering in the basin aimlessly. However, they were merely stomping the ground in the same spot.

If the symbol of the Nazca Strange Birds was the colorful crests, these White-Headed Monster Apes surely had something similar…

However, Mo Fan had to kill all the monster apes first, in order to learn what their symbol was!

In the past, it would have taken Mo Fan considerable effort to slay two hundred demon creatures. It might even alert the other White-Headed Monster Apes nearby. However, the Nyx Regime had made it a lot easier for Mo Fan to kill the sluggish creatures!

Over two hundred White-Headed Monsters Apes were killed silently in the cage of darkness. Despite how brilliant the magic lights were and how loud the noise was, everything was deadly still and quiet in the darkness.

Not long after, Mo Fan had eliminated the monster apes in the basin. As he expected, the creatures were soulless, just like the monster birds.

Mo Fan searched the place carefully and finally discovered a pinch of golden tail fur inside a crack on the ground. It was a different color than the tail fur that the other White-Headed Monster Apes had!

“Golden tail fur… haha, this is it!” Mo Fan smiled.

In order to prove his speculation, Mo Fan went to look for another group of monster apes in a remote area and trapped them with Nyx Regime.

Mo Fan did not wipe the monster apes out this time. He purposely looked for monster apes with golden tail fur. To his surprise, there were two monster apes with golden tail fur. After killing them, Mo Fan watched the other monster apes disappear like an illusion. He was astounded and full of joy!

-So this is the secret!-

No wonder the Nazca Monster Birds were able to spawn endlessly. It turned out that they were a bunch of illusionary creatures summoned by the symbol. Once the creature with the symbol was killed, the remaining creatures would all disappear too! No wonder these creatures did not have any soul!

-It all makes sense now!-

——

Mo Fan returned to the camp happily.

“Lingling, how did you even learn the secret?” Mo Fan asked excitedly.

“These creatures with symbols originated from the same place as the Time Liquid. Although the two are not directly related to one another, I was able to find a secret technique that the Indians once used by looking through their ancient records. However, it doesn’t work on humans. Similar to the Time Liquid that only worked on Summoned Creatures, the symbols only work on creatures from the Summoned Beast Plane…” said Lingling.

“So you’re saying that the Indians were actually experts of the Summoning Element, and not only did they find a way to speed up the growth of Summoned Creatures, they were able to duplicate them, too?” exclaimed Mo Fan.

“Mmm, the Indians had lots of useful stuff, but unfortunately, the knowledge wasn’t passed down. Their brilliant works were eventually lost to the past. Mo Fan, even though we aren’t the only people that know the secret, my grandfather was hoping that you won’t relay the information to other people, just so no one will abuse the magic of the ancient ruins in Nazca. The technique does have a critical weakness, but it can still potentially turn into a great disaster if it falls into the wrong hands,” Lingling warned Mo Fan.

Lingling was speaking in a serious voice. It was hard to imagine that a little girl would treat an ancient civilization with so much respect.

Either way, since Lingling had emphasized it, Mo Fan would do his best to keep the secret. It looked like he couldn’t do it with the team!

—-

“Huh? Just the two of us are going to the mines?” Zhao Manyan sat upright in his tent and stared at Mo Fan with wide eyes.

“Yeah, we’re going in tonight,” Mo Fan told him grimly.

“Are you fuzzy-headed?!” yelled Zhao Manyan.

-What kind of international joke is this? Even a whole army is having trouble getting closer to the Ariel Mines, and this maniac Mo Fan is asking me to go into the mines with him? Is he tired of living already?-

“I’m being serious. Trust me, do as I say, and we can solve the problem. Otherwise, the monster birds will be coming in a day. We will all be done for,” said Mo Fan.

“Why can’t you ask someone else?” Zhao Manyan asked helplessly…

—-

Before dawn, Zhao Manyan gathered everyone on the hill.

Not only was General Mott present, the advisor Ciely, Ai Jiangtu, and the Chinese mercenaries were all summoned to the hill, since it was an emergency.

Speaking of which, the Chinese soldiers were extremely lucky. If they had stayed in the mines, they would be surrounded by even more monster apes. The Curse of Nazca was not afraid of numbers. Their withdrawal actually saved their lives!

However, both the Peruvian army and the Chinese mercenaries did not dare to act recklessly. The monster apes never stopped coming. Regardless of the size of the army they had, they were still going to be surrounded and devoured by the demon creatures!

“Why did you call us here so early in the morning?” demanded advisor Ciely impatiently.

General Mott had an unpleasant look too. He was greatly troubled by the whole incident, and he was not in the mood to waste his time on the young Magicians.

“Mo Fan says he has found a way to enter the mine, but he needs your cooperation. You will commit to a feint attack from the front and withdraw immediately after attracting the attention of the demon creatures. You won’t need too many people in the operation, but they must be the best among your soldiers, who can take on at least a hundred monster apes each!” said Zhao Manyan.

“F**k me, are you two out of your minds, to actually come up with such a useless strategy? Do you not understand that the whole place is crawling with the monster apes? Even if we lure the monsters at the front away, they are still thousands of monster apes guarding the back!” General Mott slammed his hand onto the stone table beside him. He was so angry that his mustache was curling upward.

“The elite squad will engage from the front, but who’s going to engage from the back? Another elite squad?” asked Nanyu.

“Ugh… Mo Fan said it’s only the two of us,” replied Zhao Manyan.

Zhao Manyan was already regretting it when he finished the sentence. Everyone around him was simply looking at him like he was some kind of retard. Zhao Manyan was speechless too. Why didn’t Mo Fan come and explain his brilliant plan himself? Why did he have to come and propose the plan like a maniac? Only idiots would believe the plan could work, since even he did not believe it!

“What is Mo Fan up to? Why can’t he just tell us the plan?” Jiang Shaoxu asked in confusion.

“I’ve already delivered the message. He said he will be waiting at the back of the mountain. When the sun rises, you will launch the feint attack. You won’t need to send reinforcements to the back of the mountain, either,” said Zhao Manyan.

“Does he think we are idiots? If the two of you can break through the surrounding monster apes and enter the mines, I’ll freaking eat myself alive!” snapped General Mott furiously.

—-

At the back of the mountain, the first glimpse of daybreak broke out between the mountains on the horizon. Redness slowly spread across the dark blue sky.

Mo Fan crouched behind a rock less than three hundred meters away from the surrounding monster apes. He waited quietly for Zhao Manyan to update him on the situation.

Not long after, Zhao Manyan showed up with an unwilling expression.

“How did it go? Did they agree?” asked Mo Fan.

“General Mott said he would rather eat himself… does that count?” Zhao Manyan replied helplessly.

“Ai Jiangtu and the others should be fine with it, right?” Mo Fan had never thought that idiotic general would agree with him. The guy probably hated the guts of every Chinese by now.

“Mmm, they told me to pass on a message. It basically means, they will try their best to earn glory at Venice on our behalf, and place the trophy beside our gravestones will most likely be covered by a shrub of weeds over five meters tall,” Zhao Manyan relayed fatalistically.

“Why the lack of optimism? Buddy, don’t you trust me still?” Mo Fan grinned.

“Trust my ass! You promised me that we were going to spread our seeds across the world. Why must you involve yourself in so much trouble!?” snapped Zhao Manyan furiously.

There were so many adorable ladies of foreign countries waiting for his love and affection, yet for some reason, this retarded Mo Fan had to come and reform the monster apes instead! He wouldn’t care if Mo Fan was planning to get himself killed, but why did Mo Fan drag him along too?! Did he owe Mo Fan a great debt in his previous life?

If there was enough time, Zhao Manyan would consider leaving a note and asking Jiang Yu to deliver it to his parents…

“They are launching the attack, let’s force our way in!” Mo Fan rose to his feet and approached the mines directly.

Zhao Manyan was startled. He said with widened eyes, “Force our way in?”

“Yeah, force our way in!” Mo Fan nodded.

At that particular instant, Zhao Manyan could feel the wheel of friendship in his heart collapsing and sinking into the water!

He initially thought Mo Fan had the greatest plan of all time, considering how confident he looked. To his surprise, the plan was… to force their way in?