Wizard: Stronger through Marriage

Chapter 1198: Chapter 554: Flaying Technique and Deferred Fate (Part 2)

”The enemy won’t sit and wait to die,” he murmured. ”We need the strongest possible defenses, or we could be ambushed at any moment and have our rhythm shattered. I can’t allow any accidents to happen.”

From afar came several wolf howls, merging with the wind and snow into a mournful, piercing symphony that made hearts tremble for no reason at all.

In the camp, no one had the spare attention to feel the cold, because hanging at their chests was not just a mission, but the heavy responsibility entrusted by the future fate of all.

Time flowed away like water. Several days later, after countless failures, after repeatedly recompiling and adjusting the data, after innumerable sleepless nights of lonely lamps and grueling trials—at last, ”It’s done!”

Reina’s eyes flared with a long-lost excitement and steadfast light. She clenched her fists before her chest, as if a burden had been lifted, yet remained on guard.

”The ’Neural Pulse Stripping Technique’ has succeeded preliminarily! It can temporarily sever the signal transmission of the parasitic code and delay activation by several decades!”

Applause erupted around them, eyes filled with expectation.

Yet what weighed more was the understanding that this was only the first line of defense on a long road of resistance;

The very next moment, they would still have to confront the deeper, unknown darkness ahead.

David walked over to stand shoulder to shoulder with Reina. He fixed his gaze on the blue spiral structure projected by the complex apparatus and said, ”You’ve done well—this is where everyone’s hope now resides. But it also reminds us we cannot relax. Too many riddles remain unsolved, too many hazards still lurk within...”

Amy’s eyes welled with tears, yet her voice was firm: ”As long as we still draw breath, we have no reason to give up. We will defend tomorrow with our lives!”

Zelros swept his sword in a horizontal arc through the void. A blade of frigid sword-light ripped the air, like a radiant Silver Moon tearing through a sky choked with dark clouds. ”Let the enemy know they can never break our faith, no matter how many plots and schemes they weave!”

The night was so thick it seemed about to swallow everything between heaven and earth, leaving only the orange-yellow blaze of the campfire, spouting sparks that clawed a narrow wound of light into the solitude of the dark.

Outside the tents, a crust of frost covered shattered stone slabs and scattered Rune Stone fragments, as though heralding the storm to come.

David sat in a rust-scarred yet solid wooden chair, head slightly bowed, his left arm resting on his knee. From that place where Hell Flame had once seared him, eerie gray blotches were now slowly spreading.

In the dim firelight, those gray marks were like cold dead ash, dull and lifeless, forming a stark contrast with his crystalline, clean yet somewhat pallid skin.

His brows were knitted tight, fine beads of sweat sliding from his temples, falling one by one onto the back of his hand.

The fingertips of his left hand trembled faintly. Now and then he tried to touch the skin that was gradually twisting and mutating, only to be stopped short by the pain.

In his eyes there flickered a complex tangle—fear, struggle, and a bitterness beyond words.

Within the tent, the silence was heavy and oppressive, accompanied only by the crackling of burning wood and the occasional howl of the wind outside.

The Guards on the perimeter murmured to one another, yet none dared disturb this taut atmosphere.

Amy sat straight at a small table opposite David, her brows drawn together. With words precise, meticulous yet firm and gentle, she spoke softly: ”David, you must accept this change... After your Frost Wolf Bloodline fused with that cold flame from the Hell Abyss, you gained a new ability to devour Flame—but the price is that the burden on your Soul has surged. This mutation is far from harmless.”

She rose slowly and drew a small vial of pale blue liquid from her sleeve, complex Rune Engravings etched upon its surface. ”This is the Soul Purification Potion we developed. It can temporarily ease the burden, but it’s only a stopgap measure.”

David took the vial, his eyes deep. ”I know,” he rasped. ”I cannot fall—not just for myself, but for everyone... This power is a Curse, and it is hope.”

There was a defiant, steadfast timbre in his voice that shook the listener’s heart, yet beneath it lay a fissure of fear newly rent open in the depths of his being. The agony caused by the pollution of his bloodline was too great to bear, robbing him of sleep night after night.

Memory surged back, gliding along the edges of his mind like a Ghost: days ago, on the wild borderland tens of miles from the camp, a brutal battle had nearly claimed his life.

Then, clad in the war-robe of the Star Pupil Race, he had fought a Great Demon whose frame was shrouded in roiling Chaos Energy, its furious gaze rending the very boundaries of space.

He hewed off the monster’s claws with his sword, yet could not avert the blazing burn that pierced his flesh—that was a clump of ”Hell Flame,” born of the Purgatory Abyss, laced with corrosive Chaos and an extreme Ice chill. It silently clung to his left arm, writhing like a venomous serpent, spreading until the pure Frost Wolf Bloodline was stained with a cold plague.

He tried to dispel it with holy Spell, only to discover that the more he drove it away, the deeper it burrowed into his marrow, fusing with his Life Force.

The air in the tent grew ever more tense. Amy bent close to examine the wound; the gray-white spreading region seemed to wriggle like a living thing, pulsing as though it were drinking in the surrounding warmth and Life Power.

”This fused state is extremely dangerous. It is not just an external injury, but more like a parasitic infection that will continually erode your body and mind.”

She turned to look at Reina, who was poring over tactical files with a face just as grave and unsettled. ”We have to find a method to undo or control it as soon as possible—otherwise, even if the ’Neural Pulse Stripping Technique’ works, there’s no guarantee David will survive the harsher trials to come.”

Reina put down the Scroll in her hand. A faint flush colored her cheeks, made more resolute by the chill of the night air.

”We’ll study every scrap of knowledge that might have been overlooked in the ancient texts of the Star Pupil Race. Those lost Secret Techniques may conceal a remedy, something that could help stabilize David’s bloodline corruption.”

She spoke with conviction, then turned toward the distant window, gazing at the drifting snowflakes veiling the tangle of shattered walls and broken stele beyond. ”After all, this concerns not only one man’s life or death, but the critical pivot of human civilization’s next step...”

Time kept slipping away. Every breath was steeped in pain; every movement felt like dragging himself through a bottomless mire. And at the same time, that devouring force was slowly awakening... In a certain instant, when moonlight spilled into a corner of the tent, David suddenly rose to his feet, his voice steady yet edged with an icy sharpness: ”I can feel it—the heat in my blood is roaring. I can use it to burn and annihilate every enemy!”

Amy hurried to stop him. ”Don’t be impulsive! Your body isn’t ready. If you fail to keep that power in check, it will completely destroy the foundation of your Soul!”

”I have to master it!” he said through clenched teeth. ”If I let it corrupt me unchecked, I’ll lose myself in the end. But if I can control it, then it becomes the strongest weapon!”

Zelros suddenly pushed the door open and stepped inside, his sword edge gleaming with ghostly blue light, his expression grave and alert. ”Time won’t wait. We must enhance you with Magic and train your body in parallel, get you quickly attuned to this new power—otherwise, you won’t live to see tomorrow; you’ll be turned into prey instead.”

Everyone nodded in unison, gathering around the table and chairs, rearranging themselves into a formation ready for battle.

Under tight monitoring and mutual support, they embarked on a human Limit challenge without precedent: weaving together Magical modulation, mental guidance, and physical training in rotating cycles, hoping to bend the devouring Flame to their will instead of letting it lash back at them.

At the close of the first day’s training, dawn-white had already bloomed across the horizon outside the window. A shaft of warm sunlight slipped into the tent, making the Earth beneath its Ice and Snow gleam with silver brilliance.

Yet indoors the air still hung thick with solemnity; on every face was written exhaustion, and an unyielding resolve.

Reina handed David a cup of special Potion. He took it and drank, his facial muscles briefly twitching under the surge of toxins, then swiftly settling back to normal.

”Keep going,” she urged. ”Only then can we truly find the point of balance, and turn the darkness itself into a weapon.”

Amy adjusted the Runes on her Magic Staff, eyes fixed on the distance, her gaze shining like stars. ”The future is still rife with unknown dangers. But as long as our faith does not go out, we will one day meet the dawn that belongs to us.”