"Silver Horn Nobility?"
Richard frowned. Over the past few days, he had consulted Iyad on numerous questions regarding Fire Lizards, including the part about the Silver Horn Nobility.
In the world of Fire Lizards, nobles are indeed much stronger than commoner Fire Lizards.
Commoner Fire Lizards, without activating their dragon blood, can at most become level one Fire Lizard warriors. However, these noble Fire Lizards, due to their ancestors having activated their dragon blood, have a portion of their bloodline in an activated state.
Even if these noble Fire Lizards lie still, they can still be considered level one beings.
The Silver Horn Nobility represents that their ancestors were level three beings, and with the bloodline of their shadowed ancestors, they can reach level two beings even while lying still. They are the most powerful and esteemed among the Fire Lizard nobility.
"It seems we've encountered the Shield of Morik."
Richard rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit of a headache.
The Silver Horn Fire Lizards on the front lines are basically all in command roles; such figures would never lower themselves to ambush a small team like theirs.
"Master, we need to leave."
Saying this, Iyad began operating the Magic Support Vehicle, preparing to return to the core area of the wizards.
But Richard suddenly pressed down on Iyad's hand.
"Don't panic, Iyad. Open your map and take a good look at the markings on this red earth plain."
The map in Iyad's hand recorded all the troop deployments of the wizards on the front lines, as well as the wizards' reconnaissance of the Fire Lizard front. However, as the captain of the White Wizard team, Iyad had long memorized this map, and Richard was aware of this.
Seeing Iyad's puzzled expression, Richard said lightly, "That firework was mixed with other substances. If nothing unexpected happens, we should all have been marked."
"Marked!?"
Iyad was taken aback; he had no idea that the Fire Lizard's distress signal fireworks had this function. He immediately relayed Richard's statement to the other team members through the mental network, but none of them had noticed the marking, not even Savo, the oldest and strongest among them.
Just as Iyad was about to refute Richard, the only wizard in the team who had undergone physical evolution—Sambo—spoke up.
"Captain, I felt it too. When I saw that firework, my body cells sensed something akin to energy radiation. The previous distress signal fireworks didn't have this."
Sambo's words tightened Iyad's heart. He infused magic into the map crystal ball. Soon, a map of the red earth plain appeared in the cockpit.
Although the red earth plain has "plain" in its name, that's just the wizards' term.
If translated directly into wizard language, the Fire Lizards would call the red earth plain the "Cursed Land of the Giant Dragon."
While it is a plain, it is actually quite similar to a desert. The only plants that can grow on the red earth plain are the blade-like, sharp-leaved, and steel-like trunked knife-edge trees.
In the Crimson Sun World, apart from certain insects, almost no creatures consume these plants.
Thus, on the red earth plain, aside from some "oases" where cities exist, large areas of the red earth plain are essentially uninhabited.
Wizards are even less interested in the red earth plain; this area has no resources to exploit. The wizarding guild's scouts came in waves, ultimately determining that the red earth plain had little value, leading the wizards to occupy only two cities on the edge of the red earth plain and not expand their influence further into the interior.
Since both sides were uninterested in this area, the troop distribution on this plain is among the least compared to other battlefields.
This is also why the Black Wizard chose to rendezvous here.
However, fewer troops mean less compared to other battlefields; if compared to Richard's small team, a single spit from a Fire Lizard could dissolve several wizards. (Fire Lizard saliva has a certain corrosive property.) Observing the map again, Iyad considered the situation of their team being marked and quickly realized that they were in a very dangerous position.
Fire Lizards had patrols deployed on the red earth plain. These patrols would start from one oasis, cross the uninhabited area, and arrive at another oasis, serving as a precaution against the wizards.
Now that the distress signal firework had been launched, these patrols would surely head towards the location of the firework, and since they had been marked, if they chose the wrong route, they could easily be detected by the patrols.
Those Fire Lizard knights riding dragon beasts are a distinctive troop type of the red earth plain; they are incredibly fast, and the Fire Lizard knights themselves are top-notch archers.
Getting entangled with them would be dangerous for the team.
Looking at the map, Iyad's mind raced. He didn't know how far the marking's effect extended, so he could only try to find the safest and most reliable route.
Richard, on the side, did not urge him. With Ulysses nearby, he felt confident about their escape...
"Ugh, Richard, I'm getting sleepy. You be careful; it'll be up to you soon..."
Before he could finish, Ulysses fell into a baby-like sleep.
Now Richard was a bit restless.
"Falling apart at a critical moment!"
Richard's face turned ashen as he stuffed Ulysses into his pocket and quietly waited for Iyad to make a decision.
Suddenly, Iyad's eyes sharpened, and his finger swiftly traced a route on the map.
"Take this path!"
Richard glanced at the map and found Iyad's planned route somewhat strange. They clearly needed to escape back to the area controlled by the wizards, but according to the route map, they had to first head towards the Fire Lizard-controlled direction.
Iyad did not consult Richard and directly activated the Magic Support Vehicle, heading in the direction indicated on the map.
"Iyad, why are we going further in?" Richard couldn't help but ask.
Iyad, driving the Magic Support Vehicle, casually explained to Richard, "I don't know how wide the range of this mark is, so we can only take the path that is farthest from all the Fire Lizard patrols."
"You don't know the range?" Richard exclaimed, "If you don't know the range, shouldn't we go capture that distressed Fire Lizard and interrogate it for the range?"
"Of course, if I could interrogate it, I would," Iyad replied, somewhat irritated by Richard's questioning. "Our team's soul wizard is terrible at interrogation; he could easily kill someone by accident. Plus, these Fire Lizard's bones are tough. Rather than let him waste time, it's better to follow my route."
"Then why the hell didn't you ask me? I can interrogate a bit too," Richard retorted, equally annoyed.
Saying this, Richard directly pushed open the car door and flew towards the location of the Fire Lizard's distress signal, leaving Iyad dumbfounded as he watched Richard leave.
"Aren't you an Alchemist Wizard? You're so young; who knew you had such a wide range of knowledge?"
...
The bombarded red earth plain was a scene of devastation, with craters everywhere from the fireballs.
Though level 350 isn't high, the power of spell clusters isn't measured by the strength of a single spell. When a large number of spells are released in the same location, they cause elemental turbulence and resonance, sometimes resulting in damage greater than the spells themselves.
On the battlefield, a Silver Horn Fire Lizard sat dazed on the ground, blood continuously dripping from the corner of its mouth.
Defeat, a complete and utter defeat.
The wizards saw through his scheme and even mobilized a group of White Wizards to snipe him.
He had only seen such a rain of fire on the front lines.
"It seems I've angered the wizards," the Silver Horn Fire Lizard managed to force a smile. "But to mobilize so many wizards for me, that wasn't a wise decision."
He looked up at the sky; the distress firework he had launched was a new device developed by the Shield of Morik, mixed with the power of dragon sorcerers.
The group of wizards sniping him should all have been marked by now.
"Heh, snipe me? You won't escape either!"
Just as the Silver Horn Fire Lizard muttered to himself, a shadow suddenly appeared in the distance, flying straight towards him.
He sensed the shadow and recognized it as a Black Wizard.
"Black Wizard? Looks like they have some strength."
The Silver Horn Fire Lizard struggled to stand up, picking up two short guns from the ground.
"It seems I won't have to live with this shame anymore."
As flames ignited on the short guns, the Silver Horn Fire Lizard took a deep breath and, with his last bit of strength, hurled the short guns towards the wizard.
The flaming short guns, fueled by his anger, traced a crimson arc through the air, heading straight for the Black Wizard's face.
This was his final strike, and also his last shred of dignity.
Bang! Facing the short guns, the Black Wizard did not dodge. He reached out, and the meteor-like short guns stopped right in front of his eyes, unable to advance an inch further.
Then the Silver Horn Fire Lizard watched as the Black Wizard flew in front of him, and beneath the black hood, a pair of golden Dragon Eyes quietly gazed at him.
Is it a Fire Lizard? The Silver Horn Fire Lizard was taken aback.
But as the Black Wizard conjured chains of runes to bind him tightly, he immediately reacted.
This was a wizard who, like their ancestors, had stolen the power of dragons.
"Kill me! Wizard!" the Silver Horn Fire Lizard roared, regretting having thrown that shot.
He should have used that shot to end his own life, to escape the wizard's interrogation.
But the Black Wizard merely looked at him silently.
Those rune chains sealed his power and ability to move, rendering him unable to even commit suicide.
Once the sealing was complete, the Silver Horn Fire Lizard could only watch in despair as the Black Wizard grabbed him and flew off into the distance.
Not long after, Richard caught up with the convoy.
"This is the Fire Lizard that sent the distress signal. You handle the questioning, and I'll handle the torture," Richard shouted loudly to Iyad from the top of the vehicle.
"Huh? Why do I handle the questioning?" Iyad asked, somewhat confused.
"Because I didn't learn the Fire Lizard language when I came here, so I can't understand what this Fire Lizard is saying."
Iyad: "..."
Silver Horn Fire Lizard: "..."
"Wizards, don't think you can interrogate me. You won't get anything from me except curses!" the Silver Horn Fire Lizard said in somewhat awkward wizard language to Richard.
"Oh, you actually know wizard language," Richard said, somewhat surprised. "Iyad, you don't need to handle this anymore; this Fire Lizard understands wizard language."
The Silver Horn Fire Lizard glared fiercely at Richard, shouting in wizard language, "You bastard, you won't get anything from me. The Norikxius family has no traitors or Noffs!"
Richard glanced at him, and a flash of black-red light suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"We'll find out soon enough if there are any traitors."