Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys Chapter 1466 - 503: Discovery (Part 2)

"Vile... goblin... release me..."

The captive clearly held a deep-seated hatred for goblins. Plunged into a state of mental fog and sightless rage, he had mistaken Rein for one of those creatures.

Rein stood well beyond the reach of the prisoner's strikes, remaining completely unharmed.

"Blind as a bat, yet still obsessed with vengeance..." Rein remarked, shaking his head at the sight.

His indifference vanished an instant later when he noticed the alloy bars of the cell—each as thick as a thumb—were starting to liquefy!

"What?" Rein narrowed his gaze, peering deep into the confinement area.

He observed that the intricate patterns etched into the floor, designed as a power-suppressing witch array, had been compromised. It was no wonder the prisoner could now melt the metal grid.

The prison's ability to neutralize the captive's strength had evidently failed.

Furthermore, unlike the clumsy, rhythmic movements of the goblin corpses he had encountered earlier, this individual moved with a fluid, coordinated grace. It appeared the black mist interacted with this being’s power in a much different way than it did with the goblins.

"Did the black mist actually preserve this person's strength?"

As Rein analyzed the situation, he raised his palm. Six humming, serrated metal discs manifested in the air before him.

This was the Third Level Metal Series Witchcraft known as 'Sawtooth Ring.' Though his opponent had not yet reached the epic level, Rein’s rings possessed a lethality bordering on Dawn Witchcraft, making them more than sufficient for the task.

Rein had no desire to strike first, but if the creature chose to initiate an attack, he would not hesitate to end its life.

Besides, this provided a perfect chance to study the transformative properties of the black mist.

To Rein, the mysterious black mist was far more concerning than any physical foe.

As the metal bars gave way, the adversary thrust out a crimson, clawed arm. Suddenly, the ground surrounding Rein erupted into swirling vortexes of violent fire, each spanning roughly a meter in diameter.

The crests of these fiery whirlpools burned with a white-hot intensity, signaling lethal temperatures as they rapidly surged outward.

Rein had already flickered away in a tactical retreat, extending a single finger toward his foe.

"Go!"

At his command, the six spinning metal rings tore through the atmosphere from various trajectories. Each left a luminous trail of light in its wake, converging instantly upon the Naga-like monstrosity.

"Ssss! Ssss!"

Bolstered by Rein’s Steel Heart Meditation Method and his Super Metal Affinity, the Third Level Witchcraft 'Sawtooth Ring' hit with the force of a junior Dawn Witchcraft. The six blades sliced through the creature’s pale red scales as if they were soft curd.

In a heartbeat, the monster was butchered into several fragments!

"No!"

With its final breath, the creature let out a furious bellow. A powerful shockwave of flame blasted outward from its severed remains, scorching everything in its path.

"Roughly at the peak of the Legendary level, though the exact influence of the black mist remains unclear," Rein contemplated while staring at the bloody chunks on the floor.

But the moment the remains settled on the ground, something changed.

Abruptly, a surge of black mist erupted from the carcass. It shifted wildly in mid-air, taking on the grotesque forms of insects—one moment a massive mantis, the next a giant, clawed centipede.

Then, the mist lunged toward Rein with terrifying speed.

"Swoosh!"

Expecting a counterattack, Rein crooked his finger. The six buzzing rings whipped back, passing directly through the shadowy mass.

The black mist roiled violently, yet it lacked a physical essence; the sawtooth rings simply glided through it like blades through smoke.

The obstruction barely slowed it down. The mist continued its lightning-fast charge toward Rein!

Fortunately, Rein had devised a thorough strategy to deal with this supernatural vapor long before the engagement began.

His neck suddenly expanded, covered in dark silver scales. His features shifted into the terrifying visage of a massive dragon. He unleashed a torrent of Dragon’s Breath at the twisting shadow, which was now less than two meters away.

"Roar!!!"

The breath began as a narrow stream before blooming into a wide cone of fire, completely swallowing the writhing black mist.

"Sizzle!"

The sound of water hitting a red-hot iron filled the air!

Beneath the roar, Rein caught the faint sound of a high-pitched shriek, a death rattle so piercing it could make one's skin crawl.

As a faint, foul odor drifted by, Rein’s draconic eyes remained alert, scanning the prison for any remaining threats. Only after he was certain the danger had passed did he shift back into his human form.

By partially transforming into a dragon to utilize the Dragon’s Breath, he had successfully vaporized the strange mist.

Even so, his outlook remained grim.

"It is just as I suspected. This entity possesses no permanent physical body."

He had harbored this doubt since encountering the morphing beetle earlier. Now, he had confirmation.

"To be more exact, it can transition between a solid state and a gaseous one. Furthermore, the greater the volume of the mist, the more erratic its behavior becomes."

"One thing is certain: its aggression increases in direct proportion to its mass."

Rein knit his brows, mentally cataloging his findings.

The small beetle from before was manageable, but as the mist grew larger, it gained immunity to physical strikes—a truly troublesome trait.

However, these were merely observations. With such a small sample size, he couldn't yet define them as absolute laws.

"Boom! Clang! Clang!"

Suddenly, the ruckus further down the hall grew louder!

Rein pivoted instantly, his eyes piercing the shadows of the deep corridor.

The noise from his recent skirmish had clearly awakened other entities within the prison.

He detected the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps, the crashing of furniture, and the rattling of metal against bars.

Judging by the noise, there were at least four or five of them approaching.

Rein’s expression hardened as he watched the cells lining the corridor begin to change.

"Boom!"

To his right, a cell door was buckled and torn from its hinges by sheer physical power. A massive, upright black hoof, nearly as wide as a man's torso, stepped into the light.

The creature was a minotaur standing over three and a half meters tall. Its eyes were the size of copper bells and milky white. One of its horns was snapped, and a thick mane ran from its head down its spine. Its muscles were like knotted cords, and its cracked skin resembled weathered stone.

The top half of the minotaur was wreathed in black mist, which gathered most densely around its face.

"An ancient minotaur? I thought they were extinct."

"I never expected to find one here." Rein recognized the species immediately from its distinct silhouette.

But the surprises didn't stop there.

Before him, a shriveled, bony hand gripped the metal bars of a cell on the left. The metal began to warp and twist as if it were liquid.

"Metal Morphing Spell?!" Rein’s eyes widened in surprise.

Unlike the previous monster's fire magic, the energy fluctuations coming from this corpse were intimately familiar to Rein; they were the unmistakable signatures of metal series energy particles.

A staggering figure dressed in tattered wizard robes emerged from the cell.

"An ancient human wizard? That garb... it's unmistakable..." Rein’s eyes sharpened.

He had encountered similar robes at the Valziger Ruins. These were the official garments of the ancient Valziger Sect.

Thanks to the protective witch patterns sewn into the fabric, the robes remained largely intact despite the passage of millennia, allowing Rein to identify the unique markings of the school.

This meant the corpse before him belonged to a wizard of the ancient Valziger school—perhaps even a high-ranking Elder!

"It looks like my earlier theory was spot on."

A surge of excitement rose within Rein!

"Squeak!"

Suddenly, the sound of a door swinging open echoed from behind him.

Near the entrance of the hallway, a concealed door had been pushed wide. Rein had noticed it upon his arrival but had ignored it to prioritize the prison cells, assuming it was merely a guards' room.

A small female goblin corpse stepped out, clad in form-fitting dark leather armor and wreathed in black mist. Rein took note of the whip fastened to her hip.

"An interrogator?"

"Two in front, one behind... I suppose this qualifies as an ambush."