A Sorcerer's Journey 350 The Twelfth Mission

The battle raged on for two hourglasses.
Grimm gave his thanks to Istanrima and Julni. The two Bright Sorcerer leaders merely smiled faintly.
For them, the whole meaning of the Bright Sorcerer's existence was to conduct missions such as this to exterminate those who resist the sorcerer's will, not to save Grimm.
Although there were stark differences between Gilliny and Istanreal's bright army, unlike the Dark Sorcerers, the Bright Sorcerers always maintained an air of harmony and peace. It was unlike the constant internal conflicts of the Dark Sorcerers.
The differences were results of the Bright and Dark sorcerer's upbringing in their perceptions.
The Bright Sorcerers had a deep understanding that the future of the sorcerer's world depended on their strengths, and their strengths came from unity. It was unity and cooperation joined all their little strengths together, and when scaled upwards, they became a complete body.
It's like the team lead of a Bright Demon-hunting Sorcerer. Alone, his commands were his incantations. He levered the strength of his army to turn the tide of battle, magnifying his trivial strength into unbelievable great powers that were even beyond the imagination of a dark sorcerer.
The Dark Sorcerers, on the other hand, believed in saving oneself, creating miracles with the power of one.
At any time, the Dark Sorcerers would maintain a calm head. They were willing to sacrifice anything for their own ideals. They reconstructed their own bodies to embrace the extreme art of combat.
A month later.
At the top of a lower sorcerer's tower in the void fortress, elemental clouds were gradually starting to circle. This was a sign that the teleportation array of the void fortress was about to be connected to the sorcerer's world.
Apparently, they were able to complete it in such a short period because the great Black Isotta had seen to it personally.
Else, under normal circumstances, it would take at least a decade more to complete the connection.
There's no wonder that Black Isotta was in a rush. At this time, other than the huge square on top of the void fortress, even the Surficial Tundra under the void fortress was filled with various soul slaves from the Burrow World as well as some ice elemental ores and rare herbaceous plants.
The lands within the Battle Command of the Surficial Tundra were stacked with mountains of cages meant for the soul slaves.
It took tens of thousands of mechanical marionettes, traversing endlessly between the Snowthread Burrow and the Surficial Tundra, and transporting huge amounts of Snowthread worms with precious spatial sorcery devices just to keep the soul slaves alive.
The void fortress was absolutely busy. Each of the Demon-hunting Sorcerers were hard at work in their pillages across the Burrow World.
A world where there was no World Lord that was level four or above, not even a World Guardian. When the Level 6 Stigmata Sorcerer led the charge against the world like a pack of tigers and wolves, the world put up no resistance. They could only concede to be pillaged endlessly.

And then there's Black Isotta.
The greedy, cruel, powerful great Stigmata Sorcerer that had been around since the ancient times had pushed pillaging to its peak. He intended to rip out all resources that were precious in the world back to the Sorcerer World.
After flying back at the lower sorcerer's tower, Grimm handed in his demon-hunting mission scroll and his crystal ball.
Since they've discovered the flying rats outside the entrance by chance, Grimm's team had to perform an additional mission. Therefore the rewards of his two years of demon-hunting mission increased from ten Sorcerer Essences into fifteen Sorcerer Essences.
The rest of the team members too got a bump up from their original five Sorcerer Essences to eleven.
Eleven Sorcerer Essences. It would take an Arcane Sorcerer eleven years to earn that amount in an academy. The demon hunters spent not more than two years to earn that. Such was the strength of a demon-hunting sorcerer!
...
Three years later.
In an unnamed burrow of the Burrow World.
The burrow spanned about seven to eight kilometers. It was a small to mid-sized burrow. Other than the Snowthread Worms, there were about ten other weak species that made this burrow their habitat. Yet, none of them formed the apex of the food chain.
Grimm had been searching around the burrow for almost seventy hourglasses. He only managed to find two.
One of the openings was sixty meters wide, the other was only forty!
Beneath the Mask of Truth, Grimm was having a hard time deciding. He then clenched his teeth and said, "Go back to the last burrow, let's choose a new route."
There were a few other new faces in addition to some of his old members. They were Level 1 Demon-hunting Sorcerers freshly recruited by Grimm.
One of them had a dark complexion, yet his eyes were pure white. He had the rare Eyes of the Night. He was like a fish in the water in the dark caverns of the burrows.
He frowned. "Captain Grimm, shouldn't we decide after taking a look inside first?"
Grimm threw the Dark Sorcerer a glance beneath his Mask of Truth and dismissed him. "Your job is to follow my orders because I am the captain of this team!"
"You…"
The Dark Sorcerer looked around at the rest of his team and saw that none had any huge reaction. He scoffed and reluctantly followed Grimm on his Thousand-eyed Carcinus to go back to the previous burrow to search for another path.
...
Ten years later.
Still on the mission to explore the passageways of the Burrow World, Grimm was astounded by the sight of the ice-mud burrow. "Is this a whole new path, or are we back to the Slush Burrow when we first explored the burrows?"
The Myna chipped in confidently, "We'll know if there's a frost jellyfish burrow behind this."
Saris, Nairo, Lou Linman and the rest of the Demon-hunting Sorcerers nodded. Grimm too nodded at the suggestion. He led his team to continue on to the passageway above and found no burrow of the frost jellyfish. It was a new route.
...
Thirty years later.
In these thirty years, Grimm, like the rest of the Demon-hunting Sorcerers, were hard at work completing his mission in the expedition to earn Sorcerer Essences which would enhance his abilities in the future.
For thirty years, Grimm had led the small team of Demon Hunters in and out of the Burrow World twelve times. As the captain of the small team, he had earned a hundred and twenty Sorcerer Essences, as well as countless other specimens.
The rich diversity of the Burrow World even shocked some of the old sorcerers that had served many demon-hunting expeditions!
Completing missions was the primary source of earning Sorcerer Essences for the Demon-hunting Sorcerers. For most of the Demon-hunting Sorcerers, getting an honor badge was a great bonus, but not exactly on top of their agenda.
But of course, as they improve their abilities, getting the honor badge would become easier.
After handing in the mission scroll, Grimm looked at his team members.
Among the ten teammates, other than Saris and Lou Linman who were always behind Grimm, the rest of the members had been swapped numerous times. There were always fresh new faces.
Nairo too chose to leave after four missions with Grimm.
Apparently, she was called on by a senior in her academy.
In these thirty years, every time he entered a new burrow in the Burrow World, Grimm felt that he had entered a whole new world to do his mission. He was primarily cautious, and with the Thousand-eyed Carcinus by his side, he had never made any mistake that was irreparable.
After going through missions after missions, Grimm gradually felt that his body has been developed to the max. The crystal ball estimated Grimm's attack strength has peaked at seven hundred and eighty points!
At such a standard, Grimm had not only recovered his weakness from being imprisoned in the Seven Rings, he had even surpassed his peak during the Shadow World.
The ice marrow crystallization spell, which Grimm had trained for more than a year once again formed on top of his forehead beneath the Mask of Truth. It was emanating a chilling air.
The crowd gathered around.
Grimm explained in a serious manner. "I will soon prepare for a long term experiment as well as a battle. Not to keep things from you guys, the great Black Isotta informed me earlier that he will assign me to carry out a special mission. Therefore, I need to be ready for this."
Grimm let out a quiet sigh at the end of his speech.
Black Isotta's mission was not going to be easy.
After hearing that the Black Isotta was going to give Grimm a special mission, the crowd's eyes grew envious in secret. Some of the Demon-hunting Sorcerers who were not so close with Grimm still respected his leadership for all these years.
After some well-wishing, he left on his own.
"Stinking Myna, I'll see you around. Someday your stomach will be the cause of your death, you glutton!" Leafie the parrot bode them farewell.
The Myna extended its winds. Although it didn't show it, there was some sadness in its heart. "Mind your own business, you lowly parrot."
Anyone would bound to have a connection after quarreling for thirty years.
In the end, Grimm once again stood on the square of the void fortress alone.

Chapter end