Sorcerer: I want to be an Academic Prodigy-Chapter 808 - 711 Abyssal Stone_2

’It must be the Queen of the Black-winged Fang Worm Clan—the Black Fang Empress, that’s right, she mobilized all the Black-winged Fangs before, except for me, which really caught attention.’

’This is big trouble now.’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Ivan was engrossed in the battle just now and overlooked this point, which led to his exposure, but he is not actually from the Black-winged Fang Worm Clan and cannot respond to the Empress’s edicts.

Just as he was contemplating whether to forcefully break the situation, a dignified voice echoed in his ear.

"Which tribe are you from, and from which direction did you come, to have infiltrated our clan? If you want to join our clan, you must earn merits. After some time, come to report to me, and this Empress will allow you to truly join my Black Fang tribe. Do you understand?"

"Understood."

Ivan’s disguise was too convincing, which led the Empress to mistake him for a Black-winged Fang from another tribe. Hearing the Empress’s words, Ivan quickly agreed.

Looks like there’s no need to force through!

Sure enough, the attention shifted away.

Ivan’s heart settled back down, but he realized one thing: he couldn’t stay here any longer. Sooner or later, he would be exposed if he stayed.

Time advanced to a few days later.

Aside from parts of the Poison Cloud Swamp needing major repairs and supplements, other areas gradually returned to their usual calm. Ivan immediately went to the captain to apply for an outing to gather food.

He had inquired that not every task required a whole team to go out; some tasks were relatively easy collection missions.

"No!"

"No? Why not?"

"Swamp ant, it’s not that you can’t, but I need you in two or three days. Just stay by my side."

The captain denied his application, giving a reason that seemed somewhat stifling to Ivan. He thought it over and didn’t refuse. As long as he could go out, it was fine.

Another three days passed.

The captain kept his word and led half of the sixteenth large team out, following a winding path and smoothly reaching outside the Poison Cloud Swamp, flying in a direction.

Ivan followed with his subordinates of the nineteenth small team, not far behind the captain.

He noticed that he was being shadowed, not only by the gathering team but also by members of other corps, presumably the Near Guard and Patrol.

It’s understandable that the Black Fang Empress would not easily accept an outsider; she might even harbor ambitions of swallowing up the tribe behind him.

Being of the same Black-winged Fang Worm Clan, annexing would be too easy, possibly allowing the Black Fang tribe to expand several folds. One should not underestimate an insect queen’s ambition.

’This Black Fang Empress is indeed ambitious, considering the Great Owl Thunder Ancestor is definitely not dead. The ancestor is not so easily slain. If Vanessa hadn’t betrayed the Shadow of Annihilation suddenly, cutting off his retreat, that battle wouldn’t have ended so quickly.’

’The Black Fang Empress is dealing with the Great Owl Thunder Ancestor while also eyeing other tribes. If internal and external threats pile up, she might carelessly stumble.’

’Forget it, this doesn’t have much to do with me~ it’s better to go find the Abyssal Stone.’

Over time, Ivan had mostly adapted to the environment of the Endless Abyss. Using the Black-winged Fang Worm Clan to shake off the pursuing enemy, he was ready to take care of his own business.

Before long, the gathering team moved far from the Poison Cloud Swamp.

Seeing the timing was right, Ivan, without a word, transformed into a rainbow light and slipped away in a direction, cleverly weaving through the Black-winged Fangs.

"Quick! Stop the swamp ant—it’s that alien from that day. Damn it! Stop him immediately, the great Empress ordered that he must not escape!"

His movement immediately caught the attention of other Black-winged Fangs, especially the captain of the sixteenth large team, who became somewhat flustered upon realizing his true identity.

One could imagine, this was a severe negligence of duty.

However, Ivan, having coexisted with the gathering team for so many days, knew the formation of the sixteenth team inside out, coupled with his speed and agility far surpassing the black-winged fangs, he soon flew out of the formation.

He didn’t pause, persistently shaking off the surrounding Black-winged Fangs.

Ahead, the imperial guards appeared, a noble eight-winged fang insect, stronger and larger than ordinary fang insects.

Patrols also appeared, their size between the Nest Guard and Collection Guards, extremely agile, and they blocked the way ahead first.

With three patrols blocking the front, Ivan in his rainbow form neither avoided nor dodged, charging straight ahead. A dragon head appeared in front of the rainbow light, striking first.

In a fraction of a second, two patrols were sent flying, while the remaining one was swept away by the rainbow.

"Crack, crack, chase him!"

This outcome certainly did not satisfy the other Black-winged Fangs, who formed a black mass in hot pursuit, even after a while when the enemy was already out of sight.

Elsewhere, after shaking off the pursuers, Ivan began to extract information from the captured patrol, employing much harsher methods this time.

’With special constructs involving the Endless Abyss itself, it can’t be controlled, so I have to start from the soul aspect. Hopefully, I can learn more info, otherwise hunting blindly for the Abyssal Stone will waste a lot of time.’

Frame by frame, memory images flashed by rapidly, proving that the patrols, naturally born for intelligence gathering, knew far more than the members of the gathering team.

Ivan came to know that patrols possess highly developed senses, especially an extraordinary sense of smell, which is almost transcendental. They also have a disaster premonition ability; their speed, agility, stealth methods are notable, and their lifeforce is tenacious, more resembling a mix of reconnaissance and assassin.

This piqued his interest, leading him to research the patrol in his hands deeply.

No matter how their physique changes, patrols are a type of Black-winged Fang insect, sharing the same origin, making his exploration seamless. Within a few hours, one patrol turned to dust, while another one spawned out of thin air.

The newly spawned patrol didn’t flee afar but instead flew off to one side.

"Crack, crack, shameless bastard! Someone else got ambushed by him."

"This way, this way, find him and tear him to pieces."

Soon, the patrols wandering outside started suffering, one after another, causing the Black-winged Fangs to have no peace. After reporting back, more teams left the Poison Cloud Swamp, vowing to slay the perpetrator harming their tribe members.

Unfortunately, the Black Fang Empress needed to guard the lair, suppressing previous formidable enemies, leaving her unable to personally finish off the perpetrator.

"Finally, there’s a trace of the Abyssal Stone."

As the ’perpetrator’ in the Black-winged Fang Clan’s eyes, Ivan hadn’t found any leads on his objective, leaving him with little choice but to continue harassing the patrols within the Black-winged Fang Clan.

Fortunately, when he thought there might be no Abyssal Stones in the large area nearby, a clue exploded out of a patrol’s mind.

The so-called ’Abyssal Stone’ is essentially a type of Chaos Crystal, usually naturally condensed by the Chaos Well bridging the great plane and chaos, used to fortify the well walls of the Chaos Well itself.

This type of Abyssal Stone is usually not surplus, its control is extremely strict, and it almost never makes it to the trading market.

The Endless Abyss is different; its vastness, coupled with the significant amount of chaotic energy it inhales and exhales each time, inevitably makes its chaos well operations rougher than those of others, frequently causing stones to seep out.

Meanwhile, the Chaos Well in the Ash Plane became damaged, reducing the efficiency of condensing the stones, unable to keep up with the pace of the destruction of the well walls.

To repair the Chaos Well, the Ash Plane requires a certain number of Abyssal Stones.

Ivan’s visit this time is precisely for this purpose.

After finding the clue, he immediately changed direction, escaping from the area controlled by the Black-winged Fang Clan. If he continued harassing the patrols, he feared the Black Fang Empress might not sit back and act that "devouring" secret technique on him.

He didn’t want to end up like the Great Owl Thunder Ancestor.

Given the current situation of the Great Owl Thunder Ancestor, even if the final outcome is not death, it would result in significant suffering. Little did Ivan know, the strategy of ’external aggression first, then internal stability’ employed by the Great Owl Thunder Ancestor was what caused his entrapment so swiftly.