Before the Soldiers in front could agree, the mysterious man stepped forward, calling out to the young man in the silver-white cloak on the steed in the middle of the procession:
"Wow, Lord Rhine, I finally get to see you! I'm so touched, so touched. Let me confirm, you are Lord Rhine, right?"
"Uh?"
Rhine looked at the man, raising an eyebrow, but gave neither an affirmative nor a negative answer.
At the same time Rhine uttered an "uh," the gourd in the man's hand suddenly jumped, its opening automatically aiming at the young man on the steed's back!
"Hahaha, you fell for it."
The man suddenly lifted his head, his violent movement throwing off his hood, revealing the brown skin and small mustache beneath.
Rhine remembered that face.
Back then, the King of the White Kingdom, in order to ascertain Princess Ariel's identity, held a divination competition. He was the Middle Eastern Maglido who lost to him in the third round—
Maglido!
At the same time, the gourd in Maglido's hand trembled violently towards Rhine.
With a whoosh, Rhine's body transformed into a puff of smoke and was sucked into the gourd.
"Hahahahahahaha. Just wait to melt in there!"
Maglido, his scheme successful, stoppered the gourd and burst into laughter, as if he could already see Rhine melting into wine inside the gourd.
Back then, when you won against me in the divination competition with the mermaid's help, did you ever imagine today?
"Oh no, the Sage has been attacked!"
The Soldiers quickly drew their bows and nocked arrows, about to shoot at Maglido. Meanwhile, Aurora, on another steed, also drew the longsword from her waist and pointed it at Maglido.
"Goodbye, I'm not staying."
Maglido snapped his fingers.
With a bang, black mist erupted from his body.
Choking black mist permeated everywhere.
"Cough, cough, cough."
When the smoke cleared, Maglido had already vanished.
This Middle Eastern, now Ender's Chief Court Mage, had only one target from the very beginning—Rhine alone.
As for the beautiful girl next to Rhine, whom the Eastern Witch said was "very capable in a fight," Maglido didn't bother dealing with her at all.
After all, no matter how capable this Super Warrior was, she didn't have the magic for long-distance communication and teleportation!
After Mage Rhine was captured, she completely lost her mobility; she couldn't find Maglido to rescue Rhine, nor could she reach the sea in time to support the Queen. She had completely become a useless transparent person.
Aurora rode on horseback, looking at the fleeing Maglido and the now empty saddle where Rhine had been, saying nothing.
She wasn't panicked, wasn't furious, wasn't frantically running around searching for traces of the Mage who had captured her teacher.
She simply let out a sigh of relief, a slight smile gracing her lips.
Her mission was complete.
...
"As expected of the treasure the Eastern Witch has cherished for many years, it's a pity it can only be used once."
"It's a bit like the iron bottles we use to seal genies over there."
Deep in the forest, Maglido held the yellow gourd in his hands, grinning from ear to ear.
On this continent, the foundation of a powerful Mage comes not only from their own magic but also from multi-faceted accumulation—such as profound knowledge, talented subordinates, loyal strange creatures, and cherished magical items.
And as one of the five core members of the Witch Society, the Eastern Witch had just such a powerful magical item hidden in her home!
Originally, after losing one of her silver shoes, the Eastern Witch would have been unable to return to Oz in a short time, rendering any treasure hidden at home useless.
But for today's plan, Maglido lent the Eastern Witch a flying magic carpet, allowing her to cross the great desert in a few days and return to the eastern part of Oz, successfully retrieving this gourd.
According to the Eastern Witch, this treasure was acquired many years ago, after she exhausted her accumulated resources as a Witch and paid a hefty price, trading for it from the Witch Society's President!
"This item comes from a Far East country. As long as you point the gourd at a person and call their name, if they respond, they will be sucked into the bottle."
"Whether the name called is their true name or a false one, whether they verbally agree, or simply turn their head, hum in response, or make any instinctive facial expressions or physical reactions due to being called, the gourd will consider it a 'response' and suck them into the bottle!"
"Within two hours, the person inside the gourd will turn into blood."
"Even general space-distorting teleportation magic cannot escape from it."
"The only pity is that this treasure can only be used once. It is my greatest trump card."
"I originally kept it as a precaution, to use against Black Witch Maleficent and the Middle Eastern Witch when the Witch Society had internal strife!"
At that time, the Eastern Witch introduced the gourd's function this way.
"Why only guard against those two? Because they are the most powerful?" That day, after hearing the Eastern Witch's introduction, Maglido said with a smile, "Don't you need to guard against the Witch Society President who gave you the gourd?"
Upon mentioning the mysterious President of the Witch Society, the Eastern Witch's expression suddenly changed.
Her face darkened as she slowly said:
"If she wants to kill me, no amount of preparation will be useful."
...
Inside the gourd.
It was dark and damp, the air stuffy and filled with a foul stench. Black liquid flowed on the ground.
Rhine stood inside the bottle, listening to Maglido's wild laughter from outside, his expression composed.
"It truly is quite a magical item, isn't it?"
Rhine didn't even try to escape; instead, he walked around this gloomy space, curiously exploring and occasionally tapping the gourd's wall.
He could feel that the surrounding air seemed to be filled with malice, and this malice was becoming increasingly substantial with time, seemingly wanting to devour him.
"If I stay in the gourd, I'll probably turn into blood in a little over an hour."
Rhine pulled out his crystal ball, roughly estimating, but his expression remained calm.
...
Maglido heard Rhine's voice from inside the gourd and laughed even louder.
"Hey, hey, do you have any last words?"
He shook the gourd twice, but it became quiet inside.
"How boring." Maglido shrugged, placed the gourd on the ground, and stared at it, quietly waiting for Rhine's possible resistance.
Around this Chief Mage of Ender, hundreds of elite Ender Soldiers stood ready with weapons in hand.
They were all Warriors who had fought against Mages and terrifying giant beasts, considered the elite of the elite even within the empire.
Hundreds of fully armed Warriors were all intently staring at a gourd on the ground, their eyes filled with vigilance!
—This scene was utterly comical, yet it represented Maglido's immense regard for this enemy.
"How will you try to escape? I'm truly curious, Sage of the Rose Kingdom and the White Kingdom."
Maglido looked at the gourd on the ground, muttering to himself.
In this plan, Maglido's own task was only one—
To fully deal with Mage Rhine, guard the gourd well, and extinguish all possibilities of him escaping from the gourd!
"According to my calculations, on the misty sea where the Eastern Witch is, the hunt must have already begun."
Maglido smiled, lifting his chin to look at the clear, cloudless sky above.