Chapter 983

After all, it was an area-of-effect spell, and wind magic at that—such a wide range could be tanked by strong warriors of Fifth or Sixth Rank.

But in the sky, the threat became much greater.

Of course, the flying ships' speed was certainly faster than these dragon whirlwinds; if the fleet turned as one now, many could still escape.

But how could the Flame Empire possibly flee!

As the dragon whirlwinds neared the flying ship fleet, a soft snort came from the fleet.

Immediately, Xiang Mengying flew into the air, her power surging.

In front of the flying ship fleet, vast distortions of space instantly appeared.

The moment the dragon whirlwinds entered that zone, they reversed direction and hurtled back toward the Iron Horn Holy Son.

"Sacred Domain!"

Seeing this, the Iron Horn Holy Son's eyes narrowed—he understood perfectly: only someone of Sacred Domain could dispel his long-prepared Legendary spell so effortlessly.

At that moment, a massive flaming sphere suddenly materialized above the heads of the Iron Horn Holy Son and the Iron Horn Grand General, and it plummeted swiftly downward.

The Iron Horn Holy Son had no time to dodge; the Iron Horn Grand General raised his enormous shield to block it.

"Boom!"

The massive fireball struck the shield—the Iron Horn Grand General, an Eighth Rank warrior capable of flight, possessed immense physical strength and power, yet the impact rendered his arm unable to hold the shield aloft; the shield crashed down onto his shoulder, crushing his shoulder armor inward.

"Boom!"

Immediately, a second fireball slammed down, completely crushing the Iron Horn Grand General's shoulder armor into his flesh!

Then came the third fireball!

One fireball after another left the Iron Horn Grand General no chance to flee—he could only brace himself, shielding with all his strength.

But the Iron Horn Holy Son had already escaped.

"I'll help you!"

The Iron Horn Holy Son cast an ultra-powerful defensive spell, intercepting the massive fireball.

"Boom!"

But the fireball pierced straight through his defense spell and struck the Iron Horn Grand General's shield without hesitation.

"Aaaah~~"

The Iron Horn Grand General screamed in agony, for the fireball's intense heat had burned clean through the center of his shield.

Molten red metal dripped onto his shoulder armor, seeping through the gaps into the armor's interior, scalding him so badly he howled in pain.

"Hold on!"

The Iron Horn Holy Son channeled his magic, his staff glowing brilliantly.

"Recede!"

Finally, he altered the trajectory of one fireball slightly.

Seizing the opportunity, the Iron Horn Grand General flew out of the fireball's range.

"Fall back quickly!"

The Iron Horn Holy Son and the Iron Horn Grand General retreated rapidly.

"That Sacred Domain is incredibly strong!"

The Iron Horn Grand General discarded his shield, his face filled with dread.

His shield had been forged from special materials—yet it had been melted through; clearly, the opponent's fire magic was immensely powerful.

And this was still just a casual attack.

"When my lord Kai Si acts, she won't survive—my lord Kai Si has never failed in his life, and we've already drawn plenty of attention for him. Let's keep retreating—don't reveal ourselves!"

Said the Iron Horn Holy Son.

As they retreated, he continuously monitored the situation aboard the flying ship.

At this moment, aboard the flying ship, Xiang Mengying, seeing them flee, estimated the distance and seemed to abandon pursuit.

She had just sat upon the Wang Zuo, and behind her, an almost transparent shadow slipped silently into place—no one noticed.

Even Xiang Mengying appeared unaware of the shadow.

In the shadow's hand, a slender dagger was raised.

Then, the shadow thrust the dagger violently toward Xiang Mengying.

"You're dead!"

The shadow sneered inwardly.

But instantly, his expression changed.

For the dagger had not pierced Xiang Mengying—it had struck the armrest of the Wang Zuo beside her.

"How?!"

The shadow was stunned.

He too was a Sacred Domain—but his Sacred Domain was unusual.

On the Continent of Gods, becoming a Sacred Domain as a mage was relatively easy.

Of ten Sacred Domains, eight were mages.

The reason was simple.

Mages studied the deepest secrets of this world.

They encountered knowledge that was vast, profound, and exceedingly difficult to comprehend.

The volume of books a mage reads is terrifying.

Even Xiang Mengying now spent enormous amounts of time reading countless texts.

And mages' mental energy differed from ordinary people's, allowing them to memorize everything they read at a glance.

One could say that if the high-tier mages of the Gods Continent were sent to the world before Lin Yan transmigrated, after a period of study, every single one of them would be a super-genius student.

This is also the reason why Lin Yan's Holy Maiden, the catfolk Lottie, was able to master the vast amount of knowledge Lin Yan bestowed through revelation so quickly.

Lottie's current reserve of knowledge is no less than that of a great scientist, and a very well-rounded one at that — one could say she is thoroughly proficient in math, physics, and chemistry.

Therefore, mages also find it very easy to reach the Holy Domain.

By comparison, Holy Domains achieved through warriors are far fewer — among ten Holy Domains, there might only be one and a half.

Holy Domains achieved by warriors are far inferior to Holy Domain mages in wide-area attacks.

However, their single-target killing power is far too overwhelming.

Every Holy Domain mage fears being closed in on by them.

A Holy Domain like Romina is yet another rather special kind of Holy Domain — she uses magic, but cannot be counted as a Holy Domain mage, and is also different from a Holy Domain achieved by a warrior, or rather, a knight.

In addition, there is another special kind of Holy Domain.

That would be this Kais of the Iron Horn Empire.

Kais excels at stealth; the rule he wields is one of concealment.

Before becoming a Holy Domain, he was the most famous assassin in the Iron Horn Empire and the surrounding empires!

Among peers, whether mage or warrior, there was none he could not assassinate.

He could even assassinate enemies above his own tier!

Moreover, he had quite a few achievements to his name!

From the day Kais rose to fame, his assassinations had never once failed!

His most famous feat was, while at the Legendary tier, grievously wounding a Holy Domain — although that Holy Domain, even grievously wounded, still drove a rule to protect himself, Kais escaped completely unscathed, and rose to fame in a single battle!

After becoming a Holy Domain, he even killed a Holy Domain of an enemy nation!

Only today, Kais — who had never failed — failed here against Meng Ying.

He had clearly stabbed straight at Meng Ying, and Meng Ying appeared to have no guard at all.

Yet that blade, in his line of sight, simply veered off.

By feel, he had stabbed in a straight line, but what his eyes saw had veered off!

And in fact, it had indeed veered off!

"Spatial rule!"

Kais instantly understood the reason this strike had veered off.

Meng Ying had actually driven a spatial rule, setting up a defensive spatial magic array around herself.

A Holy Domain's time of driving rules is not unlimited; usually they only drive them at the most intense moments of battle.

Otherwise, even with a Holy Domain's power, it would bring an enormous burden!

In other words, Meng Ying most likely sensed something was off, and only then drove the spatial rule.