Chapter 342: Defeating Ai Ma

The crystal ice dome reflected the mithril runes on Ya Se Lieke's black robe, the lich's bony finger brushed the cold tip of the crown, murmuring a spell.

Naimi Xisi noticed the spell he intended to cast: a bad‑news reminder, "The mage pulls open the collar torn by the ice spear, exposing the dragon‑scale pattern pulsing at the collarbone, 'My ice spear just now didn't even graze the hem of her dress.'"

"She can freely summon monsters to block our attacks; we must use sufficiently powerful offense."

Ya Se Lieke nodded indifferently and altered the incantation. Dark eroding mist drifted from between his jawbones, and the green light of the Nine‑ring Withering Death swept across the dome. The ceiling crashed down with a roar, slicing only a strand of the Sword‑Singer's silver hair. Ai Ma stepped down on ice shards into the center of the summoning circle; the moment her slender sword pierced the array, ten eight‑meter‑tall Frost Winter Wolves leapt out from fissures in the ice.

Naimi Xisi glanced back at the Thousand‑year Ice Worm he had summoned, which had been completely drained by four Snow Fairies that Ai Ma had summoned earlier.

The Sword‑Singer lightly flicked his blade, and the Frost Winter Wolf exhaled a breath like an ice spear, forming a chain of ice spikes on the surface. Ya Se Lieke's staff struck heavily, and the Seven‑ring Necromancy spell Ashes to Nothing turned five of the wolves into snow powder, but the claws of the remaining five wolves had already torn Naimi Xisi's protective robe.

Five Frost Winter Wolves shredded Naimi Xisi's form, angrily realizing they had been deceived by illusion. Having already hidden in another corner, Naimi Xisi drew a spell model, deducting five more hit points; his health now stood at 45/60.

Five‑ring Abjuration spell—Recoil Vortex!

Silver streaks traced a galaxy‑like radiant path through the void of the underground vault, and a silver vortex tinged with violet light spun above the heads of the five Frost Winter Wolves and Ai Ma.

"Awo!"

The vortex shot out six chains, targeting Ai Ma and the five Frost Winter Wolves. The wolves' massive, terrifying bodies could not resist the energy chains and, amid screams, painfully turned to ash.

Ai Ma also felt the pain; Recoil Vortex causes all mana‑infused items and beings within its radius to continuously suffer retaliatory magical damage. The summoned Frost Winter Wolves, being beings of pure magical energy, died instantly.

But Ai Ma, as a level‑20 Sword‑Singer, harbored an especially vast reservoir of mana.

Under normal circumstances, Recoil Vortex, being merely a Five‑ring spell, could not significantly affect Ai Ma; with the Sword‑Singer's superior intellect, she could easily resist its effects.

However, Naimi Xisi amplified the spell's power, causing Ai Ma to be unable to resist it at all, and combined with her massive internal mana, she suffered severe damage.

"Pfft!" Ai Ma spat a mouthful of fresh blood, feeling as if her whole body were being seared by flames. She tried to cut the energy chain linking her with her sword, but it was useless.

From Naimi Xisi's game perspective, Ai Ma's health bar was plummeting wildly from 9999/9999.

She gritted her teeth against the pain and tried to cast a teleportation spell, but she had forgotten that she had earlier deployed a dimensional anchor to confront the final boss, sealing the surrounding space. Ai Ma was forced to run outside the vortex, attempting to escape the casting range.

To prevent a sneak attack, she swung her slender sword again, summoning new monsters beside Naimi Xisi.

Twenty snow monsters crawled out of the meltwater around Naimi Xisi, and Ya Se Lieke immediately activated the Nine‑ring Necromancy spell Banshee's Howl. The lich's gaunt, pallid skull gaped a void‑like mouth, emitting a shrill scream intolerable to mortals, and the monsters were shattered into ice shards by the sound wave.

"Die for me!" Ai Ma raised her sword tip, causing the ice dome to quake again; fifty ice demon bats shot out like arrows toward Naimi Xisi, then fled without looking back.

Naimi Xisi, while unleashing a fire barrage on the ice demon bats, shouted at Ya Se Lieke, "Use Energy Absorption!"

The lich's jagged finger bones gripped the dragon‑bone staff, and three hundred inverted runes coalesced in the void into dark‑purple gears. When the final syllable of the necromantic chant fractured between the teeth, all the gears spun in reverse, erupting spider‑webbed energy fissures.

Nine‑ring Necromancy spell—Energy Absorption!

A violet‑black beam shot from the lich's hollow eye socket, striking precisely at Ai Ma's heart. Her pierced body instantly turned translucent, revealing a swirling crimson soul vortex in her chest—a storm of energy formed as the very source of life was forcibly ripped away.

The air boiled in the spell's afterglow, each speck of light turning into a tiny screaming skeleton that rose upward. The lich's desiccated ribs began to regrow flesh, the new vessels shimmering with a corpse‑wax‑like bluish‑gray, swelling as energy poured in.

In stark contrast, Ai Ma fell into extreme helplessness.

Her golden hair began to dry and turn white, and pixel‑style blocky figures on her body kept sprouting creases—wrinkles.

Her fleeing speed slowed further, and Recoil Vortex continued to inflict ongoing damage on her.

8000/9999

7500/9999

7000/9999

She weakly kept swinging her slender sword, summoning all sorts of monsters: Ice Element Elders, Earthworms, Frost Gazers, and so on.

But Naimi Xisi, using his vast Spell Slots, flawlessly dealt with every creature, preventing them from affecting the lich in the slightest.

Energy Absorption is one of the most terrifying Necromancy spells, a curse akin to Causality. Aside from the recipient relying on innate resistance or protective spells to block it, there is no way to evade the caster's lock.

Therefore, faced with that tiny violet‑black beam, Ai Ma could no longer summon the Chain Family's summons to sacrifice herself as before.

As her health declined, she could no longer even stay upright, eventually collapsing on the ground and giving up resistance.

"It's over." Naimi Xisi elegantly raised a finger, deducted five hit points, and unleashed an enhanced version of Disjunction.

From the cracked magical sigils in his palm burst a phosphorescent green ray, streaking toward the now unresisting Ai Ma. When the beam touched her skin, Ai Ma's entire body collapsed like sand in an hourglass; Naimi Xisi curled his fingers, and the still‑standing corpse instantly burst apart like leaves blown by wind.

At the instant Ai Ma fell, a walnut box radiating a blood‑red glow rose from her corpse, hovering in mid‑air.

The death‑like ghost fire in Ya Se Lieke's eyes suddenly leapt excitedly, "Destroy it! Then you can see the master."

Naimi Xisi, curious, asked, "You mean, destroying this fate box would lift the seal?"

Ya Se Lieke shook his head, "No, you still need the Reverse Eye to awaken our master."

"Our master was split; the right eye that wielded shadow authority has become a traitor in the gloom. Even if the seal is broken, without the Return of the Reverse Eye, the master cannot awaken."

"However, as I once promised you, our master's holy relic sleeps with him in the darkness, and that relic is waiting for you within the seal."

Naimi Xisi, surprised, said, "So it was you all along communicating with me? Then why do you speak to me in His voice?"

Ya Se Lieke replied indifferently, "Saints are extensions of the divine will. I am Ya Se Lieke, also the master, yet the master is not me."

Those tongue‑twisting words gave Naimi Xisi pause; it seemed the link between deities and saints was closer than he had imagined.

He raised his hand, a flash of green light, and Disjunction instantly turned the fragile walnut box into a heap of ash, just like its master.

(End of Chapter)