Chapter 242: Could He Really Be a God? (13)

Moonlit night.

The wasteland in the eastern outskirts of Leyin City.

Because the land in this area is extremely barren and the terrain is highly uneven, there is no sign of habitation for miles around.

No one would think that such a remote place would actually gather the greatest number of legendary powerhouses on the White Continent.

After the demon apostle wielding a black giant shield appeared, although he was at the forefront of the group, he did not immediately attack.

He shrank behind the shield, carefully observing the opponent standing on the hilltop, looking for the best moment to strike.

To demons, a powerful apostle is like a handy tool and cannot be easily expended.

Looking at the other legendary mages, each one was tense and kept far away.

It seemed they had come not to fight, but to watch a show.

In contrast, Duke Weilan on the hilltop kept a smile on his face and made no unnecessary movements, as if facing not a group of strong enemies but harmless fodder.

Such a casual attitude really left people baffled.

"Could it be a trap?"

"Nawat Mage Oakland" whispered, his eyes fixed on the target without blinking as he spoke.

Yasdin also felt it was a trap, but the problem was he hadn't detected any abnormal traces.

He simply couldn't figure it out.

The quality of the legendary crystal staff in the opponent's hand was indeed good, but the goodness was limited.

Its size was also somewhat larger than theirs, but the largeness was limited.

The mana stored in the staff was at most double that of any single one of them.

But we have six people.

When combined, the six of us can unleash a total force at least three times greater than the opponent's in a short time, not to mention the demon's aid.

Furthermore, an individual's casting ability is always limited; even if there are differences between people, they are never worlds apart.

One versus seven.

I just can't figure out what the opponent could win with.

Just as the mages were full of suspicion, the ever-silent Duke Weilan spoke again.

"Heh~~ The Lord of Light is a shrinking-headed turtle, the warriors he sends out are all shrinking-headed turtles, and even the demons hiding in the void have become shrinking-headed turtles."

"Demon apostle, you weren't just shouting the loudest a moment ago? Why are you still shrinking inside your shell?"

At this moment, the demon apostle, fully controlled by the demon in the void, was being provoked by a mortal mage, and he naturally felt angry.

But this emotional fluctuation was not enough to make him abandon reason.

He well knew the might of the Lord of Nether Shadow, and for a legendary mage capable of slaying the Lord of Nether Shadow, no amount of overestimation would be excessive.

Thus his face showed no ripple, and he remained shrunk behind the shield.

In his view, Duke Weilan also dared not act rashly.

Even if he acted, it would be hard to penetrate his defense, and besides, this is merely one of his apostles—essentially a consumable.

Therefore, among everyone, although he was at the front, his mood was actually the most relaxed.

Just then, the voice of Duke Weilan came again from the hilltop.

"Demon, since you like hiding in your shell, then I'll smash the shell together with you!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a mighty surge of magical power flashed forth, erupting from Duke Weilan as a scorching light mist.

Almost simultaneously, a purplish-black, metal-like spear of strange energy shot out from the light mist and raced toward the demon apostle.

The demon apostle reacted with incredible speed, instantly raising the heavy giant shield in front of himself.

A layer of crimson light at least ten centimeters thick appeared on the shield's surface, while his body was enveloped by a crimson light mist over three meters in diameter.

This is the Bloody Baron's strongest defensive spell, 'Blood Domain'.

This defensive spell is actually best released among a crowd.

After release, it can fiercely draw the souls of the surrounding crowd, converting them into the domain's power.

The more people, the stronger the domain; if used in a bustling city, it could create a terrifying Blood Domain directly exceeding fifty meters.

But here we are in the suburbs, so the domain's power mainly comes from the infusion of the Void Demon; the infusion is not insignificant, and after employing some focusing spells, its strength reaches Legendary 5.

Furthermore, the dark giant shield in his hand is also a divine artifact.

This is made of special magic-infused krypton, giving it several times the spell-breaking power of ordinary krypton.

The Bloody Baron silently thought: 'I just don't believe you can kill my apostle!'

On the other side, the six legendary mages also immediately seized this precious battle opportunity.

All six exerted their full strength.

Because the distance was somewhat far, exceeding the optimal killing range of firearms, the Nawat mages all used relatively traditional legendary spells.

The spell is called 'Evil Judgment Sword'.

Originally intended to deal with demon apostles in the mortal realm, it has been honed countless times on the battlefield.

Not only is the casting speed fast, its power is astonishingly great; besides having Legendary +3 strength, the spell's scale is considerable, able to hold up to twenty mana tubes at most, and it can directly lock onto the target's soul.

Almost in an instant, three brilliant swords hanging downward appeared above the head of Duke Weilan opposite.

As soon as the swords appeared, they attracted each other, overlapping in an instant to form a more condensed Judgment Sword, with greater brilliance and larger volume.

This is the joint casting technique of the Nawat mages.

Through this technique, not only can the spell's scale be greatly increased, but the focus intensity can also be slightly enhanced.

Finally, the sword was over five meters long, radiant throughout, its final strength reaching Legendary 5.5, its momentum like falling stars from heaven! Meanwhile, the reaction speed of the three elf mages was also astonishingly fast.

The longevity race endowed them with souls far tougher than mortals', and also gave them ample time to hone their casting techniques.

In the blink of an eye, the three elf mages completed their tactical coordination.

Two elves handled offense, one elf specialized in defense.

The offensive elf.

One drew a bow and shot an arrow.

The bowstring pulled back, and on the string automatically condensed a light arrow radiating blinding golden light.

This bow is a divine artifact forged by the Lord of Truth for De Rui Tan's son, named the Bow of Golden Blazing Sun.

Its condensed magical arrow has legendary strength +4, maximum attack range up to 2 kilometers, instantaneous arrival, and never misses.

Most astonishingly, the released Golden Blazing Sun arrow can contain an enormous amount of magical power, up to about 30 tubes of power.

This arrow is a merciless killing strike, so naturally it can be infused with as much power as possible.

Nearly all 30 tubes of power were poured in, and the legendary crystal's stored power was instantly drained by eighty percent.

When the arrow shot forth, it surged toward the target like a scorching sun, lighting up the night sky.

The other elf's weapon is a staff.

The staff is naturally also a divine artifact, called the Staff of True Reflection.

Its effect is simply to perfectly copy an ally's attack.

Thus, after the Golden Blazing Sun arrow, another Golden Blazing Sun arrow appeared close behind, likewise shooting at the target.

The last elf raised the ring in hand high, pouring all power into it.

The infusion was so fierce that even his legendary crystal cracked.

The ring is named De Rui Tan's Guard; once activated, it forms a huge, wondrous single-sided ring.

Facing all incoming attacks, the ring does not confront them head-on but pulls them sideways, causing each attack to fly endlessly along the ring's single surface until its power naturally dissipates.

Because of this property, the ring can at most block legendary rank 8 attacks and achieve a one-against-three effect.

In other words, expending one unit of power to guide it can ultimately block an attack that would cost the opponent three units of power.

Such a powerful defensive spell also shows the elves' extreme regard for warriors' lives.

All these changes occurred in an instant.

It was like a spring stretched to its limit; once the restraint was removed, it went "boing" and shot up violently.

But almost simultaneously, perhaps even faster than the opponent, Duke Weilan used both mind and body, centered on himself, exploding a hemispheric pale-golden light field.

Once the light field burst open, it expanded outward in all directions at tremendous speed.

At that moment, various thoughts arose in the minds of the legendary mages.

Yastin thought: "This duke casts spells incredibly fast!"

Oakland, however, thought: "With our attack this strong, you think a single spell can block it?"

After obtaining the legendary crystal, the legendary mages' attack power increased by an order of magnitude compared to before.

When a legendary mage releases power, even a demon would have to retreat, let alone a fellow mortal legendary mage; the elves' eyes remained fixed on the Blazing Sun arrow.

"This is a legendary rank 6 attack—let alone a human, even a heavenly dragon could be shot down with a single arrow!"

After another instant, the duke's pale-golden light field collided with the Golden Blazing Sun arrow and the Evil Judgment greatsword.

At the moment of clash, electricity scattered and white light flickered.

Yet another moment later, the pale-golden light field ignored the attack and continued to expand outward violently.

Like a violent torrent, it smashed the Evil Judgment greatsword head-on, then swallowed the Golden Blazing Sun arrow without a trace.

That was not all.

The expansion did not stop; it spread outward another full thirty meters, so the total diameter reached nearly a hundred meters—an astonishing scale!

Compared to this massive defensive spell, the attack spells of five legendary mages, who expended huge amounts of power, are like a ticklish little toy, hardly disturbing this gigantic light shield.

Six legendary mages instantly widened their eyes, full of disbelief, their thoughts involuntarily grinding to a halt.

At the same time, the demon apostle wielding a dark great shield presented quite a different scene.

The great shield that looked extremely sturdy turned out as fragile as paper.

The combined defense of the magical spell and the demon-forged kryptonite great shield was pierced straight through by that purple-black ray, as easily as a steel sword poking rotten mud.

One saw a "puff," and the demon apostle's head gained a fist-sized translucent hole; the purple-black ray continued forward, blasting a bottomless black hole in the ground behind it.

Demons are void beings, but the apostles controlled by them are mortal flesh; having their brains pierced, they died on the spot.

Mage Yastin was the first to react, a thought flashing through his mind.

"How can his magical power be so abundant?"

A hundred-meter diameter, with power exceeding legendary rank 7, the golden domain's strength is naturally high, but most impressive is the spell's scale.

To achieve such a spell scale, the power consumed must be an unimaginable number, far beyond the capacity limit of a legendary crystal staff.

If it were him, he would probably need a thousand tubes of power to suffice.

Yet their combined attack just now infused less than 150 tubes of power, nearly an order of magnitude short, hence the feeling of impotence like a tickle.

Oakland, however, focused on the instantly slain demon apostle: "How can this spell's power be so outrageous?!"

The Bloody Baron is an old rival of Nawat; his demon apostle's defensive power is astonishing, and with full effort could even block a legendary +10 attack.

Now it was directly pierced straight through!

Could Duke Weilan be a true god? Meanwhile, the three elves exchanged glances, already feeling a urge to retreat.

But they had not yet begun to act when a new development appeared on the field.

Inside the super pale-golden light field, Duke Weilan raised his left-hand legendary crystal staff high and let out a sharp shout.

"Demon, since you've come, stay for me!"

Only see the staff suddenly burst forth a blinding golden light, as if the ground exploded into a giant sun, not only lighting the night sky like daytime but also violently shaking the magical ring.

That tremendous surge of power made the six legendary mages present feel their hearts sway, almost unable to restrain from screaming.

In such a state, let alone casting spells or fleeing, merely being able to stay standing is the utmost limit.

Mage Yasting immediately knew, "Another spell of massive scale!"

The so‑called massive scale is defined in Navat as a spell whose mana consumption exceeds a thousand times that of a standard legendary spell.

When battling demons, because one must infuse the power of protective conviction—or even draw on the burning of souls—such massive‑scale spells appear frequently.

The problem is that Duke Weilan shows no fluctuations of faith‑based power, and no one has burned a soul for him; where did he obtain such astonishing mana?

Okelan clenched his teeth and, using the Linking Magic Ring, observed the void.

With a single glance, he saw a scene he would never forget.

If the mortal realm only experienced some bright flashes and ring tremors, the void erupted in a violent explosion.

At the core of the explosion was the Bloody Baron.

This legendary demon who had tangled with Navat for roughly thirty years was slain outright by a single strike from Duke Weilan.

He was pulverized, dead on the spot! Worse, Duke Weilan killed the Bloody Baron while directly confronting the combined assault of five legendary mages. If that force were directed at those few, it would surely turn them to dust.

Okelan, disheartened, severed the connection of eleven rings, and another incredulous thought surfaced in his mind.

"Could it be that this duke is truly a god?!"

Even among legendary mages, the gap is absurdly huge.

His perception just returned to the mortal world when he saw Duke Weilan simultaneously using three abilities, pointing his right hand at the Elves and shouting, "Now that you're here, don't even think of leaving!"

A torrent of mana reappeared, instantly generating an arcane ray ten meters wide with legendary intensity above level 7, crashing like a flood into the Elves' defensive spell "De Rui Tan's Guard."

Chichich~~~ Boom!

In less than half a second, the cleverly crafted single‑sided ring was smashed outright by the terrifying arcane torrent.

All the spell techniques, all the ultra‑high focus, became mere flashy tricks in the face of the crushing spell scale.

The Elves' defensive spell was blown apart on the spot!

The three legendary Elves inside, shaken by the violent surge, spewed a mouthful of fresh blood and collapsed limply, clinging to their last breath.

That was only because the arcane ray missed slightly; a direct hit would have left them bone‑less.

One strike killed the demon apostle, another the demon's core, a third maimed the Elves, yet Duke Weilan did not press the attack.

He slowly swung his staff, aimed at the three Navat mages, and the staff once again radiated an overwhelming mana surge.

It was clearly brewing another massive‑scale legendary spell.

But the spell did not erupt.

Duke Weilan's voice came, "Mage Yasting, you are among the pinnacle of humanity, the vanguard against demons.

I am not a lover of slaughter either.

Therefore, I give you one final chance.

Surrender, hand over all legendary artifacts, and leave this plane at once!"

His tone was flat, like casual small talk.

Yet the three Navat mages present felt as if their souls had been struck by a heavy hammer, their very qi and spirit on the verge of dispersing.

At this point, the opponent's willingness to spare them shows they have already mastered true magical might.

It also indicates that, in the opponent's eyes, they are nothing more than insignificant ants.

Indeed, they are ants; even a full‑strength combined effort cannot interfere with the opponent's killing of the void demon.

The demon Navat had tangled with for years was casually slain by the opponent.

The three involuntarily lowered their gazes and bowed their heads.

We are weaker, so we must bow.

Yasting, following Navat etiquette, paid a respectful bow to the duke atop the hill and placed the legendary crystal staff on the ground.

"As you wish, Mage Luosen, we will depart the De Rui Tan plane at once. However, there seems to be no phase‑transfer array nearby."

Luosen pointed to a spot: "I have prepared a transfer array for you."

Yasting replied immediately, "We'll leave right away."

He sprinted toward the array Luosen indicated. Okelan and Weiqi quickly followed.

A few minutes later, phase‑transfer fluctuations began to appear in succession.

The three Navat mages left very cleanly.

Luosen turned his gaze back to the Elves' mages.

The three Elven mages were gravely wounded, barely able to move, yet their resilient Elven souls kept their consciousness clear.

At this moment, they wore expressions of utter despair.

Luosen raised his staff, pointed at the three, and several beams of golden light descended.

Some of the golden light entered their bodies, healing their wounds—it was the spell version of "Golden Blessing," not as effective as a magical elixir, but sufficient for treatment.

More golden light marked their foreheads, wrists, and ankles, forming a ring of deep‑gold runes.

These were ordinary mana‑binding runes.

Though the spell was simple, its intensity reached legendary level 7, each binding infused with as much as 100 tubes of mana, and a virtually unbreakable magical lock was added.

It was like a 100‑kilogram person shackled with a ten‑ton steel chain.

The shackles were ordinary, but so heavy they functioned like a blunt, massive sword.

If the shackles aren't removed, don't even think of moving.

"You three are now my captives."

"If you wish to regain freedom, cooperate. Otherwise, I won't kill you, but I will make your lives worse than death."

"Your lifespans are long enough, so this 'worse‑than‑death' time will be exceedingly long."

His tone was flat, yet the three Elves fell silent as cold cicadas.

The broad‑faced Elf, apparently the leader, said immediately, "Duke, we concede and will cooperate."

Elves have long lifespans, so they don't cling to rigid notions of right and wrong.

In their view, temporary gains and losses aren't important; when facing an opponent they can't beat, surrender doesn't harm honor.

As long as they stay alive, they can use their long lifespans to wear down strong enemies to death.

Luosen naturally knew the Elves' plan; he nodded and said, "Very good, I like sensible people."

These Elves are the human witnesses of the Radiant Empire's joint Elves operation against mankind; the material evidence has also been recorded by him using Light-Shadow Technique.

Once this information is made public, it will surely deal a near-devastating blow to the prestige of the Radiant Royalty.

He might not necessarily use it, but he will keep it tightly clenched in his hand.

After fully grasping the situation, Luosen turned his head to glance at the darkness in the distance, focused his mind, and released a Mind Technique.

"Apostle of the Sun Lord Atum, you've seen enough; it's time to go, right?"

Several seconds later, a response arrived.

"Great Mage Luosen, I'm leaving now."

No sooner had those words fallen than Luosen felt the fluctuations of a Phase Shift.

This envoy from the Atum Divine Realm left in a flash.

After sensing carefully once more, he felt that the legendary mages who could influence the overall situation had all left Rhine City, and only then did Luosen let out a long sigh.

"Thanks to the Shadow Secret Technique, and thanks to the Endless Crystal."

Why does he have such abundant magical power? Because he beforehand secretly buried two pieces of Endless Crystal, each with a storage capacity of ten thousand Luosen, beneath the hillside, and has been standing on them ever since.

Why bury two pieces?

One piece is for use, the other is spare redundancy in case of accidents.

Why not kill Mage Nawat?

Because killing him would be useless.

Not killing him, however, can demonstrate his benevolence and righteousness, and also use their mouths to spread word of his great deeds tonight—achieving two goals at once.

"The Endless Crystal is really a good thing, just a bit bulky and somewhat inconvenient to move."

(End of Chapter)