Chapter 566: Desperate Escape

A few Lei En stared at the spot where the Lich disappeared, scanning the surroundings.

The Key of Doors had already been activated to its limit in advance; within each Lei En's pupil there was an ancient, simple gate, from whose crack emanated an indescribable, eerie radiance, perceiving the surrounding space-time.

This time, Lei En finally saw clearly the Lich's destination.

His gaze pierced into a vague future, where the Lich hid within the folds of the River of Time, drifting in a stagnant state, awaiting the right moment to reappear.

He could see the enemy leaping through time, yet had no means to attack.

Even if he could strike, he could not pierce the Lich's spatial barrier.

This was the most terrifying foe Lei En had ever faced, truly worthy of being the strongest Wizard in history; he decisively abandoned any attack intent, his mind left with only one thought: escape!

But he could not leap away without preparation.

Four Lei En raised the Thunder God's Hammer, four bolts of lightning burst from the hammerheads, soaring instantly into the sky; thunderclaps rolled overhead, dark clouds gathered, flashes and rumblings filled the air, and within a radius of a kilometer the sky was shrouded in black clouds, as if the end of the world had arrived.

Thunder Cloud Storm!

This was the most powerful spell attached to the Thunder God's Hammer, capable of reaching up to the Eight-ring level; although a Mirror Image's power is only half that of the original, four Mirror Images casting together stack four Seven-ring spells, covering a range comparable to a Nine-ring spell.

Then, three Mirror Images shouted in unison:

'Heaven's Light!'

Three massive holy white beams illuminated the world beneath the dark clouds, making it feel as if night turned to day in an instant. Heaven's Light lasted ten seconds and could hinder the Lich when it leapt out of time.

This was the only delaying method Lei En could think of.

At the same time, the fourth Mirror Image's Wish Spell shouted something different: 'Accelerate Sabbath Dean's Nirvanic rebirth!'

The flameburst scroll thrown earlier exploded over two hundred meters away with a boom, and within the massive fire appeared the figure of Sabbath Dean.

If it were a wish for Sabbath Dean's resurrection, Lei En would have to pay an unbearable price.

But merely accelerating rebirth was simple.

The Wish Spell took effect instantly; in less than a second, Sabbath Dean was reborn from the flames generated by the flameburst.

He leapt from the fire, his face showing terror, lacking any aura of a Holy Soul Wizard.

A Lei En Mirror Image flashed before him; Sabbath Dean startled, still trembling, and asked, "Where is the other one?"

"It entered a time jump," Lei En replied swiftly, not looking down on Sabbath Dean despite his helplessness before the Lich, for he himself was no better; anyone who's been instantly killed twice would inevitably develop a mental scar.

Sabbath Dean's complexion changed dramatically, then he quickly regained composure.

"Let's go!"

"The Supreme Council is surely already on its way…"

As he spoke, Sabbath Dean transformed into a phoenix; his form had not reached the phoenix's maximum size, his wings spanning only about ten meters, the fastest mode.

Lei En also understood intuitively; the two of them could never match the Lich.

The Lich's target was Sabbath Dean; they could not let it succeed.

Just as Lei En was about to speak, his gaze shifted.

The visions and minds among the Mirror Images were linked; the one left behind saw the Lich jump out of time early.

Sabbath Dean also sensed it.

"I'll hold him," Lei En decided decisively; after all, they were only Mirror Images, and as long as the Lich didn't find the original, the death of the images mattered not.

The phoenix nodded, gratitude flashing in its eyes, then erupted in dazzling fire.

Boom!

With a burst, the phoenix bathed in flame, like a meteor streaking toward the distance, it zipped out of the Thunder Cloud Storm's range in an instant and vanished on the horizon.

"Repent!"

"Repent!"

"Dispel Magic!"

The instant the Lich leapt from time, two or three Divine Techniques and a spell landed on it as if foreseeing its position, striking precisely.

Repent is a Five-ring Divine Technique that forces evil beings to reflect, ceasing any attack intent. If the target's soul is weak or its power insufficient, it may even have its mind controlled, and even if killed it will not awaken.

Of course, Repent cannot control a Holy Soul Lich, nor can it make it cease.

Lei En only needed Repent to produce a tiny effect, enough to disturb the Lich's thoughts and prevent it from casting smoothly.

As for Dispel Magic, it was pure luck.

In the sky, the Thunder Cloud Storm had finished; thick bolts of lightning fell like raindrops, each as powerful as a Six-ring spell, pounding the ground into craters, growing ever denser without pause.

The three beams of Heaven's Light also illuminated heaven and earth.

The Lich, upon appearing, had its skin seared by the holy radiance, its pallid flesh burning.

Dispel Magic did not take effect.

Repent only caused him to stagger for a moment; dozens of lightning bolts struck him, all absorbed by Magic Siphon.

Four Lei En surrounded him recklessly, brandishing war hammers in a frenzy.

Hmph!

The Lich, enduring excruciating pain, instantly threw a pre‑prepared Shadow Veil, shrouding itself in darkness and blocking the holy light from above.

Immediately, the staff halted, and an invisible field exceeding a hundred meters in radius spread outward.

Seven-ring spell—Fictitious Gravity!

The four Lei En suddenly felt their bodies weigh a hundred times heavier, as if a mountain pressed on their shoulders; their knees buckled, speed plummeted, and swinging the hammer became extremely difficult, demanding over ten times the usual force.

The Lich itself remained completely unaffected.

He seized the moment the Lei En slowed, flashed out of the encirclement, made a phantom grab with his left hand, and pulled out a silhouette identical to himself.

Another Lich.

This time Lei En finally understood why there were two Lichs: the Lich had cast a Nine-ring spell 'Temporal Replication', snatching a copy of itself from the future to fight side by side.

The duplicated self was, of course, identical; both were the original.

This is equivalent to doubling one's power, or even stronger.

Earlier, when Lei En and Sa Bu La were just spatially transferred to this plane, they saw two Liches, one of which was a copy. When the six‑second Time Stop ended, both Liches vanished—one leapt into the future, the other was copied into the past.

Now the cooldown interval for Time Replication has passed, and the Lich immediately replicates itself again.

One Lich is already terrifying, let alone two.

"What the heck!"

Several Lei En's muttered that things looked bad; before they could devise a counter, the Lich that had just been copied from the future to the present swung its staff, Time's End, and instantly cast a Time Stop.

In an instant, all four Lei En's were frozen.

Fortunately, the Key of Doors preserved their ability to think.

The two Liches began casting wildly, first hurling a Malicious Transformation Technique plus a Weak Energy Technique at each Lei En, then Disintegrate ×2, Collapse Technique ×2, Annihilation Sphere ×2, and finally a combo of Meteor Storm and Chain Extreme‑Effect Meteorite Technique.

It took five seconds; in the final second, one Lich opened a portal and stepped through, leaving the Lich that had been copied from the future behind.

Time Stop ends.

Dozens of spells took effect instantly; the Mirror Images' defense and resistance were only half that of the original, failing to exempt the Malicious Transformation Technique as the original had, and they instantly turned into four bewildered little lambs, circling in place.

"Baa!"

The four lambs were instantly blasted to nothing, not even a speck of ash remaining.

The Thunder Cloud Storm continued to hurl bolts of lightning into the Shadow Canopy, but inside, there was no one left.

All four Mirror Images were annihilated, and the replicated Lich returned to its own timeline.

Beyond the count, a Flame‑Immersed Phoenix was soaring at breakneck speed.

Trailing behind it were several long tail flames, dazzlingly colorful like ribbons.

Sa Bu La, while flying, sensed the surrounding space and realized that despite traveling this far, they still could not leave the bounded area, unable to open a teleportation channel.

Clearly, the Lich had made full preparations to kill them.

"I can't even teleport; how does Lei En traverse space?"

Sa Bu La's thoughts turned sharply, and the question suddenly occurred to them. They only know that they were reborn twice from flames, presumably saved by Lei En, but never saw the process.

They also don't know what happened to Lei En?

Before the thought could settle, a portal opened ahead, and a pale Lich clad in a splendid magical robe stepped out, raising a hand to point at them.

"He's catching up!"

Sa Bu La felt a sudden chill, veered sharply, and a white beam brushed the phoenix's wing; even though it missed, the coldness startled them.

Nine-ring Technique — Polar Ray!

Originally an Eight-ring Polar Ray, the Lich instantly cast it, making it far more terrifying than a specialized ice elemental, with lethal range extending beyond a kilometer and a firing speed comparable to a beam of light.

The Lich raised its left hand, the tip of its finger sustaining the Polar Ray, sweeping toward the phoenix.

Sa Bu La was horrified, frantically dodging in the sky, diving down then swooping up, but the Polar Ray clung like a festering wound, impossible to shake off.

While pursuing the phoenix with the Polar Ray, the Lich produced a gem and flicked it with a snap.

The seemingly inconspicuous gem, only pigeon‑egg sized, pierced the void and appeared near the phoenix in a flash, then cracked with a "pop".

A transparent force field expanded; Sa Bu La tried desperately to evade, but they still brushed a fringe of it.

It was a stasis field.

Although it was only a Seven-ring, it couldn't trap a Holy Soul Wizard for long, but the phoenix's form stalled, restrained by the stasis space for half a breath; the Lich's Polar Ray seized the chance and struck the immobilized phoenix.

Terrifying icy power assaulted the phoenix, dimming its flames.

One second later, the phoenix broke free of the stasis field, but it was already too late.

Affected by the ice, the phoenix's flight speed plummeted; the Polar Ray easily locked onto it, breaching its defenses in seconds, reaching the phoenix's core, extinguishing its flames, freezing its body, and it fell from the sky like a block of ice.

The Lich withdrew the Polar Ray, leapt over a kilometer, and appeared before the phoenix.

"It's over!"

Sa Bu La felt despair.

They had already activated their transformation spell, second only to the phoenix, turning into an elderly blue dragon to try escaping the freeze, but their blue‑dragon soul was only Legendary High‑rank, having just achieved Holy Soul Ascension, and hadn't yet elevated the dragon soul to Saint Rank; against the terrifying Lich, there was only death.

"Roar!"

A massive blue dragon a hundred meters long materialized; its dragon roar was cut off abruptly, and its wings froze mid‑air.

The Lich had already released Time Stop.

Another six‑second instant cast followed; Time Stop ended, the Lich entered a time jump, and the blue dragon was blasted to ash by the spell.

Boom!

Almost as the blue dragon died, a space on the ground below was shattered by a war hammer, spouting a Mirror Image of Lei En.

It gathered a ball of flame in its hand and threw it at its feet.

Then it shouted loudly, "Accelerate Sa Bu La * Pasival's Nirvanic Rebirth!"

The flame surged several meters high; Sa Bu La's figure was reborn within the fire, emerging pale‑faced, saying with gratitude and a wry smile, "You saved me again."

"Run!"

Lei En shook his head; now was not the time for such words.

The Lich that leapt into the time river could emerge at any moment; every second was a precious chance to escape, and must not be wasted.

Sa Bu La also understood this, instantly transforming into a phoenix and soaring again.

Lei En raised his war hammer himself, and with a boom, took off to follow.

Thunder God's Hammer can traverse the void; thanks to luck, this plane is not far from the Dying Sun plane, and after swapping positions with Reslin, they could arrive in time. However, this plane has been locked by the Lich through unknown means, preventing anyone except the Lich himself from opening a teleportation channel; even Thunder God's Hammer can only bring him in, not out.

Each Mirror Image entering the plane falls into the Lich's trap.

He would never dare let his true self come in; his true self is still hidden in the Dying Sun plane, and if all the Mirror Images are slain, he would be powerless.

Including the current one, there are three Mirror Images left in total.

Moreover, the Mirror Image lasts only twelve minutes; once the time is up, without waiting for the Supreme Council's rescue, Sabbath Dean also dies.

A gale howls at his ears.

The war hammer, bearing Lei En's Mirror Image, raced at high speed; aided by a steady Flight Technique, it broke the sound barrier in a few seconds, but could only barely keep behind the phoenix.

The phoenix is one of the fastest flying creatures in the world.

However, nothing is faster than teleportation; barely ten seconds after fleeing, a Lich's figure reappeared ahead, raising a hand to unleash a Polar Ray.

The phoenix dodged desperately, making a sharp turn, only to see a second Lich.

"Time Copy!"

Lei En, behind, saw the two Liches appear and knew this was over again.

Sabbath Dean was caught between two Liches, instantly fell under spell control, didn't even have time to unleash flame to create a chance of resurrection, and was shattered into fine dust by an Annihilation Technique. Fortunately, Lei En arrived in time, tossed a Fireball Scroll, and then used Wish Spell to accelerate rebirth, pulling Sabbath Dean back from death for the fourth time.

The spot of the flame resurrection was several hundred meters away from the two Liches.

They reacted extremely quickly; one blinked close, preparing a Time Stop, while the other fired a Polar Ray.

"Teleportation prohibited here for three seconds!"

Lei En shouted rapidly with Wish Spell, then used his own body to block that Polar Ray.

The Lich's blink failed, and the one who remained in place looked stunned.

The price of that wish was the Mirror Image's death; the Polar Ray swept again, and the Mirror Image vanished on the spot.

However, the Mirror Image had already bought Sabbath Dean enough time to revive; he leapt out of the flames, instantly transformed into a phoenix, and fled swiftly.

(End of Chapter)