Chapter 868: Holy Rank Tyrant

A beam of black light shot out from the Shiwa Ji Palace, like a spear several meters long, moving at incredible speed and instantly striking the descending Ultimate Arcane Fireball.

The two spells collided without exploding, as if they merged into one.

The color of the Ultimate Arcane Fireball deepened, its flames tinged with dark hues, and it continued to slam into the palace's largest hall. Suddenly, a shadow‑like magical shield materialized, and the fireball bombarded it.

Boom!

An earth‑shaking explosion roared through Banbei City, and millions of terrified residents saw a massive mushroom cloud rise over the palace.

The blast's shockwave rippled outward; the Super Sun Legion packed between the palace square and halls toppled in all directions, and some transcendent near the blast center inadvertently got tainted by Arcane fire, which instantly spread over their bodies and ignited.

This Arcane fire is like gangrene; whether beaten or doused with water, it cannot be extinguished.

They writhed on the ground in despair, emitting painful wails, while the flames on them burned ever hotter, and soon they became motionless.

The corpses kept burning, leaving not even a speck of ash.

Nearby transcendent stared at the pits scorched into the ground, horrified to the point of panic, crawling and rolling away, fearing to be touched by this dreadful flame.

This was merely the spell's aftershock, yet it killed over a thousand transcendent.

Outside the palace.

Empire troops found the largest palace still standing, while the shadowy magical shield quivered violently, seeming on the verge of collapse. It absorbed most of the Ultimate Arcane Fireball's power, yet ultimately blocked that lethal strike.

The shield's coverage was limited, protecting only half of the palace.

The palace structures outside the shield suffered varying degrees of damage, nearer ones more severely than those farther away.

"It actually blocked it!"

Lei En was also surprised; the Ten-ring Spell's power was far beyond this.

The cause lay in that black beam just now.

It seemed to be a nine-ring shadow‑type spell that weakened the Ultimate Arcane Fireball, indicating the caster's immense strength—at least a Holy Soul Wizard.

Thundercast Celestial Soldiers had been lurking in Banbei City for over a month, gathering plenty of information.

Emperor Vickramatia II commanded a cadre of court Wizards exceeding a hundred, among whom four or five were legendary Wizards; rumor held that the chief court Wizard "Qian Berrie" was a rare Holy Soul Wizard from outside the Empire, yet no one had ever seen him.

Now it seems that rumor was true.

Only a Holy Soul Wizard can resist the Ten-ring Spell, but the magical shield protecting the palace resembled a rune array, concentrating the soul power of multiple Wizards, led by that Holy Soul Wizard, to repel the Floating City's assault.

At that moment, a strong magical radiance lit up the Flaniss Floating City again.

The second Ultimate Arcane Fireball was being prepared.

Half a minute later.

Another Ultimate Arcane Fireball rained down, bombarding the palace; the explosion and flames destroyed more structures and killed more people.

The magical shield outside the palace continued to hold, not collapsing.

The magical radiance in the sky flared again, and the third Ultimate Arcane Fireball was in preparation…

The Iola Core's energy is boundless; the Shiwa Ji Palace can withstand one Ultimate Arcane Fireball, perhaps two, three, even ten, but it cannot hold forever—the magical shield will inevitably collapse.

Everyone knew the final outcome.

Boom!

Boom...

Ultimate Arcane Fireballs bombarded one after another.

The shield teetered, yet miraculously did not collapse; the remaining over 15,000 Super Sun Legion's morale, however, collapsed first.

Each fireball's blast wave killed hundreds. Even those with the strongest Willpower, faced with unilateral bombardment and no means of retaliation, could not endure long.

"Run, quickly!"

"We must escape the palace; we cannot stay here to die."

"His Majesty the King has abandoned us. Staying will inevitably lead to being bombed to death; let's break out together, fight the Empire soldiers, and maybe we'll survive."

Panicked cries echoed throughout the Super Sun Legion; the harsh Ban'erkou Priest gradually lost control of the troops, his own spirit wavering as he kept glancing at the palace walls. The fear field had just shrouded the palace, leaving no exit for escape, but now they could climb directly over the walls.

Boom!

After another massive explosion, someone shouted, "Let's go!"

Someone led the charge, leaping onto the palace wall to flee; outside, the sounds of battle rose, though not the dreadful gunfire. More people quickly followed, scrambling up the wall, joining the fight, trying to carve a bloody path through the Empire troops besieging the palace.

The fastest were the Blue Sparrow Knights; half of them had stayed inside the palace awaiting the king's orders, which never came, and now they scattered in a clamor.

Nearly two thousand emerald‑feathered Blue Sparrows took to the sky, their tail feathers shedding instantly into phantoms, fleeing wildly in all directions.

"Stop them!"

The GriffinLegion had long been prepared; they had already dealt with most of the airborne Blue Sparrow Knights and were waiting for the remaining ones to escape.

The emerald‑feathered Blue Sparrows flew faster, yet their stamina and strength were far inferior to the Griffins, and Griffin knights had been equipped with submachine guns for years; their aerial tactics kept pace with the times, easily overwhelming the Blue Sparrow Knights in numbers, firepower, and range, leaving no chance for the enemy to flee.

On the ground, fierce fighting also erupted.

The Arcane Sword Knights, the Iron Knights, and the Rick Guard sealed off any escape from the palace; no matter which wall an enemy leapt from, they faced multiple foes, and escaping would be quicker than dying inside the palace.

The cries of killing rang deafeningly inside and outside the palace.

However, Lei En did not let the Extreme Warriors act.

He couldn't hog all the credit; doing so would breed jealousy, and he wanted to give other Empire legions a chance to earn merit.

Portals opened one after another around him.

After the fear field lifted, Thundercast Celestial Soldiers could now cast spells in the city, and one by one they and the Extreme Warriors stepped out of the portals.

Soon, the hundred people brought this time gathered.

Lei En looked up at the sky.

Ultimate Arcane Fireballs fell one after another from the Flaniss Floating City, continuously bombarding the palace; so far they had struck seven times.

More than half of the Shiwa Ji Palace had become ruins, leaving only the central hall intact.

The shadowy magical shield proved sturdier than expected, yet it was clearly much weaker than at the start; it could endure at most two more bombings before collapsing.

Lei En sensed something abnormal.

After the Fear Domain was lifted, Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II had remained silent, never breaking out of the palace, as if staying inside to await death.

This does not fit Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II's character.

Nor does it resemble a follower of the Black Emperor.

The overwhelming majority of Ban Er Ke's followers, especially kings and lords in high positions, after pledging to the Black Emperor, gradually become like the deity they worship: wildly brutal, cold and ruthless, showing no mercy to enemies or allies alike, true tyrants.

These tyrants act domineering and fierce; none are normal people, but they would never be cowards waiting to die.

Moreover, the Holy Soul Wizard who leads magical defenses could not die together with the tyrant.

"They must have another scheme."

Lei En's spirit leapt into mid‑air, looking down from height at the palace; the All-Seeing Eye pierced the walls and saw inside.

In the golden‑bright palace there was a great hall; Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II sat upon a throne, wearing a crown of gold and gems, clad in powerful enchanted armor, high above, silent, his whole body shrouded in a terrifying black‑mist aura.

On his imposing face, a pair of narrow eyes burned with anger, yet he had not completely lost his mind and appeared relatively calm.

Beneath the throne, in the main hall, hundreds of transcendants gathered.

These transcendants were all elite, at least high‑rank; the proportion of legends was frighteningly high—six or seven dozen—but their races and classes were complex, with only a little over half being human.

Apart from humans, there were snake‑people, rat‑people, goblins and Pygs, the four vile races of the subcontinent all present.

There were also dwarves, elves, orcs, Zor, kobolds, bear‑goblins, trolls, ogres, giants, centaurs, half‑orcs, Blade‑tooth tiger‑people, and countless others, like a gathering of the wise races of the Old Continent.

Their weapons and gear were extremely fine, two tiers above the Super Sun Legion.

Though of different races, they obeyed orders without question; hundreds acted as a single unit, like a rigorously trained iron‑blood army.

Such an army was not unfamiliar to Lei En.

Tyrant!

Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II is a "tyrant"; this was confirmed by the Thundercast Celestial Soldier half a month ago, but at that time Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II had no army by his side—more precisely, only his "slaves".

The tyrant's transcendent profession is formally called "Conqueror".

The stronger they are and the higher their level, the more slaves they can control; each slave contributes a portion of its power to the tyrant and obeys the tyrant's Willpower unconditionally.

Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II was formerly a Great Sword Master.

He dominated the subcontinent with swordsmanship, was promoted to Sword Saint over a hundred years ago, but now is a "tyrant", indicating he switched professions after becoming a Saint Rank strongman.

Lei En's Soul Eye could not discern Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II's level.

But judging by his aura, it must exceed th Level; hundreds of powerful slaves concentrate their strength onto him, wildly amplifying him, already approaching Thirty-level infinitely!

A tyrant never fights alone.

This transcendent profession's power is always a step ahead of transcendants of the same level; to kill a tyrant, one must first slay the slaves and weaken their strength.

By comparison, the fallen Sun Knight Mogra, also near Thirty-level, is clearly weaker than Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II.

Moreover, Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II is the Black Emperor's Divine Chosen.

Lei En was very cautious, glanced twice and then shifted his gaze, observing other parts of the palace, and soon spotted a Holy Soul Wizard.

The other was standing in the middle of the palace's main hall.

This Holy Soul Wizard wore a black magical robe, wielded a wooden staff as tall as himself, his hair gray‑white, face kindly, looking like a neighborly old man. Yet at his feet lay a massive rune array covering every corner of the palace; the array had dozens of crucial nodes, each node staffed by a wizard continuously injecting his own soul energy.

There were more than one hundred and twenty wizards in the palace.

They were divided into three groups, rotating in turn; whenever a node wizard's soul energy was exhausted, another would immediately replace him, drink a potion of magic and sit to meditate, quickly restoring soul energy.

Each wizard's face was pale and spirit weary, as if they could collapse at any moment.

In fact, more than a dozen wizards had already fallen.

At the core of the rune array, the Holy Soul Wizard raised his head and poured a potion of magic, his complexion slightly regaining some rosiness, and loudly said, "Your Majesty, my Shadow Shield can only endure three more ultimate abyssal fireballs; beyond that I am powerless."

"Master Qian Bo Rui."

Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II spoke, displeasure flashing in his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "All these years I've provided countless magical materials and millions of Gold Shields, helping you raise wizard levels, and this is how you repay me? You can't even block a few more spells?"

"Your Majesty, this is a Ten-ring Spell!"

Master Qian Bo Rui's face was full of helplessness, "Although the power of the ultimate abyssal fireball is not high in a Ten-ring Spell, it is still a Ten-ring; I can use the Shadow Shield to block ten times, that's already my best. Your Majesty, unless you can summon casters above Thirty-level, no one can do better than me."

Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II looked at the other court wizards.

They were all nearing their limits.

Among his slave army were several elf mages and legendary wizards, who reached the same conclusion: Master Qian Bo Rui truly did his best.

The king was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "How much longer can you hold?"

"One and a half minutes."

Master Qian Bo Rui replied, "When the tenth ultimate abyssal fireball lands, the Shadow Shield will inevitably collapse. Then we each must flee."

A Holy Soul Wizard trying to escape was almost impossible to stop; he had already left a way out.

So, Master Qian Bo Rui was not worried about his safety; he only regretted that it would be hard to find another patron like Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II.

The court wizards, however, wore faces of despair.

Master Qian Bo Rui could escape, the legendary wizards had a sliver of hope, but wizards below legendary would be buried with the king.

Boom!

A huge blast rang through the palace; the eighth ultimate abyssal fireball exploded.

The soul energy of a dozen court wizards was instantly drained, they collapsed on the spot; the replacement wizards' soul energy was also scant, causing the rune array's operation to lag.

The palace dome cracked in the explosion, shards fell with a hiss, striking several wizards.

"Your Majesty."

Master Qian Bo Rui shouted loudly, "I may not survive the tenth attack."

Wei Ke La Ma Di Ya II gave no response; he sat on the throne, lifted his head, his gaze passing through the crack in the dome, seeing the Flaniss Floating City above the sky, and suddenly laughed, "Hahaha, there will be no next attack!"

Master Qian Bo Rui and the court wizards all wore shocked expressions.

Outside the palace, Lei En heard Wei Kelamatiya Ershi's words, suddenly turned his head toward Fu Kong Cheng, and found its magical radiance no longer lit up; the spell had ceased.

This anomaly made Lei En's complexion change slightly.

Flaniss Floating City was attacked, and the assault occurred inside the floating city!

(End of chapter)