Chapter 2419

Streaks of black lightning struck down under the foggy night sky, and the various colored lights caused by the sorcery illuminated the sides of the skeletal horse, whose eyes burned with blue soul fire.

It trod on the air, traveling along the "channel" that had been temporarily cleared, crashing straight into the spatial barrier composed of spiritual light that only Ring-Mages could see.

The barrier had the characteristic of one-way passage; dragon beasts and gargoyles from inside flew out without hindrance, but the Church's Ring-Mages, who were proficient in spatial power, were still struggling to analyze its composition.

Suddenly, a hundred meters above, a strange enemy with an eleven-ring fate ring floating behind him appeared via spatial movement, but before Yiluna could counterattack, a dazzling light arrow from afar had already pierced through his position.

Megan gestured to Yiluna that it was no problem, and then continued to face the giant dragons flying out from the altar.

Yiluna then controlled the skeletal horse to accelerate and crash straight into the barrier. White light flickered in her arms, and just before she and the horse were about to hit the barrier, the tip of the 【Nightwatcher】 sword tapped into the void:

"【Key of the Door】!"

Crack~

The skeletal horse was retracted by Yiluna and turned into a bone whistle. The shattered opening allowed Yiluna and Xia De to rush in together, and immediately afterward, the barrier completely recovered behind them.

Xia De in the air turned back into a cat before landing, adjusted his posture, and landed in a standing human form, grabbing Yiluna on the way.

Looking around, the area of this giant altar ruin complex was extremely large, and as a whole, it was not bowl-shaped like an arena but rather a relatively flat disc.

Divided into inner and outer layers by hundreds of giant stone pillars arranged in a circle, the two were currently on the periphery of the altar. As soon as they appeared, monsters with human bodies and dragon heads, naked from the waist up, rushed toward them.

These monsters had no wings on their backs, and their overly large dragon heads made them walk in a wobbly manner.

"These are the failed experimental products of the 【Dragon Feast Sect】. You fly inside; I feel Sister Daifulin is in there. I will try to disintegrate the protective shield from the inside using the power of balance. Xia De, see you later!"

Saying this, the eighteen-year-old girl shook her holy bell with her left hand and raised 【Pale Justice】 with her right, pure white holy light sweeping across those monsters:

"Evil-Breaking Slash!"

"You be careful yourself, too."

Xia De leaped up and transformed into a red butterfly. With Yiluna helping him attract the attention of the guards on the altar's periphery, the giant dragons and gargoyles constantly flying toward the altar's periphery could not see him. He thus quickly flew past those stone pillars and officially entered the interior of the 【Dragon Feast Altar】, which was at least three times larger than St. Deran Square.

The moment the red butterfly flew across the "boundary," an invisible pressure instantly forced Xia De back into human form.

"She" whispered a prompt in his ear:

【Outsider, you have entered the "Dragon Feast Altar." Due to the power of the Ancient God, you are affected by the following field effects.】

【Any transformation magic other than "Dragon Transformation" is ineffective here.】

【Enhances the effects of any power related to "Dragons."】

【Any Ancient God divine art effect is enhanced.】

Xia De, who had landed, had no time to respond to "She" before he saw the giant dragon egg with eerie spiral patterns standing in the very center of the altar, as well as the huge 【Bone-Sacrificial Sword】 inserted in front of the dragon egg.

Grooves connected to the dragon egg led in all directions of the altar, and at the ends of the grooves were various types of weathered giant dragon statues. Under each statue was an ancient dragon egg fossil or a relic or divine art item related to "dragons," including the stolen 【Scale of the Space-Time Dragon】.

And the priests of the 【Dragon Feast Sect】 were not praying at all, but had formed the final defense of the altar, fighting against the people who had invaded this place.

Crack~ A thunderclap made the dragon egg, which felt like it was peering into a dark vortex just by looking at it, tremble violently. After a hum of vibration, cracking sounds appeared continuously on the surface of the dragon egg.

The god-summoning ritual had clearly begun, and the black lightning striking down from the void was the very sign of the start of this god-summoning ritual.

And the altar itself was also repelling the glowing thick fog, so there was no fog inside the altar. Thus, Xia De clearly saw that at the edge of the altar's interior, John Flynn and his three teammates were fighting against the priests guarding the altar, together with teams from the Church of Peace and the Church of Dawn that Xia De did not recognize at all.

The Church Ring-Mages who appeared here were at least Seventh-Ring, which was the same as Xia De. Led by three Twelfth-Ring mages, a total of 23 people were locked in a stalemate with over forty sect priests.

The cultists clearly had a strong field advantage here, but John Flynn, who was only a Mid-Ring, showed power not inferior to those Twelfth-Ring mages. Xia De saw the 【Sword of the Wind King】 in his hand glowing.

Sister Daifulin was indeed here too. The nun wearing a silver eye patch was flying in the air, and her opponent was the Twelfth-Ring Archbishop of the 【Dragon Feast Sect】, "Dragon-Slayer" Robert Hamlet... this sect had no Thirteenth-Ring.

The nun's left hand slashed forward with a dark golden scythe. Even with a huge field advantage, that Twelfth-Ring mage in his prime, with dragon wings on his back, was still retreating steadily.

And Xia De's arrival seemed to attract no one's attention. Everyone in the battle did not spare a hand to "welcome" him. So, while curious about how the Church group had gotten up, Xia De held his sword in his left hand and his staff in his right, crossing the sword and staff together to face the dragon egg:

"Moonlight Slash!"

As soon as the spellcasting began, Xia De clearly felt something was wrong. The brilliant moonlight almost broke through the darkness of the night in an instant. The three moons suddenly projected light downward onto the thick fog, and the power of the altar itself made that huge crossed moonlight cross almost as large as a mountain.

The enhancement of the two ritual weapons made the moonlight cross that Xia De had transformed into reach the front of the dragon egg almost instantly.

The gray spiral eggshell collided with the silver moonlight. Dragon and moon clashed, almost causing time at this moment to stagnate due to the collision of massive power.

Crack~ With a sound, as the moonlight and the giant egg stalemated, the first crack appeared on the eggshell. The next second, the moonlight cross passed completely through the giant egg. After the thunderous roar of the giant egg exploding, the shockwave composed of oscillating miraculous elements and blasphemous elements swept across the entire altar, even causing dense cracks to appear on the shield outside the altar.

Gold and silver dual-colored spiritual light turned into a tangible tide and spread outward from the altar, and even people on the sea battlefield far away saw the giant building floating above the city because of that dazzling light.

And when the tide of spirits swept across the battlefield, Grace and Helen, standing hand in hand on the deck of the "Radiant Messenger," looked at each other, and the conversation took place directly in their minds:

"Helen, Miss Feilian said..."

"Yes, sister, I remember too. After so many years, so many cycles, I still remember."

They let go of each other's hands. The red butterfly beside the "Seven-Tailed Player," who had broken free from the seal of the Unknown-level relic, suddenly disappeared. The pressure on the six Thirteenth-Ring mages increased immediately. Amidst the sound of bagpipes, the head of an evil creature emerging from the sea shot a pitch-black pillar of light straight at the "Radiant Messenger," but Grace just waved her hand, and the pillar of light entered a spatial rift and destroyed two of the seven tentacles dancing at that moment.

"Miss Elith, the god-summoning ritual has begun. Let's go back to the city first."

They disappeared from the deck together and then appeared in the captain's cabin. The ship-girl, who was somewhat pale due to massive consumption, nodded:

"Go ahead. I will tell him that dragon-language spell at the most appropriate time."

Even though the blizzard was still attacking the city, the once-prosperous Moon Bay had already been half-submerged in a sea of fire. The falling corpses of giant dragons destroyed building after building, and the flames pouring down from the sky devoured life after life.

The Church's squad was intercepting vampire beasts and cultists in the city, while the city gangs were engaged in fierce street fighting and exchanges of fire with the army. A large blood-red cross was now projected into the thick fog. The vampire legion led by Armand Bernhardt had already completed contact with the Church according to the handover method given by Yiluna and was currently rescuing citizens in the Lower City and fighting the monsters invading the city.

"You should go over there, right?"

Mr. Bernhardt, who walked out of the fire holding a comatose boy, asked his friend who was holding a rusty longsword and watching the gold and silver tide erupting from the altar in the distant sky.

The coroner was still wearing his usual brown cloak:

"Yes... I never had the chance to tell you, Armand. I've lied to you many times recently. I'm sorry."

Mr. Bernhardt handed the boy to the ordinary citizens of the 【Eternal Light】 who had volunteered to help despite the danger, telling them to go to the basement shelter first:

"After you come back, treat me to a drink, just like when we were students. Remember Mr. Brin's smoke-free tavern? The beer there still tastes the same as it did back then."

Ptolemy Albert turned to look at him, the expression on his face hard to describe:

"Armand... then, is the god-summoning ritual needed by Mr. Watson ready?"

"How did you kn... it's ready."

The vampire viscount watched his friend standing in front of the burning building, amidst the corpses dug out from the ruins:

"You have your mission, and I have my task. Come to think of it, the me of ten years ago would never have imagined that I would participate in two god-summoning rituals in a row. 1853 and 1854—I will never forget these two years in my life.

Go, Ptolemy. Just like Mr. Watson, you must come back."

He tossed a 1-crown coin from his pocket, and the middle-aged coroner reached out to catch it. This was the way vampires expressed their blessings.

So Ptolemy Albert nodded slowly to his friend:

"If I don't come back, please help me disband the 【Eternal Light】."

He took one last look at the burning Lower City, then turned into a streak of blood and flew into the sky.