Chapter 3183

But the battle no longer seemed to need that outsider—the girl, born of the Snow Mountain tribe and trained by her teacher in the power of the Sun, had fully mastered the forces of ice and fire. Though not a priestess, she held home-field advantage in the grounds of Mount Fatumuster. Of course, the primary power she wielded remained the Sun.

The might of the Sun symbolized the authority of "Supremacy." Though she lacked the refined control abilities of Xia De, her inherent offensive power alone was enough to offset the mobility of the Demon Sword bearers.

The clone and the original worked in tight coordination; finally, as the original unleashed her "Solar Ray," it pierced through the heads of three eyeless sailors standing in a row—this battle seemed to end thus.

Three Demon Swords fell into the snow, but an old man wearing a monocle over his left eye, resembling a town clockmaker, appeared instantly.

In his hand was the fourth Demon Sword; he thrust his great blade forward to block, and the three swords buried in the snow flew up together, all four great blades collectively halting the beautiful woman's full-power strike—the "Solar Ray."

Claire Reinhardt's expression darkened. After recalling her clone, she leapt upward, evading the four black beams simultaneously slashed at her from all four directions.

But the Demon Sword bearers followed immediately into the air; even though the woman's "Solar Fire Ring" pushed them outward, she still had to briefly transform into a flash of flame to evade two of the great swords.

Upon landing again, her left glove blocked another black beam, while her right hand condensed ice into a sword—but the ice blade shattered instantly.

She sidestepped reluctantly, her platinum-blonde hair turning crimson in the motion, then lashing out like a whip of flame to deflect the black beam that had shattered her ice sword to one side.

The two men previously pushed back by the fire ring now caught up, surrounding the girl once more in the center—the more Demon Swords present, the stronger the bearers' power became.

The four swords attacked simultaneously from all four directions, but a golden pillar of light erupted from the ground, enveloping and protecting the woman. The second slash of black light shattered the golden pillar; the woman, boot-clad, was about to transform into flame again when her peripheral vision caught a flash of silver light.

"Thunder Spear!"

The silver-white lightning pierced the chest of the man in the southeast, then continued with undiminished force, vaporizing the left forearm of the man in the northeast.

The two men on the west immediately assumed defensive stances, while the two injured men on the east continued swinging their swords at Claire Reinhardt. But with only two left, the witch was unafraid:

"Arcana—Thunder Wave."

She swept her hand forward; a shockwave of golden lightning sent the two men on the east reeling backward. They retreated two steps, then faced a fireball hurtling down from above the witch's head.

One was instantly reduced to charred ash; the other, after blocking for a second, had his head shattered by a thunder spear flying in from the side.

One of the two on the west retreated swiftly; the other's body swelled as black light erupted from all seven orifices. He lunged toward the witch, who stood sideways to him—but froze mid-air as if petrified.

Blood-red moonlight split him cleanly from head to toe; the moonlight continued forward, but was blocked by the last swordbearer. Besides the sword in his own hand, the other three black-light Demon Swords, now ownerless, all flew to surround him, slowly rotating with their tips pointing downward.

Claire Reinhardt exhaled slightly in relief, turning to face the final enemy, yet her peripheral vision remained fixed on the young outsider who had stepped beside her:

"Not bad. Your use of that Thunder Spear is remarkably refined. Too bad it isn't Sunlight Spear… You've been back all along, haven't you?"

She spoke now in standard Carcerean, and Xia De had, of course, returned long ago.

During the battle, the heat of the badge on his chest had warned him that a certain witch was rapidly approaching; that distraction was why he'd been blasted away. He'd planned to stay hidden if she could resolve the situation, but he hadn't expected the enemy to multiply from three to four.

"Can we finish this first?"

Xia De replied in a lowered voice. The witch nodded slightly, though her eyes betrayed lingering curiosity and astonishment:

"Of course. You saved my grandfather—but you must explain what you are. You—Sunlight Spear!"

"Thunder Spear!"

The golden lightning thrown by the Sun Witch and the silver-white lightning thrown by Xia De nearly merged in midair, then struck together the old man encircled by three Demon Swords.

The three black-light great swords spinning around him formed a kind of shield, yet still cracked under the combined force of the witch and Xia De. Both Sunlight Spears struck the old man at once; his body turned to ash amid the thunder.

The four Demon Swords, caught in the explosion, plunged into the mountainside. Xia De, prepared, immediately shot forth Chains of Sin to tightly coil around their hilts; beside him, the witch prepared a spell to detonate the four swords.

Though they had never met before, their coordination was as if pre-rehearsed. Since ascending to the 11th rank, Claire Reinhardt had rarely felt this—this stranger, whose gender remained unknown, possessed abilities that matched hers perfectly.

And remarkably, Xia De felt the same.

Both guarded against the appearance of a fifth enemy, and the long-prepared Elder Harald finally spoke:

"Let me handle this—Fatumuster, seal them!"

The mountain shuddered for an instant, yet no earthquake tremors were felt. Vast spiritual energy and elements surged into the old man as he spoke; leaning on his staff, he hastened toward the four Demon Swords, growing stronger with each step.

But before he passed Xia De and the witch, a black fissure abruptly appeared in the air—simultaneously emerging were the fifth, sixth, and seventh Demon Sword bearers.

Xia De and the other two retreated at once; the low whispering elements generated by the seven Demon Swords resonating together reached nearly angelic limits.

A hum—the Demon Swords blasted away the Chains of Sin, then blocked the witch's Solar Light. Elder Harald summoned the temporary power granted by the Snow Mountain to intercept them, but the fifth bearer reclaimed his sword, the sixth sacrificed himself with a self-explosion to block Harald, and the seventh withdrew a die from his pocket.

"Relic!"

A metallic die, gleaming in the sunlight, spun as it fell toward the snow. The fifth bearer, now carrying six black-light great swords, prepared to retreat. Xia De moved to pursue, but was held back by both the witch and Elder Harald.

The elder simply did not want Xia De to advance; the witch gripped his wrist tightly.

Though she had sensed something off about this "man" earlier, direct contact now made the platinum-blonde girl stare at Xia De again, disbelief in her eyes:

"Who exactly are you…? Never mind, we'll talk later. Don't chase— the relic has activated."

After his companions departed with six swords, the seventh bearer stood alone on the snowy slope, facing the three. The die he had thrown now lay at his feet. As it landed, the snow-covered slope—once nearly cleared of snow by the witch's constant use of Solar power—was suddenly blanketed once more in thick snow.

Within two breaths, the clear sky was obscured by dark clouds, and heavy snowflakes fell in a sudden, biting gale.

Whispering elements formed an anomalous space around them; Xia De even felt the fundamental rules here were shifting. Elder Harald stood behind them and, with his vast experience, warned:

"Look at our feet."

A line of squares, each roughly half a meter long and wide, appeared on the snow, stretching from before the three of them all the way to the man who had thrown the die. In his hand was the only remaining Demon Sword.

He was a fat man dressed in a tattered cotton coat, a grimy black apron wrapped around his waist, and a rough cloth draped over his shoulder—clearly the attire of a fishmonger from the Fatumuster port market.

Between the three and the fat fishmonger lay thirty squares on the snow; Xia De had nearly stepped into the first square moments ago.

"Secret-keeping level relic: 【Infinite Duel Corridor】. To activate, the user selects no more than nine targets. Then, the relic user and the targets begin a game, and the environment transforms into its most hostile state.

By rolling a six-sided die, both sides advance toward each other. Each square stepped upon triggers a negative effect. Yes—all are negative. Upon meeting, their power is increased or decreased based on the number of squares each has traversed—the more squares crossed, the greater the boost.

Finally, both sides must duel within the grid, enduring all negative effects and power fluctuations. Once the game begins, never leave the grid—otherwise, you suffer all negative effects as punishment."

Elder Harald explained the relic's effect as simply as possible:

"They deliberately used a puppet to block us from following. That mind-controlling Demon Sword must have realized it couldn't defeat us. But to use a relic with another relic—I've lived this long and never seen such a thing. What has happened to this world?"

The elder had no time to lament; he shouted again:

"Kain, go to the cave and bring back the unconscious townsman, the unconscious John, and the corpses of Dali and Constant. The Church will finish their communication in town and climb the mountain—go ahead and hold them off."

Elder Kain was not selected by the relic's effect—likely due to his weak power. He hurried toward the cave. Elder Harald then turned to Xia De:

"We truly owe you thanks for coming to help. Let's resolve this relic first—then we'll talk later. Let me introduce you— 【60】 Claire, this is John Watson from afar, investigating the Demon Sword with me—he's our friend; Mr. Watson, this is my granddaughter, Claire Reinhardt, who returned home for this All Souls' Day."

"Claire, this is Mr. John Watson from out of town, who is investigating that evil sword with me; he is our friend. Mr. Watson, this is my granddaughter, Claire Reinhardt, who has returned to her hometown for this All Saints' Day."

PS: To prevent any misunderstanding among readers, let me briefly explain here.

The ancient gods of the Sun and Moon are twins; the two are not opposed to one another but rather mutually attracted. And Xia De's overly strong Moon will especially attract Misses who wield the power of the Sun whose "essence" is weaker than his.

Yi Lu Na is not in this category — she is the Chosen One and is unaffected; Yi Lu Na has simply taken a fancy to Xia De.

(End of this chapter)