Chapter 500 - 498: Bastard!

Dragon Island, somewhere.

A figure dressed in the distinctive mage robe of the Blue Dragon Empire silently watched the chaos suddenly erupting outside the volcano.

Though far away, his eyes could still cross the distance to see the Love Witch, Dicena.

Suddenly, a person flew over from nearby, landing behind him and whispered, "Master Erina, the Tower of Descent has begun. Shouldn’t we stop them?"

Erina said coolly, "If they are so greedy, let them continue. Let’s see how vast their appetite is. With me here, these clowns won’t cause much trouble."

The subordinate said anxiously, "But indulging heretics is not good. Most of those they are leading here are mages from outside, but there are also plenty of our own people. They’ve all become nutrients for the Fire Spirit..."

"That’s even better." Erina’s eyes flashed with cold light, "When the time is right, we’ll catch them all in one go!"

The subordinate hesitated for a moment, then added, "The Dragon Speaker has sent word for us to be wary of the volcano’s movements."

Erina paused, frowning slightly, "The volcano? Could Pera’s actions cause volcanic instability?"

"It’s not about Pera. The Dragon Speaker says the Fire Spirit’s excessive absorption of Molten Fire might trigger a natural disaster."

Erina nodded, "Hmm, worth noting, but with me here, mere disaster is not a concern. Continue with the plan."

"Understood."

...

Deep within the volcano, Pera had already left with Shaline.

Not long after they departed, Raphael reappeared.

She toyed with the Sea God Divine Fragment in her hand.

After a moment of contemplation, she entered the array.

The array had not been destroyed and was still operational.

"Perhaps because this child has never seen him, the summoning left no impression, or it’s because this fragment’s effects are too weak... I have the complete image, maybe I can try it..."

She clearly felt his presence, but did not succeed; Raphael was unwilling.

She wanted to try once herself.

"It would be great if Alina were here..."

Raphael walked into the molten lava, slowly linking with the array.

Just as she was about to begin, the Molten Fire from the lava suddenly became active.

Raphael knitted her brows, sensing carefully.

"Is it starting? Such a thing..."

A fleeting look of displeasure crossed Raphael’s face but was quickly hidden.

The magma slowly enveloped her as she sank into the array, calling to the silhouette in her heart.

Rose’s phantom appeared beside her. Accompanying Raphael’s actions, he faintly sensed a sliver of summoning from the distant Sealed Land, not quite as strong as Benovia’s initial call to him.

This level still couldn’t establish a connection with Raphael.

Besides her divine contract degree not reaching 100%, the divine power intensity of the fragments was too low to penetrate the seal.

Benovia’s fragment summoning was three-tenths of Ethel’s, whereas Raphael’s held only one-tenth, a threefold gap that couldn’t be bridged, even with past bonds.

Rose sensed another issue.

"Benovia has already established a call with me through Ethel’s divine fragment. If I respond to this call, Benovia’s connection will be severed, and the opened part of the seal will immediately repair itself."

"In other words, a second summoning ritual can’t be constructed with the same divine fragment."

After confirming this hypothesis, Rose shook his head.

Indeed, it’s not that simple.

Still need to continue searching for the divine formats of other main gods.

Although Raphael’s attempt was destined to be ineffective, Rose decided to give her a glimmer of hope.

From the clues learned from Ethel, aside from the unknown Zeus, the other main gods weren’t in great situations.

The Era of Calamity, when apostles inflicted heavy blows on the Twelve Main Gods, afterward Zeus opened the Abyss Gate, countless mages mutated due to magic power from the Abyss, gaining formidable abilities.

Just like the situation in Golden Apple Stone Forest, even the Purification Skill that could counter Abyss corruption struggled to take effect amidst chaos.

In the late Era of Calamity, surviving mages and gods resisted the Abyss’s influence, followed by Zeus’s consolidation and so forth.

Due to various factors, the Twelve Main Gods scattered, each with their means to conceal themselves.

Ethel didn’t know where the others concealed themselves or if they were alive.

But considering the link between the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association and Ethel, hinting at the presence of a god backing each heretic, Rose believed the main gods wouldn’t die so easily.

Previously going to the Land of the Far North, there was also the intention of seeing if the Ice God might be slumbering there.

Regrettably, it wasn’t so.

"The main gods are all barely hanging on; having Raphael help in seeking could be a good method. Hilia’s power is still too weak, can only rely on coincidences to seize divine fragments."

Ethel disassembled the divine fragments; others might not necessarily do the same.

Thinking like this, accompanying Raphael’s summons, he quietly released some of his aura fluctuation to let Raphael sense it.

Raphael’s face slowly broke into a smile.

But right then, the entire volcano suddenly shook.

The Molten Fire and fire elements inside the volcano rapidly surged upwards.

The changes in elements quickly impacted the array.

Rose re-concealed his aura, and the next second, Raphael opened her eyes, filled with uncontrollable anger.

"Bastard!"

She felt she was about to summon Rose, but the suddenly altered environment severely affected the array’s magic power transmission.

Raphael couldn’t accept it.

She immediately rushed out to see what had happened.

Meanwhile, outside.

The first wave of people charging into the volcanic region, drawn into the Fire Spirit’s gathering point, caused those about to enter to briefly regain clarity.

However, those behind were blocked by the walls and couldn’t see what was happening inside.

Thus, those at the front, even if unwilling to enter, couldn’t stop the surging crowd, being pushed and flooded inside.

Meanwhile, that barely repaired array node suddenly rippled, attacked by someone unknown, and shattered the next second.

Mages in the crowd saw this and directly bypassed the unrepaired wall remains, rushing into the area.

Awaiting them was a violent suction, drawing them into the Fire Spirit.

The shattered array could no longer resist the pull.

The next instant, even those outside the breach were sucked inside too!

A wave directly turned ten thousand into flying figures, as they neared the Fire Spirit, bodies twisted and disassembled.

The Fire Spirit’s crimson grew more intense, its flames becoming weak.

Sensing this condition, the Fire Spirit unconsciously increased its siphoning of Molten Fire and fire elements.

The entire volcano slowly began to shake.