Chapter 348: The True Function of the Orb

The clash between the two High-Tier Legends sparked a violent explosion. Billowing heat waves rippled in all directions, washing over the quietly approaching White Dragon Lord.

The shockwaves of a battle between powerhouses contained massive amounts of destructive magical energy. Even with his scales acting as a barrier, the White Dragon Lord still felt a faint sting. He couldn't cast a spell to defend himself, however. Using magic now would alert the Eight-Armed Snake Demon to his presence, ruining all his previous efforts.

Forcing himself to endure the discomfort, the White Dragon Lord used his streamlined frame to slice through the explosive gales, gliding silently toward the battlefield from above.

The closer he drew to the center of the clash, the stronger the resistance from the blasts grew, and the more destructive the energy became. With every foot he advanced, the risk of discovery spiked.

Finally, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon locked in fierce combat with Master Owen entered his casting range. The White Dragon Lord halted his approach. High-Tier Legends possessed an extremely acute sense of danger; edging any closer would multiply the risk of exposure.

He hovered in the sky, beating his wings softly. The gale-force winds from the explosions served as the perfect cover, allowing the White Dragon Lord to patiently wait for an opening.

He only had one chance!

In the distance, Master Owen dodged the energy blades hurled by the Eight-Armed Snake Demon. He swept his staff forward, and the magic crystal at its tip fired a glob of viscous, watery magical liquid.

Corrosive Orb!

The Corrosive Orb packed terrifying corrosive power. If it struck metal, the material would rot and turn brittle; if it struck flesh, the victim would suffer agonizing pain, as if doused in concentrated acid.

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon closed the distance to Master Owen, swinging an energy blade that cleanly cleaved the corrosive orb in two.

Upon reaching the rank of High-Tier Legend, melee combatants gained the raw power to hurl their internal energy as ranged attacks. While they couldn't sustain the barrage as long as a true Mage, it remained a crucial method for counterattacking.

Master Owen had sealed the surrounding space. This disabled the demon's Greater Teleportation and his own Blink magic, but it also completely restricted the White Dragon Lord's ability to warp into the fray.

The White Dragon Lord calculated the distance between himself and his target. Soul Magic that boasted both long range and massive power required an incantation, while his instant-cast Soul Magic simply couldn't reach far enough. He would have to settle for the next best option: a high-powered ice spell that he could fire instantly.

Of course, if Master Owen took the initiative to drop the Dimensional Anchor, that would change everything.

After a moment of thought, the White Dragon Lord abandoned that idea. Setting aside the terrifying assault capabilities the Eight-Armed Snake Demon would regain once her Greater Teleportation was unrestricted, there was a fatal flaw: the White Dragon Lord and Master Owen couldn't communicate.

At this range, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon would easily pick up on the subtle energy fluctuations of a magical message. Because of this, the two allies had to remain entirely out of contact.

In truth, Master Owen had no idea when the White Dragon Lord would arrive, nor where he currently lurked. All he could do was drag out the fight as long as possible to give the White Dragon Lord ample time to prepare.

A moment later, Master Owen judged that he had bought enough time for the White Dragon Lord to reach the battlefield. Magical energy surged violently within his body—the telltale sign that he was pulling out all the stops to cast a devastating spell.

A High-Tier Legendary Mage pushing their mana to the absolute limit caused the very elements of heaven and earth to resonate. The White Dragon Lord could feel the ambient magical energy around him spike in activity.

Channeling a spell of this magnitude burned through a massive amount of mana. If the strike succeeded, all was well; if it failed, the side with depleted reserves would inevitably face far greater risks for the rest of the fight.

In the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's eyes, Master Owen's behavior was a massive, reckless gamble. For some reason, she felt a twinge of deep unease, but the chaotic clash didn't afford her the time to dwell on it.

Energy flooded through her body. She spun her six scimitars into a blinding blur of light and shadow, weaving a massive, colorless, and transparent sphere of energy that completely encased her.

Secret Technique—Moon Dance!

The Moon Dance was a secret combat technique Durio had been rewarded with while serving by the Blade Sovereign's side. It erected a layer of protective energy capable of defending against—and even reflecting—any attack that didn't exceed its absolute upper limit.

Just as the Moon Dance took form, Master Owen completed his spell.

Legendary magic—Soul-Binding Demonic Coffin, Instant Cast!

Surging purple magical energy manifested into a massive, translucent coffin. The spectral sarcophagus acted as a physical barrier, trapping the Eight-Armed Snake Demon inside.

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon's body immediately went limp. Her arms, which had been perfectly maintaining the Moon Dance, abruptly slowed to a crawl. She was deeply shocked; the spell Master Owen had poured all his strength into wasn't a destructive attack, but a crowd-control spell—and a Legendary Rank Level one at that.

The legendary magic, Soul-Binding Demonic Coffin, was a formidable control spell. It used arcane energy to manifest a powerful force field that severely restricted the target's movements while slashing their reaction time, physical speed, and internal energy circulation. The effect would last until the caster dispelled the magic, or until the victim shattered the coffin with absolute, overwhelming brute force.

After instantly casting a Legendary Rank Level control spell, Master Owen's chest heaved violently, and a fine layer of sweat broke out across his forehead. Even for a mighty High-Tier Legendary Mage, instant-casting a legendary magic spell was a staggering burden. It was only possible by utilizing metamagic techniques and burning an astronomical amount of mana.

Master Owen wouldn't be casting another legendary magic spell anytime soon, and standard Master Tier magic posed little threat to the Eight-Armed Snake Demon.

"It's all on you, Amos!"

Suppressed by the coffin's energy field, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon couldn't use Greater Teleportation. Master Owen immediately dispelled the Dimensional Anchor. Overjoyed, the White Dragon Lord finally broke his cover.

Blink!

Everything happened in a flash. The moment the massive White Dragon materialized out of thin air, his jaws already gaping wide, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon was scared out of her wits. An overwhelming, lethal sense of crisis flooded her mind.

Shattering Roar!

An earth-shattering dragon's roar tore through the sky, carrying a bizarre and eerie pulse of energy that left anyone who heard it momentarily dazed.

Far away, the Gold Dragon, who was currently spewing Dragon Breath against the Magic Barrier of Ten Thousand Blades Fortress, snapped its head around to look at the second battlefield.

It was a success!

Struck dead-on by the Shattering Roar, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's very soul trembled. She entirely lost control of her physical body. Until the roar's effects wore off, she was nothing more than a sitting duck. The White Dragon Lord's jaws snapped shut, and he began rapidly chanting a new incantation.

It was the incantation for the Soul-Seizing Hand. Like the Shattering Roar, the Soul-Seizing Hand was a Soul Magic spell that bypassed standard defenses entirely, meaning it wouldn't trigger any of the target's automatic protective spells.

Using the Shattering Roar to stun the soul and paralyze the enemy, then immediately chaining into the one-second cast time of the Soul-Seizing Hand to extract the target's soul—this was the White Dragon Lord's oldest and most reliable method.

But as the saying went, a single flawless move could conquer the world. Thanks to the defense-bypassing nature of Soul Magic, even an enemy fully aware of the White Dragon Lord's tactics would struggle to resist. And the Eight-Armed Snake Demon hadn't had a clue.

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon didn't know what attack the White Dragon Lord was preparing, but she knew that if she didn't do something, she was a dead woman. Pushing her willpower to its absolute limit, she desperately fought to regain control of her paralyzed body.

Finally, just a split second before the White Dragon Lord's incantation finished, she wrestled back a minuscule thread of spiritual control.

But even that was enough!

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon commanded that meager wisp of spiritual energy, plunging it straight into the jade-green orb in her palm. Instantly, the head-sized orb erupted with blinding light.

The White Dragon Lord's chest seized. It felt as though an ancient, primordial beast had just locked its eyes on him, and a lethal sense of crisis engulfed his mind.

Without time to think, the White Dragon Lord instantly triggered the single Forbidden Spell stored within Sadolina's Bracelet—the Gate of the Ice Beast.

Three towering gates of solid ice materialized directly in front of him. Their borders were carved with profoundly complex magical runes, and at the center of each gate jutted the raised relief of a beast's head. The beasts bared their fangs and roared in distinct, hyper-realistic poses, sculpted in such flawless detail that they seemed alive.

The instant the Gate of the Ice Beast took form, the White Dragon Lord thought he saw a pair of bone-chilling eyes, followed by a fleeting flash of a blade. It was like a crescent moon suddenly appearing in the pitch-black night. The shadow of absolute death choked his heart, and his pulse skipped a beat.

The translucent purple Soul-Binding Demonic Coffin shattered instantly. Then came the Gate of the Ice Beast. A fissure as thin as a single strand of hair split the center of the first ice gate, and immediately sheared straight through the second.

Finally, the blade of light lost its momentum against the third gate of ice, vanishing entirely and leaving only a dangerously deep gouge in its wake.

At that exact moment, the White Dragon Lord finished his chant for the Soul-Seizing Hand. Faint ripples distorted the air as a massive, translucent hand of Soul Energy reached out from the void, closing its spectral fingers around the Eight-Armed Snake Demon.

But a split second before the hand of Soul Energy closed its grip, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon vanished without a trace.

Because of the three towering ice gates blocking his line of sight, the White Dragon Lord couldn't see what happened to the Eight-Armed Snake Demon, but he felt the Soul-Seizing Hand grasp nothing but empty air. Coupled with the sudden absence of the demon's aura, he immediately understood that the enemy had escaped.

He circumvented his icy barricade to inspect the spot where the Eight-Armed Snake Demon had vanished. The lingering scent of Teleportation magic hung heavy in the air. She must have used a magical escape artifact triggered by her spiritual power.

"What a pity. We were only a hair's breadth away."

Beside him, Master Owen stared at the hairline fracture that had nearly cleaved through all three gates. His eyes were dark and grim.

"That flash of the blade just now let me smell the scent of death," Master Owen said. "Amos, I'd wager that was a strike from the Blade Sovereign herself."

The White Dragon Lord recalled the terrifying flash of that blade and nodded in agreement.

"To be connected to Durio and use a blade like that... it could only be her."

The Blade Sovereign, a twelve-armed snake demon, was an old-school Abyss lord boasting power comparable to a deity of Intermediate Divine Power. It wasn't the least bit surprising to the White Dragon Lord that she had gifted her direct subordinate a lethal trump card for self-preservation.

At the same time, Master Owen couldn't shake a lingering sense of dread. If Durio had pulled out that trump card during their previous duels, catching him completely off guard, he might have perished on the spot.

"It seems Durio holds a rather high status in that Sovereign's eyes. Artifacts capable of housing an attack from a powerhouse of that tier are immensely complicated to forge. Not even the Blade Sovereign could produce them in bulk, yet she willingly gifted one to Durio..."

The White Dragon Lord and Master Owen continued to analyze the battle as they took to the sky, flying straight toward Ten Thousand Blades Fortress.

...

Within a hidden chamber deep inside Ten Thousand Blades Fortress, the battered figure of the Eight-Armed Snake Demon abruptly materialized over a magical dais. She crumpled to the floor in a miserable heap, so weak she couldn't even maintain a grip on her weapons.

Six scimitars, a magic wand, and the now-lifeless orb slipped from her grasp, clattering sharply against the stone floor.

"That bastard Owen! That damn dragon!"

Slumped on the ground, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon gritted her teeth. Her entire body trembled as she weakly clenched her fists. Her heart was a chaotic maelstrom, equally split between lingering terror and absolute fury.

It took a long moment of rest before the paralyzing aftereffects of the Shattering Roar finally faded. Pushing herself up with all eight arms, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon slithered out of the hidden chamber.

A short while later, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon slithered into the main hall, her face dark and livid.

The Master-Tier Demon guards stationed at the heavy double doors were caught completely off guard by their master's sudden appearance.

"Master, you're—"

Before the guard could finish the sentence, a blade flashed in the dim light. The Master-Tier Demon suddenly felt its perspective violently spinning, only to catch a final glimpse of a headless corpse crumpling to the floor.

Huh? Why does that body look so familiar?

The severed head hit the ground with a heavy thud. The surviving Master-Tier Demon guard fell utterly silent, paralyzed by terror. He didn't dare run; he simply lowered his head and trembled, waiting to see what fate his furious master would deal him.

Venting her rage on a blind subordinate quelled the fire in the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's chest slightly. She continued to the end of the grand hall and slumped onto her throne.

Before long, the fortress's Legendary Demons filed into the hall. Sensing the volatile, murderous aura still radiating from the Eight-Armed Snake Demon lord, they all kept their heads bowed, desperate to minimize their presence. Even the famously arrogant Spell-Eater Demon, Auduhar, shrunk back into his heavy cloak.

Auduhar could see the chaotic energy leaking from the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's body. When a High-Tier Legendary Level powerhouse bled energy like that, it only ever meant one of two things: either they had just achieved a massive breakthrough and hadn't adapted to their new power, or they had suffered severe injuries that shattered their control.

Given the bitter, murderous scowl plastered across her face, she clearly hadn't just achieved a breakthrough. Remembering the terrifying, earth-shaking dragon roar that had echoed from the battlefield earlier, Auduhar easily pieced together what had happened.

"Auduhar!!!"

Hearing his name bellowed out, the Spell-Eater Demon braced himself and stepped out of the ranks. He kept his head submissively bowed, fixing his gaze on the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's tail.

"I must enter seclusion to recover. Until I return, the defense of the fortress falls entirely on your shoulders! If Ten Thousand Blades Fortress suffers the slightest loss..."

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon paused, glaring venomously at the hunched-over demon.

"Humph! I will chop off your head first!"

Feeling the naked, suffocating malice in her voice, the Spell-Eater Demon shivered.

"I guarantee the mission will be completed, Great Master! Please, rest and recover without worry."

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon slithered out of the hall without looking back. She desperately needed to heal. While the White Dragon Lord's Shattering Roar was primarily a crowd-control spell, its direct destructive power against a victim's soul was not to be underestimated.

Taking a direct hit from the Shattering Roar at such close range was an instant death sentence for any normal creature. A Legendary Rank Level powerhouse could endure it and survive, but a Master Tier combatant would have had their soul instantly shattered to pieces.

The moment the Eight-Armed Snake Demon lord slithered out of sight, the gathered Legendary Demons let out a collective breath of relief. The Spell-Eater Demon, Auduhar, stepped to the front of the hall, his face lined with grim worry.

"Listen closely, all of you," he announced. "We are now facing an assault from three High-Tier Legends. Even with the Array supporting us, this will be a brutal fight. If you don't want those enemies to slaughter their way in here, you will obey my orders to the letter."