Chapter 73: Under the Divine Strike
At that moment, in the treasury, Rhodes and his party were completely unaware of the approaching danger.
"Why is the stone pedestal suddenly glowing?" Eirik asked, instinctively taking a couple of steps back.
The color drained from Serie's face. As an elf with a keen sense for mana, she immediately knew something was wrong. "That's not the stone itself! Someone is activating its mana from the outside!"
Rhodes's head snapped up. He couldn't see what was happening outside, but a vision had already appeared in his mind's eye: a massive pillar of light, descending from the sky like the Rod of God, a blinding radiance carrying an aura of absolute destruction, about to engulf the entire dwarven ruins. And they were right in the middle of it. The holy sword, Org, also began to tremble violently, as if in warning.
"SERIE!"
In the heat of the moment, all he could do was shout and channel all of his strength into a magic barrier. But it was too late.
BOOM—!!!
The Divine Strike of the Sky-Winged descended.
A blinding white light pierced through hundreds of meters of solid rock, a power of utter annihilation that tore through the dwarven ruins as if they were made of paper. The entire treasury shook violently. Eirik stumbled and fell.
But Rhodes had no time to worry about him. Hearing his shout, Serie had also looked up, her pupils constricting. She, too, had sensed the massive spell unfolding outside, its power almost beyond belief. Her combat instincts kicked in, and she immediately threw up a magic barrier of her own, a translucent shield that appeared above their heads.
The Divine Strike, having obliterated everything else in the ruins, finally slammed into their barrier, and the resulting explosion was deafening.
Rhodes let out a muffled grunt and fell to one knee. Serie did the same, a trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth. He immediately drew both the 'Light of Ersten' and 'Org' and, using the power of the holy swords, quickly replenished their rapidly draining mana.
"It's a Divine Strike!" Serie managed to say, struggling to maintain the barrier. "The highest level of magic of the Sky-Winged!"
"The Sky-Winged?" Rhodes said through gritted teeth, wiping the blood from his mouth. "What are they doing here?"
There was no time for answers. Serie was using all of her mana to reinforce the barrier. "A Divine Strike doesn't last for long."
Fortunately, the structure of the dwarven treasury had absorbed a large part of the impact, and they weren't at the center of the blast. All they had to deal with was the aftershock. But even so, the terrifying, destructive light was quickly annihilating everything around them. The hard ores, the master-crafted dwarven weapons and armor—all of it was reduced to dust.
High above, the thirteen members of the council looked down at the dwarven ruins, now completely engulfed in the pillar of light, and let out a collective sigh of relief.
The Divine Strike had taken a heavy toll on them. Their mana was nearly depleted, and they wouldn't be able to participate in any battles for a long time. But the Goddess's command had been fulfilled. Everything here, including the demons and magical beasts within, would be completely destroyed.
"We've lost our connection to the holy relic. It must have been destroyed in the blast," one of the council members said. They had been able to reach the ruins so quickly by using the vast mana within the holy relic to open a teleportation circle, the same kind the demons had used. The method of activating the relic had been granted to them by the Goddess.
"It seems we won't be able to use the magic circle to return to the Heavenly Kingdom."
The other council members looked a little worried. This was their most vulnerable moment. Their mana was depleted, their combat strength was at a fraction of its normal level. If they were to encounter any demons or magical beasts, they would be defenseless. But fortunately, all the monsters on the continent were at the front lines, near the Great Elven Forest. They didn't have to worry about being attacked.
"Let's go. Back to our Heavenly Kingdom!"
The Sky-Winged all beat their wings and began to retreat, leaving behind a massive, smoldering crater where the dwarven ruins had once stood.
When the blinding light finally faded, the group looked around in horror. The entire ceiling of the treasury, or rather, the entire dwarven ruins, was gone.
Through the dust and smoke, the long-forgotten sunlight fell on their shoulders. But the warmth of the sun brought only a chill. High above, a formation of Sky-Winged warriors was retreating, leaving nothing but their cold, distant silhouettes.
"The Sky-Winged..." Norne's voice trembled. "What were they doing here?"
"Maybe they were just trying to take out the demon's nest and didn't know we were here?" Eirik suggested uncertainly.
Somme's face was grim. Through the cracks in their magic barrier, he could see that the ancestral home of his people had been completely wiped from existence, leaving only a massive crater to mark its passing.
Rhodes wiped the blood from his mouth and tightened his grip on the 'Light of Ersten'. Its mana was completely drained, its once-glowing blade now dull and lifeless.
"Perhaps they were after us. Or rather, after the Divine Right Sword, Org."
There hadn't been enough monsters in the ruins to warrant such an attack. A massive teleportation circle, a Divine Strike... just to kill a few home-guard monsters? Neither Rhodes nor Serie believed it for a second.
"That's the only possibility," Serie said, dispelling the magic barrier. Her face was deathly pale. Just the aftershock had drained all of their mana and caused a significant backlash. Is this the power of a god? It was truly terrifying.
"But the timing... it's too much of a coincidence. We only just got this sword," Norne said, still in disbelief.
"Serie, what do you think?"
With the precognitive power of Org, Rhodes had already seen a vision of the Sky-Winged. He had seen them emerge from a massive magic circle, led by the thirteen, and unleash their ultimate attack. And he didn't have to guess what that magic circle was. The mana from the stone slab had been activated. It was a perfect recreation of the disaster that had befallen the first Dwarven Kingdom hundreds of years ago. Only this time, it was the Sky-Winged who had come.
"I suspect that the fall of the first Dwarven Kingdom was related to the Sky-Winged. Or rather... to the Goddess."
It was a shocking theory.
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