The battle dragged on for nearly ten minutes. The shattered fragments of gargoyles practically carpeted the hall's floor, yet the enemy's offensive showed no sign of weakening.
"This can't go on!" Hawkeye swapped to a special sonic arrow. When it hit, a powerful shockwave erupted, temporarily clearing a small area—only for it to be filled again almost instantly by new gargoyles. "Their energy feels endless!"
Strange kept casting while his sharp gaze swept the surroundings. "Then there has to be an energy source supporting them! We need to find it and destroy it!"
At that moment, Wanda seemed to sense something. She pointed toward an archway deep in the hall, half-hidden behind a massive stone pillar. "Over there! There's an extremely concentrated, wicked energy fluctuation—dozens of times stronger than what's on these gargoyles!"
"Push through!" Strange decided instantly.
The team began forcing their way forward in that direction. Saitama held the front line, his fists pumping in continuous strikes. Every punch carried a terrifying gust of force, carving a path through the sea of gargoyles by sheer violence. Wanda and Strange used their magic to clear the sides and swat down anything diving from above. Hawkeye and Spider-Man covered gaps and picked off threats.
After smashing through the last few gargoyles blocking the way, they entered the space beyond the archway.
It was a circular underground plaza, far more vast than the previous hall. At the center of the plaza floor was an enormous magic circle—absurdly massive, absurdly complex.
The array was composed of countless nested rings, sharp angles, and ancient symbols no one could fully comprehend. The lines were carved deep into the ground, and the grooves were filled with a dark-red substance like blood that hadn't fully coagulated yet, giving off a faint glow and a sinister heat. The entire magic circle rotated slowly, radiating a heart-stopping aura—an eerie presence that seemed to devour all light. Just standing near its edge made it feel like your soul was being frozen and torn apart.
"This is…" Strange's expression turned instantly grim. "A cross-dimensional summoning array. And it's the highest-grade, most dangerous kind. It isn't drawing energy—it's establishing coordinates. A channel. It's trying to drag some terrifying existence from a distant dark dimension or another plane directly into our world!"
A chill crawled up everyone's spine. If this array fully activated, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"We have to stop it!" Wanda cried.
But in the instant their attention was drawn to the magic circle—
Dozens of cloaked figures emerged like ghosts from the shadows around the plaza. Silent and sudden, their faces hidden beneath deep hoods. Only pairs of eyes could be seen—glowing a fanatical, cruel red. In their hands were bizarre ritual tools: bone staves, crystal spheres, skulls, and other twisted implements. Dark magic—pure, vile, and concentrated—pulsed around them.
"Fools who defile this sacred ground!" the leader of the Dark Believers roared in a hoarse, grating voice. He raised an obsidian staff high. "You will not stop the holy descent! For the great Dark Demon God—kill them!"
In the next instant, countless dark spells detonated at once—
Black energy arrows, corrosive green acid orbs, mind-warping fear auras, weakening rays that drained vitality…
Like a torrential storm, they poured down toward Saitama's group.
(End of Chapter)
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