◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones. or 500 Collections
◇ You can read 40 chapter ahead on P@treon . if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
No matter how unreasonable Darian found it, the black-robed woman thought it was perfectly reasonable.
The black-robed woman held her staff high, continuously devouring the surrounding light, making the entire environment increasingly dark.
"The dark energy of that artifact is growing stronger. We must stop her as soon as possible!"
Mordo's voice came from the darkness; only his voice could be heard, not his person, clearly indicating that his innate passive ability had been activated, allowing him to completely merge with the surrounding darkness.
He didn't need to remind Darian, who had already raised his twin guns, their muzzles continuously spitting fire, energy bullets raining down on the black-robed woman.
Unfortunately, it had little effect. All the bullets were blocked by a dark barrier a few feet away from her. Even when a few cracks occasionally appeared, they were instantly repaired by the surging dark energy.
The black-robed woman sneered, "Is that all you've got?"
"Of course not! Taste my Six Roots of Purity magic!"
Seeing that his output was insufficient, Darian decisively put away his twin guns, shook his hands, and a large, thick Gatling gun appeared out of thin air.
The black-robed woman: "…"
Nonsense! This is not magic at all!
Before she could react, Darian had already pulled the trigger. The Gatling gun's six barrels began to spin at high speed!
Da da da da da da ————!!
The deafening roar instantly tore at everyone's eardrums. The Gatling gun spat out long, scorching flames, and bullets formed a metal storm, crashing violently against the dark barrier with overwhelming force!
Every bullet was infused with Darian's energy, and the terrifying firing rate of thousands of rounds per minute unleashed a furious barrage of firepower.
Of course, his mana was also consumed rapidly, like a floodgate opening.
But the effect was extremely significant. Ripples immediately appeared on the dark barrier, and cracks on its surface became more frequent. The repair speed clearly began to fall behind the pace of destruction.
Seeing this, the black-robed woman had no choice but to inject more dark energy into the barrier to maintain her defense.
"You don't deserve to be called a Sorcerer!!"
The black-robed woman was furious. Using pistols was bad enough, but now he even brought out a Gatling gun!
Can such a person still be called a Sorcerer!?
As a traditional Sorcerer who still used a staff, she felt that Darian had utterly insulted the profession of a Sorcerer!
Mordo and Kaecilius were equally astonished.
Not to mention the black-robed woman, even these two Sorcerers from Kamar-Taj had never seen a Sorcerer use a Gatling gun before.
It must be said that the firepower certainly looked fierce, but unfortunately, they couldn't replicate this operation at all.
After all, they wouldn't dare to squander magic energy like Darian. The energy consumed in minutes would be enough for them to take on several more loans.
There was no other way. Every Sorcerer at Kamar-Taj was a master of loans. The borrowed magic energy had to be used meticulously. If they could fight in close combat, they would never use an extra spell. magic was only their last resort.
"Enough!"
Seeing the dark barrier about to shatter, the black-robed woman roared, gripping her staff with both hands and striking it heavily against the ground!
The moment the staff's end touched the ground, a powerful surge of dark energy erupted, transforming into a solid, annular Impact that spread wildly outwards from her center!
Wherever the Impact passed, display case glass shattered, artifacts were sent flying and scattered across the floor, and walls collapsed with a roar, raising a cloud of dust.
Mordo and Kaecilius had no time to react and were sent flying by this force, crashing heavily to the ground.
Darian was also thrown back by the Impact, but in mid-air, he quickly adjusted his posture, using his waist to perform a nimble flip, finally landing steadily on both feet, his posture calm and unhurried, forming a stark contrast with the two disheveled figures on the ground.
And they call themselves Arch-Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj? They don't even have this much physical conditioning.
Darian looked at the two with disdain.
At this moment, the black-robed woman stood in the center of the ruins.
Her skin had turned as black as ink, as if she had changed race. Even the whites of her eyes had disappeared, leaving only two lightless black holes, and an evil aura emanated from her entire body.
Mordo struggled to his feet, looking at the black-robed woman, who was several shades darker than himself, his expression extremely grim.
"She has been completely controlled by the dark power of that artifact. Her mind is thoroughly corrupted. Now, she is probably just a puppet of the artifact."
Kaecilius said in a cold, hard tone, "Then eliminate her. Someone who willingly allows evil power to corrupt them and falls to such a state has no reason to exist in this world."
Hearing this, Darian's expression was a little strange.
Anyone else could say that, but coming from your mouth, Kaecilius, it feels odd.
In the future, you'll be Dormammu's number one fanboy. With just one word from Dormammu, you'd probably even offer up Earth with both hands.
In terms of evil, this black-robed woman can't even hold a candle to you.
The black-robed woman raised her dark arm, holding her staff, and said coldly, "You who stand on the side of light will soon understand what it feels like to be abandoned by light and banished into the Shadow!"
As her voice fell, the staff in her hand suddenly erupted with surging dark energy.
The ground suddenly surged violently, and several thick tentacles, condensed from dark energy, drilled out of the Shadow, like wildly dancing vipers, striking fiercely at the three of them!
This time, Mordo and Kaecilius reacted swiftly. Almost simultaneously, they formed hand seals, their hands instantly enveloped in brilliant golden light, each manifesting two constantly rotating small magic shields, which appeared quite striking in the dim environment.
Clearly, magic effects were not within the scope of light energy and were not absorbed by the black-robed woman's staff.
This is unscientific, but very magic!
This is the Rings of Raggadorr, one of the basic skills every Kamar-Taj Sorcerer must master. Without these two iconic golden rings on their hands, they wouldn't dare to call themselves a Kamar-Taj Sorcerer when they went out.
As Arch-Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, Mordo and Kaecilius had refined this basic skill to perfection.
They dodged left and right, raising their golden rings to block the attacks of the dark tentacles, while also using them like blades to cut them down. Dark tentacles fell everywhere, almost enough to make a seafood feast.
Seeing the two with their effects maxed out, Darian naturally didn't want to be overshadowed.
He quickly put away his Gatling gun, and an incredibly dazzling magic sword instantly condensed in his hand, its light even outshining the Rings of Raggadorr of the other two.
The originally dim environment was instantly brightened by several levels, and even Mordo's invisibility was forcibly broken.
Perhaps influenced by the light energy on the magic sword, the surrounding dark tentacles weakened somewhat, emitting wisps of black smoke.
Mordo's face lit up at the sight. "Well done, Sorcerer Darian, keep up your illumination magic!"
"This is a magic sword!"
Darian retorted, swinging his sword to meet the incoming dark tentacles.
Before entering the dungeon, he had already grinded out the skill 'Basic One-Handed Sword Usage'.
He twisted his wrist, and the magic sword carved a sharp trajectory in the air, instantly cutting down several dark tentacles.
The magic sword, imbued with light energy, was the natural enemy of these tentacles condensed from dark energy. They disintegrated almost on contact, unable to get even an inch close to him.
But the next moment, more dark tentacles surged from the shadows on the ground, completely ignoring Mordo and Kaecilius, and swarmed towards Darian alone from all directions!
The black-robed woman had clearly realized that Darian posed the greatest threat to her and directly made him her primary target for elimination.
"You're singling me out, are you?!"
Darian cursed under his breath, continuously swinging his magic sword, severing the incoming dark tentacles.
However, every time he cleared a patch of dark tentacles in front of him, more dark tentacles surged forward from behind, one after another, as if endless, gradually compressing his movement space with their absolute numerical advantage.
And the situation for Mordo and Kaecilius wasn't much better.
Although the number of dark tentacles on their side was far less than Darian's, they were ultimately mortals with limited stamina, and their condition quickly began to decline.
Mordo, distracted for a moment, had his right foot ensnared by a dark tentacle. The tentacle continuously climbed up his body, attempting to restrain him.
Fortunately, he wasn't some magical girl, or the art style would have taken a strange turn.
Kaecilius also got slapped a few times by dark tentacles, his face swollen, but aside from his dignity, he didn't suffer much damage.
Seeing the situation turn dire, Darian immediately raised the light tube in his hand—oh, no, the magic sword.
Illumination spell!
In an instant, the magic sword erupted with a fierce, brilliant White light, like a small Sun suddenly born, instantly illuminating the entire area shrouded in darkness!
Under the radiance of this brilliant White light, all the dark tentacles emitted a piercing sizzling sound, spewing black smoke, and then melted away at a visible speed, like ice and snow exposed to the scorching Sun, leaving not a single trace!
Just one illumination spell, and it cleared the screen!
Mordo and Kaecilius immediately felt a lightness around them, and the suffocating pressure of the encirclement instantly vanished.
They squinted their eyes, pained by the intense light, and looked at the incredible scene before them, their shock beyond words.
Mordo couldn't help but ask, "What kind of magic is that?"
Darian replied, "Illumination spell."
Mordo: "…"
Kaecilius: "…"
And he said it wasn't illumination magic!
Mordo suppressed his shock and said urgently, "Keep using your illumination spell! That way, you can suppress her dark energy!"
Darian shook his head, "This move consumes a lot of energy and cannot be used continuously. Besides, my energy is already almost depleted."
Under the insane barrage of the Gatling gun earlier, and the enormous consumption of that super-standard illumination spell just now, his mana was indeed running low. Even the light of the magic sword in his hand dimmed a bit, entering power-saving mode, finally revealing part of the sword's shape.
Hooray!
Darian suggested, "I think it's safer to have someone quickly return to Kamar-Taj for reinforcements. Bring all the strongest Sorcerers from Kamar-Taj and let's launch a righteous group attack."
Darian had long been accustomed to the Brotherhood's excellent tradition of always ganging up rather than fighting one-on-one. Seeing the black-robed woman enter her second phase, his first thought was to summon reinforcements.
Mordo said helplessly, "After the Ancient One left, the strongest fighters at Kamar-Taj are probably just Kaecilius and I. Other Arch-Sorcerers have duties to guard various Sanctums and cannot leave to provide support."
Are you two really that good at fighting?
Darian almost blurted it out.
With all due respect, so far, he really hadn't seen how capable these two Arch-Sorcerers from Kamar-Taj were.
He had come originally to witness how Kamar-Taj Sorcerers fought, but instead, he had witnessed the two of them being thoroughly thrashed in various ways.
No wonder the Ancient One always seemed to be in a state of waiting for retirement.
Her subordinates were useless. Forget about dealing with the threat of dimensional demon gods; right now, even dealing with a failed student from Kamar-Taj was this difficult.
As the saying goes, when you beat the young one, the old one comes.
If the situation continued like this, and Mordo and Kaecilius truly couldn't handle it, in the end, the Ancient One, the old one, would probably have to come back herself to clean up the mess.
As Sorcerer Supreme, she had to personally handle everything, and one could imagine how exhausting that was.
Moreover, it was said that the Ancient One was over a hundred years old, possibly even several hundred. She had been guarding Earth for centuries. If it were him, he would have long wanted to find an honest successor, retire himself, and run off to enjoy life.
Thinking of this, Darian suddenly remembered the Ancient One asking him to become Sorcerer Supreme.
Holy crap! Could that old hag be planning this all along?!
I'm the honest guy!?
"You truly deserve to die!"
The black-robed woman felt a strong sense of crisis when she saw her dark tentacles completely annihilated in one blow.
At this moment, her killing intent towards Darian had almost reached its peak, placing him directly at the top of her kill list.
Such an arch-nemesis-like power absolutely could not be allowed to continue existing. She had to completely stifle him at all costs!
"Surrender, hand over the artifact, and we might consider only beating you half to death."
Darian advanced, gripping his magic sword. Mordo and Kaecilius followed closely behind.
But the black-robed woman had sharp eyes and instantly saw through the three of them—they were at the end of their rope.
She sneered, "Bluffing! Let's see how long you can maintain this state!"
Before her voice faded, the staff in the black-robed woman's hand trembled slightly, and the surrounding shadows once again boiled violently. Numerous dark tentacles surged out again, their dense scale appearing no less than before.
Mordo and Kaecilius secretly thought, "This is bad."
Unless they used extremely costly magic, they couldn't endure another round of tentacle play.
"Moreover, your light seems to be fading."
The black-robed woman looked at the slightly dim magic sword in Darian's hand, her tone filled with the arrogance of victory.
"Who said that?"
Darian chuckled.
Under the black-robed woman's surprised gaze, he pulled out a bottle of potion shimmering with a brilliant blue magical glow, pulled out the cork, and tilted his head back, chugging it down.
The next moment, the light of his magic sword brightened again, instantly switching from power-saving mode back to green status!
[Item: Mana Potion (Restores a certain amount of mana after drinking)]
"Also, do you think only you have a second phase?"
Darian then pulled out a magic mask and put it on. His mana instantly surged with his mental power!
Under the influence of magic, the eerie runes on the mask's surface began to squirm and twist. Staring at it for too long induced a trance, as if being watched by countless evil spirits, sending shivers down one's spine.
Two cold, faint White lights shot out from the eye sockets of Darian's mask, and his voice was low.
"Evil-doer, you have lost your last chance!"
The black-robed woman: "…"
Now, who the hell looks more like an evil-doer!?