volume 3 - Chapter 193 (1/2)

Chapter 193 Part 1 – The final moment (9)

When Mephisto displayed his strength, Andesha immediately sought to subdue him by force.

Both were proud people who did not stand down.

Conjuring a Greater Plant Creature was a Druid’s spell of the Eighth Circle. The Tree Shepherd’s variation of this spell distorted its nature greatly, raising its power and size by ten times by overloading it with her Mana and her staff’s powers. The Greater Plant Wyrm was now as powerful as a Warrior who perfected his control over his Element Power.

As the Wyrm’s head reached for Mephisto, part of its body suddenly scattered into countless vines and formed a net to block off all of Mephisto’s escape routes, forcing him to face the monster head-on.

But the Sword Saint of Ashes did not panic and instead lowered his greatsword behind his back. He looked up at the wriggling vine tentacles of the Wyrm’s head, appearing as though it was opening a mouth.

The World of Ashes expanded—

He swung his greatsword.

Even though the distance between Brendel and the two girls were nearly a hundred meters apart from the fight, they could feel the whole world turning dark. The only thing visible was the path of the greatsword’s swing; a grey line that sundered the air and sucking everything into its vortex.

Then time stopped.

The picture of Mephisto and the Wyrm was neatly cut into two, and its upper half slid down for a second before an ear-shattering crackle a.s.saulted everyone’s ears and caused them to hear ringing in their ears. Every single vine was spewing green liquid from its severed sections and the remains rained down from the air.

Light returned and revealed the forest’s destruction; countless trees were cut down with an explosion of dust and soil filling in the vacuum of the severed s.p.a.ce.

Visibility was once again limited.

Mephisto planted his greatsword into the ground and took in a deep breath. It was clear that he had used a significant amount of energy.

Andesha suffered just as much. Her spell was broken in a single instant, and Mephisto’s sword technique traveled through the vines and part of its power reached her. If she did not force an excessive amount of mana to sever the link between the Wyrm and herself, her body would have exploded.

She coughed out painfully glared at Mephis...o...b..low her as pain throbbed in her left hand; it was bleeding with green blood oozing out from her fingers. She had never suffered such a beating even when she fought against the Archmagi from the Silver Alliance. The Wizards were cautious and careful to make a move, but the crazy fool before her fought as though he did not want to keep his life. This mistake of a.s.sessing her opponent wrongly cost her.

“Hamir, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how much longer are you going to watch?” She finally roared: “Are you trying to reap the biggest advantage by standing on the sidelines until the last moment!”

[This woman has a helper? Even though I gained the advantage with that strike, I unleashed all the Grey Element that I have. It will take a while for me to recover my strength. I can’t even gather the scattered Element Power right now.]

Mephisto was surprised to hear that. He took another deep breath and started surveying the surroundings, and he discovered a man with red robes that was meant for rituals walking out from the smoke.

“You’re one of the bishops from the Holy Cathedral of Fire?” Mephisto was able to see his face.

Brendel also managed to see the robed figure’s face as the latter had raised his head to study Mephisto.

Amman walked past the trio who were hiding under the invisibility cloak, though even if he were to collide straight into them, he would have simply pa.s.sed through.

The youth could not help but feel stunned after confirming that the robed figure was indeed Amman. However, the bishop had such a pale face that it looked it had a layer of wax on it. His arms had patches of red on the skin, which was a sign of livor mortis. This was certainly not what a living person should look like, and he instead looked like an undead.

[This seems like a particular spell to change a living person into an undead, and it’s famous because it changes the person instantly upon death. But casting this spell requires one to make preparations in advance, and the person who receives the spell needs to split part of their soul into a special container.]

It was not a vase or box that Brendel was thinking about. The way to store a soul was to store it in a living person who did not have theirs, and the way to make a living person into a container was unspeakable. This dark magic was strictly forbidden by every holy religion. Only Madara’s undead necromancers and unholy sects would pursue this magic.

Brendel was absolutely certain that Amman was a spy, but the latter’s relations.h.i.+p with Andesha was strange. The bishop was probably not a Tree Shepherd, but since there were many evil cults around, Brendel was unsure which one Amman belonged to.

However, the youth soon discovered a conspicuous black ring on Amman’s finger and narrowed his eyes. It was the symbol of the Unifying Guild.

[Well, the Unifying Guild and the Tree Shepherds belong to the bigger cults in the continent. It’s not surprising to find them here drawn to the treasures within the Dark Forest. But it seems like Amman doesn’t intend to hide his ident.i.ty anymore by displaying the ring so openly.]

“It’s really him, Bishop Amman!” Faena tugged Brendel’s sleeves and mouthed.

Brendel nodded: “The Unifying Guild is everywhere in the human world.”

Amman smiled at Mephisto: “You have a discerning eye, but that is merely one of my ident.i.ties.”