Chapter 1166 - The Victor (2/2)

“Get lost, you low-life!” Ursrook immediately generated the anti-magic area.

When the black light brushed past Lightning, Lightning released the grenades and changed her course abruptly.

The grenades fell.

They sped on under the momentum toward Ursrook and sprouted their empennages.

“You — ” the demon growled, his eyes strained, and with all his remaining strength, he created the blue shield.

The next moment, explosions bloomed outside the shield, yet it was only a prelude to even more destruction. The cone-shaped bullets seething with energies created a dazzling trajectory in the air and shattered the shield with a loud crash. They slashed Ursrook’s disfigured body as if hot knives through butter, thus reducing the blob attached to him to a pulp.

The Magic Stone Ursrook had obtained from the Senior Demon crumbled under the fierce onslaught of the shrapnel.

Ursrook let out a bone-chilling shriek!

The black tentacles immediately shrank; the burning pain Ashes was feeling ceased, and she regained her consciousness.

Without slightest of hesitation, Ashes released the accumulated divine power.

The Magic Slayer realized the danger and tried to wrench the witch away, but Ashes refused to slacken her grip.

“You’re right. Human beings are weak, but nothing could stop us from moving forward. We’ll never back off,” she broke off with a tenuous smile on her face. “Because someone is already standing ahead, pointing to us the way forward.”

Then golden thunderbolts overspread the black light and filled the entire sky.

Struck by the blinding, white-hot rays, Ursrook was evaporated without even the slightest trace of his existence left behind.

The roar of thunder spread through the Fertile Plains, leaving a long murmur of echoes.

Soon, the divine power diminished, and Ashes was alone on the vast land.

Lightning slowly rose from the ground and clenched her teeth. When she had collided into the anti-magic area, she had swayed sideways and had been thrown out before crashing into the ground. Luckily, the Magic Slayer had directed the majority of his power to the shield, which had afforded her time to synchronize her power after a narrow escape from the anti-magic area.

As a consequence, she broke one arm and scraped one side of her body.

Lightning limped to Ashes and managed a smile. “We finally… won.”

“Yes, thank you. To be honest, I didn’t expect that you would come back.”

“That’s an explorer’s instinct. A great explorer always comes for those in need — ” Lightning stopped dead, realizing something was wrong. “Hey, what… is happening to you?”

Ashes looked down at her hands. They were turning snow-white and became more and more transparent. She replied, “Perhaps, this is the price I have to pay for burning myself.”

“Burning yourself… What do you mean?” Lightning pursued, stunned. Ashes gradually disintegrated into nothingness, and her long hair splintered into numerous tiny white flecks, as though she ceased to exist as a solid entity and became a misty image comprised of fireflies.

“If we want to use magic power to achieve something, it’ll lead us to what we desire, but I asked for something more than I could bear…” Ashes said softly. “So that’s what I will turn into after merging with magic power… It’s better than becoming a monster.”

“What, what are you talking about?” Lightning asked, panic-stricken, attempting to grab Ashes’ hand, which immediately pulverized. “Ashes, tell me. What should I do?”

“Tell Tilly that I like her.”

The dark clouds were eventually dispersed by the lazy sunbeams that spilled across the earthy land. In the slanting sun rays, Ashes closed her eyes and dissolved into the wind.

Lightning attempted to hold her back but to no vail. With her one good hand still trying to hug the air in front of her, the little girl broke into tears.

…

Lan heaved a deep sigh as she gazed at the dark sky, her eyes downcast.

After a long, melancholic silence, she closed the window and muttered as if she was asking an imaginary figure, or just talking to herself.

“What are you waiting for?”

“There’s nothing to hesitate about anymore.”

“We need to act faster. Time… is running out.”

Her last comment gave way to an inaudible sigh that dispersed into the stillness of time.