The wall exploded into the crater, and a bunch of flying golems and people swarmed in.
Everyone looked around the humongous hole and immediately noticed several things.
First, there were no Ether Crystals on any of the walls.
Second, there were only very few Ether Gems.
Third, there was another hole on the other end.
Kyle's suspicions were confirmed.
The Winterfire Kingdom already had a mining operation here!
Even if there were some doubts left, the two guys currently mining the wall were proof enough that the Winterfire Kingdom already had access to the Ether Essence.
Naturally, those two guys had also noticed team Sandstorm's explosive entrance.
For just a moment, both sides looked at each other.
"Initial Grand Sorcerer and Initial… Holy Paladin?!" Kyle shouted, his tone changing to a confused one near the end.
The Grand Sorcerer and Holy Paladin looked at Team Sandstorm.
The Holy Paladin grabbed the Grand Sorcerer and jumped into the hole while looking at team Sandstorm.
But then, they stopped.
They had expected that the Skysand Kingdom would be rushing in with an army.
Yet, team Sandstorm didn't rush in.
Was this a singular team of Mid Second Realm people?
The two of them exchanged a glance.
This was a difficult situation for them.
If there were more people of the Skysand Kingdom, they would die.
Yet, if this team were alone, they could keep everything secret.
They would just need to kill them and collapse the tunnel.
"Disperse!" Kyle shouted.
The next moment, team Sandstorm charged back into the tunnel.
The Holy Paladin saw that team Sandstorm was retreating.
BANG!
Then, the Holy Paladin exploded forward, and his body expanded.
Within an instant, he reached a size of over 20 meters.
If he wanted, he could become even taller, but he preferred this size while fighting several weaker people at once.
The next moment, the Holy Paladin stretched his hand forward.
BOOOOM!
An explosion of light appeared in team Sandstorm's tunnel, pushing everyone back into the crater.
Meanwhile, the Grand Sorcerer ran across the ceiling of the huge cave while readying his Spells.
When Kyle saw that, his eyes narrowed.
Naturally, the command "disperse" didn't mean retreat for team Sandstorm.
It meant that everyone should act as if they were retreating while preparing for battle.
As soon as the explosions appeared, everyone turned around and charged into the cave. Kyle charged right towards the approaching Holy Paladin.
Lily jumped onto one of her flying golems while taking to the "sky".
Michael started to prepare his Spells.
Falk positioned himself close to Michael and Lily.
Lastly, Selene charged to the side, pulling out her bow.
The first to act was Selene as she shot a powerful arrow, filled with Skysand, towards the Grand Sorcerer.
The Grand Sorcerer dodged to the side, but when the arrow changed into a cloud of Skysand, he got hit.
The Skysand started to corrupt his robes and weapons.
The interference of foreign Ether interrupted the Grand Sorcerer's Spellcasting.
The next moment, the Grand Sorcerer just released a burst of Ether, dispersing the Skysand before casting another Spell.
Meanwhile, Lily's flying golems shot metallic feathers at the Grand Sorcerer.
Yet, the Grand Sorcerer was no newbie.
While he didn't have a strengthened body, he was still three levels above his enemies.
That meant he was still as fast as an Early Fighter at a baseline.
He dodged most of the feathers and managed to ready his Spell.
While this was going on, Kyle was approaching the Holy Paladin.
Naturally, Kyle had already summoned his True Body, but his frame was dwarfed by the gigantic Holy Paladin.
The Holy Paladin had already pulled out his humongous, two-handed sword.
Holy light appeared on the Holy Paladin's sword, and he slashed down.
Kyle's instincts screamed at him, and he jumped to the side.
The next moment, a shockwave of searing light went past Kyle, leaving a deep crevice behind.
The Holy Paladin narrowed his eyes.
The reactions of his opponent were good.
But that didn't matter.
The Holy Paladin landed on the ground, leaving two humongous footprints in the stone.
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
He only had one shot.
His opponent was underestimating him.
If he missed this chance, this fight would turn very ugly.
Kyle kept charging forward, a chaotic mix of Elemental Ether surrounding him and his hammer.
The gigantic Holy Paladin lifted his sword, which shone with even more holy light.
This time, he wouldn't miss!
Meanwhile, the Grand Sorcerer launched his Spell.
Several cubic meters of liquid metal appeared in the air.
Then, it shot towards Lily.
Artificers were always the first target.
As the liquid metal flew towards Lily, it transformed into an array of spears.
Within less than a second, a humongous wall of spears flew at her.
Her eyes widened. How was she supposed to avoid that?!
The next moment, a strong hand grabbed her and pulled her back.
It was Falk!
Falk used his Wind Ether to pull back, avoiding the middle of the array of spears.
Yet, he wasn't fast enough to avoid all of them.
Falk narrowed his eyes.
BANG!
Then, he threw Lily towards the ceiling with all of his power.
Lily saw a helpless smile on Falk's face.
Then, she saw a wall of spears passing below her.
One moment, Falk had been there.
The next moment, he was gone.
Lily gritted her teeth as she landed on another one of her flying golems before focusing on the Grand Sorcerer again.
Meanwhile, Michael managed to launch his own Spell.
The air was charged with lightning.
The Grand Sorcerer's hair stood up.
At the same time, the combatants noticed a bright explosion of holy light in the corner of their eyes, but they were too busy with their opponents.
An instant later, an instantaneous bolt of lightning appeared between Michael and the Grand Sorcerer.
It didn't even travel from one place to another.
It was just there.
A barrier appeared around the Grand Sorcerer's body before breaking.
The next moment, a gem embedded in his uniform exploded as well.
Then, several arrows shot towards the Grand Sorcerer.
He used a lot of Ether to create several small shields of metal, which appeared between the arrows and him.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The cave shook.
A humongous storm of grey, red, and green Ether scattered across the cave.
Everyone glanced over.
Then, everyone halted.
A humongous body was falling over.
The face of the body was obscured by a mist of dense blood, but the identity of the body was clear.
The Holy Paladin.
Yet, through the mist, they could see the fiery sheen of a huge hammer.
And it was buried right in the middle of the Holy Paladin's face.
The Grand Sorcerer's eyes widened.
Kyle turned his gaze to the Grand Sorcerer, his hammer still buried in the Holy Paladin's smashed face.
An intense pressure assaulted the Grand Sorcerer's mind as Kyle's Momentum focused on him.
Then, an arrow pierced through the Grand Sorcerer's chest.
Selene was the only one who had known about Kyle's power…
And she had also been the only one who hadn't been frozen by shock.
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