Crushing and Sneak Attack
Seeing only a few streaks of light fleeing from the range of their attack in Düz City, Leylin sighed in disappointment, “Even Magi have lost their awareness of danger...”
“It’s not that they’ve lost their awareness. It’s just that they don’t believe it. The safety of Düz City is as guaranteed as the fact that the sun rises in the east and water flows downhill. It is their truth, their law! They never considered that there would be a day when their city is attacked.”
Melinda spoke disdainfully, “Magi like these are a disgrace to our Magus World, vermin! Let me purge them!” Her hands pushed downwards with complete coldness.
*Rumble!*
*Ka-cha!*
The earth rumbled and countless lightning snakes crackled, their berserk behaviour intensifying tenfold as they charged towards Düz City. The earth seemed to cave into some formless pressure, forming a pit. It was as if the air itself was being crushed.
Countless acolytes and regular humans instantly turned into a bloody mist.
The thunderstorm crashed down on Düz City, causing the rank 2s and 3s who’d been lucky enough to flee to suffer massive losses.
“Thunder Purgatory! Wash away all that filth!” Melinda’s expression was callous, her voice strangely spreading far and wide. Lightning struck down violently, ploughing through the city.
‘This woman is insane!’ Leylin’s pupils shrank as he felt the power hidden within the rank 5 spell.
Though he wasn’t any sort of good Samaritan, he wouldn’t kill people for no reason at all. His murders were committed for benefits. Melinda’s actions made it seem like she was venting some repressed emotions after a long period of time.
Leylin touched his chin, having some conjectures of his own.
“Enough!” It was at this juncture that someone like a retainer to the Monarch yelled from amongst those Magi at Leylin and the rest, “Even if all of you are Radiant Moon Magi, you can’t trample on the territory of a Breaking Dawn like this! The Blazing Flame Monarch will punish you!”
The tens of Morning Star Magi surrounding Leylin and the rest all wore Magus robes with flame runes carved into them; it was similar to a uniform. This Magus who was like a Retainer was their leader.
“Hoho! He said they want to punish us. I’m so scared!” Melinda covered her mouth, voice turning into that of a young girl.
“How are you going to punish us? Just burning our souls? It’s been long, have you no creativity?” Though she looked innocent, what Melinda said caused the surrounding Magi to shrink back.
“What? Aren’t you going to come and punish me?” Melinda took a step forward, and the tens of Magi around her couldn’t help but retreat, cold sweat on their faces.
Good heavens! While they were subordinates of the Blazing Flame Monarch, they were only Morning Stars facing five Radiant Moon Magi. If Carol, Eugene or the other Radiant Moon were around, they definitely had the courage to do so, but now?
“Hehe... If you’re not coming here, then I’ll go there!” Melinda’s eyes seemed to flash with white lightning, and she turned into a gust of wind.
“What do you want to do?”
“I won’t let you do whatever you want! Morning Star domain! Arcane Art...” The Morning Star Magus that looked like a retainer struggled, the rings of light that represented four innate spells beginning to flicker behind him.
*Boom!* In that moment, Melinda had arrived in front of him and raised her arms, her pale slender palms penetrating his innate defences. Under his astounded expression, the rings from his innate spells were extinguished.
“You... How’s that possible?” The old retainer spat out blood. The backlash from his spell being interrupted had even cracked his sea of consciousness.
“Power of isolation again? You really do lack in creativity,” Melinda shook her head, grabbing him by the neck.
“Peak Radiant Moon! She’s a peak Radiant Moon Magus!” Everything Melinda had just done was executed exquisitely, but even so, it would require a strength at the peak of rank 5. Only that would suffice to suppress a Morning Star Arcane Art and even cause a backlash.
After this was made obvious, the many Morning Star Magi stared at Melinda in immense fear.
The retainer who was being held by the neck flushed red, gritting out a few words from between his teeth, “Ma– Master Blazing Flame Monarch won’t let you off!”
“I’ll be waiting. Even if your master doesn’t come for me, I’ll go look for them!” Melinda chuckled. Her outrageous words resulted in even more dread on the part of the Morning Stars.
“Warning! Warning! Large numbers of enemies have appeared. Determined to be at rank 5. Automatic defences have been activated, dispatching Discipline Legion.” A robotic voice sounded in the golden flames at the heart of Düz City. This was the spirit genie that controlled the city’s defences. The giant adamantine cannons and defensive runes on the city walls that were yet to be destroyed flickered to life with its words.
*Rumble!* A short distance away, two legions of Magi advanced like a black tide.
“Mmm... It reacted in less than ten seconds and even dispatched troops. Not bad,” Leylin praised.
“Hehe... That’s the Monarch’s elite corps, the Crimson Fire Legion and the Discipline Legion. It’s a pity that their leaders have all fallen at our hands....” Melinda surveyed the area, and then asked disdainfully, “Which of you are going to take care of this?”
The moment she jabbed forward, a black streak charged into the Discipline Legion. A gigantic black sword could be seen weaving through the troops, spilling blood and flinging flesh.
Their terrifying magic attacks seemed to have no effect on the giant sword, and the legion immediately fell into chaos.
“Keke... Since Clarke has chosen the Discipline Legion, I’ll go for the Crimson Fire. Just as well, I need a large number of spirit bodies as supplements anyway...” Jin snickered from nearby. He currently looked like a hologram, his extremely blurry body suddenly increasing in size. His black robes spread around to cover the Crimson Fire Legion like a curtain.
“Woo woo...” With a strange whistling, the Magi of the Crimson Fire Legion collapsed one after another, rays of light that seemed like souls floating from their heads. These things that were similar to white flames were all absorbed by the black robe.
Whether it was rank 1 and 2 Magi troops, or even the squadrons of rank 3s and 4s, everything completely fell apart. Numerous Magi howled as they cast blindingly bright spells, with some Morning Star Arcane Arts even, but Jin easily blocked them.
With ruthless resolution, the black robe continuously absorbed the souls.
‘A spell that specifically targets the soul?’ Leylin’s eyes flashed. ‘Though it can only deal with Magi below rank 5, it’s best for harvesting weaklings.’
In their short confrontation, the Blazing Flame Monarch’s two elite legions completely crumbled down, and many of their Magi immediately tried to flee.
The few Morning Stars at the corners exchanged glances, coming to a mutual understanding as they turned into streaks of light and disappeared into the distance.
“Don’t... Go...” The Magus that Melinda was holding onto by the neck was still struggling, but unfortunately, it was to no avail. In a situation where the two elite legions were decimated, and the Blazing Flame Monarch was not showing himself, the Morning Star Magi would be fools if they continued to stake their lives on this and fight Radiant Moons.
“Let me do something as well,” Leylin stood up at the moment, staring at the giant cannons and adamantine puppets controlled by the city’s spirit genie, “It’ll be strange if I don’t.” He laughed slightly, producing a few grey test tubes from his pouch and tossing them into the air.
The sound of shattering glass sounded as the test tubes collided in mid-air. A white powder spread from the point of impact, constantly increasing in volume until it covered all of Düz City in a few moments.
The giant adamantine cannons on the city walls creaked as if under an incredible burden, eventually collapsing with a rumble to reveal a frame that had been completely corroded. A thick layer of rust formed on numerous adamantine puppets, as if a long period of time had passed. They turned into a huge pile of scrap iron.
Numerous runes lost their lustre inch by inch, and even the spirit genie’s voice from the heart of Düz City seemed to lose its coordination, as if something powerful was interfering with it.
“Hehe, good job Leylin! If the spirit genie continues to control the defensive forces of the city it would’ve been comparable to a Radiant Moon. Though we aren’t afraid of it, it’s best to eliminate such troubles.” Melinda encouraged him with a smile on her face.
“How did you know?” The retainer in the air widened his eyes in astonishment.
“You don’t need that information. Look how the city has crumbled, you should die and rot with it.” Melinda sighed, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
*Swish!* At this moment, something strange happened! The void beside Melinda crumbled, and a translucent figure emerged to form a bayonet spike that pierced towards her abdomen.
Rank 5 energy was emitted from this translucent figure, even if only at New Moon. This sudden attack was enough to land Melinda in trouble!
However, she still chuckled as she let go of the retainer’s corpse, a crystal shield appearing in front of her.
In the distance, Joanna suddenly ended her inaction. Large amounts of vines spread through the space, wrapping around the assassin.
“So you’re the hidden trump card of the Blazing Flame Monarch. A Radiant Moon assassin? Just Düz City alone has tens of Morning Stars and a Radiant Moon guarding it, I’m growing more interested in my future profits!”