After El shattered the ice wall, the female Saint Rank powerhouse immediately used the fragments of ice floating in the air as a springboard, crossing a distance of over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye to appear beside the three.
Seeing the blue battle qi on the short spear in her hand about to strike the three of them, Xia Duo agilely reached back and threw three sharp daggers, intercepting its path.
However, the blue battle qi on that short spear seemed to contain infinite power. With a flash of blue light, the three daggers made of fine steel were instantly reduced to countless shards, yet the momentum of the short spear’s attack did not diminish in the slightest.
At the critical moment, a thick vine grew out from the stone wall on the side, coiling tightly around the female Saint Rank’s waist like an octopus tentacle and causing her to stumble.
Those were seeds Moen had scattered along the way as a precaution, and she hadn't expected them to come in handy at such a time. This sudden vine attack successfully interrupted the opponent’s momentum, giving the three a brief moment to catch their breath.
But before they could recover, El had already caught up to them from behind.
After seeing the three’s faces clearly, a hint of surprise flashed in El’s eyes, but the longsword in his hand had already swung out, sending a dazzling wave of fire whistling toward Starlight and the others.
Facing the rolling heat wave rushing toward them, Starlight knew he no longer had any room to consider the consequences. The mana in his body quickly condensed through the elemental mark on his wrist, forming a pitch-black vortex in front of him.
The vortex formed of dark elements met the flames swung from El’s hand head-on.
The violent explosion they expected did not occur. The fire battle qi, which originally contained destructive power, seemed to be smoothed over by an invisible hand the moment it touched the dark elements. It quickly lost its violent nature and vanished into nothingness in an instant.
This shocking scene left El standing dazed on the spot for a moment. He had slightly held back after recognizing Starlight and the others, but the battle qi he had released still possessed seventy to eighty percent of its power.
He had thought the three little ones might be able to struggle to block his strike, but certainly not neutralize it into nothingness so effortlessly.
In truth, it wasn't just El who was shocked; even Starlight was somewhat surprised by his own magic.
In his estimation, the three of them should have been able to use the aftershocks of the two forces colliding to propel themselves backward a great distance. How had it suddenly canceled out in mid-air?
Moreover, he didn't seem to be pushed to his absolute limit. Could it be that something had changed with the elemental mark?
“That’s strange. I haven’t been trying to absorb the power within it lately. What’s going on?” Starlight wondered to himself.
But every second was vital now, and he had no time to look deeper into why that mysterious power had suddenly surged to help them resolve the crisis.
Taking advantage of the moment Sword Saint El was dazed by the sudden turn of events, the three escaped a significant distance further upward.
In his perception, there wasn't much distance left until the end of the spatial lock.
As long as they could break through that critical point, they could immediately use instant movement to leave, and then go pick up Po Kong-Mars through Noah’s positioning.
But just a second before they were about to break through the blockade, a figure suddenly appeared in front of them, sealing off their path completely with a wave of his hand.
After seeing that his two companions had failed to stop three juniors, Saint Archmage Ryan joined the pursuit with a helpless sigh.
When the three looked up and saw Ryan’s figure floating in mid-air, their hearts instantly sank to the bottom.
With Ryan’s appearance, countless blue ice blades formed in the air, completely blocking their way.
Starlight took a deep breath, trying his best to calm his internal turmoil. He silently mobilized the mana in his body, preparing to cast his most powerful magic to resist Ryan’s assault.
Xia Duo also quickly pulled her longbow from her back, and without a second thought, she fired several fiery red arrows toward the sky. They traced brilliant arcs through the air, lighting up the dark hollow.
Facing the rapidly approaching arrows, Ryan only frowned slightly and gave a light wave of his right hand. The ice blades beside him seemed to receive some kind of summons, instantly deviating from their original paths to precisely intercept the fiery red arrows.
The two diametrically opposed forces collided and canceled each other out in the air, shrouding the entire space in a massive cloud of steam.
While Xia Duo was focused on Ryan in the air, trying to find an opportunity for her next attack, a sudden gust of wind silently struck from behind her.
In the instant before the wind could touch her, Xia Duo reacted almost instinctively. She jerked to the side, nimbly avoiding the swift attack.
At the same time, she quickly adjusted her posture in mid-air, using the momentum of her turn to violently kick her long leg toward the attacker.
Although this kick was infused with all of Xia Duo’s strength and speed, her attack was ultimately futile against the already close-range Sword Saint El.
Her ankle was tightly gripped by a powerful force. Looking down, she saw that Sword Saint El had appeared behind her at some point, his calloused fingers locking onto her ankle like iron pincers.
Xia Duo was startled and tried to struggle, but she found that the fire battle qi in her body could not condense at all under the powerful pressure of El’s Saint Rank strength.
She knew clearly that although they both used fire battle qi, there was a difference of several times in the quality and purity of their energy. Under these circumstances, there was no way she could resist El’s strength.
Seeing this, Starlight and Moen immediately cried out in alarm. They wanted to rush forward to save Xia Duo, but they were blocked halfway by the joint efforts of Ryan and the other female Saint Rank powerhouse.
They knew that they were now in a desperate situation, and escaping was almost impossible.
“I’ll just have to gamble! It can’t end like this... At the very least, I have to get Moen and the others out!”
In this nearly impossible situation, a strong conviction welled up in Starlight’s heart, and an inexplicable power began to surge within him.
He could feel a certain change occurring inside his body, and that suddenly appearing power seemed to be gradually awakening his potential.
As the mana within Starlight surged, the elements he controlled seemed to lose their original colors in that moment, all of them transforming into the purest white.
In the next second, a fist-sized white sphere abruptly appeared directly in front of Starlight. This sphere emitted a soft and mysterious light, but the ripples within it conveyed a sense of world-shattering power.
This power was completely different from any magic he had ever encountered before; it felt as if it originated from a more ancient and powerful existence.
This was an idea born after he had witnessed Hitral’s Blood Gluttony, and this was the first time he was putting it into practice.
With his current strength, even if he used all his power, he could only produce this tiny amount.
The surrounding air began to fluctuate violently, as if even time and space were being affected by this power. The three powerhouses all stopped their movements, staring in surprise at the white sphere that had become the focus of everything.
It was a terrifying power that could threaten even them. El was certain that even as Saint Rank powerhouses, they would definitely not feel good if they took this strike head-on.
“Could it be? Is this... Destruc—!” Before Ryan could finish his cry of alarm, the white sphere had already exploded before his eyes.
Accompanied by a ripple that could level all things in existence, the ice blades surrounding him were reduced to basic particles in the blink of an eye. Even the space that had been firmly locked down was crushed by the force, warping like a crumpled piece of paper.
“Crap! I overdid it!” At this moment, Starlight’s face was as pale as paper, and his body was trembling slightly.
He hadn't expected the power he created to be so great that even space would be melted. Since they couldn't use instant movement to escape, they would inevitably be caught in the aftermath of this power.
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