“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”
Just as everyone thought the woman in the black gown was about to fall, she suddenly opened her mouth wide and let out a piercing, ear-splitting scream.
The scream was sharp and high-pitched, as if it could penetrate any barrier and strike directly at the nerves.
The shrill sound waves echoing through the cavern gave Midir and his companions splitting headaches, as if countless needles were rampaging through their minds.
They covered their ears tightly, trying to resist the terrible sonic attack, but even so, the piercing scream bypassed all protection and poured directly into their brains.
At the same time, the black wings behind the woman suddenly spiraled out of control. They flapped frantically, as if trying to break free from some invisible restraint, before violently exploding outward, knocking Midir away while he was still in mid-air.
She desperately tried to heal the wound on her forehead, but the golden light clinging to it was like a persistent curse that could not be dispelled, causing her immense agony.
Midir performed several mid-air flips to stabilize himself. He then noticed that the tentacles binding the hostages had loosened at some point.
Seeing that the Void Demon, busy tending to her own wound, had lost control over the tentacles, he immediately shrouded everyone in veils of wind element. This greatly lightened their weight. At the same time, he didn't forget to imbue their bodies with light element, completely destroying the remaining black sludge.
After finishing this, he shouted toward Aila, “Aila, now! Get them out of here!”
“Miss Aila! Over here, there’s an exit!”
Realizing Midir had created an opening for them, Blake dragged his heavy body forward. He slung one parent over each shoulder and, focusing every ounce of his energy, led Ronald and Rosal—who were also carrying two people each—toward the far end of the cavern.
Aila gave Midir one last deep look as he hung in the air. She pulled a coil of rope from her waist pouch, deftly looped it around the remaining hostages on the ground, and dragged them toward the exit without looking back.
By now, the woman in black had staggered to her feet. Her blood-red eyes seemed to have turned into twin flames, and her beautiful face was twisted beyond recognition with extreme rage.
She pressed her fingers tightly against the wound on her head, black liquid seeping through the gaps, but she ignored it. All her attention was focused on Aila and the hostages being dragged away.
“No! You’re not going anywhere! You wretched brat!” Seeing Aila about to evacuate the hostages from the battlefield, the woman in the black gown let out a furious howl.
Under her command, the clumps of black sludge scattered across the ground instantly transformed into several giant hands, reaching out toward the group.
“It seems you’re the one who was careless! Did you forget I’m still here?”
Facing the woman’s frantic and violent assault, Midir used a flash step to block the path of the retreating group, a confident smile playing on his lips.
The mana in his hands was released without reservation. With a wave of his arm, a ball of white-gold fire he had been preparing flared up before him. The flame contained a power capable of destroying heaven and earth, even causing the surrounding space to warp.
The giant black hands lunging at the group appeared incredibly fragile before this Destruction Flame. The moment they touched the edge of the fire, they were instantly consumed by the high heat and turned to nothing but ash.
“The Destruction Flame!?”
Seeing the white flames rushing toward her, the woman’s expression froze, replaced by a look of utter disbelief.
She knew all too well the terrifying power contained within those flames. If she were completely consumed, her body would surely be reduced to nothingness.
Thus, she decisively abandoned the treatment of her head wound and fled toward the black tree without looking back.
The moment she touched the black tree, it seemed to come to life. Its branches spread outward with staggering speed.
The branches intertwined and coiled in the air, eventually forming an indestructible black crystal cage that completely encased her, attempting to shield her from the erosion of the Destruction Flame.
In the next second, the white-gold flames Midir had released with all his might filled the entire cavern, swallowing everything in sight.
The black cage was quickly submerged in the white-gold sea of fire. Even the cavern walls began to melt under the intense heat, turning into bright red magma.
This terrifying heat lasted for dozens of seconds before slowly subsiding. Even a powerhouse like Midir could not maintain the output of the Destruction Flame indefinitely.
As the white flames gradually dissipated, the air inside the cavern seemed to grow a bit clearer.
However, this brief moment of tranquility was soon shattered by a piercing shriek. Midir looked up through the remaining sparks and saw a pitch-black sphere, about the size of a watermelon, suspended in mid-air. The woman’s shriek was coming from inside the sphere.
“Don’t think for a second that you’ve won!” The woman’s voice was filled with resentment and fury, as if she were venting all her hatred. “Be buried in the heart of this mountain!”
As her words fell, the black sphere suspended in the air suddenly expanded. Then, a massive surge of energy erupted from within, threatening to tear the entire cavern apart.
The impact of the explosion was so powerful that everything inside the cavern was shredded into pieces in an instant.
Boulders from the ceiling poured down like torrential rain, crashing toward the ground with destructive force, threatening to bury Midir beneath them.
...
Aila and the others had just rushed out of the secret passage. Before they could even find their footing, a deafening explosion erupted from the tunnel behind them. The sound was as terrifying as a thunderclap, making the entire mountain tremble.
Before they could react, a massive shockwave surged out from the passage they had just exited. Large sections of the mountain began to crumble from the vibration, and even the fortress walls hundreds of meters away began to show faint cracks.
“Damn it! Why did it suddenly explode?! Midir is still inside!” In her desperation, Aila could only pull the group away from the landing platform, leaping into the air.
Seconds after they left the platform, a flood of dust and rubble poured out, completely burying the exit in an instant.
In that suffocating moment, Aila’s group was swept up by the massive impact, their bodies falling uncontrollably toward the base of the mountain. Then, Midir—covered in dust—quietly appeared by Aila’s side.
He quickly mobilized the mana in his body and waved his hands gently. A powerful current of air rose from beneath them, instantly altering their trajectory and turning a fatal plunge into a controlled descent.
Supported by this current, the group began to glide slowly toward the forest at the foot of the mountain.
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