The glass bottles tumbled through the air, passing directly through the green sun as if it were nothing more than a ghost, lacking any physical substance. They fell deep into the interior of the sphere without meeting a shred of resistance.
Miss Valente’s expression suddenly hardened, and she clenched her fist tight.
With a sharp, piercing cry, she released an uncomfortable power into the air. As her fist tightened, a dark current surged outward, and the two glass bottles were crushed into a cloud of debris by an unseen hand.
【Arcane, Fist of Wisdom.】
A violent explosion swept through the canyon. A fireball erupted inside the green sphere, appearing intense to the eye, yet compared to the massive green entity, it was as insignificant as a common flare on the sun of my homeland. Worse, it showed absolutely no effect; it was as if the attack had struck a hologram. Not even the mist on the surface of the sphere flickered, and the writhing tentacles remained unfazed, continuing their nimble, erratic movements.
The attack was useless?
Lynch and Miss Valente exchanged a look, their expressions growing heavy.
The reaction of the evil god's avatar was completely unexpected. Every attack felt like striking empty air. If this was the case, would activating divine authority even yield results?
Divine authority could only be maintained for three minutes. If every attack in that time hit nothing, he would be completely defenseless once the duration expired, left to be slaughtered.
Fury flickered in Miss Valente's eyes. Though her grand plan to slap an evil god in the face had been thwarted, the noble lady did not stop. With a grim expression, she flipped her wrist, revealing a dark, grimy object.
It was a thick piece of parchment, old and filthy, looking as if it might crumble at a touch. It was covered in strange symbols and script, resembling a piece of trash. Yet, the moment it appeared, Lynch's inspiration flared with frantic warnings, signaling that the mystery corruption of the item was at least destruction grade (level three).
【Parchment of Max (4): Experimental records of the high level soul severer Max, until one walks toward the truth with Max, merging with the billions of rays of truth.】
“A destruction grade mystery relic capable of replicating activation abilities below level six. If physical attacks are useless against it, then let it taste the power of authority. The second and third ages lacked soul severers and authority, which is why these bastard evil gods ran wild. Today, I will make it understand the meaning of human wrath.”
Sigh. It seemed this young woman hadn't come here to die in a reckless frenzy; she carried a trump card. But a destruction grade mystery relic likely wouldn't be enough to decisively influence an evil god's avatar, especially when they still did not understand why their attacks were failing.
As Lynch weighed their strength, the noble lady glared hatefully at the light sphere. A flash of pain and reluctance crossed her face, but she gritted her teeth, pierced her finger with a long needle, and pressed her blood onto the parchment.
Something bizarre occurred. The parchment suddenly sprang to life, wrapping tightly around Miss Valente's finger. It writhed in rhythmic pulses as if greedily sucking her blood, turning her finger deathly pale.
After a long moment, the scroll detached and floated before her, unsupported. Miss Valente swayed, smiled at the Lynch who reached out to steady her, and pressed her finger back onto the parchment.
The parchment had now shed its dirty, ragged appearance. Glowing text flickered across its surface. Miss Valente read the words one by one, and as her hand passed over them, the glowing script leapt off the paper like living things, imprinting themselves onto her fingers in a shimmering light.
Soon, the light on the parchment faded completely. She clutched it in one hand, while the other, now covered in glowing text, pointed toward the light sphere.
【Authority: Stars. Ability: Starlight Burst.】
The authority of the dark night, a level six ability: Starlight Burst.
The glowing text on Miss Valente's hand flared like the morning sun, and in response, a sudden flash of brilliance erupted from the center of the massive sphere in the canyon.
The light intensified to its peak the moment it ignited, sweeping through the entire cave and illuminating every corner with piercing clarity.
The next moment, the intense light carried a searing power that scoured the cavern. A white void filled their vision, followed by a powerful force that sent them flying backward to slam against the rock wall.
The cave spanned over a thousand square meters, perhaps several times more when accounting for the canyon's volume. Yet, under the impact of the starlight burst, the cave walls withstood the immense pressure, emitting a deafening roar.
A mere level six ability, yet it was this terrifying.
Pinned against the rock, the two could see nothing. They waited in trepidation, fearing the entire cavern might collapse. A full minute passed before the shockwave of the light burst dissipated and their vision slowly returned, finally giving them a chance to assess the result.
The good news was that the cave had not collapsed. Despite the immense impact, the cavern remained strangely untouched, not even a single pebble falling, as if the space were impervious to external destruction. The bad news was that Mordiggian's floating avatar remained completely unaffected, not having moved in the slightest.
“How is this possible?”
Miss Valente clutched the parchment, her eyes wide with shock. The power of a level six soul severer was far beyond the understanding of ordinary people; a full strike should have been enough to contend with a fully armed medium sized army. How could it not even knock a stone loose?
Was it still a lack of firepower?
Miss Valente was a researcher; her knowledge of occultism was far deeper than Lynch’s. However, no occultist was foolish enough to study evil gods, making such knowledge incredibly rare. The two had no reference cases to rely on.
“Fine, then we will use the final resort.” Miss Valente clutched the parchment, her expression shifting as she gritted her teeth like a desperate gambler. “Mr. Levive, I have one last card. This scroll theoretically cannot be used again without re-recording an ability. But if I force it into an uncontrolled state, although the consequences for us will be severe, the previously recorded ability can be used once more in the short term. Furthermore, due to the uncontrolled amplification, the authority level of the ability will jump to level eight, which is normally enough to destroy an entire city block. If even this cannot harm it, then I have nothing left to say. But I need your help to trigger it...”
“Wait a moment.” Lynch’s expression turned peculiar as he stared into a corner of the cave.
“Hm?”
“We are currently helpless against Mordiggian, but increasing the intensity may not solve the problem. According to the laws of occultism, any anomaly could be a sign. While you were focused on the mystery relic when the light flared, I deliberately scanned the surroundings and spotted a glimmer.”
Lynch pulled Miss Valente along the wall, moving a short distance until they found a natural depression in the corner. In the cave's normal lighting, it would have been invisible; the intense flare was their only chance.
Lynch signaled for her to stay back, then poked his cane into the depression. A metallic clatter rang out, and he pried out a small metal box.
It was exquisitely crafted with a clean surface, clearly not an item belonging to this ancient city. It belonged, at the very least, to the age of the Fifth Era, when ironwork flourished.
The two subconsciously exchanged a look, their eyes filled with astonishment.
A modern object appearing in an ancient city from ten thousand years ago?
Rate on N.U.
