Knight: from Apprentice to the Almighty

"Damn it!"

Cursing under his breath, Ellis recalled the words of his companion, Holland.

’Could this guy really be a descendant of Rudolph? No... that’s not right.’

He stared intently at his opponent’s face, which had almost completely lost its human features, his brow tightly furrowed.

’When Rudolph unleashed his full power, his body never went through this kind of transformation. This looks more like... a bloodline mutation? It seems... ’

After narrowly dodging another vicious slash, the grave expression on Ellis’s face suddenly vanished, replaced by a hint of mockery.

’He doesn’t have a drop of Dragon Race Bloodline in him.’

Upon this realization, Ellis flicked his wrist, and in an instant, several blurry, spectral figures coalesced around him.

These apparitions quickly solidified, transforming into figures identical to him.

Even every scar on their bodies was replicated down to the last detail.

The next moment, these doppelgangers scattered, surrounding Graham.

As Magic Power surged, each of them began to perform distinctly different Magic.

For the first time in the battle, Graham’s incredibly swift movements came to a halt.

Only when the Magic in the hands of the several Ellises was nearly complete did he finally swing his sharp sword, slashing at one of the figures.

But...

The blade met no resistance, cleaving through empty air before crashing hard into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke.

Immediately after, several blasts of Magic, wrapped in chilling Negative Energy, all slammed into the spot where Graham stood.

"BOOM!"

Amidst the deafening roar, wild Magic Elements rampaged across the clearing like untethered beasts.

’Just as I thought...’

A slight smile touched the corners of Ellis’s mouth as he hovered in the air.

’Just like those inferior Warlocks, trading sanity for Power... How utterly foolish!’

Having confirmed his judgment, just as he was about to repeat his trick to end the fight for good, his pupils suddenly contracted.

In that instant, he felt himself precisely targeted by several cold gazes that felt almost tangible.

"Really..."

Gazing at the figures rapidly approaching from the distance, Ellis let out a long sigh.

’There are far too many annoying insects. In that case...’

Ellis held his palm open, and the Eight-sided Dice that opened the treasury instantly appeared in it.

"Schmidt, I trust you wouldn’t mind... if I used your life’s work to help me escape this pointless conflict, would you?"

Before his voice had even faded, he frantically poured Magic Power into the Eight-sided Dice, its faces flipping rapidly as if it were alive.

As if a secret key had been inserted into a lock, the High Tower in the city center, which had been growing silent due to a damaged Array, was suddenly reawakened.

Although it no longer drew in the free-floating Magic Elements from the air, the fluctuations of Magic Power emanating from the tower were now even more vast and majestic than before.

With the revival of the High Tower, the army of Magical Guide Structures that had previously halted stirred back to life. Their numbers...

had even multiplied several times over.

They immediately began to clash violently with the army under Reggie’s command, as well as the reinforcements arriving from afar.

"Hahahahaha! Interesting, truly interesting!"

Witnessing this chaotic scene, Ellis, after toying with Graham one more time using his doppelgangers, unsatisfied, took out the Sheepskin Scroll that was still stained with wailing souls.

’In that case... let’s make this farce even more intense.’

Following his low muttering of a Spell, the wailing souls on the Sheepskin Scroll seemed to break free from their bonds, scattering and shooting out in all directions.

Ultimately...

They quietly vanished into the corpses of fallen soldiers, the ancient, blood-drained skeletons in the ruins, and the shattered remains of the Magical Guide Structures.

And so, the war between the Extraordinary Professionals of the River Domain and the Witch Demon had begun.

The sky looked as if it had been torn asunder.

Flares of Magic and shadows of Negative Energy collided and exploded madly above the ruins, dyeing the shattered clouds in eerie shades of crimson-purple and foul, dark green.

Every impact shook the earth, and the roaring was no longer a series of isolated booms but a ceaseless symphony of Destruction that consumed everything.

Below was a boiling sea of death.

The soldiers of the River Domain were like furious waves crashing against a reef, bursting and shattering against the cold, metal torrent of Magical Guide Structures.

Giant fists of steel smashed down, turning flesh and armor alike into dust.

Energy Beams fired from the arrays of Mechanical Bodies plowed through the ground, leaving behind scorched trenches and instantly vaporized soldiers.

However, this was only the first wave.

From deep within the ruins came those driven by desecrated souls.

Ancient, desiccated corpses dragged their rotting limbs, shattered remnants of Mechanical Bodies twisted and reformed, and fallen soldiers with empty eye sockets stood up once more.

They merged into an even fouler, more frenzied ocean of death, letting out inhuman shrieks as they indiscriminately lunged at any living thing.

The battle between the living and the Mechanical Bodies had not yet ceased before they were immediately swept into a desperate, chaotic struggle with the dead.

The light from the High Tower, like a cold, unfeeling lighthouse, illuminated this Purgatory.

Countless figures struggled, roared, and were annihilated in the storm of blood, fire, steel, and Magic.

The battlefield was like a giant meat grinder, greedily devouring everything and turning the entire city into a gladiatorial arena for gods and demons.

It was as grand as the apocalypse, as fierce as the heavens and earth collapsing.

"We can’t let this go on!"

Roland swung his Secret Silver Longsword, reducing a pouncing animated corpse to scattered embers, then turned and roared with all his might in Reggie’s direction.

"Master Reggie!"

"HRAAAGH!"

With a deafening roar, Reggie struggled to dismantle a giant Magical Guide Structure into a pile of scrap metal. His heavy body landed with a THUD beside Roland, and he bellowed back in response.

"Roland! You have an idea?"

Even though they were right next to each other, their shouts were faint and difficult to distinguish amidst the deafening din of the battlefield.

"Look over there!"

Roland cleaved a smaller Magical Guide Structure out of his path with a single strike.

As metal fragments scattered, he pointed toward the High Tower that stood like a lighthouse amidst the Chaos, still emitting immense fluctuations of Magic Power.

"That’s the core of this city!"

"I don’t know how that Witch Demon got the High Tower working again, but..."

Roland’s sharp gaze swept across the battlefield, locking onto the withered figure who still seemed to be handling the siege of several Extraordinary Professionals with ease.

He could clearly perceive that the vast Magic Power gathered by the High Tower was being siphoned off as if through an invisible conduit, transforming into a torrential flood that continuously poured into the Witch Demon’s body.

This was the key to how the Witch Demon was able to fight against so many at once.

The strength of a Caster comes from the vast number of strange and unpredictable Magic they command.

However, Casting this Magic requires immense reserves of Magic Power to sustain it.

Once their Magic Power is depleted or its flow is obstructed, their Casting will slow or even fail.

This is an unavoidable weakness for all Casters.

But at this moment, with the infinite infusion of Tower Magic Power, the Witch Demon seemed to possess an inexhaustible spring, unleashing all kinds of powerful Magic with ease, squandering it wantonly.

This was why the Extraordinary Professionals besieging him, despite being able to protect themselves for the time being with their exceptional skills, found it difficult to pose any real threat.

At this thought, Roland raised his voice again, his words piercing through the clang of metal and the hiss of Energy Beams.

"If we can destroy that High Tower, at least these damn buckets of bolts will be paralyzed! And more importantly..."

"The Witch Demon’s source of Power will be cut off, and his strength will be drastically reduced!"