The Light Domain created by the 40 Holy Paladins suppressed nearly 20 Legendary-level corporeal Vengeful Spirits. Its power was at least level-22 or level-23. The 40 Holy Light Knights were only a portion of the Holy Light Knights of the Brilliance Shrine’s team. If all the Holy Light Knights were to be deployed, the Light Domain created would probably already reach the Legendary-level[1].
Most importantly, Donald thought about another aspect that was beyond the Sky Castle. In the Brilliance Shrine, the Holy Light Knights could be considered a regular force as there were Holy Light Knights stationed in almost every diocese. If thousands or tens of thousands of Holy Light Knights were to be sent out, what kind of Light Domain would be created?
Of course, Donald also knew that the Holy Light Knights that joined in the exploration this time were definitely elites. If they were ordinary Holy Light Knights, it would be hard to deduce if they could even achieve that. Hence, they did have concerns, but they were not worried or fearful.
Just like before, the team from the Tower of Dusk was leisurely guarding the group at the back and making comments about the intense battle in front of them. The mages of the team, especially the greenhorns who had just joined, behaved properly and listened to the explanations of their leader, Alan, about how they should deal with the Holy Light Knights.
Lin Li did not express any shock or surprise at the Holy Light Knights’ use of the Holy Light Battle Song battle formation. In fact, when he visited the Brilliance Shrine in the past, he had also studied the battle formation of the Holy Light Battle Song. Pope Rosario had also explained to him in detail about the Holy Guardian Battle Formation of the Holy Paladins.
Many Death Knights were attracted to join the Tower of Dusk’s team because one of the Death Knights under Lin Li became a Retribution Knight. Now, their army had expanded to more than 100 members who had all been transformed into Holy Death Knights. The Death Knights were born with the ability to get into infinite killing formations, which was similar to the Holy Light Battle Song. They could create a Killing Domain, in which the enemies would be affected by negative influences such as chaos, fear, and so on.
Lin Li had tried to teach the Holy Death Knights the Holy Guardian Battle Formation that he had just learned. However, the outcome was not ideal. Although the Holy Death Knights could manipulate Divine Power, they still felt rather powerless when they were practicing the Holy Guardian Battle Formation.
Thinking that the Holy Paladins around Pope Rosario had Legendary-level abilities, Lin Li reckoned that his Holy Death Knights would probably have to become Retribution Knights in order to use the Holy Guardian Battle Formation perfectly. Hence, the 40 Death Knights that he had brought along to explore the Sky Castle were all already at the peak of level-19. He hoped that they could devour more soul fire and produce more Retribution Knights.
Soon, the corporeal Vengeful Spirits were turned into ashes that were scattered away under the purification of the Holy Light Battle Song, while the gray Alchemy Colossus were also turned into pieces by the Alchemy Colossuses of the Rotterdam Kingdom. After the battle ended, the expedition resumed its advance towards the interior of the Sky Castle. However, after having experienced that battle just now, everyone became much more cautious.
When Lin Li first came to explore the Sky Castle, neither he nor the rest of the team had encountered any enemies blocking their way to the Sky Castle. It was because they had split up the moment they entered the Sky Castle. The Sky Castle was large, and the Vengeful Spirits and Alchemy Colossuses were all scattered on the streets of the Sky Castle. Besides, at that time, the Vengeful Spirits and Alchemy Colossuses seemed to have been somewhat restricted in their range of movement.
However, there was clearly a huge change this time. When the expedition stepped into the street, the Vengeful Spirits and Alchemy Colossuses of the entire Sky Castle had probably already gathered there. It was 80% certain that it was done by the Ghost. The expedition would encounter a large number of enemies that swarmed towards them from the thick fog almost every time they covered a distance of less than 20 meters. Fortunately, they would not pose too much of a threat to the team.
In fact, the team from the Tower of Dusk was not always that idle. As they gradually delved deeper, enemies also continuously surged out from the forks on both sides of the street. There were plenty of enemies who also rushed out from behind the team. Perhaps they had rushed there afterwards, or perhaps they had deliberately sneaked there. All in all, the Tower of Dusk could not just stand by the side and do nothing.
Seeing that situation, Donald, Kanber, and Jeremiah of the Brilliance Shrine were all secretly gloating. From their point of view, the Tower of Dusk had chosen to stay at the back of the team because they wanted to reserve their power, and also because they were not confident in themselves.
However, there were now enemies behind the team which did not seem to be any easier to deal with than the ones at the front. While those in front only needed to keep advancing, those at the back had to defend themselves from the enemies and ensure that they did not stray too far from the main team. Otherwise, they might be surrounded by the enemies.
With those thoughts in mind, Donald and Jeremiah unanimously requested for their subordinates to speed up in advancing. It was not that they really had to shake the Tower of Dusk off. However, if there were to be a slight disconnection and lag in the team, it would definitely cause a lot of trouble for the Tower of Dusk too.
However, in the face of such a situation, the Tower of Dusk remained unhurried, and the ones who truly fought the enemy were their greenhorn mages. What the Death Knights did was to continuously devour the soul fire of the Vengeful Spirits. The other Legendary powerhouses rarely took action too. They only intervened when the mages were in danger of losing their lives. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother even if the mages were injured.
It seemed a bit cruel, but how could the mages gain experience without cruelty? That was what humans were like. If they were continuously protected by Legendary powerhouses, they would probably continue making mistakes. Since they would not die, why would they bother improving? In the end, they would forever be stuck at a bottleneck.
However, even though their purpose was to train the mages, the team from the Tower of Dusk’s advancement speed wasn’t affected. No matter how they increased their speed, and regardless of what kind of enemies emerged from behind, the team from the Tower of Dusk was still keeping the same distance from the rest.
After doing that a few times, Donald finally gave up. After all, there was still a price to pay for pushing forward forcefully. At the same time, Donald couldn’t help but be shocked at the strength shown by the Tower of Dusk. Were they really a small force that came from a nameless place? He was well aware that while the enemies at the back might not be much stronger than the ones in front, it was not an easy task to behave like the Tower of Dusk did.
The enemies that appeared at the back of the team were the same as in the front. There were gray Alchemy Colossuses and Legendary-level corporeal Vengeful Spirits. However, at the front, the Rotterdam Kingdom was dealing with the Alchemy Colossuses, while the Brilliance Shrine was dealing with the Vengeful Spirits. The two forces were working together to advance at that speed. Meanwhile, the Tower of Dusk at the back was only relying on the power of the mages to destroy the enemy while keeping up with the frontline troops. Hence, they couldn’t help but be shocked.
It was not that that was a remarkable feat, but rather because of the party that did it. If it had been a team of the Brilliance Shrine, Donald definitely wouldn’t have been too shocked, but the Tower of Dusk could not compare to the Brilliance Shrine at all. Seems like I have to find out more from Archbishop Martin about the origin of the Tower of Dusk when I have the time.
Actually, Donald was not the only one. Even Archbishop Martin was incredibly shocked after seeing the Tower of Dusk’s performance. Actually, he only knew about Lin Li, and he did not know much more about the strength of the Tower of Dusk than the rest did.
Archbishop Martin agreed that Lin Li was a genius, a demon, and a monster. Well, he had reached the peak of the Legendary-level when he was in his early twenties. However, was genius contagious? The Tower of Dusk had only been established for a mere three or four years, yet its group of mages behaved as if they had been nurtured for decades. Of course, it was impossible that they had been nurtured for that long. As such, they could only say that the mages were all geniuses. Has there been a surge in geniuses in the Breezy Plains lately? Why haven’t I heard of magical geniuses previously?
In other people’s opinion, everyone would definitely bring their most elite manpower during a dangerous operation like exploring the Sky Castle. No one would have expected Lin Li to bring a bunch of greenhorns and treat the Sky Castle as a place for training soldiers. Of course, in reality, the so-called greenhorns would probably be considered core elites in other forces.
The mages destroyed numerous gray Alchemy Colossuses, and killed several Legendary-level corporeal Vengeful Spirits. Everyone was probably envious of the Tower of Dusk for having such a powerful group of mages. However, Lin Li secretly shook his head as he still couldn’t be satisfied with the performance of the greenhorn mages.
Still, Lin Li also knew that such things could not be rushed. No one would truly grow up after just going through a battle. He had come this far after experiencing plenty of battles of various scales, during which he continuously acquired experience to grow to his current level.
All in all, the expedition was advancing quite smoothly, though as the enemies continued to surge, the battles gradually became more intense. They did not even stop for a moment. However, the enemies were not enough to pose a real threat to the three forces that had jointly formed the expedition. In fact, as they passed by a few special buildings, they still had the energy to go in and search. However, the gains they made were somewhat unsatisfactory.
The expedition was like an indestructible chariot that was advancing forward slowly but surely. Hence, they got rid of all the obstacles along the way. They even thought that the Immortal King’s Sky Castle was no big deal!
Indeed, in the battle that was continuously advancing, the team of the Brilliance Shrine was barely injured. Even if they accidentally sustained a minor injury, they would quickly recover with the priests’ treatment. On the Rotterdam Kingdom’s side, they would only occasionally encounter a small obstruction in the Alchemy Colossuses which would be repaired quickly.
Even the greenhorn mages of the Tower of Dusk began to sustain fewer injuries, perhaps because they had really improved after the training. Of course, that did not mean that they had passed. It just meant that they had gotten familiar with fighting the Alchemy Colossuses and corporeal Vengeful Spirits. The battle experience was still somewhat superficial, and could only become theirs after in-depth summation and absorption.
However, just when everything seemed to be going in the right direction, the fog in front of them suddenly seemed to have started boiling as it began rolling violently. Next, there were no enemies, but a large amount of powerful magic that poured out of the fog. Besides, there was more than just Necromagic. There were also all sorts of powerful elemental magic spells. All of the magic spells that suddenly descended formed a massive magic storm where all kinds of magical rays intertwined together, appearing splendid and full of deadly danger.
Although the people in the expedition were somewhat relaxed because of the smooth advancement, they were, after all, the elites of the various forces. Hence, they immediately reacted to the magic storm. The Alchemy Colossuses that were walking in the front immediately activated their magical defensive arrays. The large shields formed a solid dam to block the impact of the magic storm.
On the Brilliance Shrine’s side, the priests had also begun chanting prayers with devout expressions. As they did, a hole formed in the fog that was spreading out in the sky. A pillar of light pierced through the gap, and fell into the incessant magic storm. With each pillar of light that fell, the power of the magic storm was significantly weakened. Soon, the joint efforts of the Alchemy Colossuses of the Rotterdam Kingdom and the priests caused the magic storm to dissipate.
Upon sight of the elemental magic spells, the people from the Rotterdam Kingdom and the Brilliance Shrine immediately began to suspect that there were other forces exploring the Sky Castle. It was because all this time, the enemies they had encountered were Vengeful Spirits and some other Undead creatures plus the gray Alchemy Colossuses, and those enemies could not use elemental magic spells.
“Charge in and see who on earth dares to be so rude!” Prince Kanber commanded in exasperation before Donald even said anything.
Upon hearing Prince Kanber’s command, everyone from the Rotterdam Kingdom strode towards the fog without the slightest hesitation. The members of various professions at the back also got into a battle formation, and followed the Alchemy Colossuses closely.
The sudden attack was unbearable for the people of the Brilliance Shrine, let alone the arrogant people of the Rotterdam Kingdom. After Prince Kanber’s command, Prince Jeremiah of the Brilliance Shrine pointed his sharp sword to the front, and ordered the Holy Light Knights to go all out.
[1] Maybe it should be Sanctuary.
