The snake eyed Evil Dragon Follower had originally believed that he could instantly kill one or two of the youths before him, yet he was currently being pushed back by their vicious counterattack. Upon sensing the two arcane masters behind him break through his skill, a cold glint flashed through his eyes as he suddenly clasped his hands together and shrilly screamed, "Snake's Rosary!"
A large number of arcane particles surged forth from his palms as he separated his hands.
Layer upon layer of yellow arcane energy condensed and piled up over his body.
"What is this arcane skill?"
"A snake-eye?"
Ayrin and the others watched on in shock as these layers of yellow arcane energy formed a snake's eye. Standing in the middle, the Evil Dragon Follower seemed to complete it by being the eye's narrow pupil.
Whoosh!
The massive crystal-like snake eye construct with the Evil Dragon Follower within violently tore through the air as it shot towards Ayrin's group like a meteor.
"What kind of strange arcane skill is this?!"
Ayrin immediately thought of the Absolute Water Aegis skill used by Riley during the first qualification match against Southern Monsoon Academy. But after thinking about it, he realized that Riley's arcane skill, which had enveloped him in a similar manner, could only be used for passively blocking and not attacking.
It couldn't move around like this Evil Dragon Follower's skill.
"Is this guy trying to be a turtle? He's practically retracted into his shell and come shooting towards us."
"Did you think that we would be afraid of you?"
It seemed like Stingham had become drunk on imitating Belo as he wildly cackled as Belo would and shouted at the Evil Dragon Follower, "Aren't you just coming to lick this grandfather's feet!"
It seemed like Stingham's words tipped the snake eyed Evil Dragon Follower over the edge as he screamed back, "I swear that I will not leave this place until I kill you all!"
There was a large eruption as the snake-eye construct collided with Ayrin's shadow ball, Rinloran's arrows, and the Dark Queen Mermaid's beam of black light. Regardless of whose attack it was, they were all blown away.
The massive snake-eye construct only slight wavered as it pushed through the fragmented arcane energies and then accelerated at a shocking rate towards Ayrin's group.
Bang!
The snake-eye construct smashed through the sandworm directly before Stingham and slammed into Stingham.
Stingham's vision abruptly went black as he felt his entire body uncontrollably soar backwards and all the arcane particles within his body abruptly stagnate. The Lover's Corpse atop his body quickly disappeared.
"Not good!"
Rinloran felt his heart violently tighten as he felt the shroud of death envelop him. But more importantly, he felt fear for Stingham, whose body he believed had surely been crushed by this impact.
The difference between them and a five gate arcane master seemed to just be too great.
It was clear that the Evil Dragon Follower standing within the mouth of the massive water snake whom they had killed was due to him underestimating them. He had been frugal with his arcane particles and paid the price.
"Moonlight Erosion!"
At this moment, Rinloran didn't have the luxury to consider his own safety any longer as he immediately used his strongest and most destructive sword skill.
His entire body melded into a streak of bright swordlight and struck the seemingly impervious snake-eye construct.
"Crown of Ice and Snow!"
"Activate: Fist of the War God!"
Ayrin had also felt that Stingham was peril as he let out a wild roar and charged forward towards the snake-eye construct, an enlarging sphere of ice forming before him. Upon entering range, Ayrin thunderously punched the now massive sphere of ice with his right hand, causing a terrifying undulation in the air.
"What's going on?"
At this moment, a strange feeling inexplicably emerged within Ayrin's heart as he sensed his discharge rate of arcane particles and reaction time accelerate to a speed beyond his normal limits.
Although Ayrin was no stranger to exceeding his limit during battles of life and death, he had simply exceeded his limit by too much this time.
It was as if all the previous times, he was only squeezing out an extra ten percent when he could actually squeeze out an extra thirty percent!
Thus, he could clearly sense this change even at a critical juncture like this.
Snap!
A cluster of icy flames emerged in the center of the massive snake eye.
At the same time, Rinloran's body flew through the sky, his blue crystal longsword disintegrating into nothingness.
Boom!
At almost the same time, the massive crown of ice and snow collided with the snake-eye construct. As the ice and snow scattered, it completely covered the snake-eye construct.
"Just which team is this? To think that none of them backed away! And this result produced by their cooperation!"
"Are they really three students? How can they have such firm fighting intents?"
The faces of the two arcane masters of the Kingdom of Doa were full of shock and admiration as they watched from their places far away. They both had already fully exhausted their arcane particles and were unable to do anything else.
Although Ayrin and Rinloran's attacks were unable to destroy the strange snake-eye construct, their attacks were able to dissipate its remaining momentum, causing It to stop in midair before it could crash into Stingham once more.
It was clear that if either Ayrin or Rinloran had retreated in fear, the other person would have been killed alongside Stingham by this snake-eye construct.
But neither had retreated, and as a result, they had managed to save Stingham.
Whoosh!
The air trembled.
It seemed like the Dark Queen Mermaid had also sensed Stingham's peril as she appeared before the flying Stingham. A teardrop dripped from the corner of each of her eyes and instantly crystallized. Afterwards, they began to release a powerful domain energy which enshrouded the battlefield.
Countless rays of black light began shaving away at the snake-eye construct, causing awful shrill sounds to ring across the battlefield as if a needle point was being scraped across glass.
"Ayrin!" Rinloran couldn't help but scream as he watched Ayrin remain inside the Dark Queen Mermaid's domain beside the snake-eye construct and suffer the assault of the black rays while continuously hammering on the snake-eye construct with his fists.
At this moment, Rinloran's right hand was limply hanging from his arm. He had clearly suffered a serious injury. But he paid no heed to it as he grasped the fragment of the Tree of Life with his left hand and continuously directed arcane particles into it.
Strands of faint blue arcane energy began to continuously flow towards Ayrin's body.
Although most of them were cleaved apart by the rays of black light and scattered into particles of starlight, quite a few still managed to reach Ayrin and envelop him due to Rinloran's constant input of arcane particles.
Ayrin and Rinloran's determined actions stunned two arcane masters of the Kingdom of Doa speechless.
"How is this possible?!" the snake eyed Evil Dragon Follower shouted inwardly within his snake-eye construct.
He had originally not thought much of the Dark Queen Mermaid's domain attack as is creation still had enough arcane energy to break through it. He paid so little attention to it that he failed to recognize this 'female arcane master' before him was actually a Dark Queen Mermaid.
But Ayrin's attacks had completely stunned him.
With every punch, he could feel a portion of the arcane energy which constructed this snake-eye construct disappear!
"Argh!"
Within the domain, Ayrin could feel arcane particles within him increasing in number as he continuously punched the snake-eye. But at the same time, the pain he felt due to the rays of black light was also increasing in intensity.
"Bastard! How much longer can you endure?!" Ayrin angrily roared as if he was trying to spew out all of the heat which was burning within him.
"Holy Body Ignition!"
"Activate: Fist of the War God!"
Ayrin squeezed every remaining drop of strength out of his body as yet another thundering punch collided with the snake-eye construct.
Crack!
The snake-eye construct which boasted the hardness of a diamond shattered into countless flying shards.
As for the snake eyed Evil Dragon Follower in the center, he remained in place, a look of extreme panic and despair on his face. In the next moment, his body abruptly turned to glass and shattered alongside the snake-eye construct.
"This arcane skill, it caused his body to merge with this condensed arcane energy and turn into a single complete entity. Thus, when the outside was shattered, he shattered too, like a bug in amber."
Upon seeing the snake-eye construct shatter, Rinloran finally relaxed. Feeling his legs losing their strength, he quickly plopped onto the ground.
"Argh! Argh Arghhhh! …"
At this moment, a creepy and miserable wail which didn't belong to the Evil Dragon Follower rang out from amidst the fragments. It sounded like a witch crying in the middle of night.
Fizzle!
The fragments began quickly dissipating one after another into wisps of bright yellow smoke and soaring into the sky.
Wails continued to ring out until the remaining fragments disappeared.
"Even Corolla, the captain of the Three Snake Team, was killed!"
"Just where did this team pop out of? How can they continuously kill so many powerful Evil Dragon Followers?"
This spectacle caught the attention of many of the people around them.
"When did such a powerful arcane team arrive here? To think he would die even after using the Snake's Rosary, it seems like I must go and finish the job after all!" an Evil Dragon Follower coldly muttered to themselves as they quietly stood under the shadow of a large boulder not far from Ayrin's group.
This Evil Dragon Follower was only 1.6 meters tall. Most of his face was covered by long black hair which reached his shoulders, revealing only the inner corners of his two eyes. It was a very frightening appearance.
Furthermore, his right arm seemed to be a bit shorter than his left as it was hidden from view by his sleeve.
As this Evil Dragon Follower departed, a light flickered atop his body. Five exact mirror images suddenly appeared around him, each one a seemingly independent entity. Together, the six indistinguishable bodies flew forward.
"Why has Lotton not done anything this entire time? Has he left us?" Rinloran abruptly thought at this moment.
