Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The visions made Edmund and Zumar feel even more troubled. They continuously craned their necks and looked inside the temple. Although they could not see anything, they couldn’t control their thoughts and kept looking over as if it was the only thing that would put them at ease, only to be disappointed…
However, by the time the elements of light were almost surging like a gale, there was a sudden movement coming from the temple, which finally attracted the attention of Saint Edmund and Zumar.
Immediately afterwards, a group of extremely strange-looking creatures began dashing over from an area that they hadn’t explored previously. Each of the creatures had an upper body that was similar to humans and a lower body that resembled a big, fat worm, as well as arms that were like the scythes of praying mantises. Although they didn’t have legs, and could only move forward by wriggling their bodies, they were not any slower than other beasts. Instead, each of them had Legendary-level power.
Even Saint Edmund couldn’t identify what creatures they were, though he knew that they definitely had hostile intentions. Hence, he immediately instructed his team to get into battle formation.
The mages of the Tower of Dusk didn’t relax at all since they arrived. After all, the one who had been drawing the mageweath was their president, Lin Li. Hence, after seeing the monsters, the mages barely reacted, and were completely unaffected by the monsters’ appearance. They were behaving the same as they did when facing human enemies.
The humanoid worms were like knights that were about to charge as they dashed towards the Illuminati’s and Tower of Dusk’s team without showing any signs of stopping. At the same time, their pairs of scythe-like forearms swung out in unison towards the two teams, shooting out blades immediately.
However, an attack of such a level was simply insignificant to the Illuminati and the Tower of Dusk. Not to mention Sanctuary powerhouses like Edmund and Zumar, even their teams wouldn’t be hurt by it.
Firstly, the mages of the Tower of Dusk raised their magic staffs in unison, after which a thick ice wall that was several meters high instantly appeared in front of the two teams, blocking the Wind Blade Attacks of the humanoid worms. Next, the mages in the second row also raised their staffs while chanting a few short magic incantations. In an instant, numerous basin-sized fireballs fell from the sky like a meteor shower before blasting at the humanoid worms.
Logically speaking, the humanoid worms should have something to fall back on since they had come charging so aggressively. After the mages of the mage legion cast their magic spells, they didn’t expect it to cause much damage to the humanoid worms. However, to their surprise, when the fireballs landed on the humanoid worms, they lit all 100-odd of them afire like sparks touching a pot of hot oil. Even those that didn’t get struck by the fireballs failed to escape.
Dumbstruck, both teams looked in front of them, only to see that the humanoid worms were all engulfed by flames and struggling vigorously, looking like moving torches. In just a few minutes, the group of humanoid worms fell silent, and the flames went out, revealing numerous piles of charred ash.
“What exactly are these things? How dare they charge at us when they’re so pathetically weak?!” Connoris was in disbelief as he’d initially thought that he could have the chance to have a good fight, but he hadn’t expected it to end just like that.
On the other hand, Edmund and Elder Zumar, too, felt that there was something strange about the situation, even though they were relieved that the battle had ended very quickly. After all, they had just faced hundreds of Legendary powerhouses. Even if they were just Legendary-level magical beasts, the two teams shouldn’t have been able to defeat them so easily.
However, immediately afterwards, an even larger group of humanoid worms emerged from the same place that the previous one had come out of. Unlike the previous group, the newly emerged humanoid worms were all lined up neatly in formation like a standard military squad. Among them, there were a few that were much larger and stronger than the rest, and seemed to be the leaders.
Seeing that more enemies had appeared, the mages of the Tower of Dusk raised their staffs and launched several attack spells before the worms could come close. Just like before, they launched countless fireballs that blasted at the humanoid worms, almost enveloping all of them within the range of attack.
However, this time, those fireballs didn’t set the humanoid worms aflame as easily as they’d managed to the previous time. This time, the aftershock of the explosions had merely affected the battle formation of some humanoid worms, and while those that had been struck by the fireballs did sustain injuries, they were not fatal. The sparks that splattered onto the other humanoid worms immediately bounced off them and landed on the ground. The mages didn’t achieve the same battle results as before.
They’re humanoid worms all the same, just a different batch. Yet, they’ve developed immunity to the damage done by fire elemental magic? Saint Edmund and the others all found it incredible, but the circumstances left them with no chance to carefully search for answers. The humanoid worms’ squad had already rushed in front of the two teams while resisting the attack spells.
At this point, there was no time for bewilderment. The teams of the Illuminati and the Tower of Dusk immediately began fighting the humanoid worms intensely.
Although the two teams were taken aback by the humanoid worms’ immunity to fire elemental magic spells, they soon discovered that ice elemental magic would do extremely high damage to the humanoid worms too, as if they had zero immunity to ice elemental magic.
Hence, shortly after the intense battle began, the Illuminati’s and Tower of Dusk’s team were the only ones left standing, while the humanoid worms had all turned into corpses with badly mangled flesh that was covered in broken ice bits.
Before the members of both teams could catch their breath, another group of humanoid worms came charging over again from the same direction as just now. Having gained some experience, the mages of the Tower of Dusk did not launch meteor-like fireballs at the humanoid worms, and instead chose to launch Frozen Orbs that revolved and scattered icicles incessantly.
However, the humanoid worms this time turned out to have become immune to ice element magic spells again. The Frozen Orbs were already a Legendary-level advanced offensive spell. Yet, it failed to cause much damage to the humanoid worms. The mages then recast the fireballs, but just like before, they didn’t manage to cause serious damage to the humanoid worms.
At this point, Edmund and others seemed to have made a conjecture that the humanoid worms had the ability to learn from experience and physically evolve to adapt. The first batch of humanoid worms that appeared had zero immunity to fire elemental magic spells, but the second batch had it. However, the second batch proved to be susceptible to ice elemental magic spells. Yet, the third batch was immune to both fire and ice elemental magic spells. They reckoned that it probably wasn’t a coincidence.
Indeed, just as Edmund and the others had guessed, as each batch of humanoid worms emerged and got annihilated, the difficulty of destroying each of the subsequent batches became higher than with the one preceding it. At last, the batch of humanoid worms that appeared in front of them looked drastically different from the first batch of humanoid worms. The bodies of the humanoid worms were initially cream-colored, but they had now become colorful, and were donning hard armor. The armor had not only provided high immunity to various types of magic, it also strengthened their physical defense.
At this moment, the teams of the Illuminati and the Tower of Dusk didn’t fight with as much ease as before. While the attack spells had caused some damage to the humanoid worms, whose level of immunity against magic was still limited after all, the results were worlds apart from those of the first battle. Some of the members of the Illuminati’s team were Legendary-level Sword Sages, and their attacks were the cause of the newly added armor on the humanoid worms’ bodies. However, if the humanoid worms were struck in their fatal spots, they still wouldn’t be able to escape death.
However, the battle was much more arduous and difficult than before. After all, the humanoid worms were all at the Legendary-level and above. The leaders who had larger bodies had even reached the mid-Legendary-level. Some general-level humanoid worms that had already reached the Sanctuary-realm also appeared.
The humanoid worms managed to evolve so drastically within the short span of just a few hours. Edmund and the others couldn’t believe what they were seeing at all. Even the powerful magical beasts had gone through more than 10,000 years of evolution to become as strong as they were now, yet the humanoid worms managed to shorten the evolutionary process to just a few hours, which simply seemed unrealistic.
However, the truth was that the weaklings that they had fought just a few hours ago had now gained a massive spurt in their strength, as if they were on steroids. The mages of the Tower of Dusk had it slightly easier because they were using the Magic Net Array to resist against the attacks, but the Illuminati’s team was in a much more wretched state.
Connoris was the most excited one in this situation because he thought that a battle would be meaningful only if it was challenging enough. He felt that the one-sided battles that they had fought just now were a complete waste of time and effort. Instead of using the Eternal Frost Blade, he swung his fists and charged towards the humanoid worms. He then began fighting them using the most basic martial arts techniques that warriors mastered, such as punches and kicks.
However, Saint Edmund and Elder Zumar didn’t join the battle. Instead, they kept a close watch on the crumbling temple for fear that someone or something might barge in and disturb Lin Li. Moreover, they had already seen a noticeable change in the surrounding space during the battle. Clearly, Lin Li had reached the critical point of drawing the mageweath.
At this moment, the elements of light in the space had formed several rivers of light that gushed into the depths of the temple from all directions. Under the influence of the light, the brightly lit space had also become much dimmer.. The spot where the Ancient God of Light was being suppressed wasn’t too bad, but the spot where the humanoid worms were emerging from had become so dark that it looked like it was almost dusk.
