Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
Thorne felt his sight turn dark as he saw this. He knew that he had foolishly fallen into a trap.
Those Raging Flame Beastmen had clearly been waiting for battle in tight formation. They weren’t just hidden defense troops that had been left behind. They formed an encirclement around the attackers. They had been waiting for someone to step into that trap.
How could Thorne not see it after battling the Raging Flame Beastmen for such a long time?
But there was no way out this time… That Teleportation Array had to be destroyed. Killing Hoppet was already secondary.
The battle started in an instant…
No one had time to think. The large numbers of Ash Beastmen were wearing thick, crude armor and were raising huge steel shields as they dashed towards the Merlins while shouting.
In the rear, the Raging Flame Beastman Warlocks were rising crude magic staves while chanting sharp, ear-piercing incantations, causing several dozen meteors to fall down.
The mages barely raised their magic shields when the meteors fell.
A warrior raised his greatsword and let out a roar as he cut a meteor down. But he was immediately smashed by another meteor. The radiating flames and formidable impact power crushed the warrior’s armor into pieces, and a large amount of black smoke and fire swept over and swallowed that warrior’s body.
In just one second, a dozen warriors of the Merlin Family were slain by the meteors, and three Great Mages’ shields were torn apart.
Miserable shrieks echoed as they died.
“Fight!” Thorne yelled.
He swung his greatsword and a five-meter-long Aura Slash flew out and fiercely cut down three Raging Flame Beastmen that were charging over.
A mage started an incantation and a large amount of ice fell from the sky and turned into snowflake-like sharp blades. The quickly rotating blades left bloody wounds on the Raging Flame Beastmen.
Wind Blade after Wind Blade whistled over and Fireball after Fireball exploded in the ranks of the Raging Flame Beastmen, while several Ice Walls were raised.
In an instant, several dozen of the fastest Raging Flame Beastmen were swallowed by spells. Wind Blades cut open their throats, the exploding Fireballs destroyed their shields, and the Ice Walls stopped their charge.
But there were too many Raging Flame Beastmen…
Over a thousand Raging Flame Beastmen participated in the attack, and over a hundred of them were Warlocks! Not to mention that the strongest of them, Hoppet, was at the peak, and he had yet to make a move!
Thorne clenched his teeth and steeled himself as he looked at the peak.
“Hold them off, I’ll go destroy the Teleportation Array!”
Thorne suddenly jumped up and let out three crescent Aura Slashes in a row, cutting down the few Raging Flame Beastmen in front of him before quickly flying towards the mountain peak.
The Teleportation Array covered the entire peak. It was huge. Thorne’s aura was already flaring up, and the light on his greatsword was fluctuating fiercely.
Thorne was still thirty meters away from the array when he suddenly roared. A glaring aura burst out of the greatsword towards the teleportation array.
It would be their victory as long as the array was destroyed!
When Thorne looked at Hoppet, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to kill him, so he just went for the Teleportation Array. As long as he could destroy it, even sacrificing his life would be worth it.
The glaring aura was soon upon the Teleportation Array. It had enough power to destroy half the array. Hoppet would need a huge amount of time if he wanted to repair that Teleportation Array!
After that, as long as some of the Merlins could escape, Hoppet’s plan would definitely fail!
Some expectation could be seen in Thorne’s eyes. This was already the most powerful attack he could use, and Hoppet had yet to do anything. They still had a chance!
A curtain of flames suddenly appeared in front of the array, and a raging Fire Shield blocked the blast.
The glaring Aura exploded on the shield and the roaring flames transformed into red fragments that spread outward. Half of the Fire Shield was destroyed, but the Teleportation Array remained in good condition.
Disdain could be seen on Hoppet’s face. He quickly chanted a few words and a green cloud instantly appeared above Thorne’s head before countless fist-sized green droplets fell down.
When the green liquid fell to the ground, the ground looked like it was burned by a powerful acid. Sizzling sounds echoed as countless holes appeared, and smoke started assaulting their nostrils. Thorne felt his vision blur just from the smell, and his lungs felt as if they were on fire. He needed to get away from the affected area.
The acid rain was extremely toxic and couldn’t be resisted.
But then, Hoppet sneered and extended a finger. A black rune appeared at his fingertip and turned into a black ray that instantly shot towards Thorne.
Thorne roared and raised the aura covering his body, causing him to be shrouded in light. The radiance let out a sizzling sound when in contact with the acid rain as it quickly corroded his aura.
Thorne put his greatsword in front of him to block the black ray.
When the ray hit the greatsword, it wasn’t as powerful as Thorne imagined, but instead, the black ray spread over his body.
It made him feel exhausted and unbalanced. His bursting Aura instantly weakened, and his greatsword felt like it had become several times heavier. He could barely hold his sword when using all his strength.
‘This isn’t a poisonous ray… this is an Exhaust Ray.’
When this thought appeared in Thorne’s mind, he sensed danger. His hair stood on end, and although he wanted to dodge, his limbs didn’t seem to want to obey him anymore.
After being hit by the Exhaust Ray, it felt as if his body had been fighting for three days and nights. He was holding onto the greatsword with his remaining bit of strength, and his hands started shivering.
His defensive Aura was continuously corroded by the acid rain, and in two seconds, a large hole had appeared in the area defending his left shoulder. The acid rain touching his skin felt like burning lava.
His legs shivered as he took two steps, only to see a meteor rapidly falling towards him.
Thorne angrily glared and used all of his remaining strength to rouse his Aura. His legs were like huge rocks as heavy as his sword, and raising them was extremely difficult.
After another moment, the power of the Exhaust Ray dissipated and Thorne once again felt full of power. His feeble Aura burst out, but that huge meteor was already in front of him.
Thorne didn’t have time to dodge, and the meteor seemed like a mountain coming down to crush his body.
Thorne’s Aura burst out as he fiercely slashed at the meteor.
“Rumble…”
A thunderous sound echoed as a glaring light blossomed from the greatsword. The greatsword collided with the meteor and created a huge spray of sparks. The meteor loudly exploded, but Thorne spat out blood as he was sent flying back like an artillery shell.
Thorne tumbled his way down the mountain peak like a huge rock. He rolled down thirty meters before managing to stab his greatsword into the ground.
After spitting out some blood, Thorne’s face lost its color. His armor was broken and there was a fierce corrosive wound on his left shoulder. The hand holding the greatsword was trembling involuntarily.
‘Overpowered! I’m not his match at all… Is this the power of the 8th Rank?
‘His casting speed is terrifying and the power of every spell is far greater than normal. Not only were the droplets from the Acid Rain fist-sized, but they were also carrying a hint of toxicity. And that Exhaust Ray was also instant, while still having enough power to weaken me for three seconds!
‘Too powerful… Not only is it impossible to complete the mission, but I’m afraid I will also be unable to escape…’
Thorne slowly stood up. He clearly knew that he wouldn’t be able to win, let alone kill Hoppet, and that the Teleportation Array couldn’t be destroyed.
All he could do now was to return alive and pass on this news. Otherwise, the Merlin Family would be in danger.
Thorne decisively turned around and joined the fight, but he found out that over half of his group had died, while the number of Raging Flame Beastmen didn’t seem to have decreased much.
Especially those Warlocks in the back, who seemed to have suffered nearly no losses.
He started feeling despair…
After ten minutes, the encirclement was even smaller, and the Raging Flame Beastmen were frantically attacking with no regard for their lives.
A Merlin warrior was torn to shreds, and his blood sprayed onto the Raging Flame Beastman warriors, further stimulating the fierce Beastmen.
There were only twenty to thirty meters of space within the encirclement when Hoppet made another move; a simple flaming meteor appeared.
The four-meter-wide meteor had a long trail of smoke, and the flames covering its surface were raging as it fell into the center of the encirclement.
Thorne roared and swung his greatsword to release an Aura Slash, but it only cut a fragment of the flaming meteor.
As it landed, three mages’ magic shields were torn to shreds and their bodies disappeared under the meteor in an instant.
The fierce impact made dust rise up, forming waves of dust. The flaming meteor shattered into pieces that flew like several hundred sharp arrows.
The Merlin Family’s losses were disastrous.
Of the several dozen people remaining, less than ten remained after this.
Thorne’s left arm had been bent in a weird shape, and his bone had punctured his skin. He was holding his greatsword with one hand, his face devoid of color.
Although he took advantage of the meteor’s impact to rush out of the encirclement, there were only eight people at his side, all of whom were wounded, two of them heavily so.
