The thorns wrapped around Gural gradually lost their vitality, transforming from their original deep, dark brown into a lifeless pale yellow.
Soon after, these thorns lost their resilience, peeling away layer by layer like old tree bark and scattering across the ground.
From within the peeling thorns, a stone statue of Gural was gradually revealed.
His eyes were tightly shut, his expression calm, showing not the slightest emotion.
No one could guess what he had been feeling in the final moment of his life.
Was it fear, was it remorse, or was it unwillingness…
No one could know the answer to any of this except Gural himself.
“Lum… find a safe place and properly settle the statue there.”
Barubaren was silent for a long while before he finally spoke to Lum.
Hearing this, Lum immediately did as told, carefully moving the statue to a place he considered safe.
And while Lum was away, Barubaren took a brief moment to ease his own injuries, then quickly released the disciples and students who had returned to normal. After that, he unhesitatingly dragged Varikira’s corpse toward the exit.
However, before he could make it out, Barubaren sensed a massive wave of energy. It surged in from beyond the exit like a violent tide.
At that moment, outside the exit, Renith had already put some distance between herself and the three of them. She planned to give them one big hit—even though doing so meant she might get caught in the blast herself.
Drawing on the structure of the bullets, firearms, and grenades brought by the transmigrators, she had conceived a bold plan in her mind—using magic to simulate a hollow cavity and produce an explosion.
She planned to coat a compressed fire element with a layer of compressed earth element as the outer shell.
At the same time, she would use water element as a binding membrane to fill the gaps in the earth element, ensuring the stability of the entire structure.
Finally, she would use wind element as the ignition and propulsion mechanism, providing the driving force for the whole explosion.
This was composite magic—a technique that combined two or even multiple elemental magics together.
Morist stared at the sphere in Renith’s hand, his brow furrowed. He genuinely could not figure out what on earth Renith had made, because there was not a trace of danger emanating from the sphere—it seemed like nothing more than a harmless toy.
Charlson likewise sensed no threat, but he could feel an unparalleled level of magical fusion and control radiating from it. Although the Renith before him was only an Archmage, in certain respects she already seemed to far surpass an ordinary Magus.
The man in Guardian Armor A at the side looked at the seemingly useless sphere and assumed Renith was trying to surrender:
“If you want to surrender, just say so outright. No need to beat around the bush.”
Renith did not spare him even a glance.
In Morist’s view, surrender was basically impossible for someone with Renith’s personality.
So with a shift of his body, he instantly split into three afterimages:
“「Shadow Split」!「Thunder Rush」!”
A dazzling bolt of lightning flashed along his sword, and the “qi” throughout his body mimicked that lightning, transforming into armor woven from thunder that wrapped tightly around him.
The Guardian Armor A man beside him was not to be outdone either. He flew to the earthen wall where Renith was and slammed two heavy punches with fists wrapped in “qi.”
With a loud “boom,” the earthen wall crumbled instantly, revealing Charlson, who was in the middle of chanting a spell.
Guardian Armor A raised his hand and drew the earth and stone before him into a massive hammer that settled into his palm. Then he touched the nearby metal, coating both the serrated great hammer and himself in a layer of hard metallic armor.
Renith had no intention of clashing head-on with these warriors—after all, they had a natural advantage in close combat and raw strength.
She used「Flame Arrow」as a probing attack and instantly figured out which one was Morist’s true body. Then she quickly raised「Divine Protection」to block Morist’s assault.
But just as Renith was about to withdraw「Divine Protection」, the shadow of a great hammer quietly appeared above her head.
“「Destruction Strike」!”
Guardian Armor A roared and swung the hammer down with crushing force.
This distance was far too close!
Renith’s heart lurched. She could only throw out every defensive spell she had all at once, trying to withstand this lethal blow.
Yet when that great hammer landed on those defenses, it was like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood—earth and stone crumbled, water and fire scattered, and though the wind slowed the hammer’s descent, the overwhelming power of「Destruction Strike」still landed squarely on Renith’s「Divine Protection」.
With a deafening “clang,” Renith was sent flying once again, crashing hard onto the ground.
Although she had taken a Destruction Strike, two-thirds of its energy had been absorbed by the other defensive barriers, so Renith inside was not too seriously hurt.
Charlson finished his chant, and flames turned into raindrops that seized the opportunity to pierce through Renith’s body.
Feeling the burning sensation inside her, Renith struggled to her feet and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth:
“Not bad at all… Alright, that’s about enough. Please accept this insignificant gift!”
With that, she compressed the fire element within the sphere to the absolute limit, then lightly tossed the sphere out.
Morist watched the slow, drifting sphere that looked so harmless and was momentarily stunned, a hint of contempt rising in his heart:
“That’s it?”
Guardian Armor A, on the other hand, swung his metal great hammer at the small sphere before him, intending to send it flying with one blow.
But just then, an intense sense of crisis welled up in Guardian Armor A’s heart.
He widened his eyes, staring at that seemingly harmless little sphere, and a foreboding feeling surged within him.
This thing is dangerous!
If he rushed forward recklessly, he might not live to see another day.
Charlson also sensed the extremely compressed fire element within it, and it felt to him no weaker than some grand magics. (Grand magics refer to the four-character spells Renith commonly used—immense in power and difficult to control.)
“Crimson Barrier, in the name of the unlit flame’s slumber, let the pentagram’s wrath be reshaped. Unbroken wall of flame, raise up a fortress in the sight of the gods—Flame Shield, Heavenly Protection!”
Charlson swiftly chanted the spell, and a barrier of fire rose from the ground, flames soaring into the sky, shielding all three of them—Morist included—within it.
Renith nodded. Charlson’s reaction was decent—he had not disappointed her.
So she beckoned, dispersing「Light Bending」, and the sphere that had been hovering in midair vanished along with it.
Charlson’s pupils contracted. He looked around but could not find where the vanished sphere had gone.
“It’s been behind you the whole time!”
Hearing the warning from the Guardian Armor fellow beside him, Charlson was briefly stunned. He was just about to use his magic power to scan for the sphere’s location when Renith, far away, snapped her fingers.
At that very moment, a crack split open across the surface of the earth-and-stone sphere, and rich, searing fire element burst out from within.
The wisps of magic power that had been leaking out now became a colossal entity, rising like a fire dragon.
Even Morist’s calm face shifted slightly in color.
After a brief moment of thought, he used his「Thunder」sword technique to rapidly charge toward Renith’s position—dodging the attack while cutting down Renith at the same time.
Guardian Armor A and Charlson wanted to escape, but being too close, they were two steps too slow.
They could only watch helplessly as the sphere, under Renith’s control, gradually closed in.
A small mushroom cloud rose slowly from the ground, followed by a tremendous booming roar.
Flames shot into the sky, and the massive shockwave blew all four of them—Renith included—clean off their feet.
The earth and stone carried by the wind shot out like bullets, easily denting the metallic armor on Guardian Armor A’s body.
“Codex page 103, Water Magic—Water Shroud.”
Renith crashed into a house. Fortunately, she had released「Water Shroud」in time to defend herself—otherwise, it would have been far worse than a few broken ribs.
She rode the wind magic swiftly back into the air and looked toward the direction she had been blown from.
There seemed to be nothing left there—only scorched black soil and roaring flames.
Looking around, Renith did not see Charlson, but she did see Guardian Armor A, his face covered in blood, crawling out of the rubble.
But where had Morist gone?
Logically speaking, he should have landed in the same direction as Renith.
Just as she was thinking this, the aura of a sword technique suddenly came from behind her. Renith immediately turned around and held the codex in front of her.
It was Morist!
He seemed to have been barely affected by the explosion. He had now finished charging his power and was about to use「Blazing Sun」to pierce through Renith’s skull.
Just as on the previous few days, at that very moment, Barubaren’s figure came charging from the distance. He tossed the half-corpse in his hand aside without a care, let out a great shout, and a vertical orange sword light seemed to split the visible world in two.
“「Sunset」!”
Barubaren poured every ounce of strength into this strike. The sword light was so dazzling and radiant that it truly seemed as though a slowly setting sun was blooming before their eyes.
This setting sun collided with Morist’s longsword, and the sound of metal clashing pierced the eardrum.
The energy fluctuation produced by these two forces colliding was no less impressive than the explosion from before.
” Crack!”
Morist looked at his longsword—a fissure was spreading from the notch formed by the collision.
Renith also sighed inwardly with admiration.
As expected of a veteran powerhouse—his understanding and application of sword techniques truly surpassed Morist’s.
But… if Morist, this hidden threat, could not be dealt with, his strength would rise to yet another level, and he would likely become even harder to handle.
However, with that unknown protective power of Morist’s, Renith could not bring herself to strike. So she turned around and looked at Guardian Armor A, who was crawling out of the rubble—he had been very close to the explosion and was badly hurt.
“Codex page 853, Holy Light Magic—Pseudo-Divine Art: Aurora Holy Lance.”
Renith took a deep breath, deciding to deal with this enemy before her first.
Particles of light magic rapidly converged toward her palm, merging with the text within the codex to form a brilliant golden lance that settled into her hand.
She aimed at Guardian Armor A on the ground, and he braced himself as if facing a great enemy. He knew he was too injured to stand, utterly unable to dodge this blow.
So he could only slam his hand heavily onto the ground, his “qi” surging outward, planning to transmute the earth and stone beneath him to withstand the attack head-on.
