Chapter 279: Escape
Will the next thing to fall be the corpse of a Five-Colored Dragon, or even an ancient god or demon?
Leon truly couldn't guarantee it...
At this critical moment, the only thing Leon could do was grit his teeth, push his control to the absolute limit, and manipulate the Plane Path, struggling forward through this storm of chaos!
However...
Human strength has its limits, after all...
Even someone like Leon, a figure who far surpasses his entire era, was powerless in the face of this world-ending calamity. He had done everything he could, yet the situation was rapidly slipping out of control. Three Pureblood Elf corpses crashed onto the Plane Path in succession, and under the tremendous impact, the Plane Path was damaged for the first time.
A ten-meter-long section of the Plane Path simply vanished...
Fragments of weapons and remnants of armor rained down on the Plane Path like a downpour. In an instant, the entire passage was riddled with holes. Leon could clearly feel the space around him twisting more violently, on the verge of collapse at any moment.
The Plane Path, stretching for hundreds of meters, truly resembled a tiny boat caught in a storm, struggling amidst monstrous waves. Perhaps in the very next moment, it would be swallowed by the surging tide...
No one spoke on the entire Plane Path. Every gaze was fixed on Leon, faces filled with tension and worry.
"Damn it, Matthew Merlin, this is all your fault! You dragged us to this cursed place—what did we ever do to you to deserve being sent to our deaths?" Fran, who had been silent the whole way, finally snapped under the pressure of imminent death.
Unfortunately, Fran's outburst lasted only a moment.
It was cut off by a sharp, resounding "smack"...
"Sylas, you..." Fran clutched his swollen cheek, glaring at Sylas West, his eyes brimming with anger and resentment.
"Say one more word and I'll kill you right here." Sylas West's voice was icy, stripped of its usual anger or contempt, as if speaking to a complete stranger.
"You..."
Faced with Sylas West's cold stare, Fran instinctively shrank back. It wasn't that Fran didn't want to argue—he simply didn't dare. He could sense real killing intent radiating from Sylas; if he said one more word, his comrade truly would kill him...
Fran's guess was spot on...
This time, Sylas West was dead serious—if Fran kept talking, Sylas really would kill him without hesitation...
The situation before them was beyond what any Title Archmage or Heavenly Mage could handle; it was the force of the entire world destroying everything. In the face of such a terrifying disaster, not even ten Sylas Wests could last a second. Their only chance was to follow that young Archmage—only he might lead them through this calamity.
If Fran were to clash with him, the end result would likely be everyone dying with Fran...
A conflict hadn't even begun before Sylas West snuffed it out at the source.
After warning Fran, Sylas West slowly walked over and stood side by side with Leon. "Merlin, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Try to destroy as many remnants and fragments as you can." Honestly, Leon hesitated a bit as he said this.
At this point, Leon's strength alone was clearly not enough.
His Mana Harness was running at its absolute limit, his control stretched beyond normal bounds, yet the Plane Path he steered was still battered again and again. If Sylas West was willing to help, it would certainly ease some of the pressure.
But this wasn't an easy favor to ask...
The debris and fragments whirling madly through the void moved at terrifying speed. If Sylas West just hid, he'd be safe, but if he tried to intercept them, he'd be completely exposed. If he got hit, his chances of surviving were next to nothing...
The risk was just too great...
What Leon had just asked was, in essence, for Sylas West to risk his life...
"Alright, no problem." Sylas West agreed without hesitation.
With Sylas West joining in, the pressure on Leon eased significantly. After all, he was a Title Archmage—though not necessarily Leon's match in a real fight, his high-level spells were perfect for this situation. The fragments and debris striking the Plane Path began to lessen, and Leon could finally pause to catch his breath...
Then...
Leon suddenly saw the Doomsday Tempest in the void grow blindingly bright—the blood-red hue almost seemed tangible.
"It's close!"
Leon knew his one chance was nearly here.
Seeing this, Leon burst forth with all his power, teaming up with Sylas West to unleash a barrage of spells. In an instant, they blasted open a pocket of space in the void—enough to keep the Plane Path safe for about ten seconds...
Now, only two paths lay before Leon.
If all went well, Leon would leave the Apocalypse Plane within those ten seconds.
But if luck ran out, then after ten seconds, Leon would be trapped in the Apocalypse Plane forever. The Plane Path would once again be bombarded by debris and fragments, and even if his one chance appeared, Leon wouldn't have enough strength left to seize it.
Time ticked by, second after second...
The crimson in the sky grew ever deeper...
"It's here!"
Sure enough, as the Doomsday Tempest reached its peak, the entire void suddenly contracted violently. For a fraction of a second, there wasn't a trace of magic flowing anywhere in the void.
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This was the chance Leon had been waiting for...
Almost simultaneously with the contraction of the void, Leon poured a surge of mana into the Crystal Balance. This was a reserve he'd been saving for ages; the instant it surged into the Crystal Balance, it shattered the relic's structure. In a flash, the coveted Crystal Balance Soulbound Set exploded into countless fragments. At the same time, space around them twisted violently, and a massive force began to yank at the Plane Path—as if trying to rip it out of this world entirely.
The endless void began to distort. At a glance, it looked like a bottomless pool suddenly rippling with waves.
The world before Leon grew unreal—red and black shifting back and forth, the unstoppable Doomsday Tempest raging on. Corpses were swallowed by the storm one after another, vanishing into nothing in an instant.
But standing on the Plane Path, Leon felt nothing at all.
He could see everything perfectly, yet felt nothing—as if watching two wild beasts fight through a pane of glass. He could witness the fierce struggle, but none of the bloody, brutal atmosphere reached him.
"Finally escaped..." Leon realized the strange feeling was because he'd already left the Apocalypse Plane. Everything he saw now was just a distorted afterimage caused by spatial warping—the real Apocalypse Plane had already been utterly transformed by the Doomsday Tempest...
But that no longer had anything to do with him.
After destroying the Crystal Balance, Leon sat down on the Plane Path and began studying the Alchemical Vortex in his hand.
Leon knew this return journey from the Apocalypse Plane was unlike any he'd made before. It would be a long trip—maybe three days, maybe five, maybe even longer...
The power level of the Apocalypse Plane far surpassed Northend World. Escaping from here required more than ordinary strength. Even though the Plane Path had been opened by some mysterious being and controlled by the strange Crystal Balance Set, breaking free from the Apocalypse Plane's grip was still no simple task...
Leon was absolutely right...
Three days passed, and the Plane Path still hadn't fully escaped the Apocalypse Plane's hold.
But Leon had finished fusing the Alchemical Vortex.
At this moment, it was clear that Vaughn truly deserved his reputation as the empire's last Worldshaper—his mastery of alchemy was simply unrivaled. Just look at the two Alchemical Vortexes Leon had fused; after merging them into his body, he didn't feel the slightest discomfort...
Leon tried circulating his mana and felt no resistance at all. It was as if the two Alchemical Vortexes were part of his own body. If his mana hadn't suddenly doubled, Leon might not have believed he'd truly fused those vortexes.
It was simply breathtaking...
To Leon, this was the highest realm of a Worldshaper.
The true power to create all things.
Leon even felt that Vaughn's alchemical skill surpassed some of the Saint Alchemists who were canonized in later generations.
Perhaps Vaughn had already become a Saint Alchemist back then, just kept it hidden from the world...
Of course, that was just Leon's personal guess. Whether it was true or not would have to wait until he set foot on Crystal Isle to uncover Vaughn's greatest secret.
After fusing two Alchemical Vortexes, Leon rummaged in his pocket. First, he found the glass vial of Silver Dragon Blood, but after a moment's hesitation, he put it back—he knew fusing the Silver Dragon Blood would be no quick task. Even by the end of this long journey, he might not be done.
Instead, his hand found the Crimson Crystal...
Thinking of this, Leon took out the Crimson Crystal again.
"Huh? What's going on?" Leon's expression suddenly changed...