Chapter 800: Instant Collapse
Seizing the moment of his explosive burst, General Gaskor stomped fiercely on the ground, forcefully halting his backward flight. In the next instant, his body vanished, leaving behind a crater three or four meters wide where he had stood.
General Gaskor's body turned into a crimson streak, reappearing before Leon at a speed that surpassed everyone’s ability to react. The massive warhammer in his hand seemed to ignite with invisible flames, warping the surrounding space.
The warhammer once again smashed viciously toward Leon’s head.
Leon still stood motionless, not even lifting a finger. In the next moment, a deep blue Frost Shield materialized before him.
As the Frost Shield blocked General Gaskor’s warhammer, a rune on its surface instantly lit up—another Limit Spell, Absolute Zero. Blue light swept out, and Gaskor’s body was once again coated in a layer of frost.
But this time, the Absolute Zero spell took effect much slower. Gaskor’s speed only dropped enough for people to see a blurry afterimage.
The Frost Shield shattered, and behind the flying shards, an ice sphere exploded, sending out a torrent of frost as if it had burst from the heart of the sphere.
It transformed into a terrifying waterfall of frost, crashing violently toward General Gaskor.
General Gaskor was sent flying once again.
In the distance, Councilor Weiss was utterly dumbfounded.
How did Leon become this powerful?
A simple Frost Shield paired with a freezing spell—then, hidden behind it, was that a Frost Nova? But Frost Nova explodes outward with raw force. How could Leon direct the blast in just one direction?
And all that power from Frost Nova was detonated forward?
The scene kept shifting—too fast for Weiss to process. General Gaskor, in midair again, was frozen solid before he even hit the ground.
Breaking out of the ice once more, General Gaskor’s skin looked as if blood might drip from it, surging heat threatening to burst from his body.
"Roar! Damn you, bastard! I'll make you pay with your life!"
General Gaskor bellowed in rage, his face flushed as if smeared with fresh blood. Wild heat rippled from his body, rapidly raising the temperature all around.
He charged Leon again. Another Frost Shield materialized before Leon, but this time, it spun at dizzying speed.
General Gaskor’s warhammer smashed into the spinning Frost Shield, unleashing brilliant blue lightning. Gaskor glared furiously, gripping his hammer so tightly the veins on his arms looked ready to burst.
A rune appeared again, but this time it wasn't a simple freezing spell—it was the Arctic Freeze Rune!
With a crisp bang, General Gaskor was sent flying once more. But this time, he wasn't just coated in frost—his entire body was sealed inside a massive block of ice.
The ice block rolled dozens of meters across the ground. Inside, Gaskor seemed to morph into a living flame; eventually, his form vanished, replaced by a humanoid blaze frozen within the ice.
At last, the Forgefire Dwarf army snapped out of their stupor, howling as they charged. Hundreds of warhammers, crackling with blue lightning, surged forward like a river of thunder toward Leon.
Leon narrowed his eyes—a subtle gesture, but enough for everyone to sense the eruption of powerful magic within him.
Leon stood unmoving. Behind him, a giant Arcane Wheel appeared, towering several meters high. It was built from countless runes, each component a complex weave of magical symbols.
The Arcane Wheel turned slowly, its vast runes so intricate they made your head spin. The magical data flickered and shifted—any mage below Title Archmage would be mentally shattered by just three seconds of exposure.
Yet as hundreds of terrifying warhammers flew toward him, Leon's gaze remained calm, the Arcane Wheel behind him pivoting ever so slightly.
Suddenly, a torrent of runes erupted like volcanic flame. As the runes surged, hundreds of deep-hued, gleaming ice lances formed in front of Leon.
Hundreds of ice lances, roaring like thunder, collided fiercely with the warhammers.
Each Thunder Warhammer met an ice lance head-on—no more, no less. The symmetry was uncanny, every impact resonating with elemental precision.
At the moment of impact, a rune of Absolute Zero flared on every ice lance, flooding the air with a wave of freezing magic.
Crack... crack...
A chorus of shattering frost rang out. The thunder vanished from the sky, replaced by a rain of ice blocks that smashed into glittering fragments on the ground.
At that moment, the distant ice block reached its breaking point. With a deafening boom, it exploded, and General Gaskor burst out, his face contorted with rage.
Even as Gaskor emerged, the heat within him kept erupting. His skin was cracked like dry earth, blood seeping out only to vaporize instantly, leaving scabs that flaked away in a grotesque display.
"Bastard! Damn it! Damn it!"
Gaskor had lost all reason—flames seemed to burst from his eyes as his body became a living inferno, charging at Leon yet again.
At last, Leon cast a cool glance at Gaskor and uttered a single, resonant note.
In an instant, the air temperature plummeted. Snowflakes drifted down as a blue rune, shedding icy fragments, struck General Gaskor.
The boundless heat within General Gaskor surged, twisting his form as it built an invisible shield—holding back the blue rune that kept raining icy shards onto him.
But soon, blue frost began to seep between the rune and Gaskor, the powers of heat and ice colliding in a violent storm. The surrounding magic spiraled into chaos.
In a heartbeat, the frost rune branded itself onto Gaskor’s body. His rage froze on his face as a massive ice block formed, sealing him inside.
Meanwhile, the Forgefire Dwarves surged forward. Leon released another note, summoning a sudden gale. Countless azure Wind Blades converged like a tidal wave, swallowing the dwarves in raw, magical force.
Instantly, a cacophony of furious roars and anguished screams erupted from the Forgefire Dwarf ranks.
Wind Blades collided and twisted, their unpredictable paths forming a wild, violent wave that swept through the Forgefire Dwarves, leaving bodies in its wake.
At first, their heavy armor offered resistance, but soon the defense was stripped away. The Wind Blades, as if alive, slipped through every gap in the armor.
Seconds later, half the Forgefire Dwarf elite lay sprawled on the ground, unable to rise. Leon’s Wind Blades had severed their tendons with disturbing precision.
Leon sang another note. A flaming rune shot out, splitting into dozens, then hundreds, forming a barrage of Flame Spears that flooded the battlefield.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
A dense barrage of Flame Spears pinned the chaotic Forgefire Dwarf ranks to the ground. Agonized howls filled the air. Any who tried to move found the flames surging, the stench of scorched flesh spreading across the battlefield.
In less than ten seconds, an entire squad of Forgefire Dwarf elites was laid out, unmoving.
Meanwhile, General Gaskor, frozen in ice, had his stored heat triggered again. His body twisted grotesquely as a blinding flame erupted within the ice block.
Then the ice block exploded, shattering itself and Gaskor into fragments.
Forgefire Dwarves possess a unique talent—their bodies accumulate and store heat, letting them unleash power far beyond their normal limits. But each activation makes the heat surge stronger, and repeated use quickly becomes dangerous.
Below Sky Rank, no Forgefire Dwarf would ever dare trigger their heat surge three times—the explosive force would tear them apart from within.
Just like that, General Gaskor was dead. Weiss stood frozen, cold sweat streaming down his brow.
Th-this... this...
So Archmage Leon knew all along—he was toying with General Gaskor the whole time!
From beginning to end, Leon hadn't even lifted a finger, yet he brought down General Gaskor and an entire squad of Forgefire Dwarf elites...
Archmage Leon’s power was overwhelming—what he’d shown was easily on par with a Ninth-Rank Title Archmage!
My gods, I see it now—Archmage Leon never intended to kill Gaskor. He kept giving him chances. If Gaskor had stopped, he would have survived. But attacking again and again overloaded his own heat, until even he couldn’t withstand it. In the end, he was killed by his own power...