Chapter 1139
How could this woman be so terrifying? Her frost magic doesn't just freeze flames—it even freezes shadows. Shadow spells can't get within three meters of her. Wasn't she supposed to be an ordinary Frost Dragon?
No Frost Dragon should wield such frightening frost spells. Damn it—she must be the descendant of some ancient horror, maybe even the original legendary Frost Dragon itself...
Now there's truly no escape. Even if I tried to run, it's hopeless. These bastards—they'll never let me go...
Diras's heart pounded in fear. He saw the mages around him weren't killed, just restrained—even Stongge was captured. Diras didn't dare resist any longer; if he kept fighting, he'd be finished for sure. At least being captured meant a chance to live.
Diras opened his mouth, about to speak, when Hubert's warhammer Slaughter materialized before him. Its surface glowed with an earthy yellow aura, suddenly flaring with streaks of red and blue.
Red and blue lights chased each other around Slaughter, wild ice and fire energies surging. When Slaughter crashed into Diras's triple-layer shield, it was as if countless explosions were compressed into a single instant.
Ice and fire interwove, unleashing a terrifying blast. Then a blood-red aura swept across Hubert—a fleeting majesty, edged with wickedness. Diras's triple shield was torn apart instantly.
Staring at Slaughter, wreathed in monstrous power, Diras felt the air itself turn solid. It was like a hand clamped over his mouth and nose—he couldn't even breathe.
Desperate, Diras grabbed a Shadow Rune Mark, his body instantly morphing into a standing shadow. Hubert's full-powered strike hammered into the shadow form.
With a bang, the shadow burst apart. Five meters away, another patch of shadow took Diras's shape, knocked out of fusion state. He coughed up blood, his body like a porcelain vase riddled with icy cracks—on the verge of shattering...
Terrified, Diras pulled out three Elixirs of Life—two he poured over himself, one he swallowed. Only then did the cracks on his skin begin to fade.
Watching Hubert approach again, Diras stood frozen, unable to summon even a spark of magic.
His shadow had vanished from beneath his feet, as if he didn't exist here. Just now, he'd burned a Shadow Rune Mark to let his own shadow take the brunt of that terrible blow.
He never expected Hubert's monstrous strike to shatter the shadow outright. Now his shadow was splintered into hundreds of fragments. Until it recovered—until his shadow returned—he couldn't use magic at all. The mental shock was so severe, he couldn't even cast the most basic Firestarter spell...
"Should I break his arms and legs? Will he be able to escape if I just tie him up?"
Diras broke out in a cold sweat, wisely choosing not to reason with this not-so-bright humanoid monster. He forced a smile, terrified Hubert might actually snap his limbs.
A nearby mage chuckled.
"It's fine. He can't use magic for now. He's lucky to be alive. If he hadn't used a Shadow Rune Mark as a casting aid, he'd either be dead or a drooling idiot from soul damage..."
Every shadow cast by a person is tied to their soul—this is the belief shadow mages have always held. To control shadows, you must inevitably involve the soul.
Hubert was a bit disappointed that he couldn't break Diras's arms and legs.
"Don't mages know all kinds of spells? Cooking spells, water summoning spells, rope-unbinding spells—they should know those too.
I’ve seen Master Leon use one before—the ropes moved like they were alive…"
Hearing Hubert, several nearby mages rolled their eyes.
Rope-unbinding spells do exist, and they're part of the general spell repertoire—any mage can cast them. But the incantation only works on simple knots. For anything tougher, you’d need the 'Break Free' spell, which could even undo magical ropes. Too bad that incantation was lost when King Nesser was wiped out.
Everyone Diras and Stongge brought was captured. A few were killed when they lost control of their powers. The rest—dozens of them—had their magic sealed, tied up, and dumped in the camp. They looked utterly miserable.
Once Diras realized they were merely captured, his mind began to churn with schemes.
Leon Merlin’s faction must have hit on some key breakthrough—otherwise, why would everyone gather here instead of hunting Mana Crystals?
They’re probably all busy currying favor with Leon Merlin. But they only dared to capture us, not kill us—they must be terrified of offending Burning Tower!
Bringing Stongge along was a stroke of genius. Damn, those Andalusia yokels don’t care about our Shadow Tower—they’re not even in Odin Kingdom. If we try to retaliate, the other powers in Andalusia will just get annoyed with us.
Skyhold Fortress is leagues stronger than our Shadow Tower, and their reputation is impeccable. Even if I die, Shadow Tower might not bother avenging me.
But none of them dare cross Burning Tower. Burning Tower is the strongest mage force here, and Dida La is their deadliest weapon.
As long as they’re afraid of offending Burning Tower, they won’t dare kill us.
Diras’s eyes flickered. He let out a cold sneer and glared at the surrounding mages.
(This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^ Please click next page to continue reading!)
"You idiots, just keep sucking up to that fool Leon Merlin. If you piss off Burning Tower, none of you will end well.
Especially Leon Merlin—he’s as good as dead!"
Hearing Diras, Stongge, who’d been frightened, snapped to his senses.
"Let us go, now! If Lord Dida La hears about this, you’ll face Burning Tower’s bloody revenge. Burning Tower’s dignity can’t be insulted—cross us, and you’ll pay for it!
Listen, I came here on Lord Dida La’s orders. If he finds out about this, none of you will get off easy!
Diras and Stongge kept running their mouths, but no one paid them any mind. The prisoners were locked up in the camp, their magic sealed. The Skyhold Fortress mages, annoyed by the noise, even set up a silence barrier over them.
Leon hadn’t shown himself once—he didn’t care about any of this.
If Baili hadn’t tried to destroy the spatial coordinate Leon left here, Leon wouldn’t have bothered to kill him.
Leon’s research had reached its most crucial turning point.
It wasn’t just about the Beast God’s Blood. While studying it, Leon had begun to investigate Law Sigils as well.
He’d managed to use basic runes to loosely piece together something resembling a Law Sigil—but it wasn’t the real thing.
By assembling hundreds of runes in the pattern of a Law Sigil, he could build a framework that actually unleashed its power.
But this method was excruciatingly convoluted, and at its core, nothing truly changed.
But once he mastered the framework and pattern, and deepened his understanding of runes, Leon began to truly fuse them...
Floating in the half-plane’s air, nearly nine hundred thousand runes swirled densely around Leon’s body.
In Leon’s eyes, countless phantom runes flashed—each colliding and merging in a chaotic dance, transforming into new runes.
Around his body, the mass of runes began to fuse. Runes of the same type stacked and merged, starting with pairs.
After more than three hours, the first stage of fusion was complete—the number of runes around Leon was instantly halved.
Yet the aura these runes emitted grew exponentially stronger!
Leon forced another round of pairwise fusion. This time, it took seven exhausting hours to barely complete the process.
Now, only two hundred thousand runes remained. They looked ordinary, but as they spun, each would morph into something else—every rune now held the power of many.
After two rounds of fusion, it seemed each rune contained four merged runes—but the power within was far greater than just four!
Each rune now held dozens of different forces. Fusing identical runes made them stronger, but mixing different runes produced entirely new forms. Even the order and method of fusion changed everything.
Simply combining four runes yields dozens of possible arrangements...
Each fusion was a qualitative leap—the number of runes shrank, but their power and properties multiplied dozens of times over.
After two rounds, sweat beaded on Leon’s brow. The third fusion wasn’t just pairing, but merging three runes at once.
This step was dozens of times harder than before. Ordinary mages never had so many runes, and only those who’ve broken through to Sky Rank and stabilized their power can attempt this, with supernatural strength aiding the process.
Completing this step, all runes would finally become true Law Sigils!
Leon’s magical array suit pushed to its limit—he could only fuse a few hundred runes at a time. Any more, and errors would be inevitable.
If he tried to fuse them one by one, it would take a year of sleepless labor to finish merging hundreds of thousands of runes.
The shifting runes floated in midair, each trio forming a triangle and slowly merging. They seemed to melt together, converging at the center point between the three.