Chapter 714: The End
As the aura of nature collided with the abyssal miasma, countless plants withered at a terrifying speed—yellowing in a matter of seconds before crumbling into black dust. Yet, in the next instant, these decayed, lifeless plants sprang back to life, spurred on by the dense breath of nature. It was as if, in the span of a heartbeat, they experienced months or even years of growth.
Seconds later, Duncan swung his arms, his entire body surging with boiling mana. Dark, viscous magic coiled around him, condensing into black water. Bubbles rose from the dense magic, and the evil, overwhelming power kept climbing higher.
Streams of smoky, black magic surged into the twelve Abyssal Gates. The gates, which had been slowly spinning, began to tremble violently, and the sinister black vortexes within them whirled at a breakneck pace.
Then, from the three Abyssal Gates on the left, torrents of pitch-black flames reeking of sulfur erupted, mingled with poisonous green Venomfire that spewed toxic fumes into the air.
From the other Abyssal Gates, black hurricanes, endless Black Ice, and burning meteors began to pour forth...
The black hurricanes roared, their mournful wails echoing like the cries of tormented souls. Amid the sobbing wind, countless cold flashes flickered—razor-sharp black wind blades swirling together into a storm of darkness...
Some of the Black Ice was as massive as mountain peaks; others erupted in an instant, unleashing hundreds or thousands of ice blades and ice spikes that rained down in a suffocating deluge.
The burning meteors carried a crushing weight, trailing long ribbons of black smoke behind them, making the very air tremble beneath their descent.
Venomfire rained down, corroding the earth. Black winds swept across the land, shredding the newly-grown plants into fragments. Everything touched by Black Ice was instantly frozen, and when the meteors crashed, visible shockwaves rippled outward, destroying all in their path...
The aura of nature was forced back. From the edge of the Abyss, the land became riddled with scars—death and evil power took root, wild magic surged, and even the living abyssal creatures were slaughtered in an instant.
Leon gripped two crystal pens, his mana remotely controlling two more. Four crystal pens worked in unison to crack the Teleportation Array before him.
There was no time or energy left to worry about what came next, even as he sensed the terrifying, chaotic waves of magic rising behind them.
Anderson was frantically casting defensive spells, shields erupting like a geyser from the Arcane Wheel to protect the area around the Teleportation Array. Hubert fought on, teeth clenched, blocking every stray spell with brute force so none would disrupt Leon's work.
Hubert's body was covered in wounds, his arms trembling. Every collision made him shudder violently, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
The others, scattered throughout the battlefield, began their desperate flight for survival, using the thick roots bursting from the ground as cover as they raced toward the Teleportation Array.
Elsa led the last dozen Dark Elves, dragging the unconscious Jeremy, squeezing every drop of mana as they charged toward the Teleportation Array.
The princess of the Dark Elf Clan had lost all composure, her face etched with endless terror.
"Run! Faster..."
Elsa screamed in terror, ignoring her wounds, pushing herself onward toward the Teleportation Array at any cost.
Faster, faster... Duncan is actually attacking with everything he's got. It's over. How long can we hold out—ten seconds? Twenty?
Impossible. In ten seconds at most, these chaotic spells will tear us apart. We have to move even faster.
Master Merlin, please crack it faster! If we reach the array and you haven't finished, we're all dead...
Gods, Duncan is really going all out just to kill us...
Endless Venomfire, Black Ice, mountains, and meteors rained down, covering nearly the entire depths of Nightfall Gorge. The maddened Duncan seemed intent on annihilating everything here.
As time passed, the rapidly spinning Abyssal Gates kept expanding. Spells erupted from them like volcanic blasts—more and more, and each one growing stronger.
A massive meteor, easily ten meters across, hurtled toward the Teleportation Array. Its crushing weight made space itself tremble. Even before it landed, the air was forcibly swept aside, and those standing before the array found it hard to breathe.
Anderson's Threefold Mask twisted in agony as he desperately squeezed the Heart of Lava, pushing the Arcane Wheel's power to its limit. A torrent of mixed spells surged toward the giant meteor.
Reina let out a dragon's roar, transforming into a Frost Dragon. Ice-blue light burst from her mouth like spears, and a surge of Absolute Zero Breath—formed from countless swirling ice shards—blasted toward the meteor.
The Alchemical Golem's power core—the Hydra Heart—beat like frantic drums, mana squeezed to the utmost. Many of the golem's systems lost their magic supply; every drop of mana was used to fuel spells.
The crushing pressure drove out all air and mana. Elsa and the other Dark Elves' faces turned black-purple, but each one grit their teeth and hurled spells at the enormous meteor.
Under the barrage of spells, the meteor's shroud of black smoke was blasted away, revealing a core of Black Ice burning with Venomfire. Fierce whirlwinds coiled around it, tearing open jagged Spatial Rifts in the air.
Yet, the moment those Spatial Rifts appeared, the immense pressure wrapped around the meteor crushed them out of existence.
(Irrelevant system prompt skipped.)
Even as everyone kept attacking, the meteor's descent slowed, but it still carried terrifying power, relentless as it fell toward the Teleportation Array.
Worse, behind the meteor, as the thick black smoke cleared, everyone saw three more meteors—each over twenty meters across—following close behind.
"Merlin, is it still not done yet?"
Anderson cried out in terror, his Threefold Mask twisted beyond recognition. He'd pushed himself to the limit—so much so that he couldn't even hold the shape of his three faces anymore.
The meteor hovered just ten meters overhead, its crushing force making several Dark Elves cough up blood. Seth screamed, unable to breathe—deprived of air and mana, his body felt like it was about to explode.
Blood spurted from wounds all over his body, as if something was forcibly draining it away.
Eight meters...
Seven meters...
When the first meteor was just five meters overhead, the Teleportation Array behind them suddenly flared with blinding light. Countless streaks of brilliance converged into a pillar of radiance.
At that moment, Leon finally stopped moving his crystal pens. His face was ghostly pale, his hands trembling, and the crushing pressure made even raising an arm feel impossible.
Suddenly, the Spellbook of Ages appeared in Leon's left hand, instantly transforming into the Blazing Wrath Staff—a simple staff topped with a glowing orb, swirling with countless runes.
Sweat poured down Leon's forehead as he gritted his teeth and swung the Blazing Wrath Staff at the massive meteor overhead.
In an instant, countless runes erupted from the Blazing Wrath Staff, exploding outward. A dazzling beam, over a meter thick, shot up and slammed into the meteor above.
Immediately, the giant Black Ice meteor shattered, breaking into countless fragments that spiraled skyward.
With the crushing pressure of the meteor gone, everyone felt suddenly lighter. At that moment, no one cared about appearances anymore.
Whether it was Reina, Seth, or the battered Dark Elves, all of them lunged toward the pillar of light from the Teleportation Array.
With a flash of light, everyone vanished...
A second later, several massive meteors—some ten meters across, others over twenty—slammed down near the Teleportation Array, trailing long tails of black smoke.
From the sky, endless Venomfire, Black Ice, whirlwinds, and meteors rained down, obliterating everything and forcefully suppressing the natural forces.
All of Nightfall Gorge had become a scene straight out of the apocalypse.
Duncan's furious roars echoed through the wasteland, but Leon and his party had already escaped.
In a tranquil forest, multicolored glowing plants grew everywhere, and even some Rank Twenty magical beasts lived here.
Suddenly, a patch of ground lit up, disintegrating the plants covering it into fragments.
A Teleportation Array burst into light, sending a pillar skyward as a dozen battered figures tumbled out of the beam.
A terrifying surge of mana rippled outward, sending the big-eyed monkey beasts fleeing in panic.
Smoke and the stench of burning spread as the ragged survivors collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain.
Leon, covered in dust and rags, rushed to the Teleportation Array the moment he appeared, shutting it down and altering one of its runes to sever the link between the two arrays.
Only then did Leon finally let out a long sigh of relief.
"Damn, we finally made it out. That bastard was absolutely terrifying..."
Anderson, sounding like a man who'd just cheated death, started cursing up a storm.
Reina, Hubert, and Seth were all badly wounded—even the Alchemical Golem had several replacement parts smashed beyond use.
Fewer than ten Dark Elves remained, and all of them were gravely injured.