Chapter 693: Arrow That Pierces the Sky
The defensive perimeter kept shrinking, and even Seth was sweating nervously as he joined the defense.
Once Reina had recovered a bit, she too rejoined the defense.
Even so, all they could do was hold off Oracis's spell attacks ten meters away—any further, and nothing could force it back...
Three minutes later, Leon's voice came from the rear, chanting an incantation.
Light flared from the Doombringer Staff, and the Fivefold Gate of Eskrym appeared out of thin air before the group, blocking all of Oracis's spells.
"Move!"
Leon barked out a low order.
The group looked back and immediately saw that a human-sized passage had been carved out of the wall of Ashen Venom behind them. The sides of the passage were lined with countless Frostfire Shields, holding off the Ashen Venom for now.
But everyone could see that the Frostfire Shields were melting at a rate visible to the naked eye. In just a few seconds, the whole passage would collapse.
When Leon stood beside them, even Seth—the weakest among them—could clearly sense Leon's mana being rapidly drained...
The group dashed through the passage and, within three seconds, burst out of the Ashen Cage.
Just as Leon was the last to make it out, the passage behind him began to collapse. A torrent of Ashen Venom, like molten gray lava, instantly flooded the corridor...
Beside Leon, Theo had transformed into a mass of flame, shifting between ashen gray and fiery red. He radiated a thick aura of Ashen Venom—stronger than before...
Leon let out a breath of relief. They'd finally escaped...
When Oracis unleashed its apocalypse, the Ashen Cage would shatter on its own. But this Oracis was growing more violent—and smarter. It seemed to be hunting, trapping all its prey, then slowly playing them to death...
"Good thing I sent Theo to the Bone Plane earlier..."
Leon murmured to himself, grateful.
Ordinary Flame Sprites only grow in strength through simple maturation, but most never truly advance.
Prime Flame Sprites, though, have the power to devour fire and grow stronger. At the very start, Theo was barely level thirty.
After Leon tossed Theo into the Bone Plane for a while, Theo devoured the soul fire of countless undead, advancing to level thirty-two.
Still, those soul fires were too weak. Technically, they counted as a kind of flame, but their low level didn't do much to help Theo grow.
That's why Leon sent him to clean out the undead in the Bone Plane, leaving him there for so long. No wonder Theo's mood soured when he finally reappeared.
It's like eating tasteless black bread every day for months—anyone would be sick of it. Especially someone used to gourmet feasts; after months of black bread, you'd want to die.
After spending so long in the Bone Plane, Theo finally gained the ability to devour Ashen Venom. Before that, just touching Ashen Venom would have backfired, let alone consuming it—it's a fundamental difference.
Now, with a whole wall of Ashen Venom before him, how could Theo not be tempted? But these flames were far too powerful. If Theo tried to devour them by force, he'd be overwhelmed, maybe even burned to death despite being a Prime Flame Sprite...
That wall of Ashen Venom was a single, flowing mass. If Theo recklessly charged in, he'd be crushed by the sheer volume—forget about devouring anything.
And Leon couldn't touch that wall at all; it was like a normal person trying to walk through a solid barrier. To get through, they'd have to punch a hole in it, dig out a section.
Theo couldn't devour the whole wall, but Leon could hold off the pressure and forcibly split the Ashen Venom. Then Theo could devour the separated portion.
Only by working together could they carve out a passage through the Ashen Venom wall.
Of course, Oracis wasn't about to let Leon carve out a passage so easily, so Anderson had to pin down Oracis's attacks.
Though they couldn't overpower it, the group—now much stronger—could at least hold out for a while by throwing everything they had at it.
But none of them bore as much pressure as Leon.
It was Leon alone who took on the full brunt of the Ashen Venom, leaving Theo free to devour as he pleased.
Mana Shield was the best tool for enduring constant, relentless pressure—so long as your mana held out, the shield wouldn't break.
Yet, in that short stretch, Leon burned through all his mana three times!
Without the help of a demi-plane to instantly replenish his mana, Leon simply couldn't withstand the Ashen Venom's pressure!
This was already power on the threshold of Sky Rank—pure pressure alone could crush a ninth-level Title Archmage to death.
And the whole process had to be undisturbed. If Oracis's power struck here, Leon wouldn't be able to resist—he and Theo would be annihilated by the Ashen Venom.
Last time they faced Oracis, not only was Theo unable to devour Ashen Venom, but Leon couldn't pin down Oracis's pressure, much less withstand the flames.
This time was different—their power had grown, giving them more options, so they didn't have to risk their lives provoking Oracis into unleashing its apocalypse...
As Leon and the others burst out, Oracis—still trapped inside the Ashen Cage—flew into a rage.
What it thought was a group of helpless prey had broken out of the Ashen Cage and escaped—unforgivable.
The Dark Elves still trapped in the Ashen Cage were about to suffer terribly.
Both serpent heads began spewing spells wildly, and the demon head in the middle—busy devouring Dark Elves—also unleashed abyssal magic.
A heavy stench of sulfur spread, evil power ran rampant, and endless black mist condensed in midair, forming dozens of twisted, monstrous black claws.
Hundreds of black claws, each seven or eight meters wide, crashed down from above. Dark Elves died in droves; of the original thousand-strong Dark Elf Mage Legion, only about two hundred remained...
The surviving Dark Elves gritted their teeth, casting spells to defend Elsa at the center.
Elsa bit her lip, gripping a pitch-black arrow and channeling all her mana into it. Jeremy, terrified but determined, also forced his mana into the arrow.
No one knew what kind of wood this arrow was made from. It looked crude, with only seven runes etched into it—just an ordinary magic arrow at first glance.
But as more and more mana poured in, a wave of obscure, profound energy began to emanate from the arrow.
In less than three minutes, nearly a hundred Dark Elves were slain by Oracis. Some even threw themselves into Oracis's grasp, letting it devour them to buy precious time.
As Oracis forced the last of the Dark Elves to the edge of the Ashen Cage, the runes on the black arrow flew off.
The seven runes, charged with immense power, transformed into a barrier of light, instantly enveloping all the Dark Elves.
When Oracis's claw struck, every Dark Elf vanished in an instant, leaving only the black arrow hovering in midair.
The black arrow, wreathed in runes, then shot into the Ashen Venom.
The power of the Ashen Venom clashed with the runes circling the arrow, quickly dimming their glow.
When the black arrow burst out of the Ashen Venom—flying less than two hundred meters—the runes finally faded, and a barrier appeared, releasing all the missing Dark Elves.
Then the black arrow crumbled to ash, scattering from the sky...
Leon and his group, already hundreds of meters away, turned back just in time to see it happen.
Anderson, both envious and furious, cursed: "Voidpiercer Arrow—damn it, those bastards actually had something that good!"
Leon hadn't figured out what the Dark Elves used, but when he heard Anderson's comment, it all clicked.
The Voidpiercer Arrow is a single-use magical artifact—one of the Elven race's most powerful arrows.
Legend says that in the Nesser Dynasty, the strongest Sky Rank Elven archer could pair the Moonchaser Bow with the finest Voidpiercer Arrow to kill an enemy hundreds of miles away with a single shot.
Even just the Voidpiercer Arrow, used as a single-use artifact, can be activated to carry someone away—flying dozens of miles in a single second.
As long as the Voidpiercer Arrow's power isn't exhausted, it can teleport its bearer over a hundred miles.
Elves reserve Voidpiercer Arrows for their most important heirs—it's one of their key means of protection.
Unfortunately, Oracis's Ashen Venom was too strong. The Voidpiercer Arrow spent all its power crossing the flames; otherwise, it could've taken the Dark Elves dozens of miles farther.
The rescued Dark Elves looked back at the Ashen Cage, despair in their eyes. Even the Voidpiercer Arrow couldn't take them far—just barely out of the cage...
With all its prey escaped, Oracis was utterly enraged...
The Ashen Cage exploded, unleashing endless Ashen Venom in fist-sized flames, raining over a thousand meters of land.
Oracis, now berserk, charged out, all three heads unleashing torrents of spells.
Flames, frost, and black mist—all mixed together with Ashen Venom—turned the entire kilometer into a living hell.