Chapter 1138
Baili stared at the closed Plane Path, a glimmer of surprise lighting up his eyes.
Damn it, it's actually a Plane Path leading to a demi-plane!
Matthew Merlin, that lucky bastard, actually managed to control a demi-plane!
Perfect. He even left the Plane Path to the demi-plane here. As long as I destroy this Plane Path, he's utterly finished!
Anyway, Lord Byron has special abilities. As soon as Lord Byron finds an opportunity, he'll definitely escape from this demi-plane. But Matthew Merlin? He can just wait to be trapped and die in there.
When Lord Byron returns with Matthew Merlin's technology, our Shadow Tower will master exclusive techniques. Then, using these, we'll manufacture a whole army of Sky Rank powerhouses. We'll become the strongest mage tower!
Matthew Merlin, heh, just take your precious technology and rot in that damned demi-plane...
Baili grinned wickedly at the entrance to the Plane Path, slowly drawing his staff.
A demi-plane is the privilege of Sky Rank mages, but even they rarely enter their own demi-planes. Only when it's absolutely safe do they set up defenses and alarms outside, then venture into the demi-plane.
Only when it's safe do mages use the power of demi-plane laws to develop their demi-planes...
No mage has ever dared to enter their demi-plane in the midst of battle...
The coordinate of a demi-plane is the Sky Rank mage themselves; the mage is essentially a moving Plane Path.
But when a Sky Rank mage personally enters their demi-plane, the entry point becomes the coordinate—the only path in and out.
At least for lower-ranked Sky Rank mages, the development of their demi-plane is too limited, so this is the only way to enter and exit.
If you enter your demi-plane during battle, it's basically suicide. Your opponent only needs to destroy the coordinate, and you'll be trapped inside forever.
So for most Sky Rank mages, a demi-plane is just an auxiliary tool—mostly used as a mana reservoir. In battle, they summon Elemental God Demons from it and replenish their spent mana.
Once the demi-plane is developed enough, they'll spend huge resources to build an interplanar teleportation array. But this extravagant method is something only a handful of Sky Rank mages can pull off.
Nearly all Sky Rank mages have their demi-planes connected to the Northend World. Even if the coordinate is destroyed, the demi-plane won't drift into endless void—it stays anchored to the Northend World. That way, mages don't have to fear someone destroying their coordinate while they're inside...
But in the era of magical exhaustion in the Northend World, this method was considered the main reason for Sky Rank mages' downfall...
As the mana of the Northend World dissipated, the demi-planes anchored to it were like prey before a ravenous beast—their mana was devoured and vanished...
That was why the fall of the strong came first; only the weak survived to the end. By the time the Northend World was destroyed, even the official mages counted as the strongest remaining...
Any mage below Sky Rank who possessed a demi-plane definitely didn't create it themselves, and that made it even more dangerous...
Baili was nearly laughing out loud. He raised his staff and began chanting, no longer caring about being exposed. After more than four seconds of incantation, six Shadow Dragon phantoms whirled around Baili, their mournful howls spreading, plunging dozens of meters around him into shadow.
"Matthew Merlin, die! Black Dragon Wave!"
Baili roared with laughter as the six Shadow Dragon phantoms howled and lunged, smashing toward the Plane Path.
The first Shadow Dragon struck the Plane Path just as Leon, who was working on an experiment inside the demi-plane, frowned. His right hand continued gripping the alchemical apparatus, while his left reached to the side.
In an instant, a twenty-centimeter patch of space rippled. When Leon reached out, it was as if his hand dipped into a pool of water.
Outside, at the coordinate of the Plane Path, space rippled and Leon's hand emerged from within...
In a flash, dense runes seemed to materialize out of nowhere, instantly appearing in Leon's palm.
Countless flame runes layered together to form a rune sphere. Instantly, these runes became chains, each chain a fundamental stroke, all interlocking into a three-dimensional rune.
As the rune sphere spun, it seemed different every moment—constantly shifting into new runes.
Suddenly, endless flames were torn from the void, and the raging fire element drowned the entire area almost instantly...
The remaining five Shadow Dragon phantoms plunged into the flames and were instantly incinerated into nothingness...
The massive flames coalesced into a giant hand, over ten meters tall, appearing before Baili in a flash.
Faced with this terrifying change, Baili's expression twisted in terror. His body turned into shadow and merged into the cave's darkness, while four layers of shields appeared...
But the giant hand of fire didn't falter at all, grabbing mercilessly. Shadows were forcibly dispersed, Baili was seized by the fiery hand, and two of his shields shattered in the blink of an eye...
"No... Matthew Merlin, you can't kill me! I'm a Ninth-Rank Title Archmage of the Shadow Tower! If you kill me, you'll face the Shadow Tower's bloody assassins and revenge...
Spare me, we..."
Baili pleaded in terror. The flames were simply too powerful—his shields were licked by fire and shattered, only the Rune Shield could hold out a little longer...
But Baili's terrified pleas were useless. The giant hand of flame squeezed, and with a pop, Baili's last Rune Shield burst like a soap bubble...
A shrill scream rang out, only to be abruptly cut off. Everything inside the flaming hand was reduced to ashes...
After the strike, space at the Plane Path rippled again, and Leon's hand vanished into it...
With a casual motion, Leon killed Baili, who tried to destroy the Plane Path. Leon's expression didn't change at all, his eyes locked on the alchemy lab before him...
Would Leon ever leave a Plane Path unguarded?
Who could possibly understand the weaknesses of a demi-plane better than its master, especially Leon?
Don't kid yourself. Without absolute certainty, Leon would never risk his own life in someone else's hands...
A natural demi-plane is entirely different from one inherited from a Sky Rank powerhouse.
After mastering a natural demi-plane, Leon could leave from any spot inside—there was no difference, he could instantly exit from anywhere.
He could even use the power of the natural demi-plane for powerful counterattacks. Trying to destroy the coordinate Leon left when entering the demi-plane? Impossible...
Because with even the slightest disturbance, Leon could instantly exit the demi-plane. Any sneak attack was doomed to fail.
Still, in battle, it's just as impossible to enter the demi-plane to hide...
With mastery over most of the rule runes' construction, Leon casually dispatched Baili. The fighting in the camp was nearly over...
The shadow mages brought by Diras and the burning mages brought by Stongge were almost all captured. Aside from those killed in battle, the rest weren't much better off—most were seriously wounded...
In the end, only Diras and Stongge were still barely resisting, huddled together, both looking pale...
Seeing the mages whose mana had been sealed, lying limp on the ground like dead dogs, terror crept across Stongge's face...
Dozens of mages nearby watched with cold smiles. Most didn't join the attack, which made Stongge break out in a cold sweat...
Damn it, how are these people so strong?
We clearly have more people. Even our weakest are Seventh-Rank Title Archmages, everyone's level is similar, and we're the majority—so we should have the advantage.
So how did it end up like this...
Are these people crazy? They're all risking their lives to help Leon Merlin. Isn't Leon Merlin only theorizing about Beast God Blood? He doesn't even have mature techniques yet—could he have already developed them?
And how dare they pile on against us? Aren't they afraid of offending the Shadow Tower, or the Burning Tower for that matter?
Those reckless fools—have they all forgotten what happens to anyone who crosses the Burning Tower?
Stongge was full of doubts. All this time, he saw only two of Leon's subordinates fighting; the dozens of other mages weren't even with Leon!
Stongge was momentarily distracted when a shard of frost flew in, shattering into ice chips that instantly struck his Rune Shield. The runes seemed to freeze in place, a layer of frost coating the shield as it slowly froze solid!
Before Stongge could react to the sudden change, Xuban appeared at his side with ghostly speed, despite his massive frame.
A massive slaughter weapon wrapped in an earthy glow smashed into Stongge's Rune Shield. The shield shattered, compressed air burst out, slamming into Stongge's chest.
A series of crisp cracks sounded—Stongge's chest caved in, broken ribs pierced the skin, exposing a bloody, bone-white fragment...
Stongge was sent flying, gravely wounded—leaving only Diras still standing...
Diras's eyes filled with terror as dozens of mages closed in, with a terrifying orc among them, and a Frost Dragon who had used only one freezing spell from start to finish.
But those two were the most terrifying of all...
Damn it, how could this happen? That damned orc is immune to most shadow spells, but who knows what kind of bloodline that terrifying humanoid monster possesses...