Advent of the Archmage
chapter-367

Under the effect of the Oath Ring, Noyo's body separated into three. One body easily passed through the Sacred Light Wall and charged at Link.

Link immediately felt a shred of unrest appearing in the Mana surging into him. The Magicians in the magic seal were disturbed, affecting their spells.

"Steady! Keep steady! Don't worry about me!" Link muttered. He used Dragon Power to heighten his voice. It wasn't loud but still traveled clearly to each Magician's ear.

On the other side, seeing the Sacred Light Wall lose effectiveness, an archbishop's expression suddenly grew solemn. He and the other 11 had been kneeling in a circle, praying around the pope's body. Now, he stood up and walked towards the magic seal alone.

The other cardinals didn't move, but they all sighed simultaneously as if knowing his choice.

The cardinal prayed as he walked.

"Brilliant Lord, I am willing to burn my soul and sacrifice my all in exchange for your light to protect these mortals. Halo of Sacrifice!"

Halo of Sacrifice

Divine Spell

Effect: The halo's range reaches 150 feet. Within the protection of the halo, all injuries of the targets are transferred to the spell-caster until the spell-caster dies. If the soul is used as the cost, the spellcaster's soul will be destroyed after the spell.

(Note: There must be something in this world that deserves you to sacrifice everything for!)

When the last word was uttered, the benevolent white-haired archbishop stopped. He clasped his hands before his chest, head lowered and body hunched over. Then, golden flames burst from his body. These flames formed a pair of golden wings on his back. They grew quickly until they enveloped the entire magic seal like a mother bird protecting its nest.

Rings of golden runes circled the Magicians inside the magic seal.

Noyo had just arrived beside a Magician. He stabbed at the man with his dagger. The golden runes flowed over, blocking the hit. Not convinced, Noyo stabbed harder. The dagger sunk in slowly but more and more runes appeared before the tip. The resistance grew as well.

I can break through it, but I don't have time! Noyo immediately gave up on this hit and pulled his dagger back. Ignoring these regular Magicians, he ran towards Link.

At the same time, a wound slowly opened on the archbishop's body.

He still stood there, unmoving. His brows didn't even knit. Sacred power surged towards him, healing the fatal wound for him.

Noyo quickly arrived beside Link. His hand moved, and the dagger shot towards Link's back like lightning. He was still in a half-dimensional state.

He planned to turn solid the moment the dagger touched Link. At that time, he would be unstoppable.

That was what he planned, so that was what he did.

But then, there was a cling. His dagger was blocked by the sword in Link's hand. It happened the moment he turned solid!

Link didn't even move, but the body of his sword blocked the dagger perfectly. The dagger's tip was less than three millimeters from the back of his head!

That moment, Link activated the Dragon King's Fury magic sword. His strength multiplied tenfold, and he was five times faster. In two seconds, his physique was comparable to this demon Assassin and might even be stronger.

Noyo ignored his shock. Demon power seeped from the dagger instinctively, and he continued attacking.

Golden runes flowed over—the Halo of Sacrifice. This flow of light once again blocked Noyo's demon power and saved Link's life. The next moment, Link's sword moved and forced Noyo's dagger aside.

I don't believe a Magician knows swordsmanship! Noyo and Link fought.

Link maintained the Soul Slalom while blocking Noyo's attacks.

Cling, clang, bang. There were various sounds and waves of power rippled. Shockwaves spread in all directions before being blocked by the Halo of Sacrifice again.

The Magicians in the magic seal were unharmed but more and more wounds appeared on the archbishop. There were too many for the sacred power to heal.

He still stood there, praying without moving. His body was covered in thousands of wounds, but he still didn't move.

In one second, Noyo stabbed Link 18 times. Other than the first move that was like a sneak attack, the other attacks were no threat to Link. His sword was like a seamless shield that blocked all strikes.

"This is impossible!" Noyo didn't know how to describe his feeling. He wanted to go crazy. As an Assassin, he was beaten by a Magician in martial arts. He'd never experienced anything like this in his 300 years alive!

"How is this possible?!" Kanorse ran over to help. Seeing this, he was shocked too.

He could tell that Link was using basic moves—each move was a basic technique. But these were somehow able to block all the Assassin's attacks. He remembered that Link had just started learning swordsmanship half a month ago. How could he be at this level so quickly?

By then, Nana had already defeated one of Noyo's avatars. She rushed towards Link, ready to attack the demon from the back.

After half a second, Noyo realized that he couldn't defeat this damned Magician's sword with a simple dagger attack. The magic puppet was coming behind him too. He must use all his power!

Battle Skill: Thousand Apparition Attack!

Noyo's body suddenly turned into a cloud of black smoke. Hundreds of overlapping figures appeared in the smoke. They surrounded Link and each one stabbed at him. Noyo was too fast, and there were too many apparitions. It was impossible to distinguish real from fake!

But almost at the same time, there was a soft pop. A Spatial Sphere exploded beside Link.

Restraint!

There were no flaws in the defense of Noyo's battle skill. However, there was a momentary opening while attacking. This gave Link the time to multitask and cast a spell.

Link's Spatial Sphere was at Level-8 by itself. With the magic sword's strengthening, its power was multiplied by seven. It reached the pinnacle of Level-8, almost at Level-9. Under this powerful spell's restraint, Noyo slowed down.

His battle skill was an instantaneous burst of indistinguishable attacks. Now, Link stretched this "instantaneous burst" to half a second, making it ineffective!

Link must maintain the Soul Slalom. He couldn't investigate which was Noyo and which were apparitions, but he had half a second to try each one.

The magic sword sliced past the apparitions. Sizzles sounded in the air, and the apparitions popped like bubbles one by one.

At the 36th one, Link hit a solid object.

Clang! Link found Noyo's true body. There was only half a second left for the Dragon King's Fury magic sword. He used all his strength and stabbed.

Huh? Noyo broke free from the spatial restraint at the same time and saw Link's sword. Panicked, he raised his dagger to block it.

Clang! Link's sword had time to build up and power burst from it completely. Noyo had reacted hurriedly and couldn't block it. He was thrown backwards. The apparitions surrounding him disappeared.

Whoosh. Nana hurried over, wrapped in wind. She was right behind Noyo and reached forward with her dagger. With a squelch, Noyo was stabbed through.

"Oh, ah!" Noyo's cry of pain was short. Then he transformed into smoke and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Nana asked in confusion.

"Over there. He's hurt!" Link pointed towards the wall. After seeing Noyo split into three, he realized what gear the demon used. Now that the stabbed body disappeared like smoke, it confirmed Link's guess.

The Oath Ring was a sacred ring of Assassins. Now, two of the three bodies were killed. If the last one was defeated, the Assassin would be truly dead.

Without needing Link to speak further, Nana turned around and chased after the third body. Kanorse did the same.

At that moment, the archbishop couldn't hold on anymore. He paid his soul to block two attacks from Noyo, saving Link and another Magician. After that, he bore all the shockwaves from the battle for the Magicians in the magic seal. His body was battered now.

The light around him disappeared. With a soft whoosh, he dissolved into a pile of white sand and scattered on the ground.

Seeing this, Link sighed, his heart feeling heavy. "Thank you," he whispered.

Noyo was heavily injured too. His speed of escape was twice as slow. Nana quickly caught up with her extreme speed. Noyo was quite skilled in swordsmanship and could still block Nana even with his injuries. However, he was caught and couldn't escape promptly.

Kanorse caught up soon after. Two against one, Kanorse beheaded the demon after a few rounds!

At this time, the godly technique had already lasted for more than a minute. The deep blue whirlpool remained in the sky. Aymons' dark godly technique was ineffective.

During his final moments, he stared at the deep blue Soul Slalom and sighed. "Ah, the sacrifice of my soul was meaningless!"

As soon as he finished, the light on his body disappeared as well. His body caved in. The Divine Gear that had transformed into a giant snake now returned to a snake-headed whip.

The whip flickered between real and apparition then vanished with a pop!

The Dark Serpent had existed long enough in Firuman and was already about to be forced out. The dark godly technique was the straw that broke the camel's back.

After it disappeared, the dark vortex in the sky scattered. A beam of sacred light shone through again.

On the square, all Magicians were exhausted. They'd practically squeezed their bodies dry for Mana. After the godly technique disappeared, all the Magicians collapsed. Other than Link and Milda, the others fell unconscious.

Milda looked withered as well. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and her starry eyes were dull. She sat on the ground listlessly and looked blankly at Link. "Did we succeed?"

Link was in the best state, but he looked exhausted too. He still had 3000 Dragon Power points and was regenerating at 20 points per second. He nodded. "Yes, we succeeded."

"Good, good." Milda's eyes closed and she fell asleep on the ground.

In the Black Forest, the black-haired girl watched everything and sighed with knitted brows. "Ah, so boring. Not fun at all!"

However, even though all tactics to reduce loss had failed, the Dark Army still had a great advantage in the battle. The girl gathered her patience to continue watching.

The Light Army had won in the fight of the godly technique, but on the battlefield, they were in danger. The fight was burning white-hot. Hundreds of lives were lost every second.

Not even five seconds after the Soul Slalom disappeared, there was a giant boom. The outer wall of the Orida Fortress was 300 feet tall, 150 feet thick, and had been reinforced countless times. Now, a hole was created by the last One-eyed Mountain Demon.

It was killed immediately after but the wall was breached!

The Dark Army poured through the opening.