Advent of the Archmage
chapter-484

The sound of a man panting heavily could be heard.

The man whom Link had brought with him had a glazed look on his face. His body swayed about restlessly when he was seated on a chair. Even though he was surrounded by the corpses of fallen priests and fresh blood on the ground, he did not seem at all concerned.

He stared dumbly at nothing in particular, as if the world around him had nothing to do with him whatsoever.

All the priests on the scene were shocked at the sight of him.

"He's close to losing all reason. We need to start treating him now," Link said to the archbishop. With a rush of Dragon Power, Link gently raised a piece of rock from the ground till it reached a foot high and formed a cylindrical platform.

Link then set a white translucent crystal, almost as big as one's head, on the platform.

The crystal was a dodecahedron. There was a transparent layer on its surface, almost an inch thick. Deeper within the crystal, a jumble of runes swirled around like a white fog. One would actually pass out from any attempts to make sense of the swirling motion within.

This was the Divine Power Focal Crystal that Link had spent a whole night sculpting.

The archbishop placed a hand on the left side of the crystal, with Link on the right. Both of them looked at each other, then released a flow of their power into the crystal.

When both powers entered the crystal, milky white on one side and crimson on the other, the runes within began swirling even more quickly. Its color had changed as well; after letting both powers seep through, the entire crystal was now a milky white shade.

Half a second later, there was a soft hum, and a pale red ray of light shone forth from the crystal.

Link already had a Spatial Distortion spell waiting outside the crystal. Once the ray of light hit the distorted space, it would immediately be refracted onto the body of the infected.

The infected man trembled violently, his empty eyes now forced wide open. The man's body shook for 20 seconds, before falling forward to the ground. He lay there, devoid of any sign of life.

The archbishop swallowed, then said nervously, "He's dead."

Their Dispel spell had failed. With the whole city in the grip of the epidemic, if they could not come up with something to deal with it soon, the infected would be left running rampant throughout the city and eventually spilling out across the city borders. The archbishop dared not imagine what would happen later at that point.

Unfazed by this, Link kneeled down beside the corpse with one hand holding the Burning Wrath of Heavens. He then proceeded to prod at the infected man's body, scanning for any abnormalities in it.

Half a minute later, he stood up. "I found the reason why the spell didn't work."

The disease had been dispelled in the man's body, but it could not withstand the strain of the two powers clashing in it.

Now, he knew that he only needed to add a healing spell around the Dispel spell. This would mend any damage caused by the clash of powers in the infected person's body.

He went back to the Focal Crystal and began making a few modifications to it.

The archbishop waited patiently on one side, while the other priests began carrying away the bodies of their fallen brethren. Three minutes later, there was a commotion outside the church. Inhuman screams could be heard from it, and in the midst of the pandemonium, someone was calling for help.

Celine rushed out through the great door. A moment later, there was the sound of gunshots from outside. Ten seconds later, Celine came back in, with a few other common folk following behind her in a state of panic.

"How's the situation?" asked the archbishop quietly.

"Some of the people have started showing symptoms and are now randomly biting others in the city," whispered Celine.

The archbishop went pale, then turned to look at Link. Link kept working on the crystal, as if he had not heard a word from their exchange. His hand was radiating off a crimson cloud of light. Bits of it seeped into the crystal like drops of red ink.

Upon closer inspection, the red light spreading across the crystal was actually composed of thin, spidery filaments, each of them manipulating a rune in the crystal with surgical precision.

Five minutes passed, and Link, who had been working on the crystal without moving an inch, finally let out a deep breath. The red light in his hand faded away, and he looked completely exhausted.

Link had been hard at work on the crystal, studying the magic behind it without rest ever since he reached Hapsburg. Even at peak physical condition, maintaining his concentration for ten minutes straight had put a considerable strain on his mental faculties.

Celine was most familiar with Link's physical condition. Seeing the look of exhaustion on his face, she asked with a tone of concern, "Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"I'm alright." Link recollected himself, then said to the archbishop, "There seems to be no problem now."

He swept his gaze across the people who had entered the church. His eyes fell on a middle-aged woman with a dazed expression. "Let's start with her."

At that point, Link did not bother asking for anyone's permission to be used as a guinea pig. He no longer had the time to blame himself for accidentally killing any of his subjects during his experimentations. RIght now, Link simply needed to make all the necessary adjustments to his spell till he found an effective cure for the epidemic, no matter how many times he had to fail.

Considering the urgency of the matter at hand, the archbishop did not object to this. He infused his Divine Power into the crystal alongside Link's Dragon Power once more. A ray of dim red light shone out from the combination of both powers in the crystal.

This time, the ray of light seemed softer than before. A layer of mist could be seen surrounding it as well, as it hit the middle-aged woman.

The lady's body began trembling violently for a long period of time.

As she trembled, all the priests in the church had their eyes fixed on the woman's face, hoping that the spell would work this time.

After about a minute, the woman's trembling began to slow down. Finally, she stopped shaking altogether. Her previously lifeless eyes now came alive. She looked around at her surroundings, perplexed. "What happened? Why am I here?"

Her speech was clear, and the lifelessness on her face from before had disappeared without a trace, as her cheeks were now flushed with life.

The middle-aged man beside her, presumably her husband, shouted with joy, "Mileia, you're cured! This is great news!"

He then turned towards Link and the archbishop, and knelt down on the ground before them with a thump. He said with tears of gratitude, "By the God of Light, my humblest thanks to both of you!"

The archbishop and the other priests let out a collective sigh of relief. They were told that the the epidemic in the North was all but incurable, even with their divine spells. When they got here, the nightmarish state of the streets had sent a chill down their spines, and they all feared that there was nothing they could do at that point.

But now, they had finally found a way to purge the city of the disease!

The archbishop looked at Link and said, "Master Link, thank the heavens you're here with us!"

Link too was overjoyed at this, but he knew this was just the beginning. "Alright, now's not the time to celebrate. There's still a lot of people out there who needs our help."

He held out a hand which shone with the same red light, and directed the light once again into the crystal. Seeing this, the archbishop followed suit, and infused his Divine Power into the crystal as well.

Around ten beams of light radiated out of the crystal at the same time, hitting the remaining refugees in the church.

Unlike the middle-aged woman, the other ten people were not as seriously infected. When the beam of light entered their bodies, their bodies trembled as well, though not as violently as before. A young man shook only for a few seconds before returning to normal.

He leapt up in joy, then said, "I feel better than ever!"

"Yeah, me too. My joints don't hurt as much as before," said an old man. This must be a side effect of Link applying his Dragon Power in his treatment.

Though none of them knew the archbishop, they had heard rumors of the Magician known as Link.

Now cured of the disease, every one of them came forward to express their gratitude for curing them.

Of course, Link had no time for any of this. He turned to the archbishop and the other priests behind him. "Let's go, to the church square. There's still many of the infected running rampant in the city. We need to cast the Dispel spell on a larger scale."

The Dispel spell would be used on ordinary folk. On account of the exceedingly low amount of magical toxin in a normal human body, he only needed to expend no more than 0.1 Dragon Power points every time he cast the spell on someone.

The priests were all Level-6. Altogether, they possessed at least 10,000 Divine Power points, which was more than enough to overcome the Level-8 Naga Priest who had been spreading the epidemic. In theory, they could dispel the epidemic completely with their current power level.

Of course, they were on a deadline, as the infected were all scattered throughout the city. To speed up the process, they would need a particular magical technique.

Only Link knew how to go about this.

When everyone finally reached the church square, Link began etching out magical runes across the square. He was using a high-level magical sealing technique.

Dragon Power flowed out from him, and began shaping itself into runes in the air. The runes then hit the ground with a bang, sending bits of dirt flying up. Before long, a magical rune spread out across the ground clear as day. A band of light whirred through it, indicating that the rune was fully charged up.

Three minutes later, a magic seal with a diameter of more than ten feet began taking form across the ground. It activated itself immediately upon completion. Above the seal, a half-transparent silhouette with a diameter of more than a hundred feet hung in the air.

Link threw the Focal Crystal at the silhouette. The crystal dangled in the translucent shape as if caught in an unseen web. An instant later, runes rushed out from the crystal till they completely covered the silhouette in the air.

The silhouette was now a magnified version of the Focal Crystal.

Link shouted, "Priests, concentrate your Divine Power into it!"

Stunned momentarily by this, the priests regained their senses immediately and did as they were told. Link stepped forward and projected his Dragon Power into the silhouette as well.

With the infusion of the two powers, the silhouette gradually grew brighter and brighter till it was almost blinding, as if the sun itself had fallen to the earth.

The priests had all but exhausted most of the Divine Power, and some of them had collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion. Even the archbishop could not bear the strain. He staggered, on the verge of collapse, but was helped up from behind by the people of Gladstone who had been cured by him.

At that point, Link only had 3000 Dragon Power points in him.

"Now!"

Link willed the dazzling ball of light up into the air. He levitated alongside it, and together, both of them flew up 2000 feet into the air before coming to a halt.

Just then, none of them could see where Link was in the air, as he was completely overshadowed by the brilliant ball of light.

The orb of light was overflowing with Divine Power, turning all heads in Gladstone City towards it in the air. 80 miles away on the main road, Duke Abel, Katyusha and Molina, too, felt the power radiating from it.

"Such power!"

They looked at each other with a mix of dread and shock.

Back in Gladstone City, the light orb hovered in the air for a few seconds, then exploded with a bang like fireworks.

Countless beams of red light fell from the sky like a meteor shower. This luminescent rain fell over all of Gladstone City like a blessing from the God of Light.

On the ground, the archbishop and his priests, as well as the people who had been cured back in the church, all knelt on the ground, both hands clasped together in prayer.

"O almighty God of Light, thank you for blessing us with your light. Our most magnanimous God of Light, thank you for gracing us with the presence of the Child of Light!"

Before, the rumor that Link was the God of Light's chosen one never warranted any serious thought from anyone, but now, everyone on the church square believed wholeheartedly that Link, who had blessed them with this miracle, represented the God of Light in human form.

The dim red light bathed the city, and in an instant, like the virgin snow under the sun, the epidemic melted away without a trace.

The archbishop felt it. He whispered, "The snow has melted."

A hundred feet away, Duke Abel and the others felt the sudden change in the air as well. As the Naga Priest, Molina was able to sense it most clearly. She stopped walking, then let out a sigh. "Didn't really think he would be able to dispel the epidemic."

"What do you mean?" Katyusha was shocked.

Duke Abel turned to her as well, waiting for an explanation from her.

Both of them heard Molina perfectly, but her words did not make an ounce of sense to them.

There were over 10,000 people in Gladstone City, and most of the infected were scattered throughout the city. Letting the infection loose among them was a simple affair. All it took was simply introducing the toxin into the water supply of the city.

On the other hand, dispelling this kind of destructive magic was a more troublesome matter.

The caster needed to disperse the combination of Dark Magic Power and Destructive Power from the infected person's body, and shield the body from any resulting damage at the same time.

To cure one person was possible, but curing tens of thousands of people at the same time was just beyond the realm of possibility.

Such a feat was not unlike trying to unravel a heavily jumbled bundle of rope.

"I don't know how he did it. Is this the power of a Legendary Magician?" Molina sighed again.

"What now?" Duke Abel asked. With the epidemic purged, he had lost all justification to slaughter the inhabitants of Gladstone City.

Katyusha chuckled coldly. "Why, we proceed as planned. Only we know the epidemic has been purged, but the soldiers don't. Since you're the marshall here, who's to stop you from doing whatever you want?"

Duke Abel paused at this, then nodded. "Alright, let's move on!"

He was now a faithful servant of the God of Destruction at this point.