Chapter 11: The Clash (Part 2)

"Huh?" On the road not far from Airi City, a man riding a horse looked in the direction of Whispering Forest, astonished.

Beside the man was a blonde woman in full knight's armor, and she, too, seemed to feel the magical disturbance in the air. She turned to the man and asked, "What's happening?"

"Whatever it is, it's not good. We need to move quickly," the man's expression changed, and he urged his horse into a gallop towards Whispering Forest. The female knight hesitated for a moment, then immediately followed him.

Meanwhile, in the far distance, high in the sky, three air elementals, carrying three people, were also speeding towards the same location.

"Lord Tamik, it's that direction." A white magical eye orb floated above the head of the Holy Warrior. The orb was not very large but exceptionally agile, rotating above the Holy Warrior's head and scanning the surroundings. Now, its glowing white pupil was fixed on the front.

"Can you sense the thing the Pope instructed us to find?" Tamik still wore a blank expression. The air elemental he was riding sped through the high sky, and the wind was so fierce that it was difficult for the other two Holy Warriors to open their eyes. Their voices had to be almost shouted to be heard. Tamik, however, remained calm, speaking softly, but his voice clearly reached the ears of the other two.

"Strange magical fluctuations—three of them. These are unlike anything I've sensed before," the Holy Warrior answered. He let out a sigh of relief as the magical eyeball, glowing white, returned to circle around his body.

After using this magic, the Holy Warrior appeared somewhat strained. The White Magic's "Divine Eye" required immense willpower and sacrifice to master, and only a few could learn it. Its use drained a considerable amount of magical energy, and in terms of convenience and precision, it couldn't compare to the Water Magic "Divine Eye." However, the unique sensitivity of White Magic allowed for an extensive range of perception, making the user almost like a living magical map when activated.

Those who could wield such a power were undoubtedly rare talents. Like Tamik, they directly report only to the Pope.

"Also, the mages from the Tooth Tower have begun fighting. I can sense that the strongest among them seems to be casting a powerful spell in the air. They are likely after the same thing. As for us..."

"Take everything, kill everyone." Tamik Knight replied. His face remained expressionless, and his words were blunt, as if describing a piece of wood, his voice just as impassive.

Arrows rained down from every direction, coming from the elf archers hidden among the dense network of Deadwood Guards and ancient trees—ideal cover for them. The mages seemed unable to discern where the arrows were coming from. However, the arrows didn't have much effect. Surrounding the mages was a nearly impenetrable ring of nearly a hundred elemental giants, forming a protective barrier. Even though the elves' precise shots could pass through gaps between the elemental guardians, the protective magic on the mages rendered these arrows little more than a way to deplete the magical shields around them.

Each mage here was of master-level skill, and their elemental protective spells were at the peak of their power. In particular, the Hurricane Shield surrounding each mage would immediately blow away any arrows that came close, rendering them ineffective. Even if an arrow did manage to get past the shield, each mage's body was further protected by thick earth-based magical armor, which was nearly impervious to even sword or axe strikes. Additionally, the floating flame shields and water barriers around them were both thick and agile, proving more effective than a warrior's physical shield.

The elves' nature-based magic was utterly helpless against the destructive power of elemental magic, particularly fire magic. Whether it was the Deadwood Guards, poison vines, or poisonous insects, all were reduced to dust by the blazing flames and lightning, unable to put up any significant resistance.

In a one-on-one situation, the ever-changing nature magic might have been more effective, but in this scenario, a few fire mages in the group were specifically assigned to handle defense. With their effortless use of fire walls, flame shields, and blazing auras, the forest was essentially sealed off, leaving no gaps for nature magic to slip through. No matter how inventive or numerous the summoned insects, vines, and creatures were, they couldn't break through the impenetrable fiery defenses.

The mages had already ventured some distance into the forest, and hundreds of Deadwood Guards had gathered outside. However, despite this, the mages didn't stop their advance. They continued pressing forward, expanding their massive encirclement, relentlessly pushing deeper into the forest.

The Deadwood Guards at the front swung their enormous wooden arms at the earth elementals, creating dull, booming impacts as rocks and dirt flew in every direction. The earth elementals responded by using their massive stone bodies to charge and smash through, clearing a path forward. With each swing, more Deadwood Guards were shattered into piles of debris. As the fallen guardians were replaced by new ones, the mages continued their relentless march deeper into the heart of the forest.

The water arrows fired by the water elementals did little to damage the massive Deadwood Guards. Instead, they often targeted the exposed elves. Occasionally, an elf would scream as a water jet struck them, sending them flying and crashing to the ground, their bones shattered, reduced to a state akin to mud. The fire elementals, on the other hand, relentlessly advanced, setting the Deadwood Guards ablaze, while air elementals flew through the air, launching tiny lightning strikes from their cloudy bodies. However, the air elementals, having expended much of their elemental power during their long journey, were quickly dispersed by the mighty blows of the Deadwood Guards.

A massive explosion followed as two fire mages cast Infernal Blaze, filling the sky with flames and debris. It was like two enormous fireworks exploding among the Deadwood Guards. Then, a brilliant beam of sunlight-like light swept across the guardians' bodies, slicing through them from the ground up, cutting through the forest for over a hundred meters before it finally dissipated into the air.

Dozens of the Deadwood Guards collapsed in flames, their wooden bodies turning to charcoal even before coming into contact with the Blazing Nova spell. Along with them were the more than ten elves hidden within the Deadwood Guards, instantly charred to a crisp. The trajectory of the lightball ignited everything flammable in its path, creating a sea of fire within the forest. Anything with water content, any living creature, was utterly doomed under the overwhelming power of such a spell.

This was the reason the mages could push so deep into the forest. The enormous destructive power of the elemental magic had obliterated countless Deadwood Guards along the way, and at least a hundred elves had been reduced to charred fragments alongside the Deadwood Guards in the violent explosions and flames.

It wasn't just fire that was deadly; ice was even more lethal. Huge ice balls would occasionally form from the water mage's hands, shooting out to penetrate the gaps between the Deadwood Guards before exploding into countless magical ice spikes.

These ice spikes did little damage to the Deadwood Guards' massive wooden bodies, but they were deadly to the fragile elven bodies. Each explosion of ice could result in a chorus of screams, as the elves hiding behind the Deadwood Guards were nailed to the guardians' trunks by the widespread ice spikes.

The fire mage who had cast the powerful fireball staggered, his legs giving way. That had been the last of his magical power. The destructive power of such a spell was immense, but it drained a tremendous amount of magic energy. Having cast four of those spells, he had exhausted all his reserves and could no longer even stand.

But just as he collapsed, a flash of green light shot past, about half a foot above his head. The Grand Mage's white hair and scalp flew off, turning into a cloud of dust. Another mage in the trajectory of the green light let out a scream as a massive transparent hole appeared in his body, blood spurting out as he immediately fell to the ground. The green light, after passing through two water elemental giants and one fire elemental giant, shattered half of an earth elemental's body before dissipating.

This was already the third time they had been targeted by this green light since entering the forest, and each time it claimed the life of at least one mage. This was practically the only effective damage the elves had managed to inflict on the mages. However, through these attacks, the mages had also realized something: this terrifying archer didn't seem to be able to shoot continuously and had to wait a while before firing again. Moreover, it seemed that only this particular archer had such terrifying firepower in the entire forest.

"There!" a floating air mage suddenly shouted. His eyes gleamed with a terrifying light, making it appear as though he had two glowing night pearls in place of eyes—this was the effect of the top-tier Eagle Eye skill, which enhanced his vision. His sight was now even better than that of a hawk or eagle swooping down from several thousand meters to catch a mouse.

Since earlier, this air mage had been floating in the lower sky, doing nothing but relying on the surrounding elemental giants and his own hurricane shield for protection from the arrows. He had been waiting for that one arrow, waiting to pinpoint the one responsible for shooting it.

As soon as the air mage's words were out, all the other mages made their move. The archer who had fired the green light was their only real threat. Every fallen mage had been one of their comrades, their friends. Each time they saw them fall, torn apart, the fury and grief nearly drove the remaining mages into madness.