Chapter 61: Purgatory Paradise

The temple knight's spear was bent, and blood seeped from his hands. He had managed to block the arrow, but the tremendous impact shattered his already chaotic combat energy and momentum, sending him flying backward. Fortunately, the sheer physical force didn't cause significant damage.

At that moment, the swords of the other two temple knights were already in front of the red-haired woman. Though their momentum and killing intent had weakened due to the earlier disruption, these were still the strikes of two temple knights—two of the finest human swordsmen. The lethality of their attacks wasn't much weaker than that of the minotaurs' massive axes.

The red-haired woman was coughing. Though her yellow eyes now burned with anger and killing intent, her expression grew even more exhausted after that roar. Yet, in this weakened state, she raised her fists to meet the two temple knights.

Even the shortest sword, combined with the reach of the temple knights' arms, was longer than the woman's fists. Moreover, these were magical longswords, each over a meter in length. The two knights didn't hesitate, maintaining their thrusts. Their swords would pierce through the woman before her fists could reach them.

But then they saw her fists rapidly enlarging before their eyes. With two dull thuds, the enlarged fists struck their chests, leaving deep dents in their glory armor and sending both knights flying.

The enlargement of the fists wasn't an optical illusion—they had genuinely grown larger and longer, allowing them to strike the knights before the swords could reach her. As the red-haired woman swung her arms, they had transformed into thick, elongated limbs covered in black scales. However, the transformation came at a cost: deep wounds now marred her arms, the black scales torn away to reveal bloody flesh. The temple knights, in the instant they were struck, had altered their thrusts into slashes. Though the black scales and flesh were incredibly tough, the magical swords infused with combat energy could cut through even steel.

But it wasn't just her arms that had changed. The red-haired woman was gone, replaced by a rapidly expanding black, massive body.

Black scales, gleaming with a dark luster like millennia-forged obsidian, covered the massive yet sleek form. A pair of enormous leathery wings stretched behind it—menacing, yet exuding an undeniable majesty. Its head, reminiscent of a fearsome crocodile, bore a set of piercing yellow eyes that radiated a presence of absolute dominance, gazing down upon all living things with an air of supreme authority.

 "Moriel!" The minotaur priests roared in unison. Though they had already guessed the true identity of the strange red-haired woman, seeing the massive form with their own eyes was still enough to evoke awe and terror.

This was the guardian deity of the dark elves, the most powerful being in Nigen, the mastermind behind it all—the black dragon Moriel.

Legends spoke of many such powerful creatures in ancient times, but now, across the entire continent, Moriel was the only confirmed dragon in existence. She might also be the most powerful being on the continent.

Yet, in the eyes of this most powerful being, there was now a mix of shock and anger—not just because of the wounds on her forelimbs, but also because of the sight of a sword, a massive sword formed entirely of white light.

The three temple knights who had been sent flying hadn't even landed yet when the enormous, cross-shaped light sword shot toward Moriel, who had just transformed back into her dragon form. At the center of the light sword was the figure of the paladin Lancelote, who had poured all his combat energy and strength into this single strike.

Welleskay's first arrow had been merely the prelude, and the combined attack of the three temple knights was just the interlude. Lancelote's full-powered Holy Light Cross Sword was the true climax.

The coordination among the temple knights required no words or planning. The moment they saw Moriel's human form retreating, they knew how to attack to achieve the most devastating effect.

Welleskay's arrow and the combined attack of the three knights were merely means to wear down their opponent. They had known from the start who they were facing and that no single attack would be truly effective. Thus, they had laid the groundwork, saving the strongest strike for Lancelote to deliver at the end.

All the minotaur priests closed their eyes and covered their ears. The white light from the Holy Light Cross Sword was blinding, and the sound it made made them feel as if the entire cavern had been shattered by the massive light sword.

Moriel's massive body hadn't yet recovered from the rapid transformation, and the previous two attacks had pushed her stamina to its limit. She no longer had the strength to dodge or block.

A strange dragon's roar erupted from Moriel's mouth. Though it was a single roar, it seemed to contain countless layered syllables. As the roar echoed, a wall of ice, a wall of earth, a wall of fire, and a barrier of crackling lightning materialized in mid-air, blocking the path of the oncoming Holy Light Cross Sword. At the same time, several thick bolts of lightning and ice spikes shot toward the paladin.

The four elemental magics of earth, water, fire, and wind had been cast simultaneously with a single roar. Though these weren't the most advanced spells, any mage on the continent who witnessed this would have been stunned into silence and forced to revisit the fundamentals of magical theory.

But this feat, which would have humbled any mage, proved ineffective. The lightning bolts and ice spikes disintegrated upon contact with the light sword's outer aura, and the four layered elemental barriers shattered like thin glass under the overwhelming sharpness of the light sword.

With a crack, crimson blood erupted like a torrent under the pure white holy light, followed by a piercing dragon's roar that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire underground world of Nigen.

Talice still held Ayime tightly in her arms. The glow of the luminescent moss illuminated her face, which alternated between anger and confusion. Her long hair was disheveled, and her clothes were haphazardly draped over her body, a far cry from her usual composed and heroic demeanor.

Ayime curled up in Talice' arms like a kitten, biting her lip lightly. Her large eyes flickered with a strange, dazed expression. She was clever enough to understand what had just happened, though she found it hard to believe and even harder to accept.

Asa hadn't been gone for long. The tremors from above and the massive elemental fluctuations below had ceased, leaving only a strange warmth emanating from the ground. The cavern had returned to its usual calm, with the sound of the flowing river being the only noise. The two of them remained motionless, locked in their embrace.

Suddenly, a piercing cry echoed from the depths of the earth. Though filled with anguish, the sheer grandeur and undeniable majesty within the sound jolted both individuals awake instantly.

"What's happening? What is that sound?" Aimee trembled with fear. There was something unnervingly powerful about the voice—it carried a strange, overwhelming force that shook her to the core, rattling her sensitive nerves.

Talice, also startled, looked in the direction of the sound. After a moment of hesitation, she glanced down at Ayime and said, "We need to leave here now."

"But what about brother Asa…" Ayime also looked in the direction of the sound, where Asa had gone.

A strange expression flickered across Talice' face before she said flatly, "Don't worry about him. This place is full of strange things now, and it might be dangerous. I need to get you out of here."

Ayime hesitated, seemingly unsure of what to say. Suddenly, her gaze fell on a spot on the ground not far away, and she exclaimed, "Sister, look! What's that?"

It seemed that the earlier tremors and elemental fluctuations had caused the ground to sink in one area, revealing a sizable crack with flickering light emanating from below. The two of them approached the crack and could even hear faint sounds coming from beneath.

It turned out that the ground here wasn't solid rock but a thin layer of stone separating this cavern from a much larger one below. From the sounds, it seemed far more lively down there. They had been too preoccupied by the river and their own distracted states to notice earlier.

 "Stop him! Stop him now!" Shaman Timmah, upon seeing the temple knight and the scroll in his hand, completely lost his usual composure and bellowed.

Before he even finished shouting, the evil eye leader's massive eye had already unleashed a beam of light as thick as an arm, shooting toward the temple knight on the rock wall.

The temple knight hadn't yet had time to unfurl the scroll. Seeing the evil eye's massive eye turn toward him, he had no choice but to leap aside to avoid the beam. With a hiss, the beam burned a large hole into the rock wall.

"Don't let him use that scroll! It's the forbidden light spell, Purgatory Paradise!" Timmah's booming voice echoed across the battlefield, causing even the battling minotaurs and dark elves to pause momentarily.

Just as the scroll was about to be unfurled, a faint trace of its leaking magical energy was enough for Shaman Timmah to recognize it instantly.

Two hundred years ago, during the great war between Nigon and the Church, such a forbidden spell scroll had been used to reduce tens of thousands of Nigon's troops to ashes. Back then, Timmah had not yet been a Shaman, but he had witnessed firsthand the devastating power of those towering white flames. The sheer, all-consuming magical energy of that destruction was something he could never forget.