Chapter 66: Timmah’s Hidden Card

The only use of the incredibly valuable Space Lock scroll was to prevent all teleportation magic in the surrounding space for a period of time. Under such circumstances, the minotaur priest's intention was now clear. Lancelote felt a chill starting to spread in his heart. He realized that it wasn't only him, or even only the Pope, who was capable of scheming in the shadows.

He had considered this possibility, but aside from Shaman Timmah, no other minotaur had ever been a real concern for the temple knights. Most importantly, a species like the minotaurs, with their underdeveloped magical culture, should not have the ability to craft such advanced magical artifacts. Even Celeste did not possess a Gravity Field scroll of this caliber.

In other words, these scrolls, or rather the trap behind them, were not solely the minotaur's design... but now was not the time to dig deeper into such matters, because no matter the answer, it was irrelevant to the dead.

"It is truly thanks to you, esteemed temple knights, for solving the greatest problem with Moriel," the minotaur priest finally spoke. He stood in the passage outside the cave, on the edge of the gravity field. "But Shaman Timmah has given instructions. As the greatest existence of Nigen for centuries, Moriel should certainly have company in her burial. Although I'm not sure where the other two temple knights have gone, I'm sure Shaman Timmah will be very pleased to see you all eliminated."

The minotaur priest spoke fluently in the human language, which indicated his high status. He was undoubtedly among the brightest of these otherwise not-so-intelligent monsters. Otherwise, he wouldn't have revealed his true intentions only in this desperate moment.

As he watched the few temple knights, who had originally been no match for him, struggling to regain their footing, the minotaur priest revealed a look of smug satisfaction that was hard for other races to imitate. He snorted loudly, and a gleam of light flickered in his massive bovine eyes. Each of these temple knights had at least a hundred minotaur lives on their hands, and the holy knight Lancelote, in particular, had been a nightmarish legend in Nigen for more than a decade. Killing them would not only bring a sense of accomplishment and revenge, but also serve as a significant step up in his status within the tribe.

Lancelote didn't say another word; he couldn't. He felt that what flowed through his veins was not blood, but mercury, and his heart was barely able to sustain his body. The full force of the Holy Light Cross Sword had already drained all of his power, and the center of this gravity field magic seemed to be right around him.

With a few clattering noises, the three temple knights who had cooperated to strike Moriel struggled to move toward the cave entrance. Every step of their steel-plated boots caused the rock to crack, and they were hunched over, their once light and agile forms now resembling old men carrying a heavy burden on their backs. Though their radiant armor was still emitting the blessing of the Heavens, the weight of the armor in this situation was enough to crush a bull. Their energy and strength had already been nearly depleted from their earlier combined attack on Moriel, and although the white magic healed their wounds, their expended energy and stamina couldn't be restored.

The rocky ground began to crack continuously under the immense force of gravity. The cave shook, and rocks continued to fall from above. A small rock struck one of the temple knights, and with a loud crash, the rock shattered, sending debris flying. Surprisingly, the temple knight was nearly knocked to the ground by this blow. If it had hit his head, his skull would have likely been crushed. Under these gravity-altered conditions, falling rocks were even more deadly than magic.

Welleskay raised his golden bow, pulling back the string and nocking an arrow. This motion, one he had performed countless times, now seemed incredibly difficult. His arm muscles and veins looked as though they might burst through his skin, and sweat poured down his forehead like a race.

The anti-magic arrow shot out, carrying the temple knight's remaining strength. The sound of the arrow slicing through the air was like tearing through dozens of thick layers of cowhide. However, in the now dense air, thickened by the gravity field, the arrow that should have been as fast as thunder and lightning appeared to slow down, and it seemed to veer off course. The minotaur priest awkwardly dodged, and the arrow struck the rock wall behind him with a tremendous bang, cracking a large section of the wall.

At the same moment he shot the arrow, Welleskay fell to the ground, almost faster than the arrow. The hard rock ground caved in under the weight of his body and radiant armor, creating a deep crater. The rock shards pierced his body, and even the smallest wound quickly bled profusely.

Meanwhile, the other three temple knights fired white beams of light at the dodging minotaur priest. However, the fire elementals moved slightly, and the beams of light disappeared into their fiery bodies like mud sinking into the sea.

The temple knights' faces darkened. The light arrow technique, originally used for dealing with undead creatures, was the only white magic that could have any effect in this situation. Despite their immense combat strength, temple knights were primarily trained for support and dispelling magic, which made white magic most suitable for them. However, this was gravity, not a curse. The white magic they specialized in, such as dispelling and blessings, had no effect at all.

Not all of the temple knights were knight. As the continent's top combat force, the group naturally also included mages skilled in elemental attack magic. There had originally been two mages on the mission to Nigen, but the black dragon was nearly immune to all elemental magic, so even their presence here had been limited in effectiveness. More importantly, they had been assigned other secret missions by the Pope. Their absence had now become a fatal flaw.

The minotaur priest peeked out from behind the fire elementals, showing half his face. A cruel smile spread across his bovine features. In his hands, he now held three scrolls and a magic staff. If this were any other time, even with these scrolls, he would never have been able to hit opponents like the temple knights. But now, within the gravity field, the five of them were nothing more than live targets for him.

Both Lancelote and the temple knights were filled with a sense of despair. They could already guess what kind of scrolls the minotaur priest was holding, and they knew that under these circumstances, there was no way they could dodge them. From the look of the scrolls, it was clear that this wasn't just the minotaur's trap—there were other people involved.

The mastermind behind this trap, whether in the design or in the selection of these scrolls, had crafted a flawless plan. Not only had they gone unnoticed, but they had also perfectly blended into the shadows of the temple knights' own actions. By the time their true intentions were revealed, they had left the temple knights no chance to react.

Right now, this dragon and the five most elite human warriors were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter before the minotaur priest, trapped under the overwhelming power of his magic scrolls.

However, at that moment, a sudden commotion echoed from the passage leading outside, accompanied by the distinct heavy footsteps of battle lizards.

"Reinforcements? What's going on with Shaman Timmah? Why are reinforcements coming here?" The minotaur priest turned his head to see a group of dark elves, with the war lizard at the front carrying lizard knights charging toward them. The lizard knights also spotted the minotaur priest and shouted as they charged forward.

Although the minotaur priest was somewhat surprised, he wasn't overly panicked. The scroll that was originally intended for Lancelote was now directed at the dark elf forces in the tunnel.

A dazzling ball of light shot from the minotaur priest's hand, enveloped in an intense heatwave as it raced toward the dark elf reinforcements. The lead lizard knight only had time to emit a piercing scream before being engulfed by the extreme heat of the Blazing Nova, his body turning into a mass of blackened remains.

The fireball only dissipated when it crashed into the corner of the passage, and by the time it did, the once fierce lizard knights had all been reduced to charred corpses, the smell of burnt flesh filling the entire corridor.

However, the noise from the passage only grew louder. More dark elf soldiers and knights poured into the minotaur priest's line of sight from the corner. The sight of the charred corpses did nothing to halt their charge as they continued to shout and rush forward. Judging by the increasing sounds from the passage, more dark elves were surely coming.

The minotaur priest was beginning to panic. In a hurry, he quickly unrolled two more scrolls, launching two Thunderclap Bombs at the ceiling of the passage. With a tremendous crash, the entire ceiling collapsed, large rocks tumbling down and filling the passage, blocking all the dark elf reinforcements outside. However, it was clear that this obstruction wouldn't hold for long.

The minotaur priest turned his head to look at the struggling temple knights, still trying to advance through the gravitational field. Although the three most powerful scrolls had already been used, he still had a Lightning Wand and two Fire Elementals at his disposal.

The fire elemental giants, made purely of fire, had no weight, making them the only beings capable of moving in this gravity-defying environment. One of the fire elementals floated toward the nearest temple knight, while the minotaur priest, still hiding behind one of the elementals, waved his hand. White lightning shot out from the wand, striking one of the knights.

With a crackle, the knight screamed in pain and collapsed. Despite sparks of electricity surging from his body, the injuries didn't seem to be fatal. The magical resistance of his glory armor, combined with his own exceptional physique, was sufficient to withstand this mid-tier magic. However, fear began to show in the knight's eyes as the fire elemental drifted closer to him.