Chapter 55: Show Some Respect for My Flora
The giant stood fifty meters tall, its upper body bare, revealing a muscular and scarred torso. Its lower body was clad in a bone-plated skirt. Eight massive arms, like those of a spider, extended from its body in a circular array. Only one arm was original; the other seven were attached to the torso with a network of magical runes, a more effective stitching method than needles and thread. Its neck had been severed and a dragon’s head sewn onto the wound with magical runes.
Towering soul flames blazed, illuminating a kilometer-wide area despite their inherent dimness. The stench of death swept across the snowy plains, causing startled birds to plummet from the sky—the mere residual energy of the necromantic spell was enough to drain their life force.
With each slight movement of the giant, the ground trembled, even making Abyss unsteady on his feet.
This was power beyond measure, the highest level of necromancy! Abyss had to admit that he had underestimated the enemy, seeing him arrive alone.
A torrent of magical energy converged around the giant. Even the most inept apprentice mage could sense the raging maelstrom of mana, swirling like a tornado, being devoured by the giant’s massive form. Each of its eight hands held a spell, ready to unleash—fire, lightning, radiant light, all kinds of magic. Those hands, forty or fifty times larger than a human’s, held spells of equally magnified scale!
Above Golden Griffin City, a colossal, semi-circular magic circle suddenly flared to life. Countless runes, arranged in a circle, spun like gears in a frenzy. Then, layer upon layer of the circle materialized, growing from one to seven, enveloping the entire city. This was the city’s defensive barrier at full power, indicating that the mages within had entered a state of high alert, alarmed by the enemy’s display of power.
“Hahahaha… This is the wisdom bestowed upon me by the Lord of Submergence! His power! Now, can you still utter your previous boasts?” Dallan said, his body levitating, covered in multicolored runes. Every movement he made was mirrored by the giant. He pointed at Abyss, and four of the giant’s hands pointed at him simultaneously. “Regretting now… Hehehe… It’s too late!”
Dallan’s grotesque grin, illuminated by the runes’ glow, appeared even more sinister and terrifying. Leona, with her sharp eyesight, noticed something wriggling beneath the wrinkles of his face—earthworm-like creatures, possibly the tendrils of the Lord of Submergence.
Abyss looked up at the growing spheres of magical energy in the giant’s hands, his clothes flapping in the strong wind. He finally spoke, asking a question.
“Where did you get so many giant corpses to make this abomination?”
Dallan’s grin widened. Was this boy before him ignorant or simply brave? He still had the leisure to ask about the source of the giant?
The dragon head sewn onto the giant’s neck suddenly opened its jaws, unleashing a magical blast with a diameter of nearly ten meters. The eight arms swung simultaneously, launching their spells towards Abyss, the focal point of their attack. In an instant, nine different spells converged, forming a massive wave, merging and repelling each other as they surged towards him. At the same time, a powerful mechanism locked Abyss in place, rendering any spatial magic useless!
“Flora, I’m counting on you,” Abyss said calmly. As soon as he finished speaking, a small golden halo, insignificant compared to the oncoming magical onslaught, expanded around Flora, shielding the trio and their tents.
A faint hum…
Then a deafening roar!!!
…
The earth trembled violently. Even with the protection of the colossal magic barrier, the residents of Golden Griffin City, several kilometers away, were knocked off their feet. The protective barriers around buildings groaned, and all the mages within the city strained to prevent any structures from collapsing. Even those within the city walls could clearly see a massive mushroom cloud rising in the distance. Moments later, the earth-shattering sound of the explosion reached their ears.
“The gods are fighting! The war of the gods has begun! The war of the gods has begun!” someone screamed hysterically.
Soldiers tasked with maintaining order struggled to their feet, trying to quell the panic, but their efforts were futile. Fear of the unimaginable battle raging beyond the city walls had overwhelmed reason.
“The magic barrier of Golden Griffin City is unbreakable! Everyone, remain calm!” The royal Chief Court Mage, a middle-aged man with silver hair and a silver robe, appeared in the sky above the city, his voice amplified by magic, broadcasting to all the residents. “No one will be harmed!”
However, even he couldn’t help but sweat as he looked at the giant’s form. When did the necromancers of the Council of the Dead gain such power? To contain this force, they would need to reassemble the Council of Nine Saints, disbanded a century ago…
…
“Kneel before the might of my lord! Hahahaha!” Dallan laughed hysterically, his body trembling uncontrollably. Infinite mana converged around him and the giant. The eight arms and the dragon head continued to unleash a torrent of magic, carving a massive crater, hundreds of meters in diameter, filled with flowing lava, into the plains. Countless rocks and soil were vaporized by the raging energy.
Power! Unlimited power! This was the gift of the Lord of Submergence! And this was just a fraction of his power!
A minute passed, and the magical bombardment continued.
Two minutes, three minutes… Five minutes passed before the giant finally lowered its hands and the dragon head closed its jaws.
The snow-covered plains were now devoid of any trace of winter. It was as if summer had arrived prematurely. Waves of heat rose from the ground, even reaching Golden Griffin City, several kilometers away, despite the protective barrier.
As the smoke cleared, the spot where Abyss had stood was now a sea of lava, molten rock flowing and bubbling, consuming everything. The campsite was gone. And with spatial magic blocked, there was no way he could have escaped.
“Hmph, utterly insignificant,” Dallan said, sensing no signs of life in the lava, a sinister smile on his face. “Hehehe… The artifacts are indestructible anyway. I just need to retrieve them before the lava solidifies…”
“Thank you, Flora,” a cheerful voice suddenly came from below. It was soft, yet it sent a shiver down Dallan’s spine.
“This…!”
Several patches of lava in the crater slowly churned and rose, converging and solidifying into the shapes of three people and two tents. Then, the solidified lava crust cracked and crumbled, revealing the trio and their tents, even a patch of the original ground beneath them.
“Can you do me a favor? You can underestimate me all you want, but please don’t underestimate my Flora,” Abyss said, looking up at Dallan’s shocked, contorted face, his posture unchanged.
Flora smiled shyly, brushing off the debris from her clothes, as if she hadn’t just done anything extraordinary.
“Leona, he’s shown us his power. Now it’s your turn.”
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