Chapter 888: Magic Array
The Net Array was originally created by Geresco, the G.o.d of Mages, according to the characteristics of the human mages, and it had more advantages than disadvantages. At the end of the Dark Age, Geresco’s Magic Legion won against the High Elves during the war to overthrow the rule of the High Elves all thanks to the Net Array.
The High Elves had always claimed to be the best race. In fact, compared to other intelligent races, they did have various unmatched advantages, especially in terms of their comprehension of magic. It would not be difficult for them to enter the Legendary-realm at all. As long as they grew up and became adults, they would almost certainly become a true Legendary powerhouse. It seemed that the differences in standards of the High Elves could only be distinguished at the Sanctuary-realm. However, there were still many Sanctuary powerhouses among the High Elves.
Compared to the High Elves, human beings were indeed rather terrible at magic. For most human mages, the Legendary-realm was far-fetched and an insurmountable moat. The more exaggerated thing was that even below the Legendary-realm, almost every level could be considered a threshold. Some were stuck at level-15, and could not advance to become an Archmage, while some were stuck at level-10 and could not pa.s.s the threshold to become a Magic Shooter, and some could not even become a mage apprentice. They could not feel magical elements at all. Hence, they could only resort to selecting simple professions which only required the use of power like Warriors, a.s.sa.s.sins, and so on. Every outstanding mage often had extremely high attainments in martial arts.
However, humans had an advantage that the High Elves could not compare to, and that was the vast population of humans. Although the High Elves had a long lifespan, their reproduction ability was weak. Even in their heyday, there were only a few hundred thousand High Elves. However, it was a different case for humans. Even though the lifespan of humans was only a few decades, their fertility trumped the reproduction rate of the High Elves.
With a huge population base, they could form a team of mages that would outnumber the High Elves even if only one out of 1,000 people was selected. However, quant.i.ty did not equate to quality. Even if the humans had 1,000,000 Archmages, they would seem just like a bunch of ants to a real Sanctuary powerhouse. That was the reason the High Elves did not pay much attention to humans. In the face of a difference in realm, numbers were not significant at all. The advantage that the humans had as a large population was not considered an advantage in the eyes of the High Elves.
However, Geresco, the G.o.d of Mages, managed to see that, and he also created a solution to turn that into a real advantage—the Magic Net Array. Under the connection induced by the Magic Net Array, everyone was a node of the magical network. All of the Archmages were connected, forming a huge network. The concept was akin to hundreds and thousands of weak wooden bars that would form a strong pillar that couldn’t be broken when they were bundled together.
Under the connection of the magic network, they would no longer be separate individuals, but parts of an ent.i.ty that was the Magic Array. The Magic Array was a whole, and could even be regarded as a “person” who had the power of all the people in the network. Hence, the opponent of the Humerus Wyrm was not a group of 100-odd Archmages, but a “person” who possessed the enormous magical power of more than 100 Archmages.
Although compared with the true Legendary powerhouses, Archmages still did not have an adequate understanding of the Rules, their specialty was something that even a true Legendary powerhouse could not do. They were flexible with their division and fusion, and could divide themselves according to needs. A true Legendary powerhouse could not split himself in two at once, but the mages that were connected by the magical network could do so. They could not only split into two or three, but they could split into more. That allowed their tactics to be more flexible, and also added variance. That was something that no genuine Legendary powerhouse could do.
That was precisely the reason that the group of Archmages from the Tower of Dusk, which no one took seriously, could engage in a battle with 10-odd Humerus Wyrms and even look like they had a chance of winning.
Each and every Humerus Wyrm of that group had Legendary-level strength. They were not in the early stages of the Legendary-realm—most all of them were about level-21, and there were many that were at level-22. The dragon breath that they exhaled possessed power that was as great as Legendary magical spells. A swipe of their claws would not be inferior to the full blow of the Sword Sage.
However, the 10-odd powerful Humerus Wyrms were blocked by a light curtain that kept them away from the team of mages from the Tower of Dusk. That layer of light seemed to be a bubble that could be blown away by a gust of wind. However, under the fierce attacks of the Humerus Wyrms, it showed extraordinary resilience. The Humerus Wyrms tried to use their sharp claws to tear it or bombard it with their dragon breath. They also tried to cast their dragon language magical spells, but in the end, they were still unable to break through the defense of the mages of the Tower of Dusk.
The mages of the Tower of Dusk did not blindly defend, and instead continuously displayed powerful Legendary magical spells such as Thunder Explosion Spell, Hurricane Spell, Sky-Burning Spell, and many others that were extremely powerful. The magical spells continuously penetrated the defensive layer of light, fiercely bombarding the bodies of the Humerus Wyrms.
That was not only because of the Magic Net Array. Actually, even a group of mages from the Alanna Guild of Magic might not be able to cast such extravagant Legendary-level magical spells. At this moment, the excellent magical equipment that the mages were using had also reflected its due value. Even though they had cast Legendary-level magical spells at high frequency, no one showed signs of exhaustion or depletion of mana, and it was as if all of them had infinite mana.
However, as a powerful existence that was at the top of the hierarchy of Undead creatures, a Humerus Wyrm was not going to be defeated that easily. They were not pieced together by random pieces of bone, and although their bodies were not immune to most magical damage, their dragon bones were extremely difficult to destroy. At the same time, the intense death aura that surrounded them also provided them with great defensive power. Even the powerful Legendary magical spells could only deal them a small amount of damage that would heal with the death aura in the blink of an eye.
The mages of the Tower of Dusk and the 10-odd powerful Humerus Wyrms entered a stalemate. No one could do anything to the other party for a while.
“Get lost, you bunch of disgusting bones! Come closer, and you might get smashed into bone meal by Lord Angelano!” Angelano roared hoa.r.s.ely in the battlefield in the canyon through the Alchemy Colossus. Despite the ma.s.sive sounds of the magical spells and the cracking of the boulders, Angelano’s voice was still rather clear.
The Alchemy Colossus that was being controlled by Angelano was worthy of being a t.i.tan-level Alchemy Colossus that was known to be equal to a Sanctuary powerhouse. Despite facing the siege of seven Humerus Wyrms by himself, he still had the upper hand. Under Angelano’s manipulation, the Alchemy Colossus waved the pillar-like alloy spear in its hands without seeming clumsy at all. It managed to use various martial arts techniques that flowed seamlessly like water. Their execution was simply flawless.
At the same time, the immense power of the Alchemy Colossus was not weakened by the execution. Seeing that a Humerus Wyrm was approaching, Angelano cursed loudly while spinning the giant spear in his hand, stirring up a gust of wind before slamming it into the skeleton that made him feel disgusted. There was a loud bang, and the ma.s.sive Humerus Wyrm rolled backwards with a single blow, and only stabilized itself again when it was hundreds of meters away. Anyone with a good eyesight would be able to tell that the sternum of the Humerus Wyrm had cracked due to the blow like gla.s.s that got hit by a stone. The bones even scattered and fell continuously with the movements of the Humerus Wyrm.
If it were a one-on-one or even one-on-two battle, it would probably take a few rounds before the Humerus Wyrms would really be smashed into broken pieces of bones like Angelano had cursed. Unfortunately, before Angelano could chase after it, two Humerus Wyrms emerged from nearby and entangled him. He was so infuriated that he could only stomp his feet in the Alchemy Colossus and curse out loud. The delay allowed the heavily wounded Humerus Wyrm to recover quickly with the help of the waves of death aura. It then pounced on him again fearlessly to join in the battle.
When Humerus Wyrms were shrouded in thick fog of death aura, it would be difficult to hurt them unless their soul fire was directly extinguished as any damage done to them would be quickly healed. That made everyone feel very helpless. Of course, killing one or two Humerus Wyrms wouldn’t really have any real influence on the overall battle situation!
The Humerus Wyrms in the canyon were only half of the Humerus Wyrm’s army. There were still more than 50 Humerus Wyrms in the sky that were constantly looking for opportunities to intervene in the battle. The terrain of the canyon had undeniably given the expedition team a great advantage. Otherwise, the 100-odd Humerus Wyrms would all surge in. That would be a catastrophe for the expedition team.
Angelano and the mages of the Tower of Dusk managed to take down 30 out of the 50-odd Humerus Wyrms that had rushed into the canyon, greatly relieving the pressure on the other three teams. However, even then, that didn’t mean that the other three teams had it easy. The battle arrays that they used were considered products that the High Elves had made for fun during the Dark Age. They could not be compared to the Magic Net Array that had been created by Geresco, the G.o.d of Mages.
The situation of the team from the Glittergold Trade Union was somewhat better. Firstly, they had 10 Magical Crystal Cannons that were loaded with Legendary magical crystals. The power of every light from the cannon was as powerful as a Legendary-level magical spell. They managed to blast away the Humerus Wyrms that almost rushed towards them with the 10 Magical Crystal Cannons. Otherwise, once the Humerus Wyrms rushed into the battlefield, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Another reason was the combat support provided by the Lord of Nightmares, the Demon Gordon, and the Crimson Dragon. The three Legendary-level combatants could not join the Magic Array set up by the mages of the Tower of Dusk. Hence, under the orders of Lin Li, they joined the team of the Glittergold Trade Union. To a certain extent, they increased the strength of the Glittergold Trade Union’s team.
Although the Lord of Nightmares did not have a low level, his forte was casting spiritual attacks, which basically didn’t work too well against Humerus Wyrms that were not sentient. Of course, he wasn’t only good at spiritual attacks, but he could only fight against one Humerus Wyrm using the other attacking methods. Hence, during the battle, the Lord of Nightmares did not fight the Humerus Wyrms one-on-one. Instead, it chose to tread through the team of the Glittergold Trade Union and occasionally provide support wherever there was danger.
In comparison, in the battle with the Humerus Wyrms, the Demon Gordon was somewhat like a fish in water. With the large amount of precious magical metals that he had devoured, Gordon’s body had been strengthened to the maximum, and the strong claws of the Humerus Wyrms that could tear metal apart could not even do the slightest damage to his body. The Humerus Wyrm had a highly corrosive dragon breath, but it only made the metallic l.u.s.ter on Gordon’s body shine even brighter.
With that physical advantage, the arms of Gordon the Demon turned into huge scythes that looked like sharp blades, blocking two Humerus Wyrms at the edge of the Glittergold Trade Union’s battle formation. The consumption of a large amount of magical metals gave him strong defense, as well as astonishing attack capability. The scythes on his arms that could be transformed at will were no less sharp than any magical weapon. Whenever the light of the blades he wielded collided with the Humerus Wyrm, it would produce a large amount of powdered bone and debris, making it look like heavy snowfall.
However, there were too many Humerus Wyrms, and whenever one of them was badly injured, it would immediately be replaced by another one. In no time, it would be as good as new, and pounce on them again ferociously. That was also because Gordon’s level was not high. If he had level-24 power at the moment, he might really be able to kill several Humerus Wyrms.
Of course, the Demon Gordon could grow to his current self not because of his acc.u.mulation in the Endless Abyss. When he was released by Lin Li in the Sky Castle, he was much weaker. After Lin Li subdued the Demon Gordon, Lin Li nurtured him. Regardless of whether it was for his own curiosity, he had given him plenty of precious magical metals in the Abyss. He even let Gordon devour a piece of the Divinity Metal that he had brought back from the Endless World. That was not something that the rest of his kind could compare to.
If the Demon Gordon were to return to the Endless Abyss, he would probably be a powerful existence that was at the same level as a Lord of the Abyss. The Divinity Metal, in particular, opened a door to evolution for him. He was set on an evolutionary path that no other of his kind had ever taken.
All along, demons like Gordon had relied on devouring magical metals to continuously evolve, and if there were no more magical metals for them to devour, it would mean that there was no more room for evolution. However, after devouring the Divinity Metal, the evolutionary nature of the Divinity Metal gave him the ability to constantly evolve without having to devour magical metals. The evolution might be slower than if he were to devour magical metals, but it also gave him infinite potential to evolve, and it might even be possible for him to enter the Sanctuary-realm with enough time.
On the other side of the Demon Gordon, Lin Li’s Humerus Crimson Dragon was entangled with three Humerus Wyrms. In terms of level, the Humerus Crimson Dragon was actually superior to the Humerus Wyrms and was above level-22, like Lin Li mentioned. However, Lin Li was worried that it might lose control under the suppression of the Iceblast Wyrm, Sindera. Hence, he allowed it to stay behind to a.s.sist the expedition in fighting the Humerus Wyrms.
After all, the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera would only extremely suppress the Humerus Crimson Dragon in level, be it as a wyrm or an Undead creature. Although the Humerus Crimson Dragon’s soul fire had integrated the Heart of the Fallen, and it already possessed a certain amount of sentience, it was still not strong enough to compete with the might of the Iceblast Wyrm, Sindera.
However, for the Humerus Wyrms, the Humerus Crimson Dragon was an absolutely powerful opponent. Compared to being just bones, the Humerus Crimson Dragons had a complete body, and it was far more powerful than the Humerus Wyrms—both in terms of defensive abilities and physical strength. At the same time, it also had the power of the bloodline of Crimson Dragons. Not only could it spew the corrosive dragon breath of the Humerus Wyrms, it could also cast even more powerful dragon language magic than them.
In addition to the advantages brought by the body of the Crimson Dragon, the Humerus Crimson Dragon’s soul fire was also fused with the Heart of the Fallen. Ordinary Humerus Wyrms were also far from comparable to it in terms of battle consciousness. During battles, the Humerus Crimson Dragon was much more technical, and refrained from using brute force like Humerus Wyrms. It could be said that even at the same level, it would not be difficult for the Humerus Crimson Dragon to kill a Humerus Wyrm. In reality, if it weren’t for the suppression of the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera which was on a higher level, the Humerus Crimson Dragon might even subdue the bunch of Humerus Wyrms using its own power and sentience.
The various advantages allowed the Humerus Crimson Dragon not only to stay strong while fighting the three Humerus Wyrms, but also to suppress them.
Thanks to the terrain of the canyon, the Demon Gordon and the Humerus Crimson Dragon managed to withstand half of the pressure for the Glittergold Trade Union’s team. The Lord of Nightmares was in the middle of the team, and was ensuring their safety like a firefighter. With the support of the three Legendary powerhouses and the mages of the Tower of Dusk, the team of the Glittergold Trade Union basically only had to deal with one side of the enemy. The 10 Magical Crystal Cannons shot continuously, but there were no enemy casualties for a while.
Compared to the Glittergold Trade Union, the team from the Mithril Alliance and Caesar Family did not have the Magical Crystal Cannons that were loaded with Legendary magical crystals, nor did they have the help of strong Legendary powerhouses. With only their battle formations that were originally used for gladiatorial arenas, it was simply impossible for them to survive under the attack of the Humerus Wyrms. Thus, as soon as the battle began, the two teams once again threw out their respective trump cards and managed to temporarily avoid the tragedy of being wiped out together.
After the battle with the Whispering G.o.d, the Mithril Alliance’s combat prowess was far worse than usual due to the fact that only Healing Potions were used to treat the wounded. Besides, the subsequent battle with the Behemoth Beasts’ skeletons and the ghosts caused them to have less than half of their usual combat strength. They could be considered the weakest amongst the four teams.
However, since Joseph had not chosen to withdraw from the expedition, he naturally still had something to fall back on. During the battle with the Whispering G.o.d, Joseph revealed one of his trump cards, which was the summoning of the Abyssal Demon Dragon. Actually, with the abilities of the Abyssal Demon Dragon, there would be no problem for him to use it as a trump card that could turn the situation around during a critical juncture.
Unfortunately, as soon as the Abyssal Demon Dragon appeared, it had to face the extremely perverted Whispering G.o.d, and as a result, it was killed without even getting a chance to showcase its abilities. If the Abyssal Demon Dragon was there, it would definitely play a much greater role in the battle against the Humerus Wyrms. Unfortunately, the Abyssal Demon Dragon could not be summoned easily. The former patriarch of the Dida Family had died because the summoning of the Abyssal Demon Dragon backfired. Without sufficient power, summoning the Abyssal Demon Dragon would be courting death.
However, not being able to summon the Abyssal Demon Dragon didn’t mean that they could not summon other Abyssal Demons. That was the other trump card of the Mithril Alliance. At the beginning of the battle, the four families of the Mithril Alliance, except the Dida Family, began chanting the Abyssal Demon Summoning Curse. All of a sudden, the open s.p.a.ce that the team was in was covered in Six-pointed Star Arrays of various sizes.
The Dida Family was excluded because the curse to summon the Abyssal Demon had been cla.s.sified as an absolute secret in the Dida Family. Except for a few elders, the others could not learn it. Even Charles, who had been the patriarch of the family for two years, did not learn the curse. However, to the Dida Family’s surprise, the curse that they had regarded as a precious treasure had unknowingly been learned by every Archmage of the four major families. Hence, when they saw the people around them summoning the Abyssal Demons, the faces of the members of the Dida Family grew extremely sullen.
Judging from the types of Abyssal Demons summoned, it was clear that there had been some planning carried out by the four major families. They had not summoned a mishmash of creatures, and instead focused mainly on a few types of Abyssal Demons.
The mages of Joseph’s family summoned a Claw Demon that lived on the seventh-floor of the Abyss. It was over two meters tall, with a body that was shaped like a chimpanzee. However, its arms were almost as thick as an adult’s waist. It had sharp, glittering claws on the fingertips of its gigantic hands that were about a meter long, which was the reason for its name.
The level of the Claw Demons wasn’t very high. They were about level-16 to 17, and their resistance to magic wasn’t very strong, either. They were just right to be subdued by the Archmages. However, even then, the power of the Claw Demons was rather impressive, and they could easily cut hard rocks into pieces with their scythe-like claws. It would probably take five human Warriors of the same level to rival one Claw Demon, not considering the factor of the battle formation. Besides, they would also have to pay a huge price.
The mages of Joseph’s family summoned more than 40 Claw Demons at once, greatly increasing the strength of the team. However, that alone was not enough for them to fight against the Humerus Wyrms.
The mages of the Elvis Family had summoned Blood-Flame Winged Serpents, which were only as thick as two fingers of a human. Their bodies were sanguine in color as if they had been soaked in blood. However, they were all more than five meters long, and there were pairs of fleshy wings whose shape was similar to that of the wings of wyrms on their backs. Of course, they were much smaller in size. Although those wings weren’t large, they moved rather quickly, and it would be difficult for the human eye to catch the serpent’s trajectory when it was as fast as lightning.
It was said that the Blood-Flame Winged Serpent’s body also possessed the bloodline of the ancient wyrms. However, other than the shape of their fleshy wings, there were no other features of theirs that could be a.s.sociated with wyrms.
The Blood-Flame Winged Serpent spat out blood flames that resembled saliva, but it was not any less dangerous than the breath of wyrms. What was contained in that blood flame was not the power to burn or corrode, but a power that could make everything decompose. A brand-new armor would instantly become old and decayed as if it had undergone thousands of years of wear and tear, and eventually turn into a pile of ashes as long as it came into contact with a tiny bit of blood flames.
Apart from spitting flames, the Blood-Flame Winged Serpent could also attack with its body. The surface of its body was covered with several fine, sharp jagged teeth from head to tail, unlike the smooth scales of ordinary snakes. When it moved at an extremely high speed, it would be like a menacing long, jagged whip that could rip a heavily armored Warrior into pieces with a single blow.
Since it could use its body as a weapon, the strength of the Blood-Flame Winged Serpent was imaginable. Although it was only as thick as the fingers of an adult, it was as strong as a real wyrm, and ordinary weapons could not do any damage to its body at all. Although, like the Claw Demon, it was less resistant to magic, the blood flames that it spat that could make everything decay had the same effect on magic. It would disintegrate magical spells, and that more or less made up for its weakness.
After the Claw Demon and the Blood-Flame Winged Serpent, the mages of the other two families summoned the same type of Abyssal Demon known as the Abyssal Shield Demon. The Abyssal Shield Demon was not large in size, and its height was about a meter. Its limbs were short and thick, and it had two horns on its head, as well as a black shield-shaped armor on its back.
The Abyssal Shield Demon’s attacking power was horrible; the black shield on its back was the reason it could survive in the Endless Abyss. Although it looked somewhat like a turtle, its defensive method was not to hide its head and limbs in its sh.e.l.l. There was a defensive magical rune that was able to generate a powerful defensive force field that basically could not be shaken by offensive spells of the same level on them.
Of course, just looking at it that way, being able to resist attacks of the same level didn’t seem to be too impressive. After all, with the level of most Abyssal Shield Demons, they could only be considered to be at the bottom of the ranks in the Endless Abyss.