Chapter 889: War Totem Poles
However, one of their greatest characteristics was that the magic runes on the armor of the Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons would resonate with each other, and the power of the defensive force field would overlap to create an even stronger one. Legend had it that if the defensive force fields of hundreds of level-15 Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons were overlapped, offensive spells below the Sanctuary-realm would not be able to shake the force field at all. If there were 1,000 of them, even a Sanctuary powerhouse wouldn’t be able to do anything to them. No one knew the origin of that magic rune, and even a Master of Inscription could not replicate it, so perhaps it could only be called a miracle of nature.
The magical rune was the reason the Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons could be found in every corner of the Endless Abyss, and rumor had it that the largest group of Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons lived in the deepest part of the Abyss, where even the G.o.ds did not dare to set foot in.
The two major families of the Mithril Alliance summoned a total of more than 80 Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons, but unfortunately they did not come from the same group. Instead, they were from three separate groups. After all, no matter how powerful the summoning curse was, there was no way they could reach that level of precision. However, there were more than 1,000 groups of Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons in the Endless Abyss, and the fact that they could summon more than 80 Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons from only three separate groups was already extremely fortunate for them.
Thus, more than 40 Claw Demons, 40-odd Blood-Flame Winged Serpents, and 80-odd Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons formed the Demon Legion of the Mithril Alliance. With the power of the Demon Legion, the overall strength of the Mithril Alliance was greatly increased, and they could barely fight the Humerus Wyrms.
Of course, it still didn’t mean that the Mithril Alliance was truly able to contend with the Humerus Wyrms. It only meant that they could barely survive the crazy attacks of the Humerus Wyrms. After all, the powerful Humerus Wyrms that they were facing were all above the Legendary-level, while the Abyssal Demons that were summoned were only at most level-17 or 18. If not for the Magic Net Array, the difference in strength could not be made up for with quant.i.ty.
The only thing was that the Abyssal Demons truly lived in an environment as harsh as the Endless Abyss, unlike the human Warriors. Despite facing the strong and powerful Humerus Wyrms, they did not have the slightest bit of fear at all. Instead, they seemed to have been provoked as they all appeared rather menacing.
Although the Claw Demons were taller than humans on average, they were still somewhat small compared to the ma.s.sive Humerus Wyrms. However, they were not bothered by it at all. They waved their scythe-shaped claws and surrounded the Humerus Wyrms. Some even hugged the legs of the Humerus Wyrms, seemingly trying to shave off some bones.
The Blood-Flame Winged Serpents even turned into rays of sanguine lighting as they continuously whipped the bones of the Humerus Wyrm like a whiplash, causing incessant crisp sounds of las.h.i.+ng. Whenever they brushed past the Humerus Wyrms, there would be some pieces of bones being shaved off.
However, the Blood-Flame Winged Serpents’ other weapon—spitting out blood flames—did not have much of an effect on the Humerus Wyrms. It was probably impossible to make the bones of the Humerus Wyrms decay quickly even for the King of Blood-Flame Winged Serpents, let alone small fries that were only at level-15 or 16.
As for the 80-odd Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons, if they had been from the same group, they might’ve allowed the people of the Mithril Alliance to stay safe as long as they hid in the defensive force field even if there were Humerus Wyrms bombarding them maniacally from outside. Unfortunately, they came from three different groups. Although the overlapped defensive force fields of tens of Abyssal s.h.i.+eld Demons had incredible defensive power as well, they could only resist several attacks of the Humerus Wyrms. The intervals between the recovery periods of the defensive force fields would become the hardest period for the Mithril Alliance. During those periods, casualties would be inevitable. Be it the Warriors of the Mithril Alliance or the summoned Abyssal Demons, they were all too weak and fragile compared to the Humerus Wyrms.
Not far from the Mithril Alliance was the team from the Caesar Family. In the beginning, the Caesar Family should’ve been considered the weakest of the four teams, but they were definitely competent since they could gain independence from the Mithril Alliance and rise as their equals.
When the Mithril Alliance summoned the Abyssal Demon Legion, the members of the Caesar Family did not sit back and do nothing. After Claus left with the elders, the remaining executives of the Caesar Family who stayed behind immediately began preparations to face the Humerus Wyrms. From the moment they entered the mausoleum, they each had a somewhat thick and long beast hide pocket, which had never been opened even when they were facing the Whispering G.o.d. No one except themselves knew what was inside.
At this moment, the beast hide pockets were finally opened, and the items within were revealed. They turned out to be wooden rods that were identical in length and thickness and vibrant in color. Each wooden rod was almost a meter long, and had the thickness of a human wrist. There were fine and complex patterns carved in them, and they were all colorful.
The Caesar Family took out a total of 20 such rods, and they began to stick them into the ground one by one according to some strange pattern. Next, the mages of the Caesar Family began chanting some strange incantations that actually seemed more like a prayer.
As the mages chanted, the team from the Caesar Family rose into the air, and pillars of light suddenly shot down from the void, landing precisely on the wooden rods that had been stuck into the ground. The wooden rods began to grow rapidly in thickness and length as if they were trees that had been sp.a.w.ned there. They quickly transformed from wrist-thin rods to pillars that were nearly 10 meters tall.
At this moment, the patterns carved in the pillars had also become much clearer. Those who were learned and knowledgeable immediately recognized that those pillars were actually the War Totem Poles that were used by the Shamans of the Orcs.
There were no mages amongst the Orcs, but the Shamans of the Orcs possessed mystical powers that were not inferior to magic. They believed in the Beast G.o.d, and prayed to him to grant them mystical powers in exchange for their wors.h.i.+p. Creating War Totem Poles was one of the most important abilities they had acquired. Every Shaman had to begin creating a War Totem Pole that belonged to them from the moment they received the power from the Beast G.o.d.
Of course, a War Totem Pole was definitely worth the efforts of the Shaman as each one contained a ma.s.sive amount of power and the Shaman’s enlightenment on the power bestowed by the Beast G.o.d. In the understanding of the mages, it was akin to solidifying a powerful magical spell on a totem pole. Of course, it had to be a little more complicated than that in reality.
Whenever a Shaman created a War Totem Pole, his or her own strength would also improve tremendously; hence, the number of War Totem Poles would also be closely related to the strength of the Shaman. A Shaman who had created 10 War Totem Poles would be equivalent to a Legendary powerhouse, and after summoning 10 War Totem Poles, his or her strength would be greatly increased again.
It was said that in the current Orc Kingdom, the Shaman Ukanes who was in the Sanctuary-realm and had led the Orcs to rebel against the High Elves possessed hundreds of War Totem Poles. During the war at the end of the Dark Age, he’d even managed to defeat one of the purportedly invincible Sky Castles with the power gained from summoning all of the War Totem Poles.
In the history of Anril, the War Totem Poles had left a deep impression on the people, and after the Dark Age ended, there were several large-scale wars between the Orcs and the human kingdoms. Under the influence of the War Totem Poles, the Orc warriors managed to increase their strength by five to 10 times in a short period of time. Whenever the shadow of the War Totem Poles appeared on the battlefield, it meant that regardless of the outcome of the battle, the humans would definitely pay a hefty price.
However, the Orc Shamans often held a position that was no less than that of the chief in their own tribe. They would generally not leave their tribe easily unless it was a war where everyone was mobilized. There were no Orc Shamans in the Caesar Family, and the War Totem Poles also looked like antiques. They had to have been obtained from some High Elves relic collection. That was precisely the reason that they kept the War Totem Poles in their beast hide pockets. Real Orc Shamans would stow them away in their own special storage s.p.a.ces.
At the same time that the War Totem Poles lit up, several rather dazzling superimposed halos appeared beneath the feet of the Warriors and mages of the Caesar Family. Every halo bestowed different effects, such as courage, excitement, a strengthened body, ma.s.sive strength, hot blood, boosted recovery, and so on. When they overlapped, they caused the strength of the Caesar Family’s team to surge several times over.
In fact, that was not even half of the power of the War Totem Pole. If they were in the hands of the real Orcs, the safety of the Caesar Family’s team would be guaranteed once 20 War Totem Poles were erected on the condition that the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera did not descend to attack them.
However, even with half the power of the War Totem Poles, the team of the Caesar Family could rival the Humerus Wyrms to a certain extent. Besides, compared to the Mithril Alliance that had summoned the Abyssal Demon Legion, the Caesar Family was in a better situation.
The Mithril Alliance’s battle formation became a little messy and chaotic because of the addition of the Demon Legion, which was one of the reasons for their continuous casualties. The power of the War Totem Poles had merely increased the individual strength of the Caesar Family’s members, allowing them to continue using familiar battle formations while suffering smaller casualties.
However, be it the Tower of Dusk and Glittergold Trade Union which were dealing with the situation effortlessly, or the Mithril Alliance and Caesar Family which were struggling to survive, everyone knew that the current stalemate was actually very unfavorable to the expedition. The teams of the Tower of Dusk and the Glittergold Trade Union had been suffering casualties. It was not unrelated to the Tower of Dusk and the Glittergold Trade Union. If those two parties were to be destroyed and annihilated by the Humerus Wyrms, the Glittergold Trade Union and Tower of Dusk would face greater pressure. Could they still stay unharmed then?
In fact, it wasn’t even necessary to wait for things to reach that point; perhaps the situation had already deteriorated to the point where it couldn’t be salvaged. The senior members of the four teams all had a vague feeling that although the Humerus Wyrms were attacking ferociously, it was because their bodies were strong to begin with; in fact, those attacks were probably just a probing attack.
For those Humerus Wyrms that only had fighting instincts, that might be somewhat unimaginable, but not to forget, there was a strong Sanctuary-realm Iceblast Wyrm in the sky. Regardless of its origin, there was definitely no shortage of battle instinct within it, since it could become the leader of the Humerus Wyrms.
In such circ.u.mstances, the teams of the four major families clearly couldn’t get rid of the hundreds of Humerus Wyrms step by step. For now, they could only hope that the Legendary powerhouses who were fighting the Iceblast Wyrm in the sky would be able to achieve victory before the expedition team’s defense fell apart.
However…
Many of the Legendary powerhouses in the sky knew that it was impossible to expect the teams below to destroy the Humerus Wyrms in advance. The key to surviving the crisis at hand was still to find a way to defeat the Iceblast Wyrm. Otherwise, they would end up dying together. However, having thought of the key to surviving the crisis did not mean that one had the ability to solve it, because the difference in power was simply too big.
Yes, the difference was too big. Even though there were nearly 20 Legendary powerhouses who were above level-22 in the expedition, as well as other elite powerhouses like Lin Li and the rest who were at level-24, the reality had proven that their power was insufficient for them to fight the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera.
In fact, since the time their group flew up into the sky to face the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera, they barely managed to launch any attacks, and were almost completely suppressed by Sindera’s power. Instead of fighting it head-on, they seemed to be getting beaten up. They could only continuously defend and evade. Any careless mistakes would cause them to end up falling.
From the start of the battle until now, only 10 minutes had pa.s.sed, but it felt like a century. However, every second was difficult because they were struggling with all their might between life and death. No one knew if they would still be alive in the next second.
The Legendary powerhouses who had originally planned to besiege the Iceblast Wyrm were no longer scattered in all directions as they had been in the beginning, but had begun gathering. They hoped that they could survive the Iceblast Wyrm’s attacks. However, they all knew that they were just struggling, and even if their defenses didn’t collapse under the attacks of the Iceblast Wyrm, they would still be unable to avoid annihilation.
The two peak-Legendary-level powerhouses Connoris, who had the perfect body, and Lin Li, who had the debris of the stars, Holy Light, could occasionally launch some counterattacks against the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera. However, the effects of their counterattacks were minimal, and they would only bring about disappointment which turned into despair.
However, regardless of whether the others were disappointed or desperate, Lin Li never gave up looking for opportunities. So what if they were facing an existence that was on par with the Flame Dragon Lothar? He was still alive; hence, he couldn’t give up easily. Although it hadn’t been many years since he had arrived in the world of Anril, Lin Li had gone through many near-death experiences, and had even experienced more than those old men who had lived for hundreds of years. Lin Li could make it that far partly because of his abilities, but also to a large extent because of his never-say-die att.i.tude.
With the help of the power of the s.p.a.ce-related Magical Robe, Lin Li’s figure constantly flickered in the sky, dodging the deadly and powerful magical spells cast by the Iceblast Wyrm. He seized a fleeting opportunity to raise the Helios’ Scepter. Although there was no Magical Domain for strengthening, Lin Li could still condense the giant Light and Darkness Sword immediately with the power of Holy Light and Gloomy Dark. It was as if the Light and Darkness Sword had cut through the sky and slashed towards the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera.
Holy Light did not manage to provide any purification. Among the attack methods that Lin Li had mastered, the Light and Darkness Sword was still the most powerful one. Although the Light and Darkness Sword would sometimes be worn out halfway through its trajectory and end up being unable to break through the hard and cold armor of the Iceblast Wyrm, Lin Li still refused to give up. He continued to use it.
Although Lin Li had five more powerful pieces of the debris of the stars other than Holy Light and Gloomy Dark, his mastery of those five was far inferior to that of Holy Light and Gloomy Dark. Lin Li knew very well that, after all, he was still only at the pinnacle of the Legendary-realm. Without the Stars of Fury, he could not fight a powerful existence like the Iceblast Wyrm using the other five pieces of the debris of the stars that he wasn’t familiar enough with.
Actually, the attacks launched with the Light and Darkness Sword were not entirely ineffective. At least, Lin Li could feel that the intensity of the magical spells cast by the Iceblast Wyrm seemed to have decreased greatly when his Light and Darkness Sword slashed down on the Iceblast Wyrm. Actually, that was also the reason the other Legendary powerhouses could survive till now. Otherwise, given the strength of the Iceblast Wyrm, they would have probably long fallen one by one.
However, from another perspective, the Legendary powerhouses who were doing their best to defend themselves could be said to have taken some of the pressure off Lin Li. If they collapsed and fell, Lin Li would be left alone to deal with all the power of the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera. Lin Li’s ending would be terrible as well.
Did the other party also instinctively fear the Light and Darkness Sword? As soon as that thought arose in Lin Li’s heart, he immediately found it a little absurd. After all, the other party was an ancient wyrm that was on the same level as the Flame Dragon Lothar. It could be considered a demiG.o.d. How could it fear such an attack? However, if that was not the case, there would be no other explanation for the current situation. Could it be that the Iceblast Wyrm that had already lost its sentience still had the intention of playing cat and mouse?
Apart from Lin Li, the only Legendary powerhouse that still had the ability to resist the suppression of the Iceblast Wyrm was Connoris, who had the perfect body.
Although, according to the Ashen Warlock, the perfect body created by the Highlord Osric was far from perfect, and could not be compared to any divine body, the perfect body was undoubtedly not inferior to the wyrms and t.i.tans in all aspects.
After being trapped in the hammer for thousands of years, Connoris finally had a body that he was satisfied with. He obviously wouldn’t be willing to give it away just like that, not even to the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera. He waved the Eternal Frost Blade in his hand and continuously chanted ancient demonic runes that almost no one could understand, casting bizarre and powerful magical spells that were beyond the realm of Magical Domains.
A circle of s.p.a.ce-related magical ripples surrounded Connoris’ body, and continued to spread around. Whenever the magical spells cast by the Iceblast Wyrm s.p.a.ce Power landed in them, they would become extremely slow as if they had fallen deep into a swamp. While the ripples were moving, the power in the magical spells was constantly stripped away.
Seeing that Lin Li had thrown out the Light and Darkness Sword, and the power of the Iceblast Wyrm seemed to have faintly been restrained, Connoris immediately chanted 16 demonic runes without hesitation. As soon as the demonic runes appeared, a 100-meter-tall Demon deity shadow suddenly appeared behind Connoris. It had two horns on its head and a pair of wings on its back. As it took shape, it punched at the Iceblast Wyrm.
“Bang!” The Demon deity shadow punched into the sky, but it let out a loud sound that resembled that of an object landing. At the same time, the thick fog of death aura that surrounded the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera seemed to have also been swept into a gust of wind, reaching the extent that it began dispersing. In fact, it could even be seen that there were some faint crystal-clear ice chips flying everywhere in the midst of it.
It did seem to have good momentum, but everyone knew that that attack unfortunately could not do any damage to the Iceblast Wyrm at all, because Connoris had previously done the same thing more than once during the battle. All his attempts produced the same result. After the Demon deity shadow struck a punch, its giant fist was suddenly covered in silvery white frost, while the frost also spread rapidly along its arm and towards the figure.
Connoris did not dare to slow down at all. He quickly chanted the demonic runes and warded off the Demon deity shadow that had condensed. At the same time, he also evaded quickly like lightning. The Demon deity shadow dissipated, but its frost-covered arm had exploded in the air, making that portion of s.p.a.ce seem like it had just experienced snowfall.
The Demon deity shadow was a condensation of Connoris’ mana. Losing an arm would be akin to losing a portion of mana. Although Connoris had a perfect body and an extremely high mana recovery speed, they were in the turf of the Iceblast Wyrm Sindera. Even Lin Li’s mana recovery speed was less than half of what it usually was, let alone Connoris’.
“d.a.m.n it, I lost another arm. Had I known that Sindera would be here, I wouldn’t have come with you even if I were to get beaten up!” Having just had a close shave, Connoris dealt with the ensuing attacks while complaining to Lin Li in exasperation.
It had only been a short time since he had obtained that body, and he hadn’t even had the chance to enjoy the wonderful experience of having it, yet he was dragged into such a desperate situation. Could it be that I’m destined to be a soul without a body!? No, if I die here, I might not even get to keep my soul.