Chapter 290: The Purgatory Unleashed

  The blizzard magic still raged in the cavern's space, but compared to this new wind, the one that had previously blown the Harpies and Evil Eyes off balance was as gentle as a willow breeze.

  The hurricane had just formed when the stone spikes, shot out by magic, arrived. But even these massive objects, weighing nearly a thousand pounds, had no sense of stability before the hurricane. They were surprisingly blown off their original course and scattered by the rotating wind, and the slightly weaker parts of the stone tips shattered in its gale.

  Loralei arrived half a step behind the stone spikes, and fortunately, it was this half-step delay that prevented her from crashing headlong into the suddenly appeared hurricane barrier. Judging by the way the hurricane had blown away the stone spikes, it was powerful enough to tear her into a pile of flesh.

  Harlan watched in astonishment at the hurricane released from the scroll. He could, of course, tell that this was the Hurricane Aegis from the school of Air magic, but this defensive spell, which should have only deflected ordinary arrows, now seemed dozens of times stronger than usual. A magic scroll of such extraordinary power required immense energy and time from a top-tier elemental mage and was exceedingly rare. Even in Celeste, it would be treated as a collector's item and not taken out for use.

  And it wasn't just this one scroll. The power of that Blazing Might Shot from before, and the blizzard that had covered almost the entire battlefield—all of these were undeniably top-tier magic scrolls, and it seemed unlikely they had been brought from Celeste.

  A loud rumbling noise interrupted Harlan's astonishment. Below, a rock with a diameter of about ten meters suddenly broke free from the ground's constraints and hurtled towards the sky, just like the stone spikes before. It was another high-level Earth spell, a boulder bombardment, but this time, the mass of the rock was several times greater.

  And this time, it wasn't just the rock. There was also High Priest Tima.

  The Minotaur High Priest stood upon the massive rock he had magically summoned. His priestly robes were already covered by a thick layer of rock armor, and his eyes, which had originally burned like flames, now shone with a terrifying brightness.

  The air elemental carrying the two of them was not flying very fast. In the blink of an eye, it was overtaken by the massive rock.

  As soon as it entered the hurricane's range, the rock's surface began to flake under the immense wind pressure, and its trajectory was skewed. But no matter how strong or large the Hurricane Aegis was, it could blow away arrows and scatter rocks weighing hundreds of pounds; it could not blow away a small mountain weighing over ten thousand pounds. The magical power driving the hurricane had already been consumed in deflecting the stone spikes. The rotation of the airflow was completely cut off by the massive rock, and finally, it stopped.

  Although the massive rock was also skewed by the hurricane's influence and could not hit the air elemental and the Temple Knight, High Priest Tima could. He roared and leaped, charging towards the air elemental.

  Although he might not be a match for the two Temple Knights together in close combat, he didn't need to fight. He just needed to pull the two of them, or at least the one carrying the Forbidden Spell scroll, down. He was confident he could accomplish this.

  And once they fell to the ground, let alone two Temple Knights, even twenty would be utterly doomed.

  But just as he leaped, the female knight on the air elemental unfurled yet another scroll.

  She had taken out another scroll and held it in her hand the moment he flew up on the giant rock. Seeing him jump, she unfurled it.

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  When High Priest Tima saw that this female knight had yet another magic scroll, he was once again filled with shock and anger. He truly could not understand how this Temple Knight could have so many, such high-level, and such exquisite magic scrolls. But this was only for a moment. As soon as he saw the scroll in her hand, he began to chant an incantation. A layer of earth-yellow light was already flowing around his body.

  He cast the Anti-Magic Art of the Earth school. He believed that, with the exception of a Forbidden Spell, it could resist all magic. So High Priest Tima did not hesitate for a moment, leaping to charge towards the Temple Knight.

  But the moment his body left the rock, he felt his hind hooves tighten. His forward momentum immediately slowed. He looked back and saw a giant rock elemental clutching his leg.

  The magic scroll the female knight unfurled was not targeted at him, or rather, its direct target was not him, but the giant rock that had flown up with him. It was a scroll to summon an earth elemental.

  The giant rock was already saturated with High Priest Tima's Earth magic power, so this summoning spell of the same school was exceptionally fast and effective. This earth elemental not only emerged from the rock with incredible speed but was also large enough, even half a head taller than the already towering High Priest Tima.

  High Priest Tima's leap was powerful, but no matter how powerful it was, he could not jump far while dragging such a giant, cumbersome creature. The Anti-Magic Art placed upon him had no effect whatsoever. What was holding him was not magical power, but a physical object.

  He managed to drag the thousand-pound earth elemental away from the rock, but seeing that the air elemental and the Temple Knight were now within reach, the Minotaur High Priest let out a reluctant howl and was dragged down to the ground by the earth elemental.

  "Knight Talise, that was beautiful," Harlan praised sincerely. The magic scrolls were certainly powerful, but the timing and method of their use were the most critical. Otherwise, at least one of the two of them would have been struck down by the Minotaur priest.

  "Lord Harlan, please use that scroll now," Talise replied faintly, controlling the air elemental to fly upwards.

  With a dull thud, sand and stone flew everywhere. High Priest Tima had finally managed to shake off the earth elemental mid-air and, upon landing, used a quicksand spell, turning the ground where he landed into soft sand. Otherwise, a fall from this height, with his weight, would surely have been fatal.

  Dizzily, he struggled to his feet and looked up. High Priest Tima saw a expanse of pure, dazzling white flame, whiter than snow, whiter than clouds, whiter than anything else, rolling down to cover the sky. Even his brown bull-like face seemed to turn paler in the flawless, dazzling white light.

  "No~!" High Priest Tima roared, as if struggling. Then, this roar was also drowned out by the surging sea of white fire.

  The pure white flames, like a great, rolling river, hung upside down from the high sky. Upon reaching the ground, they immediately spread out, submerging everything in their path. Minotaurs, Harpies, Evil Eyes, Drow, Medusa... no matter what it was—living being or corpse, fleeing in panic or half-dead and moaning on the ground—the moment it was swept into this wave of light, like a celestial river pouring from the heavens, it was silently submerged.

  Whether it was the panic of escape or the painful struggle of the dying, everything returned to tranquility in this white wave. This vast, magical wave was magnificent and yet not aggressive or overbearing. It brought not death, but serenity.

  Moments before, the place was filled with slaughter, corpses, flames, and screams. Now, it was a sea of milky-white light. The ruins of Othello were bathed in this vast expanse of milky-white flame. The holy radiance of the white magic was gentle and dazzling, peaceful and soft, like the heaven in the hearts of devout believers. But all the Minotaurs, Drow, and other subterranean dwellers who had not yet been submerged by the white flames, who could only watch the wave-like fire spread, deceptively slow but actually fast, all went mad, letting out the common screams and wails of all creatures before death.

  Purgatory of Paradise could not completely cover an area of several miles in radius. The Minotaurs and Drow began to scatter and flee into the passages and caves. Under Harlan's control, the white flames poured into several of the largest tunnels. The white magical flames instantly submerged the densely packed Minotaurs and Drow inside. The screams and howls fell silent in an instant, returning to a heavenly-like peace and tranquility.

  Although Purgatory of Paradise was one of the most troublesome Forbidden Spells to cast, its vast area of effect and controllable nature were unmatched by other purely destructive Forbidden Spells.

  The Forbidden Spell scroll in his hand finally exhausted its magical power and turned to ash. Harlan was completely exhausted, but looking down at the vast sea of white light that still seemed to glow with a lingering brilliance, he was also deeply satisfied. This most destructive Forbidden Spell, under his full magical power, had achieved its full effect. At least ten thousand Minotaurs, Drow, and Medusa had been turned to ash in this holy flame. If you counted those who had killed each other, the Nighon forces had suffered a devastating blow.

  Only in such a dense, enclosed environment could this Forbidden Spell achieve such a stunning effect. If it had been on a plain, this Forbidden Spell could have killed at most a thousand Oufu beastmen, and that was with the possibility of being interrupted by a master like Gru or Sedros during the casting process. But the result now was the equivalent of releasing all of the western front's defensive forces of several nations, including Erathia—that was an army of tens of thousands of well-equipped soldiers.

  This was the secret task His Majesty the Pope had assigned to them, the real reason they had come to Nighon.

  Most critically, the three chieftains had also died under this Forbidden Spell. In the hundreds of years of battle between Celeste and Nighon, a decisive victory had finally been achieved this time. Anyone would be excited to be able to personally accomplish this magnificent feat.

  But Talise's expression showed no fluctuation. She simply controlled the air elemental and flew up towards the ceiling of the cavern.