Chapter 374: The Best Ending (Part 4)

  While Vedenina was casting her spell, Inham wasn't just watching from the side. Just as he had said before, he was indeed doing his utmost to stop her. From the lowest-level Magic Missile to the advanced Firewall, and even white magic's Purification and Light Arrow, in this short period, he had fired off almost every spell he could use in rapid succession. Unfortunately, all the spells he cast dissipated upon a shield formed from a layer of black aura.

  Finally, he didn't even use spells anymore, instead charging directly forward, wanting to interrupt the Lich's spellcasting just like Agrael's close-quarters attack. But the moment he collided with this magical shield, he was immediately bounced back. Although his skills could be considered quite good, the gap between him and Agrael was on a completely different level.

  He didn't give up, instead gathering all his strength and charging forward once more. This time, he wasn't bounced back. Instead, his entire body was embedded into the layer of black aura. The dense magic around him squeezed in frantically. If he hadn't desperately pulled himself out, the shield alone would have turned him into a pulp of flesh.

  Vedenina paid him no mind at all, merely using this protective magical shield to exhaust him completely. At this moment, the green flames breathed out by the Dark Dragon had already completely engulfed Sandro.

  The cyan giant dragon did not disappear. Instead, it circled in mid-air and flew back. This was no longer an illusion, but a summoned creature similar to an elemental being. When it flew back above Vedenina and Inham, it spewed another mouthful of overwhelming flames down upon them.

  The green flames melted everything they touched. The cliffs on both sides melted like wax. After the flames passed, only a stretch of scorching blackness remained.

  Vedenina and Inham were still standing within it. Only, everything within several meters of the Lich was unharmed; even the ground was still cool. Inham, however, was in a wretched state. Not only his clothes, but even his hair had scorched marks. He looked like a survivor who had just escaped from a fire.

  "What? Can't bear to kill me?" Inham was still smiling.

  He knew very well that with his own abilities, it was impossible to survive such a grand spell. But now it wasn't just a matter of being wretched. The dark fluctuations contained within the flames rampaged freely through his body, cutting and devouring his life force and magical power.

  The Lich was silent. Aside from the fire in her eye sockets that still jumped ceaselessly, she was no different from a statue. After a long while, she finally spoke in her hoarse, unpleasant voice: "You are not worth killing right now. I want you to watch with your own eyes as the Lich King rises here, and only then will I turn you into a pile of dust."

  "And Sandro? You can bear to kill him?"

  "I didn't hold back, but perhaps he was only gravely injured... perhaps... if he is truly still alive, I will also let him witness that great moment with his own eyes," Vedenina replied lightly. After all, he was once known as the strongest Necromancer, and the teacher who had led her into Diya Valley and the field of Necromancy. She was well aware of his strength. Even the dragon's breath of the Dark Dragon, which was close to a Forbidden Spell, might truly be unable to kill him in a single strike.

  However, when she focused her attention on the area scorched by the flames, she discovered nothing. There wasn't a single trace that Sandro had ever existed, as if he, like all the other things, had been turned to ash and smoke in the Dark Dragon's breath.

  "Impossible... something's wrong here." Vedenina was stunned. But then she understood. A person like Sandro, even if he died, couldn't die so silently and without a sound.

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  Almost at the limit of her vision, the body of a gargoyle rose up from the valley and headed northwest. Although it was unclear, Vedenina knew there was definitely someone on it.

  No matter how fast a gargoyle was, it couldn't have flown this far in such a short time. It seemed it must have already been advancing quietly in the valley long before she summoned the Dark Dragon.

  "Worthy of being my teacher. It seems there is still so much I have to learn..." Vedenina sighed sincerely.

  "Worthy of being a venerable senior," Inham also realized and smiled bitterly. "So it turns out I didn't need to offer my unwanted help. He naturally knew what to do."

  The biggest difference between old people and young people is that old people are usually more pragmatic. Even if an old person has a strange personality, when the overall situation is at stake, they will definitely not act impulsively on temper and passion like a young person. And an old monster like Sandro, who has long since become as cunning as a fox spirit, when he expresses that he's hell-bent on saving face, it's just to make you think he is. Similarly, whatever he expresses—surprise, defiance, anger, escape—it's merely what he needs you to believe. Vedenina and Inham couldn't even tell whether he had escaped with Agrael's help or had already run away before.

  As early as twenty years ago, Agrael and Sandro were both leaders of Diya Valley. The coordination between them had long been so tacit it needed no words. With a master-level mirror image doppelg?nger scroll, some appropriate acting, and Agrael's help, Sandro had actually slipped away right under their noses.

  This distance was already dozens of miles away. Even if they were to find a similar gargoyle now, they wouldn't be able to catch up.

  "It's a pity Teacher didn't know I had this. This is a case of man proposing and God disposing." Vedenina didn't need to find a gargoyle. She had a mount right beside her that was larger and more convenient than one.

  The cyan giant dragon circling above their heads lowered its head and flew down. Although it was a summoned creature that could only be maintained for a short time, and although it had to rely on the aura of The Black Star to maintain its form and could not leave The Shadowspire Peaks, it was, after all, a Dark Dragon. In terms of both combat power and speed, it was incomparable to a magical puppet like a gargoyle. Vedenina was confident she could catch up.

  But just as she was about to get up and fly onto the dragon's body, Inham, still on the ground, suddenly burst into laughter.

  He laughed with extreme joy, as if he had just encountered the happiest thing in the world. He laughed loudly: "So it turns out I still have to help."

  He laughed and coughed at the same time, with large mouthfuls of blood gushing from his mouth. But he paid it no mind, instead chanting the prayers of white magic. However, his prayer was quite different from any chanted by a priest.

  "Oh, ethereal and elusive Lord, allow me, this unorthodox believer, to borrow your power. Use your ethereal holiness to purify this tangible darkness, just as we purify our own hearts..."

  What rose with the prayer was a large expanse of dazzling white light. In this world, already completely enveloped in darkness, this expanse of white light appeared incomparably brilliant. This was a Purification from a bishop-level white mage, pouring all of his magical power and life force into a single point.

  In the dazzling white light, the form of the cyan giant dragon disintegrated and collapsed at high speed, just like a complete building that suddenly had its main beam removed. Even with a controller like the Lich, and even with The Black Star as its source of magic, this Purification had already destroyed the massive magical system that constituted its body.

  "Bastard." An angry roar, so ugly it was barely distinguishable, came from the Lich's throat and echoed to the heavens.

  A flash of green light streaked through the air. With a soft "whoosh," a large hole opened in Inham's chest. It was transparent from front to back, a hole so large it nearly split him in two, big enough for a person to crawl through from his front to his back.

  Inham was still smiling, but there was no longer the sound of laughter. No blood flowed from this massive wound. The high temperature of the green fire had nearly directly cauterized his flesh, and the deathly black aura within it could turn any tissue it touched into something like coal. But this was no longer important. That one Purification was enough to claim his life. The wounds left by that dragon's breath had already destroyed his body as he was casting the spell.

  The Lich in mid-air looked at her own outstretched hand, the one that had just delivered this strike. Her expression could not be seen.

  "To die by your hand, this kind of death can be considered the best ending I can choose now."

  Looking at the Lich, using the last trace of strength remaining in his body and mind, Inham spoke this final sentence.

  The cyan giant dragon had disappeared. Vedenina slowly descended from mid-air. Perhaps her magical power was insufficient, or perhaps for other reasons, she did not attempt to summon the Dark Dragon again, but just looked at Inham, who had now become a corpse.

  The Lich's face still showed no expression. She just stood there quietly, watching for a long time without moving.

  A gust of wind blew, and Inham Marquis's body fell. The wind also stirred the hay-like, withered muscles on the Lich's face, but they moved without any sign of life.

  Outside The Shadowspire Peaks. The sky over The Wyvern Wastes, once scorching under the blazing sun, was also a sheet of gray, but this grayness was much better than that within the mountains.

  A gargoyle was flying alone in this hazy sky.

  "That kid is dead." Agrael on the gargoyle glanced back in the direction of Diya Valley. Although she couldn't see anything, she could feel it.

  "Congratulations to him. He came here to die in the first place," Sandro said without turning back, his tone light.

  "And you? Aren't you also going to your death?" Agrael scoffed. She had several scorched marks on her, but her expression was composed.

  "No, how can I be compared to a fellow like that?" Sandro also scoffed, then his expression returned to calm. "I am going to choose the best ending that belongs to me."