Overwhelming Firepower

The forest erupted with green light.

Dark green rays tore through the trees, erasing trunks, branches, snow, and earth wherever they passed. There were no explosions; instead, everything touched by the spells simply disappeared, leaving deep trenches carved across the ground.

Seeing the scene before them, it didn’t take a genius to understand that blocking that spell was nigh impossible.

Sir Thalos wanted to attack the Lich, but based on the height of where he was flying, the second he jumps up, he’ll become a sitting duck and get hit by that spell.

The only option now was long-range attacks. As he was running, Sir Thalos punched a nearby tree, breaking it, and he picked it up and threw it at the Lich. Unfortunately, before the tree could even reach it, it was disintegrated by the dark green light.

The others also started attacking with long-range attacks. Alexander’s group, who were given each revolver, started shooting at the Lich while dodging for their lives. The mages were also attacking with spells.

Elyra, like Sir Thalos, did not have a long-range weapon, but one of the Runescars’ sword techniques could manage a long-range attack. One of the new forms her father taught her as her aura mantle grew stronger was the seventh form.

Elyra stood behind a few trees and asked the others to cover her. She took a stance, pulling back her blade behind her.

Her aura mantle, like a fiery flower, bloomed. She had learned from her father that the sword forms they used weren’t created by the sword demon, the Runescar patriarch, who became the sword duke, but by his mother.

Karla Runescar, her name was not one famed like her son, Darin Runescar, who showed martial might during the war of the crown.

Unlike her son, who not only wanted to grow stronger but also to gain fame, she was one who believed in reaching the ultimate form of the sword.

She had gained enlightenment when she saw a field of flowers burning, but a single flower bloomed amidst the flames. Which was why most of her moves were of flowers.

The seventh form was born from that same belief. A flower did not need to move from where it had taken root. Its petals could still be carried far away by the wind.

[Runescar Swordsmanship Seventh Form: Distant Bloom!]

Elyra pierced forward with the tip of her sword, looking like a flower at full bloom, and a burst of fire came flying out, heading towards the Lich.

Every bit of aura had been compressed into its center. Flames formed around the projectile like overlapping petals, each layer spinning around the next as it crossed the forest.

Aleister noticed it immediately. He quickly teleported out of the way. Seeing this, Elyra gritted her teeth. Using the seventh form took a lot from her; she couldn’t just spam it. Now she needed to wait for an opportunity to attack again.

Still, the speed of Distant Bloom was fast, but not fast enough to catch the Lich mid-teleport, as she needed to aim at him at the location he teleports to.

”Pin him down!” Lucen shouted as he jumped upward, creating two pistols and shooting them downward with bullets imbued with fire elements, pushing him upward into the air.

The explosions pushed him higher into the air. Aleister immediately pointed toward him. Dark green light gathered around the Lich’s finger. Lucen evaded the attack by shooting to the side.

The green light continued into the forest and erased everything in its path. Lucen spun through the air and fired his remaining pistol toward Aleister.

The bullet struck the transparent barrier surrounding the Lich. Fire exploded across its surface, briefly obscuring his vision. That was when the others attacked. Gunshots echoed throughout the forest.

Alexander, Cael, Nina, and Ryan fired their revolvers from different directions. Their bullets were not powerful enough to break Aleister’s barrier, but each shot forced him to divide his attention.

Harlik planted his towering shield against the ground and placed his rifle above its edge, and he fired.

The bullet struck the side of Aleister’s skull, causing the Lich’s head to turn slightly. The barrier had stopped most of its force, but a small crack appeared across its surface.

Catherine crossed both arms and fired her revolvers. Unlike the others, her bullets did not fly in straight lines. They curved around the trees before approaching Aleister from behind.

The Lich sensed them and raised his remaining hand. Two green rays appeared. The bullets disappeared before they could reach him.

However, the act of destroying them gave Eisen enough time to make his move. The ground below Aleister exploded.

Hundreds of stones rose into the air, surrounding him from every direction. Eisen compressed each one with telekinesis before launching them toward the Lich.

Aleister’s blue flames moved rapidly. Dark green light flashed repeatedly. Every stone touched by Disintegrate vanished, but more continued approaching.

Mireya raised her staff. The number of stones suddenly multiplied. Hundreds became thousands.

Most were illusions, but Aleister did not care as he just disintegrated everything; he no longer bothered preserving mana.

His anger continued to grow, and the ancient markings across his bones kept drawing power from the surroundings.

While Aleister’s attention remained divided between Eisen’s stones, Mireya’s illusions, and the bullets coming from the forest, Lucen continued to rise higher in the air. It didn’t take too long for Lucen to be a few meters above the Lich.

Aleister finally noticed him. The blue flames inside his eyes moved upward.

Lucen grinned. He dismissed one pistol and created a trench gun in its place. His remaining pistol fired beneath him once more, pushing his body even higher.

Aleister raised his hand. Several green lights gathered around his fingers. Lucen used RELEASE as he aimed downward.

”Let’s see where you run this time.”

He pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The fire-imbued shell descended toward Aleister. The power of this strike was the strongest one Lucen had released, with much more mana than the others. The barrier surrounding the Lich cracked open.

Fire swallowed Aleister’s body. However, Lucen did not believe for a second that the attack had struck him.

The moment before the flames reached him, the surrounding mana had shifted. Aleister had teleported.

’Just as expected.’ Lucen twisted his body in the air and looked toward the right side of the battlefield.

The Lich could not teleport backward. Eisen’s stones and Mireya’s illusions filled that space. He could not move higher because Lucen was already above him, and teleporting closer to the ground would place him within Sir Thalos’s reach.

That left only one safe direction. The air beside a distant tree distorted. Aleister reappeared, and Elyra had already been waiting.

Her blazing red aura mantle bloomed around her. Flames gathered around the tip of her sword, compressing into overlapping petals.

She had begun preparing the technique before Lucen even fired.

[Runescar Swordsmanship Seventh Form: Distant Bloom!]

Elyra thrust forward. The fiery flower left her blade at the exact moment Aleister reappeared.

For the first time, the Lich had no opportunity to teleport again. Distant Bloom struck him directly in the side.

The compressed aura exploded. Flames engulfed Aleister’s body, tearing through his robes and burning across his body.

The flames vanished. Aleister remained in the air, but much of his body had been burned away. Several ribs were missing, his robes had disappeared, and the markings carved across his bones flickered unevenly.

Yet the blue flames within his eyes had become colder.

”Enough.”

The word carried across the forest. Every ancient marking remaining on his body lit up at once. Mana stopped flowing toward his damaged bones. Instead, it gathered between his hands.

The grass below him withered. Trees lost their leaves. Animals hidden throughout the forest collapsed without making a sound. Even the mana in the surroundings was pulled toward the dark sphere forming above Aleister’s palms.

Robert stared upward, trembling in excitement. ”That’s amazing! He’s gathering vitality, mana, and necrotic energy into one spell!”

Lucen gnashed his teeth; this was a spell he knew very well. The ultimate spell that Aleister could use if he were given time to get stronger. The spell was called End of all Life.

If Aleister unleashes that spell here, everything in sight will die, a death where you turn into the Lich’s nourishment, or if you were strong enough, be a part of his army.

Lucen’s eyes widened. ”Sir Thalos, Harlik, get in front of everyone and defend! Robert, Mireya, and Eisen use every kind of shield you can make! Protect yourselves!”

Lucen stopped propelling himself upward and landed on the ground. The moment his feet touched the grass, he extended both his hands at the Lich as two trench guns appeared.

He then used RELEASE at full power. He had only one shot to make, and this shot would determine whether they lived or died. His Battle-Crazed state was also increasing his power as he smiled in excitement, wanting to see what would happen if Aleister’s strongest spell hit his strongest skill.

Mana and aura flooded both weapons until cracks spread across their barrels. White light gathered inside each chamber, brighter than the moon above.

Across the battlefield, Aleister raised the sphere of death.

[End of All Life.]

The darkness descended. Grass, trees, and even the air withered beneath it.

Lucen aimed both trench guns upward. Blood ran from his eyes, nose, and mouth, but his grin only widened.

”Come on, you undead b*stard! Let’s see which is stronger, your eternal hatred or my overwhelming firepower!”

He pulled both triggers. [Explosive Bullet!] Two white shells merged into one powerful blast, more powerful than any he had used before. It struck the descending sphere.

The moment death and fire collided, the night vanished beneath a light bright enough to swallow the entire forest.