Suddenly, more than a dozen magic crystal cannons on the side of the second floor rapidly adjusted their barrels, taking aim at Starlight.
A dangerous glow began to flicker at the muzzles, indicating they had entered their charging state and were ready to pour out lethal fire at any moment.
“Sister!” Moen shouted urgently, seeing the barrels of those magic crystal cannons begin to flash.
“On it! Arrow Net!” Xia Duo responded immediately.
While helping Po Kong force Isabella back, she swiftly drew an oddly shaped arrow from her back. This arrow looked somewhat similar to the Sacred Wood Arrows she had used before, but the arrowhead was split into a fork.
With only a moment’s aim, Xia Duo fired the peculiar arrow toward the artillery ports on the second floor.
However, the dark green arrow did not fly directly at the magic crystal cannons; instead, it struck the floor precisely in front of the artillery position.
The soldiers operating the magic crystal cannons initially thought Xia Duo had missed and were about to mock her failure, but then they saw the arrow embedded in the floor suddenly split at the head. In an instant, it transformed into a dense web woven from vines, rapidly blocking the entire firing port.
“What!?” the soldiers cried out in shock. They tried to hack through the vines with their weapons, but the plants were exceptionally tough, and their strength was nowhere near enough to destroy them in a short time.
“Nice work!” Moen said, a relieved smile appearing on her pale face.
However, before her smile could fully form, Philip’s roar echoed through the hall again.
“You fools! Ignore the vines! Just use the magic crystal cannons to blow them apart!” Philip ordered loudly, clearly having lost his patience.
Under his command, the soldiers had no choice but to bite the bullet and reactivate the magic crystal cannons.
But with the muzzles blocked by vines, several of the magic crystal cannons misfired and exploded. The powerful backblast instantly threw the soldiers operating the turrets backward.
The aftershocks of the explosions tore Xia Duo’s Arrow Net to shreds, but a few shells still broke through the obstruction and hurtled toward Starlight.
Sensing a wave of heat descending from above, Starlight quickly spared one hand to condense a spatial barrier around himself. The incoming shells were instantly frozen in place not far from him, suspended in mid-air.
The shells of magic crystal cannons were not simple impact-triggered devices; spatial imprisonment alone was not enough to fully prevent them from detonating.
Just as the shells were about to explode, a distorted spatial ripple suddenly flashed in the palm of Starlight’s hand.
“Collect!”
In the nick of time, Starlight forcibly pulled the shells into his storage space.
This maneuver was incredibly dangerous for most people. If handled poorly, an activated shell could very likely explode the moment it entered the storage space.
Given the size of an ordinary mage’s storage space, an internal explosion would absolutely cause the entire space to collapse, and in severe cases, it could even trigger a violent backlash.
But Starlight’s storage space was different. Its massive capacity and staggering durability were enough to suppress power on the level of Saint weapons, so a few measly shells were naturally no problem.
Even if the shells exploded inside the space, they wouldn't cause a ripple.
However, Starlight had no intention of wasting these shells. The corners of his mouth curled into a sly smile, and a glint of mischief flashed in his eyes as he immediately pulled them out of his storage space and hurled them toward Philip’s group, who were currently busy hacking the treant to pieces.
Boom!
Philip and the other three had just finished tearing the treant to shreds and hadn't even had a chance to catch their breath when they saw several warheads shimmering with dangerous light flying toward them.
“What!?” Philip’s pupils shrank violently as his face paled.
He rapidly swung his longsword, attempting to block the shells, but it was too late.
Boom—!
The shells detonated around Philip and his companions, and the searing energy instantly swallowed their figures. The shockwave of the explosion sent scattered vines and rubble flying, and the entire hall shook violently.
“It worked!”
A flash of joy crossed Starlight’s eyes, but he did not lower his guard. He knew that as Saint Rank powerhouses, Philip and the others would not be defeated so easily.
Sure enough, as the dust cleared, the four figures of Philip’s group reappeared before everyone. Although their clothes were torn and they bore several new wounds, they had clearly not sustained any critical damage.
“You brat... How dare you play me!”
Philip’s voice was thick with fury and killing intent. His gaze locked onto Starlight, looking as if he wanted to skin the boy alive.
Starlight, however, was undeterred and gave him a cold smile. “Play you? This is only the beginning.”
Before his voice had even faded, Starlight’s hands began to move rapidly again. The runes on the third chain were already on the verge of collapse, and they soon shattered into the air.
As the runes dissipated, the pressure on Yserazor was suddenly lightened. His massive dragon body jerked violently, and a flash of ecstatic light gleamed in his golden pupils.
“Roar—!”
Yserazor let out an earth-shattering roar and began to twist his body frantically, attempting to completely break free from his final restraints.
Under his struggle, the chains let out a piercing metallic screeching sound, as if they were about to snap at any moment.
“Damn it! You three elders, go and reinforce the chains! I’ll kill this little brat myself! That Nature Priest is almost out of mana; she’s no longer a threat!”
Philip barked, the killing intent in his eyes surging. His figure lunged forward like a bolt of lightning, heading straight for Starlight.
Meanwhile, the other three elders of the House of Red were forced to move toward the three loosened chains, working together to press Yserazor back down.
Philip was currently consumed by regret. He had originally thought that among these young people, only Po Kong, the direct descendant of the House of Mars, possessed any respectable strength. He never expected that Starlight, Moen, and the others could actually stall their offensive through seamless cooperation and unique magic.
What shocked him even more was that a youth who hadn't even reached the Saint Rank was actually capable of dismantling runes constructed from four different elements.
If they had gone all out from the very beginning, the situation would never have become so passive.
However, it was too late for regrets. Philip could only vent all his rage on Starlight, intending to resolve this greatest threat before Yserazor could fully escape.
By now, Starlight had already rushed toward the fourth chain. Just as his hands were about to touch it, Philip’s figure intercepted him like a ghost. The longsword in Philip’s hand trailed two afterimages as it lunged straight for Starlight’s throat.
Seeing this, Starlight immediately halted his momentum and performed a side-flip, narrowly avoiding Philip’s second strike.
He was well aware that in a close-quarters duel like this, a mage like himself had absolutely no chance of winning; a direct confrontation would only lead to his destruction.
Philip let out a cold sneer, and his longsword swung out again. The sword light followed Starlight like a shadow, forcing him to retreat continuously.
Starlight tried throwing several spells at him—fireballs, ice spikes, and wind blades flew out one after another—but they were all easily neutralized by Philip.
“Now... how do I find an opening?” Starlight’s figure flickered rapidly around the hall as his mind raced for a countermeasure. His gaze darted toward the fourth chain from time to time, his heart filled with anxiety.
Meanwhile, the magic crystal cannons on the second floor showed no sign of stopping. In these few short minutes, they had already poured hundreds of shells into the hall.
If not for the fact that the Crimson Smoke Merchant Group’s castle was covered in sturdy defense arrays, the entire hall would likely have been reduced to ruins long ago.
Rate on N.U.
