“Rock Ridge Spell!”
The mana in Starlight’s hands shifted abruptly, and the ancient stone bricks of the city wall began to vibrate violently. Massive rock pillars, as thick as an adult dwarf’s waist, erupted from the ground like the hideous fangs of a dragon.
These stone pillars struck the frozen Stone Trolls with the force of a thousand tons.
Crack—!
With a sharp snap, the ice statues in the front row shattered instantly.
The bodies of the Stone Trolls, made brittle by the extreme low temperature, were smashed into pieces by the impact of the rock ridges. Countless ice shards stained with purple-black blood swirled like a storm of death toward the enemies who had just crested the wall.
Every flying shard of ice carried a bone-chilling frost, and wherever they landed, new frost bloomed, spreading a lethal layer of frozen earth across the surface of the wall.
After casting these two large-scale spells in succession, Starlight panted slightly. Even with his vast mana reserves, he felt a wave of exhaustion.
This was exactly why Starlight hesitated to use a power like the Shadow of Annihilation in a place like this. It was an indiscriminate force; otherwise, the Stone Trolls on the wall wouldn’t have lasted a moment against him.
Suddenly, an anomaly occurred.
From the shattered remains of the frozen Stone Trolls, countless strands of dark red energy suddenly surged out, snaking toward Starlight like venomous serpents!
“Watch out!” Moen’s cry came from behind him.
Unable to reach him in time to help directly, she threw several seeds into the air. The seeds burst mid-flight, transforming into a Thorn Barrier that shielded Starlight.
However, the dark red energy actually corroded right through the magically grown plants, turning the Thorn Barrier into a brittle crystal net and continuing toward Starlight without losing momentum.
“Damn it!”
Starlight’s expression shifted as he realized this was the sinister power of the Stone Troll King.
Fortunately, Moen’s magic had delayed it for a fraction of a second, giving Starlight time to react. His form immediately blurred, dissolving into the air like a reflection in water.
By the time he reappeared elsewhere on the wall, the spot where he had been standing had transformed into a cluster of hideous deep-red crystals. Every crystal pillar pulsed with an eerie light, their edges sharp enough to slice through the air.
Furthermore, these crystals were growing and spreading at an alarming rate, turning that section of the wall into a forest of blood-colored crystal clusters in the blink of an eye.
“Everyone, get back! Don’t touch those crystals!” Starlight’s warning echoed across the wall.
Seeing the lethal clusters about to reach the feet of the dwarven defenders, he slammed both palms onto the wall beneath him without hesitation.
Mana rippled through the stone bricks like a wave, and the entire section of the wall let out a dull roar.
“Rise!”
With a low shout, the section of the battlements contaminated by the crystals actually separated from the main structure, slowly lifting under the control of Starlight’s mana.
The dwarves watched in stunned silence as the twenty-meter-long section of the wall was hoisted by an invisible giant hand, carrying the rapidly growing blood-red crystals as it tilted outward.
Boom—!
With an earth-shaking crash, the contaminated section of the wall was hurled down from the twenty-meter-high ramparts, crushing countless Stone Trolls below.
The defenders looked down toward where the wall had fallen; even after the impact, those deep-red crystals continued to grow frantically.
Starlight withdrew his hands with a heavy expression. Although this tactic of severing the wall had temporarily resolved the crisis, it left a staggering gap in the defenses. The Stone Trolls below were already turning their gaze toward it.
In just a few moments, a large number of Stone Trolls began surging through the gap in the wall.
Seeing this, Moen and Maela quickly moved toward that section, using their magic to support the dwarven warriors in the fray.
Simultaneously, Moen leapt lightly onto a nearby battlement and pulled a handful of green-glowing seeds from her storage space.
With a flick of her wrist, the seeds scattered like flower petals over the surging Stone Troll army.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!
The moment the seeds touched the Stone Trolls' bodies, they greedily took root in their earth-element-rich rocky skin. Countless wriggling lumps suddenly bulged on those massive grey-black forms.
Immediately after, emerald-green sprouts burst through their bodies, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Thick vines erupted from the Stone Trolls' eye sockets, joints, and wounds, wrapping the behemoths into green cocoons in an instant.
The parasitized trolls clawed at their own bodies in agony, but they could only tear off large chunks of rock. Their purple-black blood became the perfect nourishment, causing the magical plants to grow even more violently.
This was the brand-new magic Moen had comprehended after absorbing the World Tree Essence. Lately, she had been studying day and night how to transform life magic into a more aggressive form.
Now, these carefully refined seeds were demonstrating incredible power. They not only retained the stubborn vitality characteristic of plants but were also imbued with a special erosive property specifically targeted at living organisms.
This was a combat style completely different from the traditional defensive magic of the elves, yet it was unexpectedly suited for this siege.
“Nicely done!”
Maela laughed heartily and waved her crystal short staff.
While her crystallization magic couldn't cover the entire battlefield like Starlight's, she was unparalleled when it came to striking individual targets.
Dozens of sharply angled crystals condensed in mid-air, each one compressed by mana and swirling with a dangerous iridescent glow within.
“Go!”
As Maela swung her staff down, these crystal shells whistled through the air.
They drew brilliant trajectories across the sky, precisely entering the vital points of every Stone Troll bound by vines—some pierced eye sockets to reach the brain, some sliced into the body through joint gaps, and some even shot directly into throats through wide-open mouths.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Amidst a series of explosions, those seemingly indestructible rock bodies shattered like fragile glass.
The terrifying aspect of Maela’s crystal magic was its ability to change the target's internal structure upon impact, sharing a similar principle with the Stone Troll King's power.
Starlight watched from the side with a hint of alarm. Even his most proficient light magic couldn't match that kind of piercing power to directly blow through a Stone Troll’s body, let alone shatter them.
With Moen and Maela providing cover, Starlight finally recovered from his previous mana depletion. He stepped slowly toward the edge of the wall, his black hair fluttering in the hot wind.
Having gauged the strength of the Stone Trolls, he decided not to hold back anymore.
Now, thousands of Stone Trolls had surged across the moat like a rising tide, crowding densely beneath the West Gate. Their purple-black bodies pushed against one another, leaving almost no gap between them.
This extremely dense formation was the perfect opportunity to cast a large-scale spell.
Starlight took a deep breath and slowly raised his right hand. Above his palm, a speck of pitch-black shadow began to twist and rotate, swallowing the surrounding light like a miniature black hole.
Though this sphere composed of pure Shadow of Annihilation was only the size of a fist, it caused the nearby air to let out a groan of unbearable pressure.
“Annihilation!”
He whispered the word so softly it was almost inaudible. Then, with a casual wave, the black sphere silently fell into the center of the enemy ranks.
The moment the black sphere landed, space seemed to be torn open, revealing a hideous wound. Centered on the point of impact, a pitch-black domain nearly a hundred meters in diameter suddenly expanded, swallowing even light as it passed.
The Stone Trolls within that range were still in mid-charge, but they all suddenly seemed to have been hit by a pause button.
Their rock skin began to weather and peel away at a visible rate, and their purple-black blood evaporated into nothingness under the erosion of dark elements before it could even hit the ground.
Even more terrifying was that this annihilation domain was still expanding. The Stone Trolls at the edge tried to retreat in horror, only to find themselves being dragged toward the center of death by an invisible force.
They clawed at the ground in vain, leaving deep gouges in the hard earth, yet they could not stop their bodies from being slowly decomposed into basic particles.
The dwarves on the wall unconsciously held their breath, and even Maela, a fellow mage, stared with wide eyes.
She had only ever heard of such Ultimate Power in books. No wonder Starlight had held back until now; this terrifying, indiscriminate force could cause a catastrophe if handled with even the slightest carelessness.
Rate on N.U.
