Po Kong danced the Sacred Wood Phantom into a graceful flourish before slashing at the Frost Giant’s massive hand as it lunged through the air.
“Clang!”
The sound of metal clashing rang through the chamber. To everyone’s surprise, the Frost Giant’s seemingly ordinary skin was incredibly hard. The Saint weapon only left a faint white mark on the giant’s knuckles, sending out a sharp, blinding spray of sparks.
“What the hell is this!?”
Po Kong’s expression shifted instantly. Even though he hadn’t fully channeled his battle qi, the Sacred Wood Phantom was a genuine Saint weapon! Even dragon scales shouldn’t have been able to withstand that blow so easily, yet he hadn’t even broken the giant's defense?
Before he could think further, the giant’s other fist arrived with a roar of terrifying air pressure. Even before the fist landed, the shockwave of compressed air made Po Kong’s face sting with pain.
“Look out! Po Kong, move!”
Starlight shouted, throwing several wind blades into the path of the giant’s fist. They barely managed to deflect its trajectory, causing the blow to graze Po Kong’s right shoulder.
Even so, the sheer power of the punch shattered the crystal armor Maela had constructed for him. Po Kong was sent flying several meters by the aftershock, his body sliding across the polished floor, leaving a long streak behind him.
“Interesting!” Po Kong glanced at his slightly numbed shoulder, the fighting spirit in his eyes burning even brighter as golden light began to radiate from his body.
After a quick adjustment, Po Kong lunged forward once more.
But this time, he was met by four massive fists. Even with the enhancement of his War God Battle Qi, Po Kong was sent flying again. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't withstand the combined strike of four Frost Giants.
“I can’t sense their cultivation levels, but based on their offense and defense, they’re at least Saint Rank! And they know how to coordinate? Maela, use the crystals to separate them. We’ll take them down one by one!” Starlight quickly assessed the situation and shouted his orders.
Maela nodded decisively and raised her staff high above her head. “Crystal House!”
With her sharp cry, several towering crystal walls rose from the ground, perfectly segmenting the four advancing Frost Giants.
Seeing the crystal walls suddenly block their path, the Frost Giants refused to back down and immediately smashed their fists into them. In a single exchange, a web of cracks spread across Maela’s crystals.
“Don’t even think about it! Condense!”
Just as Maela was about to reinforce the crystals with her mana, Stark suddenly leaped high into the air. The flames erupting from the back of his power armor propelled him over ten meters up.
“Check this out!”
He let out a loud shout as his shoulder armor flipped open, revealing two pitch-black cannon barrels.
Drawn by his shout and the flaming armor, the Frost Giants instinctively looked up toward the sky, only to see four small, black missiles flying toward each of them.
Surprisingly, the missiles Stark fired didn't cause an explosion. Instead, they burst open above the giants' heads, raining down a thick, viscous liquid that covered the giants and the surrounding floor.
“???”
The Frost Giants looked at the harmless liquid on their bodies in confusion, unable to fathom what kind of trick this little creature was playing.
But when they tried to swing their fists again, their feet suddenly slipped, and they fell heavily to the ground.
“This is super lubricant designed to work in extreme environments! Taste the power of technology!” Stark shouted. Using Maela’s crystal wall as a foothold, he gave a mighty leap and returned to the group.
“Nice one!” Watching the four giants stumbling and sliding, Po Kong laughed heartily. He transformed into a golden comet and charged toward his first opponent again.
With the assistance of Maela and Stark, the four giants—each possessing Saint Rank strength—were momentarily forced onto the defensive. The slippery ground prevented them from gaining any traction, while the sturdy crystal walls constantly shifted the layout of the battlefield.
However, Starlight knew very well that this was only a temporary measure. The Frost Giant holding the scepter and the statue behind him were the true threats.
While his teammates were busy tangling with the four giants, Starlight hadn't been idle. His eyes shimmered with different colors as his fingertips traced patterns in the air, attempting to analyze the structure and laws of this space.
The moment they had stepped into this circular space, the entrance behind them had vanished.
Though he didn't know the exact principle behind it, Starlight didn't believe in absolutely perfect magic. Given enough time, he could reopen the gateway and lead everyone out.
“Found it...”
Starlight suddenly looked up, his gaze locking onto a corner of the dome. There was an incredibly subtle inconsistency in the space there, like a single loose thread on a perfect sheet of silk.
Just as he was about to condense his mana and break through that point, a bone-chilling cold suddenly surged from his spine to the back of his neck!
That familiar sense of premonition made him instinctively roll to the side. A second later, an ice-blue beam of light grazed his cheek, instantly crystallizing a large section of the floor behind him.
“Cunning human!” Looking back, the Frost Giant who had remained stationary had raised his scepter at some point. A second burst of terrifying energy was already beginning to condense at the crystal tip. “You shall not disrupt the sacred ritual space!”
Facing the incoming blue pillar of light, Starlight shifted himself into a parallel space at the last possible second, dodging the fatal blow.
However, the Frost Giant’s strike sent ripples through the entire space, once again disrupting the spatial node he had just locked onto.
“Shua—”
When Starlight reappeared from the void, his face was deathly pale. He stared intently at the Frost Giant Elder. “That wasn't just a simple attack... It was meant to scramble the spatial structure!”
A strange smile touched the corners of the Frost Giant Elder’s mouth as the tip of his scepter glowed with dangerous light once more. Starlight knew there was no more room for retreat.
“If that’s how it’s going to be, then we’ll just have to settle this first! If it’s just a contest of magic, I won't necessarily lose!”
A mass of black dark power instantly took shape in Starlight’s palm, condensing into a sphere the size of an apple. With a swing of his arm, the Sphere of Annihilation drew a pitch-black arc through the air, colliding head-on with the third beam fired by the Frost Giant Elder.
Two completely different energies clashed in mid-air, and a blinding radiance erupted where the black and blue met.
Amidst a series of explosions, the resulting aftershocks tore up the floor for dozens of meters around them, shattering the hard ice crystal floor like fragile crackers.
Starlight was actually quite frustrated. In a normal magical confrontation, the Shadow of Annihilation, as an Ultimate Power, should have held an absolute advantage.
However, the magic his opponent used was very strange—a form he had never seen before. He couldn't analyze its weaknesses in such a short time, only managing to vaguely identify that it contained the power of water and earth elements.
“Human, you do indeed surprise me,” the Frost Giant Elder suddenly spoke. “But in our domain, all resistance is futile.”
As the Frost Giant Elder’s scepter erupted with a dazzling ice-blue light, the magical beam suddenly expanded, its diameter instantly exceeding two meters.
Under the pressure of this violent energy, the Sphere of Annihilation began to give way, showing signs of imminent collapse.
The massive force pushed Starlight’s body back uncontrollably. To resist the incoming mana, the veins on his arms bulged, and a trickle of blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Just as the Frost Giant thought he had secured victory, a slight smile appeared on Starlight’s face.
The moment the Sphere of Annihilation was completely neutralized, the elements within his body finished their fusion. A beam of pale white Power of Destruction shot from his palm, piercing straight toward the blue light pillar that was thicker than a man.
Before the Frost Giant Elder’s horrified eyes, that Power of Destruction transformed into an indestructible blade, neatly slicing his magic in two.
The two halves of the severed beam crashed out of control into the side walls, triggering violent explosions.
The Sword of Destruction, having easily pierced through the entire spell, continued its path without slowing, heading straight for the Frost Giant Elder’s face, even cutting tiny rifts into the surrounding space.
——————
Happy National Day! The image is in the Author's Note ↓
Rate on N.U.
