Chapter 264 The Key
The thought flashed through Li Wen’s mind. Before she could ponder it further, an extremely oppressive roar, like the dying gasp of a beast, tore through the eerie silence of the plaza.
“Lies! All lies!”
In Joseph’s scarlet eyes, his already unstable sanity completely collapsed. He couldn’t accept that the great master he had followed for decades, whom he regarded as a god, to whom he had even sold his soul for a curse, had actually turned to ashes a hundred years ago. This collapse of faith was more painful than physical death.
“Master is immortal! He will never die!” Joseph’s roar was no longer human. The flesh and blood around him began to writhe and proliferate in a nauseating manner. His withered skin cracked inch by inch, and dark red muscle tissue and pale bones pierced through, intertwining and twisting. In just a few seconds, his figure expanded to tens of meters, transforming into a shapeless, terrifying giant composed of broken bones, rotten flesh, and viscous blood.
“Kill him! Kill him for me!” From the blurred face of the flesh and blood giant, countless mouths opened simultaneously, unleashing overlapping roars. He issued his final command to the “Mist Devourer” suspended in mid-air.
On the ghost ship, the pirates, like walking corpses, seemed to have been injected with their final madness. They let out silent shrieks, and malignant soulflames ignited in their hollow eye sockets. Then, like dumplings being thrown into water, they leaped from the ship’s side, tens of meters high, charging towards the withered mage figure in the center of the plaza without fear of death.
At the same time, the flesh and blood giant, incarnated by Joseph, also took heavy strides. Each step left a deep, sizzling corrosion pit on the ground. With immense force, he charged directly at Pole Derrien.
Facing this scene, which resembled a hellish painting, most of those present instinctively retreated, their faces filled with horror. Edgar and his patrol squad quickly formed a defensive formation, while Victoria was subtly protected in the center. Spade K even scrambled to hide behind a broken stone pillar, only daring to poke half his head out, watching everything with terror.
However, Pole Derrien, at the center of the storm, showed no change on his wrinkled face, not even raising his eyelids. He simply stood there quietly, as if the undead pirate legion, which had once stirred up trouble on the outer seas, was merely a passing breeze.
It wasn’t until the first wave of undead pirates rushed into the plaza, less than twenty meters away from him, that he slowly raised his withered, branch-like hand.
There was no incantation, no magic circle, not even any obvious fluctuation of mana.
He simply lightly pressed his hand towards the ground.
With this simple action, a drastic change occurred.
Centered on him, the entire surface of the plaza, the ancient stone slabs covered with gray-white sediment and silt, suddenly emitted an eerie faint glow, like the veins of the stone itself. The next moment, all the undead pirates who stepped into the plaza’s range suddenly froze, as if their movements were gripped by an invisible force.
Immediately after, a layer of grayish-white stone texture spread upwards at a visible speed, quickly covering their entire bodies. Whether it was their rotten flesh, their skeletal white bones, or their soulflame-burning eye sockets, all were completely petrified in an instant. Their charging postures were frozen forever, transforming into lifelike statues filled with the aura of death and despair, silently standing in the plaza.
In just a moment, dozens of fierce undead pirates became a silent stone forest.
This eerie and terrifying scene sent a chill through everyone’s hearts. At this moment, the flesh and blood giant, transformed from Joseph, was about to smash his massive fist, carrying a腥風, onto Pole Derrien’s frail body.
The old mage then slowly raised his head. His cloudy eyes calmly gazed at the towering flesh and blood creation exuding endless malice before him, even with a hint of pity in his gaze.
He raised his hand again. This time, not pointing at the ground, but far up at the “sky,” the seawater ceiling that circulated with a faint blue glow.
“Light…” his dry lips parted slightly, uttering a weak syllable.
Instantly, the extremely weak sunlight filtering through the sea surface seemed to receive some supreme decree and became incomparably brilliant in an instant. Countless rays of light were forcibly stripped and drawn from the faint blue “sky.” They converged and solidified in mid-air, transforming into tens of thousands of tangible spears, shimmering with holy radiance.
The spears of light, like an inverted rain, densely covered the area above the flesh and blood giant. The tip of each spear radiated pure, blazing energy capable of purifying all filth.
“…is also a blade.”
As Pole Derrien’s final words fell, the myriad spears of light descended.
Without giving the flesh and blood giant any time to react, the rain of light poured down.
*Screech! Screech! Screech!*
The muffled sounds of countless blades piercing through flesh became a continuous clamor. The flesh and blood giant’s massive body was instantly riddled with holes from head to toe, inside and out, by countless spears of light. The enormous body, composed of rotten flesh and broken bones, began to melt and purify like snow under the sun upon contact with the light spears, emitting large clouds of white steam.
A piercing, agonizing howl, unlike anything a creature could make, erupted from the depths of the giant’s shapeless form. Its massive body rapidly disintegrated and shrank under the baptism of the light rain. Finally, after a violent convulsion, it collapsed with a crash, reverting to Joseph’s bloody and mangled human body. He lay on the ground like a tattered rag, impaled by spears still emitting a faint glow, breathing his last.
In one blow, just one blow, a Transcendent of the Flesh Path at Stage Five, known for his tenacity, was completely incapacitated.
This absolute power disparity plunged everyone present into stunned silence. The plaza was deathly quiet.
However, at this moment, a dull “creak” sound, as if tectonic plates were grinding, came from above them.
Li Wen suddenly looked up, her pupils contracting. She saw a subtle crack appear without warning on the seawater barrier that served as the “sky,” forcefully held open by magic. Immediately after, more cracks spread rapidly like a spiderweb.
Cold seawater seeped in along the cracks. Initially, it was just dripping, but it soon turned into curtains of water, pouring down with a rushing sound.
“It seems that without the support of the Mage Tower, this realm without water will also cease to exist.” Pole Derrien looked at the collapsing scene above and revealed a look of expectation on his face. He surveyed the crowd in the plaza with expressions ranging from surprise to fear, and his hoarse voice rang out again.
“As you can see, this space is about to collapse. It won’t be long before the endless seawater crushes everything here. If you want to survive, there is only one way.”
His gaze swept across them, finally settling on Philip, who was pale and almost unable to stand.
“Deep within the ruins of this city lies an ancient teleportation array, the last escape route left by the ancient Lorente settlers. As long as we can reactivate it, we can escape this dead city.” The old mage’s tone was unhurried, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself. “However, to activate that array, a massive and pure surge of mana needs to be injected in an instant. I no longer have that strength. I need a ‘key’.”
“A spellcaster with sufficient potential and affinity for mana can become this key.” As he spoke, Pole Derrien’s lips curved into a meaningful arc. In his cloudy eyes, a light flickered that Li Wen couldn’t understand but instinctively felt was dangerous.
“So, who is willing to help this old man who doesn’t have much time left with a small, harmless favor?”
