Chapter 349
Such a Masterful Lightning Strike
Dark clouds covered the sky, obscuring the sun.
A furious storm swept across the land, its sharp howls like the screams of sirens. Houses groaned audibly, and the relentless wind made it impossible to keep one’s eyes open. Bats flitted through the air, letting out shrieks.
The continuous flashes of lightning didn’t seem to fall; instead, they repeatedly swept across the ground. These bolts of electricity weren’t like normal lightning strikes, but rather looked like tornadoes piercing heaven and earth, directly carving out furrows in the ground. The buildings were struck by lightning, igniting flames… Yet, even so, not a single villager fled their homes in panic.
If not for the lights on in the rooms and the distinct scent of humans, it would have assumed that these people had already evacuated.
But… what was going on?
Were they willing to burn to death in their homes rather than come out?
Even so, why was Eivass so calm? He had implicated this ordinary village because of himself, yet he felt no shame or regret?
The Punisher Demon hadn’t told him much about this village before, and Wolfram wasn’t interested in such insignificant details.
But now, Wolfram frowned deeply.
As he watched the Punisher Demon continuously summon lightning, the Prince of Giants suddenly had a subtle, ominous feeling that things were gradually slipping out of his control.
At this moment, Yeats, who had been fishing by the Sapphire Lake, suddenly knitted his brows.
A bolt of lightning struck beside him, flipping over his bucket filled with plump salmon and trout. The iron bucket exploded, and Yeats casually batted it away.
He looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, his pupils flashing scarlet in an instant.
“You’re quite the nuisance, Wolfram…” His calm, mellow voice, like that of a poet, gradually became rough and low. “My Master told me not to cause her trouble, and I wouldn’t have come looking for you… But now, you can’t blame me. It’s you who came looking for trouble now.”
As he spoke, the man, as gaunt as decaying wood, suddenly began to swell. He was already close to two meters tall, and now he grew even taller. His black hair, which hung down to his shoulders like damp seaweed, transformed into a thick fur coat.
This was not the emaciated gray wolf he had transformed into before.
Instead, he became a robust werewolf over two and a half meters tall, with a slightly hunched back. He crouched slightly, and then vanished from his spot.
On the other side, Merlin, walking near the swamp, suddenly had a rune light up on his body. He vanished from his original position without any warning. Simultaneously, a lightning strike hit his former location, leaving behind a deep crater. Then he vanished again—another lightning strike hit his previous spot.
“—Who is it, are you sick?”
Having narrowly avoided being struck twice by lightning, even the good-natured Merlin was getting angry.
He didn’t even need to analyze it. With just one glance, he could see the power of “Sin and Punishment” contained within the lightning. This was not natural lightning, but the Punisher Demon’s innate ability. Unless one was newly born, who among mortals was completely without sin? These lightning bolts would track down every sinner and attack—in other words, they were attempting to annihilate all living beings within the area.
Merlin tapped his staff lightly on the ground, and a faint spiritual light appeared around him. The lightning strikes became more frequent, but they dodged him as if they had eyes.
“Really…”
…Interfering with the Material Realm as an Apostle would make it difficult to report back to the boss. Merlin narrowed his eyes and murmured, patting the Holy Sword at his waist. Although he had sworn not to kill with magic anymore… he was also a Swordsman.
But just then, he paused slightly, revealing a mocking smile. Sensing the air around him suddenly turn chilling, Merlin smiled with delight. “Oh dear, how could I forget… Helchin is buried here. It’s good that I don’t have to make a move. However, things have come to this point, so I will have to do something. Otherwise, I’ll truly be looked down upon by the juniors.”
Merlin said softly, pushing up his monocle. He lowered his head slightly, the glasses reflecting a white light.
Without incantations, gestures, or materials, a complex Ritual Array suddenly appeared on the ground before him. Rune after rune emerged out of thin air, as if “growing” from the array. Merlin had no intention of breaking his oath. This array was definitely not meant for killing. The spell he prepared was something he concocted on the spot, so it had no name. Merlin hadn’t known this spell before, but after profoundly understanding the principles of magic, innovation was easily accomplished for him. And the effect of this spell was simple. It had only one purpose: to make anyone attempting to teleport, use a substitution jutsu, or resurrect in the vicinity appear here instead of their intended location from before.
“A Grand Sorcerer, huh…” Merlin curled his lips upwards, revealing undisguised malice.
As Merlin was augmenting the basic spell, black mist began to rise from beneath the dark clouds. It looked like black smoke but felt utterly devoid of heat, only a bone-chilling cold. The black mist rose from all directions, covering the entire street. The conflagration ignited by the lightning strikes was instantly extinguished and swallowed by the black mist. Then, ghastly pale cavalry legions appeared in the air as if grown from the black mist.
Silvery white armor and ghost horses, along with armored skeletal cavalry wielding weapons—just like every past Night of the Wild Hunt.
But unlike in the past, they did not engage in revelry and mockery upon their appearance. Instead, they were arranged in an impeccably orderly formation, silent. A chilling and solemn atmosphere enveloped the entire King of the Wild Hunt Legion.
—Suddenly, a massive lightning strike descended!
In the storm-ridden night, a dark hero descended from the sky! A cavalryman clad in exquisite elven silver armor, wielding a vanguard spear, appeared. Inside the armor was also a white skeleton. He rode a Ghost Pegasus with wings on its back. Originally, the silver armor, the spear, and the Pegasus should have been pure white. They were like a pure white comet—but now, its entire body was dyed pitch black, and that chilling black smoke emanated from it.
With a sharp clang, the helmet’s visor fell. Two dim yellow lights flickered from the helmet’s eyes, and then the edges of the Pegasus’s wings also turned dim yellow, like evaporating smoke. It transitioned from pure black to dim yellow. Then, the white armor on all the Wild Hunt members was also stained dim yellow. Like a sandstorm swirling in the night, or like pure white clouds turning into dark clouds. It possessed a destructive oppressive force—
And in the next moment, the King of the Wild Hunt Legion charged into the storm. They even briefly illuminated the sky, turning the dark night sky into a pure dim yellow—like an approaching sandstorm, or a spectacle appearing in the heavy rain.
Faced with such power, the Punisher Demon also felt nervous. The moment it saw the King of the Wild Hunt Legion appear, it immediately ceased maintaining “Thunderstorm” to avoid drawing too much attention. It had never experienced a battle of this scale before, having fled immediately at the first sign of trouble. It wondered if the Prince could attract its attention…
—As expected, the Punisher Demon saw that no Wild Hunters were charging towards it, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, the plan was successful. This “Thunderstorm” had yielded excellent results! Even if it had to pay a price for this power, it was worth it! This was precisely how it should have been done—destroying the buildings to leave the enemy exposed, killing all living beings to cut off any possibility of support, and perhaps even heavily wounding or killing the enemy! And the King of the Wild Hunt, drawn out by the storm, was also being led away by Wolfram!
Such a masterful lightning strike! It had blocked the enemy’s support, safely launched a complete, unstoppable group attack, used Wolfram to lure away the most threatening King of the Wild Hunt, and also ensured that Wolfram, who might betray it at any moment, would be killed by the King of the Wild Hunt… It was truly a plan with multiple benefits! Only one could be the ultimate beneficiary!
“—I alone will obtain the Book of Law!”
The demon, ferocious like a wraith, clad in matte black scales, and resembling an alligator or turtle with bat-like black wings, roared, letting out a triumphant laugh.
