410 Channels and Domains

The fight between the two Legendary-mages was red-hot now. Magical runes covered the space, and made the cave shine as bright as day. Magical elements were boiling over everywhere, and it even felt as though time itself would tear in half.

Countless spells raged like torrential waves threatening to destroy the world as frost and flames filled up their sight. Chunks of stone were sliced off from the walls surrounding them, while the ground shook beneath their feet, and shattered pieces of stone fell on them from the sky. No matter where they looked, it felt as though Doomsday was coming.

The intensity of this fight had exceeded everyone's imagination—even Lin Li's…

Even Lin Li had not thought that a fight between two Legendary-mages would be so scary. It was like a scary vortex that was constantly pulling him into the dark; in order to resist its pull, he was exerting all the strength he had in the Legendary-realm.

There was no room for mistakes in such fights, as even a mage who had reached the Legendary-realm could lose their life from an instance of bite of mana. The Lich and human in the duel were both powerful individuals standing at the peak of magic, and the pace of their duel was enough to send any other mage reeling. With just a simple gesture, they could cast over 10 spells, and the duel took a turn in various directions in every moment. Everything—from attacking or defending, chanting or casting instant spells, how they should allocate their mana or go about the elemental sequencing, how their opponent would react to what they did and what they should do in return—had to be considered in a split second before they had to make a decision.

However, despite being in such a nerve-wrecking duel, Lin Li found himself unusually calm.

Lin Li found himself in a miraculous state as though everything around him had been slowed down by a thousand times. Every gesture, every chant, and even the most minute change in magical waves were presented to him in an incredibly clear manner.

It was especially so after he detected the strange occurrence.

He was right—the source of the Lich's mana was the altar indeed. It was as though there was an invisible channel that continuously pumped mana into the Lich's body, thus giving him the ability to rival Lin Li's insane amount of mana.

In order to get rid of this Lich, he would naturally have to cut off this channel…

Holy Light? Lin Li hesitated. If he wanted to cut off this channel, his best bet would be to use the Holy Light as it was the only thing in the world that could fend off the Gloomy Dark.

But, if he chose to do that, it would mean putting himself in danger as even a Legendary-mage might not be able to withstand the force of Light and Darkness colliding. He would have at most a 20% chance of surviving the near-fatal explosion. Meanwhile, the people from the advance party would most probably perish along with the Lich…

Lin Li brushed this idea away quickly as it was a one-way ticket to hell. He would never do that unless he was truly left with no other option. It was one thing for Adelo and the rest to die, but what about those from the Tower of Dusk? Norfeller and Ujfalusi were his most capable men, and had always been loyal to him, so how could he sacrifice them just like that? And then there was Rina, the only Judge Paladin from the Brilliance Shrine and Archbishop Englos' cherished disciple. If he sacrificed her too, Englos and Rosario would have his head…

But what could he do if the Holy Light was not an option?

The flying Bone Spears and toxic fumes as well as the suffocating magical waves in the cave weighed down on him. While Lin Li was still capable of holding his ground, the endless Necromagic still felt like a python that was coiling tighter and tighter around him…

What do I do, what do I do… Lin Li was dripping with sweat as the duel was taking an unfavorable turn for him. With the power borrowed from the Gloomy Dark, the tireless Lich was beginning to get the upper hand in the fight; if Lin Li still did not make a decision, he would be dragged into the abyss of failure. Even if he was willing to use the Holy Light then, there was no way he could kill the Lich that already held the fate of the duel in his hands.

"Oh, right!" Just as the fight was taking a bad turn for him, a thought flashed through his mind. "The crystal!"

That's right, that crystal…

That crystal that fed on Shapeshifters and Vampires and almost got him killed. Even though Lin Li was still unsure what purpose the crystal served, he remembered very clearly that the crystal had shown a peculiar ability back in the Shadowglen. It was able to devour death aura—even the death aura that was emitted when the Undead Lords were controlling the Undead creatures.

If it is used to devour the power of the Gloomy Dark… That sounded like an absolutely bewildering idea, but Lin Li did not hesitate to reach into the Ring of Endless Storm, as he was left with no other choice. Unless he wished to perish with everyone by using the Holy Light, this bewildering idea was the only one he had…

Even though the crystal had been lying around in the Ring of Endless Storm for over half a year, it still looked no different from before. The moment he grabbed it, Lin Li immediately felt a chill run through him. It was as though he was not holding onto a crystal, but a piece of ice that had been frozen for over a thousand years.

"I knew it!" Just as the crystal was exposed to the air, Lin Li knew that he was right as he could clearly feel a strange distortion in the surrounding magical waves.

This crystal could devour the power of the Gloomy Dark indeed!

While this was not sufficient to cut off the channel instantly, it was enough for Lin Li as all he needed now was an opportunity—an opportunity to lay down a trap using the crystal so that he could lure the Lich into it.

Lin Li held the crystal tightly in his hands, seemingly unbothered by the chill as he chanted rapidly to form a powerful high-level magic. Even the level-18 Iceblast had been shortened down by him into an instantaneous magic. In a split second, the entire cave was filled with the contrasting forces of the Iceblast and the Flame Energy, and even the green toxic fumes that covered the air were now wiped out.

This was an explosive attack with no warning sign at all—it appeared completely out of the blue. Even the Lich that had lived for over 1,300 years was taken aback and lost his bearings in the face of such an attack.

The chilly wind and the shattered pieces of ice took the shape of an Iceblast Wyrm in the sky as it raced towards the Lich with an ear-shattering cry. All of this happened too quickly, and the Lich was barely able to conjure up a Bone Cell to encase himself in. But, how could a mere Bone Cell hold up against the strength of an Iceblast? With a crisp crunch, the seemingly sturdy Bone Cell broke open.

Then, the Ice Wyrm devoured the Lich…

The intense magical wave calmed down all of a sudden as the cave became silent. The 11 members of the advance party stared with wide eyes. They all had expressions of joy when they raised their hands in the air and waited to celebrate once the icy fog dissipated.

The only one who remained unaffected was Lin Li as he had already pushed his mental strength to its limit, using the mental strength that even Andoine was envious of to weave around the crystal in his hand to form an unusual mana channel around them.

It was an extremely complicated and dangerous job to completely release his mental strength to form a mana channel as a mistake could result in the bite of mana. Even Legendary-mages had to be careful to prevent any mishaps while they were doing it.

However, Lin Li was exceptionally anxious, and released all his mana at once to complete this mana channel as soon as possible even though he risked having his mana dissipate.

He knew that he did not have much time.

He was right—just as the mana channel was formed, a crisp sound could be heard from the icy fog…

The smiles froze on the faces of all 11 members of the advance party.

They saw that the frozen Lich had moved suddenly, and even though it was only a slight movement, the crisp sound rose in intensity like a spreading disease.

Then, a loud booming noise was heard, putting an end to this.

Ice shards flew everywhere and blocked their vision as everyone felt their heart sink. The hovering Lich was like a spirit; there seemed to be no change in his appearance, be it the slender magic bone staff he held, the shabby black cloak he wore, or his pale face.

The only difference was the layer of black fog surrounding the Lich's body. It was not a thick fog, being only slightly darker in color than his cloak, and made it seem as though there was just a layer of dirt on him if one did not look closely.

But this thin layer of black fog was as scary as a magical beast in the eyes of a mage like Adelo, making this Archmage at the peak of level-18 let out a surprised yell. "Magical Domain!"

Once a mage surpassed level-20 and entered the Legendary-realm, they became connected to their Magic System, and thus were able to create their own unique Magical Domain.

That was the most powerful ability of a Legendary-mage.