by Zhuang Bifan
Seeing that all the arrangements made by their President did not have any effect on Rodhart at all, the mages' hearts sank all of a sudden. Although none of them stopped casting spells, they also knew that all their efforts were futile. Rodhart's strength and abilities were obviously beyond what they could rival as mortals.
When he heard that loud roar, Lin Li knew that Rodhart had already awakened, and immediately rushed out of the secret chamber with his subordinates. When Lin Li and the rest had just rushed out of the passage leading to the secret chamber, they realized that Rodhart had already destroyed all of Lin Li's arrangements and rushed towards them aggressively from the palace with the Eternal Frost Blade in his hands.
Lin Li got a great shock, but fortunately, he knew through his interaction with the Death Knights that the mages did not suffer too much. However, that also proved that Rodhart was indeed staying there because of the Ice and Fire Magical Domain, as well as Polar Snow and Raging Flames.
"These were ruined in the blink of an eye. Is this how useful your means are!?" Connoris questioned Lin Li in a depressed and dejected manner. Given the current degree of fusion between him and the perfect body, he could at most exert level-24 strength, which was worlds apart from Rodhart, who was in the Sanctuary-realm. Hence, he wasn't optimistic about Lin Li confronting Rodhart head-on.
Upon sight of the four of them, Rodhart immediately knew that the items had been taken away by them. Without pausing, he raised his arm and swung his sword at Lin Li, after which an arc that spanned several meters was formed in the sky. As soon as it took shape, it seemed to leap towards Lin Li.
It was said that the Eternal Frost Blade could freeze space and slice it open like it was an actual object, and then infuse force into it to allow it to instantly appear in front of the attacking target. That power seemed to be somewhat similar to the Space Power of the debris of the stars, Nothingness. However, in comparison, the Eternal Frost Blade was obviously much worse.
However, the power of the weapon would depend on the user. Although the Eternal Frost Blade was not comparable to the debris of the stars Nothingness, the power that Rodhart could exert while using it was definitely stronger than the power of Nothingness in Lin Li's hands. The sword suddenly flashed in front of them, and the space around the light seemed to have collapsed, giving Lin Li no time to react or move his body at all. Just as he was about to be cut in half by the light reflected by the blade, a layer of light suddenly appeared on his body, and the light was instantly deflected in other directions.
Greatly astonished, Lin Li broke out in a cold sweat and secretly rejoiced while activating the Magical Domain instantly. He felt thankful for the fact that he had fortunately replaced the Star-Scarred Robe on his body with the Domain Robe. If it weren't for the Space Laws on the Domain Robe, he would have really been split in two.
However, the Domain Robe was not omnipotent. If the Space Power had not been used in the Eternal Frost Blade, the Space Laws of the Domain Robe would not have automatically taken effect. Moreover, the automatic activation was just the simplest application of the Space Laws. Had Rodhart launched another shot with the sword, Lin Li would have inevitably ended up being cut apart.
Lin Li, who was drenched in cold sweat, dared not hesitate at all. At the moment that he exhibited the Light and Darkness Domain, he pointed the Helios' Scepter towards Rodhart. A Light and Darkness Sword appeared in the air in the Magical Domain, and there was an outburst of infinite power which tried to behead Rodhart.
With Lin Li's current strength and mastery of the Power of Light and Darkness, his Light and Darkness Sword no longer required such a long condensing time, and it had also become much more powerful than before. At first glance, the Light and Darkness of the Light and Darkness Sword seemed to be distinct, but if one were to take another glance, they would realize that the powers of Light and Darkness seemed to be merging and changing together. It was the Sanctuary-realm power that Lin Li had gained an understanding of.
Faced with a Sanctuary powerhouse like Rodhart, Lin Li knew very well that the role of Legendary magic was quite limited, and the so-called Angels of Light and Dark were merely useless tricks. Hence, he decided to launch his strongest attack. Although the Light and Darkness Sword that contained a trace of Sanctuary-realm power was still Legendary-level, it was strong enough to cause certain damage to Sanctuary powerhouses.
Rodhart had clearly detected the Sanctuary-level power in the Light and Darkness Sword, and thus he wasn't as casual dealing with the attack as before. The Eternal Frost Blade in his hand suddenly emitted a burst of dazzling light which seemed to have suddenly made the Eternal Frost Blade's size increase 100 times. It was not inferior to that of the Light and Darkness Sword.
Boom! The two swords collided with a loud explosive sound that made the entire palace quake violently.
Lin Li's Light and Darkness Sword had already collapsed, but Rodhart's giant sword that was made of light was still charging towards Lin Li without any pauses.
Connoris chanted an ancient demonic rune set while condensing solid balls of lightning in his hands, which he then shot at Rodhart like they were cannonballs. In less than a second, there were already hundreds of purple-colored balls of lightning that shrouded Rodhart's body while giving off the aura of destruction.
However, the power of Rodhart's sword remained unchanged, while the black flames formed by the death aura suddenly burst out and surrounded his body quickly. The hundreds of purple balls of lightning instantly disappeared, and they flew towards the Vampire Norfeller who had suddenly appeared at the same time.
Norfeller spat some blood and flew out, while the Lich Ujfalusi finished chanting his spell. He raised his Skeleton Staff high in his hand, and an intertwining cloud of green mist moved towards Rodhart. Although he didn't know how to use Divine Power, he was a Necromancer, and naturally could deal with Undead creatures using Necromagic. The green mist was the Curse of Decay which would make the body of an Undead creature decompose quickly.
However, the green mist disappeared without a trace at the instant that it came into contact with the death aura, vanishing just like ignited gunpowder.
At this moment, Rodhart's sword was right in front of Lin Li. Lin Li tried his best to stimulate the Space Laws of the Domain Robe, and small spatial cracks appeared in front of him before disappearing and then appearing again. However, a portion of power in the sword would be taken away with the disappearance of every spatial crack.
Still, Rodhart's sword was extremely powerful, and could not be diminished by those cracks. In an instant, the massive sword had already appeared in front of Lin Li who began to twitch and shudder, feeling as if the sword had turned him into pieces. However, Lin Li's figure appeared again not too far away, still intact.
Nonetheless, Lin Li looked a little pale at this moment. Although he managed to fuse some Space Laws into his Light and Darkness Domain with the help of the Domain Robe, creating a large distortion of the space to change his position was still a little beyond his limits.
As the figure flickered, a Reincarnation crossbow appeared in Lin Li's hand, which was coupled with a sharp arrow that contained lightning. Thunderbolt was the strongest one out of the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, and just as the space in the Domain had stabilized, Lin Li locked the trigger Reincarnation Crossbow with his fingers, and a flash of lightning seemed to connect the crossbow to Rodhart.
However, at the moment that Thunderbolt was about to be shot, Rodhart swung the Eternal Frost Blade a millimeter away from the Thunderbolt and created a space rift in front of Thunderbolt. All of a sudden, the light from Thunderbolt shifted slightly and brushed past Rodhart.
"Roar!" With a loud roar, Rodhart placed the Eternal Frost Blade vertically in front of him, and a terrifying wave of magic instantly filled the entire palace with his body as the central point. At the same time, the black flames on his body also became even more intense as it expanded and formed a somewhat illusory black gate behind him
.
"Damn it, he wants to summon the Death Knights! Hurry…!" Connoris yelled in horror.
Chapter 824 - Death Knights
Lin Li smiled bitterly while thinking to himself, Hurry up and do what? Stop him? Our opponent is a Sanctuary powerhouse. What can I do to stop him? Besides, his summoning speed is obviously much faster than ours when we use Summoning Spells. For him, it's so effortless and as easy as opening an ordinary door. I've just retracted the debris of the stars Thunderbolt, and yet his terrifying black door has already taken shape.
Lin Li and the others didn't have time to react at all, and the next thing they knew, they saw a peak-Legendary-level Nightmare Beast appearing in the black gate formed by the black flames. The Nightmare Beast was already charging out while leading Death Knights who were neatly lined up. The Nightmare Beast, which was at the peak of the Legendary-level, was undoubtedly Rodhart's former mount. Rodhart, the Retribution Knight, was probably the only one who was powerful enough to ride and control it.
Although the Death Knights under the Retribution Knight could never reach the Legendary-realm, they could definitely exert combat power that was above the Legendary-level under the help of various magic supplemented by the Retribution Knight. Back then, the group of Death Knights almost destroyed the entire Breezy Plains under the command of Rodhart. Plenty of Legendary powerhouses were defeated by the Death Knights.
"Felic, don't tell me this is all you can come up with. What other tricks do you have? Display them now, hurry up. Otherwise, it will be too late." Seeing that Rodhart had summoned the daunting Death Knights, Connoris couldn't help but panic and secretly regret his decision to join in. He was asking for it!
Rodhart managed to make things extremely difficult for everyone, even though he was severely injured by the Prophet Willen. He was undoubtedly a Sanctuary powerhouse, after all. As long as he was still in the Sanctuary-realm, he would always be unrivaled and his power would not be easily challenged by mortals. Since the Death Knights already appeared, could there be anything more devastating for them?
"You're an ancient deity who once mastered the art of conspiracy and deception. Don't you have any solutions for such situations?" retorted Lin Li who was getting a little fl.u.s.tered too. He'd initially thought that he would just be dealing with Rodhart alone. Who would have thought that Rodhart would summon the Death Knights too? Under the command of Rodhart, the Death Knights were exuding combat power that was probably not inferior to a Sanctuary powerhouse.
"I'm definitely the unluckiest person in Anril. What else can I do! How did that bastard Willen even handle things? Not only did he not purify Rodhart, he even allowed the Death Knights to stay. I really wonder if there is a hidden relationship between them," Connoris yelled in exasperation.
Upon hearing Connoris's complaint, Lin Li could only smile wryly to himself. Perhaps no one would believe that the prophet Willen and the so-called Son of The Holy Light of the Brilliance Shrine was really the twin brother of the fallen Rodhart who had brought great shame to the Brilliance Shrine.
In the end, the Brilliance Shrine was just a religion, and not a spokesperson for justice. The Prophet Willen was also a human with feelings. How could he really kill his relative for some unrelated people?
However, Lin Li couldn't tell Connoris about that matter. After all, it was something that the Brilliance Shrine had been trying to cover up. There was no need for him to spread it around. Besides, so what if he were to spread it? It wouldn't be of any help to the situation at this juncture at all. It wouldn't make Rodhart commit suicide out of shame anyway.
Looking at the Death Knights swarming out of the black gate, Lin Li knew that the battle would definitely require him to go all out. Taking advantage of the time that Rodhart spent summoning the Death Knights, Lin Li took out the Summoning Lamp and released the Lord of Nightmares and the Crimson Dragon. At the same time, he got the Holy Death Knights who had stopped Rodhart in the palace to rush over through the connection of the Soul Brand.
Lin Li then raised the Helios' Scepter in his hand, and instantly condensed a Light and Darkness Sword. However, he did not attack Rodhart, and instead swung it at the exquisitely carved giant pillars in the palace. Although Osric had put up defensive mageweaths in the palace, Lin Li had already reached the peak of the Legendary level at this time, and he had even gotten some enlightenment about the mysteries of the power of the Sanctuary-realm. The power of the Light and Darkness Sword could no longer be stopped by just a simple defensive mageweath. With a loud noise, a huge pillar broke and the roof of the palace fell in large pieces.
"What are you doing?!" Connoris questioned, feeling a little confused by Lin Li's approach.
"I'm demolishing the house. Otherwise, how can we deal with the Death Knights?" Lin Li answered, but he didn't stop at all. Instead, he slashed another giant pillar with his Light and Darkness Sword.
Although narrow space would often be more advantageous to the disadvantaged party in some cases, Lin Li was now facing not just a group of Death Knights, but also a Sanctuary-level Retribution Knight. Fighting against such an enemy would obviously be unrealistic. Without enough room for maneuvering, it would definitely be a dead end for him if he were to get besieged.
Although increased room would be more conducive for the Death Knights to move away from each other, Lin Li mainly wanted them to disperse. Otherwise, they would have to face the impact of the concentrated power. After hearing Lin Li's explanation, Connoris also figured it out, and so punched a pillar next to him.
As the pillars collapsed, the entire underground palace began to sway continuously. Large cobweb-like cracks formed on the huge pillars that were covered in exquisite carvings, and the pillars then collapsed. The magnificent and luxurious palace that had its pillars collapsed amidst the tremors was ruined in the blink of an eye. Everyone who was initially in the palace was directly exposed in a more spacious underground cave.
At this moment, the black gate behind Rodhart had already closed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, there were hundreds of Death Knights in the palace, each holding a lance and wearing a black full-body armor. They were riding the hideous Nightmare Beasts that were shrouded in death aura that seemed like black flames. The Death Knights had all taken more than just thousands of souls during the massacre in the Breezy Plains in the past. The black flames were full of twisted faces that were wailing with agony.
Legend had it that when Rodhart was conducting the massacre in the Breezy Plains back then, there were nearly 1,000 Death Knights under him, but it was unknown if Rodhart kept all of them or most of them were purified by Willen. Of course, even though there were only hundreds of Death Knights, they were still hard for Lin Li to deal with. Even though Lin Li also had an army of Death Knights whom he had transformed into Death Knights that could manipulate Divine Power, the old saying applied: a lousy teammate would drag the whole team down.
Rodhart was a Sanctuary-level Retribution Knight, while Lin Li was only at the peak of the Legendary-level, and only had a slight understanding of the power of the Sanctuary-realm. He had yet to even reach the borderline. Besides, Lin Li was not a real Retribution Knight. Even though he had subdued a group of Death Knights, he didn't know the type of magic the Retribution Knights were born with that would allow them to control their subordinate Death Knights. A comparison between them would show how obvious the gap in combat power was.
Rodhart, who had summoned the Death Knights, did not stop to wait for the Death Knights to surround and besiege his enemies. Instead, he waited for the Summoning Gate to close and vanish, after which he continuously waved the Eternal Frost Blade in his hand to launch fierce attacks against Lin Li. At the same time, the Death Knights had also split up into several teams and besieged Lin Li and the rest.
Although Lin Li's teammates were all powerhouses at the Legendary-level, they could barely endure the siege of the Death Knights. Be it in terms of attack or defense, the Death Knights were perfectly in s
ync, and could cooperate better than any well-trained team that Lin Li had seen. Perhaps it was not just a tacit understanding that they shared, but a body. They seemed to be a complete whole that did not have a single flaw that others could exploit.
At this moment, the team that had initially blocked Rodhart had also arrived at the ruined palace under the lead of the baby Elemental Wyrm, Xiao Hua.
Although Xiao Hua was usually a little bit mischievous, there was a trace of anxiety in its eyes when it saw Lin Li being in a dangerous situation under Rodhart's attack. It ignored the team and simply flapped its cicada-like wings, screaming and flying towards Lin Li. At the same time, countless powerful magic spells were instantly emitted, forming a huge magic storm that seemed to be able to destroy the world. It launched the magic storm at the target in front in a bid to clear all obstacles ahead.
However, the magic storm that seemed enough to destroy everything encountered an insurmountable barrier. After a violent explosion and loud roars, a Nightmare Beast that had a menacing face and was covered in black flames suddenly emerged from a pile of magic dust. The Nightmare Beast was Rodhart's mount. Back then, it tagged along when Rodhart fought with plenty of powerhouses; hence, the Nightmare Beast's powers were incredible. Perhaps it could be considered a Nightmare Beast King.
Seeing that it had been blocked, the young Elemental Wyrm Xiao Hua clenched its tiny fists and roared, allowing its pure Menace of the Dragon to surge out like an invisible wave.
If it were an ordinary Nightmare Beast of peak-Legendary power, it would probably have to run far, far away in the face of the Menace of the Dragon of an Elemental Wyrm, which was much more powerful than other creatures. However, the owner of the Nightmare Beast was the Sanctuary-level Retribution Knight, Rodhart.