by Zhuang Bifan
After the members of the Magic Legion appeared, they did not immediately attack the expedition. Instead, they surrounded the square and glared at the members of the expedition with icy cold eyes as if they were looking at sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
We're really finished this time! Facing the domineering High Elves, even the powerhouses who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm like Archbishop Martin and Donald felt their hearts sink.
Lin Li, who was standing in front of the Tower of Dusk's team, kept a straight face. That situation was actually not beyond his expectations. If that had not happened, Lin Li would instead have wondered if Osric had another scheme.
In the opinion of Archbishop Martin and Donald, the difference in strength between the expedition and High Elves was worlds apart. It could not be made up for at all. If the sudden assault had been successful, there might've been some hope for them, but that bit of hope was clearly gone too. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #%E2%80%99s-versatile-crafting-master_11275087605321405/buying-time_49423294981537616 for visiting.
However, to Lin Li, the only thing that was truly troublesome—or rather the only thing that he had scruples about—was the phony Osric in front of him. Although the Magic Legion was strong, it did not pose a threat to him. He only called the people of the Brilliance Shrine and the Rotterdam Kingdom over to minimize the losses among his subordinates.
The phony Osric looked at the members of the expedition, seemingly preparing to say something. However, Lin Li knew that he had to make the first move and suffer the consequences later. Hence, he did not wait for Osric to speak at all. Instead, he waved his hand, and a ray of lightning darted over.
The target was not the Phony Osric, but one of the High Elves that was standing in midair in another direction. That High Elf also had Legendary-level strength. He should be a leader of the Magic Legion.
Although that Osric was an impostor, Lin Li could sense that the other party definitely had Sanctuary-level strength. Launching a sudden assault would be impossible. Hence, Lin Li chose that Legendary-level High Elf as a target. He could at least decrease the burden on his men.
If it was an ordinary magic spell, it was basically difficult to hurt a peak-Legendary-level High Elf with just one shot. However, Lin Li did not cast a magic spell. Instead, he shot out his debris of the stars, Thunderbolt.
The debris of the stars contained terrifying power. After Lin Li entered the Sanctuary-realm, he did not get a chance to pair it with the Stars of Fury, but the power he could trigger was far beyond what he could in the past. Besides, the debris of the stars, Thunderbolt, was the sharpest of all seven pieces of the debris of the stars. With the sharp attack of a Sanctuary powerhouse, it was definitely not what most mages who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm could contend with.
Everyone saw a ray of lightning flashing past, aiming for the leader of the High Elves, as well as a few High Elves behind them. Large holes appeared on their arms as they had been pierced rapidly.
"Kill, kill them!" Seeing this scene, the phony Osric was enraged. He was going to say something to insult them and call them lowly humans, but he did not expect the other party to be that despicable as to sneak up on his subordinates in front of him!
Seeing that scene, everyone in the expedition, including Archbishop Martin and Donald, the powerhouses who were at the peak of the Legendary-level, couldn't help but get the chills. They knew very well that the leader of the High Elves who had been killed in an instant had powerful strength that was not inferior to theirs. Would they be able to escape the strike of that rapid thunderous attack if it was them!?
Of course, as a partner, Lin Li's incredible strength should be a good thing for Archbishop Martin and the others. However, as a peak Legendary powerhouse, they could not help but have complicated emotions. After all, in Anril, existences who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm were almost invincible. They even claimed to be able to compete with the Sanctuary powerhouses. However, looking at the powerhouses who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm getting killed instantly, they felt dejected.
It was better for Archbishop Martin. No matter what, Lin Li was the Son of The Holy Light to him, so he could be considered family. Back then, the Son of The Holy Light, Willen, had incredible strength, and even Apophis, one of the three arbitrators of the Supreme Council, had once lost to him. Hence, they felt that since Lin Li was similarly the Son of The Holy Light, it should only be right for him to have the power to instantly exterminate a peak Legendary powerhouse.
However, to the people of the Rotterdam Kingdom, such as Donald and Kanber, there was not only dejection, but also uncontrollable fear in their hearts at this point. Although they felt that the attacks were powerful because of a magical weapon, perhaps only legendary weapons would be able to instantly kill a Legendary powerhouse who was at the peak of the Legendary-realm.
Despite being in a desperate situation, a look of greed formed in Donald's and Kanber's eyes. Although they were a Chief Imperial Mage and a potential inheritor of the king's throne, respectively, and had seen countless good things, including many of the best magical weapons that were claimed to be artifacts, they were still amazed. Everyone knew that those that they had seen were actually only semi-artifacts.
In the history of Anril, there were perhaps only five or less magical weapons that could be called artifacts, with the most famous one being the one that the Immortal King had once used to kill the Dragon of Destruction Azardas. However, there was no detailed description of that weapon in the history records or the legends. Hence, until now, no one could explain clearly what the weapon used by the Immortal King was like. It was basically a legend. Besides, they also had the Book of Eternity that was created by Geresco using the leaves of the Tree of Eternity, as well as the Moonlight Scepter of the High Elven queen. They could be considered artifacts in the eyes of everyone in the world.
Donald and Kanber believed that the weapon that Lin Li had just used was at least better than the so-called semi-artifacts that they had seen—even though it had yet to reach the level of a Legendary-level artifact—as it managed to kill a peak Legendary powerhouse immediately.
However, Donald and Kanber were sure that it was not the time for them to have those thoughts now. Since Lin Li could instantly kill a peak Legendary powerhouse, he could kill them too. Besides, they were now going to face a huge crisis together. Hence, as soon as they felt greed, they quickly hid it in their hearts, not revealing a single bit of it.
"President Felic, the secret assault has failed. Leave the matters of those High Elves to us. I hope that you can try to buy some time and hold Osric back. We'll take care of them as soon as possible and aid you!" Donald hurriedly declared their new battle plan after seeing that Osric had flown into a range, and an intense battle was about to begin soon.
Although he did not dare to show his greed for the artifact, Donald still couldn't help but be tempted. He simply made Lin Li deal with the phony Highlord alone. Of course, he thought that Lin Li would not be killed by the phony Highlord quickly since he had that artifact.
Chapter 955 - Void of the Stars
The motive of that was to squeeze out more energy to deal with those High Elves while hoping that the fake Highlord could use up more energy of Lin Li's artifact. It would be even better if both of them suffered serious injuries.
Although Donald had never seen a real artifact before, he knew that its user would suffer huge consequences if he didn't have the level of abilities that matched that of the artifact. For example, while the Magical Crystal Cannon was very powerful, its consumption of magical crystals was also immense. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #%E2%80%99s-versatile-crafting-master_11275087605321405/void-of-the-stars_494232952667
47316 for visiting.
Donald didn't believe that a 20-year-old like Lin Li could use that artifact endlessly, releasing the terrifying power that could kill a powerhouse at the peak of Legendary-level in a flash. Moreover, Lin Li didn't choose to attack that fake highlord before this. Instead, he chose to attack that High Elven leader from another direction. This just made Donald more certain of his guess. If the usage of that artifact was limitless, why not attack the fake highlord first? Obviously, it was to save a chance of using the artifact!
Just a moment before the start of the battle, Donald wasn't worried about others having differing opinions about his battle strategy anymore. This was because the High Elves had rushed towards them before they could continue to discuss anything else. Moreover, Donald didn't give Lin Li any time to respond. He led his men towards the High Elves immediately after he had finished his sentence.
How could Lin Li not guess Donald's intentions? Since he needed those Rotterdam people to act as cannon fodder, he couldn't be bothered to deal with Donald. Actually, Lin Li had intended to face Osric himself in the first place even without Donald's tricks. That would be a fight between kings.
In Anril, it was often said that the power of a powerhouse at the peak of Legendary-realm could match that of a Sanctuary powerhouse. However, once Lin Li had truly reached Sanctuary-realm and understood more about its powers, he realized that peak-of-Legendary-realm powerhouses were like ants to Sanctuary powerhouses.
Thus, if Lin Li went for the High Elves Magic Legion from the start, and left the fake highlord for the others in the expedition to deal with, the end result would still be similar: Lin Li would annihilate the Magic Legion, while not many in the expedition team would be able to survive. As such, it would still be a battle between Lin Li and Osric.
Lin Li didn't really care about whether those from the Rotterdam and the Brilliance Shrine would be dead or alive at the end of the battle. After all, he had planned to use them as cannon fodder in the first place. However, he didn't want to exhaust his own troops from the Tower of Dusk, since he had brought out the majority of the elite forces of the Tower of Dusk for this expedition. If they perished just like that, it would be detrimental to the Tower of Dusk.
Thus, Lin Li intended to attack the fake highlord himself regardless of whether the sneak attack was successful or not. He chose to kill the High Elves' commander first because he knew that this move might not work on the fake highlord given that he still had some of the real Osric's will. The other reason was to completely enrage the fake highlord so that he would only attack Lin Li.
The fake Osric was still Osric. If Lin Li destroyed all his subordinates within seconds, it would undoubtedly be a slap on Osric's face. Although Lin Li probably couldn't prevent it if Osric had wanted to slaughter everyone on the spot given his powers, how would the proud Osric copy Lin Li's actions?
If Lin Li did just that, it was more likely that the sadistic Osric would leave Lin Li for the last to deal with so that he would see his teammates getting killed one by one. After all, the true Osric had done this many times when clamping down the opposition forces in the Dark Age.
Indeed, after Osric announced the start of the battle, he didn't even look at any of the expedition team members, and pointed his magic staff right at Lin Li. The enormous gem at the tip of the staff erupted with a blinding glow. A flame dragon appeared and pounced on Lin Li with astounding speed.
Lin Li shot up towards the sky without caring about those expedition team members behind him. It might seem like he was trying to avoid the flame dragon's attack without caring about his comrades' lives, but in fact it wasn't because Lin Li was cruel, but rather that he didn't need to care about that.
Not only did the fake highlord possess Sanctuary-realm power, his understanding of World Rules was vastly superior to that of Lin Li. Thus, the edge Lin Li had over Osric, other than the seven pieces of debris of the stars, was his understanding of Osric's personality. Osric, on the other hand, knew nothing about Lin Li.
Seeing that the flame dragon was almost reaching the expedition, Osric fling his magic staff slightly, and the flame dragon changed its direction immediately towards where Lin Li was. Next, Osric's body disappeared from where he was, and instantly appeared opposite Lin Li.
The flame dragon had already flown near Lin Li by then, its scorching flames almost distorting the space. Lin Li didn't appear to be anxious at all. He pointed his Helios' Scepter at a point just beside the flame dragon relaxedly, and a roaring river appeared in the midair. This river was like a water snake even bigger than the flame dragon in size, wrapping tightly around the flame dragon. Within moments, both the river and the dragon disappeared, leaving behind a thick cloud of vapor.
"Intruder, you've successfully gotten my attention. It seems like you're very confident in your skills." The rage on Osric's face had disappeared. Evidently, he had seen through Lin Li's trick. However, geniuses were all stubborn. Judging by Osric's personality, he couldn't touch the expedition before he had crushed Lin Li under his feet, since he didn't see the expedition and Lin Li as true opponents at all.
When Osric was speaking, the cloud of vapor had disappeared. However, Lin Li wasn't interested in talking to Osric. The Helios' Scepter shone again, and a Light and Darkness Sword slashed towards Osric.
The Light and Darkness Sword wasn't condensed beforehand. Instead, it was turned from virtual to concrete during the time Lin Li was slashing it down. The purest power of light and darkness tore the space apart as it landed on Osric's head. The entire space became monochromatic.
An ordinary person wouldn't need to be struck by the Light and Darkness Sword, for the extreme conflicting auras would be enough to split his soul in half. The power of the sword was much higher now compared to the one that had torn Stephen's Magical Domain apart. A peak-of-Legendary-realm powerhouse would probably find it hard to resist such a blow.
However, Osric didn't even flinch at this attack. He also didn't appear to be mad that his opponent didn't answer his question. Instead, he lifted his magic staff to counter the Light and Darkness Sword. When the two weapons met, it seemed like time had stopped at that very moment.
A soft glow radiated from the tip of the magic staff, and penetrated the sword body of the Light and Darkness Sword effortlessly. Next, the concrete Light and Darkness Sword dissolved into stardust like sand being blown away by wind.
Lin Li's expression changed upon seeing this. Although the fake Osric was only around level-26 or 27, and still quite far from reaching the peak of Sanctuary-realm, his understanding of World Rules was way above Lin Li's. With such knowledge, this fake Osric could be considered half a ruler of this world. To a certain extent, he could apply the powers only a powerhouse at the peak of Sanctuary-realm could.
The merging of Light and Darkness in the Light and Darkness Sword was a usage of World Rules. However, the fake Osric had used the same understanding of World Rules to dissolve its nomological power, causing the powers of Light and Darkness to break free from Lin Li's control, and return to their fundamental nanomagic form.
The only good thing was that the fake Osric seemed like he hadn't reached the stage where he could fully control the World Rules. If not, all the Rules would repel Lin Li once Osric had given his orders. Lin Li would turn into an ordinary human, and wouldn't be able to release even a small fireball.
"The combination of Light and Darkness… Interesting power." After dissolving Lin Li's Light and Darkness Sword, Osric didn't retract his magic staff. Instead, his lips rose mockingly. Next, the gemstone at the tip of this magic staff shone again. A more gigantic and concrete Light and Darkness Sword appeared, clashing towards Lin Li's head while tearing the space above it apart.
Unfortunately, Lin Li wasn't Osric. He couldn't dissolve the powers of Light and Darkness so easily. When facing this sword that could tear apart space, Lin Li could only activate his Space Robe he was wearing and transport himself to another position, barely escaping the earth-shattering
blow.
Immediately after Lin Li's body appeared on the other side, he pointed his Helios' Scepter at Osric. Strikes of thunderbolts the thickness of a water bucket rolled towards Osric. Lin Li didn't use the debris of the stars, but his understanding of Thunderbolt alone was enough for every strike of thunderbolts to be able to crush a small hill.
However, such tremendous force didn't even hurt Osric an inch after landing on his body. It was like a breeze passing through his body.
"Damn it! Void of the Stars!" Lin Li was rather familiar with what Osric was doing now. Back in the Blackstone Mountains, he had witnessed the God of Mages Geresco use such magic via the Spacetime Beacon Spell. With the Void of the Stars, the caster could place their body and soul into nothingness and be immune to any magic or physical harm from the mortal world.
Clearly, the real power of the fake Osric was insufficient for him to cast the Void of the Stars. However, with his understanding of World Rules and the power of half a ruler of this world, he seemed to have cast the spell with greater ease than Geresco.
As the strikes of thunderbolts passed through Osric harmlessly, the mocking expression on his face didn't disappear. Such attacks weren't even considered a scratch to him.
After seeing Geresco cast the Void of the Stars, Lin Li had thought more than once that someday he would be able to stand calmly at the center of a massive magic storm, witnessing all sorts of magic passing through his body harmlessly.
However, when it was his opponent using the Void of the Stars, Lin Li couldn't stay calm. There were two types of opponents that were the most nerve-wrecking and appalling. One was those who wouldn't die no matter how many times you attacked them, and the other was those you wouldn't be able to attack no matter what you did.
Opponents that wouldn't die could at least be sealed off somehow, but those that he couldn't attack were the worst. Looking at Osric's face that would warrant a good whacking, Lin Li felt very annoyed, though his attacks didn't stop.