However, an ear-grinding metallic noise came from the distance, right when they had just completed their formation.
Twenty stumbling, animated armors, and a hundred modified voodoo beasts formed a massive army that closed in on them.
It was only when the army stepped into range of the Infernal Tyrant's light that the witches saw their actual faces.
Terrible! Incredibly terrible!
The twenty-seven armored guards were Animated Armors. One could see the shroud of black smoke within their bodies through the gaps in their rusty armor. These armored guards had already eroded over a thousand years. A trail of rusted metal parts followed behind them, falling off every so often as they dragged their stiff metallic bodies toward the enemy.
A lot of the armored guards had severely corroded knee guards and legs. The lower half of their bodies couldn't even support the weight of armor anymore. Their legs crumbled into pieces and left the upper half of their body crawling on the ground.
Guards like these were so weak that not even a powerful warrior was needed to defeat them. The frail Amanda could probably smash them to pieces with the Bull's Strength she had applied to herself!
It was the same for the other voodoo beasts.
The voodoo beasts with any sort of life were all dead. The only ones left were the undead beasts.
Bodaks, banshees, wraiths, mummies…
These voodoo beasts were bound to the Tower by their contracts. Yet, none of them had been nourished with soul or flesh in a thousand years. They were all thirsty and hungry for food. They immediately flew into a riot when they sensed the aura of life in this place. They had ignored the order given by the mysterious girl and left the army's formation. They surged forward and lunged at the witches.
There were five Mummy Elders and three Revenant Banshees in the group. All of them had once been Third Grade undead creatures. However, the extended period of soul deterioration had caused their abilities to fall to the elementary stage of Second Grade. They could scarcely be considered as weakened Second Grade creatures.
Still, their sudden assault put tremendous pressure on the group of witches.
Alice controlled the spider golem and used its four pairs of sharp limbs to leap over the witches. The golem appeared beside Sofia at the front of the formation.
The key to surviving this wave of enemies was whether they could endure their violent blows!
Putting aside the slow and immobile armored guards, mummies, and bodaks, the first to reach them were the spirit undead.
The three revenant banshees led the charge. They let out wailing screams as they lunged towards the center of the group.
The screams of the revenant banshees had the terrifying ability to tear apart the souls of living creatures. Individuals without soul protection weren't able to do anything against their attacks. Physical defenses and energy barriers counted for nothing. The screams of the banshees were considered soul-attribute magic. They could ignore all defenses that were not of the soul-attribute!
The means by which revenant banshees killed was not through direct attacks, but by uttering their desolate wails right their enemy's ears! All souls were as fragile as glass before this unbelievably ear-piercing screech. People would shatter into pieces!
If a soul was tough enough, it might be able to endure the damage. However, the constant tearing from the howls and screeches would cause tremendous impact to the soul. A person would lose all ability to resist and could only watch as the banshees turned into shadows and dived into their body.
Indeed. The other innate ability that the banshees held was Possession!
They could temporarily take control of a body and achieve the effect of 'betrayal.'
During that time frame, while the banshee possessed a body, it would become a 'traitor' in the group.
Chapter 367 Battle
Three Second Grade Banshees assaulted the group and attempted to let out their Death Screeches!
That was a disaster that could not be allowed to happen.
The Banshees would most definitely exterminate the group if the monsters managed to use their spell.
Almost at the same time that the revenant banshees charged towards the group, a Halo of Repulsion emerged from the Infernal Tyrant. Waves of fire continuously spread outwards, forcing everything except the witches away. The three banshees froze in the air like a raft trying to row upstream. The flame shockwave had obstructed them. Their spirit bodies sizzled, and they cried in agony. Still, they couldn't make it to the witches.
Just then, the five mummy elders dragged their stiff bodies and lurched at the witches. The mummy shrouds on them were covered with runes that could freely switch between various attributes.
The runes on their shrouds flashed when they saw the might of the Tyrant's fire. The shroud attributes had been modified to maximize fire resistance. Their black hands stretched towards the witches.
"You hold back the banshees, and I'll deal with these big monsters."
Sofia waved her staff and charged forward after saying that.
The banshees had breakneck flight speed and were extremely good at guerilla warfare. They were not the kinds of enemies that Sofia liked to fight. In comparison, these mummy elders were slow but strong. Corpse Rot Poison and Hysteresis Halos accompanied each of their attacks. These attacks happened to be ineffective against the Berserk Witch's magic resistance. That was why Sofia was so eager to fight with them.
Both of them were meat-shield professions.
The mummy elders might have fallen to Second Grade, but their impressive Strength and Physique were still above that of Sofia's. If it weren't because of their low agility, which limited their movement speed and attack speed, Sofia would have no ability to hold her own against these monsters.
Usually, the mummy elders were able to rely on their Hysteresis Halos to drag the opponent's speed down to their level. They would then use their unreasonable physical defense and their lack of critical weakness as undead to slowly grind the enemy to death.
Sadly, they met Sofia today.
Berserk witches sacrificed all of their casting ability in exchange for astounding magic-resistant physiques and exceptional close combat skills.
The mummies shambled around when Sofia charged into their ranks and started smashing them. They waved their black claws, but the only thing they grabbed were the afterimages left behind by Sofia.
Snowlotus blew an Arctic Frostbreath in their way and further slowed down the movements of the mummy elders. Doris used her illusions to make another copy of Sofia, also confusing the mummies and slowing them down. The mummy elders often spent too much time surrounding one of the Sofias, only to find her to be an illusion.
Amanda, on the other hand, continuously threw out her vials of potions. She summoned all sorts of energy golems from them. Their powers were only equal to advanced apprentices, but there were just too many of them. Moreover, these golems didn't require too many commands and control on her part. To some extent, this managed to fill in for the lack of manpower in the group.
However, the three shadesteel statues appeared once again while Sofia was busy dealing with the mummy elders. The Infernal Tyrant was occupied in holding back the banshees.
The statues instantly killed a dozen energy golems when they appeared. If Alice hadn't protected Amanda with the spider golem, she too might have died in the wave of attacks by the shadow assassins.
Amanda's and Doris' abilities were barely enough to deal with one shadesteel statue. Three of them together made it impossible for the witches to survive, even if the two of them worked together.
The two of them were an accurate representation of the average power of a witch.
Monsters like Alice and Sofia, who could challenge several Second Grade creatures while they were still at the First Grade, were the minority. Even the genius Snowlotus was overshadowed by the remarkable performance of the Berserk Witch and the Infernal Tyrant.
Amanda and Doris decided to
hide underneath the spider golem and rely on its four pairs of sharp limbs and the Infernal Tyrant's horrifying flames to fend off the shadesteel statues.
Snowlotus seemed to have been provoked by her two competitors. Layers of ice barriers surrounded her entire body as she hovered in the sky. She unleashed a flurry of spells upon the enemies outside the perimeter formed by the Tyrant and Sofia.
Ice Shards!
Ring of Frost!
Ice Lance Barrage!
Blizzard!
Most ice spells were area-of-effect spells that specialized in freezing and slowing the enemy.
The azure Rings of Frost exploded amidst the enemies. Every crystalline ring generated light blue energies that dispersed into the air. A layer of frost would cover all substance in the area of effect. The flesh bodies of the voodoo beasts also froze to the spot.
Above in the air, on the ceiling, a continuous rain of hailstones and ice blades fell upon the monsters. The attacks were drawn in by a terrifying tornado that surrounded the witches. Any being that stepped into this place had to suffer the cuts and slashes from an endless storm of ice blades.
She didn't need to say anything. Snowlotus, the Dancer of Ice and Frost, had used her actions to demonstrate the terror of an ice witch perfectly. With Snowlotus controlling the crowd of enemies, Sofia felt much less pressured in her fight against the mummy elders.
The three revenant banshees had just broken free of the flame shockwaves. Yet, they were instantly engulfed by Snowlotus' Ice Vortex before they could even gather themselves together. Thick frost hung onto their semi-translucent bodies as they were blown about in the vortex of wind.
The Infernal Tyrant stopped summoning the waves of fire and instead started to gather fire elementium around itself. It seemed like it was channeling a powerful attack.
That was the best course of action.
After all, the banshees were Second Grade undead. Ordinary First Grade spells weren't able to damage the malice cores in their bodies. However, with the Infernal Tyrant's powerful abilities, which could reach one hundred and seventy-five points of fire damage at their peak, there was a chance. Especially when one took into consideration the fact that spirit beings took double the damage from elementium attacks into account, the Infernal Tyrant could kill them in a single shot!
Alice, as the temporary master of the Infernal Tyrant, naturally had to support its actions.
The spider golem that had been fighting the mummies with its sharp claws halted suddenly. Its four metallic limbs dug deep into the ground. Two cannons appeared on the top of the spider golem and started to fire loads of purple plasma bubbles at the immobilized banshees.
The initial speed of the plasma bubbles was notably slow. However, the pull of the elementium particles in the air caused them to gradually accelerate and slam into one of the struggling revenant banshees.
The massive plasma bubble spontaneously exploded when it came into contact with the opponent's spirit body. A sea of bright purple plasma scattered from within and caused a small thunderstorm in the area.
Greem had estimated that the thunderstorms caused by these plasma bubbles delt as much as a hundred and thirty points of damage. Only the Fel Cannon, created through the merging of magical machinery with magic spells, could create such a devastating effect.
A shot like this would cost a hundred magical crystals at the very minimum.
Ordinary magical crystals couldn't even support the output of the Fel Cannon. Only the purer, denser crystal cores had that much power. Thus, using the Fel Cannon to fire at an enemy was no different from crushing the enemy under the weight of a mountain of magical crystals.
Even Alice didn't dare to waste magical crystals like that if it wasn't a moment of emergency!
Of course, the results obtained by paying the hefty price of a hundred magical crystal was a brilliant one as well. The lightning storm had mostly devoured that unfortunate banshee's body. When she finally broke free of the attack, several holes and wounds riddled her body. Nearly half of her spiritual existence had been damaged.
Before the revenant banshee had a chance to escape, the Infernal Tyrant raised its blazing hands. A Fire Core Explosion instantly engulfed the banshee.
This time, the banshee did not escape!
A resentful and sorrowful wail resonated in the place. A wholly weakened Second Grade revenant banshee had finally become the first victim at Alice's hands.
The other two revenant banshees were terrified out of their spirits. They couldn't care less about attacking the witches. Both of the creatures struggled and broke free of the Blizzard before disappearing into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the three shadesteel statues took advantage of the spider golem's shift in attention and encompassed it. They used their sharp claws to strike at the golem's tough shell. Sparks went flying as steel clashed against steel.
The spider golem's head also swiveled. Energy beams of various colors shot forth from its compound eyes.
The red beam was a Scalding Ray from a red gemstone!
The blue beam was a Freezing Ray from a blue gemstone!
The earthen-yellow beam was a Petrification Beam from the Eyes of Petrification!
The purple beam was a Paralyzing Beam from Drac's Gemstone!
The green beam was a Disintegration Ray from a poison orb!
……
These energy beams only dealt between fifteen to thirty points of damage. Most people considered these weak spells, but there were simply too many of them. Not to mention the fact that each one of them carried a special magical effect.
If all these beams had hit an ordinary adept, he might still live through it. However, all the accumulated adverse effects were more than enough to make it a tough fight for them!
Chapter 368 Forward Charge
A revenant banshee had instantly died, and the other two had been frightened away.
Alice immediately turned her attention towards the mummy elders and ordered the spider golem to assault the monsters.
The Infernal Tyrant and Snowlotus acted as two terrifying cannons, recklessly launching their ice and fire spells at every inch of space around them. In comparison, Amanda and Doris were not doing much. They exerted all their effort just to defend themselves. They followed closely behind the Tyrant and cautiously looked out for any sneak attacks from the shadesteel statues.
Sofia unleashed all her power and all the strength of a berserk witch with Alice's reinforcement. She waved her staff fluidly and quickly struck the mummy elders all across their rotting bodies. The decayed flesh scattered everywhere.
Fighting a Second Grade enemy with the prowess of a First Grade wasn't that odd of a situation!
Firstly, it was important not to categorize Second Grade magical creatures with Second Grade adepts.
A Second Grade adept had to endure unimaginable difficulties to reach their level. It was only with great wisdom and a massive library of knowledge that an adept could advance to Second Grade. A Second Grade adept like this was never unarmed.
They were powerful and always had magical equipment custom built for their purposes. Not to mention the many casting materials, a large number of magical gemstones, unending potions, scrolls, wands, alchemical tools, enhanced equipment, and a perfectly constructed system of occult knowledge and spells at their disposal.
The reason human adepts were able to obtain the absolute advantage in their battles against magical creatures, despite their poorer attributes, was thanks to these external tools and their effective means of combat.
What did the magical creatures have in their favor?
A million years ago, they were able to rely on their powerful bodies and peculiar innate talents to rule various worlds. However, the intelligent races of every plane had started to develop and grow stronger. They had learned from the magical creatures and gained a deep understanding of the monsters' abilities and techniques.
What improvement did the magical creatures produce over this period of
time?
Powerful individuals continued to fight with their strong bodies and talents, while the tribes of magical creatures stubbornly continued on their path of relying on their innate abilities! While some of the more intelligent beings in the Black Forest had also started to learn from the human adepts, they weren't performing nearly enough of a change.
Their selfish natures and lack of a systematic means of passing down legacies were a massive obstacle that they could never overcome!
A Second Grade Mummy Elder needed a thousand, or even two thousand, years to evolve out of a horde of a million undead. Meanwhile, a Second Grade human adept only required four or five hundred years to come into existence. Moreover, this time was even shorter for the geniuses among the adepts.
Apart from the time difference required to advance, the difference in power between the adepts and the magical creatures also became even wider after they progressed to Second Grade.
Even if some undead had been lucky enough to evolve to Second Grade after ages of accumulation, their powers were still miles away from the level of Second Grade adepts. An unintelligent creature that relied on its base instincts was only good enough to be the prey and slave of human adepts.
Only highly intelligent magical creatures that had awakened self-consciousness were equals to the human adepts.
Sadly, the undead here weren't intelligent monsters. Otherwise, they would never have been reduced to the 'watchdogs' of an adept's tower!
What did the mummy elders possess to fight back with against Sofia when she waved her thick Soul Equipment around with her berserk strength? Only their tough, steel-like bodies and their funeral shrouds.
They had nothing other than those!
Consequently, their Grade advantage was completely wiped away when the better equipped Alice joined the fight.
Their undead bodies had undergone multiple instances of strengthening and were stronger than steel. However, it was still weak when compared to the magical alloy that the adepts had painstakingly refined and improved over the years. Their funeral shrouds had impressive and wondrous effects that could boost any attribute according to the will of the mummies. Still, this ability appeared clumsy and inflexible when compared to the host of tricks up the adepts' sleeves.
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