Chapter 398 — Camel's Proving Ground

Arcs of energy burst from Cecil's wall one after another, linking to this fearsome energy creature. The power he radiated at this moment might even surpass that of a legend!

"Holy Shield!!"

One knight shrieked himself hoarse, using powerful holy light to form layer upon layer of illusory shields around himself, while Bishop Frostlight behind the knights reacted at once, casting all manner of holy protective spells upon himself and the knights.

The next second, an arcane ray nearly half a meter thick swept across the battlefield, leaving a terrifying molten trench in the earth and striking the shield barrier jointly cast by the knights and the bishop, shattering that bulwark of holy light inch by inch and leaving it tottering!

Camel had originally been an ancient mage of the early legendary tier; only long imprisonment and the change in the magic environment had dropped him to the peak of the high tier, yet he remained extraordinarily powerful. Now, supported by the magic net of half a city and the amplifiers, his destructive power had reached some inconceivable level, beyond what the traditional "class levels" could explain—and this power entirely outside "class levels" and the "skill tree" was precisely the subject Camel had been quietly researching of late.

The amplifiers on the wall kept discharging bright electric arcs, and at the foot of the wall the magic capacitor arrays that supplied the amplifiers with extra energy had begun to run dry. The magic-conduction technicians of the Magic-Conduction Research Institute ran among the giant capacitors, constantly pulling out spent crystals and fitting fresh, fully charged storage crystals into the slots, while Jenny Perot led the technicians of the Rune Research Institute in standing guard beside every key piece of equipment, constantly observing its changes and recording the flickering of the runes on its surface along with all sorts of other data.

Having received a fresh batch of report forms, Jenny Perot at once summoned one of her assistants and rapidly gave a few instructions; the assistant dashed up the wall and found Rebecca, who was directing the experimental project up there: "Viscountess! Director Jenny says we need more capacitor readings! The magic-consumption curve isn't complete enough yet!"

Rebecca looked up at Camel, who was carving up the battlefield with arcane rays: "Master Camel! We need more data!"

Camel answered with a peal like distant thunder: "That depends on how long these people can hold out!"

Bishop Frostlight finally understood: this was not a battle at all.

He did not know how the Cecil people had done it, did not know why this pioneer domain, established only last year, should possess such tremendous power, did not know what forbidden knowledge that ancient hero, risen from the dead, actually commanded, such that he could work these miracles upon this land. But now he cared for none of it; he wanted only to end all this at once—to end this plan that had been wrong from the very start.

He looked to his side. The attendant he had brought, that middle-aged priest, had fallen dead in one of the earlier attacks. Now on the battlefield, apart from himself, the bishop, only nine devout, fanatical Church knights still fought.

The high-tier priest raised the bishop's staff in his hand and used a beam of holy light descending from the sky to slightly interrupt Camel's attack; then he cried aloud: "Knights! The time has come to give your utmost loyalty to the Lord! These people who gain power through blasphemous means will one day, in the future, pay the price for the power they have blasphemed!"

Surging holy light spread outward from him in all directions; every gravely wounded knight felt his strength return to his body. Listening to the old bishop's loud exhortation, every Church knight was roused anew by this "battlefield sermon." They cried out, they howled, and all reason in their eyes was swiftly replaced by blazing flames of holy light. When the holy light had burned away the flesh and bone of each of them, these knights became bright torches, charging fearlessly toward the wall in one final assault.

"Utmost loyalty to the Lord!"

The knights shouted the "sole command" remaining in their minds, and Bishop Frostlight, who had issued that "sole command," activated the priest's "Swift Zeal" skill the instant the knights charged, his whole body becoming a blur as he hurtled toward the direction of the Dark Mountains.