Chapter 684 - 484: "World’s Spine", Searching for the World Destruction Level Battlefield
SSSSSS...
A grating, melting sound filled the air.
The Void Blade Mantis’s scythe, forged from Void Crystal, began to visibly melt and decompose bit by bit from its tip, scorched by the core Flame of the "Melting Furnace" Domain!
"HISSS!"
The intense pain caused the Void Blade Mantis, which had just finished a spatial jump, to let out a pained shriek.
It tried to retract its scythe.
But it was too late.
"You think you can come and go as you please?"
Mage Wendel’s voice drifted leisurely from the center of the fiery torrent, laced with mockery.
As he spoke, the torrent of flames enveloping the scythe suddenly coiled tight!
Like a python constricting its prey, it locked the massive scythe firmly within the fire!
The Void Blade Mantis struggled frantically, its other scythe unleashing countless Space Slashes in an attempt to sever the fiery restraints.
But it was all in vain.
While the Void Blade Mantis was locked in a struggle with the torrent of flames, the colossal, spinning Melting Furnace in the sky had stopped rotating.
It was now expanding at an unbelievable rate, growing larger and larger!
Two hundred meters!
Five hundred meters!
A thousand meters!
In just a few short breaths, the crimson Melting Furnace had grown to the size of a towering mountain, obscuring half the sky!
Its massive shadow completely enveloped the frantically struggling Void Blade Mantis below.
In the distance, Raylo watched the massive Melting Furnace expand to its limit, and his heart skipped a beat.
Mage Delin’s expression also changed in an instant.
"Wendel, you madman!"
He seemed to have guessed what Wendel intended to do and couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
However, it was too late.
The mountain-sized Melting Furnace suspended in the sky was no longer spewing torrents of flame.
Instead...
...like a toppling mountain, it flipped upside down!
It plummeted toward the Void Blade Mantis below, which was still ensnared by the torrent of Flame!
RUMBLE!
Under the crushing weight of the mountainous Melting Furnace, space itself groaned as if overburdened. Vast swaths of it collapsed and shattered, dissolving into chaotic nothingness!
The Void Blade Mantis below seemed to sense this world-ending pressure as well.
For the first time, its compound eyes revealed a trace of an emotion called "fear."
It wanted to execute another spatial jump to escape the death zone.
But its body was already firmly locked in place by Wendel’s torrent of Flame!
It had nowhere to run!
BOOM!
A deep, thunderous crash.
The mountain-sized Melting Furnace slammed down hard into that patch of the void.
The mouth of the furnace precisely trapped the kilometer-long Void Blade Mantis, along with the still-burning torrent of Flame that surrounded it, completely underneath!
Immediately after.
WHOOSH!
A streak of light shot out from Mage Wendel’s sleeve.
It was a massive, equally crimson furnace lid!
The lid tore through the sky, carrying an aura capable of sealing anything, and landed precisely on the mouth of the mountain-sized Melting Furnace!
CLANG!
A crisp clang of metal on metal echoed through the clouds.
The lid and the furnace body fit together perfectly, sealing seamlessly!
Countless crimson-gold Flame Runes flared to life at the seam between the lid and the body, weaving together into an impenetrable sealing web!
After all this was done, the mountain-sized Melting Furnace began to shrink rapidly.
A thousand meters, five hundred meters, a hundred meters...
Finally, it shrank back to the size of a fist, floating and spinning leisurely above Mage Wendel’s palm.
It was as if the world-ending scene from moments before had never happened.
Mage Wendel held the small Melting Furnace, his face somewhat pale and a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead.
Clearly, that last maneuver had consumed a tremendous amount of his energy.
But his face was lit with an incredibly satisfied smile.
"Done."
He grinned, flashing a set of white teeth.
Raylo stared at the scene, speechless for a long time.
A powerful, Catastrophe Level Void Demon.
Just like that...
’...was captured alive?’
Raylo looked at the small Melting Furnace in Mage Wendel’s palm, then at the void in the distance, now scarred and riddled with spatial rifts from the battle. He felt as though his entire understanding of the world had been shattered and rewritten again and again today.
Mage Delin glanced at their surroundings and frowned.
"This is clearly not a good place to linger."
"Let’s head to the ’World’s Spine’ first," Mage Delin said.
"Let’s go."
With a flicker, Mage Wendel landed back on Lightning’s back.
Lightning let out a low growl, seemingly still shaken from the recent battle.
It glanced at Mage Wendel, a new, deep reverence filling its golden, draconic eyes.
It flapped its wings, carrying the group, and continued flying toward the black mountain range.
With the recent Catastrophe Level battle serving as a deterrent, the rest of their journey was exceptionally smooth.
No other reckless Void Demons dared to approach them.
Soon, they arrived above the rolling black mountain range.
Seen from high above, the range looked like a ferocious black Giant Beast sprawled across the land.
The peaks were steep and barren, exuding an air of desolation and deathly stillness.
"The ’World’s Spine’ must be that highest peak over there," Mage Delin said, pointing toward the deepest part of the range.
A single peak stood there, head and shoulders above all the others.
Its summit, perennially covered in ice and snow, was a sacred, brilliant white.
The white stood in stark contrast to the menacing black mountains around it, emanating a sacred and inviolable majesty.
Lightning adjusted its course and flew toward the highest, snow-capped peak.
The closer they drew to the snowy mountain, the more rapidly the temperature dropped.
A bone-chilling cold surged from all directions, threatening to freeze their very souls.
"S-so cold..."
Master Barnaby couldn’t help but shiver. A layer of white frost was already forming on his eyebrows and beard.
Raylo also felt an immense pressure.
It wasn’t a physical cold, but a kind of... absolute "freezing" that originated from the level of Law!
It was as if all the rules, all the energy in this part of the world, had been frozen solid by the terrifying chill.
Here, even the circulation of his Domain Power became sluggish.
’Is this... the lingering Power of a World Destruction Level expert?’
Raylo’s heart filled with shock as he stared at the approaching, towering snow mountain, which looked as though it were carved entirely from ice crystals.
The mere residual aura left behind after death was enough to form a terrifying Domain comparable to "Absolute Zero"!
’How terrifying must it have been when it was alive?’
Lightning’s speed slowed involuntarily.
Its body, composed of lightning, also felt a sense of discomfort within this frigid Domain.
The electric arcs crackling around its body had grown much dimmer.
Finally, still several thousand meters from the snow mountain, the group landed on a relatively flat platform halfway up its slope.
The platform was likewise covered in a thick layer of perpetual ice and snow.
Their boots crunched with every step.
"Haaa..."
Mage Wendel let out a long, white breath. The instant it left his lips, it condensed into ice crystals that fell to the ground and shattered.
"What a hellish place," he complained, rubbing his hands together.
"The Law of Ice Element here has completely suppressed all other Laws."
Mage Delin ignored his complaint.
He walked out onto the snow-covered platform, extending a hand as if to feel the residual aura in the air.
"This is the place."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he gently lifted his foot and then stomped it down.
A dull THUD echoed.
An invisible ripple suddenly spread out, originating from under Mage Delin’s foot.