Translator: AnubisTL
The circular array, composed of over a thousand rune-imbued magical artifacts, slowly rotated, its light flowing in mesmerizing patterns. Runes flickered between each artifact, creating a dazzling display reminiscent of a technologically advanced war machine, radiating a terrifyingly potent energy.
As the rune circle prepared to unleash its full power, Jieming subtly signaled Amy and Victor with a glance.
Understanding his intent, the pair seized the moment while the blood angel's attention was completely fixed on the awe-inspiring spectacle behind Jieming. They quickly huddled together and, with practiced coordination, activated their alchemy. They manipulated the underground rock, excavating a deep tunnel that led deeper into the mine, seeking refuge in the safer depths below.
The blood angel naturally noticed the commotion on the other side, but for now, he couldn't be bothered with those two insignificant creatures.
His senses warned him that the enemy before him, currently gathering power, was becoming visibly more dangerous by the second!
Yet he was powerless to intervene.
As an apostle of a divine being, the blood angel had no chance to escape. The moment he was summoned to the mortal realm, he had been bound by countless restrictions.
Meanwhile, after several seconds of preparation, Jieming finally reached the final stage of his technique.
Three circular metal discs, etched with arcane runes, slowly overlapped and floated into position at the center of the massive ring behind Jieming.
Once they reached their designated positions, they fused seamlessly with the ring, like components slotting into a machine. The ring's flowing light stabilized, emitting a deep, resonant hum—as if a primordial giant beast were about to awaken.
Full-Power Form: Great Light Phase!
This was Jieming's trump card—the ultimate weapon forged from years of accumulated knowledge and research.
The moment the Great Light Phase fully activated, the blood angel was suddenly engulfed by a dense torrent of thousands of energy bullets!
These energy bullets no longer fired in precise bursts; instead, they formed a massive energy barrage spanning dozens of meters, blanketing the area without a single blind spot.
Like a radiant white river of light, the torrent surged through the narrow confines of the mine shaft with overwhelming destructive force, crashing down upon the blood angel.
Jieming had calibrated each energy bullet to its maximum power level, meaning each one carried the force of a First-Tier Spell.
A single shot could obliterate an entire stadium!
Now, every second, thousands of such energy bullets, like a tidal wave, surged toward the blood angel. The incessant roar echoed through the entire mine, its deafening intensity causing physical pain in the eardrums.
Fire suppression!
The blood angel's figure was completely engulfed by the blinding light. Terrifying shockwaves of energy radiated outward from Jieming's position, shaking the mine to its core.
The mine's rock walls groaned under the unbearable strain, large chunks of stone breaking loose and sending dust billowing into the air.
The blood angel moved at blinding speed through the torrent of light.
As a third-tier creature, his speed was extraordinary. Even this overwhelming barrage of energy bullets struggled to truly lock onto his position.
His form twisted and flickered, leaving behind trails of afterimages as he desperately evaded the relentless assault.
Jieming's eyes darted frantically, straining to maintain lock on the blood angel's fleeting figure.
He manipulated the ring of rune-imbued magical artifacts, its movements lagging slightly behind the blood angel's, relentlessly bombarding him with endless energy bullets.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In mere moments, the entire mine, and even the mountain above it, could no longer withstand the devastating energy impact.
Massive fissures spread across the mountain's surface, accompanied by ear-splitting cracks that sounded as if the mountain's very bones were shattering inch by inch!
BOOM!!!
With a deafening roar, the entire mountain exploded violently from within, sending rubble and earth soaring into the sky in a colossal mushroom cloud!
The mountain collapsed, sending debris flying in all directions.
At the epicenter of the blast, two figures emerged from the collapsing mountain with astonishing speed. One was crimson, the other shimmered with iridescent light, both hurtling toward the vast Elosian sky!
Jieming and the blood angel shot through the smoke and dust like arrows loosed from a bow, piercing the heavens.
The blood angel's speed was terrifying. Each flap of his wings left afterimages, and every flicker was accompanied by surges of divine power. He moved through the air like a phantom, causing Jieming's exaggerated barrage of energy bullets to miss by mere fractions of an inch each time.
Realizing his attacks were consistently failing to lock onto the target, Jieming knew the speed gap between them was too great for conventional methods to work.
With a resolute glint in his eyes, he retrieved another seemingly unremarkable rune-imbued magical artifact from his internal space.
This artifact looked nothing like the other crystal-like rune-imbued magical artifacts. Instead, it resembled a sleek metal bracelet, its surface covered in ancient, intricate runes that emitted a faint white glow.
This was the final piece of Jieming's years-long research, the key to pushing his "full-power state" to its absolute limit.
Originally, it had been a crude, mobile rune-imbued magical artifact with only one function: casting the flight spell.
Later, after refining the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror, Jieming had intended to improve the mobile artifact by studying the mirror.
However, as his research on the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror deepened, he gradually realized that the flight function of the mobile artifact had become increasingly redundant.
Eventually, the flight-related runes became the greatest obstacle to the artifact's improvement.
In the end, he simply removed the flight runes and transformed the artifact into an entirely different kind of rune-imbued magical artifact.
Jieming slammed the metal bracelet onto his left wrist and mentally commanded, "Accelerate!"
An invisible surge of energy flowed from the bracelet into his body.
At that moment, the world around Jieming seemed to slow down as if someone had pressed the "slow-motion" button.
The blood angel's rapidly vibrating four wings became crystal clear to Jieming, each feather's trajectory of motion distinct.
The divine power swirling around the angel slowed to a sluggish, viscous flow, as if trapped in thick syrup.
Even the dust motes in the air seemed frozen, drifting slowly at a pace visible to the naked eye.
Time itself appeared stretched around him, granting him an unbelievable boost to his perception and reaction speed!
This was the function of the Acceleration Rune Artifact, a spell artifact born from studying the techniques within the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror!
It could empower its user, amplifying their perception and reaction speed by dozens of times!
However, this immense power came at a steep price.
Each use frantically accelerated the user's cellular metabolism, effectively burning through their lifespan at an accelerated rate.
Moreover, the overwhelming influx of information and the strain of controlling this acceleration would inflict unbearable agony upon the brain and soul.
All these drawbacks served a single, crucial purpose: to push Jieming beyond his current reaction speed limit!
After activating the Acceleration Rune Artifact, Jieming finally broke through the reaction speed limit of a first-tier wizard, allowing him to clearly perceive the blood angel's movements.
No longer were they blurry afterimages; each flash and turn became distinctly visible.
Enhanced by the Acceleration Rune Artifact, even his flight spell gained a significant boost in speed, barely allowing him to keep pace with the blood angel's astonishing velocity.
Now that he could clearly see the enemy's actions, Jieming could finally engage the blood angel in true combat!
Suppressing the bone-deep pain searing through his brain and soul, Jieming locked onto the blood angel's position and even anticipated its next move.
The dense barrage of energy bullets instantly shifted direction, engulfing the blood angel in a blinding storm.
"Vile Heretic!" the blood angel roared amidst the rain of energy bullets.
While the destructive power of each individual energy bullet was negligible to him, being struck by such a concentrated barrage simultaneously would instantly kill even an angel.
Forced into a corner, the blood angel could only wield his longsword in a dense, impenetrable web of strikes.
Each swing carried crimson divine power, attempting to parry or shatter the endless barrage of energy bullets.
Initially, the blood angel's exquisite swordsmanship allowed him to parry while simultaneously seeking openings in the barrage to launch counterattacks against Jieming.
However, Jieming proved to be an unassailable aerial fortress.
Every attack from the blood angel was effortlessly blocked by the fourth-tier magical artifact shield surrounding Jieming, sending ripples through the protective barrier.
Though the shield's glow dimmed slightly with each impact, it showed no signs of collapsing.
"Trying to kill me? You're not even close!" Jieming's mocking voice, amplified by the Acceleration Rune Artifact, rang clearly in the blood angel's ears.
He manipulated the ring of talisman seals behind him, unleashing an unending torrent of energy bullets that completely engulfed the blood angel.
The blood angel gradually found himself in a desperate situation.
His attacks couldn't breach Jieming's defenses, while Jieming's relentless barrage of energy bullets forced him into a frantic retreat, constantly parrying and dodging.
With each flap of his wings, each shift in position, he was relentlessly pursued by thousands of energy bullets. His crimson energy armor shattered repeatedly, exposing his rough skin beneath.
Though these wounds healed rapidly under the influence of his divine power, the mental strain accumulated relentlessly.
The two were locked in a war of attrition.
The blood angel's expression grew increasingly grim.
He had been fighting for nearly an hour, his divine power draining rapidly, yet the wizard's energy bullet barrage showed no sign of stopping.
Worse still, the wizard's shield remained intact!
How can this attack possibly be sustained?! the blood angel roared inwardly.
He had already deciphered the operating principle of Jieming's rune-imbued magical artifact—it drew energy from the surrounding atmosphere to fuel its attacks.
But even with sufficient mental power, the sheer scale of energy consumption should have completely depleted the "mana" in the wizard's vicinity.
He couldn't comprehend how Jieming continued to maintain such a terrifying barrage.
It doesn't matter. His shield's duration is almost up! Then... then... The blood angel's thoughts trailed off, unable to articulate the rest.
Just as the blood angel sensed Jieming's shield fading and prepared to counterattack, Jieming calmly produced another identical fourth-tier defensive spell artifact from his spatial storage!
As Jieming channeled his mental power into it, the old shield shattered completely, while the new, denser, and brighter fourth-tier shield instantly reinforced his defenses.
"A-another one?!" The blood angel nearly spat blood.
This wasn't a fair fight at all!
Panic began to creep into his heart.
If this continued, his divine power would inevitably be completely exhausted. At that point, he would truly be ground to death by this "monster" who was merely a first-tier wizard!
In truth, Jieming was equally anxious.
Behind him, the outermost of the three overlapping metal discs was gradually losing its luster, dimming into dullness.
This was the key to his ability to maintain such a terrifying barrage.
These three metal discs were a new type of rune-imbued magical artifact he had developed by combining his research on the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror with elemental pools—the Energy Storage Runic Artifact.
Each disc functioned as a miniature elemental pool, continuously supplying Jieming's rune-imbued magical artifacts with an inexhaustible stream of energy.
However, crafting and charging these discs was exceedingly difficult.
Even with Jieming's vast wealth, he had only managed to accumulate three over the years.
Once these three discs were depleted, his only remaining escape route would be the Five Aggregates Rainbow Transformation Mirror!
Though both men were inwardly anxious, neither dared show it.
Instead, they continued to hurl insults at each other mid-air.
"Is that all you've got, you great and noble blood angel?" Jieming taunted, his voice light with extreme mockery. "This pathetic divine power isn't even enough to warm me up! I told you, I have all the time in the world. I can keep this up all day!"
The blood angel's divine power surged around him as he endured a barrage of energy bullets, roaring, "Arrogant heretic! This angel will tear through your turtle shell sooner or later! Then you'll pay for your foolishness!"
"Heh! All talk and no bite. Aren't you still struggling to survive?"
"Heretic!"
"Is that all you know how to say?!"
"Damn heretic!"
"Fuck! I'm giving it my all, so why are you still alive?!"
The prolonged and intense battle inevitably drew a steady stream of indigenous people to the scene, either to offer support or investigate the commotion.
However, these indigenous inhabitants, none of whom exceeded second-tier strength, whether the orc warriors on the ground or the giant eagle knights in the air, didn't even have time to struggle before being completely annihilated by Jieming's overwhelming barrage of thousands of energy bullets. Not even their bones remained.
As the battle dragged on, no one dared approach the area, which had become Jieming and the blood angel's exclusive battlefield.
Such immense commotion naturally drew the attention of the spirits.
However, the rules of the Elosia Plane imposed exceptionally strict limitations on creatures of sufficient power entering the mortal realm.
Moreover, a group of wizards lurked menacingly on the plane's periphery, watching for any opportunity to strike.
Even in their fury, the spirits dared not descend casually, fearing that intervening in the mortal world would either provoke a wizard invasion or expose their own vulnerabilities.
For a time, the situation remained in this bizarre stalemate.
A third-tier creature was being stubbornly held in place by a first-tier wizard using what amounted to cheating, unable to break free.
Meanwhile, Jieming and the blood angel, locked in this seemingly endless war of attrition, both waited for the other to exhaust their power first.
(End of the Chapter)
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