bookpower Chapter 208 : Nether Barrier
Chapter 208 : Nether Barrier
Nether Barrier"Stop, you have no chance of winning."
The two of them were locked in a blade deadlock—Serea was stalling, while Lilith, even at this moment, couldn't help but try to persuade her.
"Lady Lilith, let me help you."
Astor had also finished chanting his spell, but since Lilith's back was to him, she didn't notice anything strange about him.
The mage power took shape—it was a mass of gray mist, the power of death!
Seeing the power of death condense in Astor's hand, the Holy Knights were stunned. Before they could react, Astor finished his preparation, and the power of death in his hand transformed into the most venomous curse, striking at Lilith.
Danger!
Seeing the curse rushing toward Lilith's back, Serea could have seized this chance to defeat Lilith if it landed. But the instant she witnessed the sneak attack, Serea reflexively lifted her hand.
Blood Manipulation!
A shield of blood rose behind Lilith, blocking the attack. The curse crashed into the blood shield.
Pak!
The blood shield shattered, and the curse struck Lilith squarely in the back.
Boom!
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, lilith was thrown forward, tumbling into Serea's arms. But more curses followed immediately after.
"Bone Barrier!"
Pelam instantly stepped in to assist. As the bone barrier rose, the damaging power of the death curse was minimal against the lifeless bone shield, easily blocking the attack.
"Damn it!"
Astor cursed under his breath.
"You..."
Sprawled in Serea's arms, blood trickled from the corner of Lilith's lips.
"Looks like your subordinate isn't very obedient after all."
Seeing Astor wield the power of death, Serea spoke coldly. As for why she stepped in to help Lilith just now, even she didn't know—her mind had been set on using this opportunity to win, yet her body almost felt as though it was being controlled...
"Preacher Astor! What are you doing!"
Seeing Astor's actions, manshir was enraged. He ignored Bone Yan's attempts to entangle him and charged swiftly at Astor.
"What a bunch of meddlesome fools!"
Astor unleashed a blast of death shockwave. Faced with necromancy, manshir dared not be careless, dispersing it with holy light.
"Necromancy!"
This time, everyone reacted. Seeing Lilith injured by Astor, the Holy Knights immediately surrounded Astor, but he had already retreated far back, at some unknown moment.
"It's useless."
Astor revealed a cold smile as circles of dark purple magic arrays lit up on the ground.
Buzz!
Magic surged beneath their feet, and the earth turned into a black, muddy quagmire. Multiple layers of barriers rose, isolating them in the center. The zone locked by the barrier covered thousands of square meters.
Manshir struck heavily at the barrier with holy light power, but all that was left was a faint mark—showing just how solid the barrier was.
"Ahhh!"
As the barrier imprisoned everyone inside, monsters with rotting bodies began crawling out from beneath the mud.
Ghouls! Level 12!
"Damn, it's a magic barrier! Quickly, protect Lady Lilith!"
Recognizing the trick, the Holy Knight captain gave the order, and the Holy Knights charged at Lilith. But right then, Astor gathered his magic and swept a hand.
"Don't even think about interfering."
Another independent barrier cut across the square-shaped space, splitting the parties. Lilith and Serea were on one side; Leklis, Pelam, and the Holy Knights on the other.
"Lady Lilith!"
The Holy Knights pounded anxiously on the barrier, while Lilith, leaning against Serea, arduously turned to glance at Astor.
"You actually betrayed us!"
"Heh heh heh, that's a bit harsh. I was never on your side to begin with."
As his voice sounded, undead mages hidden in the woods also emerged. They chanted spells, continuously channeling death power into the barrier; the fissure created earlier by Manshir's holy light was instantly repaired.
"Got them."
The leading black-robed man strode over. Astor called out respectfully,
"Bishop Quells."
"Mhm, you did very well. Thanks to you, we learned of the Holy Maiden's arrival, and thanks to you, we managed to trap her... uh, them."
Bishop Quells looked into the barrier. Three identical Liliths stared back at him.
"Astor, you actually sold us out!"
"Hah, instead of shouting, you'd better look behind you. The little guys are starving, you know."
Astor mocked. Upon hearing this, manshir and the others turned to see nearly fifty ghouls tunneling up from the ground, fixing greed- and slaughter-filled gazes upon the Holy Knights.
"Aaaah!"
The ghouls pounced at the Holy Knights, giving Manshir no time to care about Astor anymore.
"Form a defensive line!"
The Holy Knights reacted swiftly, but after fighting the Reaper Guardsmen and Bone Yan, they had already suffered casualties. Most members were wounded. Eeen more, now they faced so many ghouls—an extremely dire situation.
After a glance at the Holy Knights, quells shifted his gaze to Leklis.
Their eyes met, and by now, leklis understood everything.
"It was you!"
"Oh ho, isn't this our dear Reaper himself? What are you doing here?"
"Was this all your plan?"
"Obviously. Isn't it a brilliant scheme? As long as we capture the Holy Maiden of the Church, I'm sure they'll return the necromancy books they 'stole' from us for her safe return."
"..."
On hearing this, leklis clenched his teeth. So it turned out he himself was being played after all.
Turning back to look at the barrier trapping them...
"Looks like dear Reaper noticed—yes, this is the Nether Barrier, the very result of your own research."
As Quells spoke, fourteen undead mages held a Nether Crystal each—they used these as mediums to activate such a massive magic barrier.
And given that this was Leklis's research product, he naturally understood the dire consequences of being trapped inside. Glancing at the death energy corroding his body, he spoke.
"Your objective's achieved. Now let us go—deal with these guys however you want; it's none of our business."
While Leklis was furious at being manipulated alongside Julie, at this moment, for Julie's sake, he had no choice. However...
"I'm sorry, dear Reaper, but if we drop the barrier, what if those guys escape? We'll have to wait until they're gone before I can release it. Until then, I'm afraid you'll have to endure a little longer."
Quells said, and Leklis stared at him with growing fury.
"Quells!"
"Seal the barrier!"
Quells ignored him and gave the order. The barrier turned deep purple. At this point, the true power of the Nether Barrier was released.
Watching the descent of the deep purple veil, lilith was so furious she could have ground her teeth to dust. She glared at Astor, wishing she could devour him alive.
Confronted with her rage, Astor only smiled. In the next moment, lilith was utterly confined within the deep purple space.
The same happened to Leklis and his group on the other side. Realizing the barrier was closed, he hugged Julie tightly.
"Close ranks! Fall back to me."
He called to Pelam, who quickly moved closer. As she did, a wave of purplish sediment mist swept over.
When the Holy Knights touched the mist, it began to corrode their bodies. As their attributes plummeted, they realized the crisis and hurriedly used holy light to purify the mist.
But that would rapidly drain their mental power—the Holy Knights could not hold out for long...
Leklis took out his staff from his back and plunged it into the earth.
"Using myself as the medium, I summon the Resting Lands of the Dead!"
After the chant, the staff pierced into the ground unleashed a black ring, enveloping the three of them and driving back the mist. Skeletons began crawling out of the ground.
"Creak! Creak!"
"Ahhh!"
The skeletons and ghouls locked eyes and immediately clashed. Reaper Guardsmen and several Bone Yan withdrew to defend the trio. Though heavily injured by the Holy Knights, they could still block the ghouls.
But the greatest power of the Nether Barrier was to draw the underworld's lands inside the barrier. As long as the mages outside had enough power, undead would endlessly appear inside!
"How long can you last?"
Pelam suddenly asked.
"Mm?"
"The master asked me to ask you."
"... Twenty minutes."
Leklis replied; his mental power would not last any longer.
"This is for you. The master said you need to hold for thirty minutes—after thirty, the barrier will be breached."
Pelam said, tossing Leklis a potion—an extremely rare triple-effect potion.
Mental power enhancement, mental recovery enhancement, instant mental recovery.
"Thirty minutes!"
"Mhm."
Pelam nodded. Leklis drank the potion, and his mental power rapidly recovered.
"But Pelam is hungry too..."
Pelam muttered, apparently running low on materials Serea had given her.
"Take these, they should help."
He tossed her several black-purple material crystals—Nether Crystals.
"Thank you."
Pelam gave a sunny smile and swallowed the Nether Crystal. The great battle was about to begin.
......
Elsewhere, as the ghouls converged, chips and another Carrion Beast growled menacingly.
Serea supported Lilith, who was now looking unwell.
"Why did you help me..."
"It was a reflex, but I have to say—you sure are a source of trouble for me."
"..."
Lilith was silent. Just now, the sister she had always opposed had saved her, but ended up dragged into danger by her.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
Serea looked a bit puzzled at Lilith's apology. Strictly speaking, as her 'elder sister', Serea had never heard such a polite word from her.
"Saying 'sorry' now is useless. Help out instead."
Serea said, controlling blood tentacles to shred several ghouls and toss the corpses aside. Chips and the other Carrion Beast worked with her to guard the two women.
"Alright, let's deal with our common enemy together first."
Lilith said—it was clear she'd realized she'd been set up, so she put aside her prejudice toward Serea and chose to fight alongside her. However...
Having just used holy light power, lilith suddenly felt a burning sensation on her back.
Zzzzt!
Serea looked and saw that Lilith's armor was broken, exposing a strange curse mark and a torn wound—the mark was made of death power. Each time Lilith used holy light, the mark would flare and block her power.
"Mmmmmm!"
Lilith gritted her teeth against the pain, tossed out another Holy Light, and vaporized several ghouls, but the curse mark injured her as well.
"They really went to great lengths to deal with you."
Serea commented. Clearly, the curse mark was prepared especially for Lilith, the Holy Maiden. Prevent her from using holy light, and half her strength was crippled.
"Alright, there's no need to force it. Stay behind me."
Serea gently set Lilith down.
"I can..."
"Can nothing, just stay put."
She had the two Carrion Beasts watch over Lilith, who was controlled by the curse mark, while Serea faced the horde of ghouls alone.
"Clark!"
Blood Spring was unleashed, forming a giant crimson array in the sky. Meteors rained from above.
"Clark is here!"
Boom!
A massive crater was blasted into the ground, and several unlucky ghouls were smashed to a pulp.
"Oh, my master, I have to say you really trust your subordinates—always handing the most severe problems to me."
"I have to."
"In gratitude for your trust, Clark will not let you down."
With that, a searing ray swept out, burning several ghouls to ash. Then spears of stone danced, mangling many more. Clark, the warbeast, alone was enough to hold the line on Serea's side.
Apparently, the enemy was holding back—unwilling to seriously hurt Lilith, the Holy Maiden—so the pressure here was low. Clark alone could stabilize the situation.
Meanwhile, Serea had long since adapted to her internal discomfort. She looked back at Lilith, seeing her propping herself up and watching.
As she gazed at that figure, lilith felt as if in a dream. Serea was so strong, and that power was now protecting her.
But suddenly, Serea turned around, startling Lilith. Meeting her eyes, lilith couldn't look straight at her. After all her tough talk, she was still being protected by her sister in the end...
"You're hurt, aren't you?"
"J-just a scratch."
"Is that so? Well, if you die here, I'll be in trouble. Come, let me heal you."
Hearing this, lilith paused in surprise.
"Now? But, here..."
"They still need you, so they're not trying to hurt you. We're safe."
At this, lilith pursed her lips.
"What, not willing to accept healing from your little sister? There are better times to consider dignity, you know."
"..."
Lilith still did not speak. After confirming Clark could handle the sporadic ghouls, she turned and offered her wounded back to Serea...
(To be continued...)