Another pitch-black night.
This evening, the sky was dim and devoid of light, not a single star twinkling, nor a full moon hanging high in the sky.
The entire world was plunged into a lightless darkness, a rare night of pure black.
And now.
In a field, atop a slightly raised hill stood a magical node.
And atop this hill, a group of figures could be seen.
Sofia stood at the edge of the hill, looking ahead, observing the surroundings with vigilance.
She wasn't the only one.
Lucilia, Julia, and Juanlu were also keeping a vigilant eye on the surroundings.
There was also the puppet girl.
And the most powerful of the group, the Great Elder, who had reached the eighth stage.
Although it wasn't appropriate to call him Great Elder anymore, and he should be called the Elemental Leader, the term had become customary.
Besides this, Henges could be seen patrolling the area, riding a ghostly warhorse and leading a group of ghostly cavalry.
It was just an inconspicuous hill, but it was heavily armed.
It seemed to be guarding something important.
And in the center of this crowd...
A figure sat quietly, cross-legged.
The ground was covered with a soft blanket, and above his head floated the magic gathering stone he once used.
But the magic gathering stone had been optimized and improved many times, with many matching gems rotating around it to enhance its stability.
And the one who wielded this magic gathering stone was none other than Alka.
He sat cross-legged on the hill, eyes closed.
He seemed to be comprehending something.
Finally, the magic gathering stone activated.
A large amount of magic power began to form a vortex, gathering around Alka.
Using the magic gathering stone and its accompanying stones, the magic energy was quickly filtered into a form ideal for Alka's absorption.
Alka gradually began to absorb this magic energy, drawing it into his body.
And within his body...
There were three densely packed spirals arranged together.
It was clearly visible that each spiral consisted of 81 individual rings, tightly packed together, almost indistinguishable from one another. Only between the three spirals could one see the gaps separating them.
As Alka operated, each spiral spun, each pattern representing a rich tapestry of magic.
The combination of these created a more solid structure and more precise magic.
The influx of magic energy created pressure.
It forced the three spirals to converge and compress, shrinking the gaps between them.
From the outside, one could clearly see the magic energy forming a vortex and flowing back.
"BOOM!"
A rumbling thunder echoed across the wilderness.
A thick blue lightning bolt struck down, its thick streak shimmering with a strange, sinister hue of white and red.
Feeling the lightning, the Great Elder immediately raised his hand.
A massive rock suddenly rose from a few meters away from Alka, piercing the sky.
It charged directly at the lightning bolt, completely withstanding it.
Boundless black mist began to surge from the earth.
The elder-level earth elementals who had been nearby simultaneously exerted their power.
One totem after another emerged from the ground, suppressing the encroaching black mist.
These were the abyssal auras, indispensable to the scars of the world.
They were gathering here.
Facing the abyssal aura wafting through the air, Sofia's body radiated a soft, pure white light. Then, bursting forth, he transformed into a moon, soaring high into the sky.
He soared straight up into the sky, landing dozens of meters above Alka's head.
The bright white moon instantly illuminated the surroundings, bathing the entire plain in its pure, white light.
The pure, white moonlight repelled all evil auras, combating the abyssal auras in the surrounding air.
Blue starlight shimmered around the moonlight, transforming the boundless darkness of the night around them and above them into a normal starry sky.
A song praising the moon echoed, transporting them back to the nighttime of their homeland.
Julia began to play the recreated music she had previously created on the phonograph.
"Song of Praise to the Moon."
Composing it together with Sofia, it mobilized Sofia's moon power, simultaneously strengthening the moon's strength, making the moonlight even softer and more resolute.
Under the music's praise,
The moonlight, initially outmatched by the aura, now rivaled the abyssal auras that were frantically absorbing it.
A murmuring voice appeared within the area, directly in Alka's ears.
"Give up... It's so tiring, the oppression of magic is so heavy. Relax, and accept the guidance of your body."
The voice pierced his ears like a demonic sound, stirring his soul and even drawing out the laziest forces in human nature.
Using this power, he attempted to persuade Alka to give up his advancement.
But Alka turned a deaf ear to these voices, and they had no effect on him.
His will, strengthened by the dream, was as firm as a rock.
One after another, bizarre, giant mouths appeared in the darkness beyond the moonlight.
"Aa ... Hearing his words, the witcher captain saw him and replied, "Aren't we just helping?"
"The Demon Hunter Fortress is currently under heavy attack. Even the Devourer himself is having trouble reaching the front lines and launching an assault on the fortress."
"Why is the Devourer so ruthless to Alka?" the nearby knight couldn't help but ask.
After all, Alka was considered a member of their church.
And the knight's primary base wasn't the Demon Hunter Fortress. To be honest, he had never actually had any contact with the renowned Devourer.
"He's a petty demon. For him, only by killing Alka and obtaining his head can he wash away the shame he carries."
The witcher captain said.
The knight nodded. Indeed, it was true.
Alka was merely trying to advance to the sixth stage, yet the Devourer went to such lengths. He used almost every method he could think of to influence Alka. Even what he was displaying now was beyond anything he could do in the World Scar.
Either he had found allies and sought help, or perhaps there were other beings who also needed Alka's life.
This demon knew perfectly well that killing Alka in such a heavily guarded area was utterly impossible.
But he still dispatched these demons, using every possible means to influence the situation, because even the slightest hindrance to Alka's advancement was what he desired.
From a normal human perspective, he truly couldn't understand the Devourer's hatred for Alka.
However, the Devourer was not human to begin with; he was chaotic, an outlier even among demons.
They observed the surroundings, protecting the items they had brought with them and stabilizing this space.
When the Devourer's power was activated, it could only send these less powerful demons to serve as cannon fodder.
At this point, one of the demon hunters in the demon hunting team couldn't help but exclaim, "I never imagined the process of advancing to the sixth stage would be so... complicated and intense." He couldn't think of any words to describe it, so he could only use the word "complex" and "intensive." Hearing this, not only him, but even his other companions, who were taciturn, couldn't help but nod silently. This was the World Scar. Sixth-stage warriors abounded, and even the captain leading them was a sixth-stage warrior. And the knight next to him, while not yet at the sixth stage, was a leader among the fifth. But who could have imagined that a mere fifth-stage warrior advancing to the sixth stage would be so grand and impressive? "Do you imagine such a treatment for your own sixth-stage advancement?" his companions couldn't help but tease him. Upon hearing this, the speaker shook his head. "No, I don't want that. This isn't a good thing."
It certainly wasn't a good thing.
"I just didn't expect that such a powerful Lord Alka hadn't even reached the sixth stage yet."
As they spoke, they couldn't help but recall watching Alka and his men slaughter those sixth-stage demons on the city walls during a defensive battle long ago, as effortlessly as they'd slaughtered chickens and dogs.
At the time, everyone had assumed that Alka and his men were all sixth-stage beings.
It wasn't until they received this mission that they were suddenly shocked to realize that Alka was only at the fifth stage at that time, not even reaching the perfection of the fifth stage.
"He's truly...powerful."
Hearing the demon hunters' praise, the knights beside him couldn't help but smile.
After all, Alka was a true member of the Holy Mother Church, a saint.
With such a powerful figure in the Church, it was natural for a knight like him to feel a sense of shared prosperity.
"If they weren't strong, how could they have survived the Devouring Mouth's targeting until now, and still be so comfortable and relaxed?" their captain couldn't help but exclaim.
For them, Alka's situation in the face of the Devouring Mouth could truly be described as relaxed and comfortable.
After a few words, they gradually fell silent, focusing their full attention on the battlefield ahead.
In the battlefield, the demons had almost no chance of fighting back, being attacked by the forces protecting Alka.
Beyond the range of the pure moonlight, one could see a pitch-black aura, constantly trying to surge into the earth, and black mist constantly trying to emerge.
Even the sky was constantly streaked with blood-red and gray-white lightning, trying to strike Alka.
It seemed as if everything here wanted Alka dead.
The ghostly cavalry charged across the plains and hills, clearing out the weak but numerous demons.
The speed of magic absorption increased again.
Alka focused on improving his skills.
As the magic concentration increased again, the three spirals were almost completely fused together, forming a brand new set of spirals.
The spirals squeezed each other, finally completely merging under the immense magical force, then shifted to the side, forming a truly brand new set of spirals.
The spirals were so densely packed together, almost like a book.
Each spiral was like a thin page.
The 243 spirals stacked together brought with them an incredible surge of magical power and pure energy.
The pure magic, combined with external pressure, began to form a new spiral outside the current set.
With the completion of this small spiral,
the total number of spirals within the body reached 244.
Finally, he had crossed the final threshold and entered the sixth stage.
Surging, pure magic began to strengthen his body, strengthening every part of it, even every hair, every cell, every blood vessel.
Strengthening himself from head to toe, his entire body felt reborn, as if purified.
Power surged.
The magic stabilized, and the magic gathering stone fell.
Alka opened his eyes.
He surveyed his surroundings.
"The Devouring Mouth... such a petty piece of trash."
Six elemental cards appeared around him.
Purple lightning and red flame cards overlapped, and Alka pointed his finger toward the sky.
A fiery red lightning bolt shot into the sky, a loud rumble echoing throughout the wasteland. This dazzling red lightning shattered a falling gray lightning bolt, then slammed into the sky above.
If it were daytime.
A dark cloud of abyssal aura could be seen shattered by a bolt of red flame lightning.
Even the abyssal aura was shattered.
Alka looked at the demons still contemplating an attack.
"Let me show you something new."
He muttered silently, and four elemental cards were stacked together.
As Alka's strength reached the sixth stage, he finally began to fully master the scepter-level artifacts.
A purple lightning card, a brown earth card, a cyan breeze card, and a red flame card.
The four elemental cards combined to generate a brand-new power.
The red mist of dreams flowed into this power, and Alka couldn't help but smile wildly.
Having just ascended, he began to pour his magic power into it, regardless of the cost.
He forcibly tore a crack through the solid space, causing the mirror to flip.
This force penetrated the mirror.
There was only a crackling sound, like countless mirrors falling to the ground and shattering simultaneously.
Lucelia had just swung the red energy blade when she found the demon before her frozen in place.
Then it shattered into a sky full of mirrors.
Amid this shattered giant, demons shattered one after another.
The demons were instantly wiped out.
This overwhelming force caused them to pause their attacks, staring at the shattered mirrors left behind by the demons' cessation. The tiny mirrors shimmered in the moonlight, sparkling with crystalline light.
Giving these evil demons a beautiful death that did not belong to them.
Alka took a deep breath to recover a bit of his strength. It was indeed a bit too much to use such a direct attack that consumed so much magic power, having just advanced to the sixth stage.
At this stage, he had almost completely integrated his treasures.
This inexplicable attack method was like a shattered mirror to the enemy.
It was neither dreamlike nor realistic.
The moonlight gradually faded, and Sofia floated down from the sky.
It landed on Alka.
Next to Alka.
Alka looked at the surrounding elders, including the Grand Elder and Henges' Ghost Knight.
"Thank you for your help. Go back and get some rest."
Alka waved his hand. A portal to another dimension opened directly on the spot.
The Grand Elders nodded and entered the stone forest.
Henges approached, bowed respectfully to Alka, and then, along with the knights behind him, entered the space.
Only Alka, the lower-ranking Sofia, and the surrounding puppet girls remained.
Alka first hugged Sofia and Lucilia.
"Congratulations! How does it feel to reach the sixth stage?"
Hearing these congratulations, Alka looked at the scattered mirror fragments.
"Looks pretty good, doesn't it?"
"So how did you do it? This attack method... is too shocking and fantastical? I have no idea how it's possible."
Lucelia sat on Alka's shoulder and asked, somewhat puzzled.
The enemy was inexplicably shattered like a mirror, completely shattered, leaving not even a corpse.
"A powerful attack method that combines multiple treasures, enhanced and blended with my familiar powers.
It has a certain degree of lethality," Alka said. As for a more detailed explanation, it would be too tedious and complicated.
The combination of four elements creates a powerful attack, giving it a lethal nature.
The mirror space combined with the elements of dreams grants this attack a large-scale, concealed, and precise attack.