Having activated Foul Legacy: The Devouring Deep, Childe shed his previous frivolity, leaving only a cold and efficient intent to utterly destroy his enemies.
This time, he absolutely would not make the same mistake again. He wouldn't give those fragile mages any chance to release their annihilation magic.
The long-handled halberd in his hand raised slightly. Upon the halberd's blade, violent water currents and purplish-black lightning intertwined and compressed.
He bent his knees slightly, preparing to crash directly into the center of the Elf unit's formation with the momentum of a thunderbolt.
"Stop him!"
Finn issued the command. Even though his thumb was aching, he still gripped the Fortia Spear tightly and blocked directly in front of Childe.
Gareth Landrock's Grand Axe was already raised high, Ais Wallenstein's Ariel blade storm swept up once more, and Bete Loga, along with the twin sisters, unleashed all their power without reservation.
They knew very well just how despair-inducing it would be for the fragile mages if the current Childe was allowed to charge into the rearguard formation.
However, right at the moment Childe prepared to swing his halberd and charge, and Finn and the others faced him as a deadly enemy ready to intercept—
Childe's body abruptly paused.
Beneath the mask, that cold eye sharply snapped toward the other side of the battlefield. The purplish-black lightning crests on his abyssal armor flashed violently, as if sensing some extremely dangerous foreign entity.
Before Finn and the others could even feel puzzled by Childe's pause, an ear-piercingly sharp explosive sound ripped out from the darkness in the distance.
"What is that!?"
Anakitty Autumn abruptly turned her head, her pupils shrinking instantly.
A crimson slash flew rapidly from the end of the distant passage.
What a terrifying slash it was.
Not only was its speed pushed to the extreme, like a shooting star cutting through the night sky, but it was also wrapped in a suffocatingly ultra-high temperature flame.
Wherever the slash passed, the surrounding air was directly ignited and distorted. Even the originally solid ice and rocks were instantly vaporized under this extreme heat, leaving a long-lasting, twisted trail in mid-air that appeared dark red due to light refraction.
And the target of this crimson flying slash was none other than the fully concentrated, chanting, and defenseless Elf unit in the rear.
"Damn it!"
Raul Nord, who was responsible for guarding the rear, felt his heart skip a beat.
As the core of the second string and the future successor Finn placed great hopes in, Raul had always been considered a High Novice in everyone's eyes.
He had no outstanding basic abilities, no rare skills, and absolutely no magic power whatsoever.
But the reason Finn favored him was definitely not because he was truly a useless piece of trash.
In this millisecond when absolute doom descended, he displayed a decisiveness surpassing ordinary people.
Raul didn't shrink back in the slightest.
He violently shoved aside the vanguard who had been frightened stiff in front of him. Both hands clamped in a death grip onto that massive, heavy tower shield. His legs slammed down into a horse stance on the ground, shattering his teeth as he clenched his jaw. Facing that crimson light slash capable of cleaving a city wall in two, he forcibly stood at the very forefront of all the Elves.
Boom——!!!
The crimson slash smashed viciously into the dead center of the shield.
The erupting roar formed a sonic shockwave.
The terrifying impact force and the high temperature that threatened to roast a person alive instantly transmitted through the shield to Raul's entire body.
"Uwaaaaaaaah!"
Raul let out a lung-tearing roar of rage.
Under the oppression of that unrivaled massive force, his legs sank directly into the hard bedrock.
The muscles in his arms expanded to their limits from overexertion. Fine blood vessels burst one by one beneath his skin, and blood flowed down his forearms, instantly vaporized into a blood mist by the high heat.
His internal organs were damaged by the violent concussion, and dark red blood spilled uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth.
"Raul!"
Anakitty Autumn and the surrounding second string members paled in shock. They wanted to step forward to support him but were forcibly driven back by the escaping heat and airwaves.
"Don't mind me... keep chanting!"
Raul's eyes were bloodshot red. He held the shield in a death grip, squeezing the words through his teeth.
But the cruelty of reality would not change because of human will.
The tower shield in his hands had already developed fine cracks and suffered severe structural damage when it previously blocked Childe's cannonball-like continuous water arrow shots.
At this moment, facing this crimson light slash containing devastating power, the surface of the shield let out a despairing, overburdened wail.
To Raul, the sound of metal shattering sounded exactly like the whisper of the grim reaper.
Cracks spread rapidly across the surface of the shield like a spider web.
A trace of despair flashed through Raul's eyes.
He knew very well that once this shield was completely cleaved open, not only would he be sliced in two without suspense, but his Elf companions chanting behind him would absolutely have no chance of survival.
Right in this hair-raising situation, a death trap where the defense line was about to completely collapse.
"Tree spirits—grant my wish, raiment of the forest—My name is Alf!"
Riveria's chant suddenly changed.
Facing this fatal strike that was enough to wipe out the entire Elf unit, this battle-hardened Vice-Captain displayed an admirable level of decisiveness.
She terminated her nearly formed annihilation magic without hesitation, allowing the pain of magical backlash to ravage her body, and forcefully turned her staff, transforming the attack magic she had prepared to release into defensive magic.
Accompanied by a short, high-speed chant, Veil Breath, the second tier of the Via Shilheim defensive magic, was forcefully unleashed in the nick of time.
A rich emerald-green magical radiance descended from the sky, transforming into a garment of gauze brimming with vitality, completely enveloping the desperately struggling Raul and that shield on the verge of shattering.
That seemingly thin green gauze exploded with astonishing resilience the moment it touched the crimson light slash.
The emerald-green magical gauze forcibly neutralized the violent destructive power and high temperature within the slash.
Bang!
With a final muffled thud, the residual energy of the crimson slash was finally spent.
The broken shield completely shattered into a pile of scrap iron on the ground, while Raul collapsed flat on his back like a puppet whose strings had been cut, gasping heavily for breath.
His bloodshot eyes stared at the ceiling, full of the rejoicing of surviving a catastrophe.
Thanks to Riveria's god-like magical reinforcement, he managed to save his life.
It wasn't until this moment, with the fatal crisis temporarily resolved, that Riveria, Anakitty Autumn, Finn, and the others a bit further away had the leeway to cast their gaze toward the direction from which the fatal slash had flown.
However, when they clearly saw the figure gradually emerging from the darkness.
Everyone's eyes widened to their absolute maximum in that instant.
----
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