"Converge!"
Just as Alan spent most of his energy dodging and defending against these attacks, the Rune Serpent made a new move. After releasing nearly a hundred Arcane Serpents, the Rune Serpent let them automatically seek out enemies and attack, then pointed her wand at Alan's position. Under her control, most of the building debris slowly circling in mid-air seemed to receive an order, rapidly converging around Alan as the center, pressing toward him from all directions.
Seeing this scene, Alan instantly understood the Rune Serpent's intention: she was planning to crush him to death! Therefore, Alan didn't hesitate; he immediately activated his overload form and quickly flew to one side, attempting to break out of this meteorite sea.
However, the gaps between the building debris were not large to begin with, and to avoid the obstacles in front of him, Alan couldn't pick up speed at all. In addition, the overwhelming Arcane Serpents that swarmed him further interrupted Alan's movements, forcing him to spend time parrying these spells, which were not weak in attack power. At this moment, Alan could even feel a strong suction emanating from his position. Clearly, the Rune Serpent had cast a gravity spell on him to completely control him, causing Alan's speed to drop again.
Alan was immediately tied up, and the debris converging from all directions toward the center was already moving quickly. In no time, his escape route was completely sealed off, and even the space for him to dodge and maneuver became smaller and smaller. And due to the entanglement of the Arcane Serpents, Alan at this moment didn't even have a chance to draw his sword and cast a spell to open a path.
Soon, the surrounding building debris had converged around Alan into a sphere of rock. With a little more force inward, Alan would be crushed into mincemeat by the immense pressure!
"Hahaha!" The Rune Serpent, seeing Alan trapped like a bird in a cage, could no longer contain her excitement and burst into laughter. "Shameless little bug, let's see where you can run this time! Turn to dust!" After laughing, the Rune Serpent increased her magic output again, increasing the inward pressure on the gradually converging debris. She now wished she could immediately make Alan die without leaving a complete corpse.
"Caw!"
"Chirp!"
And just when the Rune Serpent thought Alan was dead for sure, two clear bird cries suddenly came from the sky. Then the Rune Serpent vaguely saw a crimson figure flash within the rock sphere in front of her.
On the other side, Alan, trapped in the debris, had less than two meters of space to move around, and was on the verge of being crushed to death. Suddenly, a flame ignited out of thin air beside him, and a graceful Phoenix shot out from it!
Alan, seeing this, didn't hesitate. He turned and swung his sword, sweeping away the Arcane Serpents entangling him, then immediately reached out and grasped the Phoenix's sharp talons. Immediately after, his entire body seemed to ignite, instantly transforming into a ball of flame, disappearing directly from this confined space.
The moment he escaped, the entire sphere formed by the debris completely contracted and converged. It continued to tighten and crush, releasing such immense force that even the Arcane Serpents still remaining in the center were crushed to powder, transforming into wisps of pure magic.
And the Rune Serpent outside, during the spellcasting process, was also constantly perceiving everything within the stone sphere. After a while, she revealed a gloomy expression, turning her head to look coldly behind her.
At this moment, a hundred meters away from the Rune Serpent's line of sight, a Thunderbird, significantly larger than a lion and robust in build, was hovering in the sky. On its back sat a figure, none other than Alan, who had just escaped from the debris, with the young Phoenix perched on his shoulder.
As soon as he landed on the back of the young Thunderbird Thor, Alan immediately deactivated overload, then pulled out a bottle of Phoenix Tears and poured it down his throat. After all this, Alan finally let out a long breath. "Thor, Irene, it's a good thing you two came in time, otherwise I might have been in danger this time. Especially Irene, I promise to give you extra food when we get back."
"Caw!" The young Phoenix, hearing Alan's words, immediately let out a high-pitched cry, even excitedly stretching her wings.
Meanwhile, Thor below tilted his head slightly, puzzled. "Big brother, when did you name the young Phoenix? I didn't know?"
At this moment, Shalltear's voice also came from Alan's communicator, "Sir! Sir! How are you doing now? I immediately rushed over following the coordinates after receiving your message, but the pressure in the sky is too strong now, I don't even dare to approach, so I can only send them two over to support first."
"Well done, Shalltear." Alan nodded approvingly. "The battle here is not something you can get involved in. Prioritize your own safety first. Also, you should now deploy Anti-Apparition Jammers and Anti-Portkey Jammers around this valley."
"Yes, Sir." Shalltear's voice came again. "But are you really okay? That big ball in the sky looks too scary. If it's really impossible, let's just run first!"
"Don't worry, I don't fight battles I'm not confident in. The Rune Serpent is at her weakest right now. If I can't deal with her now, I'll have even less chance later." Alan replied softly, then focused his gaze on the distant Rune Serpent again.
Although his reinforcements had arrived, dealing with the Rune Serpent, who possessed absolute defense, was still very troublesome. Fortunately, he had the young Phoenix Irene by his side, so if he truly couldn't win, he was confident he could retreat safely.
But how should he deal with the magic shield on the other party? Alan had just realized that the Rune Serpent's magic protection was likely related to her magic reserves, and perhaps this shield was maintained by her massive magic power. In other words, to break through this shield, he would have to deplete the Rune Serpent's magic? But how much magic did she have left now? Alan calculated her reserves, and his brows couldn't help but furrow again.
*Assuming the damage I inflict is equivalent to the magic consumed by the shield, with my current magic reserves, even with various buffs, if I expend everything, I can at most deal damage equivalent to two thousand to twenty-five hundred magic points. And I only have one dose of Phoenix Tears left. This means, at most, I can only deal about five thousand points of damage. This is also the effect I can achieve only if I use all my magic on output, and the Rune Serpent won't just stand there and let me attack her as before. Considering her defense and movement, I can at most deplete three thousand to four thousand points of her magic.*
*But even if I deal full damage, can I really break through the opponent's defense? The Rune Serpent existed during the active period of the Silver Spears, and the club flourished in the eighteenth century, which means the opponent is probably around three hundred years old. If compared to a hundred-year-old Thunderbird, whose magic value is just over two thousand, by analogy, the Rune Serpent's total magic should be in the range of six thousand to seven thousand, but is this really the case?*
*Logically speaking, her two previous clones were killed by me. Even if Peter transmitted his magic back to the main body before he died, the Rune Serpent shouldn't be in her complete form. In addition, I indirectly consumed over two thousand points of her magic by taking out more than twenty of her clones earlier. When she split her mansion, I also unleashed a full set of attacks, which should have dealt about two thousand points of magic damage to him. Adding in the consumption from her clash with me and extensive spellcasting, the Rune Serpent should have had about six thousand magic points depleted in total.*
*But looking at this person's current state, she doesn't show any signs of fatigue. It's likely that her magic reserves are much higher than what I calculated. Also, don't forget, the Rune Serpent summoned over fifty clones without hesitation earlier. If my assumption is correct, at that time, she would have used ninety percent of her internal magic to create clones! With the Rune Serpent's fear of death, would she take such a risk?*
The more he thought, the more Alan felt that the opponent's magic reserves were unfathomable, and he had a premonition that even if he exhausted all his magic, he might not be able to break that magic shield.
Is there really no way to deal with this old immortal?
No!
Alan, deep in thought, suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He seemed to have been missing something all along…
It's Thunderbird Gerald!
Why did the Rune Serpent show apprehension toward Thunderbird before? Alan could sense that it wasn't feigned, and the opponent indeed didn't excel at acting, as she had said. In other words, the Rune Serpent wasn't afraid of him, but she held a hint of fear toward Thunderbird.
But Alan knew Thunderbird's magic reserves inside and out; they were only a little over two thousand. While not small, even with buffs and strength, it could at most deal double that, or four thousand points of damage. Even if the Rune Serpent stood there and let him attack, he probably wouldn't be able to break through the defense, right?
Does Thunderbird possess some means to counter the Rune Serpent? But Gerald, that guy, is perhaps the most straightforward one in the club. He only knows how to fight, dedicating all his energy to increasing the power of his magic. Besides being fierce, does he have any other special skills?
Hmm? Power?
Alan seemed to realize something else. Could it be that to break the Rune Serpent's magic shield, besides depleting her magic, there's also a threshold for defensive strength?
It's not impossible. As the club's top fighter, Thunderbird's combat power is ridiculously high, and with his extremely firm will, the instantaneous damage he causes when casting spells far exceeds anyone else's. Not to mention, he can be considered the one who hates the Rune Serpent the most, and he might even unleash one hundred and twenty percent of his strength when fighting her.
If that shield really has its own defensive limit, perhaps the Rune Serpent fears that Thunderbird, when going all out, might directly break through her defense and deal a fatal blow to her main body?
Hmm, this is worth a try!
Alan hardened his resolve, then began to consider the most powerful spell he had at hand, and it had to be a spell capable of unleashing a massive amount of damage in an instant!