Chapter 18: The Desperate Strike
"The strongest move?" Desri's eyes lit up, and he transmitted via soul, "How powerful is it?"
"It should be about seventy percent now," Linley said. "The prerequisite is that I can get close to him."
Linley stared at the distant Flame Sovereign. The Flame Sovereign had now entered its combat form, its body shrinking, and even the rock on its body seemed to have undergone a transformation. It was easy to imagine... the Flame Sovereign's defense had likely improved as well, along with its speed.
The Flame Sovereign at this moment was truly terrifying!
But to Linley, this kind of rock defense was completely useless.
"If the Flame Sovereign hadn't shrunk, standing hundreds of meters tall, its rock armor alone would be nearly a hundred meters thick. My 'Earth Essence' would have to travel over a hundred meters, and its power would probably drop to a very low level. Destroying that core crystal would be extremely difficult. But now..."
Linley was very confident.
"At a height of dozens of meters, the distance from that transparent stone to the rock skin on the surface is probably less than ten meters."
The closer the distance, the less the vibration wave of the Earth Essence weakened during transmission. At such a close range, Linley was also very confident: "If I can't break through this and kill him, then this Flame Sovereign must be a divine-level creature."
Desri glanced at Linley, and a hint of surprise couldn't help but appear in his eyes.
But at that moment—
The Flame Sovereign, who had been boasting loudly, resumed his slaughter. He roared maniacally, "Haha... insignificant humans, none of you will escape today. All of you will die!" As he spoke, he swung his axe again.
A powerful warrior who was too slow to dodge was directly split in half.
"Klay!" Linley's expression changed.
Klay was a very straightforward man. His defense was strong, but his speed was a bit weak... However, no matter how strong his defense was, it couldn't withstand a single blow from the Flame Sovereign.
"Let's go."
Desri, Fain, Rutherford... and Linley, along with the other powerful experts, fled at top speed, putting distance between themselves and the roaring, slaughtering Flame Sovereign. While flying, Desri urgently transmitted via soul:
"Rosalie, Rutherford, Fain, Bebe, and you three brothers, Krio, listen carefully. Linley has a seventy percent chance of killing the Flame Sovereign. Of course, the prerequisite is that he can get close to the Flame Sovereign." Desri immediately transmitted to the surrounding experts.
While flying at extreme speed, Rosalie, Rutherford, Fain, and the others immediately looked at Linley.
Linley himself nodded.
"Alright, I can still barely cast 'Absolute Zero' one more time," Rosalie transmitted via soul. Rosalie was also a Saint-level Archmage. Normally, a Saint-level Archmage could cast this kind of large-scale forbidden spell once at most. Even with top-tier treasures, they could only manage two times.
But Rosalie, in the environment of the sixth level, could cast it three times in a row.
Moreover, her spells were clearly improved. 'Absolute Zero' first had its range greatly reduced. It wasn't the dozens of miles described in the books, but only a few miles. However, the attack per unit area was significantly stronger.
"We three brothers will protect Linley and get him close to the Flame Sovereign," one of the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions spoke up.
Linley, Fain, and the others looked at the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions in surprise.
"Can you withstand his attack?" The experts present were all worried.
The eldest of the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions, Krio, snorted and said, "Don't worry. The three of us, along with our father, have encountered far more dangerous situations than this in the Gebados Plane Prison. We may not have learned much else, but we have mastered defensive and life-saving techniques."
In the Gebados Plane Prison, the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions had been constantly struggling to survive.
Being able to survive in that environment, while partly due to the protection of their father, Dein, was also due to their own strength.
"I can also cast one forbidden spell, hoping to affect the Flame Sovereign," Desri added.
"Boss, I..." Bebe was also anxious.
"Bebe, you don't need to." Linley was well aware of Bebe's situation. Bebe's defense was strong, but whether he could withstand a blow from the Flame Sovereign, Linley wasn't confident. Bebe had lived for too short a time. Although the God-Eating Rat had innate abilities, most of them were still unmastered.
While flying at top speed, Desri occasionally looked back to check the Flame Sovereign's movements.
But suddenly, Desri's expression changed, and he let out a mournful cry: "Hayward!!!"
A flash of a seductive blood-red axe shadow passed by, and the fleeing Fire-element Saint-level Archmage 'Hayward' was directly cut in two. The cut area even melted and disappeared. Hayward's two halves of his body fell directly from the air, landing by the edge of the lava river.
"Boring," the Flame Sovereign turned his head to look at Linley's group. "It's more interesting to deal with them. They run quite fast."
The Flame Sovereign, now dozens of meters tall, instantly transformed into a red blur, charging directly at Linley's group. While flying at extreme speed, he roared arrogantly, "Haha, even if you run, you'll still die. Haha..."
Originally, the group of over twenty experts led by Olivia and Hayward was now down to only eleven or twelve.
In just a short while, more than ten experts had died.
"Whoosh." Olivia, hiding beside a large rock, breathed a sigh of relief. "This Flame Sovereign..." Olivia looked at the terrifying red blur in the distance and shook his head inwardly. He was famous for his powerful attacks, but this Flame Sovereign happened to counter him perfectly.
At this moment, the Flame Sovereign had already caught up to Linley's group.
"Haha, running won't..." the Flame Sovereign laughed, but before he could finish his sentence—
Suddenly, Rosalie turned around. Her blue hair fluttered, and her cold eyes stared at the distant Flame Sovereign. She extended her hands, pointing at the distant Flame Sovereign.
Countless frost fell from the sky.
The originally scorching hot area instantly turned into a world of ice and frost. The lava completely solidified. The flames on the Flame Sovereign's body extinguished, and a layer of frost covered his surface. However, the red light still enveloped his entire body.
Water-element forbidden spell—Absolute Zero!
"This move again!" the Flame Sovereign roared in anger. "This move is useless against me!!!" Although it didn't have much effect, the Flame Sovereign absolutely hated this move.
As a fire-element creature, the Flame Sovereign detested ice and frost. What he loved most was sleeping in the scorching lava.
The nine experts stopped in mid-air, with Rosalie and Desri in the center. After Rosalie finished casting her ultimate move, Desri, who had been silently chanting a long magic incantation, pointed a finger at the distant Flame Sovereign. A sacred aura descended.
A melodious chanting sound arose, and dreamlike white light enveloped the Flame Sovereign.
A massive angel, dozens of meters tall, appeared out of thin air. The angel's body was hazy, as if illusory. Behind it were three pairs of glowing wings. The sudden appearance of this giant angel only made the Flame Sovereign even more furious.
Light-element Saint-level forbidden spell—Angel Descends.
This angel was not a real angel but an energy form condensed from light energy, much like the Earth-element forbidden spell 'Earth Guardian'. It was not a real life form. This kind of life form was extremely troublesome because it was made of energy and had no vital points. The only way to deal with it was to drain its energy.
"Get lost!" The Flame Sovereign swung his giant axe.
With a single axe strike, the dreamlike six-winged angel's body trembled, and its energy thinned slightly.
"What a powerful axe!" Desri's expression changed. Then, with a thought—
The dreamlike six-winged angel immediately pounced forward, not allowing Desri to dodge. It even spread its six wings and directly hugged the Flame Sovereign tightly, binding his movements. The six wings even wrapped around the Flame Sovereign.
"Explode!" Desri softly uttered this word.
"Boom!"
The rocky ground of the sixth level trembled violently. Wild energy swept through the surroundings like a tornado, and large amounts of rock directly cracked. But within this chaotic energy storm—
"Go!" Linley and the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions transformed into four blurs and charged forward.
"Linley, leave the Flame Sovereign's attacks to us. You just need to attack and kill him," the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions said calmly.
"Don't worry." Linley held the Violet Blood Soft Sword in one hand and the Black Heavy Sword in the other.
The Flame Sovereign hadn't suffered much damage, but the two consecutive forbidden spell attacks made him furious. He roared and was about to charge forward. But suddenly, the Flame Sovereign noticed that four figures had already reached him.
"Damn it!" The enraged Flame Sovereign swung his axe directly.
The seductive blood-red shadow of the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe descended instantly. A black substance suddenly appeared on the surface of the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions, clinging to them like a form-fitting armor. The strangest thing was... on the surface of this black armor, a hazy, colorful transparent barrier appeared.
"Chi—"
The Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions didn't dodge at all. They collided with the Bloodthirsty Giant Axe one after another. The colorful transparent barrier on their bodies dented inward as the three brothers repeatedly struck the giant axe. Meanwhile, Linley, like a black rainbow, charged straight to the front of the Flame Sovereign.
While charging, Linley also swung the Black Heavy Sword in his hand.
"Hmph." The Flame Sovereign didn't care at all about Linley attacking him. In his combat form, his defense was several times stronger than at the beginning. A Saint-level human expert was nothing to fear. Instead, he was more concerned about the three Six-Eyed Golden Lions.
The Black Heavy Sword, light and ethereal yet as fast as lightning, directly landed on the Flame Sovereign's chest.
"Pfft!" A very faint sound.
The originally confident Flame Sovereign suddenly froze. A strange wave, completely ignoring the protection of the hard rock, even caused the countless hard rocks to vibrate, transmitting the vibration to his inner core.
When the wave reached the transparent crystal at the core—
The full force of Linley's strike exploded there. The intense, profound vibration of the earth caused the transparent stone to crack in an instant. Then—
"Bang!"
The transparent stone was completely shattered into countless fragments!
Earth Essence—64 Layers of Earth Pulse!
Linley's strongest strike!
"Sizzle~~" The Flame Sovereign stared at Linley in disbelief. The flames that had been swirling around his body extinguished, and the fiery glow in his eyes dimmed. Then, his massive body directly crumbled into countless falling rocks.
Once the transparent stone shattered, the Flame Sovereign's body collapsed entirely.
"We succeeded!" Desri shouted in surprise.
"Haha, Boss, we succeeded!" Even Bebe cheered in joy at this moment.
Rosalie, whose face had already turned pale, revealed an excited smile. Rutherford and Fain also looked at Linley, who was floating in mid-air. It was Linley who had ultimately killed the Flame Sovereign and saved everyone.
"The King... the King is dead!" The dozens of Red Rock Demons not far away were completely stunned when they saw this.
Their invincible 'King,' who had just been tormenting the humans, was now... dead!
"This axe is very peculiar," one of the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lions said as he flew downward. The Bloodthirsty Giant Axe had now shrunk to the size of a palm, lying on the bank of the lava river. The Six-Eyed Golden Lion grabbed the axe and flew up.
"Linley, this divine artifact is for you," the Six-Eyed Golden Lion said, handing the dark red small axe to Linley.