GDK 616: Giving Protection
Han Shuo's shouting had alerted Ayermike Cotton and Graeae. They gathered their attentions to the very peak and braced for the impact of the Radiant Blast.
With his consciousness unfolded, Han Shuo had a clear and detailed picture of the Radiant Blast at every instance. He sensed the elements of light rapidly converging, fissioning, and recombining as he calmly prepared to take the blast.
'Radiant Blast' was a forbidden magic that worked by concentrating an enormous amount of the element of light to produce energetic lights that bombarded a vast area. Based on his observation and probing of the glaring radiance in the sky, Han Shuo understood that the power of this Radiant Blast was not to be belittled.
The canopy of light in the sky above the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force grew bigger and bigger while the element of light continued to bunch. Millions of gaudy light rays suddenly poured downward. They looked like millions of swords made of light that had only one objective - to annihilate every living thing underneath it.
As the Radiant Blast unleashed its full might, a dignified and holy aura flooded into it, boosting the already formidable power of the forbidden spell.
Han Shuo's staunch eyes were sparkling. His heart was as still as stone as he looked up at the Radiant Blast bombarding downward.
The Radiant Blast had enveloped not just the entirety of Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, but also more than half of the northern city district. When the canopy of radiance suddenly came crashing down, it appeared just as though the sun was falling. The scene was extremely frightening.
The citizens of the northern city district had all halted whatever they were doing at that moment. Every one of them raised their heads to look up at the sky above overwhelmingly aghast. In an instant, an intense feeling of horror flooded their hearts. A chaos of shrieks and cries erupted from every corner.
The scene was nothing unlike the end of the world. All those people underneath the radiance were petrified as they thought about the miserable deaths they would soon suffer.
While the inhabitants of Ossen City's northern district shouted and screamed in horror, they suddenly discovered that lumps of dark clouds had floated over their heads seemingly out of nowhere. The blinding radiance that came smothering downwards was intercepted by the layer of pitch-black cloud.
In an instant, the northern district of Ossen City turned from day into night. Following the appearance of the dark clouds, strobes of red light soared through the air and loud screeches echoed. All kinds of spectacular sights decorated the sky.
Rumbles… A deafening explosion suddenly roared from the sky. It was as though a nuclear bomb had detonated. The extremely loud burst of sound caused ringing in their ears.
Colorful lights painted the sky with all kinds of strange patterns following the explosion. They formed the most magnificent firework display.
Although the dark clouds were thick and clustered, it had nonetheless missed out a few spots. Several beams of intense light managed to penetrate through the clouds. Everything irradiated by the powerful light burst apart, and especially so with living things - they were instantly vaporized.
Tens of innocent civilians were killed and a few hundred structures collapsed. Han Shuo was sitting cross-legged on top of a clocktower at the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force. With his eyes closed, he formed two hand-seals to manipulate the Blood Seether rummaging through the dark clouds. He injected demonic yuan into the Blood Seether for it to produce thick mist of blood. Graeae the banshee then used wind magic to summon hurricanes that would revolve at high speeds, mixing the blood mist with the dark clouds conjured by Ayermike Cotton's dark magic 'Endless Night'. Together, they made up a gigantic boundary in the sky over the northern city district.
Han Shuo didn't know how many attackers there were. However, he was certain that there was at least one basegod existence among them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to unleash a Radiant Blast that had such catastrophic power.
Han Shuo adjusted his body, heart, and consciousness to their most optimal states as he propelled the Blood Seether to constantly produce blood mist. He strived to mend every opening, preventing any of the Radiant Blast from casting down on the ground.
Located near Han Shuo was Ayermike Cotton, who was cloaked within absolute darkness. He rapidly recited incantations with a grave expression. On the rooftop of the library, Graeae the banshee was whinnying at the top of her lungs. Hurricane after hurricane drifted by through the stormy sky.
"Bryan, I can't hold it much longer!" shouted Ayermike Cotton.
Han Shuo's eyebrows were in a bunch and his forehead creased. He hurriedly chanted a necromancy spell. Little Skeleton, on his bone dragon, appeared after a flash of light.
Little Skeleton had a sinister, exotic, icy glint in his eyes. The tombstone on his chest glowed misty green. As soon as Little Skeleton arrived from the Netherworld, a constant stream of wraiths and gargoyles rushed out. They fluttered all about in the whizzing wind and formed the second barrier on the sky.
As soon as the second took shape, the pressure on Han Shuo, Ayermike Cotton, and Graeae immediately reduced. They no longer needed to exert so much energy on patching every single gap in their barrier.
The area involved was vast and the three only had limited mental strength and energy, hence the first barrier they formed was not closely sealed and seamless. They simply couldn't handle the issues that came with a barrier of that magnitude and therefore more and more gaps appeared in it.
But as soon as Little Skeleton appeared, he used his divine energy to summon a second layer. This had immediately reduced the pressure on the three as they didn't need to worry too much about the imperfections in their first layer of barrier.
Little Skeleton was Han Shuo's secret weapon. That second layer of barrier he formed by using low-level wraiths and gargoyles as sacrificial shields had truly and completely protected the civilians and aristocrats on the ground, safeguarding them from all effects of the Radiant Blast.
The Radiant Blast which the attackers had taken great pains to deploy had tremendously catastrophic power. However, it was also precisely because the power released was so great that the energy consumed in conjuring the spell was just as astonishing. There was no way that the blast could last for long.
As expected, it didn't take long after Little Skeleton summoned wraith and gargoyles and formed the second layer of barrier that the Radiant Blast reached its finale. Sporadic bits of radiance sprinkled over before the sky above Ossen City northern district finally returned to normal.
Seeing that the Radiant Blast had completely exhausted its power, Han Shuo calmly transmitted a command to Little Skeleton and gave Ayermike Cotton an instruction, asking him not to lower his guard yet. Immediately after, sitting on the same ground, he closed his eyes and looked for trails of the attackers with all his power.
With the threat of the Radiant Blast neutralized, after receiving the command from Han Shuo, Little Skeleton sent the wraiths and gargoyles back to the Netherworld. He, however, stayed behind and concealed himself in a hidden place.
Ayermike Cotton was no longer chanting dark magic spells. With his mental strength relaxed and with Graeae's hurricanes blowing, the dark clouds that shrouded over the crowds' heads rapidly dissipated.
A clear sky reappeared above the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force.
"What actually happened just now? I couldn't see anything but I could hear densely-packed explosions. I thought that I was dead from being boomed!"
"Huh? That blinding light is gone. The dark clouds have disappeared as well. We are now out of danger, aren't we?"
"I guess that's the case. I can't sense that stifling pressure anymore."
The crowd discussed spiritedly. Their faces of fright turned into bewilderment. Every one of them curiously looked all around, as though wanting to find the answer to their doubts from the surrounding environment.
"Jeez, what's happened to those houses?! They are all in ruins!" After the dark clouds dissipated, an archmage of the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force took to the sky using his levitation skills. After scanning the landscape with his eyes, he immediately shouted.
"That is the scene produced by a Radiant Blast. Any living thing struck by the intense radiance will be instantly vaporized. It appears that the Radiant Blast did cast down but 99 percent of its power was intercepted. Otherwise, the condition of the northern city district would certainly be far worse," Amyes respectfully reported back to King Lawrence after he took into the air and surveyed the surroundings.
"That damned Church of Light, so much for advocating compassion!" Lawrence gnashed his teeth and was fuming with rage.
On the whole of Profound Continent, only the Church of Light which possessed the mightiest and the most abundant light magi could deploy a Radiant Blast of such formidable might. On top of that, as the Church of Light hadn't gotten along well with Lancelot Empire all that time, it was a no brainer that the attackers must be associated with the Church of Light.
"How shameless and despicable. The Church of Light sure is the biggest evil cult in the world to actually do such a thing so devoid of conscience." Old Hahn too was shivering with rage. Never did he anticipate that the Church of Light would actually be so savage in their conduct to release forbidden magic of mass destruction with such indifference to so many commoner lives in Ossen City.
This action had violated the tacit agreement between the countries of Profound Continent. This behavior of the Church of Light could not be described with just the word 'mad'.
"Amyes, immediately deploy troops to calm the civilians. Candide, investigate this and find all those who conducted this wicked, conscienceless act!" Lawrence could not be more enraged.
After the event, Firenze let out a light sigh of relief, disdainfully looked at those cowards who were thinking about escaping, and mocked them, "See, told y'all so. It's safest to stay in this place. Had you not listened to me and rashly left the academy earlier, you could have turned into a puff of ashes!"
Those people still had fear lingering in their hearts after narrowly escaping death. They forced a smile and kept silent, not replying to Firenze's mockery.
Firenze lost interest in those cowards when they did not make any retort. He then glanced all around and asked, "Where's that chap Bryan? It's all over now. Where did he go?"
Anyone who was aware that Han Shuo had saved their lives started to look high and low for Han Shuo's figure. However, they couldn't find him anywhere they searched.
Faint bloody threads at an unseen hidden spot gradually drifted away. They were heading away from the northern city district.
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