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Chapter 217 - Rally (8)

The Blue Sun had a simple and self-explanatory name, yet the significance and power it carried were not to be underestimated.

Valhald was one of the few knights on the continent who could do more than just change the shape of something with Aura: he could manipulate an element. The power he gained from being able to manipulate such an element was heat, and the strongest form of that heat was the Blue Sun.

Valhald’s Blue Sun burned inside the hollow. Soon after casting it, it rose from the tip of Valhald’s sword into the air, almost reaching the ceiling. Valhald and his acquaintances called this ‘Sunrise.’

‘Sunrise!’

The closer the sun got to the ceiling of the hollow, the hotter it became.

Henry quickly gathered Von, McDowell, and Ronan behind him, and cast shields to protect them from the heat radiated by the Blue Sun.

‘Magic Shield!’

Like Magic Missile, Magic Shield was one of the first and most basic spells that every wizard learned. However, Magic Shield was a defensive spell that could be cast in multiple ways depending on the caster’s mana and how it was linked to the spell.

Henry covered his thick Magic Shield with a layer of cold air. In reality, it would’ve been best to just leave the hollow and take cover somewhere outside. However, Henry didn’t want to miss this historic climax of Balak and Valhald’s duel, a once-in-a-lifetime sight. McDowell and Von also felt the same way.

Henry’s emerald Magic Shield grew thicker.

Just when Valhald’s Blue Sun reached its highest point...

Tzzz...!

Henry’s Magic Shield started to vibrate, the tremendous heat from Valhald’s Blue Sun scraping away at it. However, it wasn’t just Henry’s Magic Shield that was melting away. The heat was so intense that even Balak’s Giant God Warrior was affected by it.

Valhald and Balak’s Auras clashed with one another, causing dark gray smoke to rise from the Giant God Warrior made from Balak’s Aura.

“Hahaha! Yes! This is it! I’ve been waiting for this moment all along!”

Aura was controlled by knights, which was why they could sense any changes in their own Aura. Thus, upon noticing that his Giant God Warrior was melting away, Balak burst into hysterical laughter, his face that of a madman.

Smoke continued to rise into the air.

As Balak laughed, he raised his right hand high above his head, holding the Black Punisher.

Rumble!

As he lifted his hand, the ceiling of the hollow cracked. However, it didn’t collapse, and there wasn’t even any debris falling from it because Henry was still using mana to prevent the hollow from getting destroyed.

“You’re done for, Valhald!”

Rumble!

The blue morning star that scratched the ceiling jerked backward like a bolt on a crossbow, and just like the string of the crossbow snapped in the moment of shooting, Balak swung his arms forward.

Whoosh!

Despite its enormous size, the Giant God Warrior’s attack was fast.

‘Condemnation!’

The highest form of punishment that Balak could deliver using the Black Punisher was called Condemnation.

Right when the Giant God Warrior swung the morning star, Valhald, still holding his sword high in the air, moved swiftly in response.

Whoosh!

Valhald swung his arm downward, causing the Blue Sun to fall down like a meteor.

‘Sunset!’

People called this stage of Valhald’s ability ‘Sunset,’ which was an accurate name for its function. The moment the Blue Sun descended from the sky, it would create an indescribable darkness.

Condemnation and Sunet.

The symbolic clash of the two knights was about to go down in history inside the hollow that Henry had created.

The moment Condemnation and Sunset collided...!

A dazzling white light filled the hollow. Nobody dared to open their eyes.

* * *

Rumble...!

“Huh?”

Inside the Snow Spire, the wizards were practicing their magic as instructed by their leaders.

The Snow Spire was an incredible spire, much larger and more durable than the old Magical Spire, equipped with all the necessities. Moreover, this spire didn’t have the minor noise issues that the previous one had that no amount of magic had been able to fix.

The laboratories in the old Magic Spire were less efficient because the wizards had to use their own mana to block out the noise. However, the current Snow Spire only required Henry’s mana for there to be no noise. Therefore, the young wizards could continue training in peace even up until war broke out.

But currently...

Rumble...!

A tremendous vibration shook the entire spire, rattling the flasks on the desks.

“What’s going on?”

The sudden and unexpected vibration caused all the wizards in the lab to poke their heads out the door. Some of them scanned the ground beneath them, wondering if they had caused the vibrations, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

“Then what is it?”

The wizards looked around, trying to find the source of the vibrations, and soon enough, they saw it with their own eyes.

“H-huh?”

“The great mountain?”

“The great mountain is falling?”

“That mountain?”

Most of the walls of the Snow Spire had windows made of glass, which allowed for a broad view of the outside with no sense of enclosure.

There was a particular mountain considered to be the largest out of the entire range of snowy mountains, which could be seen through the glass windows. The wizards called it ‘the great mountain.’

That great mountain was currently collapsing before their eyes.

Rumble..!

They had initially thought that it was just an ordinary avalanche. Snow storms were common in this area, which meant that lots of snow would pile up and eventually fall off the mountains when it got too heavy.

Avalanches here were as common as rain showers in the rest of the continent.

However, this time it wasn’t just the snow that collapsed, but the entire mountain.

“What’s going on?”

Igni Ramto, the vice school head of the fire school, also rushed out of the lab with a surprised face. After him, more high-level wizards ran out of the labs to see what the commotion was about. Among them was Lore Gillian and Stan Hardiradi, the former deputy of the Magical Spire.

The vice school heads turned to Lore, stunned, and asked him what was going on.

"Deputy, are we supposed to just stand here and do nothing when the great mountain is falling?”

“Of course not. Quickly set up a barrier to protect the Snow Spire from any damage!”

“Yes, sir!”

There were plenty of wizards present, so setting up a barrier wasn’t difficult. Moreover, the Snow Spire was equipped with an infinite power system that supplied itself with mana, so this barrier would be much more durable and would last longer than it would’ve had in the old Magical Spire.

Soon, the wizards cast the barrier.

Znggg!

With the Snow Spire in the center, an invisible barrier of five hundred meters surrounded the spire.

Soon, the great mountain collapsed, and the huge amount of snow that had piled on top of it surged toward the Snow Spire.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

It looked like giant rocks, or rather, giant balls of snow were flying at the spire.

However, no matter how powerful the momentum of the giant snowballs was, they couldn’t break through the Snow Spire’s barrier.

The tremors that shook the spire had stopped as soon as the wizards had cast the barrier. The flasks on the desks and the books on the shelves, which had been on the verge of falling off, finally stopped moving.

There was a huge pile of snow right outside the barrier, and as Lore looked at it, he thought to himself, ‘Archmage, just what in the world are you doing?’ He knew that Henry had gone into the snowy mountain, but he didn’t exactly know why.

Currently, Henry was buried deep under the remains of the mountain in which he had carved the hollow, right next to the great mountain that had also collapsed.

‘Holy shit.’

Henry cursed inwardly because the clash between Condemnation and Sunset had been much more destructive than he ever could’ve imagined. It was absolutely incredible.

Henry’s Magic Shield had almost shattered, and if it had, all of them would’ve been severely harmed. However, it was Henry who had cast the Magic Shield, not just any wizard. Throughout the whole ordeal, he had kept infusing as much mana into the shield as necessary until the destructive force had died out.

Now that the catastrophe had passed, Henry made the entire shield, with everyone inside it, slowly rise to the surface through the mass of earth.

Rumble...

They had been plunged into darkness because Valhald and Balak’s final exchange had destroyed the entire hollow, causing the snowy mountain to collapse.

Henry used the Magic Shield to find his way to the surface like a mole rat. Only when he came to the surface could he witness the full extent of the destruction.

“...Huh?”

As expected, the mountain in which he had created the hollow had collapsed, but it wasn’t just that mountain that had fallen. The other snowy mountains behind it, as well as the great mountain that overlooked the spire, had collapsed as well because of the destructive aftermath of the duel.

‘I hope the Snow Spire is okay.’

Henry was worried that the Snow Spire could’ve sustained damage as well, but the most important thing he had to worry about at the moment was Valhald. Henry hadn’t managed to rescue him because of how devastating the final clash of the duel had been.

“...This is crazy,” said McDowell as he looked at the aftermath of the destruction that had engulfed several mountains.

Von was equally astonished.

“Peak Sword Master... It’s embarrassing to even say that I’m at the same level as those two monsters.”

Balak and Valhald were the kind of warriors that were so unbelievably powerful that they made others reflect on themselves.

“Hey, you! How long are you going to stay like that? Get up!” shouted Von.

“Agh...”

At Von’s urging, Ronan finally woke up, excruciating pain rushing through his stomach. It was the aftereffect of his being hit by the Black Punisher.

“Agh, where am I...?”

Ronan woke up and realized that he was floating high up in the air.

“Huh...? Huh?! W-where? Just where am I?”

“Be quiet. We don’t know the outcome yet.”

“Outcome?”

“Yeah. Balak and Valhald had a duel, and we’ve just now come out from underground,” explained Von in a kind manner.

McDowell nodded along, and right then...

“Huh?”

Henry spotted a tiny hole on the surface of the snow. Initially, he had thought he was mistaken, but as time passed, he clearly saw the hole growing larger and larger, as if ants were digging it wider.

The hole had become deep and wide, and inside was nothing but darkness. Everyone set their eyes on it, and they all suspected that the hole hadn’t appeared naturally.

This hole would reveal the victor of the duel, the one who would be trampling on the corpse of the fallen.

Just then, a faint blue Aura glimmered from the darkness of the hole.

Tzzz...!

It was a familiar sound.

As the blue light became brighter, the hole also grew wider.

“That’s...”

After a long wait, the sun of the sole Knight King of the continent rose to the surface.

It was Valhald’s Blue Sun.