"Who's hiding there, lurking around?"

Andesa's cold voice was like a snake hissing, echoing across the square, freezing Brand and the others in place.

The woman immediately struck, but to everyone's surprise, her direction of attack wasn't the square but the forest to one side, where massive vines swept through the air with a rumbling noise, uprooting several ancient trees.

Soil tumbled down, and suddenly a figure shot out from underneath.

Brand didn't have time to make out the figure; he only saw the air there suddenly felt stagnant, and his vision turned greyish. Andesa's countless whip shadows slowed down in the Grey World, as if moving through a dense liquid.

Grey Domain.

The Grey Domain essentially alters the established Laws of a region, turning it into a place known as the 'Grey' World. This world is located at the boundary between the Dark Energy World and the Grey Rune Plain (Earth Element), a fragment-like sub-world, one of the many half-planes shattered and submerged at the world's edge during the Battle of Dusk.

(*Battle of Dusk refers to the war between the Golden Age and the Dragon of Dusk. After this battle, Vorn shattered the Sky Dome with the Sky Blue knight, entering the second epoch.)

However, Gray Sword Saint Mephisto's 'Grey World' isn't the true Grey World; it's an ability to manifest fantasy, projecting the legendary world into Vorn's Material World to realize those legendary powers.

Time dulled out is one such power.

It's one of the most unique Elements in this world, one Brand would never mistake for anything else; that figure was Mephisto. "How could he be here?" Brand took a deep breath, cold sweat filling his palms; this scene was too intense; no one expected such a dramatic turn of events.

Mephisto leaped forward, not easily, rolling on the ground to completely avoid Andesa's long whip; then, he stood up calmly, brushing off his clothes and looking at the woman, saying:

"You must be Andesa?"

Andesa snorted coldly: "So it's the homeless dog, Gray Sword Saint Mephisto. Why aren't you looking for trouble with your mortal enemies, the Cruz people, instead of coming here to meddle?"

Mephisto ignored her and spoke to himself: "Since you are Andesa, then forgive me, I've come for your life ——"

"Is that the Great Demon King, Mephisto? Who does he think he is, daring to speak like that to that woman ——" Faina was shocked to hear Andesa mention the name; Gray Sword Saint Mephisto was a household name in Cruz. Adults often used him to educate children, usually saying:

'You little troublemaker, if you don't behave, beware the Great Demon King Mephisto will come and eat you!'

However, when Faina saw Mephisto, he wasn't as ferocious as she imagined; on the contrary, this Gray Sword Saint was considered a somewhat handsome middle-aged man.

Andesa was also momentarily stunned; she didn't expect Mephisto to attempt a move after exchanging less than three sentences. As his voice faded, he withdrew a longsword from behind him, its massive blade appeared grey under the sunlight.

Raising his sword with both hands and aiming it at Andesa, Mephisto said solemnly: "Ready!"

"You——!" Andesa exclaimed with rage, "Arrogance!" Soaring clouds suddenly rolled across the ruins' sky, with lightning as thick as a dragon rolling within and thunder rumbling. She pointed downward, and Brand vaguely saw three mysterious green symbols appear and then vanish beside her —

Then countless bolts of lightning struck down, like countless tongues of bright lightning emerging from the clouds, converging at a single point to form a massive lightning fork.

Brand recognized this spell as the Druid's Thunder Strike; the three runes were 'Lightning,' 'Wrath,' and 'Nature.' Thunder Strike can separate the attack on each enemy or concentrate it, each bolt lethal enough to take down an ordinary soldier. The damage increases with the caster's Bloodline Attribute.

The spell Andesa cast, each lightning bolt was likely strong enough to kill a Silver Rank warrior, and when concentrated, its power was astonishing.

But countering this spell is straightforward since all lightning-type spells target metal as the guide; simply discard the most conspicuous item on oneself.