Veronica gasped, the fierce wind making the Empire's Female War God's blue hair flutter wildly. She turned her head, "The Book of Mavikat possesses Near God power. We're no match for him; we need to find a way to retreat first."

"It's too late," Brand gritted his teeth and said, "Running means certain death. Counterattacking gives us a sliver of hope."

"How do we counterattack?"

"Though the Book of Mavikart shares a lineage with the Supreme Power of Chaos, it's ultimately inferior to the Dragon of Dusk. Especially since its wielder is merely a mortal like Anman, we still have a chance," Brand explained calmly.

"How do you know?" Veronica's jade-colored eyes curiously regarded Brand.

"Previously, Anman used words to stall for time with you. You must have noticed, so I guess the book also has an interval between spells," he surmised. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Really?" Veronica was still somewhat dubious, but Brand cut her off with, "Anyway, there's no time to explain further. Our only chance is to seize this moment."

Time was indeed critical.

"But kid, how are we to stop this spell?" The Fallen Priest's incantation was beyond stopping, the magic power surging so intensely it made everyone's scalp tingle. No one believed they could escape such strength unharmed.

But Brand didn't reply, simply glancing subtly in a certain direction. In that direction, Andesa was screaming as she plummeted from the sky—

Veronica immediately caught on, "Kid, you're not planning to..."

At that moment, the fourth round of black light flashed, interrupting her words. Another ring of light swept over their heads. The clouds in the sky suddenly parted, revealing gears formed of lines behind them, in the form of a massive black array.

The huge array began to gleam slightly, with runes symbolizing 'Arus', 'Cau', and 'Tiamat', representing darkness and destruction, lighting up one by one. The lines in the inner and outer circles rotated in opposite directions. Then the center shone, and an extremely thin line dropped from there.

A black line.

Directly hitting Anman amidst the mist, a mountain-crushing force bore down on them. Deep inside, everyone present couldn't help but feel a ripple of unease.

"It's here!"

Brand bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain like a needle piercing his brain, jolting him awake. Using this moment of clarity, he broke free from the terrifying oppression.

"Go!"

He immediately retreated. By this time, Andesa had just crashed onto the ground. Brand seized the opportunity to circle behind her, aiming to have this Shepherd Tree Man lord take the brunt of the attack for them.

"You two bastards!" Andesa immediately realized, letting out an angry shriek mid-air, but then crashed heavily to the ground.

In dragon form, Andesa was dizzy from the impact, gritting her teeth as she brushed off layers of debris and stood up, about to erupt. But as soon as she lifted her head, Anman's spell was upon her.

The Shepherd Tree Man lord's deep purple eyes reflected a black pillar of light, shining like obsidian, descending from above.

The light pillar abruptly seemed to swell tenfold in size.

Andesa gasped, the light pillar like a column of water falling from the clouds. When it touched the ground, the black light wave scattered like water splashing in all directions, spreading outward in rings.

But it was no water wave; it was destruction-bringing Power of Darkness.

"Ha—mi—r!" Andesa's anger reached its peak, her low growl full of a desire to tear the enemy apart. Yet the tsunami-like black light wave, tens of meters high, was already crashing down, forcing her dragon form to extend her wings and form a semicircular light shield.

With a thunderous crash, the black light slammed into Andesa. She let out a chilling scream, and the light shield trembled violently before filling with web-like cracks in an instant.

Where the black light wave passed, all objects turned to ash—the plaza itself was already rugged and fragmented from previous battles—but the black wave seemed like a comb, sweeping over and reducing all rocks to dust, leaving only a layer of flat soil.

"Ah—!" Andesa, alarmed and unwilling, widened her eyes. If she were at her peak, she might have barely resisted the spell. But now, cut off from the Power of Nature (even the corrupt kind) by Hellthorns, her strength was less than half of what it was.

The black surge pressed forward, nearly deforming the light shield. Blood oozed from beneath the scales of the dragon form Andesa, and the scales lifted and cracked, spraying torrents of blood as they shattered. The blood waves soared, and Andesa's screams fully transformed into a wail.

"Ah—! Hamir, I curse you!"

With a roar brimming with hatred, the 'Giant Dragon' was yanked from the ground by sheer force and sent flying, crashing into the distant forest, vanishing from sight.

Brand's eyes brightened. In this era, Andesa was after all a mighty warrior, close to the 'final threshold' at level 90. For the Dark Shock Wave to utterly crush her, it had to expend considerable power. At this point, its threat to him and Veronica was greatly diminished.

"Now's the time!" he said.

Veronica immediately understood, activating her magic equipment—as someone of her rank, she naturally possessed some powerful protective gear—raising a light green barrier.

Then, Brand calmly took out the Shale Longbow.

...(To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast a recommendation ticket or a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)