Chapter 374: Chapter 245: Dark Night Descends

In the wars of this era, no matter how powerful someone was, being targeted by the focused fire of a Mage Corps was a death sentence.

A Mage’s magical attack power was inherently stronger than most Knights. Their only weakness was the long cast time; if interrupted, they were forced into close-quarters combat.

But the formation of a Mage Corps completely nullified this weakness.

A dozen Mages focusing their magical fire on Balenzuo all at once... even a true demon couldn’t withstand that.

Mages in this world were the equivalent of modern artillery. The thought of a saturation strike from more than ten Magic Fire Cannons was enough to make one despair. The very idea was brutally overwhelming.

Even Fang Zhen wasn’t confident he could tank such an assault. A single volley like that would likely tear a chunk out of Balenzuo, even in his demon form.

The volley of magical explosions subsided, but the assault wasn’t over.

The Mage Corps was perfectly synchronized. As soon as the first volley ended, some Mages activated magical items. Another four or five control and support spells materialized and shot toward Balenzuo in the air.

Two of them were the same Spider Web Technique. Viscous webs shot through the air and ensnared Balenzuo, covering his body in sticky white silk. It matted his fleshy, demonic wings together, making it impossible for him to fly.

Battered by the continuous magical attacks, Balenzuo lost his stability in the air and began to fall.

Fang Zhen spurred his horse forward, preparing to seize the opportunity and finish Balenzuo off.

However, at that exact moment...

Balenzuo, who had been plummeting, abruptly stopped his fall. He hovered more than ten meters in the air, his eyes filled with venomous hatred.

"You forced my hand."

"I didn’t want to use this... it might attract the attention of certain beings. But I can’t rest until I’ve killed you filthy, ugly vermin!"

Fang Zhen yanked hard on the reins, and the Red Hare Horse skidded to a halt.

’He had a feeling Balenzuo was about to unleash something big.’

Hovering in the air, Balenzuo violently spread his wings, tearing free from the viscous webs. He unleashed a powerful dark energy that instantly shrouded the entire battlefield in darkness.

In the darkness, Fang Zhen’s perception and vision were severely limited.

At the same time, Balenzuo began to continuously fire Shadow Energy Balls in all directions. Each sphere was the size of a basketball, looked as clear as jade, and possessed extremely high damage potential.

The area around Balenzuo was completely enveloped in darkness.

The Shadow Energy Balls released by Balenzuo drifted out one after another, like giant bubbles formed by pumping air into water. The only difference was that they moved randomly, ricocheting wildly within the dark space.

A shiver ran down Fang Zhen’s spine.

His intuition for danger was screaming at him. He knew that if those dark energy spheres hit, the damage would be immense.

"Get clear! Ditch your mounts if you have to!"

Fang Zhen shouted.

His warning was for the Mages.

The area of effect for Balenzuo’s Shadow Energy Balls encompassed the Mages’ position.

The Mage Corps needed to find a safe place to take cover from the Shadow Energy Balls, using the terrain or their comrades for protection. Otherwise, they would likely lose at least half their number under this assault.

As he shouted, the Desert Viper Handgun in his left hand vanished, replaced in an instant by a high-powered flashlight.

Fang Zhen switched the flashlight to maximum power and aimed its beam at Balenzuo’s perceived location.

The powerful beam of the flashlight cut through the gloom, partially alleviating the problem of his restricted vision.

Fang Zhen could now clearly see Balenzuo within the shroud of darkness.

However, the intense light seemed to attract the Shadow Energy Balls. The spheres, which had been zipping about randomly in the darkness like ricocheting billiard balls, suddenly changed course. At least half of them now streaked toward the light source.

Seeing several dozen Shadow Energy Balls hurtling toward him, Fang Zhen’s blood ran cold.

He acted instantly.

He hurled the high-powered flashlight away from himself.

A third of the Shadow Energy Balls followed the flashlight, detonating where it landed.

Each Shadow Energy Ball exploded with the force of a grenade, creating a series of powerful blasts.

Fang Zhen had thrown the flashlight toward the wreckage of Balenzuo’s carriage. The ensuing explosions from the Shadow Energy Balls pulverized what was left of it, blasting it into dust.

Fang Zhen’s eyebrows shot up.

’An explosive force that strong... even I might not be able to withstand a direct hit.’

After a third of the dozens of light-attracted spheres had detonated, two-thirds remained. Now, as if sensing the movement of a living being, they converged on Fang Zhen, vaguely forming a circle around him.

The air was thick with incoming Shadow Energy Balls, like floating mines in a deadly field. Fang Zhen was now trapped in the center of this minefield, his vision still restricted.

If this continued, all of his escape routes would be cut off.

Fang Zhen recognized the extreme danger of his situation.

His Gang Zan Seal could probably withstand the explosion of two or three of the spheres, maybe even five, but it definitely couldn’t handle dozens of them.

Against this kind of indiscriminate, area-of-effect attack, even precognitive senses were useless.

The Shadow Energy Balls were somewhat guided by Balenzuo’s consciousness; they hadn’t gathered just because of the flashlight, but they clearly had some photosensitive properties.

’He’s trying to use these Shadow Energy Balls to create an inescapable deathtrap, to corner me and finish me off.’

’Is this really checkmate?’

’Impossible!’

A cold glint flashed in Fang Zhen’s eyes as he immediately executed a tactical maneuver.

He vaulted off the back of his Red Hare Warhorse, grabbing his spear as he rolled to the ground.

Simultaneously, as if on command, the Red Hare Warhorse let out a sharp neigh and charged forward.

Just as Fang Zhen had predicted, the charging, moving Red Hare Warhorse immediately drew the attention of most of the Shadow Energy Balls. Of the remaining few, another two-thirds swarmed after the horse as if drawn by a living target.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A continuous, thunderous series of explosions erupted.

The Shadow Energy Balls behaved just as Fang Zhen had guessed. While some were directed by Balenzuo’s will, they weren’t fully under his control. They were also instinctively drawn to light sources and moving objects. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The running Red Hare Horse had automatically drawn the vast majority of the attacks.

Caught in the explosions, the Red Hare Warhorse let out a mournful cry. Its form flickered, turning translucent before finally discorporating, leaving behind a single crystalline bone that clattered to the ground.

Fang Zhen remained expressionless.

The Red Hare Warhorse was a bone beast. As long as the crystal bone and a source of bone energy remained, it could be revived indefinitely.

The Red Hare Horse wasn’t truly dead; it had merely lost its physical, bone-energy form. Once he recovered the crystal bone, he could summon it again.

Even so, Fang Zhen still felt the sting of a trusted companion being taken out on the battlefield.

There were still some Shadow Energy Balls in the air, but they were far less concentrated than before.

The midnight-dark shroud still hung over the area.

A phantom image flickered over Fang Zhen’s left hand, solidifying into a thermal imager.

He quickly attached it to his helmet and pulled the eyepiece down.

In the view of the Night Vision Goggles, the airborne Balenzuo and the floating Shadow Energy Balls appeared as distinct blocks of heat, clearly visible.

The Shadow Energy Balls themselves were heat sources, emitting a certain temperature, so the thermal imager could directly display each of the flying spheres.

Fang Zhen saw that Balenzuo was extremely cunning. When he had first cast this spell, which was like a descending darkness, Balenzuo had been in one position. But after casting it, under the cover of the impaired visibility, he had moved to a new spot without anyone noticing.

’If I hadn’t put on the thermal imager and attacked blindly, I probably wouldn’t have even touched Balenzuo. I’d have only given away my own position.’

’So cunning.’

Aside from intense concentration, there was no other change in Fang Zhen’s expression.

He suddenly dropped into a half-crouch, placing his long spear on the ground to his right.

The next moment, another "big gun" materialized in Fang Zhen’s now-empty hands.

An AWP sniper rifle materialized in his hands.

Fang Zhen didn’t deploy the AWP’s bipod. Instead, he held the rifle with both hands, like a small steel turret, and aimed the muzzle at Balenzuo, who was still silently releasing Shadow Energy Balls into the air.

Balenzuo’s descending darkness spell had cut off everyone’s line of sight.

But losing visibility wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

’The others can’t see anything either, which means no one can see me using an AWP sniper rifle.’

Holding the sniper rifle with both hands, Fang Zhen took aim at Balenzuo!