Read Novel Full Chapter 665: The Ritual [2]
Chapter 665: The Ritual [2]
Boom!
Vast quantities of gray mana surged from the ground. Two magic type combatants simultaneously released binding skills, causing layer after layer of metallic mana to form a net that rapidly covered an area dozens of meters wide.
The other five infiltrators cut in from different directions.
They knew approaching Gabriel alone was equivalent to throwing their lives away, so every attack was intended solely to restrict his movement and buy time for the captain.
But they had overlooked one fact. This was neither a city nor an underground trading hall; it was the Sacred Forest, which Edgar knew better than anywhere else.
Matthew lay several meters behind him, his broken legs immobilized in a cradle of vines and his damaged chest carefully supported. The unconscious infiltrator from the previous clash was bound to a nearby trunk.
“Duck.” Edgar’s voice suddenly rang out.
Gabriel did not hesitate. His body instantly lowered.
In the next second…
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of silver green threads, so fine they were almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye, swept over his head.
The expressions of the five close combat infiltrators changed simultaneously. Two altered direction, but the other three were a fraction too slow.
The threads looped around their wrists, shoulders, and waists. Instead of cutting into flesh, they locked the three men in place and forced them to divert their mana into resisting the bindings.
That single instant was enough as Gabriel charged forward.
The moment his foot shattered the ground, his large frame crashed directly into the nearest man’s chest.
Bull Rush!
Bang!
The infiltrator was sent flying, but Gabriel was already following him. Mana flowed into Crimson Judgement, lighting the crimson engravings along its blade as he swung upward.
Shhk!
The edge tore through the damaged protective mana, and the sword’s special true damage explosion detonated at the point of impact, slashing diagonally through the man’s waist.
Blood scattered through the air.
[Ding! You have killed a Hero Rank.]
[Ding! You have received EP.]
The notifications had barely appeared when another infiltrator crushed a black crystal shard in his hand.
Boom!
A transparent barrier of spatial mana appeared, and Crimson Judgement slammed against it with a deafening impact. The barrier trembled but did not break.
“Retreat!”
But Gabriel released the sword with his left hand and pressed his fist against the transparent barrier.
The man froze.
“You…”
Bang!
The first punch produced a crack. The second spread it across the barrier, and before the third descended, the man’s expression changed completely.
Boom!
The barrier shattered into transparent fragments that dissolved into mana.
Gabriel seized the man by the collar, turned, and hurled him toward Edgar as casually as if he were throwing a stone.
The man was still in midair when Edgar raised two fingers.
“Got him.”
Three silver green threads caught the man’s limbs and slammed him against an ancient tree. Vines immediately bound his wrists, ankles, and torso, leaving him unable to gather strength.
The two operatives already caught in Edgar’s threads struggled to break free, while the last close combat fighter retreated toward the two casters. Their metallic net began to contract, but Edgar redirected his threads around the surrounding trunks and used the trees as anchors, dragging all three close combat fighters to the ground.
The two casters released the net and fled in opposite directions.
Thick roots broke through the soil beneath them. One was caught around the waist; the other managed two steps before a thread looped around his ankle and pulled him down. Vines closed over both before either could complete another spell.
Within seconds, Edgar had restrained all five against the trees with their mana circulation disrupted. Of the seven who had stayed behind, one was dead and six were now prisoners.
Only then did Gabriel look toward the forest ahead.
The silver masked captain had already taken the other three operatives and rushed toward the old altar.
“Edgar.”
“I know.”
Edgar tightened the last binding, then raised Matthew’s vine cradle onto a low platform of interwoven roots. Vines secured his shoulders, hips, and broken legs without compressing his damaged chest, and the platform began gliding over the forest floor.
The forest carried Matthew’s weight, but Edgar still had to guide the platform around obstacles and repeatedly check his extensive injuries. Even with its assistance, his first steps were visibly slower.
As for Gabriel, his method was far more direct. He drove Crimson Judgement into the ground. His legs bent slightly and then…
Boom!
The earth beneath him collapsed as his entire body launched dozens of meters through the air. After landing on the trunk of an ancient tree, his feet erupted with strength again, propelling him through the forest like a cannonball that continuously altered its trajectory.
He had no wings. Nor did he need them. His physical attributes and combat experience were enough to maintain terrifying speed in forest terrain where footholds were everywhere.
Ahead, the silver masked man glanced back, and his expression darkened. The distance between them was shrinking.
“Two of you, stay behind.” He issued the order coldly.
Two of his three companions stopped without hesitation.
One drew a pair of swords while the other pressed both hands against the ground.
The captain continued toward the altar with the final operative.
“Stone Prison.”
Rumble!
The ground ahead suddenly rose. Countless enormous rocks burst from underground, forming a massive stone wall nearly twenty meters tall in the blink of an eye and completely sealing off the path.
The dual sword wielder stood before the wall, his breathing slowing as the mana throughout his body rose. He had prepared himself to die.
But the crimson figure charging toward him did not slow. The man’s pupils contracted.
Boom!
Gabriel slammed his shoulder directly into the stone wall.
The entire structure shook, and cracks spread outward from the point of impact before a second deafening explosion followed.
BOOM!
The stone wall exploded from the center, and enormous fragments of rock shot toward both sides.
Gabriel stepped out of the cloud of dust and debris.
The dual sword wielder had never expected him to smash directly through the wall. After a moment of shock, he raised his swords to attack.
However, Gabriel’s hand had already closed over his face. Then he drove him downward.
Bang!
The back of the man’s head slammed into the ground, and his entire body convulsed. Gabriel lifted him again and smashed him down a second time.
Bang!
The ground cracked, and the twin swords slipped from the unconscious man’s hands.
“Delaying someone only works when you have the strength for it.”
Stone spikes suddenly erupted from the debris behind him.
The caster had remained on the wall’s far side. He sent sharpened rocks toward Gabriel’s back, then turned toward the trees to escape.
A blurred figure crossed his vision.
The caster attacked it instinctively, but his stone blade struck nothing.
Edgar’s real body emerged from the opposite side as he shifted his footwork without breaking his measured breathing. The blurred figure had been only an afterimage, a feint created by Devil Mirage, not a magical clone. Matthew’s root platform had stopped safely short of the ruined wall, allowing Edgar to fight without the cardinal’s weight destroying his balance.
Threads snapped around the caster’s wrists and ankles before pulling him flat against the ground. Thick vines immediately bound his arms to his sides.
“That’s the second one,” Edgar said.
Edgar bound the unconscious dual sword fighter as well. At his command, broad surface roots wrapped around both captives and carried them back toward the six prisoners from the first clash. Neither rear guard remained capable of following or attacking.
Gabriel retrieved Crimson Judgement and resumed the pursuit. Edgar set Matthew’s platform in motion again and followed.
Meanwhile, at the core of the Sacred Forest, Sophie suddenly stepped forward.