Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1185: Chapter 1184: Fierce Battle

At first, the strange, almost fiery smell enveloping them didn’t arouse the adventurers’ attention, because on this wasteland that had witnessed the Godslayer War, countless peculiar odors had long since numbed the senses of outsiders. The compounds flowing from underground factories, pipeline networks, industrial raw material pools, and the ever-burning gas wells and storage facilities continuously emitted a tense aroma that made Lola and her companions nervous. After experiencing countless false alarms, the adventurers’ first reaction was that some industrial facility nearby might have leaked again.

However, as the strange presence in the air became increasingly apparent, the adventurers’ instincts finally awakened. Lola instinctively halted her steps, and the surface of the enchanted short bow in her hand manifested countless intricate dark red patterns. A single-handed swordsman walking beside her raised his sword in a defensive posture, quietly alerting his companions, "Something’s not right... I feel something is amassing..."

"Stay alert!" The temporary leader, the Greatsword Fighter, raised an arm in front. This seasoned adventurer had already sensed the imminent danger, "The elements are concentrating... there’s an invisible rift around here!"

Elements?

Lola almost immediately turned her gaze towards Modir, perhaps the most powerful spellcaster in the team. Although all Transcendents could sense the flow of Magic and Elemental Power, only a Mage was a true expert in the elemental world. This experienced old man would surely play a crucial role at this moment!

Yet as she glanced over, she was shocked to see that the old man Modir was just standing there in a slightly dumbfounded state—he seemed to have fallen into one of his trances again.

"Damn it... Modir!" Lola instantly grew anxious; disregarding any elder etiquette, she immediately shouted, "Don’t zone out! Something’s wrong!"

Modir snapped out of his daze, the old mage blinking rapidly. His eyes immediately focused on the turbulent Elemental Force in the surrounding air, and he gasped out loud, "By the lungs of the founding father! Can’t you see that there’s an elemental rift opening right in front of us? How could you walk so close to it?!"

As he exclaimed, the freshly alert old mage waved his hand, sending an invisible Dark Wave forward. The adventurers’ eyes widened; where the invisible wind swept, hidden elemental shadows suddenly took on form, revealing a discordant rift in the stable material world—a massive red rift, appearing like a terrifying vertical eye, stood just a few dozen meters away from the adventurer team, and the flames and heat mist constantly spitting from the red vertical rift almost reached the scalps of Lola and her companions!

The young huntress felt her heartbeat skip half a beat. She cast a glance into the rift and saw countless flowing lava coalescing and forming in another world, living flames dancing and jumping in the air, and bizarre and pure energy beings malignantly gathering towards this side of the rift. Throughout her entire adventurous career, she had never seen anything as terrifying as this—but she quickly understood what she was witnessing.

She was facing the fire elemental world, facing the most violent and dangerous domain within the elemental world.

"Find a place to hide first!" came the voice of the temporary leader from the front. The Greatsword Fighter’s voice was audibly trembling, but his command brought a crucial spark of life to the stunned adventurer team. Lola and her companions finally snapped out of their daze, and with unprecedented speed and agility, they dashed towards the nearest giant crystallized pillar, concealing themselves in the shadows at the base of the pillar.

"What do we do?" a Druid asked anxiously, "This thing... this thing is clearly beyond our capability... we can’t fight it, the only thing we can do is hurry back to inform the Dragonkin..."

"The things on the other side of the elemental rift have already seen us," the leader spoke quickly, "there’s a Flame Walker in there, and with this terrain, we can’t outrun those creatures..."

Lola focused her gaze on Modir who had hidden with them. Her instinctive reaction was to seek advice from the only Mage present on how to survive this peril, but the scene before her left her speechless momentarily—the old Mage was drawing countless bits and pieces from his pockets with astonishing speed, including hand-made talismans, spell-enhancing incenses, fine crystals, and ground metal dust. These spellcasting mediums, whether precious or mundane, were swiftly transformed into mysterious runes in the old Mage’s hands. Amid continuous flashes, Modir activated an unknown number of magical effects, all while simultaneously casting with hand gestures and swiftly reciting dual incantations—Lola hadn’t encountered countless Mages in her life, neither too few nor too many, but she had never seen a Mage who could cast with such efficiency and frequency!

And what exactly was the old man doing? Were these spells truly the ones modern Mages commonly used?

Staring wide-eyed, Lola was completely unable to discern the meaning behind the magical symbols Modir was weaving, and the few other adventurers nearby finally noticed the old Mage’s actions. Yet, their confusion was no less than Lola’s. It was at this point that Modir finished a stage of his spell preparation. He looked up at the burly temporary leader, speaking rapidly yet seriously, "We need to proceed cautiously—so let me layer some barriers on you first..."

The Greatsword Fighter, acting as the leader, was stunned for a moment, too late to ask anything, before feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure suddenly emanate from the direction of the elemental rift. One of the more daring adventurers peeked out for a look, immediately recoiling in horror—a gigantic fire giant, as large as a city gate tower, stepped from the now fully opened elemental rift into the real world. From the giant exuded endless heat, numerous joyously dancing fire elementals flowed, jumped, exploded, and regenerated around it. The giant seemed unperturbed by those smaller beings fluttering around it, merely surveying the desolate wasteland with an expression of delight and grotesque wickedness.

"Damn it! We’re doomed!" The Greatsword Fighter’s face went pale, "That thing... even a dragon might not be a match for it!"

"Shut up, I’m casting a spell here!" Modir’s voice came from behind the swordsman. The old mage simultaneously chastised him and rapidly traced several dozen glowing magic symbols beside the warrior, "We need to proceed cautiously—I’ll add twenty layers of fire protection and twenty layers of mortality protection on you... wait, let me add sixty-two damage reduction barriers as well..."

Before he could finish his words, the Greatsword Fighter’s body started to glow progressively brighter, as if a wall was being constructed over his skin. An increasing sense of foreboding compelled him to speak, "Hold on, wait a moment, old man, what exactly are you going to do..."

"To ensure safety," Modir quickly replied, raising his hand to push the Greatsword Fighter outward. "Alright, you’re in the melee class, protect me once the battle begins. I’m a fragile Mage—you’re just standing there? I’ve enhanced you! Go!"

The Swordsman managed only to let out a quick "Huh?" as he staggered out from behind the massive stone pillar. At the same time, he heard the fire giant make a deafening, volcanic eruption-like sound full of joy and malice, with a terrifying aura, "Aha!! Look! Is this the Mithril Vault’s headquarters? These arrogant scaly creatures finally have their day—the mighty elemental lord is back! I want to see who took my shield that I rightfully collected. Hopefully, they’re still alive for me to enjoy... huh?"

The fire giant suddenly stopped his incessant babbling, somewhat startled as he watched a human, sparkling all over like a bouncing pebble, stumble out from beneath a nearby stone pillar as well. The stumbling human also halted, staring upwards with shock and terror at the fire giant before him—two surprised characters stood there, eyes wide open, gaping at each other. The first to react was the fire giant.

"Interesting... I remember these little meat cans are called Dwarves... or Humans? Or maybe Elves? Anyway, they all look the same and make a crispy crunch when roasted..."

The giant mumbled as he stepped forward, his body of molten rock and flame emitting incredible heat, seemingly about to crush the glowing Greatsword Fighter like an ant. At that moment, a beam of light suddenly descended from the heavens, piercing through the murky overcast skies above the wasteland. The dazzling light momentarily halted the fire giant’s movements, and immediately after, his massive, burning body was struck by an enormous lightning bolt, scattering countless molten rocks!

Lola, hiding behind a stone pillar, watched the events unfolding before her with wide eyes and great shock. She saw the team’s temporary leader pushed outward, clad in over a hundred layers of various protective spells, looking like a fully armed, layered humanoid fortress. She saw the eccentric old Mage hiding nervously in the middle of the team, his body alight with the rippling glow of empowerment spells. She saw the old Mage lift his arm, and then a lightning bolt of divine retribution descended from the sky, engulfing the fire giant completely.

It was less of a ’strike’ and more of a ’smash’.

But it wasn’t over yet—the fire giant’s magical resistance seemed extraordinarily high. Even after having half his body shattered by the strike, he still struggled out of the streaming electricity, resisted the residual penetration from the Magic Power, and roared to the heavens, "Who dares to sneak attack the great..."

"Boom!!!"

Before he could finish his sentence, another Arcane Sphere descended from the sky like a small sun, and the great elemental lord was sent soaring skyward along with a mushroom cloud before he could reveal his name. The remaining half of his body spun and flew through the air, the shockwave blowing the nearby Greatsword Fighter away—yet the layered protective spells left the Fighter unscathed, only flipping him mid-air. He watched as the fire giant’s half-body slammed into the ground, catching a glimpse of the old Mage ducking under a nearby stone pillar, furtively casting another Forbidden Curse while glancing nonchalantly in his direction—giving a thumbs up.

"I XXX..." The Greatsword Fighter, emotions stirred, involuntarily spoke in his mother tongue, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the fire giant’s remaining wails and the explosive roar of the second mushroom cloud.

Following this, enormous lightning spanning the heavens, Arcane Spheres capable of generating mushroom clouds, Frost Novas freezing even corporeal flames, and meteor fragments cascading from the sky all arrived in succession. Amid the ear-splitting roars that could nearly rend the earth, the fire giant’s howls did not last long before they disappeared completely. His final words were an angry, foul outcry—hardly appropriate to translate.

The thrilling "battle" finally ended; the powerful fire elemental lord vanished under seventeen consecutive legendary-level spell bombardments. His elemental minions merged into the complex atmosphere of Talronde during the first few attacks. The elemental rift disappeared, unable to bring new threats to this war-torn land—though Lola couldn’t be sure whether the rift or Modir’s seventeen magical bombardments caused more damage...

The air was filled with the acrid smell of scorched and magical decomposition odors, with adventurers stumbling from their stone pillar hiding spots, seemingly not yet comprehending the recent events. Lola turned blankly to look back at her former hiding spot, where the old Mage was the last to crawl out—his black magic robe steaming with light mist, the waste energy generated as hundreds of enhancement arrays dissipated, his magic crystal-embedded black soft hat dulled from temporary exhaustion due to overuse. He still looked somewhat tense, as if someone caught stealing rice from a granary, rather than a powerful Spellcaster who just defeated an elemental lord...

Modir looked around and finally confirmed the scene was safe, sighing with relief. He then saw the Greatsword Fighter standing not far away—so conspicuous, producing effects from over a hundred protective spells, looking like a blazing torch even in broad daylight.

Seeing the "torch", the old Mage finally laughed and briskly walked toward the Greatsword Fighter, who immediately showed a horrified expression, seemingly wanting to retreat instantly—yet Modir moved faster than a well-trained Swordsman, grabbing his hand with a genuine smile on his aged face: "Young man, thanks to you just now! Who knows what would happen if a fragile Mage like me wasn’t protected during spellcasting!"

The leading Swordsman looked utterly baffled: "...?"

Modir continued to hold his hand, his enthusiasm growing even stronger: "That was an absolutely marvelous battle, yes, absolutely marvelous. I haven’t encountered such a well-coordinated Warrior in centuries... your skills are truly impressive!"

The Swordsman remained utterly baffled: "...?"