Chapter 459 - Dark Decay
“Why am I so lucky…?” Lin Li’s face turned green the minute darkness exploded. This damned luck, I could strike lottery with it. How is it that these Rainbow Manticore Kings are all well-versed in Necromagic and it has to be level-20 Dark Decay too…?
Necromagic had always been viewed as magic of the fallen in Anril as mages thought that only those who were evil at heart would pursue something like that. The number of mages studying Necromagic started declining 1,300 years after the Dark Age, and Necromagic became more and more mysterious in the eyes of the people…
So much so that the words Dark Decay had become unfamiliar to most mages, and they had even forgotten about the very existence of Necromagic.
Only someone like Sendros who was incredibly well-versed in Necromagic and had spent a lot of time researching about Necromancers would know something about Dark Decay.
Or perhaps someone like Apophis, a freak who had lived for over 1,300 years and had experienced the war in the ending years of the Dark Age. Someone who had personally seen the damage that the Dark Decay could do on the battlefield…
Lin Li was probably the only one besides them who knew about the Dark Decay…
This was because Lin Li had seen what the Dark Decay was capable of for himself.
Unfortunately, just as he was silently plotting, the bit of light in the center of the Abyss Arena suddenly became brighter!
“How… How is that possible?!” Stephen thought he was seeing things. The Illuminating Spell had had only a faint light, so how could it become so bright suddenly?! This level of brightness was comparable to the sun’s! How could it be from an Illuminating Spell!?
It seemed like the faint light had turned into the blinding sun in the blink of an eye, and this blindingly bright sun was even growing brighter still…
Stephen was frozen in his spot, and did not know what to do with the Crystal in his hands, either…
“Mage Felic is finally doing something…” Hutton mopped at the sweat on his forehead as he watched the light grow brighter, a relieved expression on his face.
But even though he had every confidence in Lin Li, he still could not understand how the light that seemed to come from the sun was conjured up…
This was against the rules of magic—how could an Illuminating Spell be so blinding? Not even a Legendary-mage would be able to use an Illuminating Spell in such a shocking manner. This was no longer a problem of mental strength, as there was no way one could distort the spell in such a way in the face of the rules of magic that were set in stone—not even if they had the strongest mental strength and the most abundant mana.
Moreover, this light was shining within a Legendary-level Necromagic, which was even scarier. Hutton was very sure that the Necromagic was of Legendary-level as only magic of such caliber would suppress Stephen and him, two high-ranking Archmages, so badly. Even mage apprentices would know that once Legendary-level Necromagic was used, it would not permit the existence of even the faintest trace of light, as the powerful Death Energy would instantly devour any trace of it, the sun included1.
Hence, Hutton could not understand how this Mage Felic who stood on the back of the Humerus Wyrm at the moment was able to achieve this…
One could not blame Hutton for being so dumbfounded. After all, this was too unthinkable. Hutton aside, no other mage would be able to comprehend this, and the only ones who would were Lin Li’s teammates who’d once charged into the Well of the Sun with him and Lin Li himself…
This was a loophole in the Dark Decay that Lin Li found after countless research and experiments over two months. No matter how much of a genius Hutton and Stephen were, there was no way they would be able to understand it immediately.
The Dark Decay was the closest to being a Magical Domain out of all level-20 Necromagic spells, or in other words… the Dark Decay was actually a Magical Domain that incorporated a few basic Rules.
Once a fight reached the level of a Magical Domain, mental strength and mana became secondary as the fight truly depended on one’s understanding and grasp of Rules. While Lin Li might not exactly be waiting for death given his abilities if it were another Magical Domain, there was no way he would be able to gain an advantage, either. Well, even though Lin Li was the closest person to reaching the Legendary-realm, he was still beneath it, and there was definitely a gap between him and the Legendary powerhouses.
Luckily, the Dark Decay was only nearing a Magical Domain, and incorporated but a few basic Rules. When dealing with the soul of the High Elf back then, Lin Li had spent a million gold coins on an Eternal Light Spell scroll to destroy the Dark Decay. Now, although he did not have the Eternal Light Spell scroll, he had something that even the Eternal Light Spell scroll could not compare with: the Debris of the stars!
The Holy Light was incredibly powerful and direct. In a split second, it tore through the endless darkness and allowed a mere Illuminating Spell to light up the whole Abyss Arena.
Then, everything else was simple…
Back in Syer Town, when Ujfalusi’s Magical Domain was broken, not only did the Humerus Wyrm start to melt, but Ujfalusi himself also fell from the Legendary-realm. From this, it was evident that the damage done to the creator of the domain was massive when the Magical Domain was destroyed.
Even though the Dark Decay was not a true Magical Domain, the damage done to the two Rainbow Manticore Kings was still severe when it was broken.
All they heard was a pathetic cry before the two Rainbow Manticore Kings fell to the floor. While sharing a soul gave them incredible strength, it also meant that they had to suffer together. The damage from the destruction of the Dark Decay was so severe that they lost their combat ability almost immediately as they lay helplessly on the floor, watching as the Humerus Wyrm walked towards them…
Then, a thunderous “BOOM” was heard.
The Humerus Wyrm’s claws landed heavily, and the two Rainbow Manticore Kings were reduced to a puddle of flesh and blood before they could even utter a sound.
It is the aura of the Dragon of Destruction… The moment the black magical crystal landed in his hand, Lin Li knew he was right. It was the aura of the Dragon of Destruction coming from the magical crystal, an aura that Lin Li was incredibly familiar with. He had fought the Dragon of Destruction so many times back in the Endless World, so how could he not be familiar with this Dragon Aspect’s aura? The second the magical crystal was in his hand, Lin Li knew that this trip to the Abyss of Tharlen was not in vain…
This was power left behind by the Dragon of Destruction, and once he entered the Legendary-realm, he would be able to use this power to master Evilness and Darkness Rules and incorporate them into his own Magical Domain.
After all, the strength of a Magical Domain lay in whichever Rules were incorporated into it. Just take the Dark Decay for example: it merely had a few basic rules in it, so how could it compare with Darkness and Evilness? Once he was able to incorporate these two Rules in his Magical Domain, it would be no less powerful than Sendros’ Magical Domain…
Unfortunately, the self-proclaimed Soul Trader Connoris was too crafty, and would not let him in on too many secrets, or he would have been able to master the Soul Rule from him. Once he incorporated these three major Rules, he would easily surpass Sendros.
RIght, Soul Rule…
Lin Li suddenly remembered that Mephistos proclaimed himself to be the Lord of Souls. Who knew if this Legendary-level Spirit Walker held a part of the Soul Rule…?
Looks like it’s a good time to talk to Stephen… The sudden thought reminded Lin Li of it.
It did not escape his notice that Stephen had sneakily retrieved a Purple Crystal from his pocket when Lin Li was destroying the Dark Decay using the Holy Light.
Perhaps others could not feel it, but Lin Li did—the aura coming from the purple Crystal was that of the Lord of Souls!