Chapter 625

Chapter 444: Golden Magnet

In the sky, Bengochiel ceased to summon wind and fire. As the flames dissipated, what he saw was a solid and heavy steel shield, not a burning, struggling body. Upon realizing that his combination technique had not had the intended effect, Bengochiel felt a weight in his heart.

As a Stone Demon, Bengochiel’s use of spiritual element attacks was not unlimited; the elemental power stored within his skin was quite limited. Unlike a true Elementalist, he could not use his powers for an extended time. After unleashing two strong gusts of wind and maintaining flight for a while, the wind power stored in his body was nearly exhausted. If he continued to attack with wind, he feared he would lack the strength even to support his own flight. Though the Stone Demon had wings, they could not lift his heavy body. His ability to fly primarily relied on the wind power sourced from other Wind Sorcerers, while his own wings served more as a symbolic feature.

No longer wishing to waste the elemental power he had stored, Bengochiel dove directly down from the sky. Upon landing, he burrowed underground. At that moment, Dorothy saw him and, to avoid a surprise attack from below, dismantled her large metal shield, allowing several metal pieces to lift her into the air, seemingly attempting to escape the threat of Bengochiel’s underground ambush.

As expected, just a short while after Dorothy began to float, a dark figure suddenly emerged from the wall of the building to her right, launching an attack toward the slowly rising Dorothy. Seeing through Dorothy’s intentions, Bengochiel aimed to keep her grounded—after all, the earth was his domain.

With a heavy chain mace in hand, Bengochiel charged at Dorothy from the wall of the building. The immense ball rushed toward Dorothy with great velocity. Realizing the danger, Dorothy immediately directed the floating metal pieces around her to block the attack; however, the metal pieces merely ricocheted upon colliding with Bengochiel, failing to inflict any damage.

Faced with the fast-approaching stone projectile, Dorothy had no choice but to release the metal pieces and drop back to the ground, avoiding Bengochiel’s strike. Nevertheless, Bengochiel had already achieved his goal of grounding Dorothy; now, he swung the heavy mace down upon her without hesitation.

As the mace descended once more, Dorothy, concealed beneath her black cloak, executed a ghostly retreat, narrowly avoiding the blow. Observing the agility of this mysterious foe, Bengochiel decided to take action.

From the still-intact garment of his massive form, Bengochiel produced a sigil and slammed it onto the ground. As the sigil burned away, consuming its spiritual energy, the pavement around began to transform. The once solid ground became extraordinarily soft, with all objects still standing sinking partially underground, turning stable footing into a perilous trap.

In an instant, both Dorothy and Bengochiel found themselves caught in the swampy ground, their legs sinking deeply. From Bengochiel’s perspective, Dorothy, hidden beneath her black cloak, clearly had not anticipated this move; seeing her figure suddenly shrink, she anxiously attempted to pull her legs free, but found herself utterly powerless.

Bengochiel chuckled darkly at the turn of events. The sigil he had used was the Swamp Sigil, capable of transforming the sturdy rock surface into a swamp temporarily before returning to normal. This unexpected swamp would trap an unprepared enemy, and once normal ground returned, it would securely clamp down on their legs, becoming a heavy natural shackle that hindered movement.

For others, the earth’s chains were a burdensome restraint, yet for Wall-crossers, they could easily pass through, making the tactic of using the Swamp Sigil quite common in the Dark Gold Society.

Seeing that the cloaked foe was finally restrained, Bengochiel wasted no time diving underground again, beginning to move below the surface. He was searching for the right moment to launch a final attack from an angle that Dorothy would never perceive in time, her legs now immobilized and unable to evade.

Bengochiel was confident: the next strike would be the final one.

The terrifying Stone Demon swam beneath the surface, while Dorothy above maintained an outward appearance of panic in her body. Yet beneath her mask, her expression was as calm as still water. Despite the predicament, there was no trace of alarm or fear on her face.

Typically, one would feel fear facing an unknown threat or the shackles of confinement—but for Dorothy, those feelings did not exist.

Indeed, Dorothy had not been trapped underground. Beneath her cloak, her legs were not ensnared in rock and mud; instead, they stood firmly on solid ground.

Dorothy had not fallen into the swamp trap because she had never truly touched the ground. From the very beginning of the battle, she had remained in a state of levitation. Beneath the robe she wore, she had secured several pieces of metal close to her body. Dorothy manipulated these metal objects with her powers to subtly remain suspended several centimeters above the ground. This levitation went unnoticed by Bengochiel, as Dorothy’s shorter stature compared to others meant that hovering a few dozen centimeters above the ground seemed quite ordinary in her case. Now, standing at her normal height, it appeared to Bengochiel as if her legs were buried in the earth.

In the earlier skirmish, Dorothy had deliberately controlled other metal pieces to maintain her levitation, creating the illusion that her airborne status depended on those external metals. She aimed to convince Bengochiel that without the external metals, she would lack any means to float. This tactic of feigning height was designed because, before coming here, she had inquired with Beverly about commonly used tactics by the Dark Gold Society during combat, and this was specifically countering their ground-trapping tactics.

Currently, Dorothy was not trapped, nor was she unaware of the movements of the Stone Demon underground. Though she could not see it, hear it, smell it, or touch it, Dorothy had another method of perceiving the presence of the Stone Demon beneath the ground.

It was the iron sand scattered throughout the underground. Dorothy could sense the natural iron sand through her abilities. By applying a subtle form of spirituality to these particles, she was able to perceive the Stone Demon traversing beneath the surface.

Dorothy skillfully wielded electromagnetic force to manipulate various metals against the Stone Demon, which posed a significant threat to Elementalists. The accuracy with which Dorothy controlled the electromagnetic force stemmed from her newly acquired knowledge—the electrical ability model of Misaka Mikoto.

This knowledge originated from a certain electricity princess of Tokiwadai, a precursor in the field of electricity for Dorothy.

“People often become complacent when they feel certain of victory. Right now, you probably believe your next strike will be my final blow. Conveniently… I also do not plan to prolong this any further; let’s settle this quickly.”