Chapter 974: Act 146 – The Labyrinth of the Just
Fatan Port, Castle of Baron Ludwig, Second Floor Corridor—
The moment the word “take” slipped from Brendel’s lips, its syllable seemed to stretch infinitely, and his form leaned and elongated in a certain direction. At that instant, a strange shadow appeared in Merilietra’s vision. She instinctively turned her head, and almost without realizing it, her view shifted to the side and behind her body. She immediately sensed something was wrong; what kind of speed was this? It had already exceeded the limits of her conscious reaction. Merilietra instinctively extended her right hand, fingers spread wide, then gripped tightly, a gleaming spear appeared in her palm.
With a swift motion, she slashed the spear tip, carving a bright arc through the air towards that direction. The spear tip seemed to hit something and exploded midair, scattering shards like splashing water that instantly froze, producing a series of creaks and groans, growing into a hemispherical frost shield. This was the five-ring spell, Frost Spear, a versatile elemental magic; Merilietra could cast this spell without incantation, indicating her profound mastery not only as a witch but also in elemental spells.
She was certain that her spell had struck Brendel, although she suspected that a peak silver spell would not pose much trouble for him. However, the thick frost shield generated by the Frost Spear, coupled with the pervasive chill, could still slow down the target’s speed and strength. This was not ordinary frost dust, but a winter cold summoned from the Storm’s Rest Mountain in the Wind Elemental Plane using runes. A profound sorcerer’s ice elemental magic could even freeze the very laws themselves. Though Merilietra’s elemental magic mastery had not reached that level, she was confident it could hold Brendel back for a moment.
Decisively, she released the frost shield, stepping back, one hand tracing a rune of rest in the air, while the other stretched out, palm faced down, a shadow of a magical artifact materialized in that spot.
This was the witch’s true words; she was about to summon her familiar.
At this moment, Merilietra had indeed seen Brendel.
The Frost Spear she had thrown had indeed been effective, accurately hitting its target—or rather, hitting that direction—since Brendel’s speed had exceeded her visual limits, making it impossible to aim directly. Yet, Merilietra was one of the strongest witches of her time. With the countless battles she had experienced, her instinctual judgment had no deviation.
Merilietra smiled proudly, swiping her fingers downwards as if opening an invisible door, a force filled with oppressive power suddenly emerged in the space: it was her familiar, Ayash, a warrior with centuries of wisdom.
Time froze at that moment.
The next moment, Merilietra’s pupils suddenly dilated in horror as she saw Brendel stepping forward nonchalantly, extending his left hand, which held no sword, and pressing it against her frost shield. The moment his hand made contact, the winter cold summoned from the Storm’s Rest Mountain had no effect whatsoever. Instead, the chill spreading across the frost shield seemed to disperse automatically, as if it feared something.
Brendel looked up and smiled at the witch, “Nice spell.” He placed one hand on the frost shield and raised his right hand high over his chest. With a crisp sound, the thick frost shield shattered like glass before his punch, collapsing instantaneously into swirling frost and dust that burst forward.
“Ice Barrier!” Merilietra’s mind exploded with disbelief, her expression one of utter incredulity. She could not fathom that this Lord Earl was actually a monk of severe training, or if she was simply hallucinating. Instinctively, she wanted to retreat, but Brendel coldly admonished, “Frost Soil.” With that, a cloud of white frost with icy crystal spikes exploded outward from him in all directions, engulfing Merilietra’s ankles in an instant. She tried to pull her foot back, but it remained firmly rooted, and before she could react, she felt a heavy blow against her.
The result of a mage being struck directly by a warrior: just look at the scene unfolding. Even with the frost shield as a buffer, Brendel’s punch sent Merilietra flying, and though she had been unable to pull her feet out of the Frost Soil’s domain, Brendel’s blow propelled her, along with the ice beneath her feet, out of that area. The witch tumbled through the air like a sandbag several times before crashing down heavily onto the distant corridor floor, fragmented ice scattering all around, and she rolled a few more times before hitting a stone pillar, finally coming to a stop.
Seeing this scene, Flourfa was stunned, realizing that although she rarely saw a lord strike a woman, when it came down to action, he showed no mercy.
Romaine was beside her, clicking his tongue in surprise.
“Cough,” Merilietra spat out a mouthful of blood. Thanks to the strength she possessed in the near ultimate realm, she had not been killed instantly, but even so, she was heavily wounded, with blood seeping from her nose and eyes. She struggled for a long time to get back on her feet, glaring resentfully at Brendel, who was being blocked by her four subordinates.
Such a level of power and speed could not possibly belong to someone merely entering the elemental realm; it was clearly the power from the second world—Aoveria, the Side of Truth. However, the information stated that this young man had only been enlightened for half a year; how could he have crossed into the Side of Truth so quickly? Merilietra harbored deep suspicions in her heart. The speed at which Brendel had surpassed her visual limits was far more than what could be attributed to merely the Side of Truth; she was just a witch, but as a strong figure at the peak level, very few could be fast enough to daunt her reaction.
“Damn it…”
She silently cursed in her heart.
At the same time, Brendel was similarly frustrated.
He had been blocked by the four witches brought by Merilietra; four young witches stood alertly between Merilietra and Brendel, each holding incantations in their hands. Brendel, though he did not put them in high regard, was not arrogant enough to think he could take on four at once. He knew that these witches accompanying Merilietra were the trusted ones of their lineage, holding high positions among a branch of witches.
Naturally, they came with corresponding strength.
Individually, they might not be as powerful as Merilietra, but together, they could nearly match half a lying witch.
Brendel quietly halted his advance, his gaze still fixed on Merilietra not far away. At this moment, he was not as relaxed as he appeared. As the strongest tri-element witch of this era, the lying witch was far from fame without merit. His earlier advantages were attributed not only to Merilietra’s loss due to information asymmetry but also to his extraordinary willpower.
His will barrier was enough to grant him immunity against most spells below the tenth ring, let alone the mere five-ring Frost Spear. Such a level of will was rare even among monks, let alone appearing in a young man like him. It was entirely understandable that Merilietra did not anticipate this.
But such means could only be used once.
The power of the Side of Truth, while formidable, was still not enough against a witch like Merilietra, who possessed peak authority. As for the will barrier, it wasn’t fail-proof; if it were, how would sorcerers deal with opponents of high will? Brendel understood that with an experienced opponent like Merilietra, once she figured out his tricks, it would soon be his turn to face the music.
Not to mention that this was still Merilietra’s home ground.
Regrettably, he hadn’t knocked this old witch out cold. Brendel couldn’t help but feel extremely frustrated, though he knew such thoughts were wishful thinking; those existing above the peak level all had hundreds of years of combat experience and would not be easily dispatched by a single punch. Even though Merilietra had stepped into the trap he had set, causing her to sustain severe injuries from a single punch was already a stroke of luck.
However, it wasn’t time to surrender just yet.
He still had trump cards.
Brendel stared at the four young witches blocking his path, silent, but in the depths of his eyes, flames flickered.
“This is…” Merilietra felt something strange in the atmosphere around them, and suddenly she realized: “This is the King’s legacy! Damn it, stop him—!”
The four witches began chanting their incantations in unison, casting four binding spells—two aimed at Brendel, while the other two targeted Romaine and Flourfa. The spells targeting Brendel struck against an invisible barrier before they could reach him, disintegrating upon impact, while the binding spells aimed at Flourfa were met with her swift reaction. With a cold expression, she raised her silver staff and recited her spell nearly twice as fast as her opponents. Just as the opposing witches’ binding spells were taking shape, a complex silver-patterned magic circle emerged at the tip of Flourfa’s staff, which she pointed at the witch, summoning the same magic circle beneath her feet. “Great Salrod’s Fire Pillar!” the witch screamed, her face contorting in horror. She had never expected that this seemingly ordinary wild elf girl would unleash a seventh-ring fire elemental spell at such speed.
The witch no longer had time to maintain her spell and slapped something on her body. She activated a magical item, as a light blue barrier rapidly expanded around her. At that moment, a blinding golden-red pillar of light descended from above, striking the top of the blue barrier directly.
When the fire pillar struck the barrier, an instant shockwave formed, scorching waves of heat visibly sweeping in all directions, whooshing through the entire corridor. The blue barrier buckled and distorted under the impact of the fire pillar, morphing from a hemisphere into a flattened disk, hexagonal cracks quickly forming across its surface. Amid the witch’s terrified screams, the fire pillar cut through the cracks of the barrier, shattering it into pieces, with the surging flames acting like a scorching dagger that vaporized one of her arms into ashes.
The Great Salrod’s Fire Pillar, the strongest attack spell among seventh-ring elemental magic, was said to have been developed by the fire element lord Salrod. This spell summoned a flame spear forged from extraordinary fire from the fire elemental realm, representing the most direct and brutal form of attack.
The clash between both sides occurred in the blink of an eye, and within the mere moments of distraction, both Brendel and Merilietra completed their preparations.
A pair of black wings rose behind Brendel.
Simultaneously, a thick mist began to rise from the long corridor.
Despite her heavy injuries, Merilietra had already completed the summoning ritual for her familiar before being wounded. The spirit named Ayash had manifested behind her. She pointed at Ayash, leveraging its power to complete the final phase of the Dream spell. Witches believed that dreams were a mirror reflecting the subconscious; in the dream world, sensory experiences overshadowed rational ones, leading to bizarre visions that were free to indulge. Witches who could manipulate dreams could also manipulate hearts; there were many types of dreams, broadly categorized into nightmares and happy dreams, some releasing one’s inner desires and others reflecting unsettling images from reality. The illusions woven by lies could entice people into addiction.
And Merilietra’s dream was a labyrinth—
Referred to as “The Labyrinth of the Just.”
Among the witches of December, the deceptive witches of the month of Lies mastered the domains of integrity and wisdom. The dreams they wove had neither perilous traps nor deceptive illusions, representing the simplest form of a witch’s dream. However, within this dream, the witch overseeing it held a terrifying power.
The ability to conditionally manifest illusions; since manifested illusions existed as real matter within this dream, they were no longer bound by spell conditions and could not be negated by will barriers.
Merilietra, her face expressionless, extended her right hand, summoning a flurry of frost whirlwind, then reached into the center of that whirlwind, pulling out a gleaming spear—this spear was no longer merely a simple five-ring spell; it was Laidner, the Pinnacle of the Clouds, the divine weapon of the frost giant Komir. According to ancient myth, the father of giants Komir ripped off the peak of Laidner Mountain to battle Echis’s eldest daughter Kehua. This peak became the divine spear Pinnacle of the Clouds, and the ice fog swirling around the spear was the fierce cold wind once enveloping the mountain’s summit, wherein one could catch glimpses of dragons and elemental beings soaring among the high mountains.
Brendel observed closely at the spear in Merilietra’s hand, indeed noting the swirling ice fog and the shadows of agile wind dragons.
