374 Frost-fire Storm

"This…" Gavin's mouth was open, and his face was filled with disbelief. This was too ridiculous; how could the Crimson Python possibly trap itself like that? Who would believe this?

Gavin was not the only one who found this hard to believe, as the people who had arrived from the Tower of Dusk were no newbies. The worst of them was already a Magic Shooter, and amongst the group were also two Archmages, Gerian and Gavin, as well as the Judge Paladin Rina—even Lin Li was unable to gauge how powerful she was. How could they not know how powerful was the Crimson Python of the Blackstone Mountains? Especially one as ferocious as the one lying before them—once it went berserk, even someone at Legendary-realm would have some qualms about going against it…

They could not imagine how the young mage had managed to tie a dead knot with such a scary existence. This was way beyond the limits of magic and above a mortal's strength; this Crimson Python was clearly near the Legendary-realm, and if it went berserk, even a person in the Legendary-realm would only be able to kill it, and not tie a dead knot with it.

This was truly a miracle; perhaps only a few in the Sanctuary-realm could manage it in the whole Anril…

However, the scene before their eyes was undoubtedly real, and the Crimson Python was trapped there securely. No matter how it struggled or growled, its body did not seem to loosen from the tight knot it was in.

"Damn it, what else are you keeping from me, you little bastard…" Gerian nagged angrily.

"Let's kill it first!" Rina was the calmest of them all, and did not remain dazed for long looking at the peculiar scene before her. As everyone was still staring dumbly, Rina had already raised her sword, and her unicorn neighed as it spread its wings. Her golden hair and shiny silver armor shone blindingly in the light from the flames…

However…

Even Rina could not have guessed that someone else in Black Clouds Town had moved faster than her.

Just as the unicorn spread its wings, a magical wave filled with a strong death aura spread out. As the only Judge Paladin amongst the Paladins, Rina was all too familiar with this evil death aura. She frowned as the magical wave spread out, while her unicorn which was just about to fly into the sky also paused…

This was a natural reflex she could not help, as she had been baptized by the Fire of Judgement, and was an utterly devoted follower of the Holy Light, the natural enemy of Undead creatures. This animosity toward Undead creatures had already been instilled into her from a young age, and had become her second nature by now, enforced by over a decade of devotion and faith!

However, Rina managed to keep it together, and realized the situation they were in was not suitable for her to fight an Undead creature after a moment of hesitation. It was not the Undead creatures harassing Black Clouds Town, but a crazed Crimson Python, after all, and protecting the innocent was of utmost priority to a Paladin. Her teacher Englos had said that even the fight between the Light and Darkness had to take a backseat when innocents were in danger.

However, with that moment of hesitation, the magical wave filled with a strong death aura rose like a tide crashing into the shore. The nearly tangible aura was strong and evil, making Rina cringe. Just as she was shocked, another surprising turn of events happened in the debris of the clock tower. Cracks appeared amongst the debris on the floor, and skeleton arms reached out from the cracks, growing so quickly in numbers that she soon lost count of them. A dense sea of skeletons had trapped the Crimson Python, just like a prison made of bones!

"Soul's Cage!" The expression on Rina's face changed immediately. That was a level-18 Necromagic that used up a lot of mana and required a long chant, so powerful that it rivaled Legendary magic!

There's such a powerful Necromancer in Black Clouds Town?

Rina had never thought of it—a Necromancer would have to be at least level-18 or level-19 to use the Soul's Cage, and Black Clouds Town was merely an obscure little town in Doland. If not for the Tower of Dusk being built here, she would never have known of its name. Why would a such a powerful Necromancer be here?

Unless these damned Undead creatures had something up their sleeve?

Just as Rina was being paranoid, the light reflected off the blade of a sword lit up the sky, and fresh blood splattered everywhere with a crisp sound…

"My God…" Rina could only now see clearly that the person holding the sword was a black-cloaked young man, lean and with a pale face. Upon a closer inspection, she realized that it was the high-ranking Vampire she'd met back at the Castellan Mansion in Roland City.

Norfeller had leaped from the sky holding the Heaven's Wrath daggers in his hands, piercing the weakest spot on the Crimson Python's body. Immediately afterwards, they heard an earth-shattering cry!

The Crimson Python finally met with the first fatal blow of the night from Norfeller. The tough scales covering the Crimson Python were impenetrable to most weapons, even those that cost millions of gold coins. The only weak point it had was its heart—while it was still protected by scales, it was so pathetically weak that it could not withstand a single blow from a high-ranking Vampire.

Moreover, this high-ranking Vampire was using the Heaven's Wrath left behind by a legendary assassin, something said to be a pair of the most powerful weapons related to Necromagic. Although it lacked the most essential Gems of Curse, it was still incredibly powerful, and that was enough for Norfeller to drive the daggers into the Crimson Python's heart while descending from the sky…

Perhaps it felt the pressure of death, but the Crimson Python retaliated so violently after it was stabbed that everyone feared for Norfeller. He held on tightly to a scale with one hand, while the other held the Heaven's Wrath dagger as he drove it into the Crimson Python's heart repeatedly. The Crimson Python's wails were full of anger and devastation as it struggled to throw Norfeller off its back. Unfortunately, its body was tightly trapped, and its strength was suppressed by the Soul's Cage. No matter how much it struggled, it was merely ramming its head into the bottom of the clock tower time and time again…

After a few rounds of bashing its head into it, deep marks could be seen left behind on the bottom of the tower made of refined iron…

"Such incredible physical strength…" Everyone was thinking of the same thing now. The bottom of the clock tower was made of the best refined iron, and had been there for hundreds of years. It had withstood the test of time without any noticeable change in its appearance, but was now left covered in scratches because of the magical beast that had gone berserk…

"Still so energetic?" Norfeller drove the dagger through the heart of the Crimson Python again, and Lin Li knew that the tiring fight was finally over.

Lin Li heaved heavily as he stood up with difficulty; his head still ached, although pain was less intense than before, and the mana in his body was now under his control again. He dusted off his robes and picked up the fallen Aether Staff.

Then came a long chant…

It was a long chant, but it was not complicated, only consisting of common words without making use of a single word from the High Elves' language. Even the weakest of the over 20 mages present knew what this young mage was chanting, and could understand every word to the extent of knowing what effect each word would have on the magic and how much mana it would use up.

However…

When all the words were strung up to form an entire spell, nobody could understand what it was supposed to do.

Only Gavin and Gerian, the two Archmages, knew what it meant…

It was a new magic, one that had never been made known to others; hence, nobody could understand it or use it.

In other words, this was magic that belonged only to Lin Li!

If Gavin and Gerian were not wrong, this was indeed magic that belonged only to Lin Li, or more accurately, the third kind of magic that Lin Li had ever created: Frost-fire Storm!

The first two kinds of magic Lin Li created were targeted at mages: one was the Countercurrent Vortex, and the other was the Arcane Combustion. They both made use of his incredibly strong mental strength to suppress the enemy as well as to attack; they were violent by nature, and were purely using force to counteract force, with no use of techniques or luck per se.

However, the previous two kinds of magic were way too mild compared to the third one.

The moment Lin Li finished his chanting, two vastly different but equally powerful magical waves surrounded the debris of the clock tower. One was icy cold, while the other was scorching hot, yet they combined flawlessly at that instant as though it was natural for raging flames and the frosty cold to appear together, just like a fault might appear if one of it was missing.