——Wrote this starting at five-thirty in the morning; got a meeting later, so I'm posting first and will come back at noon to fix typos.
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Lucian, Charlotte, and Sandra, upon witnessing this inexplicably terrifying sight, actually felt a wave of relief, because it meant that the Magic Circle of "Beltrand's" ancient castle had not been activated. This indicated either that the core section of the magician's castle had already been destroyed by the shockwave from the failed summoning ritual, or that the devils summoned through the summoning circle were indeed all low-ranking, too lacking in intelligence and magical knowledge to operate the Magic Circle.
Either possibility was good news for Lucian and the others, because a fully activated magic tower or magician's castle typically represented an owner whose strength exceeded theirs by one or two tiers. If the magician had inherited the legacy of some high-ranking master, then relying on the magic tower to temporarily withstand sixth-tier or seventh-tier magicians wasn't out of the question either. So if this castle, designed and built single-handedly by the third-tier magician Beltrand, had its Magic Circle fully activated, it would be equivalent to a fourth- or fifth-tier magician, and it would take Lucian, Charlotte, and Sandra a very long time to break through.
However, Lucian didn't rush inside immediately. Instead, he halted in midair outside the castle, adjusted his monocle, and his left eye beneath it turned a deep crimson. Through the partially open castle windows, he peered into the pitch-black interior, occasionally catching the faint red glow radiating from intense heat — originating from Hell. Most devils, raised amid sulfurous flames, were immune to fire and toxins, and their infrared radiation far exceeded that of ordinary humans. At times, even with thick walls blocking and absorbing the emissions, Lucian could still make out faint traces of red.
After cross-referencing these observations with the conclusions Charlotte and Sandra had drawn through their own detection methods, a rough topographic map of the castle showing the activity zones of the low-ranking devils took shape in Lucian's mind. Combined with Susan's description of the interior, he quickly formed an initial plan and said calmly to the other two: "First, we need to reach the binding chamber to destroy the summoning circle, then clear out the remaining devils. Following that logic, entering through the windows or simply blasting through the castle walls would be far less convenient than going through the main gate, the courtyard, the grand hall, and the staircase to the second floor — reaching the binding chamber away from the windows."
"I agree, Mr. Evans," Charlotte nodded.
Meanwhile, crackling lightning sparked in Sandra's hand, coalescing into a silver-white spear of electric light that shot forward, piercing straight through the main gate and plunging into a bottomless, ink-black well in the corner of the courtyard. A blinding flash of electricity erupted along with a muffled boom — this was one of the energy wells that drew upon solar and tidal forces to sustain the Magic Circle's regular operations.
She was seizing the opportunity while the Magic Circle remained inactive to destroy one of the energy wells, preventing them from being blocked by it after entering the castle — even though most magic tower configurations were designed to be stronger against external threats than internal ones.
Of course, the castle contained many more such energy wells, all of them channeling power to the energy room on the third floor. Only by utterly destroying that room could the vast majority of the Magic Circle within the castle be deactivated.
A faint layer of black luminescence, laced with countless magical runes, materialized over the surface of the dark energy well, straining to withstand the silver-white electric detonation.
Just as Sandra was about to condense another fourth-tier "Thunderbolt Spear" for a follow-up attack, she suddenly saw Lucian extend his right hand. Before his palm, a crimson fireball unlike any ordinary one took shape — the size of a human head, its color restrained, as though containing terrifying power within.
With a push of his right hand, the crimson fireball shot out with a sharp hiss, striking the energy well almost instantly.
A thunderous explosion — deafening and utterly beyond what Charlotte and Sandra had anticipated — shook the air. Countless plumes of black smoke billowed upward, coalescing into a small mushroom cloud.
Once the smoke cleared, the shattered remains of the energy well lay before Sandra and the others. She opened her mouth but found nothing to say. Pure explosive destruction — this was truly the strength of elemental magic, well deserving the epithet "demolition maniac." But wasn't the power of this spell from Mr. Evans far too absurd? It surpassed the third-tier Fireball by an unknown magnitude, and could even rival the fifth-tier "Greater Flame Burst"!
Was this an Elemental Will spell, or one of Mr. Evans's own unique magic?
Standing right beside Lucian, neither she nor Charlotte could possibly mistake whether this was a spell cast from a magical item or one released through the caster's own power. And Lucian? Evans only held a third-tier magical rank!
After witnessing this spell, they harbored no further doubts about Lucian's magical prowess. At the very least, in terms of sheer destructive power, he was absolutely superior to both of them.
Satisfied with the explosion he had wrought, Lucian quickened his pace of speech: "Before the devils hear the commotion and converge on us, we charge into the hall immediately."
"Lucian's Greater Fireball" was primarily explosive in nature, supplemented by flame scorching, equivalent to a fourth-tier elemental explosion-class spell. More importantly, Lucian's Holm Crown ring "Elemental" could further amplify its power by forty percent, so at first glance it appeared almost as terrifying as a fifth-tier spell!
With Lucian's original spiritual energy, he could cast over twenty Greater Fireballs in succession. However, paired with the metamagic technique "Reach," he could only manage seven or eight. That said, the "Elemental" ring boosted his spiritual energy recovery rate to that of a fifth-tier magician, so as long as he wasn't casting without a single moment of respite beyond casting cooldowns, there was essentially no danger of spiritual energy exhaustion during a half-hour battle.
It had to be said — the "Elemental" ring, relative to Lucian's current tier, was practically a divine artifact.
With the deterrent of his demonstrated magical power, neither Charlotte nor Sandra objected to Lucian's decision. The three of them brought Susan along, descending rapidly into the castle courtyard. At the same time, they respectively cast "Haste" and "Endurance of the Bear" on her, ensuring she could keep up with the three mid-tier magicians who had already layered these enhancements upon themselves.
The moment they touched down, Charlotte and Sandra flanked forward on the left and right, with Lucian behind them — the standard three-person combat formation of the Magic Council. Susan followed at Lucian's side, behind Sandra.
Splatters of blood dotted the courtyard ground here and there. At that moment, sinister howls erupted from within the castle — the low-ranking devils had clearly detected the intrusion.
Crossing the courtyard swiftly, Charlotte launched a single fireball that blasted apart the half-closed iron doors of the grand hall, and she charged inside together with Sandra.
Within the hall, incomplete human corpses lay scattered in disarray. Their faces were frozen in lingering terror — severed limbs, torn arms, hearts and intestines strewn about. The heavy stench of blood and the nightmarish scene nearly made Susan retch and buckle at the knees.