When the monster's crimson eyes turned toward Charlotte, Lucian — positioned slightly behind and to the side — saw Charlotte's expression freeze abruptly. The magical runes flowing across his re-cast "Douglas's Spell Absorption Wall" swelled one by one before shattering, and the transparent wall of light collapsed in an instant. Then a mass of black fog engulfed him.
The change happened so fast that Lucian and Sandra had no time to react, no time to cast any spells.
The black fog dissipated with a whoosh, and where Charlotte had stood, a small black pig now circled the ground in a panic, its tiny tail whipping back and forth.
"Malicious Polymorph! We have to kill this thing before it climbs out of the fire brazier!" The thought blazed through the mind-link from Sandra to Lucian. At the same time, the ceiling of the containment chamber darkened as a massive leaden cloud coalesced to cover the entire room, and then bolt after bolt of silver-white lightning crashed down from within, turning the chamber into a forest of thunder.
Fourth-tier electromagnetic spell — Thundercloud!
At the same time, a massive crimson fireball condensed before Lucian and hurtled toward the monster standing at the center of the "silver-white forest," right where the summoning array was located.
Even if the monster might be immune to flames, even if it could become incorporeal and shrug off explosive force, the summoning array and fire brazier were physically right there — and as long as "Lucian's Fireball" destroyed them, the monster would lose its ability to resurrect. Without that advantage, even with fifth-tier strength, it held no edge over Charlotte and Sandra, who were only a single tier below, let alone Lucian, with his powerful Arcane Magic and Divine Artifacts and his terrifying unique spells.
However, Lucian prudently refrained from directly activating his "Elemental" ring and condensing an elemental vortex, because up to this point, they still hadn't confirmed the monster's true nature — whether it was a demon, a devil, or some purely spiritual, consciousness-based nightmare creature. If it was the latter, an elemental vortex would not only be ineffective but would actually leave Lucian combat-ineffective.
The crimson flames were moments from impact, about to produce a devastating explosion and terrifying shockwave — but just then, a mass of darkness surged up from the center, rapidly expanding to envelop the entire thunder-forest.
"Lucian's Fireball" flew into the darkness, and then — nothing. No sound, no explosion. It was swallowed by the darkness without a trace.
Still, the darkness seemed to have thinned considerably. Faint flickers of silver-white lightning were still visible within, as if the two forces were locked in a struggle for dominance over the space.
Sandra's lips parted slightly. The darkness inside the containment chamber began to roil and distort as though torn by some invisible force, while the lightning generated by Thundercloud condensed into spheres that rolled toward the center.
Fourth-tier electromagnetic spell — Distorted Magnetic Field!
Seizing the opportunity, Lucian pointed his coral scepter in his right hand toward the monster protruding at the center. Drawing on the scepter's ability to focus spiritual energy and help a magician lock onto a target, he cast a second-tier spell — Sadistic Blessing. It belonged to a minor blessing domain that crossed astrology, necromancy, and light-dark magic, establishing a mystical bond of fate between the caster and the enemy. Whenever the opponent took damage, the magician received a substantial boost to vitality, spiritual energy, offensive power, and defensive capability, while the enemy was further weakened!
At a time like this, only spells of this nature could penetrate the Distorted Magnetic Field. "Lucian's Fireball" would likely have been torn to shreds the moment it entered the field by the ever-shifting, powerful magnetic forces.
When the rolling lightning spheres struck its body, the monster let out a hoarse shriek that set one's nerves on edge.
The shadow beneath Sandra's feet suddenly came alive. It seized her ankle and dragged her toward a deep well that had materialized out of nowhere — a well that seemed to be made entirely of Shadow.
"Ahhh!" Sandra's involuntary scream echoed through the mind-link before cutting off abruptly. Inside the Shadow well, what seemed to be an unimaginable sea of lightning erupted.
Sandra being dragged into the Shadow without warning caught Lucian completely off guard. The "Crown of the Sun," which he had been about to activate, hesitated — attack first, or save her first?
Both thoughts had barely surfaced before Lucian made his decision. No hesitation, no wasted time trying to save her first. Instead, he prepared to seize the moment the monster had just broken free of the Distorted Magnetic Field and deliver a fatal blow — that way, his attack spell wouldn't be distorted by the magnetic field!
The twisted darkness and lightning spheres collapsed as expected. Wisps of black energy rose from the monster's body — it seemed to have anticipated that Lucian would seize the opportunity to attack.
But just then, the atmosphere around them turned solemn and reverent without warning. The black energy circling the monster surged upward and vanished without a trace. Even its ornate black robe split open with silent, gaping tears, revealing rotting flesh underneath, crawling with white maggots.
In another corner of the containment chamber, Charlotte's figure slowly materialized — a stark contrast to the small black pig by the door. His face was deathly pale, a white shirt and brown vest replacing the black battle-mage robe that had vanished entirely!
Before his white-gloved right hand, mysterious characters assembled into a strange page of script, then vanished just as quickly.
Fourth-tier transmutation spell — Demon's Dirge! A unique spell exclusive to the Magic Council!
It appeared that Charlotte had used some wondrous effect of his mage robe — or perhaps a unique spell of his own — to evade the Malicious Polymorph, then struck the monster with a devastating, unexpected blow at the most critical moment!
As the monster screamed in agony, Lucian felt his spirit soar and his physical exhaustion vanish. He seized the moment and activated the "Crown of the Sun."
A beam of crimson, flame-like radiance descended from above, striking the monster dead center.
Within the blinding, holy light, the monster's ornate black robe disintegrated to ash, and the rotting flesh and maggots covering most of its body dissolved into nothingness.