Within the gray-white field of time stop, a silver-white glow suddenly blazed to life, and an ancient hourglass flew out from Rhein's chest, engraved with patterns of full moons, half moons, and crescents!
As the silver-white sand within flowed, the time stop effect vanished abruptly, and the sand itself crumbled to dust.
Truly worthy of an Observer with such a vast collection!
But by then, "
Boom!
Heat of unimaginable intensity rapidly vaporized the gray floor tiles, vaporized the ripples of void generated by the Shield of Truth — a storm of energy that could destroy the world sent Lucian flying backward, shield and all.
In mere seconds, the bizarre sensation of existing in a different world from Rhein vanished entirely. The surrounding ripples of void shattered like glass, and the small, sacred Shield of Truth bore wretched marks of devastation across its surface, as though it would be completely destroyed before long.
Meanwhile, Lucian's Robe of the Archanist detected the searing heat and energy storm that had seeped through. "Elemental Skin" activated, "Spell Siphon" activated, frantically devouring and resisting the damage.
Suddenly, a faint black light shimmered across Rhein's red coat — dark as the deepest, heaviest night, filling the heart with awe and instinctive reverence.
That black light spread outward, subtly twisting and redirecting the seeping heat, energy storm, and neutron storm. At the same time, his figure blurred into something like hazy mist, enveloping Lucian and slipping into a "dream."
Within the inconceivably brilliant light and extreme temperatures at the heart of the Eternal Blazing Sun's detonation, the Shield of Truth, Lucian, and Rhein were rapidly vaporized — yet it felt like waking from a beautiful dream.
"True Dream"! "Night Shuttle"! The vampire race's two great innate abilities!
The roiling explosion destroyed the entire hall, tearing apart the surrounding gray walls and black doors into fragments. Drops of blood-yellow liquid dripped from the hall and the doors before quickly vaporizing.
Once the explosion subsided, the nearby gray walls writhed as though possessed of a life of their own, repairing everything. Before long, the area was exactly as it had been moments ago — only the silver-white magical runes on the floor were gone.
In another gray hall.
Out of the empty, featureless midair, the figures of Rhein and Lucian suddenly materialized. With a thud, both of them tumbled down, unable to control their fall, crashing hard enough to ache all over.
"I'm not dead? I actually tanked a hydrogen bomb head-on!" The pain confirmed to Lucian that he was truly alive. In his elation, though he didn't use the formal name "Eternal Blazing Sun" in his thoughts, but rather the most familiar, most habitual term — "hydrogen bomb."
"Cough." Rhein's hair was somewhat disheveled, but he still insisted on pulling out a white handkerchief to press against his mouth, coughing violently for a good while before he finally stopped and regained the ability to speak. "The 'Eternal Blazing Sun' you created really is the bane of undead creatures. Even with the Shield of Truth and the Hymn of the Night blocking it, I still became strangely weakened — I probably won't be able to use much of my power for the next hour or two."
This was only because of the vampire prince's exceptional recovery abilities. Any other vampire would have suffered skin burns and festering wounds long ago, ones that wouldn't heal for a very long time.
"Hymn of the Night?" Lucian glanced at Rhein's red coat. A deep, tranquil darkness still flowed across its surface — so that was the famous legendary leather armor of the vampire race. For some unknown reason, it had dropped from a fourth-tier peak legendary item to a third-tier high-grade epic armor. Without the defense it provided, Rhein and he would likely have suffered far more severe injuries.
At the thought, Lucian looked at the Shield of Truth in his hands. The dark, exquisitely patterned shield's surface was covered in deep scars, with multiple spots bearing vaporized craters. Clearly, it was unusable for the time being.
This brought Lucian some small relief — it seemed it hadn't been completely destroyed. Otherwise, he would have been utterly heartbroken. A high-tier legendary defensive item as specialized as the Shield of Truth had no substitute.
"Truly worthy of the Shield of Truth. Any other third-tier legendary item would have been completely vaporized." Rhein kept a wary eye on the surrounding black doors. Given their previous encounters — or perhaps just the monster's cruel sense of humor — it wouldn't appear out of thin air within the gray hall, but would instead meet its targets when the doors opened.
Lucian ran his fingers over the uneven surface. "The main reason is that its defensive principle differs from others — that's why it survived."
He silently added a thought: and that's why we're still alive.
The Eternal Blazing Sun was an area-of-effect attack; Spell Trigger and similar abilities might not have been able to dodge to the edge in time.
As they talked, Lucian took out a small, intricate alchemical house from his storage pouch and tossed it onto the floor in front of them.
The dark golden house rapidly expanded, quickly growing into a fully structured magical laboratory complete with alchemical workbenches.
"A portable alchemical platform?" Rhein asked, his curiosity piqued as he examined the laboratory while regaining his mobility.
Lucian nodded. "This expedition into the Netherworld naturally called for thorough preparation — such as what to do in the event of damaged equipment…"
This time, unlike the last time he'd been forced into an extra-dimensional space, Lucian wouldn't need to spend an eternity searching for materials to repair his magical items. He had selected and brought along the specific restoration materials for each piece of equipment.
"But we don't have time to stay — the monster could find us at any moment." Rhein was no longer as weakened as before; at the very least, the bat wings on his back could unfurl.