The sky shattered, and the void storm turned the entire heavens into a dark tempest, as if it were about to swallow the earth whole. The terrifying power was such that even fourth-rank players would be gravely injured—or killed outright—if they approached.
"Incredible!"
"A fourth-rank forbidden spell crushed with a single hand! Is this really a fourth-rank demon?!"
Everyone present stared at the Demon Lord Flobello, controlled by Shi Feng, and couldn't help but gasp. Flobello's power had completely shattered their understanding of what a fourth-rank Great Demon in the Divine Realm was capable of.
In truth, let alone the others, even Shi Feng himself was stunned.
"Amazing! The Demon Lord's control over mana has reached such a terrifying level—no wonder he's called a half-step Demon King. His true combat power is definitely at the fifth rank."
He had only wanted to control the mana enough to directly confront a fourth-rank forbidden spell. But after condensing that giant mana hand, he'd been able to crush the forbidden spell with ease—the power was beyond anything he could have imagined.
But what was truly impressive was the mana Flobello himself had condensed. Its intensity was significantly greater than the mana produced by his Sacred Devour skill.
And this was just mana condensed casually, without any mana combat technique to further compress it.
If he'd used a mana combat technique, the power would have been unimaginable—possibly reaching mid-fifth-rank level.
After all, even when a supreme legendary monster used a fourth-rank forbidden spell, its power only reached the entry level of the fifth rank—just slightly above the fifth-rank threshold that a fourth-rank player would need to cross. It couldn't reach true early-fifth-rank power.
But the mana hand he'd just used was genuinely early-fifth-rank. If its power could reach mid-fifth-rank, a single strike would probably turn thousands of yards of sky into nothing.
Feeling Flobello's overwhelming power, Shi Feng couldn't help but revel in it.
The sensation was intoxicating—the clarity and affinity with mana, the way the operating principles of magical elements became crisp and transparent rather than vague. This was nothing like what a fourth-rank body could compare to.
"If I could maintain this state permanently, I probably wouldn't even need an hour or two before my Mana Body broke past the 100% limit. I might even push my mana control further and attempt to become a Grandmaster Mage."
The gap in constitution and life tier couldn't be bridged by basic stats alone.
If basic stat improvements were addition and subtraction, then constitution and life tier improvements were multiplication and division—the difference in combat power was measured in multiples, even tenfold or more.
This was why the dragon race had always remained a peak species. Even with identical base stats, dragons were vastly stronger than humans. This was also why dragons, fallen angels, and similar beings could dominate at the same rank—or even fight above their tier.
A Demon Lord's life tier likely approached that of a dragon.
However, before Shi Feng could fully savor this glorious moment, a sharp pain lanced through the depths of his brain, turning his face pale and nearly sending him stumbling to the ground.
"As expected, the system won't let players stay immersed in that state for long."
Shi Feng assessed his mental state and degree of soul contamination, and inwardly smiled bitterly.
He'd only manipulated Flobello's mana briefly—for less than three seconds total—yet his mental exhaustion had dropped by more than 10%, and the dark energy in his soul had grown significantly, equivalent to about a third of the corrosive effect from summoning the Demon Lord.
After Shi Feng shattered Todelia's fourth-rank forbidden spell, Todelia was momentarily horrified. But as he watched Shi Feng's aura drop once more, the six eyes of his three heads narrowed slightly, as if sensing that Shi Feng's condition wasn't as good as it seemed.
Immediately, Todelia's three heads began chanting another fourth-rank forbidden spell, intent on seizing this opportunity to finish Shi Feng off.
"You think I'll give you another chance?" Shi Feng turned to look at Todelia and once again channeled the dark energy from his soul to connect with Flobello's Source of Darkness.
In an instant, the aura of the Flobello under Shi Feng's control surged back to its peak. The terrifying pressure was enough to make Huanyu, Bumie Zhanxin, and the others tremble even hundreds of yards away.
"Go down!"
Without another word, Shi Feng had Flobello swing the Black Flame Spear in his hand, channeling the surrounding endless mana and dark energy into a devastating strike.
For this attack, Shi Feng had even incorporated the Light and Shadow mana technique.
Because he was controlling Flobello indirectly, he couldn't execute the complete technique—but its power was still several tens of percent greater than the mana hand from before.
A phantom image of a massive spear descended from the sky, slamming directly into Todelia. Todelia couldn't even dodge—the full force of the blow drove his entire body into the earth...
Thousands of yards of ground split apart in jagged cracks, and everyone felt as though heaven and earth themselves were crumbling. They collapsed to the ground, unable to even steady themselves.
Once the dust settled, where Todelia had stood there was now a meteor crater over three hundred yards in radius, plunging dozens of meters into the earth. Only Todelia's three heads remained above the surface.
-1,165,446,428!
A damage figure of over 1.1 billion slowly rose from Todelia's heads. His health bar had visibly dropped by a huge chunk, and even his life force had weakened noticeably.
"Holy crap! The captain is insane—he can even summon a demon like this!" Gu Jiuji stared at the scene and the damage numbers, clicking his tongue in disbelief. "At this rate, he probably won't even need ten more hits to finish the fight!"
A boss that had forced them to flee for their lives had just been beaten into a dying dog in a single blow. In its weakened state, its stats had to be reduced by at least 30%—the gap was like they were in different worlds.
"Alright, everyone who can activate burst skills, do it now! Attack the boss alongside the Demon Lord—we have to take him down in one wave, or none of us will survive!" Shi Feng collapsed to the ground as well, calling out weakly through party chat.
That last strike had been his full-power blow. Using the Light and Shadow technique had cost him an additional 30% of his mental energy on top of the further dark energy buildup. Right now, he was utterly exhausted—simply maintaining control of Flobello had taken everything he had.