Chapter 259 Terror Construct VS. Dream Beast-02
As Sloth's power began to manifest, her mana formed a connection to an unknown place—a place known to every person but only briefly visited in the night. This place was none other than the 'Dream Realm.'
For magekind, the Dream Realm was a tangible space that could be visited with full lucidity if one prepared adequately before falling asleep, yet it remained as mysterious as the ocean depths to the scientist and explorer.
Some mages, possessing the rare 'Dream' Origin element, could even bring something from the Dream Realm into reality. The connection Sloth established was not just a manifestation of her anger; it was a gateway to the ethereal realm where dreams and reality intertwined, a space where the boundaries between the waking world and the realm of dreams blurred and bent to the will of those who dared to tread there.
"Stop her! She's trying to summon something from the dream realm!" Eisenhart shouted in panic.
The Hightower mages swiftly discarded their black robes. These garments suppressed their magic power, preventing detection by local forces such as the Hightower branch in Southeast Asia or the Syndicate Union. Both were vigilant authorities monitoring mage activities in their respective regions.
"We have, at best, 5 minutes before we're detected. Stop her and complete the mission before then," Eisenhart urgently warned his accomplices, emphasizing the need for swift action as time was not on their side.
These mages were loyalists from the Path of Knowledge faction. Currently, their faction leader had been stripped of his Grand Councilor authority, rendering him unable to command anyone from his faction outside his territory on the North America East Coast.
If caught here, they would have no escape, and their faction would likely face dissolution if the London Hightower discovered their trespass into the Southeast Asia region. Currently, they were at most High Councilors. If Golden Scale caught them, mercy would be in short supply, similar to Cyrus's fate.
Eisenhart and his accomplices, realizing the urgency of the situation, swiftly conjured spells in an attempt to incapacitate Sloth before she completed the connection to the dream realm. Fireballs erupted, lightning bolts crackled, and icicle spears materialized, hurtling toward Sloth with lethal intent.
However, as the magical onslaught descended upon her, a protective shield, generated from Sloth's wheelchair, shimmered into existence. The shield deflected the fireballs, absorbed the electrical charge of the lightning bolts, and rendered the icicle spears harmless. Sloth, seemingly encased in a magical cocoon, remained untouched by the assault, her connection to the dream realm undisturbed.
Eisenhart ground his teeth, recognizing that overcoming Sloth's defenses demanded a level of firepower beyond their initial attempts. However, a delicate balance hung in the air—they were hesitant to unleash overwhelmingly powerful magic, fearing it could imperil Sloth's life and render their mission futile.
The relentless countdown to their impending detection heightened the urgency, compelling them to concoct a swift and effective plan or face the dire consequences of failure.
In a decisive moment, Eisenhart bellowed his command, a proclamation resonating with the weight of responsibility. "All of you! Unleash the full force of your specialized magic! Should she fall, I will bear the consequences!"
With this charge, the mages wasted no time, each conjuring their unique arcane mastery. An 'Earth' mage manipulated the very ground beneath him, shaping a colossal stone spear that stretched ten meters in length before hurtling it towards Sloth.
Simultaneously, a wielder of 'Rot' origin element cast a spell to decay the magic shield, causing its mana efficiency to rapidly erode. Meanwhile, a mage attuned to the 'Water' Origin Element, regarded as one of the most potent, seized control of the water coursing through the main pipes of the foodie street. In a dramatic display, the water surged, thrusting out the fire hydrant, which the 'water' mage harnessed to fuel a mighty hydro blade, slashing relentlessly at Sloth's formidable magical barrier.
Boooom!!!
The clash of specialized magic against Sloth's indomitable defenses reverberated through the street, a grand clash of mystical forces echoing in the air. The ground quaked, breaking as concrete beneath Sloth's wheelchair shattered in a long line, as if a razor-sharp giant sword had cleaved through it.
Her shield shook, reverberating, and its potency was clearly lessened as the water blade drained a significant amount of mana reserves from the wheelchair.
At that moment, the giant stone spear hurtled toward the shield after the mage had repeatedly used his magic to harden its hardness, increasing its destructive power to an incredible degree.
The 'earth' mage quickly raised the earth spear high into the sky. At this moment, he used his magic power to push the stone spear down with tremendous force and the aid of gravity. The moment the tip of the spear touched the magic shield, it created a reverberating sound of explosion.
"Arrrrrrrrrgggghh!!!" Sloth screamed as she also used magic in her body to supplement the strength of the shield and to maintain the connection. Simultaneously, she maintained her mana to support both the shield and the establishing connection, making her vulnerable.
At that moment, a great sense of fatigue and sluggishness hit her as her mana, usually used to suppress her curse of slothfulness, was depleted. But she used her willpower to try to establish a connection with the dream realm before falling into a deep slumber as darkness took her.
Then, a light blue arrow flew from a far distance with unbelievable speed. The moment the light arrow made contact with the stone spear, without any sound and only a flash of blue light, it immediately cracked the stone spear, transforming it into nothing but sand, dirt, and shattered small stones.
"What!?" Eisenhart shouted in surprise. The blue light arrow that flew from outside their magic barrier had pierced it as if it was nothing. It shattered the earth mage's stone spear, turning it into nothing but a pile of useless dirt and sand, harmlessly deflecting from Sloth's magic shield.
But that's good too, since he knew that Sloth had already lost consciousness. The next thing he needed to do was bring Sloth to their extraction point.
Contrary to his expectations, a very thick mist suddenly settled, obscuring the surrounding area. He detected a very concentrated mana within all of these mists surrounding them. The Hightower mages were startled, quickly forming a circle, back to back, guarding each other as they encountered this phenomenon for the first time. None of the lessons within the Hightower academy had prepared them for this.
Munch… Munch… Crunch!
The unsettling sounds of flesh being crunched and bones cracking echoed through the air, accompanied by the squelching of liquid beneath someone's or something's steps. The mages' eyes fixated on the shadow, struggling to discern whether it belonged to a person or something more otherworldly. The forms before them distorted, revealing humanoid figures with three legs or hunched bipeds with large, dog-like mouths. They moved ominously toward the direction where Sloth's wheelchair had been.
In response to this ghastly sight, Eisenhart swiftly employed wind magic to disperse the surrounding mist.
Screeechhh!! ROaarrr!!
As the mist dissipated, an unimaginable horror unfolded before them. Ugly and grotesque creatures were revealed, feasting on their unsuspecting comrades who had succumbed to Sloth's sleeping spell in an attempt to capture her.
The creatures' skin, initially concealed by the mist, exposed itself to the air and began to burn. In pain and fury, they retreated into the remaining mist, their screams and roars echoing within.
Even more bewildering was Sloth's condition. She lay soundly within a transparent cocoon, guarded by a nightmarish humanoid creature adorned with twisted tree vines and root-like cloaks. Its face concealed by a goat bone mask, the creature's red-glowing eyes stared malevolently at the intruders but remained motionless, standing sentinel behind Sloth like a loyal bodyguard.
Upon witnessing this surreal scene, Eisenhart could only utter a warning, "Don't step into the mist." His comrades nodded in acknowledgment, now acutely aware of the eerie and perilous situation surrounding them.
Eisenhart, now composed and with a collected demeanor, issued a decisive command.
"Use wind shields to disperse the mist around us. We must retreat immediately!" Eisenhart directed, simultaneously preparing his next spell—his trump card, meticulously crafted for potential encounters with Daniel, the most formidable mage in the city.
"But... What about Sloth!? We haven't achieved our objective yet. Abandoning this opportunity means we may never get another chance!" protested one of his comrades, a fervent loyalist of Cyrus willing to sacrifice even his life for the Path of Knowledge faction.
"You can continue the mission, but I'm out. This area will soon be under the complete influence of the dream realm. And that goat bone-masked creature? It's Sloth's Dream beast. Good luck fighting a Dream beast within a realm so heavily influenced by the dream realm," Eisenhart sarcastically remarked as he opened two prepared suitcases, revealing a patch of dried skin of some creature and a black-red substance used to form a terror construct.
With Eisenhart's command echoing through the chaotic mist, the black substance from his suitcases surged and absorbed a patch of dried creature skin. The once formless substance began to take shape, coalescing into a nightmarish figure—the Lernaean Hydra. Its multiple serpent heads twisted and writhed, each one exuding an otherworldly aura. The black substance seemed to mimic the scaly texture of the creature's skin, and its eyes glowed with an eerie intensity.
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