Chapter 272. Four Against One

Chapter 272: 272. Four Against One

Above the royal palace, Jake had his arms folded as he watched the inner garden. Yvonne, Bors and Zevik floated a few meters away from him, also paying attention.

At this moment, a foreign mana signature shot upwards from an unused water well at the center of the vast garden. It was one of the exits from the underground dungeon!

Two contrasting figures flew upward from the well, landing on the soft field of grass. One was a middle-aged crowned man with a strikingly familiar appearance, while the other was relatively young with a thin, angular face.

Although the latter man looked like a homeless tramp, everyone’s expressions turned grim after seeing him.

"Great." Dominik looked up, seemingly delighted. "We have visitors."

"Invaders, you mean." A sudden whisper sounded beside him, causing the cursed prince to narrow his eyes.

"Estrovien!" Dominik flicked his left hand while simultaneously chanting an occult word.

Tiny hexagonal magic cells numbering thousands immediately coalesced into a shield behind his back, deflecting a draconic claw with ease.

Sparks lit up on the ground which was followed by a metallic shockwave, fluttering both Dominik and Averon’s clothes.

The Grimbow King only now realised the attack and took the opportunity to put some distance. But before he could compose himself, a concentrated mana pressure immobilized him.

Whoosh!

Quickly tapping a few times, Zevik injected his 5th Circle mana into Averon II’s body. A 4th Circle Knight, who would be hailed as a powerhouse anywhere he went, was now no different from a common man.

"Don’t kill him yet. I have some uses for him." A deep masculine voice came from a few yards away.

"It’s best that you don’t move, or my mana will turn into countless small blades, butchering your body from inside out." Zevik made a dangerous gesture to the solemn king before turning into a smoky afterimage.

"Interesting..." Dominik put his hands behind his back, standing barefooted on the ground as he turned back, left and right before facing Jake who stood at the front.

"A rare demodragon, a chromatic red dragon, a radiant knight, and a great assassin... What an honor it is." The cursed prince didn’t seem flustered in the slightest when being besieged by four 5th Circlers.

"Oh, isn’t that Bors-"

Before that sentence could be finished, the Storm Holder raised his sword and slashed. A dark blue aura blade cleaved its way to the unkempt man.

Dominik rotated his raised palm, catching the blade with his index and middle fingers. At the same time, a complex magic circle appeared beneath his feet.

The dark blue mana that actually made the aura blade was attracted to the magic circle, dispersing the attack as if it had reached the natural end of its life.

"Something is wrong." Dominik stepped forward, instantly materializing beside Bors.

"You’ve been corrupted. Very interesting-" The thin man once again raised his palm without looking in that direction.

A gigantic humanoid projection appeared. It was entirely grey, armored to the brim. This ethereal being raised its heavy tower shield, blocking the draconic fire.

Dominik didn’t seem to care for the outcome as he talked at an unhurried pace.

"Unlike mine, your corruption stems from an external source. Hmm, spirit parasitism... Very innovative."

He was like a scholar inspecting recent achievements in magic.

"This method of separating a corruption seed seems similar to those from proto-abyssal creatures."

Dominik once again raised his hand and glacial ice grew from the ground, restricting Zevik’s sneak attack and forcing him to withdraw.

At the same time, the thin prince made rapid hand signs, clashing with a dark afterimage. His and Jake’s body began flashing on the inner garden, creating loud shockwaves.

"Even after centuries of imprisonment, your mind is still sharp." Jake seemed rather impressed as he clenched his fist, immediately taking control of his opponent’s blood flow.

"My mind is my blade." Dominik simply placed a standard two-finger seal on his middle chest, from where a grey halo expanded outward, blocking the Blood Manipulation.

"Elemental or elementary, I’m not sure." He sarcastically laughed.

However, that laughter turned out loud and hearty, as if he had already won the battle. Dominik’s expression turned grave while he was still laughing. It made him look even more psychotic.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

After this short exchange of moves, another round of attacks by Yvonne, Bors, and Zevik followed.

"Let’s see if you can match my pride." Jake disappeared and reappeared beside Dominik.

Instead of attacking the man, he intercepted whatever defensive spells this warlock used. This caught the cursed prince by surprise but he was still quick enough to dodge most of the attacks, relying on instant casting.

For the first time, Dominik’s countenance lacked that casualness. He appeared tense but also excited for some reason.

’Let’s lure him out first. It’s not suitable to use greater magic here. I want the palace intact.’ Jake used magipathy to communicate with his subordinates.

’As you command.’

The next second, all four of them descended near Dominik.

Bors immediately created a violent mini storm to create spatial disturbance that disallowed the warlock from using blink spells.

At the same time, Zevik and Yvonne chained the cursed prince with their smoky and fiery mana respectively.

Of course, this immobilization couldn’t last more than two seconds. Dominik had already half-chanted a force spell that would directly break him free.

However, Jake obviously couldn’t miss this chance. Knowing that it was impossible to actually harm the warlock in such a short window of time, Jake instead flashed behind the old prince.

Just as the demodragon touched the restricted man, everyone except Averon disappeared from the palace’s garden, leaving behind a great blast of energy.

With the force spell disrupted, Dominik suffered from a mana backlash, causing him to remain in stasis for slightly more than a second.

When the combatants randomly appeared in the skies outside the city, the first to react wasn’t Jake. This was because he was also in a similar state as Dominik due to having used Greater Teleportation on four other 5th Circlers.

Thus, in that narrow span of time, only Zevik, Bors and Yvonne were free to react.

The dragon girl didn’t even think as she pushed her master backwards before roasting the warlock with her draconic breath.

Zevik was even faster. His signature move, Nine Lotus Slash, once again created gashes in the space around Dominik before suddenly transfixing on his body.

The corrupted Bors was able to wield Dark Lightning because of his wind and thunder affinity. Even though he was late, his attack was the most potent and eye-catching.

Boom!

The vertical sword slash imbued with dark lightning was so loud that all the human warriors hiding in the walls’ rubble simultaneously looked up in fright.

This happened in a miniscule amount of time. Nobody in the surroundings would’ve been able to react if these attacks were targeted at them.

And right now, Dominik didn’t seem to be an exception as well. Just as he recovered from the mana backlash, he was bombarded with all kinds of skills.

In no time, Dominik’s mangled and almost unrecognizable body fell from the sky and landed roughly near a wheat field.

"I thought he had something up his sleeve." Jake frowned, not expecting such an easy victory.

Well, to be honest, this was a four against one scenario. Maybe he overestimated this mysterious sealed warlock...

’No!’

Jake and the others sharply turned their heads toward the ground. There, Dominik’s ’corpse’ stood back up and cracked its neck.

The wounds on his body were so deep that one could see organs pulsating inside. The fire and thunder had charred his entire flesh, making him look like a human made out of coal.

"Not too bad..." Dominik took a deep breath before he looked up and smiled before suddenly disappearing.