Chapter 56: 1,024x Damage!

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: 1,024x Damage!

Heinz frowned and spread his wings, preparing to take flight.

Ophelia immediately unleashed a torrent of Dragonflame, the purple-black flames pouring down like a waterfall and sealing off his escape route overhead.

The edges of the Dragonflame swept across Heinz’s wings, instantly scorching and curling a large portion of his pristine white feathers.

-39,740!

He let out a muffled grunt and was forced back down to the ground.

[Skill Activated: Metal Storm]

Heinz swept both hands outward. Metal fragments, broken iron shards, and debris from the exploded factory suddenly rose into the air, forming a rapidly spinning storm of metal around him before shooting outward in every direction.

-6,240!

-5,890!

-7,010!

The Dragon Knights at the front were struck head-on by the metal storm. Dozens of skeletal dragon mounts shattered instantly, crashing to the ground in piles of bones.

John’s fingers moved slightly.

The scattered bones immediately began to reassemble. The Dragon Knights mounted their restored skeletal dragons and launched another attack.

"Fire Mages."

John’s voice turned cold.

"Use your ground-targeted skills. Show him what we’ve got."

"Yes, sir!"

The Fire Mages simultaneously crouched down and pressed their hands against the ground.

A cluster of red flames suddenly erupted from the earth beneath Heinz, inside the ice prison.

The moment his white military boots touched the flames, black smoke began rising from their soles.

Burn damage numbers continuously appeared above his head.

-1,280!

-1,310!

-1,107!

[Burning Marks applied: 1 stack, 2 stacks, 3 stacks...]

"Frost Mages, tighten the ice prison!"

The ice walls continued closing in. The original twenty-meter enclosure gradually shrank to less than fifteen meters in diameter.

Heinz’s available space became increasingly limited. Every time he turned, he was almost brushing against the ice walls.

He let out a furious roar and pointed his surgical knife toward the sky.

A dazzling pillar of platinum holy light immediately appeared above his head.

[Skill Activated: Holy Light Judgment]

A massive pillar of platinum light descended from the heavens, spreading outward from his position and engulfing the entire ice prison.

-18,400!

-19,200!

-17,600!

More than a hundred Frost Mages inside the ice prison were instantly vaporized by the holy light.

The Fire Mages behind them were caught in the attack as well. More than a dozen were directly burned to ashes.

Even several Dragon Knights outside the enclosure were caught in the blast.

John stared at him expressionlessly.

"Go ahead. Fight. I can resurrect as many as you kill."

"How is that possible?!"

For the first time, Heinz’s voice carried genuine shock and anger.

John ignored him. With a wave of his hand, an icy blue magic formation appeared in front of him.

[Frostfall]

Within a twenty-meter radius beneath Heinz’s feet, an eight-second blizzard erupted out of nowhere.

Icy blue snowflakes mixed with blade-like ice crystals, swirling violently through the air.

-321!

-316!

-351!

The blizzard dealt 300 Frost Damage per second, while reducing Movement Speed by 60% and Attack Speed by 40%.

Heinz was already struggling under the combined pressure of the ice walls and flames. Now his movements were further restricted.

Every step felt as though he were walking through a frozen swamp.

"Dragon Knights, use Unstoppable Throw to pin down his wings!"

The Dragon Knights on both sides activated their skills simultaneously.

Dark purple auras of unstoppable force enveloped their bodies. Ten Dragon Knights charged through the opening in the ice walls, their skeletal dragons accelerating with powerful wingbeats as their lances thrust toward the base of Heinz’s wings.

Thrust!

-6,480!

-6,105!

Three dragon lances simultaneously pierced the joints at the base of his right wing.

The holy-light wing immediately faltered, and its platinum radiance visibly dimmed.

Heinz roared and swung his surgical knife, severing two of the dragon lances. However, the remaining Dragon Knights had already locked onto his left wing.

"Time’s up!"

John raised his head and looked toward the sky.

Ophelia’s Dragonflame had never stopped. The fiery net continued tightening, compressing the space above Heinz until there was less than five meters of clearance.

The ice walls, sea of flames, Frostfall, and Dragonflame net had combined into four overlapping layers of restrictions.

Heinz’s available movement area had been reduced to less than ten square meters.

Every time he moved, he had to break through a layer of ice, step across the flames, endure the freezing ground, and dodge the encroaching Dragonflame.

During the two seconds that he was being forcibly restrained, Raistlin had already raised his staff high into the air.

Red flames, blue ice...

Six different elemental forces began merging at the tip of his staff, gradually compressing into a single point of increasingly intense light.

Even the space surrounding that point began to distort.

"HEINZ!!!"

The old mage shouted hoarsely, his voice filled with hatred.

"TRY THIS!!!"

[Elemental Burst]

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

There was no sound.

The entire world seemed to have been muted.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!!!!

A massive pillar of light composed of six different elements erupted from the center of the enclosure, punching a hole more than a hundred meters in diameter through the red-black sky.

Shockwaves rapidly spread outward from the epicenter.

The ice walls collapsed one after another. The flames on the ground were instantly extinguished, only to reignite moments later as the shockwave passed.

When the light finally faded...

Only a single white feather remained, slowly drifting down from the sky.

[You have slain Apostle of Death·Heinz (Lv25·Boss·Clone)!]

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have completed the Class Advancement Trial (Hell Difficulty)!]

[System Notification: Lord Tyrant’s level cap has been increased to Lv30!]

[System Notification: Congratulations, Lord! You have unlocked an exclusive talent — [Myriad Layers of Slaughter]!]

[Myriad Layers of Slaughter (SSS)]

[Effect: Once the Lord enters combat, one Slaughter Mark is automatically accumulated every second.]

[Slaughter Mark: Each stack doubles the damage of all spells cast by the Lord. A maximum of 10 stacks can be accumulated. All 10 stacks can be reached within just 10 seconds. All stacks are cleared upon leaving combat.]

[In other words: After accumulating 10 stacks, a single skill cast can deal 2 to the power of 10, or 1,024 times its original damage!]

John’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw the new talent.

The damage-boosting ability he had been eagerly anticipating had finally arrived!

"I’ll have to test this out later."

[Ding!]

[Congratulations! You have received the First Clear Rewards:]

[Obtained: Six-Star Sharpshooter Unit Training License ×1.]

[Obtained: Six-Star Unit Altar Stone ×1.]

[Obtained: Six-Star Sharpshooter Legion Equipment — Cloudpiercer Bow (Grants a global bonus: Sharpshooter-type units’ Attack increased by 35%).]

[Obtained: Seven-Star Unit Training License ×1.]

[Obtained: Seven-Star Unit Altar Stone ×1.]

John first opened the Seven-Star Unit Training License.

[Corpse Exploder (Lv1·Seven-Star·Special Undead Unit)]

[Description: A gigantic undead creature assembled from corpses. Can store up to 10 corpses inside its body.]

[Active Skill: Corpse Bomb.]

[Description: Throws corpses stored inside its body toward a designated area. The corpses explode upon impact. Base explosion damage scales with the Star Rating and Level of the thrown corpses. The stronger the corpses, the more devastating the explosion.]

If he started collecting the corpses of high-star monsters during future dungeon runs...

John’s eyes began to gleam.

"These things are practically living siege missiles!"

He then turned his attention to the final reward.

[Obtained: God-Tier Chest ×1!]