Chapter 96: A Sky Island Hidden 4,200 Meters Above Their Heads?! A 1,024x Lightning Strike Deals Seven-Figure Damage!

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: A Sky Island Hidden 4,200 Meters Above Their Heads?! A 1,024x Lightning Strike Deals Seven-Figure Damage!

Ophelia folded her wings and dived downward, passing through the clouds before hovering a hundred meters above the wasteland.

John looked down.

Below them was an ordinary-looking Black Ironwood Forest. It appeared no different from any other forest in Misty Wasteland.

And yet, his current position perfectly matched the coordinates.

He reached into his inventory and took out the silver key.

[Would you like to use the Sky Island Key? Upon use, you will obtain permission to enter the Sky Island territory.]

"Use it."

The key exploded into a mass of silver light.

The light gathered before John, stretching and expanding until, within a few seconds, it condensed into an arched portal more than three meters tall.

The frame was translucent silver-white, while pale golden mist churned inside. Deep within the mist, a stone staircase could faintly be seen extending upward.

John glanced at the portal, then turned toward his heroes and jerked his chin.

"Stay close."

With that, he stepped through.

The sensation of weightlessness lasted only an instant. A flash of golden light passed before his eyes, and his feet landed on a solid stone staircase.

Once he regained his balance, John looked up.

The staircase extended from the portal exit all the way upward, ending in a dazzling expanse of light.

"Come on up!"

He turned and called out.

Ophelia emerged second, followed by Raistlin, Bladeborne, Sylvie, Arno, and Vira. One after another, they stepped through the portal.

As soon as the last person came through, the portal behind them silently contracted into a tiny silver dot before disappearing into the air.

John walked up several dozen steps.

The light above grew brighter and brighter until, with one final step beyond the staircase, the scenery suddenly opened up before him.

The sky was blue, and the clouds hung so low that they seemed almost within reach.

Farther away stretched a vast forest whose boundaries were impossible to make out.

After steadying himself, John turned toward Ophelia.

"Ophelia, transform and fly up to get a look at the entire island. Share your vision with me."

"Understood."

Purple flames erupted as the hundred-meter dragon soared into the sky.

John closed his eyes and activated their shared vision.

The entire island unfolded in his mind.

It was roughly twenty kilometers across. Not particularly large, but its terrain was astonishingly diverse.

At the very center was a vast, level clearing. A gray stone stele, more than ten meters tall, stood in the middle.

The area surrounding the stele was densely packed with monsters.

Red dots covered the forests, lakeshores, and hillsides. A quick estimate put their numbers at no fewer than 200,000.

John opened his eyes, his brows knitting together as he realized something.

"Wait. Something’s not right."

Sylvie stepped closer.

"What is it?"

"When we came here earlier, how did we never notice this place? Sure, the island isn’t particularly large, but there’s no way this many monsters could have gone unnoticed by everyone."

John crouched down and looked below them again.

"Ophelia, fly down into that Black Ironwood Forest and look straight up from directly beneath the island."

Through their shared vision, Ophelia dived back toward the Black Ironwood Forest they had just seen.

She raised her dragon head and looked upward.

There was nothing.

From below, all she could see was the sky and the clouds.

The entire island was completely transparent.

John drew in a sharp breath, his eyes lighting up.

"I knew it! We’ve explored this area before, yet we’ve never seen this island. So it turns out there’s a natural barrier concealing it."

He clapped his hands, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curling upward.

"That means from above, it looks like an ordinary island. From below, it looks like nothing but the sky. Unless someone specifically searches the upper atmosphere, who would ever think there’s an entire territory floating above their heads?"

John muttered to himself.

"And this is a growth-type floating island. There must be other secrets here. I’d wager they have something to do with that stone stele in the center."

The more John thought about it, the more he felt he’d struck gold.

He turned around, waved his hand, and immediately issued an order.

"All right, Ophelia, come back. Everyone split up and clear out the monsters on this island. Move quickly!"

The heroes acknowledged the order and dispersed.

Ophelia led the Dragon Knights toward the forest on the northern side.

-18,840!

-19,210!

-18,690!

The moment her Dragonflame descended, large numbers of Tree Wraiths were burned into charred husks.

At the lake in the east, Raistlin slowly walked to the water’s edge and pointed his staff toward the surface.

Six-colored elemental threads spread across the water, forcing all the monsters lurking at the bottom of the lake to reveal themselves.

More than a dozen giant swamp serpents, each as thick as a barrel, emerged from the water, accompanied by numerous shell-armored crab monsters crawling along the shore.

-15,200!

-16,840!

-14,350!

Raistlin’s expression didn’t change.

He simply waved his staff, and a hexagram formation unfolded above the lake. Six beams of elemental energy descended simultaneously.

Meanwhile, on the southern hills, Bladeborne activated Holy Light Charge and rushed straight into the monster horde.

A group of rock-armored lizards had made their nest there. Their bodies were covered in shells the same color as the surrounding rocks, making them almost impossible to distinguish when lying motionless on the ground.

Bladeborne swung his longsword, sending a silver-white blade of light sweeping across the battlefield.

-12,840!

Several lizards were cut cleanly in half.

The remaining creatures opened their mouths and spat out countless stone spikes.

More than a thousand Swordsman units immediately engaged them.

Taking advantage of the fact that the monsters were occupied, Bladeborne’s figure shifted repeatedly as he leaped from one stone spike to another, rapidly ascending the hillside.

With a single swing, he unleashed Radiant Judgment.

A fifty-meter-long silver-white blade of light descended, slicing away half the hillside.

-36,400! (Critical Hit!)

The entire group of lizards was wiped out on the spot.

In the western forest, Arno and Vira operated together.

Arno led the assassins in launching surprise attacks.

Vira followed behind, picking off the remaining targets. The small water-blue dragon dived through gaps in the tree canopy, unleashing Dragon Fang Rend in a straight-line slash.

-8,035!

-7,233!

-8,182!

She finished off all the monsters that Arno and his assassins had wounded but failed to kill.

As for John and Sylvie, they remained in the central clearing.

More than ten thousand monsters of various kinds were densely packed around the stone stele.

There were Ironbark Tree Wraiths from the northern forest, lizards from the southern hills, shell-armored crab monsters from the eastern lake, and countless others.

In front of them, thousands of units were unleashing their skills in succession.

"Perfect timing."

John wasn’t about to sit idle either.

He raised his right hand as lightning began gathering in his palm.

[Myriad Layers of Slaughter] activated.

During combat, one Slaughter Mark was accumulated every second.

John stood perfectly still, holding a mass of purple-white lightning in his right palm as he slowly accumulated power.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds...

The Slaughter Marks above his head continued stacking, one layer after another.

With each additional layer, the lightning in his palm grew brighter, while the surrounding air began crackling with electricity.

The monsters in the clearing also noticed him.

More than a hundred Ironbark Tree Wraiths dragged their heavy bodies toward him, their roots burrowing into the soil as they attempted to ensnare his feet.

John didn’t move.

He continued charging his spell.

"Seventh layer... eighth layer... ninth layer..."

The tenth second arrived.

[Slaughter Marks fully charged: 10 layers. Spell Damage Multiplier: 1,024x.]

The mass of lightning in John’s palm had become blindingly bright.

Purple-white electrical arcs crawled up his arm, illuminating half his face.

He turned his head and said something to Sylvie.

"Stay back."

Sylvie wasn’t a damage-dealing hero, and she knew there was no point getting in the way at a moment like this.

She obediently retreated.

John raised his hand and aimed at the approaching horde of monsters.

"Lightning Bolt!"

BOOOOM!!!

-1,120,260!

A seven-digit damage number exploded across the battlefield.