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“Damn, I didn’t expect that little girl to be so troublesome. That nearly killed me,” Mint cursed, jumping out from the pool. His clothes were burnt to tatters.

He spat angrily, his face was now marred with a fresh, reddish burn mark, making him look particularly fearsome.

“You’re the first to scar my face, little girl,” he growled.

“Oh, is that so? Then you’d better remember this moment. Because it’s not just your face that’s going to be scarred next,” Lilith retorted coolly.

Mint sneered. “Hmph, big words. I’ll make sure to leave a lasting mark on your pretty little face. You’ll be begging for mercy soon enough.”

He waved his lance, and a golden dragon phantom began to rise around him, accompanied by a faint dragon’s roar.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a fierce wind whipped through the underground space. The pool’s water and the vines on the ground were swept up into a terrifying tornado, with the dragon’s roar growing louder amidst the chaos.

Lilith shut her eyes, her blonde hair fluttering in the wind.

Debris and fallen leaves tossed by the tornado disintegrated before they could even touch her.

She then began to levitate, her hair settling as the violent winds could no longer reach her.

“How annoying,” she remarked coldly. “Even for an imitation, it is rather unconvincing.”

“What?” Mint, witnessing Lilith’s ascent, suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart..

Lilith slowly opened her eyes again, and a rich golden light flashed through them.

ROAR!

In that moment, a deafening roar echoed, nearly rupturing everyone’s eardrums.

Mint staggered, nearly losing consciousness from the force of the roar. When he regained his senses, he found the tornado around him had vanished, and his dragon phantom’s fearsome roar had turned into a faint whimper.

“What’s… happening?” Mint’s face paled as his mind struggled to grasp the situation.

It was at this moment, Lilith raised her hand.

“[ Let it burn ]”
“[ Let it melt ]”
“[ Let it explode ]”

The complex syllables Lilith spoke echoed like an ancient song. Each word seemed to weave a tale of ages gone by, but also heralding an imminent destruction.

Everyone present on the scene had to squint, because the sun itself had been reborn in that moment.

“[ Face your judgment ]”

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Mint, get back!”

A strained voice rang out from behind Mint, but he seemed frozen. His gaze was locked on the blazing sun before him. Like a mesmerizing spectacle of countless long dragons, it coiled around everything in sight—rocks, strange vines, pools of water, even the air itself.

Each object, engulfed by the flames, seemed to feed and fuel the sun, drawn toward it in a powerful pull.

The sun swelled in size, and there stood Lilith, seemingly an easy target moments ago, now holding the sun in her hand as she delivered what appeared to be divine retribution.

The heat was unbearable. Mint’s hair had caught fire and that jolted him back to reality.

“WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEECK?! How did she conjure a sun?” he yelled as he patted out the flames in his hair and retreated rapidly.

“W-What’s going on? How could that little girl produce a sun of that magnitude? Did I lose my memory or something?”

“Could it be a saint-level magic?” Myre pondered, biting her nails.

“But the Immaculate Tree Domain didn’t react, so it’s likely below saint-level,” she reasoned.

“W-Well, the Immaculate Tree Domain could make mistakes!” Looking at the colossal sun that seemed capable of devouring everything, Mint’s legs nearly gave out.

Could something that seemed capable of melting everything really be below saint-level?

“That’s unlikely,” Myre replied, tugging her hair in frustration.

“The Immaculate Tree Domain is a demigod artifact. It’s extremely unlikely that it would make a mistake. I’m more convinced that she had used some method that is unknown to us.” Myre then paused briefly before continuing, “Of course, it’s also possible that she’s indeed that powerful.”

Moore interjected grimly, “No time for theories now. Just look at this place. Using such explosive magic in a confined space like this is either madness or a suicide ploy. If she truly possessed power far beyond ours, why resort to such desperate measures?”

“So, you’re saying that… this is part of their strategy?” Calvin asked.

“Exactly,” Moore nodded in agreement. “With the protection of the Immaculate Tree Domain, we’re not in immediate mortal danger. But getting hit by that kind of spell could still disqualify us… Hmph, sacrificing one to eliminate four… That’s a pretty advantageous move for them.”

“What about Princess Estelle?”

“I’m afraid the enemy has plans for her too,” Moore replied grimly.

“Hey, is this the time for such discussions? Our eyebrows are getting burned, you better start panicking!” Mint interrupted as he frantically tried to save his eyebrows. He would be truly hairless if he lost even his eyebrows to the fire.

“The intensity of that magic actually exposes the enemy’s vulnerability. Burst Magic needs time to build up power and heat. The enemy isn’t invincible.”

Drawing in a deep, hot breath, Moore glanced at his teammates. “Myre, Calvin, and I will disrupt her Burst Magic. Calvin, cast Divine Protection on me. Myre, work on disrupting the magic array. Mint, focus on attacking the enemy directly. Now, go!”

As soon as Moore finished speaking, he charged toward the colossal sun.

With every step closer to the sun, the intense heat threatened to melt him.

Moore maximized his battle qi output for protection, channeling nearly all his energy into defense. In typical battles, his battle qi was strong enough to withstand countless attacks from enemies of equal strength, but against the overpowering sun, his normally invisible qi began to glow with an orange fire.

“DIVINE PROTECTION!” Calvin’s voice rang out calmly behind him. A soft, golden light enveloped Moore, bringing an immediate sense of relief as the once scorching air cooled around him.

The Divine Protection was a supreme divine art from the Luminous Theocracy, forcefully taken away from the Pope by the Fifth Holy Dragon Emperor. After a minor modification, the Fifth Emperor bestowed it upon his personal knight guards and it was passed down to this day.

Its absolute defense was legendary, promising unbreakable protection until the caster’s downfall.

Despite its power, the skill was difficult to master, draining to use, and required the caster to remain stationary.

Moore felt a surge of relief. Calvin Rudolph, a member of the Dragon Armor Knights and trusted royal guard, had always been a source of assurance for the team.

Myre pressed closely against Moore’s back, gently wrapping her arms around him as she used Moore’s battle qi and the Divine Protection skill to protect herself.

A radiant spectrum of magical colors emanated from her, forming intricate lines and creating a complex spell array behind her.

With her eyes closed, Myre focused intently on her task, constructing the spell array.