Chapter 672

Chapter 672: Arrival

"The distortion reaction test has concluded. It remains within the C-level distortion object range and has not significantly increased due to distance. The erosion ability of the distortion object is still in effect. Members of the sealing team, please maintain your magic power and keep your spells activated at all times, or there may be damage."

"Start the operation!"

Gunter and the six others immediately set off; they were all ace Mages, skilled in constantly operating their magic power without needing reminders.

Magic power is the only means humans have to suppress distortion objects, and without complete mastery, one has no right to join the sealing team for missions.

"Unfold the sealing technique!"

Due to the distance, the five Mages directly initiated the sealing technique, bright golden magical symbols transformed into spreading trails.

They moved in different directions, causing the sealing technique to spread like an umbrella, encompassing the entire island.

With the sealing technique, the smaller the sealing space, the stronger the effect. As the scale increases, five ace Mages could even seal an entire city.

Since this was just an island with a diameter of a few hundred meters, they needed no preliminary preparations and could directly execute the sealing technique.

"The distortion reaction is suppressed!"

"The distortion reaction is rapidly decreasing!"

"It has dropped below one thousand!"

"It has dropped below five hundred!"

"The sealing is complete!"

The sealing was completed without any doubt; the golden sealing technique enveloped the whole island like a dream, fully suppressing the effect of the distortion object, the "house."

As long as they figured out the operational rules of the distortion object, even a team led by an A-level Mage, or even the lowest-ranked D-level Mage, could complete the sealing.

However, no matter what, to cope with unexpected situations, there had to be a Mage above the distortion object’s level present. Otherwise, if a disaster occurred, there would be no opportunity to send a message, potentially causing unimaginable losses.

Ya Guang, the magical battleship sailing the ocean, usually had a strong sealing team, and this mission was even accompanied by an A-level Mage, making it seem like there was absolute certainty of success. There appeared to be no chance of any accidents.

But this thought lasted only a brief moment.

In the distance, a bullet adorned with Silver Patterns and gleaming silver light streaked across the sky like a meteor and suddenly struck the golden sealing technique.

"Not good! It’s an anti-sealing bullet! Enemy attack! Target identity… How could this happen? It’s the military of an allied nation! Are they trying to start a war in our territorial waters?!"

Yuan Yangjun, a B-level Mage, shouted in alarm. He closed one eye; as a perception-type Mage, he could illustrate scenes using his magic power.

However, this perspective comes with the risk of being affected by distortion objects, and he could only use the perception magic for this instant, relying on Ya Guang for technical support afterward.

"Steel Wall, Wall of Will!"

Todd Wendell reacted quickly, placing his hands together on the ground, and with a rumble, a steel wall rose up, transforming the entire island into a war barrier.

A material interference-type magic!

The following second bullet was blocked, but it still erupted with astonishing power, directly erasing a section of the steel wall about one meter in diameter.

"Allied forces are interfering; this is troublesome. This sense of distance… is it a point three thousand meters away?"

Gunter threw away his cigarette. Magic has strengths and weaknesses; typically, a Mage specializes in one type of magic. His interference range was too extensive, and if he wanted to strike something three thousand meters away, he would likely need to erase everything here, even affecting Ya Guang.

The correct response was clear; they needed to complete the sealing immediately and take the distortion object away, ending the fight right there.

However, he also knew things would not progress that smoothly. The enemy’s timing indicated they aimed to make them deal with both the distortion object and the attack.

"Boom!"

A fire meteor fell from the sky, shattering a part of the Steel Wall, causing Todd to frown.

This power is not the level of ordinary material interference magic!

The Steel Wall and the Wall of Will are material interference magic infused with his will. Shattering them requires an equal level of will.

Is the opponent also an ace Mage?

This is bad. Why did this operation get leaked, allowing the enemy to infiltrate successfully? Is the alliance’s coastal defense just for show?

"Boom!"

Another loud noise erupted as a figure stepped out from the Steel Wall; it was a young white man, dropping a large weapon and looking down at everyone. "Members of the sealing team, what a coincidence to meet you here!"

Gunter and the others frowned, recognizing the identity of the young man.

Hilo from the Thunder!

A national-level Mage of the American Alliance, reportedly just a step away from becoming a restricted-level Mage, limited only by his magic not reaching its full power due to the environment, not his own strength. He is a formidable expert with significant deterrent power internationally.

But since he has shown up, his two teammates are probably here too, right?

Those two ace Mages could join him to unleash a restricted-level magic!

The previous fire meteor must have been Abub from the Meteor!

Where is the other one, Padira from the Wind?

This is not good.

Hilo is a wide-area Mage, and there is no need for him to appear…

"You are correct in your assumptions. I appear before you because it’s all over, Gunter, and all of you renowned ace Mages."

"Today, you will all stay here!"

A house suddenly opened, and a long-haired man stepped out heavily, each footfall seeming to pound heavily in everyone’s hearts.

Accompanied by a massive wind and swirling mist, he roared into the sky and landed beside Hilo.

The wind howled, dark clouds gathered, and in an instant, they obscured the sky.

Weather interference in material magic!

This must be Padira from the Wind!

"They have already controlled the distortion objects and set a trap. Is there someone betraying the alliance’s higher-ups? This joke is not funny."

Gunter took off his glasses and shot instantly, a dark beam piercing everything and hitting the two, but it went straight through.

It’s an illusion!

"Dammit, don’t let me find out who is behind this, or I will make them understand the horrors of ancient torture!!!"

Todd seethed with anger.

"Stop complaining; this is a fully-formed super thunderstorm magic, genuine restricted-level magic. Let’s survive first before worrying about anything else!"

Julia also tossed aside her glasses, crushing them underfoot, her voice cold.

Todd’s lips twitched.

His magic relies on steel for defense, and in this environment, he faces the greatest disadvantage, having no room to maneuver at all.

"Magic activated!"

Yuan Yangjun shouted.

In the sky, lightning swirled like fearsome thunder dragons, causing everyone present to feel a chill.

The super thunderstorm creates a special environment to maximize the efficiency of lightning magic. Once completed, the lightning can strike targets at nearly the speed of light, leaving no possibility of evasion; they can only rely on magic for defense.

However, the problem is that modern defensive magic is generally weaker than offensive magic. Even conceptual defensive magic requires magic power to support it. Who can compare in magic power to a national-level Mage at the pinnacle?

Boom!

Lightning fell down, with no less than seventeen arcs of lightning flashing through the air. No…

To be accurate, it was pillars of lightning!

The ten-meter-wide pillars pierced the sky, resembling the thunder god’s heavenly punishment, as they fell and completely evaporated the island.

With such a scale of lightning, no isolation material or grounding method would work; everything was vaporized!

"Ahhhhh!"

The crowd screamed in agony. They had already used all their magic for resistance, but the effects were far from ideal. Two people died instantly.

One was Todd. His defensive magic, related to metal, could redirect the current, but the opponent had already anticipated this possibility and shattered his technique, leading to his vaporization by the terrifying current.

The other was Yuan Yangjun. As a sensing Mage, he excelled in sealing magic, not defensive magic. At that moment, everyone was scattered due to the need to seal distortion objects and couldn’t support each other, leaving him to die alone.

Gunter, a national-level Mage, distorted and absorbed the surrounding lightning with his Over-compression magic. The remaining residual power was blocked by his magic armor.

The other three, Julia and Noah stood together. As a puppeteer, Julia could use puppets to take hits, but with such large-scale destructive magic, they couldn’t move far enough; both person and puppet would be struck dead. But a miracle happened; after the lightning struck, Noah’s unique ability activated, completely absorbing the lightning, allowing her to avoid death in the thunderstorm.

The last one was Pang Fan. He hadn’t spoken a word throughout but displayed impressive magical skill. Despite being a physical enhancement Mage, he endured the heavenly thunder without any risk to his life.

After the seventeen pillars of lightning enveloped everything, the attacks continued to come in succession, with several more lightning pillars targeting the three.

"To cast such a grand scale of magic without needing time to recharge?"

"If we keep being so passive, we’re doomed, captain!" Julia shouted.

"Over-compression!"

Gunter fired three shots, tearing through the three Steel Walls in search of the hidden Hilo and his companions, but found nothing. He spat and walked straight toward the house, activating the golden sealing technique once again.

As expected, a silver bullet descended, aimed at Gunter to prevent him from sealing the distortion objects. At the same time, numerous projectiles shot from Ya Guang’s direction, covering and striking the source of the silver bullet, supporting the sealing team members.

This situation distracted Hilo, who turned to shatter the projectiles with lightning, preventing his teammates from being bombarded.

"Julia!"

Gunter called out.

Julia nodded, taking the opportunity to maneuver the white-haired boy through the lava towards the house.

During this process, everything around Noah began to distort, continuously pulling in.

The boy named Noah had the trait of containing everything; whatever posed a danger, he could neutralize through absorption. The only issue was that this absorption would lead to an explosion after a period, causing part of his body to suddenly vanish.

The more power he absorbed, the more he would lose.

Noah had filled the lost parts of his body with magic from previous experiments, but in an urgent battle, there was clearly no time to save anyone.

Moreover, the experiments had never contained distortion objects. According to their judgment, distortion objects should have no levels; regardless of how high or low the absorption was, it would ultimately lead to Noah’s complete annihilation.

However, this was not the time to hesitate. They needed to use what cards they had, or it would only lead to more losses.

Calmly, despite Hilo continuously unleashing thunder to attack, he could not breach Gunter’s defenses in a short time, allowing Noah to successfully reach the house.

It was an ordinary two-story house, styled similarly to residences in the southern Euro-Asian Alliance, with no visible problems on the surface.

But what mattered on the surface didn’t concern Julia, who interfered with Noah’s mind, instilling a strong feeling of fear towards the house—

In the next moment, the house twisted and was drawn into Noah’s body.

At that moment, Julia also realized she had briefly lost control over Noah, but quickly re-established her connection.

With the distortion object consumed, Noah knelt to the ground, his entire body burning in incredible pain. He wanted to cry and scream, but had no strength to move, collapsing completely, tears and snot streaming down, appearing utterly wretched.

He did not know death; he had never felt pain before. The annihilation of his flesh resulted in the erasure of part of his body, as if it had never existed, leaving no sensation of pain.

Having never experienced it, he could not adapt, let alone the pain that jumped straight to the highest level, instantly making him understand the meaning of death.

Death!

He was going to die!

The instinctual feeling of fear made him struggle. Wherever he passed, the lava quickly lost its heat, causing no harm to him.

Just as he stumbled again, Julia, who had hidden herself, issued another command. All his exhaustion vanished as he got up and rushed toward Gunter.

"Kid, hold on!"

Gunter, annoyed at how slow Noah was running, grabbed him and dashed out.

In an instant, they crossed several dozen meters, but blood spurted from Noah’s mouth and nose, indicating the excessive use of magic. Although he could still use physical enhancement magic, the coming thunderstorm would rely completely on Noah; there was no further use of magic of the Over-compression level.

With Julia having jumped into the sea and disappeared, Hilo’s target had shifted. Pillars of lightning struck down towards Gunter and Noah but were completely absorbed.

In that brief moment, they had covered half of the kilometer distance, with Gunter holding onto Noah as they quickly approached the Ya Guang.

The Ya Guang had a magic enhancement device. If they could borrow its power, they could fight against Hilo. After all, as a national-level restricted magic, if used on a small scale, it was manageable, but large-scale usage would place significant pressure on allied nations’ satellites.

No matter how unwilling Hilo was, he could not continue expanding the scale!

However, halfway through, Noah could no longer hold on.

The pain from absorbing distortion objects and the pressure from high-speed movement overwhelmed his weakened body, and he was gradually losing consciousness.

Without conscious control, his absorption ability gradually ceased.

Gunter immediately noticed the problem and slapped Noah on the head: “Kid, if you don’t want to die, hold on! If we reach Ya Guang, you still have a chance to live; if we don’t, you’re as good as dead!!”

Noah awoke amidst the overwhelming nausea in his body. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

He wanted to live!

For a moment, his previously weakening absorption ability surged again, and the lightning within a five-meter radius was completely absorbed.

Noah’s potential erupted, finally enabling Gunter to rush in front of Ya Guang, but what awaited Noah was a striking flash of lightning and…

The sunken Ya Guang warship!

Seeing this scene, Noah was momentarily stunned, and then a wave of intense sorrow surged from his heart, echoing with heart-wrenching cries throughout the area.

“Ahhh! I… I don’t want to die!!”

In his desperation, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in Noah’s vision. Everything before him began to flicker and blur, becoming ambiguous, as if he were in a dream.

Then, he saw a shimmering figure, a remarkably beautiful youth, appear before him.

“Noah… make a pact with me…”

“You can live!”

From the initially muddled voice to a clear call, Noah realized he seemed to have encountered something extraordinary.

He could live?

This was a lifeline; Noah wasted no time in pleading, “Save me!”