End of the Magic Era

The rest hadn’t managed to rush out of the encirclement. If they weren’t killed by the impact of the meteor, they were torn to shreds by the Raging Flame Beastmen chasing from behind.

Thorne was holding onto his greatsword with one hand. His sword was stabbed into the ground, supporting his body on the verge of collapse.

The few survivors beside him weren’t fleeing, because they had no chance to do so.

They were facing hundreds of Raging Flame Beastman warriors and a hundred Warlocks, and there was also Hoppet!

They had no opportunity to pass the information back. This was a disaster…

Unwillingness and despair could be seen on Thorne’s face. His arm was shaking, but he still wanted to raise his greatsword to fight. The honor and hope of the Merlin Family couldn’t be forfeited like this.

Then, Hoppet floated down the mountain.

“Stop.”

Hoppet stopped the Raging Flame Beastmen’s final assault as he looked at Thorne with a mocking expression.

“Sir Thorne, your bravery is comparable to that of our bravest warriors. Unfortunately, you are a fool, a fool that has been used.” Hoppet heartily laughed. “You humans are really too stupid. This is the best opportunity for us, yet your allies, the Watson Family and the Black Tower, already betrayed you.

“You still don’t understand, do you? This is a trap, a trap targeting the Merlin Family. I already reached an agreement with the Watson Family and the Black Tower to lure you into this trap and kill you, to kill all the elites of the Merlin Family. After that, I’ll directly seize control of the fort your Merlin Family is controlling.

“The Black Tower and the Watson Family will easily take over the area controlled by the Merlin Family.”

Hoppet’s words were like thunder echoing in Thorne’s ears, and they almost made him fall down.

“What!?” Thorne was shocked and resentful, his shoulders shaking… He had never expected that the Black Tower and the Watson Family would sell them out.

‘They actually reached an agreement with the Fireblade Tribe?!’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t send back any information about this. The Merlin Family was in danger.

Thorne could guess what would happen next. It wouldn’t be just the Fireblade Tribe… Even the Watson Family and Black Tower, those greedy leeches, would ruthlessly capture the fort under the Merlin Family’s control.

The Merlin Family that was focused on the Raging Flame Beastmen might be carelessly engulfed by the Black Tower and the Watson Family. All the members of the Merlin Family’s younger generation in the Raging Flame Plane would be killed.

Decades of the Family’s efforts would go up in smoke.

The Watson Family and the Black Tower might even be able to blame it all on the Raging Flame Beastmen, and the Merlin Family would never know that this was their plot!

Despair, bone-chilling despair corroded Thorne’s body and mind like an insidious poison. His last wisp of resolve collapsed.

And the few Merlins next to him had already fallen to the ground in despair. A seriously injured mage even died.

Hoppet was floating in the air, sneering at the despairing Thorne while proudly laughing. “Silly humans, you are inferior even to the ugliest maggot! You are truly a bunch of fools. Rest assured, Sir Thorne… As a brave warrior, I’ll kill you myself. Do you see the Teleportation Array behind me?

“I already finished it, and as soon as I activate it, the elites of the other four northern Tribes will immediately teleport here. At that time, both the Black Tower and the Watson Family will be killed! They will be destroyed!

“And your Merlin Family will also perish!”

Thorne almost fell to the ground, and his eyes already looked dead.

‘Finished, we are finished…

‘The foolish Watson Family and Black Tower… What have they done… Not only did they ruin the foundation of the Merlin Family, but they’ve also allowed the Raging Flame Beastmen to prepare an unprecedented counterattack.

‘No, I can’t let Hoppet have his way even if I die. I have to kill him and destroy the array, there is still time, there is still a chance!’

As he thought of this, Thorne’s eyes were already filled with the aura of death. He didn’t plan on surviving.

Powerful Aura rose from his body, and a glaring light shrouded him. The Aura transformed into a transparent flame that burned on Thorne’s body. He was filled with unprecedented power, but his complexion was getting paler and paler.

This was the final unique skill of a Sword Saint: igniting his own Aura, igniting his own life, igniting his own soul, igniting everything in order to display the strongest power of his lifetime.

But this skill had severe side-effects. Not only would he die, but it would be so thorough that he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to become one of the Undead. He would completely disappear from this world.

Those who were able to become Sword Saints were well-known figures, and almost no one would use this kill, even on the verge of death.

There were many methods to revive people. After becoming a Sword Saint, they could be resurrected if they died, and even their soul could be preserved. There was still a chance to come back, so few people were willing to sever that hope.

But Thorne, by igniting his Aura and vitality, was like an arrow crazily flying towards Hoppet.

Hoppet slightly frowned as he instantly noticed that Thorne was igniting everything and preparing to self-detonate!

A 5th Rank Sword Saint self-detonating could definitely heavily injure an 8th Rank Arch-Warlock.

But suddenly, a thunderous sound echoed in the sky.

“Rumble…”

The loud sound felt like an incredibly heavy curtain being pulled open, and a shocking scene appeared in the sky.

A pitch-black fissure appeared in the air. Then, it seemed almost like a giant was forcibly tearing it open as it expanded to be over a kilometer long.

The elements became unstable around the spatial crack and transformed into an elemental storm. Thunderous sounds kept echoing as snake-like lightning bolts danced in the sky.

In an instant, a huge black cloud converged in the surroundings of the spatial crack and spread over several kilometers. The black cloud then turned into a swirling vortex, and the spatial crack looked like a huge eye slowly opening.

Gales suddenly rose and spread far and wide as the terrifying elemental storm and vortex attracted everything within a dozen kilometers.

Pitch-black tornadoes akin to serpentine black dragons took shape and converged on that huge vortex.

The glaring lightning bolts raged inside the vortex, and even more lightning bolts and berserk elemental storms followed the tornadoes to tear at the ground.

One lightning bolt struck a small hill, instantly obliterating it.

The berserk elemental storms sprayed out from the spatial crack and stirred the black cloud. It felt as if an extremely powerful caster was in the sky.

Hoppet’s expression crazily wavered. This momentum couldn’t be that of an Archmage. Hoppet gathered all the Raging Flame Beastmen in an instant and vigilantly set up a defensive line in the center of the mountain peak. He even took out his wooden staff and he watched the sky with a serious expression.

Thorne was also stunned. He completely forgot to detonate himself and try to take Hoppet down.

The crack was slowly extending within the black cloud, and it felt as if a God was opening its eye.

Then, an ancient warship bathed in endless lightning came out of the crack, and its terrifying aura spread in all directions like a tsunami.

The huge fissure rapidly closed up after the ship made it through. The boundless lightning hit the warship, but it felt like it was being hit by a drizzle, unable to harm the warship at all.

Ten black tornadoes attacked the bottom of the warship, but they only looked like huge pillars over a kilometer tall supporting the warship.

The frantic elemental storms tore at the warship, but they were nothing more than breezes blowing the ship’s huge black sail.

That frantic power slowly disappeared as the spatial crack closed, yet all the while, the warship was calmly hovering in the air.

The surrounding chaotic power also calmed down, but everything underneath was deathly quiet.

Hoppet had a grave expression as he tightly held onto his staff, attentively watching the warship in the sky. He roused his power to its pinnacle as he was ready to attack.

The Raging Flame Beastmen seemed terrified by the appearance of this mountain-like warship.

Suddenly, a clear and cold voice echoed. “You have done enough Sir Thorne. Get back.”

As this voice echoed, ice-like fragments sprinkled over him, slowly extinguishing Thorne’s burning Aura.

The warship then slowly descended, and everyone could see a shadow hovering at its prow.

He was wearing a simple robe and holding a staff in his right hand with a four-colored Draconic Crystal embedded in it. A book emitting a faint halo was resting on his left hand, while a magic wheel was slowly rotating beside him with boundless runes revolving on it.

Thorne raised his head and tears started leaking from his eyes as he saw the figure floating in the air.