The youth took the initiative to put some distance between them and began chanting a spell. Black magic projectiles materialized out of thin air and rapidly shot toward the Administrator.
The Administrator responded with his own spell. A hazy yellow barrier appeared, blocking the black projectiles. A smirk curved his lips as he mocked, "Warlock, your sacrifices seem about to be completely wiped out by Lord Nameless!"
The youth was startled, then looked toward Fangsheng, who was still on a killing spree, and cursed angrily, "Damn it! Doesn't this Lord Nameless ever get tired?" Although he had used the blood-burning secret art on those people, to Fangsheng, they were just slightly harder to kill.
As for whether he would get tired—of course Fangsheng got tired. After all, swinging a ten-pound two-handed greatsword and constantly cutting people down took its toll. But whenever his stamina was about to run out, Lewan would timely cast a prayer to help him recover his energy.
This was why he was able to mow down the crowd like mowing grass.
Watching the dwindling number of sacrifices, the youth's face twisted in anger. He made up his mind and violently thrust his staff into the ground. Accompanied by a "clang," a blood-red magic array suddenly appeared!
Seeing this, the Administrator moved, dashing toward the youth to stop him from summoning the Demons.
Yet the moment he stepped onto the array, he felt as if his body had been hit by an Imprisonment spell, unable to budge an inch.
Seeing the Administrator restrained, the youth's lips curled into a smile. Just as he was about to step forward to finish the other man off, he remembered that his hastily modified summoning array was still incomplete and he could not leave the focal point to kill the Administrator. His face instantly turned gloomy.
And the root of all this was that priest wearing a silver-white eye mask! The youth looked at Lewan with bitter hatred, thinking: Once I summon the Demons, I will surely hack your flesh into a thousand pieces to vent my anger.
Originally, the youth had intended to use the flesh, blood, and souls of so many people, along with a contract array, to bind a powerful Demon for his own use. But because these three had arrived too rapidly, and under the frantic slaughter of that Lord Nameless, he had been forced to opt for a summoning array to summon a Demon and pull through this crisis.
*Get through this hurdle first, there will be plenty of powerful Demons later!* The youth comforted himself.
At that moment, Lewan, seeing in the distance that the Administrator was motionless and the youth had no intention of finishing the Administrator off, instantly grasped the current situation. She hurriedly pulled a crossbow from her spatial pouch, notched a bolt, and pulled the trigger, aiming at the youth.
The bowstring snapped back and the bolt shot out swiftly, though Lewan was a poor shot; this bolt did not take the youth's life, merely embedding itself in his thigh.
The youth let out a muffled groan, madness flashing in the depths of his eyes. He bit his index finger, letting blood drip onto the magic array to make it look even more eerie, while speeding up his chanting.
And just as Lewan, seeing her strike hit home, nocked another bolt to follow up, the Shadow Fiend that had been lying in ambush finally made its move!
It emerged from the shadow behind Lewan, leaped high, and swung its sharp claws toward Lewan's head. *If this strike succeeds, this pious priest's head will be smashed to pieces like a watermelon!*
So the Shadow Fiend thought, but the imagined scene did not occur. Its sharp claws were blocked by a milky-white barrier that radiated the power of Holy Radiance, which Demons and Devils alike intensely abhorred.
Moreover, white smoke rose from the claws upon touching the barrier. Seeing the strike fail, the Shadow Fiend, enduring a piercing pain, tried to slip back into the shadows, only to hear the priest before it—wearing the silver-white eye mask—holding the Mithril Scripture and chanting, "Holy Imprisonment!"
As the words fell, a sacred halo suddenly materialized, tightly binding the Shadow Fiend's body and stripping it of its ability to travel through the shadows. It collapsed to the ground, trying to break free from the restraints.
Unfortunately, the more it struggled, the tighter the halo shrank, periodically emitting white light that scorched the Shadow Fiend's body.
Lewan walked toward the Shadow Fiend, carrying the Mithril Scripture, and then, with a pitiful expression, slammed the Mithril Scripture ruthlessly onto the Shadow Fiend's black face.
Under the dual blows of mithril and physical force, the Shadow Fiend's face instantly distorted. Tormented by pain that pierced its heart, the Shadow Fiend could finally bear it no longer and let out a roar.
"Roar!!"
This roar was extremely shrill, causing everyone present to instinctively look over. When they saw Lewan swinging the Mithril Scripture in a full arc to smash it heavily onto the Shadow Fiend's body, their hearts trembled involuntarily.
Looking at the Shadow Fiend, which was still holding up after taking two strikes from the Mithril Scripture, Lewan frowned. She channeled the Holy Radiance shed by the Goddess within her body, making it adhere to the Mithril Scripture so that the book appeared pure white and very gentle.
Yet to the Shadow Fiend's perception, this gentle power of Holy Radiance was utterly terrifying. It immediately screamed in panic, "Spare me! I'm willing to sign a slave contract with you and will never betray you!"
Lewan did not reply. She swung the scripture in a full arc and smashed it fiercely against the Shadow Fiend's body.
This time, the Shadow Fiend could not hold on. Amidst shrill wails and screams, its body turned to ash and vanished between heaven and earth, leaving a trace of sulfur lingering in the arena to symbolize the inhuman treatment it had just suffered.
Simultaneously, the youth spat out a mouthful of blood, which landed on the magic array. Looking down at the wildly eerie magic array beneath his feet, which exuded an ominous aura, he laughed crazily, "Hahaha! You're dead!"
As the initiator of the summoning array, he could clearly sense the powerful demonic aura emanating from it—an aura that made even his soul tremble, let alone the weak enemies before him!
The moment the array was completed, the shackles on the Administrator vanished. He hastily retreated, stepping out of the array, and scanned the magic array before asking Lewan, who stood beside him holding the Mithril Scripture, "Lady Witch, can you tell what kind of Demon this magic array is summoning?"
Lewan shook her head, her expression solemn: "I can't tell. I can only sense a powerful demonic aura and a disgusting smell of sulfur."
"So we can't disrupt his summoning ritual now?" came a voice laden with a dense stench of blood. The two turned to look and saw Fangsheng walking over. Fangsheng's appearance had changed drastically by now; his light silver armor was completely stained red, a testament to how many people he had just slaughtered!
This bloody armor, coupled with that overwhelmingly thick stench of blood, made even the Administrator show discomfort. Yet Lewan acted as though she saw nothing, her expression normal as she explained indifferently, "The summoning ritual has succeeded; it cannot be interrupted."
Fangsheng nodded half-understandingly, then tossed out another question: "Then why don't we just attack that Cultist directly? At least we'd eliminate one combatant."
At these words, the two fell silent.
Seeing them like this, Fangsheng shrugged helplessly. Feeling the increasingly intense demonic aura, he said, "Prepare for the final battle."