The closer he got to the core of the battle, the more violent the tremors beca. Thick smoke and dust obscured most of his vision.
But with his Extraordinary perception, Murphy could clearly observe the battlefield without needing to rely on his sight.
When he finally burst out from behind a stretch of burning rubble, the scene before him opened up.
The majestic yet dilapidated silhouette of the Central Tower stood starkly in the center of the Purgatory.
The original color of the ground was long gone, replaced by an interwoven tapestry of charred black and dark red.
The corpses of humans and monsters were piled in layers, nearly blanketing the ground around the tower’s base.
The tower’s walls were riddled with damage, and a horde of monsters near the main gate was frantically assailing the crumbling final line of defense.
But the most eye-catching sight was undoubtedly the two Giant Earth Rock Worms, each like a moving hill.
One of them was writhing and roaring in agony, its massive body carving deep trenches into the scorched earth. At the juncture of its head and torso, a horrifyingly large wound gushed with a magma-like fluid.
It was clearly grievously wounded, but its death throes only made the battle more chaotic.
The other was even more dangerous.
Its savage maw had opened once more. The dark red light gathering within it, like a volcano on the verge of eruption, was aid directly at the base of the tower.
High above the tower, the Holy Barrier maintained by the three Grand Archbishops of the Church flickered violently like a candle in the wind, clearly unable to withstand another such blast.
On the platform atop the Central Tower, Murphy’s gaze locked onto the man known as the "Ash Judge," Quentin Thorn.
His silver-white Heavy Armor was stained with blood and gri, covered in scorch marks. He gripped an ordinary Longsword, his chest heaving violently and sweat pouring from his temples—all signs that his body had reached its absolute limit.
Behind him, the pale faces and trembling Magic Staffs of the three Archbishops revealed that their strength, too, was all but spent.
Despite this, the battle on the platform never ceased.
Several large Scorching Beasts were attempting to scale the damaged battlents, where defending soldiers fought them to the death. The clash of swords on carapaces produced a harsh, scraping sound.
Though exhausted, Quentin forced himself to keep swinging his sword. While each strike lacked the power of his pri, they were still lethal—piercing a Scorching Beast’s compound eye or severing a joint—as he desperately tried to relieve the pressure on the soldiers around him.
The three Archbishops also struggled to maintain the Holy Force Field, seizing any opening to unleash scattered Holy Light Bombs or Holy Shock Waves to repel or briefly purify the advancing monsters.
However, their attention was mostly fixed on the Giant Earth Rock Worm below, which was gathering its power.
Whenever the dark red light surging in the worm’s maw began to accelerate, the white-haired Archbishop would laboriously aim his Magic Staff at it, firing a series of Holy Light Beams. Though not fatal, they were just enough to disrupt the condensing Energy.
Another Archbishop would cast Holy Chains at the opportune mont, attempting to bind its maw or neck, even if it only slowed the beast’s movents for half a second.
The third Archbishop used Holy Shock Waves to disrupt its balance.
Their gaunt faces, increasingly ragged breaths, and the fresh blood trickling from their lips after Casting all signaled that this desperate delaying tactic—like drinking poison to quench a thirst—could end at any mont with their utter collapse.
At the very instant the dark red light in the Giant Earth Rock Worm’s maw condensed to its peak, just as the Archbishops’ interference began to fail and the blast was about to be unleashed!
A deep blue figure cut in from the flank of the battlefield, moving at a speed far beyond anything seen before!
Murphy didn’t charge directly at the worm. Instead, he chose a patch of scorched earth to its front and side as his landing point.
He moved like a bolt of lightning. His Dark Gold Longsword was already drawn, its blade erupting in a flash of purple-black lightning that let out a series of sharp CRACKLES.
With a swift swing of his Longsword, several condensed, arm-thick bolts of purple-black Thunder tore through the air like whips, lashing the edge of the worm’s maw and the thick neck supporting its head just as it was about to spew magma!
CRACKLE!
BOOM!
The Thunder exploded!
The savage Thunder Power, carrying a strong Piercing and paralyzing effect, slamd into the targeted areas.
The carapace around the worm’s maw was instantly charred black and cracked. The flow of gathered Energy was disrupted, the dark red light fluctuated wildly, and the trajectory of its attack, originally aid at the tower’s base, was knocked noticeably off course!
At the sa ti, the thunderstrike to its neck caused its head to jerk violently to the side as it let out a pained and furious shriek.
KABOOM!!!
The searing, dark red Magma Breath finally erupted, but its trajectory was now askew.
The massive pillar of fire grazed the edge of the tower’s base as it roared past, instantly turning the ruins behind it into a molten pool. The searing blast wave caused the tower’s Barrier to flicker violently once more, but in the end, it avoided a direct hit!
The disruption was a success!
He had bought the precarious line of defense a crucial mont of respite!
On the tower platform, Quentin and the three Archbishops were instantly captivated by this sudden aid.
Quentin’s sharp, hawk-like blue eyes locked onto the deep blue figure nimbly maneuvering in front of the worm, his sword calling forth the Thunder.
The power of the purple-black lightning dancing on that sword far surpassed any Thunder Life Energy a Great Knight could possibly summon.
’A Legend!’
’It really is a Legend!’
All doubt vanished from Quentin’s mind. In his shock, a fiery hope, born of desperation, suddenly surged within him.
He whipped his head around, quickly exchanging a glance with the three exhausted Archbishops beside him.
No words were needed. The Archbishops instantly understood Quentin’s aning.
’An opportunity!’
’The arrival of this newly ascended Legendary Knight is our last and best chance—not just for us, but for the entire Central Tower defense!’
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