Chapter 4026: Cleansing Ice (Part 1) The Storm Griffon screeched in frustration and fury, releasing a wild burst of violet aura. Unwilling to give up on the enchantments of his equipment and his elemental spells, Jorl activated Fire Soul. A sea of fire engulfed the two Divine Beasts, eating at Zoreth’s defensive layer of world energy and blinding the Skull. The artifact tried and failed to read the chaotic energy flow and gave the Shadow Dragon a massive headache that even the Yggdrasill wood couldn’t alleviate. "Now!" Jorl roared, bolting down on the Shadow Dragon with his mace raised like an angry god of war. "Thanks for the heads up!" She turned off the Skull and drew a deep breath, hoping that her foggy head would clear in time to understand why the Storm Griffon had bothered warning her of the incoming attack. She released a burst of Origin Flames from all over her body, making sure they would ignore her protective layer and preserve their full strength to fight off Fire Soul. The hastily conjured corrupted flames were too thin to cover effectively an area that large, so Zoreth’s Origin Flames made short work of them. Just like Jorl expected. He was still coming down in a straight line, but Fire Soul had already served its purpose, covering the approach of two Upyrs attacking the Shadow Dragon from below in a pincer maneuver. ’Oh, shit!’ Zoreth blocked Dusk Wraith again, and that was her second mistake. Jorl had already switched to Thunder Soul, and neither Sky Piercer nor her defensive cocoon of world energy could protect her from it. The corrupted lightning fed upon Jorl’s Life Maelstrom and slipped past Zoreth’s battle gloves and her Bookwyrm armor. The blows shattered Zoreth’s arms from fingertips to shoulders, pulverizing every bone in between. The two Upyrs conjured the tier five Spirit Spell, Griffon Fetters, wrapping the Eldritch-Dragon hybrid in emerald chains and locking her into place. "Please, no! Mercy!" Hearing those sweet words brought a wide smile to Jorl’s beak and brought Orpal to stop his search for Rizel. Not because in anticipation of the fall of a powerful enemy, but because the tone of those words was wrong. There was no despair in Xenagrosh’s voice as she laughed her plea. The Shadow Dragon grabbed the emerald chains with her allegedly shattered arms and pulled at them with unstoppable force. The two Upyrs combined their efforts, yet were unable to resist as she threw them at the Storm Griffon. Dusk Wraith struck the Upyrs, and Thunder Soul turned their internal organs into mush. The death of the two corrupted Divine Beasts dispelled the Griffon Fetter,s and Zoreth bolted away, unwilling to waste more time with Jorl. She unfurled her wings and gave chase to her real prey, the Dead King, while releasing a volley of small Chaos spells from her hands. She couldn’t afford to consume any more mana against Awakened, who might recover with a single breath, not before dealing with Orpal and his tower. There was no mana geyser below Luti,a and the Vurdalak’s bloodline abilities limited her options further. With no way to replenish her mana cores, Xenagrosh knew that her superior strength was bound to fade if the fight lasted for too long. The Chaos Rain killed a few Upyrs but saved many Hydras and allowed them to kill more corrupted Divine Beasts. Its bullets stung hard, opening deep holes in the Upyrs’ flesh and sending stabs of pain that darkness fusion couldn’t suppress. The Chaos element also devoured light fusion, slowing down the corrupted Divine Beasts’ recovery. Zoreth’s Chaos Rain bought the members of the Awakened Council a precious moment of respite that they used to retreat and regroup. "Who in the nine hells are you?" The Cursed bullets didn’t spare Orpal, and their disruptive effect almost broke his focus and ruined his blade spell for good. The Dead King had heard about Zoreth, but failed to recognize her in her new form. ’She’s the Shadow Dragon who almost killed me and forced my mother to intervene!’ Night could never forget Xenagrosh’s energy signature and shuddered at her sight. ’Stall for time. She seems to have gotten stronger from the last time, and we need Shattered Moon to have a chance to kill her.’ The Shadow Dragon’s reply came in the form of a burst of bright violet Origin Flames that Orpal countered with one of his own. The two flames met halfway through, their conflagration resulting in a small sun that lasted for a split second. From under the cover of light and smoke, Zoreth released four elemental pillars, one from each of her eyes. The light element took the form of a laser-like heat ray that struck Moonlight from below, sending steed and rider spinning like a frenzied top. The darkness element crashed into Jorl, who rearranged his newly conjured constructs into a massive shield. He succeeded in resisting the attack, but the same couldn’t be said about his Light Mastery spells. The hard-light constructs crumbled, leaving him open to Xenagrosh’s charge. The Shadow Dragon tackled the Storm Griffon with enough strength to knock the wind out of him and crack his ribs. The fire pillar struck Akhton’s back, interrupting his assault and creating an opening for Raagu and Feela to counterattack. From inside the Sealed Space, the human representative was free to use Invigoration and conjure elemental arrays. She took a deep breath to replenish her mana and unleashed the power of several gravity magical formations across Lutia. She kept them small to save her energy, just wide enough to affect a Divine Beast’s limbs. Raagu placed the Gravity Arrays on the Upyrs’ feet, nailing them to the ground and allowing their enemies to press forward or retreat safely. Last but not least, the water pillar froze the Upyrs focused on ravaging Lutia and doused the flames across four city blocks. Many corrupted Divine Beasts turned their heads to the sky, afraid to be next. Feela exploited that brief moment of distraction to bolt amidst their ranks, hitting the careless Upyrs’ vitals and injecting her spells from point-blank range. ’That bitch!’ Orpal cursed. ’I was this close to putting an end to this charade and slaughtering those old coots of the Council. Even worse, how can she know Light Mastery? That’s supposed to be an elusive branch of magic!’ ’It is.’ Night telepathically nodded. ’The most likely explanation is her Griffon ally and Dragon Eyes. What’s really unbelievable is that Xenagrosh can use Light Mastery. She’s an Eldritch-hybrid, and releasing so much light element should have killed her.’ ’Dragon Eyes.’ The Dead King gritted his teeth in envy. Jorl had tried to teach Night and Orpal Light Mastery, but they had failed to understand the first thing about it. Truth be told, the Storm Griffon had done a poor job on purpose, but they had no way of knowing it. Orpal had blamed their failure on the difficulty of the discipline, and Jorl had enthusiastically agreed with him. ’Quit whining.’ Night said. ’We can’t get Dragon Eyes, but Light Mastery is a different story. Once we assimilate Dawn, everything she knows will belong to us. We’ll gain her experience of millennia and all her spells without spending a single second on more moldy books.’ The idea brought a smile to Orpal’s face.