"Hehehe. Siewen, you're always the smooth talker! That's why I like having you by my side the most. But, let's not worry about ruling the Elven planet for now. Because we have more important things to do. Come, let's go to the council chamber," Anselin said, patting Siewen's thin shoulder with satisfaction.
Then, Anselin turned to the still disheveled Haoyun and Dao Lao, saying, "So, you two gentlemen rest here for now. This lady won't keep you company any longer!"
With that said, Anselin launched another attack on Haoyun and Dao Lao, embedding them deep into the stone wall once again. Then, with a light laugh, she took Siewen and disappeared into a teleportation array.
"Haoyun, how are you? Not dead yet?" Dao Lao struggled out from the pile of rubble, teasing.
"Don't worry! Even if I die, I'll make sure to drag you down with me!" Haoyun retorted irritably as he tumbled out of the stone wall.
"Get up quickly! We can't let her escape again!" Dao Lao said, pulling the still dazed Haoyun along as they dashed towards the stairs leading upstairs.
"Escape again? What do you mean?" Haoyun asked in confusion as they climbed, sharing the last bottle of purified water.
"Through my system's analysis of the energy released by Anselin during her last attack, it was discovered that the melded Mold Spirit energy within her is actually a part of a high-level fugitive Mold Spirit energy that escaped during that divine battle and has yet to be captured by the divine realm," Dao Lao explained.
"What do you mean by 'a part'?" Haoyun asked as they hurried up the stairs.
"During that divine battle, although the Mold Spirit energy was ultimately defeated by the divine army, many of its core forces managed to escape the siege by splitting to preserve themselves. The Mold Spirit energy within Anselin is one of the wanted Mold Spirit energies. It vanished suddenly after fleeing to the SU-052 timeline in the thirteenth dimension back then. Because it has been so many years, the divine realm has never been able to track down this Mold Spirit energy. Therefore, we regularly patrol several timelines near SU-052, hoping to capture other fugitive Mold Spirit energies while searching for the whereabouts of this high-level Mold Spirit energy."
"And then, I coincidentally found you, my assistant, during the patrol, and accidentally stumbled upon this wanted Mold Spirit energy. So, it seems you're quite unlucky! It seems that whenever you're around, I always encounter trouble," Dao Lao said.
"Hmph! That just proves I'm lucky, being your deputy! Because it's because of me that you had the chance to discover this Mold Spirit energy!" Haoyun corrected him, feeling annoyed.
Then, Haoyun asked again, "Since this Mold Spirit energy is a wanted fugitive of the divine realm, can't we request backup now?"
Dao Lao shook his head and said, "This Mold Spirit energy has now retained only its core, and its strength is far from formidable. So, as I said before, unless we're in dire straits, don't expect any support. Oh! The divine realm's territory is vast, coupled with the tremendous consumption of our strength and troops during that divine battle. Therefore, unless it's an extremely special situation, the divine realm won't easily mobilize our already stretched forces everywhere for support, after all—"
"Alright! I get it!" Haoyun interrupted Dao Lao impatiently and couldn't help but complain again, "Before we die, we can only rely on ourselves! Ugh! I must have been blind to get involved with you! Isn't the divine realm sending us on missions? This is clearly sending us to our deaths!"
"It's a difficult time of reconstruction after all. You have to understand the divine realm's difficulties. Rest assured, they won't send us to die. They just have their own ideas. But, now is not the time to speculate on their intentions. What we need to do now is to ensure that this Mold Spirit energy doesn't escape again!" To prevent Haoyun from starting another round of complaints, Dao Lao hurriedly urged him to keep up.
As Haoyun and Dao Lao returned to the ground floor of Blackstone Castle and prepared to climb to the top floor from there, they were surprised to find that the battle inside and outside Blackstone Castle was even more intense than before. Because at this moment, in addition to the zombie soldiers engaged in melee combat, there were also many soldiers from the Light Elf tribe.
The two immediately inquired again with Biscuit Tang and learned that just now, with a ghostly howl that was enough to alarm the entire Cold Moon City spreading from Blackstone Castle, many teleportation arrays appeared in the sky and around the ground. Then, a large force of Light Elf tribe appeared around Blackstone Castle. This army immediately launched a fierce attack on Blackstone Castle, directly causing the battle here to escalate once again.
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Haoyun and Dao Lao immediately realized that the ghostly howl mentioned by Biscuit Tang should refer to the situation that occurred after the coffin was opened. The reason why the army of the Light Elf tribe was able to be mass-teleported here was probably because of the teleportation arrays created by Elinna using the Mold Spirit energy. As for the reason why Elinna transmitted the army of the Light Elf tribe here, Haoyun thought she probably wanted to provide the Light Elf warriors with the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Blackstone Castle, using the chaos created by the Light Elf army's presence to cover up her own sinister intentions.
Guided by Dao Lao, Haoyun dodged the melee battle inside Blackstone Castle all the way, using his disguise to quickly climb up the castle's central spiral staircase to the top. However, because the top few floors of Blackstone Castle were the core area of the Black Magic Association, even the castle's guard couldn't enter here at will.
Apart from that, what's more important is that when Haoyun and Dao Lao reached the defense checkpoint leading to the top of the castle, they found that the Mold Spirit energy pursuit system could detect three-star Mold Spirit energy from the guards here. Since these guards were actually zombie soldiers, the two didn't hesitate and directly removed their disguises, killing the guards. Although Haoyun and Dao Lao were not in great condition, dealing with these guards was still well within their capabilities. With their overwhelming strength, they quickly made their way to the council chamber at the top of the castle.
Upon bursting into the council chamber, Haoyun and Dao Lao found it empty. So, they left the chamber and headed towards the rooftop of Blackstone Castle. As expected, a group of elders from the Black Magic Association had followed Anselin to the rooftop. At this moment, all the elders were kneeling around Anselin, reciting some kind of incantation. Haoyun and Dao Lao knew at a glance that these elders were cooperating with Anselin in some sort of magical ritual. Without hesitation, they immediately rushed forward, intending to disrupt the ritual Anselin was conducting.
Seeing the sudden arrival of Haoyun and Dao Lao on the rooftop, Anselin frowned. Obviously, she hadn't expected the two of them to have the strength to come here and cause trouble. However, knowing that Haoyun and Dao Lao were not in good shape, Anselin had no reason to panic. She simply lifted her chin at them, ordering a few elders to rise and fight, then focused her attention back on the ritual.
Due to Haoyun and Dao Lao's current condition, coupled with the fact that the elders were all above the three-and-a-half-star Mold Spirit energy level, the two didn't dare to be careless. They immediately engaged in battle, easily defeating the elders while fending off their attacks. However, they soon discovered that these elders were resilient and not easily killed.
Whenever an elder was defeated, they would be sucked back into a black energy ring formed by Anselin during the ritual, then replaced by other elders to continue the fight. After being healed of their injuries in the black energy, they would kneel down again to protect Anselin, waiting for the opportunity to fight Haoyun and Dao Lao once more.
Haoyun and Dao Lao didn't know what spell Anselin had cast on these elders to make them so resilient. But they understood that Anselin intended to use these elders as a shield, wearing down their strength through attrition and delaying time for her next move. Although they weren't sure what Anselin planned to do next, Haoyun and Dao Lao knew they couldn't continue to engage with her like this. They had to quickly eliminate these elders and stop Anselin from continuing her magical ritual.
So, Haoyun and Dao Lao changed their tactics, with Dao Lao focusing on rotating his long staff to attack the elders from below, while Haoyun used brute force to pick up the fallen elders and throw them off the rooftop of Blackstone Castle before they could get up again. This way, even if the thrown elders survived the fall, they wouldn't be able to return to the rooftop amidst the chaos of the battlefield both inside and outside the castle. Without the protection of the elders, Anselin's ability to conduct her ritual would be severely hindered.
"Sneaky! Bastard!" Seeing Haoyun and Dao Lao resorting to such unreasonable tactics, Anselin couldn't help but curse, while also stopping other elders from advancing to fight.
Dao Lao smirked and said, "Tit for tat. Your means of resurrection aren't honorable either, Anselin. I advise you to stop resisting and let us capture the Mold Spirit energy inside you! That power is far more terrifying than you can imagine. Merging with it is akin to seeking death!"
"Hehehe, seeking death? It seems you know nothing about my power! If anyone's seeking death, it should be you!" Facing Dao Lao's warning, Anselin said calmly.
"Squeak... Squeak... Squeak..." Just as Anselin finished speaking, the remaining elders kneeling around her emitted a piercing noise like nails scratching on a chalkboard. Then, a large amount of black magic emanated from the elders' bodies, all converging towards Anselin. As she absorbed this magic, Anselin swiftly ascended into the air and slowly flew out of the platform, hovering in the sky above the side of Blackstone Castle. At this moment, Anselin's body began to emit a bright purplish-red light, casting the surrounding night into a purplish-red hue.
The purplish-red light emitted from Anselin's body was not only dazzling, but also generated a powerful purplish-red energy storm in an instant. The energy storm swept down from top to bottom around Blackstone Castle, blowing the soldiers of both the Dark Elf and zombie tribes, who were still fighting
When a large number of Mold Spirit energy levels appeared around Blackstone Castle, a massive bolt of lightning suddenly struck the top of the castle. The electric wave traveled through the castle until it deeply penetrated the underground. Subsequently, the flying behemoths and the zombie soldiers fighting on the ground, as if power had been cut off, all suddenly lost their mobility and fell to the ground.
Moreover, all the Dark Elf tribes in the entire Cold Moon City and even the entire Elven Star trembled and curled up on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Even many Light Elf tribes, inexplicably experiencing an electric shock-like sensation, twitched and fell to the ground. After these elves and zombies fell, large and small black magic began to condense on their bodies. Then, as these magic formations took shape, they immediately flew rapidly towards Anselin, who was floating above Blackstone Castle.