With Jessica’s assistance, Ellison uncovered two more enemies and quickly dispatched them.

Just as he prepared to deal with the next one, that grating voice rang out again:

“Hey, hey, hey, old man, if you keep this up, my subordinates will all end up dead. That’s no good, is it?

How about this: for every one of my men you kill, I’ll take out two of your students. Fair trade, right?”

The moment he finished speaking, dense beams of light shot down from the barrier’s ceiling, piercing through the bodies of more than a dozen bound students.

Seeing his students slaughtered, Ellison’s hand, which held the staff poised to cast Hand of Annihilation, froze midair. He dared not use the spell again.

Ellison’s eyes burned red with rage, his chest heaving with fury. Yet he couldn’t act recklessly. All he could do was shout in anger:

“Despicable scum!”

“Old man, you’ve hit the nail on the head! People like us are indeed despicable scum. How else would we dare provoke someone like you?”

As the grating voice echoed, a plume of smoke coalesced in midair, forming the figure of a man with a grotesque monkey-like face. Scratching his ear with his pinky finger, the man grinned mockingly.

“Now, can we have a proper conversation?” he said, his exaggerated smile stretching wide.

Looking down, he added as an afterthought, “Oh, by the way, those of you below—don’t try anything stupid, or I can’t guarantee I won’t accidentally kill a few more of your precious students.”

Adrian, who had been preparing to unleash an attack, reluctantly dismissed his magic circle and glared furiously at the monkey-faced man floating above.

Just moments ago, six students from Ironclad Academy had been killed by those light beams. Yet now, Adrian could do nothing but seethe in helpless rage.

Nearby, Karien slowly descended, first confirming that the students from Red Leaf Academy were unharmed before raising her gaze to the enemy above.

It was clear—they were trapped.

The enemy hadn’t set up this barrier and unleashed the Bloodthirsty Fog to force the students to kill each other.

The true aim was to compel the elders and team leaders to restrain their own students, who had lost their sanity.

But by doing so, the bound students became sitting ducks, bargaining chips for the enemy.

On the high platform, Ellison gritted his teeth and roared, “What is it you want?”

Spreading his arms theatrically, the monkey-faced man sneered.

“Tell me the ritual for Hand of Annihilation!”

“You’ll never get it!” Ellison shot back furiously.

“Ha? Now that’s a problem,” the monkey-faced man said, nonchalantly tracing a glowing magic circle with his fingers.

A beam of light shot out, striking a student’s leg below, eliciting a pained scream.

“Come now, old man, don’t get confused. I’m the one making threats here. You’d best think carefully before you answer.”

Ellison gripped his staff tightly, remaining silent, his mind racing for a solution.

The monkey-faced man, however, appeared unhurried. He floated cross-legged in midair, as though seated on an invisible throne.

“Ever since your so-called Order of Virtue began purging the Fallen over two decades ago, Hand of Annihilation has nearly been lost to history.

From what I know, only two people still possess this ritual magic. The other one is out of my reach, so here I am.”

Ritual magic was a rare art that only high-ranking magisters could master.

For mid-ranking magisters, signing a contract was a prerequisite for advancement. But to rise further, they needed to master at least one ritual magic.

Unlike contract magic, ritual magic was incredibly rare.

Each ritual required binding with a specific deity or elemental spirit, along with an array of rare materials and a significant price to perform the ritual. Even then, success wasn’t guaranteed.

The success of a ritual depended on four key factors:

* Contract Strength:

For elemental contracts, this depended on elemental affinity. For faith-based contracts, it relied on devotion to the deity.

* Materials:

Precise quantities and types of materials were crucial for success.

* Ritual Conditions:

Specific conditions needed to be met for each ritual, and the closer they aligned, the higher the success rate.

* Cost:

The more powerful the ritual, the greater the price. However, weaker rituals often came with little to no cost.

Once a ritual succeeded, the caster gained permanent access to the corresponding magic. Subsequently, they could cast it simply by chanting the incantation or using the appropriate medium.

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Jessica’s Prime Eye was one such ritual magic.

Hand of Annihilation, however, was far more powerful.

Among high-ranking magisters, differences in ritual magic often created significant disparities in strength.

“Please, old man,” the monkey-faced man said mockingly, clasping his hands in mock supplication. “I’ve admired Hand of Annihilation for so long. If I can’t obtain it today, I’ll be heartbroken.”

Even as he spoke, his hands formed countless magic circles in the air. Thousands of glowing symbols lit up above the barrier, threatening to unleash a devastating barrage.

“If you don’t tell me soon, I’ll have no choice but to harm these poor little ones.”

Ellison’s entire body trembled with rage.

“Oh, dear, have I made things difficult for you?” the monkey-faced man sneered, raising a finger as though ready to give the fatal command.

“Wait!” Ellison’s voice trembled as he spoke. “Don’t harm them. I’ll talk!”

“Well, now, that’s more like it!” The monkey-faced man cupped his hand to his ear, pretending to listen. “Go on, then. But don’t lie, or I might accidentally hurt someone.”

Ellison hesitated, then began reluctantly, “Dark Spirit Crystal, 60 grams… Focus Grass, 300 grams…”

The attacks outside the barrier continued unabated, striking at intervals of about 30 seconds.

The monkey-faced man seemed utterly unconcerned, urging Ellison to continue.

“Aquiferon River Water, 50 milliliters… hands of a Hawke Dark Demon…”

The man nodded, then asked, “What about the conditions? Speak up!”

Ellison took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and just as he was about to reply—

A deafening explosion erupted within the barrier.

The monkey-faced man whipped his head around, spotting massive steel cannons that had somehow appeared at the four cardinal points of the square.

The explosion was the result of their synchronized attack, unleashing strange iron spheres that smashed against the barrier’s inner walls with immense force.

At the same time, the external bombardment continued in perfect rhythm.

With simultaneous strikes from inside and out, the Fourfold Blood Inferno shattered into countless fragments!

FIVE MINUTES AGO

While Karien distributed gas masks across the square, he also scattered marked stones in various corners. By the time he had finished and landed, everyone inside the barrier had already fallen under the monkey-faced man's threats.

Karien quietly moved closer to Wells, the team leader from Nightfall Academy, and asked him about the barrier.

Although Wells was only a mid-tier mage, he had deep expertise in magical history and glyphology.

He quickly explained the method to break the Fourfold Blood Inferno and identified the four weakest points.

Wells had known this method earlier but lacked the magical strength to damage the barrier.

In the square, probably only Adrian's explosive attacks could inflict some damage.

But with everyone cowed by the monkey-faced man's threats—including Elder Ellison—none dared act, let alone Adrian.

Although Wells doubted Karien could break the barrier, he shared the critical information. After hearing it, Karien immediately began planning.

His idea was to teleport outside the barrier and deploy the first set of cannons in the four weak directions.

Then, he would teleport the second set of cannons to the marked spots inside the barrier.

With simultaneous attacks from both inside and outside, there might be a chance to destroy the barrier.

However, there were two problems with this plan.

First, Karien only had a dozen cannons. Splitting them between inside and outside might disperse their power, leaving them insufficient to break the barrier.

Second, if Karien wanted to set up the cannons outside, he would need to vanish from inside the barrier. Earlier, his noticeable role in distributing gas masks had likely drawn enemy attention.

If he suddenly disappeared, it might alert the enemy, leading to more students being killed.

As Karien hesitated, he noticed the rhythm of attacks outside the barrier—explosions every thirty seconds.

It was clear the attackers outside were coordinating their strikes, signaling those inside to match their timing.

Perhaps Ellison and the other leaders had already recognized this pattern, but with the monkey-faced man threatening them, they couldn't act.

Furthermore, they lacked the numbers to attack all four weak points simultaneously.

Karien seized the opportunity. He swiftly deployed all sixteen cannons in the four directions inside the barrier.

These cannons, named the Magical Cannon P3, were an upgraded version of the cannon he had tested in the Misty Woods two months ago.

The first version, P1, had backfired disastrously during its initial test, but it gave Karien valuable insights for improvement.

Strengthened by logic-based glyph arrays, the cannon had since gone through two iterations, culminating in the P3.

Compared to P1, the P3 cannon was three times more powerful, with only half the cost per shot.

However, each shot still required 500 gold coins. Firing all sixteen P3 cannons at once cost Karien a staggering 8,000 gold coins.

Despite the expense, he deemed it worthwhile to destroy the barrier.

The P1 cannon was strong enough to kill a fourth-tier magical beast with one shot. Three shots could reduce it to ash.

With its improved power, a single P3 shell could easily kill a fifth-tier beast.

Now, four P3 cannons fired simultaneously at one weak point of the barrier, dealing damage comparable to the full power of a fifth-tier archmage.

Originally, Karien had intended to use these cannons to expand his "territory" in the Misty Woods. He hadn't anticipated needing them here.

When the Fourfold Blood Inferno shattered, the monkey-faced man froze in shock.

"This is impossible! Who did this?"

He had not noticed anyone deploying the steel cannons, let alone anticipated their devastating firepower.

After the Barrier Shattered

Outside the barrier, Lidon, the acting elder, hesitated momentarily before fixing his gaze on the monkey-faced man and diving toward him.

"Fallen Order scum, prepare to die!"

In the blink of an eye, Lidon was in front of the monkey-faced man, driving his arm through the man's chest.

The monkey-faced man widened his eyes in pain and coughed up blood. His body dissolved into smoke, attempting to escape.

But Lidon only sneered, clasped his hands together, and chanted an arcane incantation. A shadowy domain unfurled from him, extending thirty meters outward.

Seventh-tier Domain Magic: Nightmare of the Soul

Every grand mage possessed a unique domain, a realm where they could invoke divine authority to wield godlike power.

The smoke barely managed to flee a dozen meters before it reformed into the monkey-faced man's body, his expression contorted in terror, eyes unfocused.

Grasping the man's head, Lidon coldly demanded, "Who sent you?"

Trapped in what seemed like a nightmare, the monkey-faced man muttered incoherently, "It was... Mu—"

Before he could finish, his body convulsed violently and suddenly exploded.

Lidon stepped back, shielding himself with his arm against the blast. While the explosion was powerful, it caused little harm within Lidon's domain.

Frowning, Lidon muttered, "He escaped my domain?"

In a corner of the square, smoke coalesced once again into the monkey-faced man, who staggered out, clutching his pierced chest.

"Phew... That was close. Almost didn't make it. I didn't expect a grand mage to be here," he muttered while retreating.

At that moment, White Star and the other academy leaders descended onto the square. They quickly protected the students while launching attacks on the remaining hidden enemies.

Seeing the tide turn, the monkey-faced man shouted in frustration, "Bartolo! How long are you going to just watch?"

A golden domain instantly expanded behind him, enveloping the square in radiant light.

"In the name of Light, Bauer, you told me not to intervene," an elderly voice echoed as a figure emerged from the brilliance.

A white-robed elder stepped forward to stand beside the monkey-faced man.

On the high platform, Ellison's eyes widened at the sight of the white-robed elder.

"Someone from the Church of Light? Why are they here?"