by Zhuang Bifan
Angelano's Alchemy Colossus was severely damaged during the battle, while Ujfalusi's Humerus Wyrms were almost smashed into bits. The Lord of Nightmares hovered in the air for a long time, but was still unable to reassemble his body. On the other time, the Demon Gordon was smashed into pieces of iron, and it was eventually immobilized with no power to recover.
Finally, Lin Li stopped and wiped the blood away from the corners of his lips, while the seven pieces of the debris of the stars flew around his body and stopped attacking Osric.
Meanwhile, there were no wounds on Osric, who seemed to have the same appearance as he did when he first appeared. With a cold smirk on his lips, he walked towards the control crystal as the members of the team watched in despair. He reached out and placed the control crystal in the groove of the control panel.
It's over, everything is over now! Archbishop Martin and the others wanted to stop Osric as they watched, but were too weak to do so. They could totally imagine the disaster that would strike Anril once Osric gained control of the Sky Castle.
A Sanctuary powerhouse who possessed the Sky Castle meant that even if all the Sanctuary powerhouses of Anril joined forces, they might not be able to stop Osric from exacting a crazy revenge on them. Besides, Geresco, the God of Mages, was no longer in Anril. No one would be able to make everyone unite.
Of course, perhaps they might not live to see that, but after Osric succeeded in acquiring the Sky Castle, how would he spare them? Maybe it would be a good thing to die there so that they wouldn't have to see how miserable the various races in Anril would be when subjected to Osric's torture.
However, something incredibly strange suddenly happened at this moment when they were all hopeless and waiting to die. The mana in their surroundings suddenly began to fluctuate abnormally, as if the floodgates had been opened. The massive mana was surging everywhere and roaring, and was causing the mana in the entire space to fluctuate as well. They could even hear the rumbling sound of floods.
What exactly happened!? The people only realized now that Osric, who had already won the battle, did not place the control crystal in the groove of the control panel immediately. Instead, he stayed in place, and seemed to have suddenly become a statue.
They could all clearly see that Osric's body was still trembling, as if he was trying his best to put in the magical crystal. At the same time, Osric seemed to have aged quickly, as if time had sped up by numerous times. They got to watch the aging process of a young man turning into an old man.
Seeing the change of Osric's body, even a brainless person would probably be able to think of the fact that it was a sign of his vitality being depleted.
What could make a Sanctuary powerhouse age so quickly!? Thinking about the massive, abnormal fluctuations of mana in the surroundings that were surging like floodwaters, everyone suddenly had a terrifying conjecture. Did that mana come from Osric's body!?
The members of the expedition team could not figure out the reason for such a situation to occur, but they reckoned that it was probably the price to pay for gaining control of the Sky Castle. However, they knew that Osric was definitely at his weakest now. God knew if he would return to that state after gaining full control of the Sky Castle.
Thinking of this, the crowd who had been in despair suddenly came to their senses again. Be it because of their interests or their unconditional love and kindness, none of them wanted a butcher like Osric to rule the current Anril.
Archbishop Martin, Donald, Basel, and the other casters seemed to have been invigorated. Suppressing the severe injuries of their bodies, they stood up with great difficulty, and raised their staffs to attack Osric again in spite of their severe wounds.
However, the surrounding space was now filled with the violent mana that was released by Osric, and was surging around like a tsunami. In this environment, even a caster that was at the peak of the Legendary-realm would face difficulty condensing mana to cast a spell, not to mention the fact that Archbishop Martin and the others were severely injured.
Archbishop Martin had just chanted an incantation with great difficulty when the gemstone at the top of the scepter in his hand lit up. Before the mana even condensed, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and his physical state had clearly been debilitated. The others were the same.
However, even so, Archbishop Martin and the others did not have the intention of giving up. Not bothering to wipe the blood away from the corners of their mouths, they began chanting the incantations again because none of them knew if there would be another chance like this, and no one knew when Osric would recover.
However, at this moment, Lin Li stood in front of Archbishop Martin and the others. However, he, the only Sanctuary powerhouse of the team, did not behave like Archbishop Martin and the others. Instead, he raised his hand and beckoned them to stop casting spells.
Archbishop Martin and the others were baffled to see Lin Li's behavior. Although the surrounding space was filled with violent mana, they believed that it should not be enough to affect the spell-casting of a Sanctuary powerhouse. However, not only did the Sanctuary powerhouse not take advantage to add insult to Osric's injury while he was down, he even stopped them from attacking. They wondered, Is he still taking the moral high ground against a butcher-like demon!?
However, despite being filled with bewilderment, Archbishop Martin and the others did not question Lin Li. It was not because they trusted Lin Li unconditionally, but rather that they were too weak to speak after venting everything.
Of course, Lin Li was not the type to refuse to take advantage of others when they were in danger. In fact, that was actually his favorite thing to do. The reason he didn't want to take the opportunity to attack Osric now was actually very simple: it was redundant to do so.
Indeed, it was redundant because although no one else knew what was going on with Osric, Lin Li was well aware. He was the one who had set Osric up.
From the very beginning, Lin Li knew that he would never be able to get the Sky Castle easily. Even though he was already in front of the control panel, he seemed to be just one step away from his final victory. Even though he did not expect that Osric would regain his body and strength here, that did not affect his plan for the worst-case scenario.
Even when he was in the form of a Ghost, Osric definitely possessed unfathomable strength. Even though Lin Li had managed to advance to level-26 in the Well of the Sun, he did not have any confidence in defeating Osric when he was in the form of a Ghost. Hence, in other words, Lin Li knew from the very beginning that this battle was inevitable, and that his team would definitely lose.
Since he already knew that they would lose, Lin Li obviously wouldn't pin his hopes on a miracle. In fact, when he was planning the expedition in the Sky Castle, he had already begun to devise some schemes and strategies for dealing with this situation.
In order to scheme against Osric, one first had to know what his real purpose was. Why did he choose to be resurrected in the Sky Castle, and not in his mausoleum which he had spent so much effort to build after a thorough thought process? Coupled with the fact that he had caused the Ghost Osric to be awakened when he took away the control crystal of the Sky Castle, Lin Li was almost certain that Osric's goal was the control crystal of the Sky Castle.
Besides, Lin Li had a conjecture that Osric probably wanted to obtain the control crystal not just to gain control of the Sky Castle, but also because of some other reasons. After all, with Osric's current power, it was not impossible for him to get the Sky Castle up and running again even without the control crystal.
In particular, Lin Li was actually creating an opportunity for Osric to seize maximum control and authority over the Sky Castle when he took away the control crystal. In fact, even without the magical crystal, Osric had indeed gained control of a significant portion of the Sky Castle.
Chapter 1000 - Separation Of Soul And Body
In fact, Lin Li even vaguely felt that there seemed to be an invisible force influencing him an
d the others along the way. Although they had experienced several obstacles on the way, it seemed that all of those would never exceed the limits of the expedition's tolerance, except the incarnation in the Well of the Sun. Or rather, there weren't any that exceeded Lin Li's capabilities. In fact, although every battle was extremely dangerous, it would still turn out to be successful for them.
Lin Li did not think that the Immortal King's Sky Castle was something that a powerhouse like he who had just stepped into the Sanctuary-realm could invade easily. If that was really the case, the Immortal King's Sky Castle would be unworthy of its name, and the Immortal King could not be called the best figure in myths.
Although Lin Li did not mention his impression to anyone throughout the journey, he was actually getting a clearer feeling that someone wanted him to arrive at his destination without attracting the attention and suspicion of the people from his team. That person was probably Osric.
That discovery was the very reason that Lin Li was more and more certain that what Osric really valued most was not the Sky Castle, which was the strongest and most powerful weapon, but the special control crystal. Hence, even though Lin Li seemed to want to place the control crystal on the control panel, he was just doing that as a distraction. It was not actually the real control crystal of the Sky Castle, but one of the bizarre magical crystals that Lin Li had obtained from the Malfa Family.
Lin Li wasn't 100% certain Osric would take the bait, but he was at least 70% to 80% confident in it because according to the previous conjectures, Lin Li could entirely believe that what Osric had been waiting for was the moment he took out the control crystal from the Ring of Endless Storm.
After all, with Osric's strength, it would not be difficult for him to deal with Lin Li and the others at all. However, even if he could kill Lin Li, he wouldn't have been able to take the control crystal out of the Ring of Endless Storm. If Osric wanted to obtain the control crystal, he would have to wait for Lin Li to take it out himself before snatching it from Lin Li.
The only thing that Lin Li was worried about was the uncertainty if Osric was familiar with the control crystal, and whether he would recognize the difference between the real control crystal and the decoy.
After all, Lin Li still hadn't figured out the true history of the control crystal, and he only knew that the purpose of the control crystal was not just to control the Sky Castle. Back when he had explored the Sky Castle for the first time, he had once had his mental strength infiltrated by the control crystal, and at the same time gained an enormous amount of information left by the Immortal King.
Hence, even though Lin Li had used alchemy to transform the appearance of the bizarre magical crystal into that of the control crystal before arriving in the Sky Castle, and managed to pass it off as the real thing with identical mana waves, Lin Li could not replicate the power contained in the control crystal.
Lin Li's worries did not vanish until Osric snatched the bait away from him. The fear within him also gradually dissipated when he began fighting with Osric in a battle of mental strength in the magical crystal. Even when Osric's mental strength had seeped into the magical crystal, he did not realize what was wrong. Clearly, Osric was really unfamiliar with the real control crystal.
However, in order not to make Osric suspect anything, Lin Li did not relax or let his guard down. Instead, he pretended to go all out and fight Osric for the control crystal. He even didn't mind paying a huge price for it. Even at the last moment where Osric was going to place the bait on the control panel, Lin Li was still trying his best to show his desperation, powerlessness, and indignation.
When the bizarre magical crystal was completely triggered, Osric's mana grew violent, and Lin Li finally heaved a sigh of relief. Despite Osric's unparalleled strength, Lin Li was not too worried that Osric would quickly break free from the influence of the bizarre magical crystal.
Although Lin Li was not clear about the origin of such magical crystals that could devour mana, and the Malfa Family had likewise chanced upon them during an extremely coincidental encounter, Lin Li already had a clear grasp and understanding of their bizarre attributes. In fact, Lin Li even frequently made use of their features to train his mastery of mana.
One reason Lin Li was able to do that was that his mental strength had been tempered by the control crystal, and another reason was because of the research he had put in over the past few years. As for Osric, it was almost impossible for him to understand and master the features of the magical crystals in a short period of time even though he was much stronger than Lin Li in terms of realm.
Of course, his plan was not really foolproof, but the biggest issue with it was that Osric had to have no experience with such magical crystals in order for the plan to work. Even though Lin Li had already found out from the Ashen Warlock that such bizarre magical crystals did not appear since the Dark Age, he still designed another trap inside it just to be safe.
Lin Li had already concealed a wisp of his mental strength in the magical crystal, which contained the power of Mephistos, the Lord of Souls. It would allow one's soul to be separated from his body. Previously, Lin Li had even fought a battle of mental strength with Osric in the magical crystal. Actually, the more important thing was to create a facade to cover the hidden mental strength to prevent Osric from scrutinizing the magical crystal with his mental strength.
After receiving the Immortal King's notes from the Ashen Warlock, Lin Li knew that the perfect body created by Osric had some flaws, which were the very reason that Connoris could never fuse perfectly with the new body in any way. Likewise, Osric would also encounter such problems.
Due to this conclusion, Lin Li added the extra trap when designing the decoy to be safe.
When he had first met Osric, Lin Li had already seen that the fusion of Osric's soul with his new body was indeed not perfect, and there were still some flaws and issues in it. Although Osric had tailored the new body to perfection for himself, it was obvious that not all the flaws had been addressed and resolved. Hence, even a powerhouse like Osric would take a long time for his soul to adapt to the new body.
Thus, when Osric placed the magical crystal on the control panel and triggered its bizarre power, Lin Li also immediately activated the trap he left behind. Although the small trap would only have a fleeting effect on Osric, the momentary isolation of his soul made Osric lose the best opportunity to get rid of the influence of the magical crystal.
Mana was like water. The mana that surged out vigorously was like a river, while the calm mana was like a lake. Once the balance was disrupted, it would be difficult for them to calm down again as it would be akin to a bursting dam. Hence, even powerful and competent mages dared not use their mana indiscriminately, because once the process of mana collapse began, the situation would never be reversed. That was the same for the Highlord now. He was continuously having his mana devoured, and soon faced the collapse of mana.
Mana was continuously surging out of Osric's body like an unstoppable flash flood. Facing such a situation, Osric could not suppress it at all even though he was already at the peak of the Sanctuary-realm. He could not even roar in anger, and could only look at Lin Li with resentment in his eyes.
The collapse of the mana left the perfect body with no means to sustain itself, and in the eyes of the people, Osric's appearance became old and aged at an extremely fast rate. His skin lost its l.u.s.ter, and he was covered in wrinkles and bruises.
Osric's appearance reminded Lin Li of the first time he met the Ashen Warlock. However, the Ashen Warlock had aged over the years because he had been living for too long, while Osric was experiencing rapid aging because of the collapse of mana that caused a large amount of vitality to be depleted in his body.
When they saw the changes in Osric's body, Archbishop Martin and the others finally understood why Lin Li had stopped them from attacking. However, at the same time, they were also incredibly astonished. Osric was a powerhouse at the peak of the Sanctuary-realm,
so how did he end up in such a state!?
Lin Li's obstruction gave Archbishop Martin and the others reason to believe that the reason Osric had ended up in such a situation was very likely to be the young Sanctuary powerhouse. Once the idea popped up in their minds, they got chills, and fear immediately replaced the joy within them.
Such a scheme was simply too terrifying. It was even more horrifying than the powerful strength of a Sanctuary powerhouse. Osric, who was one of the most famous geniuses of the Dark Age, possessed incredible wit and competency, both in strength and talent. However, a glorious and mighty figure who was a Sanctuary powerhouse that seemed almost invincible actually ended up in such a miserable state because he had been plotted against!
Archbishop Martin and the others couldn't help but feel fortunate that they were not the enemies of the Tower of Dusk. Otherwise, Lin Li would have long plotted against them, and destroyed them completely.
Of course, they wouldn't have known that they had already been treated as cannon fodder when Lin Li had plotted against them in the first place.
Looking at the appearance of Osric who was rapidly aging, almost everyone thought that the outcome was final and set in stone. However, at that moment, an illusory shadow suddenly rushed out from Osric's body, followed by an infinite amount of mana that shrouded the entire expedition.
Archbishop Martin and the others were astonished to see that, but it was already too late for them to respond to the sudden change. Fortunately, Lin Li seemed to have come prepared. His seven pieces of the debris of the stars entered the void, and the Domain World immediately engulfed the expedition, forming a layer of defense against the overwhelming attack spells.
