Chapter 105: Magic Is the Eternal Power

Beneath the sands, Ethan struggled to drag out Cheng Long and Morey. Good heavens, Azir’s sudden outburst nearly dragged them out as well.

“Unlucky! Unlucky! Just utterly unlucky!” Cheng Long clutched his chest. “Ethan, aren’t you Azir’s priest? You’re one of his own—why are you hiding?”

“No, my worship is directed elsewhere,” Ethan shook his head. The moment he saw Azir, he knew he was no longer the deity’s priest. Only three options remained now, but as the situation escalated, he began to doubt whether he’d even survive long enough to find his true patron.

“Forget that for now, how do we fix this?” Morey was growing anxious. The gap was too vast; even his axe might not pierce Cassilius’s skin, let alone Azir’s. He couldn’t even get past the sand soldiers, much less the sun disc beyond.

“Keep descending. There should be a way to resolve this further down,” Ethan sighed.

Several hundred meters below Ethan, an iron coffin tightly bound by chains trembled oddly. Several chains attached to the walls snapped due to Azir’s initial outburst.

Arcane energy seeped bit by bit from the gaps in the coffin.

“Azir! I am about to reclaim my freedom! I will take back the rights that are rightfully mine!”

Words charged with arcane power echoed through this small sealed chamber. The bound entity inside struggled violently, hastening the coffin’s destruction, and more chains snapped around it.

The sealing runes etched on the coffin’s surface corroded under the assault of arcane energy.

Minutes later, when Ethan, Morey, and Cheng Long arrived, the chains surrounding the coffin were broken almost entirely.

“This... is yours?” Cheng Long pointed uncertainly at the coffin, glancing at Ethan. This scene hardly suggested a benevolent entity.

“Probably not. Let’s move on. Keep going down,” Ethan shook his head.

At that moment, with a loud snap, the last chain broke, and the coffin exploded into fragments.

“Nothing can hold me now! I shall transcend this mortal realm!” Zeras laughed heartily as he broke free.

Morey eyed the blue sphere of arcane energy silently, then swung his axe fiercely. Whatever it was, if it wasn’t one of their own and certainly didn’t seem friendly, it was going to get an axe to the face first.

Zeras clapped his hand, and the giant axe was shattered into particles of energy by the arcane force—no chance of it returning.

“Flesh and blood—how laughable.” Zeras finally fixed his gaze on the three, and sensing Ethan’s presence, he erupted in rage as if confronting his arch-nemesis.

“Nethes! I will erase every trace of you!”

Nethes? Was that Ethan’s patron deity? What god was that? He’d never heard the name before...

The thought echoed in Ethan’s mind. He had read many myths, but none mentioned Nethes.

Morey smirked, waved his right hand, and the giant axe reformed. “Looks like we didn’t pick the wrong fight. Ethan, you two keep moving down. I’ll handle this dimwit.”

Morey’s judgment was sharp; he could see Zeras was actually quite weakened now. If they didn’t take advantage of that, once Zeras recovered, there’d be no chance.

This tactic had worked before against dimensional invaders: strike when the enemy was weakened by Earth’s environment and unsteady on their feet, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

Ethan said no more. Since Morey was confident, he trusted him and pulled Cheng Long onward, descending to find the Nethes Zeras had spoken of.

With so many formidable foes appearing, Ethan felt utterly uncertain without someone on their side capable of standing against them.

Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!

As Ethan descended, three arcs of lightning-shaped arcane energy surged from Zeras toward the trio.

Morey raised his axe in front to block, then swung it three times along the handle, dispersing the lightning. A tingling numbness spread from the axe into his arm and throughout his body.

Damn, maybe I overestimated myself. This blue monster’s energy quality is way too high.

Feeling his body protest, Morey lightly pulled his hand, unfolding a mirror space that enclosed the surrounding area.

“Magic? This is magic? I thought you were performing a trick,” Zeras mocked as mana surged through his body, arcane pulses rippling outward, shattering the newly formed mirror space completely.

In his eyes, Morey’s standardized spatial technique was heresy, unworthy of the title “magic.”

Magic should be like Lightning Bolt: swift and devastating!

As the mirror space collapsed, Morey had already closed in on Zeras, raising both axes and striking heavily. Mana flowed along the blades, crackling with thunder and lightning.

Impact Sphere!

Zeras raised his right hand, releasing a high-speed magical orb that struck Morey, bending him into an arc and slamming him into the wall. Only a hollow space remained—he had vanished completely.

“As expected, the allure of magic belongs to me alone.”

Zeras arrogantly tore through the sand above and flew upward. The energy of the Ascendants swirled outside, drawing him near. If he absorbed enough, he could relocate to a safe place, recover fully, and then return to vie for power.

He realized this quickly because the disturbances below grew clearer—disturbances he knew well, those of his greatest enemies: Nethes and Rekton.

Though sealed for so many years, Zeras had been influencing Rekton’s mental state, stirring his emotions toward Nethes. The outcome was uncertain. Moreover, Ethan’s sacred flame specialized in purification—any emotional manipulation could be neutralized before it took effect.

Hissing, Morey drew a breath beneath the sand, touching his chest and abdomen. This ordeal taught him a lesson: don’t judge these newcomers by old experiences.

Each one was more outrageous than the last—so visibly weakened he could barely withstand a single strike.

Morey pressed his hand to his belly; the heat from the impact sphere hadn’t dissipated, and the iron armor there was already beginning to melt.

Surviving this time was truly thanks to the iron armor distributed in New York. The spiritual power from his Five Spirit Beads and the battle formation of the Round Table Knights, despite Zeras’s massive close-range energy output breaking through in one blow, proved that solid equipment was indeed reliable.

7017k