“Three-ring spell, Earth Surge…”
Hearing the muttering coming from Luther Sage’s mouth, Muxuan decisively used his Lightforce to wrap himself and the Sage in a protective cocoon.
The underground space had already begun to tremble violently, and rocks were constantly falling from the ceiling. These falling stones wouldn’t actually affect Luther Sage, but they would be quite annoying. Furthermore, the sensation of the ground shaking and his own body vibrating along with it was very uncomfortable.
Hovering in the air was far more pleasant than standing on the ground.
Because of Luther Sage’s explanation, Muxuan now had a clear understanding of how a mage’s spells were classified.
Spells were divided into three rings, increasing in power from the first ring to the third. Weaker than those were unranked spells, while stronger ones were categorized as Super-tier magic.
Spells such as Illuminate, Spark, Clean, and Water Control were all unranked. They possessed no offensive capabilities and were primarily studied by magic apprentices.
Meanwhile, spells like Fireball, Water Arrow, and Levitation — which were either offensive or had significant utility — reached the level of the one-ring spells.
The two-ring and three-ring spells were also divided based on their scale of power, and they likewise fell into three categories: functional, defensive, and offensive.
As for Super-tier magic, only a Sage with an almost infinite supply of mana had the ability to release it. Similarly, its power was such that it could easily wipe out a small human nation.
The reason behind the naming convention of one-ring to three-ring was that only one-ring and three-ring spells could be used to design magic circles of corresponding, greater power.
There were even some three-ring magic circles that, when boosted by magical materials and magic tools, could rival the power of Super-tier magic!
It could be said that activating a three-ring magic circle was no easy feat. Most Great Archmagi would choose to use mana crystals to assist in the operation of the array.
Unfortunately, Muxuan had no way to provide Mosen with mana crystals.
These things were rare even before the arrival of The Strange calamity, let alone afterward.
*Boom — *
A massive sound echoed, followed by an endless cloud of dust that surged like a localized storm.
A terrifying force instantly descended from above, piercing through the palace not far from Muxuan and Luther Sage. Countless fragments of stone were sent flying in all directions, making dull thuds amidst a *rustle* of debris.
Interspersed within the chaos were the Screams of goblins.
Seeing this underground space transform into a scene filled with swirling sand and dust in an instant, Muxuan felt a surge of shock in his heart.
‘This power truly is terrifying.’
If he were to face it head-on, even with the strength of the Moho rank, Muxuan felt that he would be heavily injured even if he exhausted all his strength to block it…
‘Is this the power of a three-ring magic circle?’
‘It can easily destroy a city or even half of a small country.’
Feeling the mere aftershocks washing over him, Muxuan exerted himself to continuously replenish his Lightforce. If even he felt a bit uncomfortable, it was even worse for those goblins… most likely, none of them were left alive.
However, Muxuan felt no sympathy for the goblins.
His purpose in coming here was not only to save the survivors but also to resolve the goblin threat once and for all.
“Luther Sage, can this three-ring magic circle destroy this palace and its Rule?”
The air was filled with flying sand, greatly obstructing his vision. Muxuan’s perception was also being blocked by the massive discharge of power.
“His Holiness… this is more troublesome than I imagined…”
Luther Sage squinted his eyes. His expression shifted from momentary bewilderment to one of grave solemnity.
‘More troublesome than imagined!?’
As if to validate Luther Sage’s words, a surge of eerie power erupted in the next second, instantly calming the swirling sand in the space.
At that moment, the palace manifested an extreme blackness, its entire structure twisting in an irregular fashion.
The three-ring magic circle… had failed to eliminate the palace!
“Now, does Your Holiness understand why the vast majority of factions are unable to deal with these things?”
Yes, Muxuan understood.
Many manifestations of The Strange that Lightforce could easily handle possessed, for some reason, an extremely high resistance to other types of power.
Other powers might cause more physical destruction than Lightforce, but they posed almost no threat to The Strange itself.
But… if Lightforce was specifically effective against the Rule of The Strange, why had the Church almost reached the point of extinction?
“Ugh—!”
He tried to sift through the memories of the past Popes to find an answer, but his brain was suddenly hit by a wave of intense, agonizing pain.
It felt as if his brain matter was being sucked out or hammered by a spiked mace. The pain was beyond what an ordinary person could endure!
“Your Holiness!”
Seeing Muxuan’s figure suddenly become unstable, and then looking at the increasingly eerie palace, Luther Sage shouted in concern.
Seeing that Muxuan gave no response, Luther Sage did not hesitate any longer. He quickly took hold of Muxuan and rushed toward the tunnel they had come from.
They had to leave this place immediately!
‘Some knowledge, some things… inherently carry Corruption…’
Luther Sage already had a hypothesis regarding Muxuan’s condition.
Every person’s brain had a protection mechanism that would automatically filter or hide memories tainted by Corruption.
The moment one attempted to recall those hidden memories, a situation like Muxuan’s would occur.
In more severe cases, it could lead to instant mutation or the total collapse of consciousness. Luther Sage was certain that such a state was something even Lightforce could not salvage.
One could say that what Luther Sage dreaded most was not those entities that could not be looked upon, spoken of, or named.
Rather, it was that forbidden knowledge carrying Corruption.
To touch it was to descend into madness; it was impossible to guard against!
You could never know if you might fall into insanity because of corrupted knowledge you accidentally came into contact with.
He hadn’t mentioned this to His Holiness before because he estimated His Holiness wouldn’t encounter it in the short term.
But Luther Sage truly hadn’t expected that a single sentence would cause His Holiness to suffer Corruption just by glancing at his own memories.
“Hiss… What happened to me…”
Finally, by the time Luther Sage brought Muxuan out of the underground, Muxuan regained his senses.
Seeing that Muxuan was unharmed, Luther Sage couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then, his voice turned serious as he said, “Your Holiness, do not try to think about those things you cannot think about again.”
“Some memories carry a fatal Corruption!”
***
Gelifende led ten knights as they continuously searched a prison that had suddenly appeared before them.
Originally, His Holiness had not allowed them to enter the village, ordering them to stand by outside.
However, the anomaly that had just occurred made Gelifende cautious, and he subsequently dispatched two of them to investigate the situation.
It was there, near the back of the mountain, that they discovered a prison.
The architectural style of the prison… was that of the goblins!
At this moment, Gelifende’s hand was gripping his sword hilt so tightly that his veins were bulging.
Every time his eyes swept over a corpse, Gelifende’s heart sank a little further.
Almost all the corpses had their limbs locked tight and had their internal organs completely hollowed out while they were still alive…
They had slowly welcomed death in the midst of extreme agony.
Gelifende’s footsteps were very light, yet also very heavy. There were still many remnants of intestines and kidneys scattered across the ground.