Han Shuo's scream had alerted Ayermike Cotton and Graeae. They focused their attention on the summit and braced themselves for the impact of the Radiant Blast.
With his consciousness unfolded, Han Shuo had a clear and detailed picture of the Radiant Blast at all times. He could feel the elements of light rapidly converging, splitting and recombining as he calmly prepared for the blast.
Radiant Blast was a forbidden magic that worked by concentrating an enormous amount of the Element of Light to produce energetic lights that bombarded a vast area. Based on his observation and examination of the dazzling radiance in the sky, Han Shuo understood that the power of this Radiant Blast was not to be underestimated.
The canopy of light in the sky above the Babylon Academy of Magic and Strength grew larger and larger as the element of light continued to coalesce. Millions of bright rays of light suddenly poured down. They looked like millions of swords of light with only one purpose - to destroy every living thing beneath them.
As the ray of light unleashed its full power, a dignified and holy aura washed over it, adding to the already formidable power of the forbidden spell.
Han Shuo's unwavering eyes sparkled. His heart was as still as stone as he looked up at the Radiant Blast bombarding down.
The Radiant Blast had enveloped not only the entire Babylon Academy of Magic and Force, but also more than half of the northern district of the city. When the canopy of the Radiant Blast suddenly crashed down, it seemed as if the sun was falling. The scene was terrifying.
The citizens of the northern city district had all stopped whatever they were doing at that moment. Each one of them raised their heads to look at the sky above them in astonishment. In an instant, an intense feeling of horror flooded their hearts. A chaos of screams and cries erupted from every corner.
The scene was nothing short of the end of the world. All the people under the aura were petrified as they thought about the miserable death they would soon suffer.
As the people of the northern district of Ossen City screamed and yelled in horror, they suddenly discovered that dark clouds had appeared above their heads, seemingly out of nowhere. The blinding light that descended was blocked by the pitch-black cloud.
In an instant, the northern district of Ossen City was transformed from day to night. As the dark clouds appeared, flashes of red light shot through the air and loud screeches echoed. All sorts of spectacular sights lit up the sky.
Rumbling... A deafening explosion suddenly roared from the sky. It was as if an atomic bomb had exploded. The extremely loud sound made their ears ring.
After the explosion, colourful lights painted the sky in all sorts of strange patterns. They formed the most magnificent display of fireworks.
Although the dark clouds were thick and dense, they had missed some spots. Several beams of intense light managed to penetrate the clouds. Everything hit by the powerful light burst apart, especially living things - they were instantly vaporised.
Dozens of innocent civilians were killed and hundreds of buildings collapsed. Han Shuo sat cross-legged on a clock tower in the Babylon Academy of Magic and Strength. With his eyes closed, he formed two hand seals to manipulate the Blood Seether that was rummaging through the dark clouds. He injected demonic Yuan into the Blood Seether, causing it to produce a thick mist of blood. Graeae the Banshee then used wind magic to summon hurricanes that spun at high speed, mixing the blood mist with the dark clouds conjured by Ayermike Cotton's dark magic 'Endless Night'. Together, they formed a gigantic boundary in the sky above the northern district.
Han Shuo had no idea how many attackers there were. However, he was certain that there was at least one Basegod among them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to unleash a radiant blast of such catastrophic power.
Han Shuo adjusted his body, heart and mind to their most optimal states as he drove the Blood Seether to constantly produce Bloody Mist. He endeavoured to mend every opening to prevent any of the Radiant Blast from falling to the ground.
Near Han Shuo was Ayermike Cotton, shrouded in absolute darkness. With a grave expression on his face, he quickly recited incantations. On the roof of the library, Graeae the banshee whinnied at the top of her lungs. Hurricane after hurricane passed through the stormy sky.
"Bryan, I can't hold it much longer!" cried Ayermike Cotton.
Han Shuo's eyebrows knitted together and his forehead creased. He hastily chanted a necromancy spell. After a flash of light, Little Skeleton appeared on his bone dragon.
Little Skeleton had a sinister, exotic, icy gleam in his eyes. The tombstone on his chest glowed a misty green. As soon as Little Skeleton emerged from the netherworld, a steady stream of wraiths and gargoyles rushed out. They fluttered about in the swirling wind, forming the second barrier in the sky.
As soon as the second barrier took shape, the pressure on Han Shuo, Ayermike Cotton and Graeae was immediately relieved. They no longer had to expend so much energy mending each and every gap in their barrier.
The area involved was vast, and the three of them had limited mental strength and energy, so the first barrier they formed was not tightly sealed and seamless. They simply couldn't handle the problems associated with a barrier of that size, so more and more gaps appeared in it.
But as soon as Little Skeleton appeared, he used his divine energy to summon a second layer. This had immediately relieved the pressure on the three of them, as they didn't have to worry too much about the imperfections in the first layer of the barrier.
Little Skeleton was Han Shuo's secret weapon. The second layer of barrier he had formed by using lower level wraiths and gargoyles as sacrificial shields had truly and completely protected the civilians and aristocrats on the ground, shielding them from all effects of the Radiant Blast.
The Radiant Blast that the attackers had so painstakingly crafted had a tremendously devastating power. However, it was precisely because the power released was so great that the energy required to conjure it was equally astonishing. There was no way the explosion could last for long.
As expected, it wasn't long after Little Skeleton had summoned Wraith and Gargoyles and formed the second layer of barrier that the Radiant Blast reached its finale. Scattered bits of radiance were scattered before the sky over the northern district of Ossen City finally returned to normal.
Seeing that the Radiant Blast had completely exhausted its power, Han Shuo calmly transmitted a command to Little Skeleton and gave an instruction to Ayermike Cotton, asking him not to lower his guard yet. Immediately after, sitting on the same ground, he closed his eyes and searched with all his might for traces of the attackers.
With the threat of the Radiant Blast neutralised, Little Skeleton sent the wraiths and gargoyles back to the netherworld at Han Shuo's command. He, however, remained behind, hiding in a hidden place.
Ayermike Cotton no longer chanted dark spells. As his mental power relaxed and Graeae's hurricanes blew, the dark clouds that had gathered over the heads of the crowd quickly dissipated.
A clear sky appeared over the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Strength.
"What happened just now? I couldn't see anything, but I could hear dense explosions. I thought I was dead from the blasts!"
"Huh? That blinding light is gone. The dark clouds are gone too. We're out of danger now, aren't we?"
"I think so. I don't feel that crushing pressure anymore."
The crowd debated animatedly. Their faces changed from frightened to bewildered. Each of them looked around curiously, as if to find the answer to their doubts in their surroundings.
"Wow, what happened to these houses? They are all in ruins!" After the dark clouds dissipated, an Archmage from the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Strength used his levitation skills to take to the skies. After scanning the landscape with his eyes, he immediately exclaimed.
"This is the scene caused by a radiant blast. Every living thing that is hit by the intense radiation is instantly vaporised. It seems that the Radiant Blast has fallen, but 99 percent of its power has been intercepted. Otherwise, the condition of the northern city district would surely be much worse," Amyes respectfully reported back to King Lawrence after taking to the skies and surveying the area.
"That damned Church of Light, so much for championing compassion!" Lawrence gnashed his teeth, seething with anger.
On the entire Profound Continent, only the Church of Light, which possessed the most powerful and abundant Light Mages, could use a Radiant Blast of such formidable power. What's more, since the Church of Light hadn't been on good terms with the Lancelot Empire all this time, it was a foregone conclusion that the attackers must be associated with the Church of Light.
"How shameless and despicable. The Church of Light must be the most evil sect in the world to do such a thing without a conscience. Old Hahn was also shaking with rage. He had never expected the Church of Light to be so cruel as to unleash forbidden magic of mass destruction with such indifference to the lives of so many ordinary people in Ossen City.
This action had violated the tacit agreement between the countries of the Profound Continent. The word 'crazy' could not describe the behaviour of the Church of Light.
"Amyes, send troops to calm down the civilians. Candide, investigate and find all those who carried out this evil, unconscionable act!" Lawrence could not have been more furious.
After the event, Firenze breathed a sigh of relief, looked disdainfully at the cowards who were thinking of escaping, and sneered, "See, I told you so. It's safest to stay here. Had you not listened to me and left the Academy earlier, you could have turned into a pile of ashes!"
These people still had fear in their hearts after narrowly escaping death. They forced a smile and remained silent, not answering Firenze's mockery.
Firenze lost interest in these cowards when they failed to retort. Then he looked around and asked, "Where is that fellow Bryan? It's all over now. Where did he go?"
Everyone who knew that Han Shuo had saved their lives began to look up and down for Han Shuo's figure. However, they couldn't find him anywhere.
Faint threads of blood from an unseen hidden spot were slowly drifting away. They were heading away from the northern district.