End of the Magic Era

"Damn you, bastard. I'm going to rip your face, hang your head on my bedroom door, and use your skin as a doormat…"

Sunny screamed in shock and fury. Her ominous aura spread out crazily. The vibe of death was rising too. More and more Screaming Ghosts were appearing…

Reina and Sunny were fighting, and so were Xiuban and Sheldon. However, Lin Yun remained still, and stared at Myers.

Myers didn't move, either, and simply gazed at Lin Yun. Behind Myers, a dozen Heaven Rank experts were protecting him. They ignored the other battles, and stayed around Myers like bodyguards.

Gradually, the atmosphere became more and more suffocating. Around Lin Yun, the Heaven Rank aura was spreading out. The mana that flowed out of his body was already half as much as the total mana of a regular level-4 Heaven Rank expert. The mana turned into water drops, and circled around Lin Yun.

Lin Yun held the Draconic Staff in his hand. The Ten Thousand Spell Wheel and the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras were floating on his sides. The Book of Death was in his left hand. The chains on the surface of the book had been broken, but the book hadn't been opened yet.

The illusion of a wheel that was dozens of meters in diameter floated behind Lin Yun. The wheel looked like countless overlapping circles. Infinite law runes were appearing and disappearing with the spinning wheel.

On his opposite side, Myers rose to the sky too, with a glittering colorful crystal ball in his hand. He simply gazed at Lin Yun with light spreading in his eyes like ripples.

After they confronted each other for almost 10 minutes, Myers finally opened his mouth in regret.

"Mafa Merlin, you're very strong. At least, you're the only mage below level 5 of the Heaven Rank that I cannot see through with my eyes. You're not even 40 yet, yet you're already a level-4 Heaven Rank expert. You're very gifted too.

"I'm told that you are a great Artisan who's not just good at potions, but also familiar with magic tools, alchemy puppets, and alchemy arrays. In many aspects, your alchemy expertise is even better than that of the Artisans.

"You've surpassed a lot of people in terms of theoretical research. You are a real genius.

"You might not know this yet, but our organization is called the Thorny Crown. The Shadow Tower and the Ring of Roses are both subordinates to the Thorny Crown. Unlike other mages, we seek the truth of magic.

"I'm not interested in the grudge between you and the Shadow Tower or the Ring of Roses. That's their own business. You haven't affected the Thorny Crown yet."

Lin Yun sneered coldly. The Thorny Crown was established thousands of years ago. Back then, it was truly a loose alliance founded by mages who pursued the truth of magic. The purpose of the alliance was just magic studies.

However, the Thorny Crown was no longer a loose alliance. It was an organization of deranged people who would risk anything to become stronger. Transplanting the bloodline of other creatures was never acceptable at this moment or in the future.

"I walk on a thorny road. The thorns are stained with my blood. I reach for the bloody thorns and weave them into a crown. May I be coronated with this crown at the end of the thorny road," Lin Yun read unhurriedly. Myers instantly seemed astonished.

"Why do you know the Thorny Crown's vow?"

There was disdain in Lin Yun's eyes.

"The Thorny Crown was founded for a glorious purpose. Many theories and studies today were actually started by the initial members of the Thorny Crown. Unfortunately, as they grew old and died, the Thorny Crown deteriorated. You've forgotten what the three founders set out for…"

The surprise on Myers' face was gone. The colorful crystal ball in his hand suddenly dazzled.

"Sir Mafa Merlin, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Will Myers. You may call me Myers. If we had met elsewhere, I would've invited you to join the Thorny Crown.

"But unfortunately, here I can only say that I'm sorry for your passing. This plane has to be the Thorny Crown's. It's very important for us. I'm truly sorry.

"You may not know the gap between level 4 and level 5 of the Heaven Rank yet. It's totally unlike the difference between previous levels. I know you're very strong, but your journey ends here. May you rest in peace, Mafa Merlin."

After saying that, Myers suddenly unleashed a horrifying aura. The illusion of a Demiplane appeared behind Myers. The horrifying aura dispersed the thin clouds in the sky. The air became daunting and suppressing. It seemed that all laws were helping Myers, and supporting him at this moment.

Feeling the pressure of pure laws, Lin Yun established a Fusion Shield. Still, he felt that he was restrained, and could only use 80% of his strength.

Facing such a strong man like Myers, 80% of his strength and 10% of it would be the same. If he couldn't unleash 120% of his strength, it would mean that he couldn't possibly fight him.

Examining the pressure, Lin Yun heaved a sigh. As expected, without the enhancement of his Demiplane that helped resist the laws, he was too weak to fight the man. Dealing with a level-5 Heaven Rank mage and dealing with an alchemy puppet on the same level were completely different.

No wonder level 5 of the Heaven Rank was a major threshold. The mages' domination started exactly from here. Above level 5 of the Heaven Rank, the distinguished mages would rank higher than all the other extraordinary creatures on the same level.

Apart from their wisdom, human beings were definitely the weakest among all creatures on their level. Their bloodline was too weak. However, above level 5 of the Heaven Rank, the restraint of bloodline would be completely gone, and wisdom would play a bigger and bigger part. When they reached the peak of the Heaven Rank, very few extraordinary creatures would be able to fight mages…

Examining the pressure, Lin Yun had to summon the projection of his Demiplane. The pressure of the power of laws was the greatest. He wasn't completely suppressed, because he wasn't much weaker. If he hadn't been able to resist the pressure, then the battle would've ended already.

The projection of his Demiplane that accommodated his understanding of laws appeared. He invoked the power of laws. The pillar glimmered, and projected the power of laws that had naturally evolved in his Demiplane.

Even though the laws that evolved in his Natural Demiplane couldn't be used at all without being grasped first, their protection was quite flawless.

When the projection of his Natural Demiplane appeared, Myers' pressure was resisted easily.

The competitions of laws were always direct and fierce. In the space between Lin Yun and Myers, belts of light were twisting and flashing. It was a pure clash of the power of laws. It almost seemed that there was an aurora shining and rising between them. It was splendid yet dangerous. Anything else that was caught up in it would've been torn into shreds.

Time went by slowly. It was not until three minutes later that the splendid aurora between Lin Yun and Myers was finally gone. The competition of laws had reached an impasse. Neither of them could crush their opponent with their power of laws.

Myers had mastered laws that were essentially more powerful than Lin Yun's, but Lin Yun grasped a larger number of laws. Also, thanks to the projection of his Natural Demiplane, he was almost invulnerable to the power of laws. He could barely attack with the Natural Demiplane, but his defenses were much higher than his level.

It allowed Lin Yun to fight on without being crushed and killed immediately. The competition of spells had just begun…

The moment the competition of laws was over, the colorful crystal ball in Myers' hand suddenly rose and circled around Myers, while he chanted uncanny curses. Law runes floated around him. Weird magic tattoos appeared on his skin and face too.

Immediately, crystal balls the size of fists appeared in front of Lin Yun. Those crystal balls came in all kinds of colors. The moment the crystal balls appeared, Lin Yun had such a horrible feeling of crisis that he fully activated the Magic Array and the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel. As his computation ability was boosted, countless data emerged in his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Yun had already picked a defensive strategy. The Book of Ten Thousand Mantras automatically opened, and he pointed Draconic Staff at one page, pulling a spell out of the book. The moment the spell appeared, it absorbed a tremendous amount of mana around him, and stretched the space near him.

At the same time, the crystal balls that Myers released all exploded. They seemed to be exploding in the exits of space, and transformed into crystal stings that were hundreds of meters long. Instantly, all the space in front of his eyes was occupied by the thorny crystals.

Like the sharpest spears, the crystal stings penetrated everything. When they collided, they caused spatial ripples, and then continued spreading onward.

The space around Lin Yun was still being stretched, but the crystals traveled fast in the space. The overlapping penetrative forces accumulated, and slowed down the stretching of space. The stretched space was penetrated and minced. Cracks and broken pieces were appearing everywhere.

Following the route that he had calculated with the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel and the Magic Array, Lin Yun zigzagged. Many spatial runes were floating around Lin Yun, twisting the space.

A second later, the seething mana suddenly eased. Lin Yun was quite solemn. There were crystal stings everywhere around his body. His Fusion Shield had been penetrated before it could react.

After the Fusion Shield was penetrated, it didn't disappear. The crystal stings that penetrated the Fusion Shield were surrounded by law runes, but the law runes didn't seem to be able to repair the Fusion Shield's damages.

Like the twigs in a bird's nest, the crystal stings crossed each other and caged Lin Yun. Some of the crystal stings that should've pierced Lin Yun's body were weirdly twisted and circumvented it.

That was because the space had been twisted. The crystal stings couldn't destroy the twisted space, and could only follow it. It seemed that the straight crystal stings were curved when they reached Lin Yun, but they became straight again after they passed him.

Looking at the dense crystal stings around him, Lin Yun had cold sweat on his forehead.

Magic Neutralization Crystals…

They were generated by the natural-born ability of certain crystal monsters in the Crystal Plane, which could destroy any magic shield, and penetrate anything in their way…

That old man had transplanted the bloodline of a crystal monster, and luckily succeeded. The crystals that he summoned with his spell were Magic Neutralization Crystals too…

If Lin Yun had released a shield instead of extracting a spell to expand the space from the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras after calculating with the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel and the Magic Array, he probably would've been killed…

Lin Yun had acquired this space expansion spell on the hill when he visited Agalon last time. He was inspired by the changed law of space in that place, and created this spell with his own understanding of space and magic. It was a defensive spell.

It could infinitely stretch the space around oneself. The enemy's attack, whatever it might be, had to pass through the stretched space first. The distance of one kilometer might be extended to a dozen kilometers or more. The spells that couldn't pass through the area couldn't cause any damage to Lin Yun.

However, the stretched space could be weakened by some spells, such as the Magic Neutralization Crystals, which were unimaginably penetrative. The stretched space could be easily pierced by the Magic Neutralization Crystals. The stretching was at least weakened by half.

The crystals all came to still. Lin Yun finally spouted new space runes. The space around him trembled, and was restored. All the crystals crumbled into countless pieces during the contracting and shaking of space. With an elemental outburst, all the pieces were flung backwards.

In the sky, the flower of crystal stings that covered a range of several thousand meters exploded. Countless broken pieces fell from the sky.

Lin Yun floated in the sky. His mana spread out, and dense law runes were floating around his body.

In the distance, Myers looked at Lin Yun in surprise, not expecting the latter to be still alive. The crystal stings resulting from the exploding crystal balls almost filled up the space within a kilometer of Lin Yun. There shouldn't be enough room for him to hide. The Magic Neutralization Crystals should've destroyed everything inside…

Yet, Lin Yun had emerged completely unscathed…

"Mafa Merlin, you're indeed surprising. I didn't know that you had grasped the law of space. But it's pointless. The crystal spells are not to be resisted by any shield…

"I'm sorry to see you here, but you have to die here…"

With regret on his face, Myers continued chanting…

When Myers just started chanting, Lin Yun opened the Book of Death, invoking the power in the Element Chapter and the All-Encompassing Chapter. Another long spell emerged from the Book of Ten Thousand Mantras, and a lightning barrel 100 meters long manifested. A special half-a-meter-long cannonball was put into the barrel from the rear. After being accelerated by the electromagnetic barrel, the cannonball disappeared.

The 2,000 meters were almost covered by it in the blink of an eye. Facing the horrifying electromagnetic cannon, Myers didn't stop chanting at all, but the crystal ball that spun around him appeared in front of him, and invoked an arc-shaped shield.

The cannonball, glittering with lightning, hit the surface of the colorful crystal shield brutally, causing a horrifying explosion. The special cannonball exploded, and a lot of broken pieces were blown off the shield. The colorful crystal ball was flung aside too.

At the same time, after releasing the first cannonball, Lin Yun extended the barrel of the magic electromagnetic cannon by another 100 meters, and launched another cannonball.

Seeing that, Myers slightly changed his expression. His colorful crystal ball had been blown away, and couldn't possibly fly back in time to protect him before the second cannonball hit him. This cracked crystal shield certainly couldn't ensure his safety…

Countless pictures were replayed in Myers' head. A moment later, he put on a confident smile again.

That spell was very powerful. With appropriate materials, it was more powerful than normal level-9 spells even without extraordinary power. Unfortunately, its flaw was very obvious. The blast that the spell caused couldn't change its direction at all. It had to aim at fixed targets on a straight line…

What a shame. Mafa Merlin was truly a genius. This novel lightning spell seemed to be making use of a special power. Its casting materials were very special too. However, he was simply too young and inexperienced…