Chapter 1995: Layers of Distraction

The ones closest to Master was John's group, but they couldn't get close to him. Master was protected by his legion of demons, zombies, and summons. They couldn't even determine his exact position when the second sun appeared above them and started burning them with heat. Much less defeating Master to complete their objective, they needed to attack Master to stop him from sustaining the second sun. Or else, that sun would burn them to death.

It was easier said than done. Master was already a summoner who could summon more minions than most before he became a God. After he became one, his hacking gave him even more non-standard summoning spells. Combined with the legion he called using the Mass Recall Plate, the overwhelming number of enemies made approaching Master seem impossible.

The one that continued to brute force its way through was the Atomic Hydra. Nothing seemed able to stop its advance. Not until one of Master's summons barred its way. This summon was not a new one, but one he already showed during the past battle in Hydrurond.

The one that engaged the Atomic Hydra was the Divine Earth Titan. The earth titan was even more powerful than when Master summoned it to break the wall of Messephyria. It was now a level 99 eternal grade.

Both the Atomic Hydra and the Divine Earth Titan had the same level and grade. When the two collided, it was the Atomic Hydra that recoiled from the impact. In terms of raw strength, the Divine Earth Titan was stronger.

The Atomic Hydra's three heads roared with fury. This was the first time it encountered an enemy whose strength was higher than it. It refused to accept defeat. It flapped its wings and charged back at the Divine Earth Titan.

The Divine Earth Titan was not originally a being that could fly. On its back was a pair of wings made of light. The wings came from a spell. Master cast Angelic Wings, which gave a target the ability to fly.

Angelic Wings was a spell with six runes. Any spellcaster who possessed Dispel or Cancel Magic could theoretically cast the spell to take out the Divine Earth Titan's ability to fly. John already did but failed. This was because an intelligence modifier was calculated to determine the success rate. No one could rival Master's intelligence stat. Even after John empowered his spell using mana manipulation, he still failed to dispel the angelic wings on the Divine Earth Titan.

Fiery energy burst from the Atomic Hydra's claws. The right one was silver, and the other one was dark purple. This soul and chaos-infused fist increased the Atomic Hydra's damage output and impact strength. The fiery claw collided again with the stone fist. This time, the two seemed equally strong.

The draw didn't last, though. Layers of rock materialized and merged with the Divine Earth Titan's stone fists, enlarging them to a bizarre proportion. When the enlarged stone fist punched again, the Atomic Hydra recoiled an even longer distance than before.

The Atomic Hydra didn't give up. It charged back again. But this time, it was not alone. John commanded his other lords to ignore the other enemies and focus on the divine earth Titan. The Mutated Saurian charged in from the side when the Atomic Hydra clashed for the third time with the Divine Earth Titan. The Mutated Saurian crashed into the Divine Earth Titan and bit one of its arms. It used its heavy mass to hold the titan down. The two ice wings on its back reformed into a layer of ice protecting its body. The Divine Earth Titan couldn't use its other hand to yank the Mutated Saurian away because of this protective layer.

The Atomic Hydra never let up its aggression. It pounced on the Divine Earth Titan. With only one arm, the Divine Earth Titan couldn't drive the Atomic Hydra away.

While the Divine Earth Titan was occupied, a third assailant hit it from above. It was the Mighty Ape. It had activated its Flame Incarnation. Its entire body was burning. Two fiery wings were on its back. Together with the Atomic Hydra, the Might Ape rained punches on the Divine Earth Titan.

Master's other minions, who originally fought the Mutated Saurian and the Mighty Ape, redirected their attentions to John, who rode atop the Celestial Moth. The Celestial Moth had prepared a spell that spread light dust around it. It also cast a spell that formed walls of light. Together with its buff spell that turned its standard attacks into exploding starlights, these minions were having trouble approaching John.

John intentionally put himself as a target. While the enemy's attention was on him, Badass' archdemon lord sneaked by under cover of invisibility. It seemed able to sneak its way through the horde of enemies and locate Master, but its invisibility ended when a flaming boomerang accurately struck it.

When the archdemon lord came out of invisibility, it located the one who had struck it. It was its kind, an archdemon. This archdemon came from the level 90 spell of Master's Prime Demonologist. This archdemon had the Demonic True Eye like Master's, so it could see invisible enemies.

Badass' archdemon lord was a stronger demon than the archdemon. However, its level was 96 following Badass' level. The archdemon was level 99 following Master's level. The archdemon also had the support of Master's other summons. The archdemon lord was soon swarmed without being able to advance further.

While Jack's side continued to suffer the fire damage from the Second Sun, healing numbers appeared above them. These healing numbers couldn't negate the damage they suffered, but it slowed the rate of their HPS going down. Additionally, damage numbers started popping up above the heads of Master's legion, even when they suffered no attacks.

While Master's legion was confused about these damage numbers, they noticed a strange sound. The demons and zombies might consider it a strange sound, but the players identified it as music.

This healing music came from Will Corner. His music affected all the allies currently battling above Sky Haven. Normal Bard's Play Music didn't have that large AOE. The reason his music did was because of the starting skill of his pinnacle class, the Angelic Conductor. The skill was Angelic Chorus. It boosted the effect of the user's Play Music and let it cover the entire battlefield.

Additionally, it was able to link with another ally's Play Music, giving it the same benefits. On maximum level, Angelic Chorus could link with two allies' Play Music.

The healing effect benefiting Jack's side was Will's music. One that Chris gave him. The damaging effect on Master's force came from Elayne's Melody of Death, who will linked with. For the last slot, Will linked with one of the Council of Elpo's members who possessed the Play Music skill. This member's music boosted allies' attributes. The boosted attributes allowed their force to better contest the enemies buffed by the Demonic Contract.

The three copied Master's strategy. Since their music could affect the entire battlefield, they retreated to where they were most protected and played their music from there. If enemies wanted to stop their music, they had to charge through many obstacles.

With the healing, damage, and stat boost the music provided, Jack's force could better endure under the heat bombardment from the second sun. Even so, this was only a delay. The second sun dealt more damage. To make it worse, the fire damage it dispensed increased with time. They still needed to stop Master from maintaining the spell if they wanted a chance to win

this battle.

Everyone was seemingly occupied by the enemies without making progress in approaching Master. That was until a powerful beam of light crashed through the horde of Master's minions. Following this beam, a huge golden dragon charged through.

This golden dragon was the gold dragon from Jack's bloodline. Following the dragon's charge was one of Jack's clones. This clone was encased in a burning dark purple sphere, the Sphere of Tiamat. No enemies could stop his forceful charge. The gold dragon further supported Jack by casting a spell that fired numerous starlights that struck the enemies in Jack's path.

Jack's clone with the gold dragon was John's second layer of distraction. While John acted as a distraction for the advance of Badass' archdemon lord, the archdemon lord turned into a distraction for Jack's advance after it was discovered.

With Jack's forceful charge, he finally pierced through the enemy's layered defense. He saw Master then. Master had one arm holding his staff high to sustain the second sun. His other arm was holding the Book of the Damned, which showed uncountable thin crimson threads

coming out of the book.

The two locked eyes. Their real bodies were fighting elsewhere. But here, their clones were going to duke it out as well.

Master narrowed his eyes. He swore he would defeat his nemesis on both fronts!