Chapter 753: Both Sides Suffer
Terrifying black lightning appeared at the point of impact between the two black spheres. One after another, snake-like bolts of lightning kept revolving around the two black spheres.
A black bolt of lightning rushed towards the ground and blasted a hole that was over ten meters wide. It should be known that the ground there was sturdier than Iron Essence!
Then, countless glaring black lightning bolts shot in all directions, and the sounds of explosions never stopped.
The ground within a kilometer had originally been flattened by the earlier shockwave before being turned into a honeycomb by the fragments of the collision, but it was now filled with huge holes. Dust and large fragments were sent flying up before being pressured back down by the power permeating the air.
The terrifying fluctuations spread between the two large spheres and the air became heavier as one ripple after another could be seen slowly spreading out.
In just three to four seconds, the horrible pressure prevented any more fragments from leaving the ground.
After another three to four seconds, cracks began to appear on the ground as if it couldn't handle the heavy burden. Cracks even started appearing on the hillsides.
It was worse on the domed sky. A crack that was over a kilometer long could be seen spreading. A large number of fragments fell down from it, but after falling down a dozen meters, they were repelled back up.
The Black Dragon Warlord ground his teeth and his face distorted as he pushed the black sphere in front of him. As for Duncan, the black flames within his eye sockets fiercely flickered as he also used his hands to push the black sphere.
The black smoke around them had already converged into the black spheres, and even more terrible fluctuations were emerging as a violent and oppressive power rapidly aggregated.
Lin Yun became deathly pale. This was no longer a matter of attracting attention. 'Damn, these two lunatics... Don't drag me down with you if you want to die! They are competing in terms of mana, they have completely lost their minds!'
Indeed, the Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan hadn't been able to overwhelm each other with their spells, so they began the most dangerous and terrifying battle of mana.
As long as one wasn't completely unhinged, no mage would do this kind of thing!
Competing over mana meant giving up on all spells, all mysteries, just to focus on winning with pure mana. This was comparable to warriors abandoning all technique and just fist-fighting.
One of the bloodiest and most dangerous duels among warriors was called the three steps flesh beating. The size of the battlefield was only three steps, and the two opponents would have no place to dodge as deadly traps would be installed behind them. The one who was forced to take a step back would die.
But when compared to mages staking everything on a direct confrontation of mana, even the most arrogant warrior would sweat when hearing about it and would definitely say that this was more dangerous than the three steps flesh beating.
Because it didn't matter who won in a fierce contest of mana... Unless the gap was huge and it was done just to pressure an opponent, the best outcome would be suffering 80% of the damage the enemy suffered. The loser would suffer backlash and his mana would instantly ignite. At that time, let alone his body, his soul would also burn.
The best outcome for the winner would be losing the majority of his mana and losing a rank. If it went a bit poorly for them, they could get a terrifying mana backlash and become crippled.
If the two were evenly matched, then both of them would surely die...
Now... The competition between the Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan had lasted for no less than ten seconds. Lin Yun could already foresee the final outcome, especially since the reaction of the two black spheres converging was becoming more and more chaotic. He immediately cast Haste and turned around to flee.
Lin Yun had flown for over a kilometer when something happened behind him.
A small black dot that didn't emit a single bit of mana fluctuation appeared between the two spheres. As the black dot appeared, the two black spheres started distorting.
It looked as if a hole had been pierced into the two black spheres and the insides of the spheres were spilling towards the small black dot in the center.
In an instant, that black spot casually grew to become a black sphere of its own that was half a meter in size.
That small sphere devoured the two black spheres containing the mana of the Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan before suddenly letting out a terrifying fluctuation.
The Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan simply couldn't do anything when that small black sphere exploded.
It felt as if darkness kept silently expanding and continuously devoured everything in its surroundings, but it only looked like an ordinary shadow.
When coming into contact with the Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan, it looked as if their bodies were hit by a Golden Behemoth. They turned into blurs as they were sent flying over a kilometer away and ruthlessly crashed into two hills.
Two loud bangs echoed as a large cloud of dust rose on both sides, and by the dust settled, Lin Yun could see holes on both sides that were several hundred meters wide. The Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan were both lying down at the bottom of these holes.
The armor on the Black Dragon Warlord's body had already disintegrated, everything under his right knee had disappeared, and he was covered with blood as if blood had been poured all over him.
And Duncan wasn't any better. The sinister armor he had condensed had completely shattered and his black bones were filled with numerous cracks just like a glass bottle on the verge of breaking.
In the center of the battlefield, that rising spherical shadow spread and covered everything within two to three kilometers.
After spreading to that point, the spherical shadow instantly collapsed and shrank back to a small dot before dissipating as if it had never been there.
But it left behind a kilometer-wide hole, and it looked as if everything there had been devoured by a giant mouth.
Lin Yun was sweating and stopped flying away. He would have lost his life if he kept flying towards the first half of the Night Valley, and moreover, Lin Yun clearly knew that the current situation wasn't over!
Lin Yun quickly landed and then waved his Draconic Staff while chanting some sounds. In an instant, Askrim Gates kept appearing in front of Lin Yun.
Nine of these deep blue ice gates rose up in a sharp line between him and the hole, and after setting them up, Lin Yun additionally protected himself with a Runic Shield.
After finishing that, a terrifying fluctuation emerged from that hole, and it felt like the real power was bursting out at this time.
The gravity within several kilometers suddenly disappeared. The fragments within the large hole started floating up and large pieces of debris slowly drifted into the air.
Seeing this scene, the two injured Ash Beastmen seemed to have come to their senses after the large consumption of mana. The madness present within the eyes of the Black Dragon Warlord had greatly disappeared, replaced by reason.
The frantic black flames within Duncan's eyes also calmed down, and because of the overuse of mana, the flames were now so small that they seemed ready to extinguish anytime.
The Ash Beastmen didn't care about their mana consumption or their injuries and unhesitantly used the most powerful defenses they could use at this moment.
Layers of black scaly shields appeared in front of the Black Dragon Warlord, while layers of black Ice Shields appeared in front of Duncan.
At this time, all the fragments floating in that area simultaneously turned to ashes, regardless of their size, as a terrifying shockwave burst out from the hole.
The space violently shook as this shockwave spread in all directions.
As the shockwave swept over, the nine layers of Askrim Gates that Lin Yun had set up were destroyed one layer after another. The first layer turned to ash just as it was touched.
And the 2nd, and the 3rd...
The nine layers simply couldn't resist, they were all instantly shattered. After the shockwave broke the nine Askrim Gates, it directly hit Lin Yun's Runic Shield.
"Crack..."
A sharp sound echoed as the Runic Shield was covered in cracks. The runes surging on the surface of the Runic Shield seemed frozen and the light darkened.
In an instant, the shockwave passed through, and at that time, Lin Yun's Runic Shield was completely shattered and he spat out blood.
He turned his head to take a look and saw the spatial cracks not far behind him being torn to shreds by this shockwave. And in the front was a several-kilometer-wide, fifty-meter-deep hole, and on the edge of the hole, the ground seemed to have been forcibly stripped away for a dozen meters!
As for the Black Dragon Warlord and Duncan, their situation had become even worse. The two of them had suffered due to the mana competition, and they only survived because of their unusual constitutions.
The Black Dragon Warlord was originally an Ash Beastman with a formidable constitution that had been infected with evil power. His recovery ability was terrifying, and even if his bones were completely shattered, it wouldn't take too long for him to recover.
Duncan had spent over a millennium next to that huge heart, and after losing his flesh, his skeleton had become even more powerful. He wasn't one of the Undead, but his vitality was stronger than that of the Undead.