End of the Magic Era

How easy to deal with. Is this what this ghastly woman is capable of? It's truly boring, unless I can tear apart her soul and see what's inside. She's the combination of a devil, a ghost, and a human being. She's a creepy and intriguing… bastard.

Lin Yun was losing interest. When he made speculations, he unconsciously referred to his memories of the formidable beings he knew, so he was rather cautious.

As far as he remembered, the spiritual mages and the mages who had transplanted their bloodlines could be a lot stronger than others on their level. He thought he might get killed.

He didn't expect to meet a person who had transplanted bloodlines in the shabbiest way. Such transplantation had a stunningly low success rate, and couldn't strengthen the target significantly. She was nowhere nearly as strong as the crazy fellows he remembered.

She was a level-3 Heaven Rank mage who had only transplanted a low-level devil's bloodline. Lin Yun didn't plan to waste his time on her. He would simply kill her, and let Lord Shawn find answers in her soul.

A tremendous number of ghosts charged at Lin Yun overwhelmingly. Emmy's body was vague in the mist. Her soul power surged inside the mist, and charged at Lin Yun along with the ghosts.

Lin Yun stood there without moving at all. He simply unfolded a shield. The horrifying tide of ghosts caused a frightening shock with their screams and roars.

Ghosts, especially the weak ones such as the level-20 Screaming Ghosts here, would be killed by the extraordinary aura of a Heaven Rank mage if they reached one individually. However, since there were so many of them, it was possible for them to kill an expert with the advantage of numbers. Their soul-stirring screams could gather together. Each of them was like a brook that couldn't cause any harm, but if they gathered into a rising tsunami, they could be shockingly powerful.

The soul blast hit the surface of Lin Yun's fusion shield, and triggered jumping law runes, but that was it.

Lin Yun didn't even bother to look at the Screaming Ghosts that were charging like an enormous tide. Behind him, the three family leaders whom Lord Shawn just rescued turned around, and escaped in the blink of an eye.

With a scornful smile, Lord Shawn looked at the three family leaders who had vanished into the mist.

"Three idiots. This place has been locked down by soul power. It's not a normal space at all. You cannot possibly escape without killing this bastard. Stupid…"

After mocking them, Lord Shawn sat on Lin Yun's shoulder, not worried at all. As a soul creature that was best at manipulating souls and an extraordinary being that had become independent from a Magic Tool Incarnation, it was certainly not scared of the screaming ghosts.

"Mafa Merlin, go to hell! Go to hell! Get drowned in the infinite ghosts! Tear apart his soul! Tear him apart!"

Floating in midair, Emmy constantly emitted soul power, and summoned more and more ghosts. That was the power from her bloodline.

More and more ghost creatures appeared. Lin Yun heaved a sigh, and slowly rose to the sky. He then flew to the center of the mist against the tide of ghosts.

When the tide of ghosts approached within 100 meters of Lin Yun, those in the lead suddenly shrieked in fear, and fled back in panic as if they had met their natural enemy.

Instantly, those Screaming Ghosts were in complete disorder. They could not unite their aura or power any longer.

The Screaming Ghosts in the front ran desperately like a swarm of bees that had suddenly dispersed. None of them ever came within 100 meters of Lin Yun.

With a crooked smile, Lord Shawn glanced at the dense Screaming Ghosts.

"What a bunch of brainless fools. They're bold enough to approach Merlin as such low-level undead creatures. Don't they know that the strategy of ghost ocean doesn't work on Merlin? Never mind. That bastard with chaotic bloodlines probably didn't find out about that…"

Thanks to the power of Undead Predator, the number of enemies didn't matter to Lin Yun at all. Those ghosts would crumble in fear the moment they approached Lin Yun, and didn't dare to fight against him at all.

Those ghosts' most horrifying power was actually most useless against Lin Yun. Even if there were thousands of ghosts, they couldn't cause any harm to him. They might be able to do something if millions of ghosts gathered and let out soul shock together, but if they attacked physically by charging forward, they wouldn't be able to do anything, either.

Hiding in the mist, Emmy summoned Screaming Ghosts without stop. She suddenly saw that Lin Yun casually penetrated the Screaming Ghosts, and was charging at her. She was immediately dumbfounded. She was unable to control those Screaming Ghosts at all. They all escaped crazily before they approached Lin Yun. That was their instinctive reaction. Nobody could do anything about that.

It was impossible for the brainless ghosts to suppress their instinct. They did know what fear meant at all. However, thanks to the power of Undead Predator, the fright that was deeply rooted in their souls was being awakened…

No matter what Emmy did, she could not change the situation. The greatest power in her bloodline was to summon ghosts. As long as she had power, she could keep summoning. She could summon more than 100,000 ghosts to help her.

Most people on level 3 and level 4 of the Heaven Rank would've been shattered into pieces by so many Screaming Ghosts, unless they were holy light mages.

Lin Yun flew all the way forward to where the ghosts were the densest. It wasn't very easy to locate Emmy amidst such chaotic soul waves. However, he could track down the source of the Screaming Ghosts where they were summoned. Emmy had to be there.

As soon as he found Emmy, the battle here would be over.

Hiding in the depths of the tide of ghosts, Emmy kept summoning more of them. However, her face was gradually filled with desperation and frustration. No matter how many Screaming Ghosts she summoned, they didn't work at all. Looking at Lin Yun who was roaming through all the ghosts, Emmy completely fell desperate.

This couldn't continue. She had to let Mafa Merlin die that day. He already knew that the Ring of Roses was dealing with him. He was even aware of the Shadow Tower. If he investigated, he would definitely find the headquarters. Then, whatever happened afterwards, the Ring of Roses and the Shadow Tower would definitely be affected.

Her sister had already perished. The operation of the Shadow Tower was getting difficult. The Ring of Roses and the headquarters might get exposed too, which would be a serious problem.

Whatever price she had to pay, she had to kill Mafa Merlin here. Only when he died would everything be over…

Even if she had to die, she would ensure that Mafa Merlin would go to hell with her!

"Mafa Merlin, you're forcing me to do this. You'll regret. You'll regret for tens of thousands of years in hell while you're tortured. I'll be there, Mafa Merlin. I'll watch you tortured in hell…"

Immediately, an evil vibe arose. The mist within a radius of 3,000 meters was gone. On the ground, a black and gray altar that was 500 meters in diameter emerged from nowhere. It was in the shape of a hexagon, with the statue of a strange kneeling creature in each corner. The statues opened their mouths towards the sky, and blue fire was burning in their mouths.

This area of several thousand meters seemed to have turned into an independent space. The sky became black and gray, and so did everything around. An ominous vibe spread in this illusionary space.

Seeing the altar, Lin Yun's expression slightly changed.

It was a soul altar, which summoned real devils by offering one's own soul. Even though no target was specified in the summoning, the altar would still summon devils from hell, just like a smelly egg would attract a huge number of flies. Also, the weak devils wouldn't be summoned at all, as they would be killed by the stronger ones before they made it here.

The statues of different creatures on the altar weren't really statues. They were all real living creatures that had been turned into candles with evil sorcery. They were lighthouses in the darkness that directed the summoned devils on their way.

The altar was made of the bone pieces of various creatures in addition to a lot of strange materials. Judging by the screams and shrieks from the altar, a shocking number of angry souls had to have been sealed in it.

Such an altar would definitely summon a devil overlord, or one of the strongest devil lords.

On her knees in the center of the altar, Emmy cracked like broken porcelain. Her blood gushed out and filled the pattern through the circuits in the altar. Like a living creature, the altar came to life, and swallowed the blood that contained enormous power.

The altar seemed to be surrounded by mist. Lin Yun watched quietly, and knew that there was no stopping it. That was exactly the strange feature of the soul altar. Although it was very hard to make, it could hardly be stopped once it was made and activated.

What he saw was just a projection, or rather a shell. The real soul altar was one that purely worked with soul power. Unless a peak Heaven Rank soul mage were here to stop her, nobody could stop Emmy's summoning…

Around the altar, the countless Screaming Ghosts were all attracted to the soul altar while they shrieked. They had been torn into pieces while they were still flying, and they were filled into the altar as the purest soul power.

Emmy had completely turned into a deformed human-shaped vessel where blood was flowing out. Her body dried quickly, and fell apart into pieces in the end. Only the illusion of herself still kept kneeling.

"Merlin, we're in big trouble. That lunatic sacrificed herself. Although she was a bastard, her soul is definitely appealing in hell. I'm sure she'll attract many powerful devil lords who want to have a new kind of food. Also, so many Screaming Ghosts have been offered as nutrition too. We're in serious trouble. Where's that old man? Go fetch him…

"If there is no choice, let's go to talk to the dean of the Starry Sky College, and ask him to bring a dozen peak Heaven Rank experts. It's the real self of a devil that's appearing this time…"

Lin Yun frowned and watched. He then shook his head.

"It's too late. We cannot stop it. When the devil appears for real, the experts in Neverwinter City will detect it immediately, and we won't have to do a thing. They're bold enough to summon a real devil so close to Neverwinter City. They're in big trouble…"

The Book of Ten Thousand Mantras, the Ten Thousand Spell Wheel, the Book of Death, and the Draconic Staff. Lin Yun took out all his magic tools. Light flashed on his skin, and his body was covered in dense magic tattoos. There was also a colorful rune between his brows.

The illusion of an ancient bronze scale appeared underneath his feet. He was strengthened by a purple dragon behind his back too.

All his power had been unleashed instantly. The projection of his Demiplane was slowly surfacing too. Even the Elemental Spirit King Incarnations that he couldn't make use of yet were released too.

Emmy's soul knelt on the altar, and shrieked crazy curses.

"Mafa Merlin, I'll be waiting for you in hell…"

While shrieking, Emmy's soul vanished from the altar. In the center of the altar, a black and gray vortex appeared, and expanded to 300 meters in diameter in the blink of an eye. A sharp hand that had three clawed fingers extended from the vortex.

"Ah, what a wonderful scent. This soul smells sweet and delicious. It's fascinating. There must be many other tasty souls in this world. Great. For the delicious food, I might as well take a trip…"

Crazy laughter burst out of the vortex. The space was shivering during the laughter. When the sharp claws moved, spatial cracks appeared, and the mana nearby was all corrupted.

"Merlin, we're in big trouble. I cannot take care of a top devil overlord. He won't show me any respect…"

The claw that extended out of the vortex was almost 100 meters long. Then, a black nose that looked like a hound's appeared from the vortex. The devil overlord's head was about to rise…

However, when the devil overlord showed its nose and part of its mouth, it suddenly stopped laughing, and it stopped crawling out.

Its enormous nose that was at least 20 meters tall sniffed, as if it was capturing the scents nearby. Then, it seemed to have detected something. In a swoosh, it withdrew its head as well as its claws.

In the dark and grim hell, a furious roar echoed throughout the world from a splendid castle that was built on a mountaintop in the middle of infinite black clouds, tearing apart the clouds, and causing thick cracks in the sky.

"The Elemental Spirit King! Damn it, the Elemental Spirit King again! Who's trying to set me up? Damn it, this is a scheme. Who's greedily coveting my throne? I'll let him taste the flames of earth and suffer infinitely…"

The devil overlord rose from the throne and roared furiously.

Damn. Last time it was summoned, it didn't show up in person, and it detected an Elemental Spirit King. This time, it had been summoned in person. Had it not been for its keen nose that detected the smell of an Elemental Spirit King who was hiding well, it might have been tricked.

What idiot tried to set it up? That was such a clever scheme. The yellow-eyed devil next door had to have done it. That was its scheme. It was trying to make use of the Elemental Spirit King to eliminate a competitor.

Right. That soul. That wretched soul was definitely bait. They might be hoping to make use of it again to attract the Elemental Spirit King…

Cunningness glittered in the devil overlord's eyes that were ablaze with red flames. It realized something, and then spat out a soul. It spouted flames, and burnt the soul for a while before it slapped the soul out of the summoning gate, and then shattered the gate.

"What a bunch of idiots. They're trying to set up their great king? You creatures are too stupid to understand the cleverness of a king!"

It shattered the summoning gate, and then closed the fortress, without emitting any of its aura…

On the other side, Lin Yun watched the soul being thrown out of the summoning gate, stunned. Emmy's soul was paler, with lingering flames around it. It had been thrown out of the summoning gate, which was then shattered into pieces. Even the altar had been reduced to smithereens too…

"Merlin, wh-what's going on? Has the devil thrown… thrown the soul back?"

Lord Shawn opened its mouth and stammered as it watched everything. It couldn't understand what was going on.

Devils were known to be greedy, cunning, and sordid, and greedy ranked at the top. That devil overlord declined such a delicious soul, and even shattered the summoning gate. Lin Yun had never seen or heard of anything like this. Nobody would believe him even if he told it to anyone. Only idiots whose brains had been damaged could tell it was just a joke.

Lin Yun was astounded and confounded. Even though he was very knowledgeable, he didn't think he was strong enough to intimidate a devil lord, which had no reason to do what it had done at all, unless there was something wrong with its head.