Chapter 286: Chapter 56: Legend! Legend! (4)

The Central Tower of Blackstone Fortress stood at the heart of the defensive line, like the hardest bone spur on a behemoth’s spine.

At this moment, the towering stone structure was enduring the most ferocious assault it had faced since the battle began.

Within a hundred-meter radius of the tower’s base, the ground was a ravaged, scorched wasteland.

The bodies of defenders and the remains of monsters were piled high in layers, their dark red blood nearly filling every crevice in the stone.

The air was a nauseating mix of pungent sulfur, the stench of charred flesh, the tang of rusted metal, and the strange, burnt odor left behind by the purifying Holy Energy.

The tower itself, its walls constructed of thick Blackstone, was covered in deep claw marks, pits corroded by acid, and blackened scorch marks from fire.

Many of the battlements had crumbled, revealing the silhouettes of defenders desperately hacking away behind them.

The observation platform at the very top had partially collapsed, and burning rafters occasionally plummeted to the ground.

Over twenty large Scorching Beasts and several Earth Rock Worms were frantically ramming and gnawing at the tower’s main gate and surrounding walls, trying to tear open the final barrier to the Inner Castle.

Even more terrifying, behind them, two Giant Earth Rock Worms, like moving hills, were slowly adjusting their positions.

Their terrifying bodies, over five meters in diameter, caused the ground to tremble with every squirming movement, while a scalp-numbing, dark-red glow gathered in their hideous maws.

Up on the tower, the battle was just as brutal.

Three slender-bodied Razor Hounds were scaling the steep outer walls, attempting to break in through the openings above.

Meanwhile, in mid-air, a dense black swarm of Frenzied Flying Cockroaches, like a cloud of death, swooped down in wave after wave, suicidally crashing their bodies and acid into the tower’s defenses and its defenders.

Quentin was clad in silver-white Heavy Armor stained with blood and covered in scratches and dents, yet his stance was as unwavering as a mountain pine rooted in rock.

He held a two-handed Giant Sword nearly two meters long. Its blade was broad and heavy, covered in the scars of battle, yet it was steady as a rock in his hands, its edge gleaming with condensed white Life Energy.

Facing a Scorching Beast that lunged over the battlements, he flicked his wrist, and the Giant Sword swept out with a heavy, fierce whoosh. The Energy condensed on its blade easily tore through the monster’s carapace, slicing its massive body in two. The severed torso fell from the tower in a shower of foul blood.

To deal with the Razor Hounds clinging to the walls, he would turn his blade to thrust or jab. The light of the sword, concentrated to a single point, always found the gaps in their carapaces with pinpoint accuracy, piercing their vitals and pinning them to the stone.

Wherever the Giant Sword passed, monsters were left either dead or maimed, buying the struggling defenders a precious moment of respite.

Slightly behind and to his side, three Archbishops of the Church Court, clad in ornate Sacrificial Robes, were casting with all their might.

Light flowed from the Holy Emblems and Magic Staffs in their hands as they chanted ancient and grand prayers.

A milky-white holy radiance rose from their bodies, weaving together into a relatively stable Holy Force Field that enveloped the tower’s core area. It barely held back the acid corrosion from the Flying Cockroaches in the air while providing limited healing and purification for the defenders below.

Besides maintaining the defense, the three Archbishops also seized opportunities to attack.

The white-haired Archbishop holding the Sapphire Staff would occasionally point it abruptly at a dense pack of monsters. A searing Holy Light Beam would shoot from its tip, piercing the carapaces of Scorching Beasts or detonating several Flying Cockroaches in mid-air.

Another Archbishop, who wielded a Golden Holy Emblem, would periodically release a circular Holy Shock Wave, knocking the monsters clinging to the tower’s outer walls to the ground.

The third Archbishop’s attacks were more subtle. With a light tap of his Magic Staff, faint but resilient Holy Light Chains would materialize out of thin air, entangling the limbs of the foremost monsters and slowing their movements.

Each of these three Archbishops possessed Casting abilities comparable to an Official Wizard; they were one of the Church Court’s trump cards.

Their Magic attacks were even more potent than Quentin’s Giant Sword, but the pressure of maintaining defenses and providing healing was immense.

More importantly, no matter how powerful their attacks were, they still had no effective way to deal with the two Giant Earth Rock Worms of the Extraordinary Tier.

"Holy Protection!" Quentin roared, cleaving the skull of a Scorching Beast that tried to ambush him from the side. His gaze, however, was already fixed on the two giant worms below, poised to strike.

The three Archbishops immediately understood Quentin’s intent.

"In the name of Oriane, I bestow upon you the Blade of Evil-Breaking and the Shield of Tenacity!"

The leading, white-haired Archbishop slammed the butt of his Magic Staff, which was embedded with a massive Sapphire, onto the ground.

The Sapphire’s light flared violently as his chanted prayer became rapid and sonorous.

The other two Archbishops simultaneously pointed their Magic Staffs at Quentin. A milky-white holy radiance converged like a torrent, wrapping around and infusing into Quentin and the Giant Sword in his hands, layer upon layer!

[Sharpness Technique]!

[Enhanced Attributes]!

[Resist Energy Damage]!

Three powerful Beneficial Magics were cast almost simultaneously.

The aura around Quentin surged. The already extraordinary two-handed Giant Sword in his hands now seemed like a mythical weapon, its entire body flowing with dazzling holy runes. The blade’s edge pulsed with a white aura of light dozens of centimeters long, emitting a low, pleasant hum.

Just then, the two Giant Earth Rock Worms seemed to have finished charging. Their hideous maws suddenly gaped open to their absolute limit!

BOOM! BOOM!

Two streams of dark-red Magma Breath, each over two meters in diameter and so scorching that they distorted the air, shot forth like two roaring dragons of flame. One from the left and one from the right, they came crashing toward the base of the Central Tower’s gate in a crisscrossing pattern, carrying an aura of absolute annihilation!