After the chaotic energies finally calmed down, Gitalien grumbled dissatisfied as he saw the Spirit Beast fall to the ground opposite them; it had been eager to give a good lesson to the one that had nearly made it look foolish, only to find that it didn’t even need to take action as they fell on their own.
"It’s normal, the power of Divine Beasts isn’t something they can easily block, not to mention they had to protect those people."
Lorraine Tower spoke calmly, naturally, they wouldn’t help their opponents protect those people—after all, this was a competition; otherwise, they would have intervened to settle the disruptive energies long ago.
Seeing the barrier disappear, the referee adjusted his clothes and, after a glance at both sides, cleared his throat and announced,
"Ahem, Shangjing Seventeen Middle School’s team has lost the ability to fight, Maomu Second Middle School’s team wins!"
"What about their Beast Tamers?"
Feng Yuan’s brow furrowed in puzzlement as he looked at the opposing side, only noticing now that they seemed to have been caught in the blast, their clothes torn and tattered, presenting a pitiful state.
Feng Yuan found it strange since he wouldn’t normally use uncertain offensive tactics like that; it was obvious that the other side had underestimated the power of the explosion. The assisting Spirit Beasts had not completely blocked the blast, resulting in this. Agunas glanced over and said,
"No worries, they’re just seriously injured."
Their Beast Tamers were too weak. As peers of the same age as Qi Chen, their Beast Tamers were at best of Good Level, so to only be seriously injured by the peripheral force of a Divine Beast’s blast was already quite fortunate.
"An ending that’s not out of expectations."
Liao Yu put away his phone and vigilantly scanned the surroundings, saying,
"Those guys should be ready to move now, right?"
"If they really intend to, they should be."
Huo Feng anxiously replied, gently pushing the earphone hanging on his ear, he and Liao Yu were responsible for patrolling the interior of the school. However, they hadn’t noticed anything peculiar yet.
Knowing that the match had ended, all duty personnel heightened their vigilance. Based on their analysis and intelligence obtained, if those people were to make a move, the best chance would be when they were returning to the battle site.
"Whew~ I’m so tired~"
"You didn’t do anything, did you?"
Qi Chen glanced at Feng Yuan, who was complaining of tiredness; that guy didn’t seem to have lifted a finger. Xiao Ji, crouched in Feng Yuan’s arms, chirped discontentedly. Although its side effects had passed, it still preferred to cling to Feng Yuan’s arms.
"Seriously watching a battle is exhausting, okay~"
"Are they making a move?!"
Feng Yuan spoke with a hint of surprise as, suddenly, chains of Runes rose all around them. Lorraine Tower released its Offensive Ultimate Move to protect everyone present, conveying an I-knew-it sort of expression, while Gitalien viciously said,
"Let me deal with those people!"
Lorraine Tower warned. Gitalien could sometimes be rash; if those folks dared to make a move, it meant the enemy surely had made preparations. If it weren’t careful and ended up embarrassed, Lorraine Tower would not find it surprising at all.
"Did those people make their move?"
Qi Chen and Dou Yanlan looked at Feng Yuan, who nodded and said,
"What else? With this setup, what other possibilities could there be besides them making a move?"
"Ghost Domain? Seems not just that, I can also sense the power of technology."
Ernis said with a cold sneer, speaking softly. Even though it was not strictly modern machinery, the devices they used to set traps clearly involved mechanical elements. In reality, those people were also nervous because, in their original plan, the presence of Ernis, who had control over mechanical creations, was not accounted for.
Who would have thought that the Guardian Divine Beast of Omeilia, which didn’t have particularly good relations with other Divine Beasts, would suddenly show up here? But the trap was already set, and the chance too rare, so they could only go ahead with the plan, hardheaded.
"This trap can only limit space, but this technology..."
Feng Yuan’s brows knit slightly, he wasn’t very clear on the specifics of the Mythical Era, but something seemed off about this object. Seeing Feng Yuan look towards himself, Agunas swished his tail and said,
"It’s probably not a technology from the Mythical Era, at least I haven’t seen anything like it back then."
"So it’s from the outside then?"
Feng Yuan looked at the rising runes with some astonishment. The whole of Maomu City was covered by these runes, and as they ascended, Feng Yuan could feel the effects of time stagnation that he had once used in the Great Li Dynasty enveloping the area.
Although their movements weren’t affected, seemingly ultimate moves couldn’t be deployed. Just then, Ah Mu tried to use an ultimate move, only to see the energy gathering and then transforming into a tiny speck of light that hung suspended in mid-air without further change.
"Don’t bother trying, almost all ultimate moves below the level of Divine Beasts are now unusable, and it’s not that they’re being erased but rather that they’re being halted. If we carelessly throw out ultimate moves now, it’s going to be troublesome the moment this halting effect wears off."
Feng Yuan shouted loudly as a reminder, although there were solutions, the Divine Beasts needed to focus on dealing with those ignorant fools and couldn’t spare the effort to fix this situation right now.
Hearing Feng Yuan’s shout, Captain Yan quickly informed the others. Looking at the group of people in the sky attacking Lorraine Tower and the others with strange weapons, Captain Yan was extremely angry.
Because their ultimate moves were affected, it was difficult for Lorraine Tower and the others to resolve the enemies quickly, especially when the opposite side possessed such bizarre weapons. Although these weapons weren’t particularly powerful, they could easily penetrate their defenses and cause harm.
The leader of the group of masked people struggling against Lorraine Tower and the others smirked and said softly,
"Now, make your move."
The next moment, enormous mechanical pillars appeared out of thin air. Ernis tried to control and disassemble those machines immediately but was shocked to find that his authority had almost no effect on them. Reacting quickly, Ernis’s face turned ugly as he cursed,
"Thinking of using external machinery to extract the power of Divine Beasts? Aren’t they a little delusional? But it would be quite annoying if they actually succeeded."
Feng Yuan rubbed his temples and spoke with a smile, pulling out an ancient black book. Drudgeon, who had been lying in wait, activated the long-prepared lost Magic Circles, and the terrible energy fluctuations caused the rising runes in the area to stutter.
"How is this possible!"
The masked leader looked at the Magic Circles, his face changing with dismay. If it were only Drudgeon, he wouldn’t have been so anxious, but with Arnis present on the battlefield as well—and though the White Wolf Deity was nowhere to be seen—it was very possible he was hiding somewhere, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.
An old guard stood atop a high building, looking down at everything and said in a low voice,
"Traitors, huh? I wonder if you can manage to resolve this?"
"Is this all the reinforcements we have?"
The masked leader said, forcing a sneer, while Lorraine Tower glanced at him and said,
"It’s enough to deal with you."
"Ha! Impossible! Hand over your powers obediently!"
The masked leader shouted, his expression turning maniacal. However, Lorraine Tower spread his wings, and the rising runes were suppressed as if time had been stopped upon them.
Gitalien said disdainfully with his head held high,
"If we didn’t want to see how many of you rats are still hiding in your holes, we would have dealt with you long ago."
"Enough with the cold remarks; get moving."
Ernis said calmly, had it not been for Drudgeon affecting the rune trap just now, they wouldn’t have found an opportunity to break the stalemate. Arnis summoned a multitude of magical golems, those golems charged into the crowd and entangled with the hidden masked accomplices, while Ernis summoned a host of mechanical weapons that bombarded the enemy incessantly.
While the rune trap was active, they couldn’t summon creatures, for those creatures lacked the strength and would be directly suppressed by the trap; but now with the rune trap itself being suppressed, it was their turn to shine.
Unlike Lorraine Tower and the others, who had to be wary of friendly fire, Ernis and Arnis’s authority was best suited for this kind of large-scale group combat.
Lorraine Tower noticed something amiss and loudly halted Gitalien, who was about to deal with the masked leader. Staring grimly at the masked leader, Lorraine Tower said fiercely,
The masked leader revealed a sinister smile and said,
"Take a closer look ~"