"The affairs of the world truly are unpredictable …"
Ominous magic surged out from the shadows. After being infused with actual evil intent, the magic transformed into a black mist that contained the power of Hades and the power of death. The black mist gathered, circled, and compressed above my finger, forming a tangible ominous light.
"Kill him!"
"Don't let him cast this spell."
Just the magic that was spreading out from my finger mixed with the black mist and transformed into a roaring skull. The spell hadn't even taken form yet, but it already had such power. This was far beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
Even without the Swift Sword gang's leader giving any orders, even ordinary bandits would know what to do after witnessing such a frightening scene.
The tall one-eyed archer swiftly picked up his bow and arrows. The armed bandits didn't say anything else and roared as they charged forward. There was even a sly fellow who directly used a captive as his meat shield. At the moment of life and death, everyone made their choice, but I could only silently sigh.
"… Although life is unpredictable, at least everyone is equal in the face of death. Open, Gate of Hades. "
The black light gathered together, and the black mist of the skull roared behind him. It was as if some sort of gate from another world had been opened. It was evident that the spell was almost complete.
The aura of death spread out, and the cowardly bandits were so frightened that they dropped their weapons. Even the fierce bandits had twisted expressions of fear. They could already smell the scent of death.
Only the one-eyed bandit leader kept focusing on aiming. He knew that he only had one chance against this archmage who had suddenly appeared. If he missed this chance, he would never be able to survive against such an opponent again.
* Pa! *
At the same time that my ears couldn't hear the twang of the bowstring, the enchanted mithril arrowhead arrived in front of me. The bowstring broke through the speed of sound. This ranger had most likely broken through to the Legend rank.
"Cat shield."
With just a thought, the owner of the magical pet gave the command. A white cat jumped out from the shadows and happened to block the arrow. However, judging from the cat's displeased glare, it didn't seem like it was willing to do so … Still, magical pets were meant to block arrows.
"Damn it!"
Seeing that his attack had been blocked by a cat, the former Ranger Captain of the Swift Blade Warriors, who was now the boss of the bandit group Swift Blade, the One-eyed Eagle Shink, had a look of disbelief on his face. He knew the power of his arrows. Those were piercing arrows that could shatter heavy armor. Even if they were blocked by a human body, they could still pierce through a meat shield and kill the vulnerable mage behind them.
The tail of the arrow was still on the cat's body, but the arrowhead had disappeared without a trace. Then, the place where the arrow hit the cat twisted, and the wound on its body turned into a big gulp. In the end, the precious Mithril Exorcism Arrow disappeared without a trace.
However, the facts in front of him forced him to admit that the heavy arrow that could pierce through rocks had mysteriously disappeared into the body of that ordinary house cat. The white cat even burped as if it had eaten some delicious food.
"Monster!"
Schenker's judgment was not wrong. The house cat in front of him was indeed a monster disguised as a cat, but as soon as he spoke, the cat's vertical beast eyes stared at him.
"Monster …"
The same words had been spoken out of anger a moment ago, but now they were spoken out of fear and helplessness.
With just one glance, he felt as if he had been devoured by a ferocious beast. His back was soaked in cold sweat.
He had experienced countless battles, but he had never felt so close to death. How many people must have been killed to accumulate this kind of killing intent? This was definitely not a monster that he could deal with.
"Escape? No, I can't give up on these last brothers, but if I don't escape, I'll only … "
The bandit boss was still struggling with himself. The sixth-circle death spell, Gate of Hades, had already been completed, but it still made him make a decision.
The next moment, however, a flying elf was born from it. The palm-sized black elf giggled in the sky, leaving behind black fog and bell-like giggles wherever she went.
"Heehee."
The magic condensed elf was like a living creature. Her transparent wings were no longer flapping, and black gem dust was constantly falling from them. She flew in the sky for a while, leaving behind a man-made, brilliant galaxy. Suddenly, she glided down and passed by the bandits. Even the blades couldn't stop her giggles. It seemed that she was playing around.
"The spell failed? That black-robed mage isn't an enemy? "
The bandits were just rejoicing when the situation suddenly changed again.
"Gate of Hades, open up."
The elf giggled in the sky. Her soft and strange voice allowed everyone to understand the meaning of her strange language.
Suddenly, the elf's entire body exploded and transformed back into black fog. The black fog transformed back into a crazily laughing skull, but this time, it was more than three meters tall and seemed real.
The skull's eyes seemed to be smiling, and its huge mouth seemed to be devouring light like a black hole. That was the Gate of Hades, a dark abyss that devoured souls.
The bandits had just been "playing" with the elf, but in the next moment, they all collapsed to the ground. Their eyes were still wide open, but there was no focus in them. That was because they had lost their souls!
As if it had discovered that it no longer had any "food," the skull's door closed once again. This time, it transformed back into the elf, which then giggled at me before vanishing.
"This spell is truly filled with evil intent. Is it your interest?"
"No, I simply constructed the spell's model based on the principles behind it. I don't know why it became like this. Perhaps the power of Hades itself is special, or perhaps the Gods of the Hades Faction that this spell borrowed power from have such evil interests to begin with."
Death magic: Gate of Hades. If you analyzed its magic model, you would find that it wasn't actually any difficult spell. It was simply a spell that connected Hades, opened up a hole, and used the power of the Hades within to attack the enemy. Or, to put it more directly, it was a spell that stole the souls of mortals.
It was obvious that this was a spell that required the Gods' approval. It was a new type of spell that was somewhere between Divine Arts and magic. However, in terms of principles, it was the same as before.
The Order Gods' Divine Arts included the Light of Heaven, while the Chaos Demons' Divine Arts included the Rain of Chaos. The former was used to open up a Dimensional Door to the higher planes, using the positive energy of the higher planes to attack the undead, demons, and other creatures. The latter was the exact opposite. The power of Chaos in the lower planes was effective against all mortal creatures, and it even had additional effects against creatures of Order like angels.
However, the same magic's principles were completely different when it came to the Hades Faction. First of all, the lowest-ranked Light of Heaven was only a 3-circle Divine Art, while the Gate of Hades was between the 6-circle and 7-circle difficult to cast. It was already a Legend's specialty. However, the huge cost of casting it also had an even more outstanding effect. Judging from the magic's principles, this was an AoE spell with a high chance of instant death.
I nodded in satisfaction as I looked at the pile of bandits' corpses in front of me. The effects were even better than I had expected. It would seem that the spell model for this spell could finally be finalized. After that, I would hand it over to the country … the Magic Country for safekeeping.
The Order Gods had their own Divine Arts. Holy Light was a type of positive energy, which was the most natural support for the Order Faction.
Originally, the power of death was purely negative energy. However, after the Hades were created, the power of death gained the Concepts of judgement, death, reincarnation, and atonement. It became a brand-new type of energy — the power of Hades.
"We're … fine?"
The villagers who were also within the spell's range discovered to their astonishment that they were completely unharmed. They were delighted to discover that the bandits around them had all collapsed.
In the past, the power of death was like a berserk waterfall. It had tremendous destructive power but was uncontrollable. Meanwhile, the power of Hades was like the quietly flowing River Styx. Although it seemed calm, it contained a threat that could even kill angels. However, as long as it was in accordance with the natural laws, it would be harmless and could be guided.
The flowing silver sand swirled in my hands. The black stars within the sand were as resplendent as gemstones. The power of Hades had evolved from the power of death. Following the reconnection between the Hades and the Aichy Plane, the power of Hades had become one of the most basic natural laws of this world.
Countless Mages and Priests (especially Necromancers and Evil God Priests) were researching this new power. In my case, this new Gold-ranked power known as the Emissary of Hades was almost mature enough to be popularized.
Take note, although the power of Hades was an evolution of the power of death, Priests and normal Mages could also learn and master it. The former would establish a connection with the Gods of Hades, while the latter would have to interact with the natural laws of Hades. However, there was no need for them to become Necromancers who were filled with negative energy.
The powerful might of a new magic was the best calling card. Even though there weren't many researchers working on it, there were already more than 30 new types of magic in the Hades Spell Catalog. Among them, there were quite a few that were destined to leave their names in history. However, only two of them were personally created by me.
"You have the cheek to say that? If it wasn't for me, you would only be able to complete this spell after another ten years. "
Alright, I have to admit that the darned cat who was glaring at me right now had better talent in magic than me. Not only did she invent seven of them, I also had my two spell models thanks to her help.
As for how to kill the bandits without harming the villagers? The red light on the corpses and the Judge Sol who was currently helping the villagers was the reason.
Law Incantation: Judgement. Originally, this spell could only be used in conjunction with Law Incantations to increase its power. However, since the God of Law and the Ruler of Hades were of the same family, the powers of these two systems were actually able to stack together.
The power of Hades itself had the concept of judging sinners. Right now, through Judgement, it was able to pinpoint the location of the most recent crime, which also served as a marker. If it wasn't for Judgement's pinpointing location, it would probably be an instant death magic test.
This was a test of one's life and will. Before the power of Hades ran out, I didn't know if the bandits would be able to all die, but the villagers definitely wouldn't be able to survive. Right now, the white light that represented the innocent was their strongest fortress.
"If the power of Law is a protective shield, then the new Divine Arts and magic created by the power of Hades would probably be the best weapons."
After testing the results of the spell, I discovered to my astonishment that one of the bandits actually didn't die.
Although the one-eyed man with the bow was only breathing out and not in, I seemed to have a decent experimental subject.
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