Harbor Town... Turned Upside Down! (Please Keep Reading)

Joanne and White Dove stared at Lynn, who had suddenly become cheerful, utterly baffled and unable to understand how he could still laugh at a time like this.

"Come on, we need to move faster!" Lynn had no intention of explaining. He could not guarantee that the Priests had some divine art capable of overhearing what they were saying.

In all of Harbor Town, Lynn feared Antioch and the three thousand elite guards hidden away the most. Now that those two problems had gathered in one place, what could be better?

"Praise Ella—Apocalypse Storm!"

Behind them, the Archbishop's hoarse chant rang out once more. An invisible gale, carrying countless stones and clouds of dust, swept toward them.

The Church Priests also cast spell after spell, using several first-ring divine arts to seal off their escape routes.

"Joanne, White Dove!" Lynn gave the two Witches a meaningful look. Then, throwing everything he had into it and even abandoning any attempt at precise aiming, he created dozens of [Magic Missiles] in an instant and sent them hurtling into the nearby watchtower that guided incoming ships.

At the same moment, Joanne and White Dove understood. Squeezing out what little magic power they had left, they used [Turn Stone to Mud], turning the sturdy base of the watchtower into loose sand beneath the magic's effects.

Amid dozens of violent impacts, the watchtower that had stood at the docks for nearly a century, guiding countless ships, collapsed with a thunderous crash!

The falling boulders and wooden framework not only blocked the invisible storm, but also buried two Priests who had failed to dodge in time.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lynn and the others had already opened up a distance of nearly a hundred meters.

The rage in Antioch's heart had reached its limit. After blasting away the obstructing ruins with several [Holy Light Impacts], he was about to attack again when the ground of Harbor Town suddenly began to tremble faintly.

It was not just Antioch—Lynn and the others felt it too. But this was not caused by magic or divine arts.

Clad in black armor, marching in perfect formation, and armed with enormous shields, the Nordland Elite Guard quickly came into view. The crossbows at their waists and the murderous aura filling the air sent chills down everyone's spine.

Unlike the Church Priests, whose faces lit up with joy, the two Witches could not help but tremble.

With numbers like these, how were they supposed to fight?

Such fully armored elite guards were rare even across the entire Empire. It could be said that Duke Nordland had staked everything he had in order to hunt down Witches like them.

Ahead, several thousand soldiers had already raised their crossbows. A dense rain of arrows shot forth with shrill whistles, pouring down like a raging storm and leaving almost no gaps.

The instant the guards raised their hands, Lynn scooped up White Dove and rolled behind a section of broken high wall.

The fierce arrow rain struck the earthen wall, exploding it into showers of dirt and debris.

"What do we do now?" Joanne asked urgently.

Lynn did not answer. He clenched his hand in the air, and a massive fireball condensed in his palm. Then, without hesitation, he hurled it into the sky.

Seen from hundreds of meters away, it looked as though a burst of fireworks had risen over Harbor Town.

Almost instantly, Antioch thought of the terrifying witchcraft Lynn had once used to wipe out dozens of elite guards. Without the slightest hesitation, he shouted, "Everyone, defend!"

The dense arrow barrage immediately stopped. Three thousand soldiers moved in perfect unison, raising their great shields toward the sky, while the Priests present dared not be careless either, layering large numbers of defensive divine arts over the surrounding area.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the fireball that had risen high into the air suddenly exploded, bursting into countless brilliant sparks before gradually fading into the night sky.

The expectant expressions on the two Witches' faces froze at once. Only Lynn looked toward the sky and said calmly, "It's fine. Let the fireball fly for a while longer!"

How could it fly?

Wasn't that spell already over?

Joanne looked up in confusion, only then noticing faint pinpricks of light flying in from the other side of the sea.

Once those glimmers drew closer, the Witch realized in shock that they were not lights at all... They were hundreds of flaming arrows!

"Reinforcements?" Adrian and the others noticed it as well. Almost immediately, they deduced that the fireball spell had not been aimed at them at all, but had merely served as a signal.

But these reinforcements were far too weak...

Perhaps because of the great distance and the poor nighttime visibility, the flaming arrows sailing through the air had utterly terrible aim. Even if they stood still without defending themselves, there was no way they could be hit.

That was it? This was it?

Several Priests felt immensely disappointed. Their earlier fear now seemed rather laughable—they had actually been scared by a few Demon's Followers.

Only Antioch sensed that something was wrong. His dark, murky eyes gradually transformed into dazzling dark gold. The unknown was often the most terrifying, but it was already too late to stop it. The oilcloth-wrapped flaming arrows fell without pattern toward every corner of the harbor docks...

An indescribable sense of danger gradually descended upon everyone's minds, with no direction and no apparent source...

Amid their unease, confusion, and terror, endless fire and light engulfed the entire harbor docks. As though the end of the world had arrived, the whole city began to shake violently.

The roar was hundreds, thousands of times louder than thunder. The flames and shockwaves it unleashed instantly leveled the surrounding low houses. The air boiled violently as vast amounts of steam surged upward, mingling with smoke to form an enormous cloud of dust.

Houses collapsed, boulders flew, and the tide rolled back under the terrifying force, only to raise even greater waves that crashed toward the shore.

Pale yellow-white sparks drifted down from the sea of clouds. It seemed as if fire rain were falling upon the docks, illuminating the entire sea. This was the white phosphorus mixed into the Black Powder.

All of it happened in the blink of an eye. In practically an instant, the entire harbor docks had been turned upside down, reduced to a devastated ruin...

The only place that was relatively better off was beneath Joanne and the others' feet. When setting the traps, every location where explosives had been placed had been carefully planned.

Even so, the immense shockwave blasted the earthen shelter to pieces. Lynn had to cast several defensive spells in succession just to barely block the aftermath.

Behind the wall, the two Witches felt their minds go blank before a persistent ringing overtook their ears.

When the explosions finally ended, the thousands of elite Black Armored Guards and the Church Priests who had pursued them relentlessly had vanished without a trace. Before their eyes remained only wreckage strewn across the ground and a raging sea of flames...

What was this?

Was this hell?

The two Witches stood there dumbly, unable to react for a long while...