"It's not a fountain—it's black mud, that black mud!"
Even the campfires on the ground trembled violently from the intense earthquake, while the horses tied to the trees frantically struggled against their ropes, trying to escape.
In the flickering firelight, Shade finally realized that it was black mud. A surging torrent of it shot into the sky from the top of the low hill like a fountain, then the viscous mud flowed down from the summit.
"Roar!"
Roars rang out beneath the clouded night sky. From the ground covered by the black mud, black stone arms stretched one after another from the soil below the hill. Then, a great number of Fallen Earth Elemental Giant Spirits emerged.
Those Fallen Earth Elemental Giant Spirits were taller and larger than the ones the three had encountered at dusk. As they strode heavily toward the area below the hill, the Mad Earth actually spread outward with their footsteps.
Before Shade and the other two could act, the Church camp had already launched its attack. The force that had come this time was mainly from the Sun Church. Dozens of Mid-Ring Arcanists jointly cast one of the basic spells, "Earth Wall," summoning massive walls from the foot of the hill to temporarily halt the Fallen Earth Elemental Giant Spirits' advance. Then the Church's follow-up forces launched a frontal assault.
Because the Mad Earth's range was far too dangerous, the Church squads did not enter the hill area. They merely remained around the outskirts, taking down one elemental aggregate summoned by the earth after another.
"There are people at the top of the hill."
Miss Benanis spoke to Shade, narrowing her eyes at the blurry shadows in the night:
"This still isn't a simple matter. The cultists and people from the Blood Spirit School are