The Closed Loop of Fate 3

They knew.

The enemy had come again.

"It's wraiths! Intangible, formless spiritual entities!"

Saruman immediately identified the enemy. This was one of the trickiest kinds of foes—physical attacks were nearly useless against them, and even conventional magic was greatly weakened.

He immediately began chanting Holy Nova, attempting to use an area-wide burst of holy energy to disperse the negative spiritual entities.

A gentle white light spread outward from him. Wherever it passed, the shadows melted away like ice and snow beneath sunlight, while the venomous whispers turned into agonized shrieks.

However, the shadow wraiths seemed endless. No sooner had one patch been driven away than more shadows seeped from cracks in the walls and floor, gathering once more. Like waves, they battered Saruman's mental defenses and holy barrier, draining his mana.

"Oh, heavens!" Karg was almost useless in this situation. He could only guard his mind and resist the wraiths' whispered mental corruption while remaining alert for any physical attacks that might appear. Waves of dizziness washed over him, as though icy needles were constantly probing his brain.

"This won't work! My mana is draining too fast!" Saruman's face turned pale. Maintaining Holy Nova required a constant expenditure of vast amounts of mana, while the wraiths seemed inexhaustible.

Just as he considered using a more dangerous, more costly forbidden spell, Karg suddenly pointed at a corner of the mural and shouted, "Saruman! Look there!"

Saruman looked in the direction Karg was pointing. In the corner of the mural depicting stars and tentacles was an inconspicuous whirlpool-shaped symbol, with a black gemstone that had long lost its luster embedded at its center. Around the symbol, the shadows were noticeably thinner.

Almost no wraiths dared approach it.

"That symbol—maybe it can restrain them!"

Saruman understood at once. He immediately changed tactics, stopping