Elusive Portals, Kidneys Out!

Richard was taken aback. He hurriedly stepped forward and supported Mordo.

"Mordo, what happened?"

Mordo pointed at the portal behind him and said with a trembling voice.

"Hell, the Hell Dimension is invading the New York Sanctum! Go help!"

Richard's expression turned stern, and he asked in a deep voice.

"Can you still hold on?"

Mordo nodded with difficulty and shook off Richard's support.

"Don't worry about me, go provide backup!"

"All right, be careful yourself!" Richard urged. He didn't even have time to take off the floral apron he was wearing, stepping straight into the portal.

Mordo's portal opened on the platform at the first-floor stair landing of the New York Sanctum.

Passing through the portal, Richard caught sight of two cunning reaper demons leaping down from the second floor, their sharp reaper-scythe arms aimed at two mages fighting on the first floor.

"Hmph!"

He let out a light snort and pulled his hands apart. A portal unfolded right beneath one of the reaper demons.

"Gah?"

The reaper demon let out a strange cry and plunged headfirst into the portal.

Richard seized the right moment and closed the portal. This reaper demon was instantly cut in half by the closing space.

The perspective shifted. The other reaper demon felt a pain in its chest, and could not help but emit a shrill scream.

As it turned out, the other side of the portal was directly above this very reaper demon.

The first reaper demon had just teleported over and had no time to retract its reaper-scythe arms, directly stabbing them into its companion's chest.

Immediately afterward, this reaper demon felt a pain in its waist and wailed. Its upper body, severed by the portal, fell down along with the corpse of the second reaper demon.

Mordo, who had followed behind Richard back into the New York Sanctum, saw this flashy, flower-trick portal magic of his and felt his worldview shatter.

Portals can be used like this too?!

Richard proudly lifted his chin and turned around to roar.

"Master Camille, gather the remaining mages and retreat to the second floor!"

His hands did not stop moving as he continuously cast portal magic, covering the retreat of the mages.

The elusive portals either cut the demons surrounding the Kamar-Taj mages in half or teleported them to the rear.

The pressure on the garrisoned mages was greatly reduced. Master Camille, who served as the leader, was overjoyed upon seeing Richard.

"Reinforcements are here!"

"Everyone fall back in an orderly fashion!"

"Prepare to cast the joint defensive magic array!"

With Richard's help, the remaining garrisoned mages gathered in one place, raising a huge semi-circular defensive magic array at the first-floor stairway.

The hot-tempered minotaurs saw the golden-red defensive array rise and their eyes instantly turned bloodred. They took large strides, shoving aside the imps blocking their path, and reached the front of the defensive array.

"Moo!!!"

Seven or eight burly minotaurs let out an angry roar, raised their heavy hammers high, and smashed them heavily onto the defensive array.

"Hum~"

The astonishing force was continuously worn down by the circulating magic array, but Master Camille inside the array turned pale.

He clearly felt the energy supporting the array cut out for a split second.

"Everyone, defend with all your might!"

Richard lowered his head to glance at Camille and the others, shifting his gaze to the dark green Gateway of Hell erected in the center of the first-floor lobby.

That gate was continuously pouring out various kinds of hellish demons.

Swarms of locust-like imps, insidious and cunning reaper demons, three-meter-tall minotaurs wielding giant hammers, and occasionally a few hot-bodied succubi holding small leather whips...

Richard's expression was extremely solemn. "Mordo, there are too many reinforcements from Hell. If we keep taking blows like this head-on, our people will be wiped out!"

"Cough, cough~" Mordo coughed, clutching his chest and saying, "What should we do? You name it."

Richard pointed at the Gateway of Hell in the middle of the first floor. "We must destroy that Gateway of Hell first and cut off their endless stream of reinforcements."

Mordo raised the Wand of Watoomb he was leaning on and gritted his teeth. "Leave it to me!"

Richard grabbed his arm, his expression speechless.

"Forget it. With your current physical condition, going over there is just serving yourself up as a meal."

"Go help Master Camille and the others build the defensive array. Leave the Gateway of Hell to me!"

With that, he dashed into the portal and appeared above the Gateway of Hell the very next second.

The demons near the Gateway of Hell spotted Richard, raised their heads, and roared loudly.

"Moo!"

"Chitter-chatter~"

"Whoosh-slap~"

"Come on, handsome, mm-nah~"

Hearing the succubus's charming moan, Richard's heart trembled, and even his spellcasting motion paused for a moment.

He glared fiercely at the succubus, reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the abyss on the succubus's chest, and pressed his palms together. Pair after pair of arms unfolded behind him.

Ikonn's Image!

Richard's figure flickered, and in the blink of an eye, he split into his maximum limit of one hundred magical clones.

Mordo, who was helping Master Camille support the defensive array, saw this scene and took another blow to his morale.

Ikonn's Image... I can only conjure ten...

Master Camille patted his shoulder consolingly.

"Don't always gaze at those who are naturally gifted. Just do your best as yourself."

Mordo nodded silently, a firm resolution forming in his heart:

I must practice even harder! Even if I can't catch up to him, I mustn't be left too far behind!

Thinking of this, Mordo's spirits lifted. He squeezed out another trace of physical strength from within his body, channeled the energy of the Vishanti, and poured it into the defensive array.

The defensive array, which had been trembling continuously from the minotaurs' pounding, burst with brilliant golden-red energy on its surface, instantly becoming extremely stable.

Camille:...

On the other side, after Richard split into one hundred magical clones,

he began to cast his spell.

Holy Sword!

One hundred two-handed greatswords with white blades and red auras hovered in mid-air. At Richard's gesture, the tips of the swords pointed straight at the Gateway of Hell in unison.

"Go!"

At Richard's command,

the one hundred holy swords turned into one hundred streaks of light and charged toward the Gateway of Hell.

The demons on the ground who had been howling continuously at Richard simultaneously lost their voices,

turning to cry out as they fled outward.

However, it was too late!

One hundred holy swords plunged into the Gateway of Hell all at once, directly shattering the energy circulation of the gate.

Deep red cracks appeared on the surface of the gate, and at the same time, the Gateway of Hell itself began to expand continuously.

"Oh no!" x 3

Richard, Camille, and Mordo all saw that the Gateway of Hell was about to explode.

Yet this was the New York Sanctum!

Once the Gateway of Hell exploded right here...

The sheer destructive power would likely blow half of New York away!

Disregarding the drain on his magical power, Richard let out a loud shout and clapped his hands together.

Rhombus-shaped spatial fragments rapidly connected around the Gateway of Hell, swiftly forming a completely enclosed Mirror Dimension.

With a muffled sound, the rhombus-shaped barrier walls of the Mirror Dimension shattered violently.

Richard let out a muffled groan, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

The next second, the Mirror Dimension completely shattered and vanished.

He let out a loud "blech" as he spewed a large mouthful of scarlet blood.

"Mordo! Leave the rest to you guys!"

With that, Richard's figure wavered in mid-air.

Trembling, he opened a portal beneath his feet and tumbled inside.