212: Chapter 213 Died from Counterattack

Just as that dim, teetering deep purple lightning spear finally managed to take form, and a glimmer of madness and hope ignited in Slake's eyes in his desperate situation, intending to use it as the clarion call for his final stand—a sudden change occurred!

The seven golden magic orbs surrounding him, which had originally been rotating slowly like satellites and emitting stable arcane fluctuations, seemed to be stimulated by something intense—or rather, they sensed their master's desperate, all-or-nothing resolve—and suddenly trembled in unison!

Immediately following this, blinding golden lightning erupted from the cores of those seven magic orbs! Each magic orb transformed into a miniature golden sun, and the violent lightning elements were no longer contained; instead, like beasts breaking free from their shackles, they gushed out and rampaged wildly!

"With thunder... cleanse the world!" Slake's hoarse roar was laced with the madness of a desperate gamble.

He no longer attempted to cast those large-scale spells that required complex control and higher consumption, but instead chose to unleash his trump card Origin Skill—derived from his SSS-Rank Talent [Heart of Lightning Elements], which he had spent massive resources to upgrade to level 40, completing its second qualitative transformation: the S-Rank Origin Skill—[Golden Thunderstorm]!

This was originally one of his ultimate finishing moves used to reverse the tide of battle and clear enemies at critical moments, consuming immense energy with an extremely long cooldown. But at this moment, under the omnipresent and despair-inducing suppression of Lin Muyang, and in the dire situation where his own status was weakened by over 70% and his spell-casting success rate was less than one in ten, Slake could no longer care about such things.

He wanted to use this purest, most violent, and most direct Origin Thunderstorm to tear everything before him to shreds! He did not believe that at such close range, facing such a terrifying eruption of lightning origin power, Lin Muyang and his summons could remain unscathed!

Hum—!!! The seven golden magic orbs suddenly expanded, transforming into seven massive sources of golden lightning, with violent lightning plasma rolling and boiling within them!

The next second, endless golden lightning snakes, spears, lances, and nets... exploded from these seven sources as the center, sweeping and rampaging wildly in all directions indiscriminately!

The entire cut-out dark dimensional space was illuminated in a blaze of golden white at this moment! Everywhere the eye could see, there was only destructive golden lightning! The air was ionized, crackling with explosive sounds, and space itself trembled slightly in this terrifying thunderstorm, as if unable to bear the burden!

Slake stood at the center of the thunderstorm, with the seven magic orbs surrounding him like seven erupting lightning volcanoes. There was a trace of ferocity and satisfaction on his face, as if he had already seen the scene of Lin Muyang and his summons being reduced to ashes in the golden sea of lightning.

This was his level 40 Origin Skill! An S-Rank skill that had undergone a qualitative change! Even with its power weakened by 70%, it was enough to severely injure or even instantly kill the vast majority of existences at the same level! He did not believe Lin Muyang could block it!

However, reality slapped him hard in the face once again.

That destructive golden sea of lightning, capable of instantly vaporizing a mountain, surged and roared toward Lin Muyang and the many young ladies around him, but when it was still a dozen meters away, it seemed to crash into an invisible yet indestructible wall of sighs!

Swish! An Elemental Barrier that looked thin, nearly transparent, and shimmering with a faint seven-colored halo, like an inverted glazed bowl, steadily protected Lin Muyang, Lilia, Elabess, Gui Wanwan, Alice, Su Daji, and several other young ladies within it.

Outside the barrier was the world-destroying golden thunderstorm, with lightning snakes dancing wildly and plasma splashing everywhere, the light so intense it could blind an ordinary person. Inside the barrier, it was calm and peaceful, not even stirring the corner of Lin Muyang's clothes.

The violent lightning, capable of tearing through steel and evaporating rock, struck the thin Elemental Barrier, yet it could only stir up imperceptible ripples, as if heavy rain were hitting a tough lotus leaf; apart from making dull "pfft, pfft" sounds, it achieved nothing more. Not to mention piercing the barrier, it couldn't even make it dim by a single fraction!

The one who released and maintained this barrier was none other than the peerlessly elegant Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Su Daji, standing barefoot in the void with her nine fox tails swaying gently. There was a faint, elusive smile on her stunningly beautiful face, as if this world-destroying scene before her was merely a slightly noisy thunderstorm on a summer afternoon.

She didn't even glance at the golden thunderstorm, merely raising her hand slightly and tapping her slender, jade-like fingertip on the mysterious magic orb slowly rotating beside her, which was suffused with a pink glow.

That pink magic orb contained pure celestial energy and the power of elemental control. Under the terrifying amplification of Lin Muyang's numerous God-Tier Auras, especially the massive boost to all attributes from "Elena's Party Aura," as well as the support from defensive Auras like "Iron Wall Aura" and "Thorns Aura," Su Daji's own attributes had reached an unfathomable level.

The [Celestial Barrier] she released at this moment, although only a legendary-grade defensive skill, had undergone a qualitative change in its defensive power due to her massive attributes, Aura amplifications, and her own profound understanding of elemental laws, reaching a staggering level that was by no means inferior to some high-level mythic grade defensive skills!

"No... impossible! Absolutely impossible!!" The ferocity and satisfaction on Slake's face froze instantly, then peeled away like shattered porcelain, leaving only boundless shock and disbelief.

He widened his eyes until they nearly bulged from their sockets, staring fixedly at the semi-transparent barrier that remained unmoved in the golden thunderstorm—even the ripples seemed so "perfunctory"—his mind went blank.

His desperate strike, this level 40 Origin S-Rank Skill [Golden Thunderstorm], couldn't even break through the opponent's defense? It couldn't even make the barrier shake? What level of defense was this? What kind of monster was that woman? What kind of existences were these summons of Lin Muyang?!

However, even more despairing things were yet to come. Just as the power of the [Golden Thunderstorm] he released reached its peak, and the golden lightning struck the seemingly fragile barrier in wave after wave like a tsunami, a sudden change occurred!

That semi-transparent barrier, which was originally only passively defending and blocking all the lightning, suddenly rippled like water near the position of the Succubus Maiden Elabess. Immediately after, a flash of lightning, almost identical to the golden lightning released by Slake, shot out suddenly from the surface of the barrier like a mirror reflection, with faster speed and a more condensed form, cutting through the still-rampaging golden sea of lightning and rolling back precisely toward Slake at the center of the thunderstorm!

The power, degree of condensation, and the destructive Aura contained within this reflected golden lightning were identical to the Origin Thunderstorm released by Slake, and perhaps even appeared purer and more lethal due to some mysterious "refinement" by the barrier and the augmentation of Elabess's own power!

The bonus effect of the mythic grade equipment—[Gift of the Fallen Demon]: [An Eye for an Eye]!

When the wearer is selected as a skill target, regardless of whether the skill hits or causes damage, a "retaliation" effect is prioritized, reflecting the same skill effect back to the skill caster!

Slake launched a [Golden Thunderstorm] attack against Lin Muyang and his party, and Elabess, as Lin Muyang's summon, was naturally included in the attack range and judged as a skill target. Thus, the [An Eye for an Eye] effect was triggered!

"Wha...?! " Slake's pupils shrank, horrified! He had completely not expected the opponent to have such a bizarre and extreme reflection ability! Moreover, the timing of the reflection was so tricky, happening exactly at the moment when his skill power was at its peak and his own defense had dropped to its lowest due to his full-force output!

He wanted to dodge, but suppressed by more than 70% by Lin Muyang's "Slow Aura," his movements were now as slow as a snail. He wanted to defend, instantly setting up several of his strongest magic shields and Elemental Barriers in front of him. But the success rate of casting spells, under the interplay of the "Silence Domain" and the residual effects of "Heaven's Gift," was abysmally low!

"Arcane Barrier!"—Failed! "Elemental Barrier!"—Failed! "Lightning Protection!"—This time it finally succeeded! But in his haste, the effectiveness of this protective skill, which originally could absorb a large amount of lightning damage, was greatly diminished.

He wanted to use life-saving items, teleportation scrolls... but everything required time, required an uninterrupted casting or usage process. And that reflected golden lightning had the speed comparable to real lightning!

All of this takes a long time to describe, but in reality, it happened in the blink of an eye. Slake only had time to barely condense a thin layer of golden lightning shield on his body before the reflected, "refined," and transformed golden lightning tore through the aftermath of his own thunderstorm that hadn't fully dissipated, and like the grim reaper's scythe, struck him fiercely!

Boom—!!! A more dull, more heart-stopping explosion than before rang out! The thin layer of lightning shield on Slake's body, like paper, shattered and annihilated instantly. Immediately after, the golden-black lightning, mixed with pure lightning power and a fallen dark Aura, completely swallowed him whole!

"No—!!!" A short, shrill scream, filled with extreme unwillingness and disbelief, erupted from the center of the lightning, only to be drowned out by the even more violent sound of energy explosions.

With his own defensive attributes suppressed by more than 70% by Lin Muyang's Aura, and without any other effective defensive means, Slake's Law God body, which had been strengthened many times, simply could not withstand the full power of the Origin Skill he had released himself, which had been strengthened and reflected back!

The golden-black lightning raged, washed over, and annihilated everything in his body. His magnificent magic robe turned to ash in an instant, his tough skin charred and carbonized, his bones shattered in the thunder, and his internal organs melted under the erosion of the darkness...

When the blinding golden-black lightning finally dissipated slowly, revealing the scene within, only wisps of scattering black ash remained in place, along with a few pieces of equipment that had lost their master, dim in light, falling from mid-air, and that amethyst staff.

The American Empire's Thunder Law God, a top-tier powerhouse at level 255, wearing several pieces of mythic grade equipment and mastering several forbidden spells, Slake, just like that, under the backlash of his own skill, left no corpse behind, his body and soul destroyed!

The whole process, from Slake triggering [Golden Thunderstorm] to being killed by his own reflected skill, took no more than two or three seconds. It was so fast that the watching young ladies hadn't even reacted.

"This..." Lin Muyang looked at the slowly drifting black ash and the few pieces of equipment, his expression a bit strange, eventually turning into a hint of speechlessness. He had originally been thinking about which young lady to have take action to give this arrogant Law God a decent ending, or to test the combat capabilities of his newly summoned young ladies. He hadn't expected the other party to be so considerate as to take care of himself?

"This guy... has really bad luck." Succubus Maiden Elabess blinked her soul-stirring purple eyes, looking at the place where Slake had disappeared, gently covering her mouth, and letting out a soft laugh. She also hadn't expected that the reflection effect of her [Gift of the Fallen Demon] would, with the opponent's "assist," have such an immediate and dramatic effect.

"Reaping what he sowed, it saves us trouble." Yama Maiden Gui Wanwan was still leisurely sitting sideways on her huge scythe, which was entwined with nether energy, her small, exquisite jade feet swinging gently, with a look of idle amusement on her stunningly beautiful little face as if watching a play.

She glanced at the fallen equipment, then swept her gaze over the statues around them that were still emitting soft golden light and looked lifelike, her red lips curling slightly: "However, is this the level of the so-called top-tier powerhouses of Blue Star? It seems this world is even more fragile than I imagined."

There was a trace of faint condescension in her words, stemming from a higher-level existence. But she also knew that the root of all this was not that Blue Star powerhouses were truly so vulnerable, but that their master—Lin Muyang—was simply too strong, so strong that it defied common sense, so strong that these top-tier existences who could reign supreme on Blue Star were as powerless as infants before him.

"Alright, one is taken care of." Gui Wanwan withdrew her gaze, looked at Lin Muyang, pointed her small, fair finger casually at the golden "statues" around them, and revealed a sweet yet devilishly cunning smile on her stunningly beautiful face: "Master, who is next? I think that big guy with the bare chest looks quite durable; shall we take him out first?"

Following her line of sight, Lin Muyang looked at a white strongman among the group of golden statues; he was exceptionally burly and robust, like a small mountain of flesh, wearing only leather shorts, revealing bronze-colored, tough muscles. Even in the state of "Astral Stasis," one could still feel the volcanic, surging blood energy and barbaric power contained within his body.

Through the "Eye of Creation," Lin Muyang instantly acquired this person's information. Hill [Level]: 243 [Class]: Berserker God [Talent]: SSS-Rank · Unyielding Battle Soul (Effect: 1. When suffering fatal damage, triggers "Death Immunity" effect, immediately recovering 50% of maximum HP, and for the next period, ignores instant death effects, reduces all damage received by 80%, and significantly increases attack power, attack speed, and HP recovery speed. After the duration ends, if HP is not fully recovered, loses 5% of maximum HP per second until death or HP is fully recovered. 2. Each time damage is received, increases own attack power and rebound damage, with the increase magnitude based on the damage received.) [Status]: Astral Stasis

"Australia's top powerhouse, Hill Brock... level 243, a Berserker with a death immunity talent." Lin Muyang's eyes flickered slightly. This talent was indeed interesting, especially in duels or prolonged battles, it would be very troublesome. High damage reduction, powerful recovery, attacks and rebounds that get stronger the more injured he is, combined with the berserk characteristics of his Berserker class, would be enough to give any opponent a headache. Even the previous Slake, facing this "immortal cockroach," would probably only be able to choose to knock him back or control him, finding it difficult to truly kill him.

However, in Lin Muyang's view... "Strong survivability? A bit interesting, but that's all." Lin Muyang's mouth curled into a faint arc. In the face of absolute control and output, the so-called "death immunity" and "getting stronger through battle" were nothing more than a slightly more durable target.