Chapter 551: High-Rank Devil
This is… a Divine Will Sigil!
Nightingale widened her eyes, but no, she didn't see the brilliant starlight of the magic stone being lit up. Instead, a huge, lightless black hole formed in the enemy's hand—this was its own ability! Mottled magic was constantly sucked into the black hole, like a rapidly expanding vortex. From the way the other witches were closing their eyes, one could see how intense this light was, but in the mist, it grew darker and darker!
Then the devil forcefully stabbed the sword into the ground!
A black ripple swept across the entire forest, centered on it—in an instant, the glow of magic, like a candle flickering in the wind, swayed twice before extinguishing completely. The world of mist shattered once again, and not only that, even the Heart of the Forest was erased. Leaf and Iffi were forcibly thrown out of the tree trunk, falling heavily to the ground. Especially the former, who coughed up a mouthful of blood after landing, unable to even stand up for a moment, clearly seriously injured.
It saw through the strangeness of the forest!
No… Nightingale shook her head. Although Leaf's attack was very subtle, it wasn't surprising that it detected something unusual from the air. What was truly difficult to understand was its method of pojiě! It was clearly releasing magic, so why was the light like a God's Punishment Stone? Even the effect was comparable to a God's Stone, or even more flexible and versatile!
But now was not the time to think about that.
She replaced the spent bullet nest, enduring the discomfort of the interrupted ability, and rushed towards the devil—obviously, the impact just now was only the enemy's prelude. It had already turned to walk towards Leaf, who was unable to move, and the latter had almost no power to resist.
Approaching within ten meters, Nightingale quickly pulled the trigger—only at this distance could she be sure to hit!
Sparks and smoke erupted from the devil's armored arm. It seemed to not have expected that someone could interfere at this time, letting out an angry roar and blocking with its greatsword in front of it. Nightingale's heart sank. The bullets didn't penetrate the arm and then enter the body as usual, directly turning its chest into a porridge, and it wasn't even clear if it had pierced the armor. As for the blue giant sword, comparable to a door panel, there was even less hope.
After firing five bullets, Nightingale drew her bishou and leaped towards the devil's head.
If she couldn't restrain its actions here, Leaf would be beyond saving!
The red light in the devil's eyes flared. It slashed diagonally with its sword, so fast that it didn't seem like a normal person could make such a movement—but the opponent's reaction was also within Nightingale's expectations. She went towards the blade, and just as she was about to be cut in half, the mist surged again.
Although the lightless ripples could eliminate the effect of abilities on a large scale, they couldn't ban magic. Once the chaotic vortex stabilized, the ability could be used again—Nightingale, who could observe the flow of magic, knew this well.
The outline of the giant sword in the black and white world instantly twisted, and she found the "breakpoint" on the blade at the fastest speed, sidestepping and "passing through" the thick sword, stabbing the bishou into the gap in the devil's helmet!
With a "clang," the bishou snapped!
It's actually… a magic barrier?
Damn it, how many abilities does it have!? Nightingale retreated quickly, and the armored devil, regaining its senses, followed closely behind, raising its sword and sweeping it horizontally again.
She repeated the same trick, but this time she wasn't so lucky.
The devil reached out and grabbed while swinging its sword!
Nightingale, who was passing through the sword, was forcibly pulled out of the mist.
The moment she returned to reality, half of the blade was still in her body—a flash of blood flew out, and a long wound appeared on her waist. Soraya's specially made protective clothing was also torn open from the inside out. Nightingale groaned, ignoring the stinging pain in her waist, landed and borrowed strength to roll backwards, wanting to avoid the opponent's attack, but the devil's step was more than two meters long, coupled with swiftness no less than that of an extraordinary witch, such avoidance was completely futile.
Just as the blade was about to fall, several purple light pillars appeared on the devil's side and quickly converged, causing its limbs to completely stick to its body.
It was Iffi's magic cage!
"Crush it!" Nightingale shouted.
"I can't!" Iffi gritted her teeth. "It's too strong!" Her fists were completely clenched, but the light pillars couldn't shrink further, and instead trembled as if they were about to burst open.
The enemy let out a deafening roar, raised its hands, and shattered the prison that bound it. Before it could raise its sword, another circle of light pillars came down.
"Let Anna... Anna xiaojie use the golden lightning... quickly!" Iffi said word by word. Judging from her face, such a cage wouldn't last long.
But the devil and Iffi were extremely close, and the Divine Will Sigil would undoubtedly engulf both of them.
"Now!" Nightingale shouted at Anna in the distance, "Activate the Sigil!"
Their eyes met, and Anna immediately understood her idea, raising the metal piece in her hand with all her strength.
The forest was filled with golden light, and rays of light fell from the sky—
The devil howled. It had probably seen such a scene before, and its originally angry tone was mixed with a trace of fear, and the struggle was even more violent.
The opponent's ability to dispel abilities couldn't be used continuously. Nightingale realized that this might be their only chance.
With a series of thunderclaps, divine will descended!
Nightingale covered her wound, spread the mist, and just as the dark lightning was about to strike her head, she flashed behind Iffi, grabbed her with both hands, and leaped to the side without stopping—the whole action was completed in one go, and she pulled her out of the attack range of the Divine Will Sigil in two steps.
This move required not only will and courage, but also Anna's cooperation.
If the latter didn't control her magic properly and smashed the first lightning strike slightly forward, the subsequent expanding bombardment would seal off all escape routes for the two of them.
Nightingale believed Anna could do it—in terms of magic control, no one could do better than her.
And the facts proved this.
The ground where the high-rank devil stood was instantly covered with golden light, and even the weeds and vines were turned into ashes.
Anna swayed twice and couldn't hold on any longer, collapsing to the ground.
"Anna!" Leaf finally regained some strength and staggered towards her.
"She's fine, just exhausted her magic!" Nightingale grinned. Every time she said a word, she felt a tearing pain in her waist—luckily, the wound was quite scary, but it didn't reach the organs. As long as she didn't continue to exercise vigorously, causing the wound to rupture, there was basically no danger.
"You… are injured," Iffi looked very complicated. "Let me bandage you."
Nightingale nodded, and just as she was about to lift her robe, her whole body stiffened—
In the billowing smoke, a black figure slowly walked out.
Several horns on the devil's helmet were broken, like a collapsed stone tower. The delicate armor was covered with cracks and dirt. One arm and the giant sword were also missing, but it was still alive.
The opponent had withstood this potentially fatal blow.
The devil let out a hideous hiss—Nightingale didn't know if it was laughing, but she could hear an uncontrollable excitement and killing intent in it.
Its movements were no longer composed, and the red light was also much dimmer, looking like it could fall down at any time, but she and Leaf were unable to move, Anna was unconscious, lightning was nowhere to be seen, and Iffi had little magic left. Now, no one could stop it.
The witch beside her suddenly stood up.
"What are you doing?" Nightingale whispered.
"Fight to the last moment," Iffi held the bishou hidden in her clothes in her hand. "This is the mission of a combat witch—you can still use your ability, right? Take them and hide… If you can't take them all, at least take one."
Nightingale suddenly remembered Roland's instructions.
That's right… she had to take Anna back. This was her promise to His Majesty, and she had to do it no matter what.
Just then, a familiar roar suddenly came from the sky.
"Awoo——————————!"
A huge shadow descended from the sky!