Leilin watched Iyas and the other survivors flee the waters in disarray, a sinister smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
The one who had covertly intervened, generating the massive dream power field, was none other than himself.
Originally, due to the limitations of dream power, Leilin had been unable to effectively deploy this force despite his knowledge of most fifth-level and below dream spells.
But
The Devil White Phosphorus Serpent inherently possessed the ability to commune with the dream world, and by analyzing the energy circuits within Belinda's body, Leilin had quickly familiarized himself with this domain. Since Belinda harbored absolutely no wariness toward her fellow clansman 'Nick,' gathering intelligence or conducting subtle scans had been as easy as anything.
What followed was simple. Having slipped away from the battlefield unnoticed, Leilin chose to expend a portion of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent bloodline, triggering a massive tide of dream power in a single move that rescued Iyas and his companions.
After all, to the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and the Eye of Judgment, Foulbird was still an ally. Leilin naturally needed to show some care toward its forces.
Moreover, he would need to contact Foulbird later, so he couldn't afford to appear lacking in this regard.
And to conceal his own identity, dream power was clearly the best choice—it could even be blamed on the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent clan. Truly, it killed multiple birds with one stone.
"The gesture of goodwill has been made. Next comes the greeting gift!"
A cold gleam surfaced in Leilin's eyes as he gazed toward the center of the massive dark-red mist.
There, enormous bolts of golden lightning cleaved through the sky like swords tearing through a curtain, ripping open a terrifying passage.
"Who exactly are you? Why did you rescue Iyas and the others?" Golden lightning crackled around Belcrack in dense arcs, carrying the intense power of judgment.
The dark-red wall of mist erupted in an instant, revealing a hazy silhouette.
What stood before it was a giant shrouded entirely in dark-red mist. Its stature alone exceeded five meters.
Vast quantities of dream power had even coalesced into fearsome armor upon the giant's form, its surface covered with dark-red vortices that continuously reabsorbed fragmented dream power.
"Someone who's come to take your life, of course!"
A muffled voice emanated from within the mist giant's body.
This brusque reply caused Belcrack's expression to darken completely. "I'll slaughter you, you cowardly wretch hiding in the shadows!"
Although the aura emanating from the opponent was formidable, it had not broken through the fifth-level threshold. This discovery put Belcrack at ease. What immediately followed was burning anger—how dare this creature interrupt Lord Belcrack's game! Simply unforgivable!
Moreover, the opponent's shrouded demeanor actually aligned with Belcrack's own intentions.
He had always assumed Leilin was a powerhouse of the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent clan, and having one appear in the coastal waters near the Haer Continent—rescuing Foulbird's believers, no less—had left Belcrack uncertain how to proceed.
Now it was simple. Since the opponent hadn't revealed their identity, he could simply treat them as an unknown threat and eliminate them outright!
And so, Belcrack unleashed his most powerful attack almost instantaneously.
"Evil King's True Eye—
From a distance, the death ray resembled a horrifying lance gilded with golden threads, hurtling toward Leilin with an unstoppable resolve.
"A quick fight, then? Perfect!" Leilin observed the opponent's actions and nodded inwardly. This was his plan as well. After all, the opponent's identity as a fifth-rank priest made him somewhat wary—the creature might be hiding some hidden trump card. And if it managed to summon a projection of the Eye of Judgment, that would be a truly troublesome matter.
In the previous sacrificial wars, they had only managed to channel a portion of their respective Sovereigns' power. If this opponent actually summoned a projection possessing autonomous intelligence, Leilin truly had no confidence in concealing himself from its gaze.
"The power is quite impressive—it could rival an ordinary fifth-level killing move!"
Leilin remarked calmly as the death ray shot toward him. Yet in a bizarre twist, although the distance between the death ray and himself was incredibly short, it seemed to form an endless chasm that could never be bridged. This disorienting sensation nearly made Belcrack vomit blood behind him.
With his bloodline seal fully released, Leilin—though he now faced the bloodline drain of the Curse of Ten Thousand Serpents—had also recovered his peak strength, possessing the terrifying power to confront the Flame Throne head-on!
Belcrack, on the other hand, was merely an ordinary fifth-rank powerhouse—not nearly enough to pose a real threat to Leilin.
"To capture the opponent alive while concealing my true identity, the only tools at my disposal are the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent bloodline and dream power!"
Leilin glanced at Belcrack across from him as one might regard an ant. "You should consider yourself fortunate—to experience the treatment once reserved for a peak Dawn Sun
For a moment, Belcrack was confused, but then its eyes were drawn to a spell template in Leilin's hand that radiated multicolored light, with countless lines and points of light shifting across its surface.
[Ding! Devil White Phosphorus Serpent bloodline expended. Drawing dream energy!]
With the Chip's notification, one of the golden-red stripes on the Dreamless Mask vanished, and an omnipresent yet absurdly unpredictable world was suddenly linked to Leilin's True Spirit.
Whoosh! Surging dark-red dream power formed into a tidal wave, rolling in ceaselessly and converging upon Leilin's body. The energy it generated was so immense that the very heavens seemed to change color.
"Fifth-level Dream Spell—Radiant Moon Phantom Dream!" The most powerful dream spell currently at Leilin's command—a force potent enough to ensnare even Dawn Sun Wizards—erupted forth in a violent surge.
A wave of phantasmal undulation swept outward. Belinda and the others caught in its range fell into a dazed stupor, their eyes glazing over with a dreamy haze.
Belcrack, who bore the brunt of the spell, had all three of its massive vertical eyes lose focus at once, and even the energy barrier surrounding its body dissipated entirely.
Radiant Moon Phantom Dream—a dream spell devised by the Chip and cast by Leilin himself, capable of bypassing all defenses to drag the target's True Spirit directly into the dream world. Even Radiant Moon Wizards had a ninety percent chance of falling victim to it!
Belcrack was clearly no standout among fifth-rank powerhouses, and after being struck by the Radiant Moon Phantom Dream, it lost all ability to resist.
"Let's go!"
Leilin's figure appeared before the powerless Belcrack in an instant. Masses of sealing runes poured into its body, with its three enormous vertical eyes receiving the heaviest focus of the seal.
When the sealing was complete, all that remained where Belcrack had once stood was a massive sphere of iron chains.
[Ding! Triple Seal of Darkness complete! True Spirit seal complete! Dream seal successfully applied! Target's bodily energy fluctuation: 0] The Chip fed back the latest scanned information at that moment.
One end of the chain was seized in Leilin's hand, and his entire figure instantly transformed into a blood-colored streak of light, dragging the iron sphere as it departed at breakneck speed.
...
It wasn't until dozens of seconds after the blood-colored streak vanished over the horizon that Belinda and the other Morning Star powerhouses finally came to their senses.
"That was terrifying... Is this the power of a pureblood? I have a feeling that if I were to face that power head-on, my True Spirit would likely be lost in the dream world forever, never to return to my body..."
A dazed look lingered in Belinda's eyes, but a sharp shriek startled her back to awareness.
"Lord Belcrack!! Lord Belcrack!! Lord Belcrack has been captured by the attacker!!!"
Another Morning Star-rank sea creature wailed in despair, instantly reminding Belinda of their current predicament.
Though the operation had started out extremely smoothly, in the end not only had their primary target Governor Iyas escaped, but even their supreme commander had been captured. This was nothing short of the gravest insult to the Sovereign Eye of Judgment!
After this incident, all of them who had participated would likely face punishment—being sidelined would be the most lenient outcome.
Belinda's mouth was filled with bitterness, along with a creeping uncertainty about the future.
"Don't worry, Belinda! No matter what happens, I'll always be there to help you!"
At that moment, a familiar figure stepped forward. 'Nick' wore a warm smile on his face, and Belinda's heart instantly felt a surge of warmth.
With Nick's support and encouragement, it seemed as though Belinda had found a renewed sense of strength.
"Everyone!" She strode forward decisively, facing her panicked colleagues.
"What's done is done. There's nothing we can do now to change the outcome. The most important thing is to contact headquarters and report this incident. The capture of a fifth-rank priest could even alert the Sovereigns of Order... For now, all we can do is wait..."
It had to be said—during a crisis, the presence of a pillar of strength made all the difference.
The Morning Star powerhouses snapped out of their daze one after another, urging the sea beasts and warriors on the ocean's surface to withdraw, not sparing a single glance at Iyas's port, which had been reduced to ruins.
In Nick's view, they were simply looking for a scapegoat. Seeing Belinda take the blame upon herself, they had naturally accepted it without hesitation. After all, once the envoys from headquarters arrived, Belinda would be the perfect target—and her Devil White Phosphorus Serpent bloodline would only subject her to baseless suspicion.
"So it seems that even within the Sovereigns' own ranks, power struggles are inevitable..."
The intelligent agent Nick watched this scene coldly, a frigid gleam in his eyes.