Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 677: 317: Is This Still the Country?

Chapter 677: Chapter 317: Is This Still the Country?

Ines remained crouched, hiding between the columns not far from Leon.

Even though she found herself in a dangerous spot, she didn’t feel panicked or scared. A strange sense of security allowed Ines to quietly watch Leon’s back as he bent down to investigate the surroundings.

Looking to the side, she surveyed the usually desolate Holy Sword Courtyard.

The shimmering environment seemed like an interwoven dreamlike dimension. The ground beneath her feet emitted a faint glow, sketching out winding Magic Light Patterns. The ancient and mysterious runes flowed slowly along the Demon Rune, akin to the trajectory of stars. Even without understanding spells, Ines could sense the exquisite intricacy and profound depth in those elaborate patterns.

Leon searched for clues within this magical structure and realized that the Array beneath his feet wasn’t singular but rather two-layered.

The familiar complex Lorelette Magic below emanated a glow of Magic Power that seeped out from underground. Even just by probing, one could feel that the structure was unfathomable, delving deep underground, far from a feat completed in a single night. It was likely constructed by the ancient Oranton people, long ago.

Yet, the newly etched Magic Array on the surface was clearly recent, as during his last visit, he hadn’t perceived any magical pattern formation signs around this place.

The current Magic suspected to be set up by Met and others was connected to the large and complex Secret Ceremony system within the Royal Palace but wasn’t in an activated state, as if it only operated for a brief period before its effects were interrupted.

Is this the direct cause of everyone in the palace falling unconscious?

That would be troublesome. If this measure isn’t a “sustained effect” but rather a one-off, even if he destroys the Magic Array set up by Met and Wisemar, the people in the palace might not immediately wake up.

Realizing that the original plan wouldn’t work… Leon couldn’t help but clench his teeth, bitterly pondering other strategies.

Having fallen into this place hardly more than two minutes ago, he could vaguely hear the loud noises of walls either collapsing or being penetrated outside.

Obviously, Met and the others didn’t take a detour. The two Warlock Masters are directly crossing the complex back corridors, heading towards the Holy Sword Courtyard to hunt him down.

Leon, suppressing his anxiety, looked up at the Magic Light Patterns emerging from the ground below. In a moment of rapid thought, his mind instead entered a state of clarity.

….. Those Spellcasters intercepted by the Horror Mountain Bear at the very beginning were clearly just breaking in from outside the Royal Palace.

This means that their actions tonight were actually just beginning.

However, Met and Wisemar had evidently infiltrated the palace much earlier. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to draw such a complex Magic Array in just one night, connecting it to the ancient magic structures beneath the Holy Sword Courtyard.

…. Given the vast size of the palace, if the two of them could sneak in, spend a few days acting without anyone noticing, why would they keep their accomplices stationed far outside the palace before the action?

If they had accomplices assisting from the start, couldn’t they have left someone here to guard the Array and sent people to penetrate the palace to search for Royal Family members?

If that was the case, Leon might not have even been able to find Ines before she had already fallen into the hands of the magicians.

Leon understood, unless Met and Wisemar couldn’t guarantee that Spellcasters besides them wouldn’t be affected by the techniques used tonight.

Hence, their accomplices had to stay outside the palace to avoid being indiscriminately affected by the Magic.

So, what if it were activated once more?

Leon turned his gaze back, finding the conspicuous Array core located in front of the Stone Base of the Sun Holy Sword.

The ground’s magical rune set there was clearly meant as a port for Magic Power input.

Activate it, turn it on.

Once again triggering the force that rendered everyone unconscious—if fortunate, the invading enemies within the palace should be struck with the same dormancy effect!

Leon sprinted forward, crouched down, and began to observe and analyze.

Several Demon Runes circled around the Stone Base of the Sun Holy Sword. The trajectory of the pattern extended from the front of the Holy Sword, connecting to the ritual core’s “Great Circle,” and the lower segment of the Great Circle linked through trajectories that fixed Magic Power flows, joined to a relatively smaller Hexagram “Small Circle.”

The general structure of the two layered Magic Arrays was consistent, nested to correspond with one another.

…. This very possibly….. isn’t magic that can be completed by one person.

Leon felt a gloom in his heart and was a bit frustrated that Kovis wasn’t by his side, but he had no choice; he had to try.

“Your Highness, stand inside the large round mark in the pattern!” Leon shouted anxiously, turning his head.

Upon hearing the urgent command, Ines obediently ran into it.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” The young girl asked with concern.

“You can’t help me, but remember that no matter what happens later, do not leave the circle beneath your feet. It might prevent you from being affected by the Magic,” Leon advised seriously, unwilling to gamble on whether Ines could withstand a second Magical shock.

After speaking, Leon emphatically struck the ground with the end of Garner, the floor solidified by the Magic Array producing a crisp sound. The Magic Light Path from the end of Garner spread out, connecting to the formation set by Met and others.

Leon took a deep breath, calming his mind, letting his consciousness follow the logic of this ancient Magic Secret Ceremony. He activated the start points located at different corners of the entire Array in sequence, one by one lighting up the initiation courtyards of the magical ritual beneath him….

However, the next moment, he felt a tremendous suction penetrating his mind. His eyes widened in alarm, chills running down his spine as he tried to withdraw the Magic Wand, only to discover his body felt as heavy as a thousand weights, solidified in time and space, utterly immobile.

——What is happening???

Leon’s face went pale, his body feeling as if connected to a giant black hole sucking away Magic Power.

The Magic Elements, augmented by the Netti Card to boiling, couldn’t even be transformed into Magic Power in time and surged towards the Magic Array like a flood.

One layer after another of intricate patterns lit up, the light shooting towards the sky. The initiation points of the thousands of Magic Courtyards beneath his feet gradually turned from dim to dazzling, beginning to build the ritual in accordance with the structural links—just a matter of a dozen seconds, Leon’s cranium was drained in a rush of severe dizziness.

He couldn’t even maintain the distant presence of Canis any longer. The Magic beneath his feet instantly drained all energy from his body and quickly began to extract the Magic Elements that sustained life from his flesh.

With a blank brain, Leon relied solely on instinct to resist the soul-tearing pull, attempting to maintain his dim consciousness.

The ground trembled as a giant serpent raised its head over the wall, with Met nimbly jumping off the snake’s head, landing in the courtyard.

Seeing Leon’s reckless actions and state, Met couldn’t help but laugh, clutching his belly:

“….. I thought you’d come here to do something important… Lord Leon, turns out you’re committing suicide. To dare to activate such a terrifyingly large-scale ritual underfoot all at once, you have more guts than Athias’s Great Mage, hahaha….”

Another figure leaped into the courtyard, Wisemar, who merely frowned and raised his Magic Wand in silence, muttering spells. The elements swirling around the wand turned into a blinding Magic Bullet surging with Magic Power, determined to kill the opponent swiftly.

Met similarly lowered the spear tip of his Magic Wand, swirling gusts wrapped into a cone: “Let me see if your trick can resurrect yourself,—die!….”

Watching helplessly as the deadly path tightened towards his chest, Leon was powerless to evade, frozen in the center of the Magic Array, speechless and immobilized.

Foreseeing being torn to pieces by Magic Bullets and wind breath, he hardened his heart and resolutely abandoned the instinct to resist the extraction beneath him.

Blood, organs, brain… The Magic Elements maintaining the operation within his body were madly poured into the Magic Array.

Listening to the opponent’s words, it seemed as if previously, only part of this ancient Magic had been activated, but which part was it?

With Leon’s mind retreating with the drained Magic Power, in an instant, he entered the vast sea-like massive magic network beneath him, traversing the vast micro-Demon Runes with rapid urgency.

Which part? Which part exactly!?

On the courtyard perimeter, the Magic Power and consciousness flowed across the massive magic network spanning the earth and this entire dimension.

Threads of faint light, unnoticed in an instant, brightened in every corner of the entire Royal Palace.