The moment the obscure incantation echoed, the Divine Frame Golem seemed to sense something. A hollow, hoarse, and guttural roar suddenly tore from its throat.

  In an instant, an inexplicable sense of oppression, despair, and hatred descended upon the hearts of everyone on the battlefield.

  Even the mindless golems were affected, halting their movements to stare up at the sky.

  High in the heavens, pitch-black light radiated from within the Divine Frame Golem, and its form began to shift rapidly.

  Its massive body twisted and writhed like a mollusk, rapidly morphing into various bizarre shapes. Tens of thousands of faces roiled and surfaced across its form, issuing roars of agonizing fury as its appearance changed frantically.

  In the blink of an eye, the previously hideous, stitched-together abomination vanished, replaced by a tall, lithe, and handsome male figure.

  He wore a gray cloak over fitted chainmail, and his eyes glowed with a dark red light.

  Even more striking were his ears—slender, pointed, and angling slightly upward.

  These were the unmistakable traits of an Elf.

  However, unlike the fair-skinned Elves, his skin was pitch black.

  It was glaringly obvious: this was a Drow.

  Also known as Dark Elves.

  A dark race that dwelled in the Underdark, worshipped the Spider Goddess Lolth, and reveled in betrayal and assassination.

  "Oh?"

  Enevia let out a soft sound, appearing somewhat surprised.

  "It's Selvetarm. To think this guy actually died at the hands of Aurora City."

  "No wonder I haven't heard any news of him in so long."

  "Who is Selvetarm?" Gwendolyn asked, once again assuming the role of the curious child.

  Enevia didn't answer her, instead looking at Pierce, seemingly wanting to test him.

  Pierce recalled the information for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Selvetarm is the patron deity of Drow warriors. He is a cruel, highly belligerent god, also known as the Champion of Lolth."

  "Is he very powerful?" Gwendolyn asked.

  Pierce shook his head slightly. "Selvetarm is a lesser deity, and a relatively weak racial deity even among lesser deities. Speaking strictly in terms of gods, he belongs to the absolute weakest echelon."

  Gwendolyn nodded in realization and said enviously, "You know so much."

  Enevia also smiled in praise. "Indeed. The gods of the Multiverse are innumerable. To be able to clearly state his origins just by hearing a name... there aren't many Rank 1 Wizards with that kind of capability."

  Pierce smiled but didn't say anything.

  Relying on the Omniscient Eye, he had practically recorded every single book in the library of the High Tower Academy.

  After entering the Ring of Truth, he had purchased and scanned even more tomes.

  In terms of sheer breadth of knowledge, the vast majority of Rank 3 Wizards likely couldn't compare to him.

  Pierce quickly brought his attention back to the sky.

  Even if Selvetarm was one of the weakest gods, he was still a genuine deity. His power far eclipsed that of a Rank 6 Wizard.

  With a flash of dark light, a heavy mace appeared in 'Selvetarm's' hand.

  His speed abruptly multiplied by several folds in a fraction of a second. With a flicker, he appeared beside the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf. Tearing through the void, the mace, wreathed in an utterly profound, abyssal black light, smashed heavily into the beast!

  A miserable howl tore from the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf as a deep gash instantly appeared on its flank, blood spraying wildly into the air.

  It whipped its head around, snapping its jaws in retaliation, but 'Selvetarm' nimbly dodged the strike.

  The avatar was no longer bloated and sluggish like the golem before it; it advanced and retreated like the wind, its movements incredibly swift.

  Swinging and smashing the heavy mace, it battered the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf into a miserable state.

  The situation flipped in the blink of an eye; it was now the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf's turn to be suppressed.

  Seeing this, the Wizards were overjoyed, while the Turins looked as if they had lost their parents.

  Among the crowd, only Pierce paid absolutely no attention to the shifting tides of battle. His gaze was entirely locked onto the blood dripping from the sky in the distance.

  That was the blood of the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf!

  Pierce's eyes gradually brightened.

  Ever since he had extracted the Yugoloth Serpent Bloodline Mark from Pierce Zhanqing's blood, he hadn't found another suitable ancient creature bloodline to extract.

  He had originally planned to wait until he returned to Aurora City to find a suitable magical creature and research a new Bloodline Mark.

  He never expected such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to present itself right here.

  The Silver Frost Calamity Wolf was a genuine ancient creature with the purest of bloodlines!

  If he could obtain its blood, he could definitely extract a Bloodline Mark countless times more powerful than the Yugoloth Serpent!

  Pierce's heart pounded wildly, his eyes flickering rapidly.

  A few seconds later, he gritted his teeth and made his decision.

  If he missed such a rare opportunity, he had no idea when he would ever encounter another one like it.

  I have to risk it!

  Taking a deep breath, Pierce shot forward, sprinting rapidly toward the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf's location.

  "Pierce?" Gwendolyn froze, her eyes widening in shock. "What are you doing?!"

  Pierce didn't have time to answer. With a mere thought, he began layering himself with numerous enhancement spells.

  Fortitude! Resist Energy (Cold)! Protection from Energy (Cold)! Haste!

  After casting every enhancement spell he knew, Pierce then layered over a hundred Mage Armor spells onto himself in one breath.

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  Even after all that, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he activated his Blazing Robe.

  In an instant, a faint sensation of scorching heat enveloped his body, dispelling most of the surrounding chill.

  As for the Lightning Runes on his body, he had long since swapped them out for the more defensively robust Earth Runes.

  Enhancement spells, Blazing Robe, Earth Runes, Silver Star Fusion...

  Carrying numerous layers of defense, Pierce charged toward the center of the battlefield like a hurricane.

  The five-kilometer radius where the Divine Frame Golem and the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf were fighting had long since become a dead zone. Aside from corpses, there were no living creatures left.

  Therefore, the moment someone charged into this area, they became incredibly conspicuous.

  Many people immediately noticed Pierce's actions.

  "What is that guy doing?" "Wait, isn't that Pierce?!" "Why is he going over there?"

  The Wizards looked on in bewilderment, unable to comprehend Pierce's actions.

  The Winter Frost Priests, however, were overjoyed.

  Pierce had already slaughtered many of their allies, and they had been despairing over their inability to deal with this God of Slaughter. Seeing him actively charge into the combat zone of the Divine Frame Golem and the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf to seek his own death, how could they not be ecstatic?

  "What exactly is Pierce trying to do?!" Gwendolyn looked incredibly anxious.

  Just then, a stray shockwave of silver-white freezing currents swept toward Pierce.

  Although it was merely a shockwave, the energy it contained was far more potent than the freezing breath of a Winter Frost Behemoth!

  Wherever it passed, even the void itself seemed to freeze.

  Even from far away, many Wizards felt the intense chill and turned pale.

  Gwendolyn cried out, her eyes filled with anxious worry.

  But Pierce's expression remained unchanged. Seeing that he couldn't dodge it, he simply braced himself and crashed right through it.

  Crack! Crack!

  In an instant, the Mage Armor protecting his body began to shatter sequentially. Over a hundred layers of Mage Armor couldn't even hold on for half a second before all of them completely collapsed.

  Pierce frowned inwardly and sighed.

  The defensive capabilities of 1st-Circle spells were ultimately too weak.

  Even after being optimized, inscribed, and stacked, while they were incredibly effective against opponents of the same tier, they fell woefully short against attacks that exceeded their grade.

  Fortunately, he had made other preparations.

  With a loud whoosh, a ring of blazing fire erupted from his robes, violently colliding with the incoming freezing current.

  Having already lost the vast majority of its energy breaking through the Mage Armor, the freezing current was completely neutralized and dissipated by the impact of the blazing fire.

  Pierce's expression remained calm as he continued to charge forward.

  The surrounding Wizards and Winter Frost Priests were already dumbfounded. None of them expected Pierce to be this fiercely resilient.

  A freezing current capable of instantly killing a Rank 2 Wizard had been effortlessly blocked by him!

  As he ventured deeper, the freezing currents and energy shockwaves sweeping through the void grew increasingly violent and powerful.

  The Blazing Robe alone was no longer enough. It was only by relying on the physical enhancement provided by the Earth Runes and Silver Star Fusion that Pierce was able to endure the freezing currents and energy tides as he pressed forward.

  However, after penetrating two kilometers into the center of the battlefield, even the Earth Runes and Silver Star began to fail him.

  Just as everyone thought Pierce had reached his absolute limit and would be forced to retreat, dense silver lines suddenly surfaced across his body. A hazy silver light slowly emanated outward, coating his already gleaming silver form with a layer of pure, brilliant platinum!

  Immediately following that, a transparent forcefield materialized, enveloping him in an impenetrable dome!

  Body of Silver! Energy Forcefield!

  With these two new layers of defense, Pierce's previously tottering figure instantly stabilized. Slowly but firmly, he continued to close in on the center of the battlefield.

  The crowd watched this scene, utterly dumbfounded.

  He actually survived that!

  "A-are those Alchemical Etchings?" Gwendolyn asked blankly.

  "Exactly," Enevia nodded slightly, a hint of amusement flashing in her eyes. "Body of Silver and Energy Forcefield. Both are incredibly powerful Alchemical Etchings. Pierce certainly has quite a few trump cards up his sleeve."

  Gwendolyn swallowed hard, her beautiful face filled with shock.

  Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Pierce quickly closed to within a kilometer of the battlefield's center.

  At this distance, even with his numerous layers of defense, he was beginning to struggle.

  Every inch of the surrounding space was saturated with freezing currents and energy tides; there was nowhere to hide.

  Every passing second, he endured high-intensity attacks.

  Even weakened by his many defenses, the residual frost erosion and energy impacts caused significant damage to his body.

  "I can't hold on for much longer. I need to make this quick!"

  Pierce took a deep breath, his eyes scanning the area rapidly.

  Given the size of the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf, a single drop of its blood was the size of a fist to a normal person, making it easy to spot once it hit the ground.

  Pierce quickly found a patch of soil soaked in blood—or rather, permafrost.

  The absolute chill inherent in the blood had long since frozen the soil within a several-dozen-meter radius into rock-hard permafrost.

  Without hesitation, Pierce decisively activated the Dimensional Blink Alchemical Etching, instantly teleporting right in front of the bloodstain. Several silver spikes detached from his palms, rapidly spinning around the ground to carve out the entire chunk of permafrost, which he then tossed into his spatial ring.

  After completing this, he quickly began searching for other targets.

  Facing the Divine Frame Golem, which had assumed the form of a deity, the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf was completely outmatched. It was battered and bruised, its blood scattered everywhere across the center of the battlefield.

  In less than two minutes, Pierce had collected seven chunks of permafrost containing the Calamity Wolf's blood.

  This bountiful harvest filled him with immense joy.

  "It's a pity the Divine Frame Golem doesn't have any blood. Otherwise, the blood of a god could probably be used to extract an even more terrifying Bloodline Mark."

  Pierce knew this was merely wishful thinking.

  The blood of a god was incredibly precious; even Rule Wizards treated it as an absolute treasure. It was impossible for it to be used on a mere war machine.

  Reigning in his stray thoughts, Pierce continued collecting blood.

  After securing three more chunks of blood-soaked permafrost, he felt the Energy Forcefield around him nearing its breaking point.

  The energy of the Body of Silver Alchemical Etching was also almost depleted.

  As for Dimensional Blink, he only had one use left.

  In this area, saturated with energy tides that even warped space slightly, the effectiveness of Dimensional Blink was severely reduced. Its teleportation range had shrunk to less than five hundred meters.

  Otherwise, he could have just used it to teleport all the way in from the start, rather than painstakingly enduring the freezing currents and energy tides to walk in.

  "It's time to leave."

  Pierce glanced in the direction of the Divine Frame Golem and the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf, then turned to leave without hesitation.

  Although there was still plenty of blood scattered about, he knew that excessive greed was a fatal flaw. If he stayed any longer and lost the protection of the Body of Silver and the Energy Forcefield, he would very likely lose his life.

  But just then, an accident occurred.

  To dodge an attack from the Divine Frame Golem, the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf executed a rapid lateral dash, instantly arriving in the sky not far from Pierce.

  The Divine Frame Golem pursued relentlessly.

  Neither the Divine Frame Golem nor the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf had actually noticed Pierce, much like two brawling giants wouldn't notice an ant beneath their feet.

  To them, it was just a normal evasion and pursuit. But to Pierce, it was an absolute catastrophe.

  The moment the two clashed, a terrifying energy tide—far exceeding anything prior—violently erupted!

  In the distance, seeing this unfold, Gwendolyn's face drained of color, and she cried out involuntarily.

  "Watch out!"

  Unfortunately, Pierce couldn't hear her voice, nor did he have the time to care.

  An unprecedented, overwhelming sense of lethal threat instantly gripped his heart. Without a second thought, he used his final Dimensional Blink, instantly putting five hundred meters of distance between them. Then, without looking back, he sprinted desperately away!

  However, after running less than three hundred meters, the energy tide caught up to him, slamming into his back like a falling meteor.

  Almost instantaneously, the Energy Forcefield shattered and vanished.

  The flames of the Blazing Robe had barely flared up before they were torn apart and annihilated. The powerful backlash even caused the Blazing Robe to emit a violent hum before its luster rapidly dimmed—it had clearly been ruined.

  Pierce instantly entered his absolute limit state. Nearly a hundred Earth Runes scrambled to emerge, transforming into a thick, heavy yellow halo that enveloped his body.

  But the moment it touched the energy tide, the yellow halo rapidly dimmed and disappeared.

  In the span of a single breath, the vast majority of Pierce's defensive measures had been utterly broken.

  Just as everyone thought he was doomed, three crimson lines abruptly surfaced on the back of his right hand. One of them suddenly flared with light, transforming into a burst of black radiance that spread across his body.

  In an instant, Pierce was shrouded in the phantom projection of black, serpentine scales.

  Though the phantom black scales appeared ethereal, they exuded an incredibly fierce, brutal aura, projecting an indestructible texture.

  The energy tide, having expended much of its initial apocalyptic momentum breaking through the previous layers of defense, finally stalled when it crashed into the phantom black scales.

  Although the energy tide quickly tore through the phantom scales shortly after, it had bought Pierce enough time.

  Seizing the opportunity, Pierce shot forward like an arrow, covering over a kilometer in an instant.

  Having distanced himself from the epicenter of the battle between the Divine Frame Golem and the Silver Frost Calamity Wolf, the energy tides in the void finally weakened to a level he could endure.

  Without hesitation, Pierce activated another Bloodline Mark. Relying on the phantom black scales and the rapidly fading Body of Silver, he forcefully braced against the remaining energy tides and sprinted frantically for several kilometers, finally breaking out of the central combat zone.