Jack saw the incoming crimson bolt. He did not doubt that this crimson bolt had a knockback effect, which would force him to stop channeling his rune technique. He was powerless about it. If he moved, his rune technique would be canceled all the same.
Before the crimson bolt hit, Alfredo's asura came before him. The asura sent flying by the archdemon was coincidentally in Jack's direction. Seeing that, Alfredo immediately commanded his asura to be Jack's meat shield.
The crimson bolt struck the asura. As expected, it produced a strong knockback force. The asura was pushed in Jack's direction. It bent downward and stabbed its four weapons into the ground to forcefully stopped its skidding.
It managed to stop itself before bumping into Jack.
Jack was saved, but Alfredo was not. There was no one near enough to block the crimson bolt for him. Except for Dimitri. The knight turned his crossbow and used a skill that produced a shot that was blindingly fast. This flash shot accurately hit the archdemon's crimson bolt mid-air.
Dimitri's bolt failed to destroy the archdemon's bolt because his bolt's power was much less, but it managed to change the crimson bolt's trajectory to a degree. The crimson bolt went past Alfredo's side by a hairbreadth.
For Arlcard, he saw the archdemon approaching. The mastery of his rune technique was already very advanced that he could complete it very fast. He estimated he should be able to complete it just before the archdemon arrived.
However, the archdemon thrust its two arms forward mid-way. That arms suddenly elongated unnaturally. The sudden lengthening caught Arlcard by surprise.
The archdemon's hand grabbed Arlcard's shoulder and pulled him. The pull caused Arlcard's rune technique to be forcefully canceled.
The archdemon's mouth opened unnaturally wide while Arlcard was pulled to it. A black hole was seen inside the mouth which produced a strong sucking force. Arlcard tried to break free but the archdemon's hands grabbing him were very strong. The closer he got to the demon, the stronger the pulling force from the archdemon's mouth.
In the end, everyone horrifyingly saw Arlcard getting sucked into the archdemon's stretched-out mouth. Arlcard's clone puffed into smoke after he was swallowed by the archdemon.
"Holy f*cking... Don't tell me that's an instant kill?!" Jack uttered nervously.
"It's demonic devour!" Peniel informed. "He is not killed yet, but he will continue to lose his HP inside the archdemon. He can be saved if you deal enough damage to it."
Although Arlcard was captured by the archdemon, the incident bought Jack and Alfredo enough time. Alfredo was the first to complete his mega spell.
Gigantic prism of multiple colors formed around the archdemon, locking it inside. The archdemon's movement slowed and damage number continuously popped up above it.
"Attack!" The duke commanded. His Prism Prison permitted allies to pass through while blocking the archdemon and its attacks.
Dimitri and Alfredo attacked without reservation since they were ranged combatants. Jonathan didn't dare go inside the prism and had a go with the archdemon even when it was being weakened by Alfredo's Prism Prison. That one smack from before had terrified him greatly. If the archdemon decided to focus on him, he would have been a goner.
Alfredo's asura didn't have such fear for its life. It ran inside the prism and fought the archdemon. The archdemon mostly ignored the asura, though. It was banging its fists into the prism's wall. Each bang caused the prism to heavily shake.
After five banging, a crack appeared. Even Alfredo's Prism Prison didn't seem to be able to hold the archdemon for long.
Jack finally completed all the thirty runes required for his rune technique, but the archdemon was so far away. He only had a one-second interval to deliver the completed technique or else the technique would be considered used and its cooldown timer began.
Jack remembered what Peniel had told him. If he was disrupted when he was still forming the runes, the technique isn't considered used. He could use it again immediately after. But if it was completed, the cooldown timer started whether he scored a hit or not.
Jack seemingly had no way to score a hit because his rune technique was a melee one. He had thought about this predicament after acquiring the technique and he managed to think of a way to make it useful.
Just before the rune technique was completed, his left hand formed a spell formation. With his Hundred Synchronous Thoughts, he had no trouble focusing on his rune technique while casting a spell at the same time.
The spell formation was completed at the same time as his rune technique was completed, and he vanished from his original location.
He teleported directly behind the archdemon who had just kicked the asura away and was back to busily punching the prism's wall.
The archdemon's mana sense let it know that someone had appeared behind him. But the slow effect of Alfredo's Prism Prison and Jack's unexpected emergence made it too late for the archdemon to respond.
Jack's dragon claw struck the archdemon's back. He didn't forget about Peniel's info regarding rune techniques. He focused his willpower to boost the damage. The thirty runic symbols around him slammed into the point of impact following his claw. Raging white flame erupted from the archdemon's body.
Tremendous damage popped up continuously as the white flame burned the archdemon. This damage had been further boosted because Alfredo's Prism Prison enhanced any damage the enemy imprisoned inside received.
The archdemon had a high resistance again fire and dark damage. Even though Jack's Infernal Cleansing Flame was fire-based, it also contained light damage. This technique was actually more deadly to demon-type enemies as it cleansed the evil inside them.
The archdemon screamed due to extreme pain. The cleansing had burnt even his soul. Similar to how he had burnt Jack's soul a while ago. Jack had unintentionally returned the favor.
The archdemon flailed its arms around in pain, which accidentally struck Jack since he was so close. Jack was sent flying out of the prism. His beast form came off mid-flight. He landed and rolled on the ground.
The asura remained inside and continued to attack the archdemon. Dimitri and Alfredo also never stopped their attacks.
The archdemon's wild flailing also hit the prism's wall, which finally broke it.
