Arlcard was disoriented when Cain forcefully detached from him. He reeled back. The dead vampire elders used this chance to land some attacks on him.
Jack arrived in the nick of time and used Hundred Shadow Strikes to beat these enemies back. He then landed beside Arlcard and pulled him away, just as a torrent of fire showered the area. The archdemon lord continued throwing one spell after another, causing havoc and ruining the dead vampire elders' formation.
"Are you okay?" Jack asked Arlcard.
"I… I am fine," Arlcard answered. Clarity returned to his eyes. Those eyes were on Cain who was now battling Marcus. He wanted to rush forward to help but Jack stopped him.
"Wait! We can't win by fighting blindly," Jack said. "I have a plan. The enemies' attention is taken by the archdemon lord. This is our chance, but I need your help."
Arlcard took a breath to gather himself. He asked, "What do you need?"
*
The archdemon lord was now the center of attention to the dead vampire elders, but they didn't rush forward. They knew all they had to do was defend for three minutes. When Zara's Forced Unsummon failed, she was notified of how long the archdemon lord's time was remaining. Once those minutes passed, the archdemon lord would disappear by itself. There was no need to risk attacking this eternal-grade opponent.
The archdemon lord saw the enemies' intention. It sneered. If the enemies didn't want to come to it, then it would come to them.
It cast its Flames of Doom while advancing. In response, a huge wall of ice and earth appeared back-to-back. These walls were defensive spells cast by the level 80 mythical vampire elder other than Xenos and the level 85 rare-elite vampire elder. The two walls were destroyed but the flames were greatly reduced. The remaining flames burned the dead vampire elders but they didn't deal much damage.
The archdemon lord cast Telekinesis and made a grabbing motion when it came close enough. One of the rare elites was snatched. It cast another spell on this rare elite vampire elder. The vampire's body shivered greatly before abruptly stopping.
The archdemon lord released the vampire. This vampire flew back and started attacking its brethren. The spell the archdemon lord used just now was Soul Capture, which took control of a target. While the Demonic Dominance from earlier failed to dominate the enemies controlled by the Chalice of Blood. This Soul Capture was a stronger spell that affected a single target. Combined with the archdemon lord's massive intelligence stat, this spell was able to overpower the artifact's dominance, at least until the spell's duration was over.
The archdemon lord cast another spell while its puppet attacked his previous comrades. An unending stream of fireballs poured out from his spell formation. It was similar to the Flame Wrath spell but conjured much more fireballs.
Throughout the devastation caused by the archdemon lord, Leavemealone and Therras pulled out. They didn't want to be killed by friendly fire. The spirit weapon had been killed earlier. Its HP wasn't as high as Therras. It was killed before having the chance to detonate its final form.
Jack and Arlcard, on the other hand, flew into the enemy's midst. Jack's two clones fought the enemies who tried to bar their way. They forced themselves forward under the archdemon lord's bombardment. Jack used Ghost Form while Arlcard was protected by his shadow veil. One of Jack's clones used the Gold Scale Armor while the other used Gold Dragon Vitality. Peniel also healed them when needed. This helped them survive the forceful advance. With the archdemon lord's bombardment, the vampire elders couldn't form a solid barricade.
"This should be close enough," Jack said.
They landed on the ground. When the enemies came at them. Jack's two clones went to face them while his real body used his cloak's ability, Elemental God Barrier. The cloak was in its fiery state, so the barrier could resist fire elements better.
The archdemon lord must be aware of his time coming to an end. It cast more intense fire spells with each passing second. The entire area around the barrier was flooded with flames. Jack received a notification that one of his clones had died. The other was not doing so well.
"Let's start!" Jack exclaimed.
Multiple small rune diagrams started to form around his and Arlcard's bodies. They were both using their rune techniques.
The intense flames obscured the enemies' sight, so they didn't see what the two were doing. Even if they saw, it would take them some time to destroy the elemental god barrier that was shielding Jack and Arlcard.
The archdemon lord continued casting offensive spells. One of the spells created chained explosions that greatly shook the hall. Luckily, Jack and Arlcard's concentration was solid. Otherwise, the shaking would have canceled their rune techniques.
Some of the dead vampire elders were killed by the archdemon lord's constant bombardment. Aubelard, who was the weakest among them, was the first to go. His eyes actually showed relief when it happened.
When its final seconds approached, the archdemon lord cast one final spell before it vanished, the Pillars of Infernal Fire. Huge pillars of flames rose from the floor. They revolved around the place before fusing into one huge fiery column. Jack's remaining clone died then.
Before this, Jack's Elemental God Barrier only suffered the residual damage of spells hitting the nearby area. This time, the huge flame column hit everything with the same intensity. The Elemental God Barrier was right in the middle of this flame column.
Luckily, the barrier could still take the full brunt of the spell. It was still standing when the Pillars of Infernal Fire ended. The flames receded as the archdemon lord vanished. At that time, everyone saw what Jack and Arlcard were doing inside the barrier.
Marcus, who was battling Cain, was also aware. He then noticed the two were dangerously close.
"Zara, protect me!" Marcus ordered. He again cast the intense illumination spell which drove Cain back momentarily. At the same time, he mentally commanded the remaining vampire elders to attack Jack and Arlcard.
Zara came to Marcus. She cast a spell and a phantasm shell encapsulated both her and Marcus just as Jack and Arlcard completed their rune techniques.
Jack was already casting Teleport when his rune technique was near completion. He disappeared from his place just as his Elemental God Barrier was destroyed by the combined assault from the dead vampire elders. Arlcard also turned into a shadow and rushed forward.
However, Marcus quickly noticed that Arlcard's zooming shadow was not in his direction. His eyes traced Arlcard's speeding shadow and found Jack reappearing. The two landed their rune techniques on an inanimate object not far away from Marcus.
The two were targeting the Chalice of Blood.
