Hearing their pleading, Max's footsteps paused, and he indifferently glanced at the elves. However, after seeing their conditions, the crimson hue flickered and signaled to Belen to save them. After that, he continued walking toward the middle-aged man one step at a time.
'Mm?' Belen's frowned. She felt that Max was suddenly acting strangely. But seeing Rima's condition, it was normal that he was enraged as she was also in the same state but a little better off than him.
Therefore, she didn't entertain this train of thought. She nodded toward him, acknowledging his intentions.
Small vine kingdom!
She put her hands on the ground and poured all the accumulated Mana. Several dark green vines sprouted out of the ground. They acted as if they had intelligence as some went to attack the dark mages, and some went toward the pillars and broke the chains binding the people.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Everyone tied to the pillars fell to the ground as the chains broke. Although they had lost a lot of vitality and only skin and bones remained on their bodies, their faces revealed relieved expressions after being freed from hell.
The two elder elves looked at Max and nodded in thanks before checking the condition of the other two younger elves, and their eyes couldn't help but tear up.
Humans, on the other hand, didn't show any gratitude and lay there lifelessly. No one knew if they were dead or alive.
…
"Ahhh! You bastards! How dare you disrupt the ceremony! I'm going to kill you." The middle-aged man let out a hysterical roar as he saw everyone being saved from the chains.
He abruptly stood up, wiped the blood from his lips, and lunged toward Max; a bloody killing intent and the aura of a three-star mage oozed out of him, making everyone, including Max, feel slightly suffocated.
"Humph!" A cold sneer appeared on Max's lips when he saw the middle-aged man charging toward him.
His Mana gushed out of him and started to compress around his right fist. Without him knowing, the process that was supposed to take around 20 seconds was completed in a few breaths.
Moreover, the crimson fire had engulfed half of his arm while the intensity of it was also 2-3 times stronger than before.
Because of his rage, he ignored the danger he usually should have felt when the aura of the middle-aged man washed over him. But his subconscious kicked in, which enabled him to complete the cast of [Calidus Brachium] using almost all of his three-star Mana.
But because he was forced to do what his body wasn't yet familiar with, the skin all over his body dried up and showed signs of splitting apart, and the veins on his hand and forehead bulged, threatening to burst any time.
"Die!" The middle-aged man appeared in front of Max, and his hand clawed toward Max, and dark energy burst out of him, which took the form of a giant bone claw that slashed toward Max, aiming to tear him into pieces.
"Max....!" Belen and Leticia shouted with pale faces and prepared to help him. After feeling the middle-aged man's aura, they knew he was a three-star mage. A three-star mage, even if injured, wasn't someone they could handle.
Max's footsteps paused, and his eyebrows rose slightly as if feeling danger. However, the next moment, his eyes blazed with fire, and a ferocious expression appeared on his face.
Whoosh!
He swung his arm and punched toward the incoming claw with his blazing fist.
"What?" The middle-aged man's pupils constricted when the aura of [Calidus Brachium] engulfed him. He had noticed the change in Max and knew he was forcing himself to cast a stronger spell but disregarded it.
After all, he was a three-star mage while Max was only an 18 or so young man who was at most a high-stage two-star mage, so no matter what he did, he couldn't compare to him, a three-star mage.
However, now he realized how foolish his thinking was. This kid, at this moment, seemed more horrifying than the most three-star mages he had been in contact with.
But he didn't have any time to regret it because he had already attacked, and Max's punch was only a few inches away.
BANG~!
Max's blazing fist and the middle-aged man's claw collided. After a loud explosion, the underground cave trembled, and the earth around Max and the middle-aged man caved in.
"Ahhhh…!"
Whoosh! Boom!
A moment after their attack collided, the middle-aged man uttered a pitiful cry and was thrown back and smashed into the wall tens of meters in the distance.
As the fire and dark energy settled, Belen and Leticia could see Max kneeling on the ground, heaving deep breaths. At the same time, they were astonished by the strength Max showed.
Shua! Shua!
Both women appeared beside him and helped him up. Leticia asked worriedly, "Max, are you alright?"
Max didn't answer and continued taking a deep breath. After a while, he replied in a hoarse voice, "I'm fine. Have you dealt with the rest of these people?"
"Yes. They are dead." Belen nodded.
Max looked toward the formation and saw eleven people held by the vines. Five had their hearts and head pierced, while six had their heads missing as if cut by a sharp sword.
It was Belen and Leticia's doing. Seeing that Max destroyed the dark wall, they diverted their attention to these people, and taking advantage of them being injured, they easily killed them.
"Good. Go and take care of Rima." Max nodded and walked toward the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was lying limply on the ground. The hand he used to attack Max had completely been pulverized. His clothes had been burnt, and his body was riddled with countless burn wounds. But even then, he was still breathing.
Noticing Max coming, he opened his eyes and looked at max in terror. "You… cough! How can you have such a… horrifying spell? He asked, coughing out the blood at the same time.
