Suddenly, a hole opened up in the mountain on the Exploding Mountain Turtle's back.
The hole was dark, and Shang couldn't see what was inside it from his current distance.
The Dean was running towards the turtle, but he was still about a kilometer away.
And then…
BOOOM!
Shang's eyes widened as he saw the ground in front of the Dean explode!
It had happened instantaneously!
An instant later, the Dean exploded out of the dust cloud uninjured, and he continued running towards the Exploding Mountain Turtle.
After some seconds, the dust cloud vanished, and Shang could see what had caused the explosion.
It was a ten-meter-wide rock!
A 50-meter-wide crater had formed around the rock, and cracks were visible all around it.
'The turtle has shot that gigantic rock out of that hole with such insane speeds?!' Shang thought in shock.
Such an attack was even more destructive than the gigantic fireballs the Mages had formed to take down the powerful flying beasts!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Shang looked away from the rock as he heard three explosions happening in only a single second.
More holes had opened up in the turtle's body, and it had fired three rocks at once!
The Dean was no longer running in a straight line but zigzagging.
If only a single rock hit him, he would turn into a puddle!
At that moment, Shang realized that the Dean might actually die.
The Dean had always felt incredibly powerful to Shang, but that beast in front of him was even more dangerous!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Even more holes opened up on the mountain, and more rocks shot out of them.
One explosion after the other rang throughout the horizons as dust without end surrounded the turtle's and the Dean's bodies.
The turtle was shooting out five rocks per second now!
The turtle's body didn't even sway while firing these rocks, and it continued walking forward like it wasn't doing anything else!
It was truly worthy of the name Exploding Mountain Turtle.
By now, Shang couldn't see the fight anymore. There was too much dust around the two combatants.
However, Shang heard more and more explosions, which meant that the Dean was still alive in there.
The Dean should be in attacking range by now, but the rocks also shot downward around the turtle. Even more, due to the small distance between the holes and the Dean, evading the rocks became even harder for the Dean.
Shang knew that the Dean was powerful, but that might be even too much for him.
The Dean might have managed to evade every single rock up to now, but how long would that last?
A single hit and he would die.
A single mistake, and it would be the end.
Even if the Dean managed to evade 99% of all rocks, it would only take the turtle 20 seconds to unleash 100 rocks!
Shang's heart rate climbed higher and higher.
If the Dean died, would Shang be able to survive?
If the Dean died and the turtle focused on Warrior's Paradise, would he even be able to escape?
Judging by the speed of the rocks, Shang could very well imagine that the Exploding Mountain Turtle could hit them from its current location.
If Warrior's Paradise were bombarded by this turtle…
It would turn the entire city into rubble!
Suddenly, Shang felt an incredible amount of Fire Mana gather on the wall, and he looked over.
Above the circles of Mages, a ten-meter-wide fireball had appeared!
Shang had never felt so much Fire Mana in his life!
The big fireballs from earlier were nothing in comparison to this gigantic one!
Shang was certain if that fireball hit the Exploding Mountain Turtle, even it would sustain severe injuries.
This fireball was essentially a miniature nuke!
Now, Shang realized why the Dean had attacked the Exploding Mountain Turtle, even if he basically had no chance of victory.
He had to distract the turtle for the fireball to hit. The fireball would probably move at incredible speeds, but with a single rock, the Exploding Mountain Turtle could destroy it from a distance.
The Exploding Mountain Turtle had to be fully focused on an enemy around it. That was the only way how the fireball could hit!
The surrounding Mages stopped chanting. Only the two in the middle continued.
Then, the two of them stopped as well.
The Mage in grey robes looked at the Mage in green robes with furrowed brows.
The Mage in green robes nodded with a grimace.
The Mage in grey robes gritted his teeth.
The Mage in green robes pointed at the Mana Austerum, which quickly began to shine green.
A green light left the gigantic fireball and entered the Mana Austerum. Down below, a couple of Mana Stones were filled with Wind Mana.
Shang grimaced.
He had expected such an outcome.
If this were merely a coincidence, it wouldn't be so troublesome. After all, the gathered power of over 70 True Mages was terrifying. Even a True Path Stage beast would get severely injured by such an attack.
However, since this was planned by a human, they had probably known about the Mages.
They had made plans to ruin the defense.
The grey-robed Mage looked at the Exploding Mountain Turtle with a frown.
And then, the fireball shot at it.
However, since all the Wind Mana had been sucked out of the fireball, it was comparatively slow.
Sure enough, the turtle noticed the gigantic fireball in the distance and shot a rock at it.
BOOOOOOOM!
The fireball exploded far away from the turtle, creating an explosion over a hundred meters wide. The shockwave ravaged the land as dust was thrown towards the horizon.
At the same time, the green-robed Mage spoke a loud, unfamiliar word.
Six Mages in green robes were illuminated inside the circle, and their eyes widened in shock.
SHING! SHING!
The green-robed Mage in the middle suddenly unleashed two waves of wind, and two of the Mages were split apart vertically.
Obviously, these Wind Mages were the traitors.
Shang could tell what had happened.
The enemy had sent some Wind Mages to sabotage this attack. They had probably delivered incorrect Mana, which would have thrown the Spell out of balance. If that Spell had been unleashed, it might have shot in a random direction.
It might have shot towards a tower or into the middle of Warrior's Paradise.
The calculations had probably been prepared beforehand.
Shang guessed that the fireball would have probably shot at the Mana Austerum if the Wind Mana hadn't been siphoned out.
The Mages wouldn't have screwed with the Fire Mana since that could have led to the fireball exploding amongst them. The Mages might be enemy agents, but they wouldn't want to die.
Luckily, the two Mages in the center had been prepared, and they had already had a Magic Circle prepared to keep track of the delivered Mana, which allowed them to find the traitors.
At the same time the green-robed Mage killed two traitors, the grey-robed Mage pointed at two other Wind Mages.
The Wind Mages immediately lost their consciousness and fell over.
They had been subject to a Mind Attack.
The remaining two Mages very quickly realized what was going on and were about to run away.
But suddenly, a red shadow appeared behind one of them.
The Mage had been caught by surprise, and he hadn't even been able to create his Mana Shield or use his Mana Step.
The red shadow had simply appeared out of nowhere!
SHING!
The Mage was cut into four pieces as two curved swords slashed through him.
It was Vice-Dean Ranos!
The other Mage saw that she was the last one and quickly created a Mana Barrier.
The other Mages were looking on in shock and confusion.
What had happened?!
Why did their Spell fail?!
Vice-Dean Ranos shot at the last Mage, and she quickly readied her Mana Step.
Vice-Dean Ranos pointed towards the Mage's left and right.
Several crystals shot out of Vice-Dean Ranos' arms and hit the surroundings of the last Mage.
An avalanche of different Elemental Mana surrounded the Mage now, and the Mana around her became unstable.
Suddenly, the Mage vanished as she used Mana Step.
50 meters in the distance, she materialized again, and she jumped into the city.
She spoke more words, but her face turned into shock mid-fall.
BANG!
She landed on a house below her, falling through the roof.
Vice-Dean Ranos shot after her.
Vice-Dean Ranos had lots of experience when it came to dealing with Mages.
His opponent was a Wind Mage, and the most common tactic for Wind Mages was to use Mana Step to get away and then use a Wind Element Spell to become more mobile.
The crystals he had unleashed had coated her in mixed Mana, ruining her Wind Spell.
Because of that, her Spell failed, which meant that she fell into the house.
Vice-Dean Ranos jumped over the wall.
SHING!
Suddenly, a huge, red crystal appeared in Vice-Dean Ranos' hand, and he threw it into the hole of the house.
BOOOOOM!
The entire house exploded in a ball of fire!
Vice-Dean Ranos summoned an azure Mana Stone, and his armor absorbed the Ice Mana that had just been released.
Then, Vice-Dean Ranos landed in the burning building.
Shang could hear several small explosions come from inside the building, but after a couple of seconds, everything calmed down.
Then, Vice-Dean Ranos walked out of the burning building with a body and a head in his hands.
He threw them to the side and looked back to the wall at the grey-robed Mage.
The grey-robed Mage nodded with a smile and gave Vice-Dean Ranos a thumbs up.
He had incapacitated the other two Mages with his Mind Magic. They were still alive, which meant that they could interrogate them for information.
Suddenly, something moved in the corner of Shang's eyes.
Shang looked over, and his heart nearly stopped.
The Exploding Mountain Turtle had jumped!
It was currently in the sky, and time had seemingly stopped.
As if it were the only moving thing in the world, the Exploding Mountain Turtle's legs extended downward.
And then, over a hundred holes opened up in the soles of its feet.
Everyone looked over in silent shock and terror.
And then, over a hundred rocks shot at the ground below it like they had been shot out of a shotgun.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The surrounding kilometer was turned into a zone of absolute destruction!
The Exploding Mountain Turtle had realized that there was something in Warrior's Paradise that could be a danger to it after destroying the gigantic fireball. Because of that, it had decided to end the fight quickly.
BOOOOOM!
The Exploding Mountain Turtle landed, and a cloud of dust consumed it.
Silence.
For several seconds, nobody talked.
And then, the distant explosions returned, but this time, they didn't come from the rocks.
The imposing head of the Exploding Mountain Turtle peeked out of the dusty cloud.
It no longer looked at its surroundings.
There was nothing left in its vicinity that could threaten it except for Warrior's Paradise.
And that also wouldn't be a threat for much longer.
