Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 261 Thunder and Rainbow as Swords
After dealing with the boss monster, only two infected players remain as hostile units on the Desperate difficulty.

The human monk [climbing nail] maintains a clear mind. According to him, he can only control his head, with the brass shackles around his neck as the boundary. The lower body is still invaded by the living spirit. The greatest effort he can make is to maintain his meditative state and prevent his out-of-control body from running around.

A short while later, the group found the source of the curse for the monk and the priest respectively, purified it, and the trapped players were freed.

The senior priest, clad in a white robe, lay on the workshop floor, his back aching. He blinked slowly and weakly, staring at the towering dome of the Great Archives. His teammates' faces drew closer, filling the edge of his vision. The priest greeted each of them softly.

"[Cracked Gate] It's so good to see you. [Injured Knee], [Strange Lily]... Everyone's here. Huh? What's this mask...?"

The priest looked horrified when the three-eyed skull appeared.

"Is this some kind of magic lantern?!" he hissed, reaching out to touch the familiar mask, only to be grasped by a cold, hard iron hand, a strong tactile feedback, and the signature sound of wind and sand.

The priest's lips trembled, "Brother Mage!!"

"haven't seen you for a long time."

The priest, dressed in a white robe and iron armor, took a deep breath, blinked, and then grinned. "Yes, it feels like a lifetime ago."

The teammates were surprised.

"You charlatan, you actually know this incredibly strong tall man? You should have said so earlier!" the female dwarf said gruffly, feigning astonishment.

Everyone laughed.

The monk clasped his hands together and bowed to the crowd in thanks.

A prompt pops up on the comprehensive network information board.

[Dungeon cleared...]

The rewards you receive from this dungeon are: 30000 Disaster Coins (+23000), 580,000 Universal Experience (+440,000), Sky Island Guardian Shield (White), Haste Scroll (Blue), Ice Storm Scroll (Purple), "Magic Net: Sunfire Ray" (Skill Book), and "A Glimpse of the Spirit Realm" (Red)

[Number of players detected in the current instance: 10]

[The instance's time and space are fluctuating abnormally. Please leave before the countdown ends. If you exceed the time limit, the (Inferno) difficulty challenge will be activated...]

Everyone was patiently waiting for the countdown to end.

The paladin scanned his teammates' expressions and said, "The bad news is that two of our friends are in dire straits and are waiting for our rescue."

Everyone turned to look at the tall, half-giant.

"The Purgatory difficulty that gave us so much trouble before, with its mutated affixes, even if I had another chance and brought the same team, the result would probably still be a total wipeout. But the good news is..."

That was all he had to say.

The players stared at the mage with silent but bright eyes, like a flock of fledglings huddling in their nests during a stormy day, seeking shelter under their wings.

Lin Bo waved his hand without saying anything, and his teammates chuckled.

[Countdown: ... Three, two, one]

The surrounding scenery blurred, and the historical era flowed backward.

Everything before Lin Bo's eyes was moving backward in time.

Time is moving towards the day the apocalyptic event occurred, which is not far from the present. Therefore, the scenery is changing slowly, and it is still possible to capture the complete picture visually.

They saw the remains of Hermione, the leader of the Kingdom of Heaven, fly back to the operating table, and the rotting flesh on his body regrow.

A red-skinned demon with wings on its back flew back to the operating table through a broken window in the wall.

It opened the small construct's head, removed the crystal core that stored its consciousness, and placed it under the corpse's opened skull. The magical energy within the crystal core flowed out, mixing with the dissolved brain fluid, restoring the brain to a vibrant state...

Lin Bo knew that this demon was carrying out the summoner's wish, capturing Emikodo and taking him to the Grand Archives so that he could personally experience the consciousness transfer surgery.

Before slicing open the skull of the Heavenly Leader, the demon cast a corrupting curse on Emikodo. This was probably a spontaneous act by the demon, perhaps simply for amusement.

When the surrounding tremors subsided, the group arrived at the day the disaster began.

[Network notification: An abnormal fluctuation in spacetime has occurred; the dungeon difficulty has been changed to: Purgatory]

[Affected by the fluctuations of time and space, the copy has undergone unknown changes...]

[Detecting mutation information, obtained the affix "Fission Tide"]

Lin Bo remembered the meaning of this affix: once in combat, the enemy unit would immediately split into a clone of equal strength, and the number would double again every once in a while, until the main body and all clones were killed.

The reward for clearing this affix is ​​22 times the Disaster Coins and experience points. "The last affix we triggered was 'Poisonous Sea Erosion,' which gave us 18 times the reward. This time it's much more difficult." The elf was still somewhat worried. "Moreover, even trapped teammates might split up, making it much harder to capture them alive than to kill them."

"Let's go," the ranger called to him. "The mage has already set off."

Huanji turned his head and saw that everyone was following behind Lin Bo, heading towards the final battleground of the Great Library.

Deep inside the third floor, in the cremation area, regardless of whether the consciousness transfer was successful or not, there were still flesh and blood bodies that needed to be processed. When business was busy, the freezers were simply not enough, so an icehouse was built to prevent the corpses from rotting and to pile them up inside.

At the current difficulty level, the sealed door of the icehouse is wide open, and the frozen corpses are piled up like a garbage mountain in a landfill. Their bodies are slippery and spill out from behind the door, scattered haphazardly on the ground, still emitting a faint chill.

The electric lights were dim, and a row of crematoriums were still operating, with flames shooting out and heat waves rising.

The endless swarming phenomenon within the Great Archives has occurred once again.

Before the players entered the incineration zone, the frozen corpses began to slowly rise, and the lid of the furnace was pushed open, revealing charred skulls that were still burning.

The living beings gathered together, facing the center, surrounding a small, withered construct, exactly the same model as the one possessed by the Heavenly Leader.

It was a laborer in this area, responsible for moving corpses and cleaning up furnace ash.

It is also the boss monster of the Purgatory difficulty, "Nameless Century Torturer".

Unlike the corrupted Emikodo, the Tortured can only do one thing: open rifts to the abyss of this world and summon demons. Its physical form is extremely fragile; even a slight blow will bring it down.

When Lin Bo led his team into this place, the walls, bricks, and windows of the entire Great Archives seemed to burst forth with sharp, long cries. It was a massive commotion of living beings, and the laborers had completed their sacrifice.

The slender construct collapsed, but a crimson, glass-crack-like spacetime portal unfolded in the air. Sharp claws pierced through the crack, violently tearing open the gap between the present world and the void, and a humanoid demon with wings on its back burst out laughing maniacally.

That wasn't all. Due to the dungeon affix, a mirror image of "The Century's Torturer" appeared nearby, opening a rift to the abyss as well, allowing a second demon to enter the mortal realm.

The splitting speed of "Fission Tide" depends on the strength of the enemy, and the Century Exile is the weakest, so it can split once in less than two seconds.

A dark, blood-red light shot through the air, heading straight for the two constructs lying on the ground.

The two demons summoned extended their claws to try to stop it, but as blood flashed, their arms were also severed at the wrists. The Mystic Mercury continued its momentum and swiftly shattered the "Century's Torturer" and its clone.

The wounded demons roared, and in the next instant, two clones appeared around them. The number of ice corpses and fire skeletons on the ground also doubled in the blink of an eye, and the total number of enemies exceeded one thousand.

The fission tide has begun, and everyone has only one choice: to end it quickly.

Lin Bo recalled the Mystic Mercury, and the dark red liquid metal condensed in his palm into a slender straight sword. As the cold light flowed, several intricate and delicate dragon language runes slowly appeared on the blade.

The sorcerer chanted incantations, channeling the power of the runes.

"(Incantation) Bless the elements."

During the refining of the High Philosopher Stone, Lin Bo had already mastered the true names of the four elements, and therefore had a thorough understanding of the meaning of the word "element" in the Dragon Language.

This incantation, when poured into anything, greatly enhances its elemental affinity. Wind becomes feathers, flame becomes wings, water becomes the body, and earth becomes the support—this is the gift of the four elements.

The more active the magical energy in a world, the clearer the blessing effect of this incantation becomes.

"(True Word) Lightning." Lin Bo turned on the lantern, and brilliant plasma surged out, swallowing the sword blade like a serpent.

The mysterious mercury was covered with a layer of azure lightning, with only a line of bright red at the midrib.

The real name, lightning, and the mysterious mercury resonated together. The lightning crossed the sword, climbed up the mage's arm, and flowed on the star steel skeleton. The trench coat trembled as it was pierced by the electric arc, and tiny sparks appeared on the hem.

He looked at the four roaring, menacing demons. His right hand gently raised the slender, azure sword.

The next instant, his body soared into the air, transforming into a whirlwind that swept over the enemy tide. The charred skeletons that blocked his path were lightly touched by the sword tip and exploded into smoke. In a flash, he reached the heart of the enemy's territory. The demon's black, blood-red eyes were smooth as mirrors, reflecting a rapidly expanding azure star.

Before the piercing abyssal language could even be uttered, the demons only had time to instinctively cast illusions. Some split their bodies into three mirror images, some conjured delicate children in their hands, some transformed into beautiful human women, and some became alluring female skeletons.

Lin Bo flicked his wrist, and lightning left a sky-blue curtain on everyone's retinas. With a flick to the left and right, he severed the necks of the two demons. With a light tap up and down, the tip of his sword pierced their brows and chests.

Ignoring the mirror image and the illusion, the two demons' eyes dimmed, and they collapsed and died in an instant.

The two surviving demons hurriedly uttered the Abyss Spell, their figures vanished from the spot, and they teleported three zhang away before flapping their wings and fleeing towards the small glass window.

Lin Bo did not turn around. He threw his longsword backhand, and the Secret Spirit Mercury, wrapped in lightning, shot out, lightly tearing through the sound barrier. With a sweeping motion, it cut the fleeing demon in half at the waist, then pierced through it again and again, piercing the demon's brain and heart, killing it on the spot.

The teammates had only just begun their charge.

The crowd stared blankly at the mage standing suspended in mid-air, exchanging speechless glances, before suddenly bursting into wild laughter and charging towards the enemy ranks.

(End of this chapter)