From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 645 Taking Over (Taking leave during the National Day holiday, until the 8th)
"Ivy! Look what we found! Master Zecarius's wand!" A flash of blue light from a teleportation spell appeared, and the holy war commander and her companions, who had been searching for artifacts in the cave below the canyon, returned to the camp one by one.

As soon as Irina stood up, she couldn't wait to show off her wand to Ivy beside her. The wand looked very ordinary, almost without any embellishment. Its handle was covered with iron, and it had a spike at the end. It was a wand that could be used as a makeshift weapon in an emergency. This design was very common among Crusader spellcasters.

“That is…” Upon hearing the singer’s melodious voice, Ivy turned around and couldn’t look away after just one glance.

Indeed, the wand held by Illinika was not an ordinary artifact, but a lich's phylactery with the same properties as Horcruxes.

Which lich would choose his phylactery as such a significant artifact for the Crusaders, and have it kept in the museum in Kanaburi?

Could it be that there are liches in this world who have grasped the principle of "great hermits living in the city"?

“You noticed something, didn’t you?” Irina shoved Zecarius’s wand into Ivy’s hand. “When I first got my hands on it, a chilling power surged through my body… I felt like it was alive, and it was even trying to look me over!”

“This is a lich’s phylactery…” Ivy shook her head and stopped talking. “We are in the middle of a battle, and the front line needs your support. Tell your comrades to prepare for battle, and I will teleport you directly to the front line.”

Ilinica then began to observe the situation near the Crusader camp.

The towering, rusty tornado continued to approach the Crusader warriors, and between them, a group of gargoyles with folded wings had already engaged the Crusader warriors in battle.

Without the ability to fly, gargoyles cannot gain an absolute advantage when facing knights wearing plate armor.

These knights were an absolute backbone of the Crusader army. Although their numbers were relatively small, together with other recruits from Nerozion and volunteers from various small knightly orders, they were able to hold off the gargoyles' charge and systematically kill the enemy.

However, the demon leading the charge, Nugennis, a half-soul-eating demon who commanded these gargoyles, was not someone that ordinary Crusader warriors could withstand.

Even the paladin Irabes, who held high his family heirloom sword and invoked the holy power of Iomede, couldn't last more than a few rounds against the half-soul-eating demon. He was sent flying by a fierce claw strike, knocking over a whole group of Crusader warriors.

"See that demon charging at the very front?" Ivy pointed to the half-soul-devouring demon that had broken into the Crusader's formation. In Ivy's view, this demon was fundamentally different from his subordinates.

The power that enabled him to rampage through the Crusaders, like the power flowing within Ivy himself and within Ilinica, who was known as the Chosen One, was mythical power.

"That gorilla demon with scarlet wings and long hair?" Ilinica frowned. Almost no demon fit the artist's aesthetic, but the demon in front of her seemed particularly ferocious.

“That’s right, that’s your target.” Ivy stopped guiding the tornado and instead set up a medium-sized teleportation array, calling to Ilinica’s teammates, “Get in here, we’re going to hold the line.”

"Good heavens! What were you all doing while I was feeding the insects? What did I miss?" Count Dylan and Fox Head Nie Niu also returned.

As the captain of the decoy force, Dalan was actually the first to spot the swarm of gluttonous insects flying out of the canyon. However, upon seeing the insects charging headlong towards the main Crusader force without looking back, Dalan immediately decided to flee, returning to Kanaburi at full speed. She even had a letter of apology to her cousin, Queen Godfrey, already prepared.

Then Ivy used a rainbow bridge that connects heaven and earth to awaken Count Dylan's already dwindling conscience, prompting him to lead the decoy forces back on their journey home.

If he were to find out in the future that his cousin, Queen Godfrey, was now hiding in a Crusader camp under an assumed name, he would probably secretly rejoice at his actions.

“You’ve missed quite a few, Count.” The demon-born thief Volgiev was busy throwing various odds and ends off his person when he touched a large bag stained with blood, at which point he stopped.

"Boss Doom? I have something here that you might be interested in?"

"We'll talk about it after the battle is over." The teleportation circle that Ivy had drawn with magic was already glowing.

"Is it something belonging to Lady Silver Dragon Terendilever? Or... part of her corpse?" Before the thief could finish speaking, Ivy's magic had already brought everyone to the front of the battle line.

The clanging of weapons and the incessant battle cries and screams awakened the minds of these mythical warriors, calling them to yet another battle.

"Give it to me." Ivy pointed, and the large bag in the hands of the demon thief Volgiev immediately flew into his hands. "We can talk about it when we get back. Now, focus on the battle."

"You! It's you!" The demon Nugenis glared angrily at Ilinica, the knight commander of the Crusader.

A strange connection exists between Iomede's chosen ones and demons, as if no one else exists here besides them.

The same confused expression appeared on the faces of both the human and the demon, not much different from fear.

However, the demon then tore open the corpse of a Crusader and began to chew it. Fragments of entrails mixed with blood gushed from between the demon's teeth, dripping onto the ground.

The demon grinned merrily and declared its target: "You're the one she mentioned! Hahaha! So you must be like me? No! You just had a stroke of good luck by accident, no different from your toys! Weak, fragile... and delicious!"

“If you tell me everything you know, I might make your death a little easier!” Ilyica’s tone was arrogant yet tinged with pity, and it also revealed the clear courage and holiness of a holy war commander. It was highly artistic, at least a floor higher than the tallest building in Kanaburi.

"What a pretty little face, I can't help but want to take pity on you... Unfortunately, your flesh will be my main course tonight! But don't worry, I'll only eat a small part, after all, the great Kabuli demanded that I bring you destruction and rebirth!" The demon tossed the corpse of the Crusader aside, nonchalantly wiping his mouth with the thick fur on the back of his hand, "But before that, it's not a big deal to let you die knowing the truth."

"Who are you?" Ilinica stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the demon's every move.

After letting out a burst of maniacal laughter, the demon revealed his name: "Remember it, for it is the great Nugenis who will put an end to your fate!"

No, how come these two are chatting in the middle of the battlefield, and the people around them are watching as if it's perfectly normal?

Ivy, having put away the bag containing the silver dragon's corpse parts, looked at the conversation taking place in the center of the battlefield, puzzled, and drew her Beastbite Sword, waving it to imbue it with colorful arcane energy.

He wasn't the type to chat with the enemy on the battlefield; while he was talking, the Crusader warriors were still suffering casualties. And once the demon before them was killed, the battle would end in a resounding victory for the Crusaders.

"We can ask him questions after we've cut off all four of his limbs!" Ivy's calm voice was a declaration of war. The Beast Bite Sword flashed with multicolored light, and he appeared beside the demon in a flash.

The elegant blade forged by the Noldor elves, like a gazelle's horn, grazed the demon's rough steel armor, slicing a bloody gash in his side. "Insects!" Nugennis's weapon was a heavy flail, thick iron chains binding a black metal sphere covered in spikes; now, stained with the blood of Crusader warriors, the weapon exuded a bloody and terrifying aura.

The demon's arms bulged with bulging muscles, and the heavy flail immediately launched a counterattack against Ivy, accompanied by a fierce wind.

Nugenis had previously used this same powerful attack to smash the Crusader warriors blocking his way like cans.

However, Ivy's human form is different from her dragon form. She is a high-speed warrior who is mainly agile. Now, with various buffs that are as complicated as radio gymnastics, she can dodge enemy attacks at lightning speed and retreat to the side.

Through the previous attacks, Ivy had roughly estimated the enemy's defensive capabilities, among which the most speechless thing was the absurd elemental resistance.

The Blademaster's Arcane Enchantment provides a variety of inexpensive elemental damage. When encountering enemies without resistance, it can often create a trail of sparks and lightning, and even if a critical hit doesn't land, it can still be treated as a critical hit.

However, when facing demons imbued with mythical power, this amount of elemental damage from arcane energy is not enough.

According to Ivy's estimation, the demon in front of her not only has resistance to multiple elemental damages, but is also completely immune to common enemy tactics such as electric shocks, poisons, petrification, and instant death.

Since the usual methods are ineffective, we should try a different approach.

The so-called spellcaster is a combat class known for its versatility, and Ivy, who has mastered a variety of spellcasting methods, can be regarded as an archmage who has achieved the ultimate in spellcasting diversity.

I just selected the new legendary feat, [Legendary Spell Penetration], so I'll have to test the demon in front of me.

Calculating spell penetration is a slightly complicated matter for Ivy. Although the caster level provided by his legendary rank is universal, currently, apart from the [Supreme Warlock] class, no other class has reached the end of the normal path.

Therefore, to cast [Legendary Spell Penetration] on a spell, you must use the [Supreme Warlock] spell slot.

Fortunately, he can use [Spell Transformation] to convert spell slots from other classes into spell points and then recreate spell slots for a warlock. Although the process is a bit more troublesome, there is still a way to apply this legendary feat to all spellcasting abilities.

However, if he did that, certain spells from other arcane origins, such as priests' divine spells, would become unusable. Fortunately, Ivy has many spell slots belonging to the arcane origin, so converting them all to warlock spell slots wouldn't be a big loss.

Returning to the current battle, Ivy gracefully sheathed the Beastbite Sword, freeing her hands to cast the next spell.

He held his hands out in front of his chest, palms facing each other at an angle, creating a triangular area between his palms.

As the spell was chanted rapidly, a deep red light flickered in Ivy's palm.

Nugennis, besieged, wanted to interrupt Ivy's spellcasting rhythm, but the mythical adventurers who were attacking him one by one had no intention of reasoning with him.

The crimson magical light in Ivy's hand unfolded into a circle-within-a-triangle rune array, which then shot outwards one after another gleaming force field missiles.

Ivy's spell was an upgraded and improved version of the first-circle spell Missiles, the third-circle Missile Storm. It could increase the number of missiles released at once according to the casting level, and could also make these missiles bounce between different targets.

Although the damage of a single missile is not considerable, each missile benefits from the damage amplification of the Mythical Golden Dragon's [Perfection], and it is also a noble force field damage. Furthermore, with the amplification of [Powerful Spell] and [Extreme Spell], the power of each magic missile will be increased to the maximum of 1.5 times.

Each magic missile, shimmering with crimson light, was like a blood-red meteor with a long tail, striking Nugennis and leaving him riddled with wounds, turning the demon commander into a tattered rag.

Even so, Nugenis did not fall, but instead reminded people of a pen holder with a bizarre shape.

"This is impossible! You are nothing but ants, a bunch of refugees who have survived Lord Descari by sheer luck!" Nugennis howled as he retreated, trying to escape the adventurers' encirclement, but he had only taken two steps when he crashed into a completely transparent wall.

After fumbling around for a bit and realizing that he absolutely couldn't break through the barrier with his own strength, the demon commander's voice couldn't help but carry a hint of fear: "Where is that bitch, Mingna Gu? She said she would bring troops to support us!"

"Demons can have camaraderie? I don't believe it." Ivy held a crimson fireball in her hand, standing leisurely outside Nugenis's attack range. "How do you know that the Litu Demons won't take advantage of your absence to absorb the troops you left behind in your lair?"

"How dare she?" Even demons feel fear; Ivy had already understood this when she was in the Gray Army camp.

"Look at your routed army. The betrayal of the Minna Gu is commonplace in the Abyss, isn't it?" Ivy coaxed. "But don't you want revenge? To see the Minna Gu fall to the same, or even worse, state as you?"

Nugenis was completely at a loss for words, and could only spout some harmless rhetoric: "The Crusades are doomed to fail!"

"Maybe, but it's not a bad thing to take down one or two more demons before we fail." Ivy shrugged nonchalantly.

“That’s right…” Nugenis leaned against the transparent force field wall and suddenly laughed, “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to take down one or two more Crusaders before I die! Die!”

The Soul Eater's body suddenly swelled up, blood gushing from all the wounds on its body. The bulging muscles quickly buried its head, and the three-meter-tall giant demon had completely turned into a bloated ball of flesh, a flesh bomb about to explode.

Golden light rose from Ivy's body as he reverted to his mythical golden dragon form, using his sturdy dragon scales to resist the threat of the demon's self-destruction.

However, before Ivy could complete her transformation, a blinding flash erupted from Ilinica, illuminating the entire battlefield. The gargoyles, still putting up a desperate fight, immediately collapsed to the ground, while Nugenis, who had been swollen to the extreme, became a dried-up corpse like a deflated balloon.

“You…you took…” Nugennis barely managed to raise one arm, pointing at Ilinica in horror, before dying completely.

Nugenis didn't finish his sentence, but Ivy saw it all clearly.

Ilinica stole the mythical power from the demon's body, once again radiating influence to her teammates like a beacon.

(End of this chapter)