I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means

Lis’s longsword struck the Life Protection Box, emitting a crisp sound, but the sharp blade only left a white mark on its surface.

Who would have thought this thing would be so hard!

Lis’s hand felt somewhat numb from the vibration; after all, the Life Protection Box was made by a near legendary mage, so destroying it with his strength attribute would naturally be rather difficult.

Putting away his longsword and realizing that physical attacks were ineffective, Lis took out his Jade Wand and began chanting a spell.

"Blue Ball Skill!"

"Catastrophic Explosion!"

Fire elements converged, and three blue, blazing fireballs appeared in front of Lis. This time, all three fireballs were imbued with the three-cycle arcane "Catastrophic Explosion." Under Lis’s guidance, they smashed down onto the black box on the ground.

Boom!

The blue fireballs smashed fiercely onto the Life Protection Box, the terrifying heat warping the very air around them.

Crack~

Lis saw that, under the combined effect of the Blue Ball Skill and Catastrophic Explosion, clear cracks had begun to emerge on the body of the box.

It’s working!

Lis quickly seized the moment, summoning all his magic power. Blue fireballs continuously formed at his side, smashing down on the black Life Protection Box on the ground.

The intense sounds of the battle downstairs were getting closer and closer to Lis; he knew that Angela wouldn’t be able to buy him much more time.

Ignoring the tearing pain caused by the rapid circulation of magic power in his body, Lis held the Jade Wand in his right hand, casting spells without stopping. His left hand drew a recovery potion from his storage ring and poured it into his mouth, replenishing his rapidly depleting magic power.

Commanding his vampires to block the door, Lis calmly continued casting spells. The battle noises growing closer did not induce any hesitation in him, and he even managed to use the Fueling Technique in between.

Perhaps it was because Lis had acquired the talents "Intermediate Fire Element Affinity" and "Casting Genius (Basic)", compared to the previous battle, he could clearly feel that the power of his spells had significantly increased.

Even McGwire’s Life Protection Box couldn’t withstand Lis’s relentless bombardment, beginning to crack and melt in the blue flames.

Downstairs.

The whole Witch Demon Tower seemed to tremble with McGwire’s rage. The magic runes on the walls all lit up, and terrifying power condensed on the withered form of the witch demon.

Angela was smashed harshly into the wall by several of McGwire’s Dark Swords, the blood light on her dimming slightly.

Wiping blood from the corner of her mouth, Angela felt pain, was at a loss, and didn’t feel like fighting anymore.

How come he’s hitting so hard this time? Last time, I wasn’t beaten this badly.

Still, Angela dutifully charged forward again. A promise was a promise, after all, and this was her only hope of leaving this place. She had to take a chance.

McGwire, devoid of consciousness, innately sensed that something life-threatening was happening upstairs, and his instinct to survive made him explode with all his strength.

His skeletal fingertips gathered the dark energy of death and pointed in Angela’s direction.

Nine-Circle Spell "Death Finger"!

Angela felt every hair on her body stand on end as the shadow of death enveloped her. No longer able to stop McGwire, her blood energy solidified into several protective layers in front of her, and the vampires swirling around McGwire also charged forward crazily to shield her.

The spirit light of death shot out instantly from McGwire’s fingertip towards Angela. The dark light seemed poised to strip all life in its path down to dust.

The vampires shielding Angela could not survive a hit and turned to ash under the black spirit light.

The black spirit light struck Angela’s blood-colored shield and, after weakening it considerably, shattered it with a burst, the attack hitting Angela’s delicate body directly.

Angela seemed unable to withstand this terrifying attack, her body turning to ash within the black spirit light.

However, not far from the battlefield, Angela’s figure reappeared in mid-air, but her face was deathly pale, indicating that she had suffered greatly.

["Blood Price": At the cost of half the blood in one’s body, it can block a lethal attack once. Cooldown time: 7 days.]

The black currents swirling around McGwire had also diminished by half; it seemed that even he had paid a price for that attack.

But now there was no one left to stop McGwire. He flashed towards the fifth floor.

The fearless vampires and blood servants, ignoring death, all perished under McGwire’s relentless assault. Their deaths barely caused a ripple, but they did buy McGwire a few moments of time.

Just as McGwire reached the doorway and was about to burst into the room, his whole body, floating in mid-air, suddenly froze in place.

Inside the room, Lis gasped for breath, the Life Protection Box in front of him completely shattered, gradually turning into nothingness under the scorching blue flames.

Lis thought he could still hear McGwire’s soul’s fading shriek and scream.

Turning around, he saw Witch Demon McGwire less than ten meters away from him outside the door, yet that short distance seemed like an insurmountable chasm to him.

His body, now only skeletal, slowly turned to dust from the bottom up, scattering into the air.

In that moment, McGwire, who had been in existence for who knows how long, finally met the end of his life, his release at last arriving.

-----------------

[You have destroyed Witch Demon McGwire’s Life Protection Box]

[You have slain Witch Demon McGwire (LV170)!]

[You have gained Experience Points: 20,000,000 (Reward has been reduced)]

[You have gained the specialty: [Undead Slayer]]

[You have achieved the hidden milestone: [Incredible Miracle]]

...

[You have successfully passed through the secret realm [McGwire’s Death Tomb]]

[It has been detected that you are the first player to pass through this secret realm]

[You have obtained the secret realm crystal [McGwire’s Death Tomb] (Gold Level), and an additional associated secret realm crystal [Nest of Undead Tree Demon] (Bronze Level)]

...

[You have successfully passed through the secret realm instance [McGwire’s Death Tomb]]

[Detecting...]

[Completion rate of this instance is 30%]

[You have gained Experience Points: 30,000,000]

[You have gained the specialties: [Enemy of Undead], [Intermediate Undead Energy Resistance]]

[You have learned Skills: Four Rings Magic [Control Corpse], [Fear Technique], Nine-Circle Spell [Death Finger] (1/3)]

[You have achieved the milestone: [Golden Secret Realm Conqueror]]

-----------------

A series of notifications refreshed on Lis’ panel, but before Lis could check, the entire Witch Demon Tower began to shake.

No, it wasn’t just the tower. The whole maze was shaking!

Following McGwire’s complete death, the soul imprint he left in the tomb also dissipated, and the magic array that maintained the existence of the tomb ceased functioning. The entire tomb gradually collapsed under the pressure of the ground above.

No time to lose, hurry!

Lis saw the array inside the room dim and lose its Spirit Light, the surrounding walls also began to crack and collapse, and he quickly left the room.

At that moment, Angela, who had turned back into a tiny white bat, wobbly flew in and burrowed into Lis’ black hair, weakly asking:

"Lis, is McGwire dead? Can we go out now?"

Lis nodded his head. Finding Angela meant there was no problem.

He took out the freshly obtained secret realm crystal, still warm, and infused it with magic power.

In the maze, Arsen hidden in the Dark Hall, Ailina chased by zombies, Lunbos nested in the White Bone Evil Temple, and Ya’er who had been lost and dizzy in the maze all trembled. Along with Lis and Angela, they disappeared from this soon-to-be-destroyed secret realm.