Chapter 504 : Prayer Summoning
Chapter 504: Prayer Summoning
"Damn, they’re going for a quick battle!"
Seeing the surging magma about to engulf the Lightning Clouds and Frost Guardians, Louis-Tulan immediately flew forward, placing himself between them and the molten wave to block the assault with his own body.
Realizing that staying any longer would only burden Louis-Tulan, the two Contracted Creatures obediently followed Janna’s command. They dispersed their contract power and returned to the 【Spirit Realm】.
"Oh? It seems your helpers have abandoned you."
Within the 【Magma Domain】, only Louis-Tulan remained. Apprentice Ornn of the Two-Headed Dragon revealed a cruel smile.
At once, Ornn manipulated the 【Law Consciousness Cluster】 to reverse the flow of 【Law】 energy.
In an instant, what had been a blazing red sea of magma turned into a chilling frost field.
"Now then, it’s your turn."
"Khrr一一"
Even in this hostile environment, Louis-Tulan, who had taken the form of a 【Phoenix】, charged straight toward Ornn without hesitation — not a trace of surrender in sight.
At the same time, elsewhere—
Unlike Ornn’s “realm of fire and ice,” Talina’s domain was a swamp thick with toxic miasma and corrosive vapors.
Facing this omnipresent poison, even Hela-Helheim, no matter how cautious she was, couldn’t avoid being infected by the lethal toxins.
"I didn’t expect you to last this long after being poisoned by me. But soon, your Spiritual Body will begin to collapse. In less than two minutes, you’ll make excellent fertilizer for my swamp."
Hearing the words of the Purple Dragon apprentice Talina, Hela-Helheim’s heart sank.
As her opponent said, given her current condition, in less than two minutes her Spiritual Body would be completely assimilated by the venom and vanish from this 【Plane】.
But for a wizard apprentice who had already mastered the power of 【Fallen Stars】, the “death” of the Spiritual Body didn’t mean true death.
If Hela-Helheim were ruthless enough, she could detonate her Spiritual Body — forcibly extracting her consciousness from it, returning to the 【Fallen Star】, and then from the 【Fallen Star】 back to the Sea of Soul.
However, doing so would cause immense damage to her soul. Moreover, until her Spiritual Body recovered, Hela-Helheim wouldn’t be able to re-enter the 【Fallen Star】.
The recovery process might take years — perhaps even more than a decade. Of course, that was a last resort.
For Hela-Helheim and Louis-Tulan, who both came from powerful backgrounds and abundant resources, such desperate measures were not to be used unless absolutely necessary.
For apprentices who had never lacked resources, “preserving their lives” was easy — but doing so meant giving up all the resources within the 【Water Elemental Plane】.
Thinking of this, Hela-Helheim bit her lip and chose to trust her teammate.
From the very beginning, when they made their plan, she had considered countless possibilities — but as long as their trump card remained—
Then victory was still possible.
"Janna, whether we win this or not… it’s up to you—"
—Forty-six hours earlier, at the library café.
"Miss Janna, do you mean… aside from your few Contracted Creatures, you can also summon a being with the strength of a wizard?"
"That’s right."
Hearing this, Louis-Tulan, who had already held Janna’s abilities in high regard, was still astonished upon learning the truth of her power.
"Is there a time limit for your summoning?"
Likewise, Hela-Helheim, who was hearing of Janna’s hidden strength for the first time, asked the question she cared about most after her initial surprise.
"It depends on the situation. In the 【Material Plane】, creatures summoned through 【Prayer Summoning】 can stay longer… but inside the 【Black Hole】, I’m not entirely sure."
"I see———"
After listening to Janna’s explanation, Hela-Helheim fell into thought — but soon she had an idea to make perfect use of Janna’s ability.
"When the 【Black Hole】 finishes its time contraction, there’s a one-hour time-reversal phase inside the 【Plane】. When that ends, the 【Plane】 enters its true collapse stage. And that stage is our best opportunity to seize the 【Source Power】."
"However, during the collapse, enormous energy storms will erupt — making it extremely difficult to capture the 【Source Power】. My initial plan was to use this witch tool to withstand them."
At that, Hela-Helheim took out the top-tier apprentice defensive witch tool she had prepared long ago —【Veil of the Guardian】.
"This is the 【Veil of the Guardian】 — a replica of the witch tool 【Saint’s Veil】 for apprentices. Its strength lies in defending against elemental attacks, though it cannot block physical strikes."
When Hela-Helheim produced the 【Veil of the Guardian】, Janna felt a brief pang of nostalgia.
Long ago, when she first teamed up to explore another 【Plane Domain】, her old companion Richard-Eva had brought out the very same expensive witch tool —【Veil of the Guardian】.
As Janna’s thoughts drifted, Hela-Helheim continued speaking:
"Still, the 【Veil of the Guardian】 has great limitations. It can’t ensure that we’ll secure the resources completely. That’s why… if we had the support of a wizard-level combatant, the situation would change entirely———"
Hearing Hela-Helheim’s words, Janna immediately understood and nodded.
"No problem. If needed, I can perform the summoning at the final moment of the collapse— though I’m uncertain how long my current soul power can sustain a Contracted Creature inside the 【Black Hole】. So it’s a risk."
"Hmm, that’s something we’ll definitely need to prepare for in advance———"
"Huu一Janna took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled."
Now, standing outside the “battlefield,” Janna focused with complete concentration. Under the dual protection of the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Demon and the Radiant Dream Butterfly, she absorbed the power of the top-grade Soul Essence gifted by Hela-Helheim and began forming intricate occult gestures one after another.
"Whrrshhh——"
The sea churned, and dark tides surged.
As Janna’s hand movements grew faster, a faint deep-sea vortex began to form around her.
"Messenger of the ocean, you are the most faithful guardian of the Endless Sea and the master of tidal power— under the eternal witness of the stars above, heed my call———"