Chapter 90

: The Exploding Cross
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the same moment.

Did it work?

At the other side of the room, Benjamin was relieved when he saw that the spell was broken and the priest looked shocked. His head was still painful, though.
Thank God this worked.
He was unsure whether he would actually successfully break the incantation when he casted the spell. He went along with it and tried anyway when he saw that the priest was nearly done with his charm.
Since it succeeded, this affirmed his theories.
The idea to stop the charm using a Waterball Spell came from his observations of the water particles in the space of his consciousness.
Some time ago, he tried to use magic of the other elements like the Fireball Spell in his Space of consciousness, but the water elements were strongly repelled. He did not ponder on it for long and assumed that it was just the problem between the triangular runes and the Space. However, it did not take him long to feel that something was off.
Will the water element reject other magical elements?
In this world, every magical elements was mixed together. The water element was not an exception; why would it behave violently with the other elements in the Space when it was amicable with them outside of it?
Benjamin found the answer after he carefully compared both circumstances.
The water particles in the Space were imprinted with Benjamin’s spiritual energy when it was absorbed into the Space.
His spiritual energy was probably altered by the runes and became slightly different. The most obvious aspect was the water particles that has his spiritual energy imprinted on it will have the tendency to repel other magical elements.
He once gave some thought on the possibility to use this characteristic to innovate some new ways to navigate around his magic. He did not come up with any good ideas then, which was why he ignored this problem.
Yet, as the priest was using the Divine Arts to guide the surrounding holy lights – the light elements – to gather just now, Benjamin felt the slight disturbance from the water particles. It was at that moment when he realised that he could utilize this special repelling force of the water particles to stop the gathering of the holy light, which would in turn interrupt the enemy’s divine charm.
Not only that, he just finished casting some spells. After the spells ended and returned to their original state, the water particles still had the remnants of Benjamin’s spiritual energy imprinted on them.
He could use these accumulated water particles.
That was why Benjamin immediately chanted a spell and focused all of his attention to gather the massive amount of water particles to form a water ball and trap the priest within. That completely cut off the priest from the holy light from outside the water ball.
Even Benjamin did not expect such a stellar anti-magic effect from this water ball!
The priest was jailed in, and could only manipulate a very limited amount of holy light that was under the protection of the Holy Barrier. Now, the priest would be unable to cast any intermediate charms; hell, Benjamin suspected that he could not even do a Grenade of Holy Light.
Now, the results of the battle was clear.
Benjamin won!
A caster without magical elements will just be a helpless plebeian.
To Benjamin, the priest now was just like a fish on a chopping board, whose life is for anyone to take.
However, Benjamin knew that this Anti-Magic Waterball will not be easy to maintain – it was very obvious from the mild pain and dizziness he felt now. The priest was still trying to summon the holy lights as the water particles violently shoved the light particles out. However, Benjamin’s spiritual energy was drained by the minute.
He needed to consciously maintain the anti-magic characteristic of the water ball, and his spiritual energy was not strong enough for him to waste any.
He should really end this battle as soon as possible.
One round… Two rounds…
Still water does no harm, but when it starts moving, it is a totally different story.
Benjamin named this spell as the Water Vortex Prison.
As he ignored the System’s comment that ‘this name is terrible and pompous’, he guided the flow of water and made it flow rapidly. The water tore through the space as the pull within the water ball became stronger.
Soon, a vortex was formed in the water ball.
The best part of this spell was that once the vortex was created, Benjamin did not need to focus on it anymore. As long as he gave the water ball a small push, the vortex would spin faster and faster.

What… What is this?

The priest exclaimed, still trapped within the vortex.
The Holy Barrier and the Shield of the Holy Spirit that protected him from harm cracked with a sickening noise. The more violent the vortex was, the more cracks littered his defence.
In a blink of an eye, the cracks covered the Holy Barrier and the Shield of the Holy Spirit like spider webs. Then, both of them broke simultaneously with a hollow sound and transformed into a soft golden glow that was swallowed by the vortex and disappeared.
Benjamin did not rush to celebrate, though.
He patiently maintained the turns in the Water Vortex Prison.
Don’t forget, there are 14 magical instruments in total. This tug-of-war just started.
As expected, as the turbulent water was close to covering the priest, a cross on his left wrist broke and out came another Holy Barrier to block the water and protect the priest.
There was no relief on the priest’s face.
The new Holy Barrier only managed to maintain itself for a few seconds before it was shattered effortlessly by the vortex, as if it was a fragile bubble.
Grief filled the priest’s expression.
In this situation, the Water Vortex Prison displayed its enormous destructive power. As the vortex spun on, the Holy Barriers broke and appeared, appeared and broke. Layers and layers of it were struggling to protect the trembling priest within.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Noises like this was heard from the priest as the magical instruments he had all over himself exploded in succession. Crosses on his neck, wrist, and his pockets that could save his life were now exploding like fireworks as if they were useless metal. The speed of it was as if he were setting off firecrackers.
Even Benjamin was staring at the scene in shock, his jaw hanging wide open.

Oh my God…

Benjamin underestimated how rich the priest was. There were definitely more than 14 defence instruments on him; aside from the crosses he had, every unassuming button on his cloak were all instruments that could become a Holy Barrier.
After he did a gross count, Benjamin concluded that the priest had nearly 40 defence items like this on him!
What does it mean to be filthy rich? What does it mean to be a moneyed warrior?
This is it – this is what it meant to fight with money!
Of course, the sheer amount of magical instruments made their explosion a view in itself.
From his collar to his ankle, from his sleeves to his armpits; multi-coloured magical instruments all exploded to become scattering ashes. They looked like flashing neon lights, shining on one side then the other, accompanied with intriguing sound effects.
It was mesmerizing – this was probably the most expensive firework show in history.
In approximately 10 seconds, a layer of ash appeared around the priest’s feet.
The priest froze in terror in the vortex as he became a colourful Christmas tree decorated by the holy lights.