High above, Herast rode his Thunder Eagle, quietly watching the scene unfold.

The Thunder Eagle beneath him sensed the terrifying pressure coming from below and flapped its wings uneasily.

This Court Mage, known as the "Weaver," had no intention of intervening from beginning to end.

Duke Gaius was hailed as the first man beneath the Duke and known as the strongest shield of the Thunder Dragon Duchy.

But from what was seen today, when this "strongest shield" was unleashed, its offensive power was in no way inferior to that of other powerhouses of the same rank.

Against an opponent of this caliber, he alone was more than enough.

On the other side, the hundred-meter-long Golden Giant Dragon Sun’s massive golden eyes reflected the battle below.

It could sense the power of the two Domains—one incomparably sharp, the other heavy and tenacious. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Even it would find itself in a difficult situation if caught in either Domain.

Yet that human called Gaius was able to systematically devour his opponent’s Domain in a nearly overwhelming fashion.

This was the power of a top-tier human powerhouse.

"ROAR!"

The Thunder Dragon in the sky let out a low, draconic cry, as if cheering for its master.

Graves felt his Domain being suppressed and shattered inch by inch, his face as pale as paper.

The Fighting Spirit in his body poured out frantically like a flood from an open sluice gate, yet he could only barely keep his Domain from being completely crushed.

The gap between him and Gaius was even greater than he had imagined.

This wasn’t a difference in skill, but an absolute suppression in terms of the level of their Power and the fundamental nature of their Domains.

In the face of absolute Power, any sharpness seemed utterly ridiculous.

If this continued, his Domain would be completely crushed in less than ten breaths. At that point, having lost the protection of his Domain, he would be no different from a lamb to the slaughter before Gaius.

’I can’t just sit here and wait to die!’

A crazed, vicious look flashed through Graves’s eyes.

He abruptly stopped his futile attacks on Gaius. Instead, he withdrew all of his collapsing Domain Power and, in a desperate, all-or-nothing move, directed it toward the sky!

VMMMM!

The remaining thorn vines on the ground ceased their attacks. Instead, they changed direction like soldiers on review, all pointing uniformly toward the sky.

Several thousand black, metallic thorns shot into the air, weaving together above the ferry crossing to form a menacing jungle.

"Hm?"

Gaius paused, his brow furrowing slightly.

He sensed the change in his opponent.

The next moment, something unexpected happened!

The thousands of thorn vines pointing at the sky, as if receiving some command, suddenly began to converge on the center—on Graves himself—madly tightening, coiling, compressing, and weaving together!

"CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!"

A dense, scalp-numbing screech of scraping metal rang out.

In the blink of an eye, a giant metal sphere over twenty meters in diameter, woven entirely from black thorns and covered in vicious barbs, appeared in mid-air.

Graves had sealed himself completely inside!

’Trying to run?’

Herast saw through his intentions at a glance.

This giant thorn ball sealed off the inside from the out. Although Gaius’s Domain suppression was powerful, it would still take some time to instantly shatter this ’tortoise shell’ that contained all of Graves’s Power.

And that bit of time was his only chance of survival!

Sure enough, the moment the giant thorn ball formed, it shot toward the Black Water River without the slightest hesitation, carrying with it an unstoppable momentum!

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Wherever the giant ball passed, a deep trench was plowed into the ground. Sand and rock alike were crushed to dust.

Its target couldn’t have been clearer.

The Black Water River!

The Black Water River was extremely deep, its underwater environment complex, and it possessed a strong dampening effect on Magic Power detection.

As long as he could get into the river, he would have a chance to escape to safety under the cover of its waters.

Looking at the current state of the battle, this was indeed his only way out.

’Dream on.’

Herast finally made his move.

He lightly tapped his Magic Staff downward.

Instantly, above the surface of the Black Water River directly in the path of the giant thorn ball, hundreds of ethereal blue ripples of void energy materialized out of thin air.

These ripples swiftly interwove and spread, pulling taut in the air to form an enormous magical net that covered a range of several hundred meters.

Every thread of the giant net emanated the dangerous aura of a Space Rift.

However, Graves’s will to survive clearly exceeded his expectations.

"Break!"

A muffled roar erupted from within the giant thorn ball.

On the surface of the giant ball, all the barbs suddenly extended several meters. The entire sphere, now resembling a giant sea urchin, began to spin and, with a self-destructive momentum, slammed viciously into the spatial net!

CRACKLE!

The moment the spatial net and the giant thorn ball collided, a blinding light erupted.

Countless Space Rifts flickered across the net, frantically slicing at the thorn vines.

At the same time, the thorn vines were also crumbling and snapping at an astonishing rate.

It was a duel between will and Magic.

After a stalemate of less than a second, the magical net let out a mournful cry and was forcefully torn open, leaving a huge gap.

Although the giant thorn ball had shrunk by a layer and its surface was now pitted and scarred, it had ultimately broken through!

"SPLASH!"

With a huge crash, the massive thorn ball successfully plunged into the Black Water River, kicking up a monstrous wave.

’Success!’

Hidden in the core of the giant ball, Graves’s heart swelled with the ecstasy of having survived a disaster.

He could even feel the cold, viscous river water enveloping the sphere.

’Next, I just need to sink to the riverbed and conceal my aura...’

However, this ecstasy lasted for a mere tenth of a second before it was replaced by a bone-deep, indescribable terror.

In the instant he entered the water, he glimpsed something through a tiny gap in the thorny sphere.

No, it wasn’t a thing.

It was a pair of eyes.

A pair of eyes... larger than his entire thorn ball, like two dim, yellow moons submerged at the bottom of the river.

There was no anger in those eyes, no killing intent, only an ancient, primordial indifference.

Just being watched by those eyes made Graves’s soul tremble; the very Power of a Domain Level Powerhouse quaked within him.

’What the hell is this thing?!’

’The Black Water River... Why would a monster of this level be hiding here?!’

His mind went blank, his courage utterly shattered by terror.

He didn’t even have time to think, ’What is that?’

The next second, an irresistible, terrifying Giant Strength—one that felt capable of shattering mountains—slammed into his Thorny Iron Ball from below.

"BANG!"

On the shore, Gaius and Herast could only watch as the giant thorn ball that had just plunged into the river was forcefully "swatted" out of the Black Water River at a speed even faster than it went in!

The river’s surface exploded into a massive vortex nearly a hundred meters in diameter. A monstrous wave was thrown into the sky, only to fall back down as a torrential downpour.

The giant thorn ball, like a pebble kicked by a Giant, spun wretchedly as it soared a hundred meters into the air. It traced a perfect parabola across the sky before plummeting heavily toward an open area at the ferry crossing.

In the sky, the Golden Giant Dragon Sun couldn’t help but narrow its massive golden eyes, letting out a low growl that sounded almost like a gasp of astonishment.

The corner of Herast’s mouth twitched uncontrollably. Staring at the churning river surface, he muttered under his breath, "This Lord Earl certainly is full of surprises."

This whole series of events, from Graves’s escape attempt to him being smashed out of the water, all happened in the blink of an eye.

For Gaius, this was enough.

He had no reason to miss an opportunity that had just been served to him on a silver platter.