Mikazelle came through, her spatial perception immediately analyzing the corruption specialists’ formation with tactical precision. Her broken ribs from earlier were healed. Her spatial magic flowed smoothly.

Rindelle appeared last, her bow drawn, her previously broken arm now fully functional. She looked ready for sustained combat.

The heroes showed no scratches. No lingering damage from the Explosions caused by the last corruption location that had self exploded. They were completely fresh, fully healed, at peak combat effectiveness.

Seraphelle’s healing magic was simply that powerful.

Gattychan surveyed the seventy-seven corruption specialists arrayed before him and smiled with grim satisfaction.

"So the rats have gathered in one nest. How convenient. We can exterminate you all at once instead of hunting through cellars and tunnels."

"We are not rats," Kael’shiva replied coldly. "We are Seraphina’s corruption specialists. We have studied magic for decades. Served our master for centuries. And we will show you what happens when seventy-seven mages cast as one unified force."

"Empty threats from dead mages," Gattychan replied. "My Villain’s Bane will reduce you to one-tenth power. Seraphelle’s divine magic will protect us from your corruption. Mikazelle’s spatial barriers will prevent escape. Rindelle’s arrows will collapse your formation. You have no tactical advantage."

"Perhaps," Dreth’kael said. "But we have something you don’t."

"And what’s that?"

"The willingness to die for what we believe in. Can you say the same, hero?"

Gattychan’s expression hardened. "I die for the Light every day I fight demons. Come then. Show me this unified casting. Prove you’re worth remembering."

The battle began.

Seventy-seven corruption specialists released their magic simultaneously, but not as individual spells. Instead, their magical essences flowed together through the network connections, merging into unified spell-constructs far more powerful than any individual could create.

The first unified spell was Corruption Maelstrom - a massive vortex of demonic energy that erupted from the formation’s center, expanding outward like a purple-black hurricane.

The maelstrom struck the heroes with force that shook the ground.

Gattychan’s Villain’s Bane activated immediately, his divine aura blazing outward to suppress the demonic magic. The Corruption Maelstrom’s power dropped to one-tenth effectiveness as it contacted his aura.

But one-tenth of seventy-seven mages’ combined power was still significant.

The reduced maelstrom slammed into Seraphelle’s Divine Sanctuary - golden barriers manifesting to protect all four heroes. The corruption energy and holy protection battled each other, the air itself screaming from the conflict of opposed magics.

Seraphelle’s barriers held, but she grunted with effort. "Their unified casting is stronger than individual specialists! The network amplifies their power beyond normal multiplication!"

"Then we break the network!" Gattychan charged forward, his blessed sword cutting toward the nearest specialist.

But the specialists had prepared for this.

When Gattychan charged, fifteen specialists simultaneously cast Curse Chains - magical bindings that wrapped around the hero’s legs, arms, torso, restricting movement.

At one-tenth power under Villain’s Bane suppression, the chains were weak. Gattychan broke through them with divine strength.

But they’d slowed him for three crucial seconds.

During those three seconds, another twenty specialists cast Decay Bolts - concentrated beams of corruption aimed at Gattychan from twenty different angles simultaneously.

Twenty bolts at one-tenth power struck simultaneously.

Gattychan’s divine protection absorbed most of the damage, but even reduced corruption magic caused pain. He felt his armor corroding, his skin burning where bolts got through.

"SERAPHELLE!" he shouted. "HEALING!"

Golden light poured over him, repairing damage as fast as corruption inflicted it.

Meanwhile, Mikazelle had identified the specialists’ coordination pattern. "They’re operating as a hive mind! Each mage knows what the others are doing through magical network! We can’t predict their attacks because they’re coordinating in real-time!"

She created dimensional barriers, trying to separate groups of specialists and break their network connections.

But the specialists had prepared for this too.

Twelve specialists cast Dimensional Anchors - corruption magic specifically designed to interfere with spatial manipulation. The anchors created zones where dimensional barriers couldn’t form properly.

Mikazelle felt her spatial magic disrupted. "They’re countering my abilities! These aren’t random mages - they had study some of the attacks we had used on their other teammates"

Rindelle drew her bow, activated Catastrophic Amplification, and fired at the formation’s center.

The arrow multiplied one-thousand-fold in power and detonated with massive force in the middle of the specialist formation.

Twenty specialists simultaneously cast Hardening Shield - the same defensive magic that had partially stopped Rindelle’s arrow at Position Nineteen, but now amplified twenty-fold through network coordination.

The shield absorbed eighty percent of the arrow’s explosive power. The remaining twenty percent scattered the formation but killed no one.

The specialists reformed their positions immediately, the network maintaining cohesion despite the disruption.

"They’re adapting to every tactic we use!" Rindelle said with frustration. "Every attack gets countered by coordinated defense!"

Gattychan assessed the situation with tactical honesty. "This is different from the scattered positions. There, they fought individually or in small groups at one-tenth power. Here, they’re networked. Their combined casting creates power that partially overcomes my suppression through sheer volume."

"Can we overwhelm them?" Seraphelle asked, maintaining her healing and protection simultaneously.

"Eventually. But they’re making us work for it." Gattychan’s eyes narrowed. "Formation Delta. I’ve read about it in demonic combat manuals. It’s the most advanced network casting technique. Requires perfect coordination between dozens of casters. Takes years to master."

"How do we break it?"

"Kill the coordinators. Every network has central nodes - mages who maintain the connections. Find them, eliminate them, the network collapses."

Mikazelle’s spatial perception scanned the formation, identifying magical flow patterns. "There! Three specialists at the formation’s core! They’re channeling the network connections! Those are the coordinators!"

She pointed toward Kael’shiva, Dreth’kael, and Vex’tharis.

"Then we kill them first," Gattychan declared.

He charged toward the formation’s center, his blessed sword blazing with divine power.

All seventy-seven specialists shifted positions simultaneously, the outer ring moving to intercept Gattychan while the coordinators retreated to protected positions.

It was like fighting a single organism with seventy-seven bodies - every specialist moving in perfect coordination, adapting in real-time to threats.

Thirty specialists cast Corruption Wall - a barrier of demonic energy that blocked Gattychan’s path.