Andre shouted to Alex, "Get out of the way!"
Though Alex had been focused on cutting down the undead with his thundris sword, he had kept a partial awareness of what was happening behind him.
Hearing Andre's warning, he dodged aside instantly, clearing the path without hesitation.
"Summon the storm! Unleash the blades!" Andre commanded confidently, pushing the swirling blade storm forward like a horizontal tornado.
With Alex out of the way, the Nether Guardians charged ahead recklessly and crashed right into the terrifying storm.
The heavily armored undead seemed caught in a deadly whirlpool.
The powerful winds destabilized them, but it was the razor-sharp blades that delivered the fatal damage.
Under Andre's control, each blade acted like a tiny, spinning propeller, cutting through the guards with brutal efficiency.
The undead weren't just cut down, they were shredded, as if tossed into a giant juicer and smashed into a pulpy mess.
The walls, ceiling, and floor of the basement were splattered with the remains, turning the confined space into a grisly scene.
With nowhere to hide or escape, the Nether Guardians were completely overwhelmed by the relentless blade storm.
The only fate that awaited them was to be twisted into mud and splattered everywhere.
The area was coated with a thick layer of black slime, making everyone feel like they were stuck in a swamp.
Edmund and Allen, standing nearby, noticed that Andre's method was even bloodier than Alex's, and their faces turned pale at the sight.
Fortunately, they managed to hold back their nausea and didn't vomit on the spot.
The phoenix trapped in the sludge fountain grew anxious after seeing Andre's attack.
Even though it sped up the rate at which it threw the undead, it still couldn't stop the relentless storm of sharp blades, which almost wiped out all the undead around the door.
At that moment, Andre, Edmund, and the others who had come in from behind finally caught a glimpse of the sludge fountain's original form, which had been hidden by the undead.
"It's now!" Alex shouted as he spotted a brief gap in front of the portal.
Channeling supercharged thundris tempest magic into his legs, he leaped forward with everything he had, rushing straight toward the exit.
He didn't care if the storm of blades ahead would hurt him.
He trusted that Andre could control his magic well, and knew this moment was fleeting.
Waiting for Andre to stop his magic before attacking risked giving those ghostly guards time to regroup.
Although it was Alex's first time fighting alongside Andre in real combat, he understood the urgency immediately after hearing the shout.
The swirling blades shifted to the sides as if pushed by invisible arms, perfectly complementing Alex's charge.
Moving at top speed, Alex's body became a streak of light blue afterimages as he covered the ten meters to the portal in an instant.
He split the two undead blocking his path with his 'Thundris Sword', then activated the 'Space Blocking Talisman' on his left hand and threw it into the sludge fountain.
Without wasting a moment, he stepped back twice.
Closing the portal with the talisman was just a guess until proven otherwise, and he wasn't sure if it would work.
Plus, interrupting that strange summoning ritual might trigger unexpected consequences.
In short, he still had to be cautious.
When the talisman struck the sludge fountain before him, the endless flow of sludge suddenly stopped as if frozen in midair.
No ghostly guards emerged from it this time.
Before anyone could fully process the strange sight, the frozen sludge exploded with a loud bang, sending black mud splattering outward and revealing a phoenix hidden within.
Although the phoenix had been submerged in the muck moments ago, her body appeared spotless as she reemerged, as if the black sludge didn't stain her at all.
However, her face had turned pale, clearly showing how draining the summoning ritual had been for her.
Seeing the heavy cost he had paid and realizing his summoning magic still couldn't keep these two opponents at bay, the phoenix seethed with anger.
"What an Andre, what a Schmidt family, I curse you!" she snarled.
Before she could finish her curse, Alex delivered a powerful kick, then flipped his sword forward with a backhand strike that pierced the phoenix, pinning her to the wall.
Facing the enemy, Alex never wasted time with idle talk, especially against someone as unpredictable as the phoenix.
Her strange tactics worried him, and he didn't want to give her any chance to act.
Now stuck to the wall, the phoenix struggled to breathe.
The electric shock coursing through her body was agonizing, but what weighed heaviest on her heart was a deep sense of injustice.
After all her years in the magical world, she had never faced such a suffocating battle.
And yet, this stubborn little opponent in front of her refused to let things end quietly.
The long sword called [Annihilation] pierced through Phoenix's chest, pinning her firmly against the stone wall.
Blood oozed steadily from the wound and trickled down her smooth skin, staining her torso and bare feet, pooling on the floor and coloring the wall behind her a deep red.
Despite her condition, Phoenix struggled to reach out, desperately grasping the sword that held her captive.
She fought to pull it free, but Alex's throw had been powerful, and the sword wasn't just a blade, it was still sending sharp electric shocks through her body.
To make things worse, a curse called [Permanent Energy Absorption] was draining her magic, sapping her strength with every moment.
Her movements
She grew weaker and weaker until she barely had the energy to even lift her hands.
As her life slowly slipped away, Phoenix's heart filled with rage.
She hated this fate.
She had so much life left to live, so much magic she still wanted to explore.
Was this really how it was going to end?
She blamed those who had brought her to this point.
With bloodshot eyes, she glared at Alex and tried to summon her last ounce of strength to cast the most vicious curse she knew.
Having spent years studying forbidden black magic, she was familiar with at least ten curses that came at the cost of one's life or soul.
But the cruel truth was that Alex didn't even give her a chance to utter a final word.
What made her situation even more desperate was the effect of losing her magic and vitality.
Her youthful skin began to age rapidly, wrinkles and age spots appearing as if time were rushing forward against her will.
It was likely a side effect of the forbidden elixir she had taken.
In no time, she transformed from the vibrant 20-year-old woman she once was into a frail old figure with gray hair and a wrinkled body.
"No! No..." she moaned despairingly, staring at her now withered hands, almost nothing but dry bones.