Chapter 112: The Malevolent Celestial and the Blood God

Although the monsters were quite uneasy, they remained highly efficient. In less than ten minutes, eight squads broke away and charged toward the eight statues of the heroic spirits. Each squad consisted of three Rank-A bosses, accompanied by hundreds of elite monsters and over two thousand common ones. These eight squads surged forward like eight massive, pitch-black dragons, sweeping across the battlefield.

Zhao Tianhe watched as a boss lunged at one of the virtual heroic spirits; with a snap of its grotesque, gaping maw, it shattered half of the spirit's body! However, these virtual spirits were no laughing matter. As long as the eight statues remained intact and the energy within the barrier was not depleted, they would continue to regenerate.

The number of dungeons near Bal Island was dense, and at this moment, over a thousand warriors were gathered within the great battlefield. One-third of them were only Rank-C, most of the remainder were Rank-B, and those with Rank-A combat capability—like Zelos—numbered fewer than one hundred.

"Use the virtual spirits as cover whenever possible!" The barbarian who had previously proposed to Li Mei punched out a pale blue shockwave, instantly blasting several common monsters into dust and leaving an elite monster severely wounded.

"Rank-Cs must group together! Do not get bogged down in fighting! The same goes for the Rank-Bs!" roared a hulking giant in heavy armor.

"Meimei! You don't have Life Link! So you must not show yourself! Even if you have to use a teammate's body as a shield, you must not get hit!" the barbarian shouted specifically to Li Mei. "Once this battle is over, I’m going to officially propose to you!"

Clearly, this tough guy did not know what a "flag" was; otherwise, he certainly would not have said such things.

Zhao Tianhe was busy casting spells at a charging horde of common monsters, feeling a deep longing for his "Unlimited Blade Works," which had just completely dissipated. *Ah, if only I could use Unlimited Blade Works on this dense cluster of Wind Demon armies in this battlefield, that would be...* The mere thought made his heart ache even more. One had to realize that killing them didn't just fail to drop equipment—it didn't even provide a single point of experience! If he hadn't managed to scavenge some experience from the lingering power of his spell out at sea earlier, this would have been a total loss.

Under the manipulation of the mages on the island, the virtual heroic spirits regenerated constantly, desperately pinning down the bosses leading each squad, but that was the limit of what they could do. Even so, the sheer number of thousands of monsters forced the defenders to retreat repeatedly.

Just then, a beam of light erupted into the sky from the statue in the northeast corner, and a massive cloud of red mist was completely pierced through by the blade of light. The blade, hundreds of meters high, shot straight into the firmament, visible to the warriors near two of the other statues. The red mist struggled incessantly, yet it was completely annihilated and dissipated by the massive blade of light.

"Seventh-tier magic: Radiant Verdict." Although Li Mei couldn't cast it herself, she knew enough to recognize it. As she watched, a glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes. "And it's augmented with the Super-Magic specialty. This isn't a dungeon, after all; this isn't the monsters' domain."

A "domain," in essence, was simply the environment. By leveraging the environment of a dungeon, monsters could naturally exert combat power far beyond their own. However, on this great battlefield, they had no such advantages. The result was that Rank-A bosses, who could withstand several seventh-tier spells within a dungeon, were instantly killed by a single counter-elemental seventh-tier spell!

Facing the warriors' counterattack, the massive collective of Wind Demons showed no reaction.

"It seems... they really are just food..." The crimson liquid core at the center emitted a deep, hoarse telepathic pulse. Every monster and warrior heard this voice echoing directly in their minds.

"Then, let it end..."

***

The next moment, another eight squads of the same scale surged out!

"Dammit!" Zhao Tianhe couldn't help but curse. Most of the Rank-A combatants on their side were melee specialists; while their strength wasn't inferior to mages, they lacked area-of-effect damage. Consequently, they were being forced to use the heroic spirit statues as cover to fight.

"This is trouble. Although I knew this would happen..." The barbarian who had set the "flag" sighed as he watched the approaching monster army.

The virtual spirits could certainly no longer pin down six Rank-A bosses. The few Rank-A warriors would have to step up, but the remaining monster army, even in the harsh environment of the battlefield, would not see a significant drop in strength—only their regeneration and special abilities would be severely weakened. Facing these Rank-A monsters, the hundred or so Rank-B and Rank-C warriors would likely be wiped out in a single encounter.

"Hahahahahaha!" Suddenly, a wild, maniacal laugh echoed across the entire battlefield. On the far west side of the battlefield, a pitch-black figure slowly rose...

"Release! Devourer of Evil!" On the massive, pitch-black figure, a gaunt man laughed loudly. His legs, from the knees down, were buried within the black skin, and then his entire body merged into the head of the dark giant. The next moment, a bloodshot, brown vertical pupil opened on the forehead of the dark giant.

Boom!

The giant’s arms, thick as train cars, swung with a force that generated a hurricane-like blast of air, slapping several bosses away in an instant!

Zhao Tianhe was not the only one in this world with S+ potential. The skinny, tattooed man who looked like a villain—the one who was a Rank-B and had been reprimanded by his summoner partner for his insolence—was also recognized by the Association as S+, and of an extremely dangerous type at that. His system was somewhat similar to the seal on Naruto, but on a scale many times larger; an indescribable, terrifying entity was linked to an imaginary channel deep within his soul. That entity could manifest its form by pouring its power into his soul, and the dark giant was a projection formed by its adaptation to the laws of this world. In the world where that man came from, it was his severe agitation that caused this terrifying entity to fully descend, resulting in the world's destruction...

Bearing the karma of world-ending destruction, this man’s name was Tianxie. His life story was enough to fill a long-running epic; he was, in every sense, a Child of the Plane. And now, his legend would continue in this world...

The dark giant stumbled toward the Wind Demon army. With every step, its form expanded. Its appearance shifted from a hazy black shadow to a visibly solid body; distinct muscle fibers bulged, and its smooth, oily exterior resembled the chitin of an insect. A boss roared and sprouted countless sharp tentacles, stabbing at the dark giant, but once they pierced the skin, they could not be pulled out. Two truck-sized palms slammed down, grabbed the boss, and with a powerful tug, tore the boss's misty body asunder! This was no ordinary act of slicing through mist, because blood actually flowed from the severed parts of the boss's body!

The boss shrieked in agony until it was thrown to the ground and crushed by a massive black foot. Seeing this, the surrounding bosses all turned cowardly. They only dared to cast spells from hundreds of meters away, and the moment the dark giant lunged toward them, they would immediately fly thousands of meters off!

Yet, the dark giant's speed was increasing! It was already reaching the point where it could chase down the blood-mist bosses, which were capable of supersonic flight!

***

In the hands of this terrifying giant, these monsters—which possessed bodies of blood mist and were theoretically immune to pure physical strikes—mysteriously turned into flesh and blood...

At the western statue, Tianxie’s partner, an elderly mage, watched this scene with a worried, furrowed brow. This old mage was actually an eighth-tier mage, and his duty was to watch over Tianxie and prevent him from going berserk. But in the current situation, preventing him from going berserk was truly impossible.

*At his current system process, if it exceeds 50%, it cannot be retracted. Right now, it's at about 20%... that's still okay...* The old man’s forehead was slightly damp with sweat. Through spirit magic, he had witnessed the full form of the thing inside Tianxie—it was a horror beyond description. *No matter what, even if he dies here, that thing must never be fully unleashed!*

"Interesting."

That same voice echoed once again in the minds of all humans and monsters. At the same time, a massive gap tore open in the black mist formed by the Wind Demon army.

*The smell of blood?* Zhao Tianhe couldn't help but step back, feeling a suffocating stench of blood wash over him. It felt as if the sky itself was about to rain blood...

A river of blood, thousands of meters long, poured out from the mass of black mist... Within the blood-red river, countless eyes and mouths of various shapes flickered in and out of existence... Arms of different races reached out like the hands of drowning men, then slowly melted away...

"I am the Lord of the Wind Demons, the Blood God."

The blood-red river wound its way through the air, arriving above the head of the dark giant. The massive collective of Wind Demons dispersed, lunging toward the other seven statues. The far west side became a restricted zone; they knew the power of their master well. And if that thing were an entity on the same level as their master, the battle between them would be unimaginably brutal. Even as mere spectators, staying within dozens of kilometers would be dangerous.

"Blood God?" The dark giant split open a maw full of jagged, pale teeth and lolled its tongue out, laughing wildly. "A god?! Hahahahahaha!"

"You dare call yourself a god?" The dark giant’s tone was similar to Tianxie’s, but with even more malice. "Have you ever seen... a god?"

"When my empire extends across this entire land, I shall be a god." The Blood God was not angered. "You seem to have seen much, but you are not very strong."

"Well, this body is indeed not strong enough yet, but it’s enough to beat you." The dark giant grinned, leaped into the air, and swung a massive palm!