Chapter 45: Group Suicide Mission
Golden flames surged, reducing buildings, soil, and even steel to ashes under the terrifying temperature of the Solar Flame, until they were vaporized into a gaseous state.
Baha flapped his wings, carrying eight glass pillars in his claws. Apart from the one Su Xiao had just used, another Apollo had become unstable due to the jostling. As it expanded and shattered the glass pillar, Baha had already thrown it into an alternate space to detonate.
That alternate space had already been bombed twice by Apollo. According to Baha's estimate, it could withstand at most three more blasts.
The Apollo·Modified was a double-edged sword, but its power and detonation speed were beyond reproach.
The eight glass pillars Baha was carrying were all labeled, numbered from 3 to 10. This was Su Xiao's production order; the higher the number, the more stable the Apollo.
From the moment of successful creation, the Apollo·Modified would activate on its own, increasing by 10% every hour. Once it reached 40%, the activation became irreversible, and it would explode within 1 to 3 seconds.
Regardless of what happened next, Su Xiao had to either consume all the Apollo·Modified or discard them within 3 hours and 45 minutes.
Time was tight. Su Xiao quickly walked out of the Wizard Association branch in Eisenra. As soon as he stepped out of the building, a wave of heat hit him.
Su Xiao looked toward the source of the heat. Half a kilometer to the west, on a barren patch of land, a semicircular crater had appeared. The crater was over three hundred meters in diameter, and Solar Flame was still burning inside it.
A Scarlet Card was particularly conspicuous within the flames. Su Xiao glanced at it but paid it no further attention. The temperature of the Solar Flame was too high; he couldn't retrieve that Scarlet Card from the crater anytime soon.
Walking along the streets of Eisenra, Su Xiao had barely traveled half a kilometer when a group of wizards in various attire blocked his path. There were about a dozen of them, including two Secret Law Wizards, and the rest were Gray Wizards.
"Kukulin..."
A Secret Law Wizard in linen robes, his face grim, spoke. His eyes were different from ordinary people—they were vertical pupils.
*Blade Path: Azure Demon.*
Clang~
The long blade chimed as a blue-green blade aura slashed out. The next moment, Su Xiao, covered in bloodlust, had already charged forward.
No negotiation, no pointless words. Whoever blocked the way died. The negotiation phase was over.
Last night, Kaiser had negotiated with the wizards of Eisenra, vaguely hinting at the existence of the White Goat. The general idea was to offer the wizards potions as compensation for temporarily leaving Eisenra City.
The wizards refused. So tonight, there was no more room for negotiation.
Half a minute later.
Pfft!
The long blade pierced the throat of the last Secret Law Wizard. His hand tightly gripped Su Xiao's sleeve.
"You... sinner who devours gods."
The vertical-pupiled Secret Law Wizard's eyes bulged, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
With a scraping sound, the long blade slashed horizontally, splattering a large amount of blood across the street. The Secret Law Wizard fell face-first to the ground. It was a pity that this bastard didn't drop a treasure chest.
Su Xiao was long used to this. Once, he had killed an elite boss without it dropping a chest. As they say, habit becomes second nature, or rather, it prevents such things from affecting his mood.
"Anyone else who supports the White Goat, step forward now."
Su Xiao flicked the blood off the Dragon-Slaying Flash, standing in the middle of the somewhat empty street. Not far away, a Gray Wizard who wasn't quite dead yet lay on the ground, his body twitching, both hands clutching his throat as blood seeped through his fingers.
"Kukulin, do you want to be an enemy of all of us wizards?"
A Secret Law Wizard with a withered face, his body wrapped in tattered cloth strips, sat on the roof to the right of the street. Judging by his aura, his strength was on par with Archid and the Black Spear Witch Wizard.
"Yes."
Su Xiao slightly tilted his head to look at the newcomer. Things had reached this point; there was no room for retreat.
Su Xiao had been in Heru City before. Eisenra was Sphinx's territory. The other party had been developing here for who knows how long, even turning it into the stronghold of the Violators.
If this were Heru, Su Xiao could have killed Sphinx in five days without shedding a drop of blood. But this was Eisenra, the other party's turf.
Su Xiao had confirmed this through his probing yesterday. He had tried to hunt Violators in the city at night, but after less than half an hour, he had to retreat. If he hadn't, he would have been trapped there forever.
Having confirmed this was the enemy's stronghold, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't engage in a battle of wits with Sphinx here. There was no chance of victory. Therefore, under great risk, Su Xiao created the Apollo·Modified.
"Is that so."
The Secret Law Wizard sitting on the roof pondered for a moment before finally shaking his head.
"Within two days, this city is yours to do with as you please. But don't massacre the people here indiscriminately. Without 'life,' Eisenra will become a second Heru."
The Secret Law Wizard slowly stood up. Just as he was about to leave, he paused and turned his head to look at Su Xiao.
"We yield only because you are strong enough. That's all."
Leaving these words, the Secret Law Wizard retreated. A sickly green light sphere shot into the sky, eventually exploding into a massive skull.
Seeing this skull, all 4,596 wizards within Eisenra City began to evacuate outside the city.
It could be said that the wizards of this world were a group that was both hateful and interesting. They were 'enslaved' by the power of potions, and all of them wanted to break free from this enslavement, willing to bet everything on it.
The wizards retreating was undoubtedly good news. If they all swarmed him, Su Xiao would have to use all his Apollo·Modified to have a chance of killing them all, given their sheer numbers.
Even if that yielded extremely generous rewards, he wouldn't be able to deal with the Violator Alliance. He still had Fire Gold and Soul Crystals (Medium), but Solar Remnants were hard to come by. Those came from the Wizard Association's headquarters and the Moen family's stockpile. To get more, Su Xiao would have to search himself, which was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If it weren't for the Holy Light Paradise team challenging the White Goat yesterday, Su Xiao would have sought out the White Goat first and blown it to bits.
The White Goat wouldn't be stupid enough to stay in that mountain range after a battle. To find out the White Goat's current location, Su Xiao needed Laurent to fulfill his promise.
Su Xiao wasn't afraid of the White Goat. Even if he might die in a direct confrontation, he still had a chance of winning. Dealing with the Violator Alliance was different. Being surrounded by them was more dangerous than fighting the White Goat.
Moreover, the Violator Alliance was involved in that transaction. If they didn't have Space-Time Power and lost supplies, Su Xiao absolutely wouldn't believe it.
Others might not have it, but Sphinx definitely did.
Therefore, eliminating Sphinx was just as important as eliminating the White Goat. No, perhaps Sphinx had even more Space-Time Power. After all, if the Violators gathered, they were fully capable of killing an Ancient God.
Thus, in Su Xiao's judgment, Sphinx > Bestial·Azathoth > White Goat > Dominator·Sothoth.
Sphinx alone wasn't scary. But if he could command a large number of Violators, he was a major threat, with the highest priority for elimination.
The silver moon hung at the edge of the sky. Su Xiao headed straight for the Obsidian Manor. Just as he reached the central area of Eisenra, dozens of Violators charged at him from ahead.
Seeing these people, Su Xiao paused slightly. He hadn't expected the Violators to come as a group to die. This was somewhat abnormal.