Chapter 48: Sweet Dreams
Deep within the Dark Prison, on the barren and gray-black earth, Hunters and Dark Demons were locked in chaotic battle.
Bubu Wang was positioned at the edge of the battle group, providing auras to all allied units. As for Baha and Amu, they had each found their own opponents.
Baha's opponent was a fat clown. Because the clown had once burned him with a fart, Baha had been holding a grudge and wanted to kill him.
As for Amu, he was shouldering the Dragonheart Axe, staring at the Soul not far away. The Soul didn't pay much attention to Amu, because in its eyes, Amu was just Su Xiao's lackey, with no particularly outstanding performance, looking like a simpleton.
But if the Soul had seen Amu chop off the arm of a Source Guardian with a single axe strike, it wouldn't think that way. The Source Guardian's mad dog swordsmanship could have diced the Soul into pieces in no time.
"Ice ability? It seems I won't get rid of you easily without killing you."
Black-red tentacles surged from within the Soul's sleeve, and a smile appeared on its pale face.
Amu remained silent. He tossed an ice-blue crystal into his mouth—a water-attribute Source Crystal.
The air around Amu grew denser, and fine ice crystals formed on the heart embedded in the Dragonheart Axe.
"Moo!"
A pulse of freezing cold spread outward. Amu lifted the Dragonheart Axe and charged toward the Soul. The Soul raised its arm, and a mass of black-red tentacles spread out.
Thirty seconds into the battle, the Soul was dumbfounded—beaten into confusion by Amu. The life-rebounding effect of the Ice Shield made the Soul hesitant to attack Amu recklessly. After being enhanced by the Source Crystal, the Dragonheart Axe's lethality was terrifying. Worse still, once entangled by Amu, the slowing effect never ceased, making escape impossible.
Compared to Amu's situation, Su Xiao was much more relaxed. He was spectating. The 80 veteran Hunters of the God-Slaying Team had split into 10 squads of 8 each, surrounding the Ancient God. Squad after squad charged forward, but within moments, their bodies shattered, blood spraying everywhere.
As soon as this blood touched the air, it turned pitch black, caused by erosion from some kind of energy. The Ancient God could control this black blood.
Bang, bang...
As veteran Hunters rushed near the Ancient God, their bodies shattered. The Ancient God had already returned to its throne, looking down upon everything below.
The nearly suicidal attacks of the veteran Hunters barely managed to hold back the Ancient God on its throne, but not for long. Facing an invincible Ancient God, they had no other options.
Su Xiao didn't act. Attacking now would be meaningless. He needed to conserve his strength, waiting for the Array Realm to be broken.
Five minutes later, the last veteran Hunter charged to the front of the Ancient God, raising his serrated broadsword high, slashing down at the Ancient God's head.
With a *puchi*, a black spike nearly three meters long pierced through his skull, suspending him in midair. This black spike was formed from the blood of the fallen Hunters, incredibly fast and with terrifying penetrating power.
From the beginning, the veteran Hunters had realized that their dark-attribute abilities became unusable within a kilometer of the Ancient God—suppressed by a higher-order dark attribute.
After the last veteran Hunter died, the Ancient God's gaze turned to Su Xiao. Black fluid surged and floated around it, all transformed from blood.
This black fluid flowed toward the Ancient God, eventually condensing into a black orb in its hand, about the size of a coin, containing terrifying energy. With the Array Realm still in place, the Ancient God's attacks were nearly impossible to interrupt. Rushing forward recklessly would only cause more casualties.
‘Blood of Fate: Convergence.’
The Ancient God clenched its hand, and a dark red shockwave spread outward from it, centered on the Ancient God.
As if a catastrophe had arrived, the dark red shockwave instantly expanded, engulfing both the Hunters and Dark Demons locked in battle below. The Ancient God had no use for incompetent subordinates.
With a thunderous boom, the dark red shockwave spread into a circle three kilometers in diameter before stopping and gradually dissipating.
The desolate land fell silent. Black blood droplets floated a meter above the ground. The Dark Demons and Hunters, who had been fighting moments ago, were all instantly killed by the Ancient God.
A massive block of ice froze in place, with Amu and Bubu Wang inside. Bubu Wang, being foresightful, knew the danger and had already taken cover near Amu.
"Cough, cough~"
The Soul stood up from the ground, its body covered in bloodstains, looking as if it might shatter at any moment.
"Why?"
The Soul clearly didn't understand why the Ancient God had done this. Just moments ago, the deity it worshipped had attacked it as well.
Several black blood droplets near the Soul flew toward it. As it tried to dodge, the droplets entered its body. Its wounds healed at a visible rate, and its strength even increased slightly.
This sudden surprise brought a look of ecstasy to the Soul's face, but in reality, it was cursing inwardly. It hadn't expected the Ancient God to be so indifferent to life. It had originally planned to establish a cult or something, but now realized that was a pipe dream.
The fat clown wasn't as lucky as the Soul. His body was tattered, lying on the ground near death. Nearby was Baha, severely injured. Baha had tried to teleport through space, but even in an alternate dimension, he was still affected.
"Dead bird, hurry... to the Array Realm's split body... Hyena Fox: Yas... isn't dead... he's been controlled... by the evil god..."
After saying this, the fat clown's body dissolved into black blood droplets, floating in midair.
"Damn it."
Baha struggled to fly up. In his view, although the enemy couldn't be trusted, given the fat clown's situation, he might have been trying to strike back before dying, since he had been abandoned.
With a crash, the crystal layer around Su Xiao shattered. He crouched, staring at the Ancient God a few hundred meters away. Although it wasn't the right time, he had no choice but to engage.
All the black blood droplets floating in the air converged. Just as they gathered near the Ancient God, two azure-blue slashes struck.
With a *shuala*, two Azure Demons cut through the black blood mass. Pale blue arcs of electricity surged, and under the devouring effect of the Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, the blood mass exploded, turning from black to fresh red blood, scattering on the ground.
*Kaboom~*
A crisp sound suddenly came from beside the Ancient God. The angular Array Realm appeared on its own, signaling that its sub-structure was under threat.
Meanwhile, deep within a great hall in the Dark Prison, the bodies of Dark Demons and veteran Hunters lay scattered everywhere. These hundreds of Dark Demons were all powerful, otherwise they wouldn't have been qualified to guard this place. But more than half had been killed by Ta Bald, who was now severely wounded.
Inside the hall, two figures leaned forward, shoulders pressed together. One was Ta Bald, his spiral sword piercing the chest of the gaunt man opposite him.
"Yas, you've been expelled from the Watch Guild."
Ta Bald pressed his hand on Hyena Fox: Yas's head, pushing him away. Hyena Fox: Yas fell backward.
"Bald, never... exterminate all the Dark Demons. Only with their existence do Hunters have value. Even if the Dark Demons die out, there won't be peace. Dark Demons are humanity's mortal enemies. With them around, people can unite. If they die out, without this external threat, the kingdoms will eventually go to war. That would... kill more people. But... you must... kill the evil god."
The light in Hyena Fox: Yas's eyes quickly dimmed, and he finally died.
"Lady Xiang, it's safe now. Hurry and destroy the Array Realm."
Ta Bald sat cross-legged, speaking with a strong voice. Lady Xiang outside the hall rushed in. At this point, she couldn't care about her demeanor; she ran as fast as she could.
Lady Xiang quickly reached the deepest part of the hall. Her serrated curved blade snapped open, and she gripped the wooden handle with both hands, slashing at the clustered crystal fragments ahead.
With a crack, the clustered crystal fragments exploded, scattering on the ground. To ensure nothing was left, Lady Xiang swung her serrated curved blade, slapping the ground repeatedly.
"Bald, don't worry about me. Go reinforce Bai Ye."
"..."
"Bald?"
"Lady Xiang, let's have a drink. The best way to celebrate victory is to drink, hahaha."
Ta Bald raised the flask he carried, laughing heartily. In the faint light, the liquid inside reflected a warm glow—his most precious vintage, which he usually couldn't bear to drink.
"Now's not the time for drinking! Reinforcing Bai Ye is what matters. We..."
Lady Xiang's face was full of anxiety, but she stopped mid-sentence because she saw a large amount of blood seeping out from under Bald's pumpkin helmet.
Lady Xiang picked up the empty flask on the ground, sat sideways in front of Bald, and forced a smile.
"Bald, let's drink."
"..."
Bald remained in his toasting posture, motionless like a statue, his head drooping. Those who knew Bald understood that he loved to think, but this absent-minded fellow would often fall asleep while thinking, and he slept soundly.
This time, it seemed Bald had fallen asleep while thinking again, but under that pumpkin helmet, there was no snoring—only silence.
...
The blood moon in the sky turned dark red, as if blood were seeping from its edges.
The Ancient God rose from its throne. The Array Realm around it crumbled inch by inch, but for some reason, it didn't seem angry—only indifference in its eyes.
With a thunderous roar, black aura exploded outward. The throne made of tree roots gradually collapsed.
The Ancient God's aura grew stronger. If Su Xiao had a 40% chance of victory before, it now dropped to 30%. With the Array Realm broken, the Ancient God no longer had invincible defense, but it was as if a seal had been lifted. Its strength, already beyond the seventh-rank limit, increased slightly. Even if not by much, at this level, even a slight difference could decide victory or defeat.
Su Xiao ran his hand over the Dragon-Slaying Flash, successfully activating the Moon Blade effect, increasing its sharpness by 107 points.
The Apostle's Eye floated behind Su Xiao. He finally had the chance to scan the Ancient God's data. Understanding some of the enemy's abilities was key to victory.
[Comparing intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Only 31.7% of enemy data obtained.]
Name: Blood God: Gehepus
Category: Ancient God
Health: 100%
Divine Energy (Ancient): 63210/69000 points
Strength: 190 (True Attribute)
Agility: 190 (True Attribute)
Endurance: 195 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: ???
Charm: 1
Skill 1, High-Rank Deity (Passive, Lv.78): Health +98500 points, immune to all control effects, recovers 0.5% of max health per second.
Skill 2, Soul: Blood Control (Active, Lv.70): With the Array Realm broken, this ability is activated. All units within 900 meters of Blood God: Gehepus will have their blood continuously burned, taking 176 to 350 points of burning blood damage per second.
Tip: This ability is indiscriminate.
Skill 3: ???
Skill 4, Blood Resonance (Active, Lv.72): Can forcibly repel all enemy units with blood in their bodies. This ability has no judgment, ignores immunity, and takes effect instantly.
Tip: Cooldown is 3 seconds. Each use consumes 5000 points of Divine Energy (Ancient).
Skill 5: ???
Skill 6: ???
Skill 7, Corrosive Blood: Dark (Passive, Lv.70): Can transform any blood into Corrosive Blood, which can be shaped into any form.
Tip: Attacks with Corrosive Blood deal 2760 points of Dark Erosion damage + 3275 points of Soul damage + base damage of the attack, and cause 0.2 to 15 seconds of Soul Paralysis to the enemy.
Tip: Damage from Corrosive Blood varies by form. If the enemy's health is below 65%, each attack has a 10% chance of causing instant death.
Tip: Soul Paralysis from this ability is ineffective against targets with Soul Strength above 300 points.
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Skill 15, Blood of Fate: Convergence (Active, Lv.75): ???
Skill 16, Undying Deity (Ultimate Ability): ???
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