Chapter 48: Beirut
Mystic magic, natural magic, and the Great Prophecy each had their own mysteries. However, those who were experts of the four highest planes would clearly know that the ‘Great Prophecy’ was the most terrifying and unfathomable. Its method of attack was simply too bizarre. The Great Prophecy was passed down from the ‘Sovereign of Fate’ among the four Overgods.
The Sovereign incarnated from the ‘Rules of Fate’—the profundity of the ‘Great Prophecy’ he passed down was unimaginable.
“Not good!” Desri, Hayward, Higginson, and their group, who had finally arrived at this moment, also heard the four words spoken by Haydensing—“Life—Deprivation!”
An invisible force instantly enveloped Linley. Linley’s entire body stiffened, and he could no longer move. This invisible, bizarre force ignored all obstacles and directly surged toward Linley’s soul within his mind. The most important thing for a person was the soul!
When a person died, the soul could enter the Netherworld for rebirth.
But once the soul was scattered, even a Sovereign could not save you.
The vast ocean of soul power, with the seven-colored translucent crystal suspended within it, was surrounded by a faint cyan halo—unique to an ultimate warrior. When this invisible force struck, the cyan halo immediately caved in.
The invisible force weakened, and the cyan halo weakened as well.
The Great Prophecy also depended on who cast it. If a Deity-level expert had cast it, Linley would have had no power to resist at all.
“Pfft.” The cyan halo could no longer withstand the pressure and was directly breached.
Although the invisible force had weakened by more than half, it still charged straight toward the essence of Linley’s soul—that seven-colored translucent crystal. The surging soul power was utterly unable to resist this mysterious force. The invisible power of the ‘Great Prophecy’ finally invaded the translucent crystal.
Trembling!
A trembling that came from the soul, even causing Linley’s entire body to shudder.
“Boss.” Bebe was panicking now.
On that seven-colored translucent crystal, there was also a faint cyan halo. When the invisible force invaded the ‘seven-colored crystal’, no one noticed—the Coiling Dragon Ring on Linley’s finger!
A faint, almost invisible halo flowed along the winding dragon carving for an instant and then vanished.
At the same time—
The ‘cyan halo’ on the translucent crystal seemed to receive sufficient replenishment.
“Buzz—”
The cyan halo suddenly blazed brightly, as if a cyan sun had appeared within the entire ocean of the soul. Cyan light illuminated the entire soul ocean. Although the power of the ‘Great Prophecy’ was tenacious and stubborn under the cyan light, it still slowly melted and dissipated like solid ice.
The cyan halo shone for a long time before finally subsiding.
“How is this possible?” Haydensing’s face instantly turned pale. He glanced at Linley in shock. His full-force ultimate move had failed to kill Linley. Linley hadn’t even reached the Saint-level Magus realm! Even a Saint-level Magus would find it hard to withstand this attack.
Then Haydensing glanced at Desri and the others in the distance, realizing the situation was bad: “They’re here too!”
“Luo Ye, let’s go.” Without hesitation, Haydensing transformed into a streak of white light and flew rapidly westward. The ascetic ‘Luo Ye’ beside him also turned into a white light and flew westward at extreme speed.
Both Desri and Bebe were focused on Linley.
They had no time to care about Haydensing and Luo Ye.
“Huff.” Linley let out a breath and opened his eyes.
It seemed slow, but in reality, only one or two seconds had passed since the ‘Great Prophecy’ struck Linley’s soul. Yet in that one or two seconds, Haydensing and Luo Ye had already disappeared over the western horizon. As for Afleck and O’Casey, they had slipped away with their magical beasts before Haydensing and the others even fled.
“Boss, are you okay?” Bebe flew over worriedly, his small eyes filled with terror.
Bebe, whose soul was connected to Linley’s, had fully felt the trembling of Linley’s soul just now. It had been very dangerous.
“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Linley also felt a lingering fear.
Deep in his heart, Linley was still puzzled: “Just now, I felt the protective power belonging to us Dragonblood Warriors being broken through by that bizarre Great Prophecy attack. But why did that protective power suddenly surge later, easily dispelling the Great Prophecy?”
Linley didn’t know the reason.
But he was very clear about the trembling of his soul just now.
He knew… if he hadn’t blocked that attack, his soul would have directly shattered and dissipated.
“Where did they go?” Linley immediately scanned his surroundings, but Afleck, O’Casey, Haydensing, and Luo Ye had already fled far away. It was too late to chase them now.
Desri flew over and said apologetically, “Linley, I arrived a bit late. If you had really been killed by Haydensing’s Great Prophecy, I would have truly…” Desri was also ashamed. He knew very well how terrifying the Great Prophecy was.
“I was arrogant.” Linley smiled self-deprecatingly.
Linley had thought his soul defense was strong, combined with his dragon scales and pulsating defense, that the other party couldn’t harm him.
But just now, he had nearly lost his life.
Fortunately, at the last moment, the protective power unique to the Dragonblood Warrior within his soul suddenly blazed, its power increasing a hundredfold or more, directly melting and dissipating the attack power of the Great Prophecy.
“Those four ran fast enough.” Bebe said hatefully.
Barker also nodded and said in a deep voice, “Lord Linley, I think this Radiant Church and Dark Church aren’t that impressive. Now that Usono is dead, and Clemenson is also dead. Many angels have died too. Their strength has greatly diminished. I think, with our strength, we could even charge into the Radiant Church without issue.”
“Right.” Sessle said with a sinister smile, “Lord Linley, they broke the agreement first this time. You don’t have to keep it either.”
Linley’s heart stirred.
In the past, he had an agreement that if he wanted revenge, he could only go alone. But now, since the other side had broken the agreement first, he could lead a group to the Holy Island. Destroying the Radiant Church wouldn’t be difficult.
“Linley.” Desri quickly said, “Fairly speaking, both sides were indeed excessive this time. You don’t have to keep the agreement. But I still advise you not to attack the Radiant Church’s Holy Island.”
Linley frowned and said, “Mr. Desri, do you think that if I later bring my brother, the five Barker brothers, Bebe, Sessle, and the others, we still can’t break through the Holy Island? Right now, on the Holy Island, only Haydensing, Luo Ye, and Leiming pose any threat.”
“No.”
Desri shook his head and said, “You should know, I was once a member of the Radiant Church.”
Linley listened.
Desri sighed and said, “This Radiant Church has been passed down for who knows how many years. No matter how many storms it has weathered, it has never been destroyed. Do you know why?” Linley looked at Desri with confusion.
Indeed, anything that lasted long must have its reliance.
“First, the Holy Island definitely has the ‘Glory of the Radiant Lord’ magic formation. Without Deity-level strength, this formation cannot be broken.” Desri said.
Linley immediately recalled. Back when he was in Fenlai City, because he wanted to kill the king of the Fenlai Kingdom, he was imprisoned in the Radiant Temple. That temple had this magic formation called ‘Glory of the Radiant Lord’. According to legend, even Saint-level experts couldn’t destroy the temple’s walls.
That was the effect of this magic formation.
Later, on the Day of Destruction, the king of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, ‘Dilin’, attacked this temple. The first strike caused cracks on part of the temple’s walls, but the magic formation held. Dilin’s second strike directly broke the magic formation, and the temple collapsed.
Even a Deity-level expert like ‘Dilin’ needed two attacks.
Its defensive power was unimaginable!
“This ‘Glory of the Radiant Lord’ is not just a defensive magic formation. If someone inside controls it, it can become an offensive weapon against enemies.” Desri sighed. “Linley, if you charge into the Holy Island, you might kill many people there. But those who hide inside the Radiant Temple are absolutely unkillable.”
Linley frowned.
This was true. When the Radiant Temple in Fenlai City was destroyed, he had been inside the temple.
“Fine, let them hole up on that little island.” Linley could only decide this. In his heart, he thought, “Later, when my Wind and Earth Edicts reach their limits, maybe I can go to the Holy Island and test the power of the ‘Glory of the Radiant Lord’ magic formation.”
Now, Linley was not afraid of the Radiant Church at all.
“Barker, arrange for someone to retrieve the corpse of the Infernal Hellfire Phoenix below. We can’t waste that Saint-level demonic crystal core.” Linley said with a smile.
“Yes, my lord.” Barker also smiled.
Regardless, they had won this battle. Moreover, Linley’s side had fought against both the Radiant Church and the Dark Church and achieved an absolute victory. Even Desri and the others hadn’t had a chance to act.
*******
This battle also determined the final ownership of the Chaos Territory.
Wherever the warriors of the Baruch Kingdom and the mixed army of rats went, almost everyone surrendered and submitted. Even some blind religious believers, under the power of the rat tide, directly collapsed and scattered… The Chaos Territory began to unify at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, the great battle between Linley’s side and the Radiant Church and Dark Church sides quickly spread.
The Baruch Kingdom deliberately spread this news. Linley’s side defeating both factions caused Linley’s status on the Yulan Continent to rise sharply, completely surpassing the Radiant Pope and the Dark Pope. His noble status was second only to existences like the War God and the High Priest.
Linley’s story was also sung everywhere across the Yulan Continent.
In the Chaos Territory, countless people worshipped Linley. Many youths, just like Linley back then, set Linley as their goal and trained hard one after another.
…
Chaos Territory, Baruch City, within the palace.
Snowflakes were falling from the sky. It was now December, and there were only a few days left until this year’s Yulan Festival. Linley, Delia, Taylor, Shasha, and the other children, as well as the five Barker brothers, Rebecca, Lina, Jenny, Wharton, and the others, were all gathered here.
Among the Rebecca sisters, Rebecca was more mischievous and lively. She and the boisterous Gates were always bickering and had married ten years ago. As for the quieter Lina, she eventually married Barker. The other three of the five Barker brothers each had their own wives. Only Jenny often spent time with some friends in the capital but remained single.
“Too fast. It’s only been this long, and the entire Chaos Territory is unified.” Wharton laughed.
“Of course.” Taylor said proudly, “My father is the strongest.”
Seeing Taylor like this, Linley also smiled and patted Taylor’s head. Then Linley looked at Wharton: “Wharton, remember, religious propagation must be banned. If they spread it, future generations will have trouble governing the country.”
“I know. Recently, there have been quite a few religious believers causing trouble.” Wharton sighed.
Religion posed too great a threat to a nation. And now that Linley’s side had unified the entire Chaos Territory, the Baruch Kingdom would probably have to be renamed the ‘Baruch Empire’.
Although Linley himself didn’t care about imperial power, he had to consider his family’s descendants.
“Linley, Bebe.” Three purple-gold rat kings flashed and suddenly appeared in the hall. Everyone immediately looked at the three purple-gold rat kings. The eldest, ‘Harry’, directly spoke in human language: “Linley, we came to invite Bebe to visit the Dark Forest.”
“Invite me?” Bebe was standing on the dining table.
“Who invited him?” Linley asked in confusion.
“Our father.” The third purple-gold rat king, ‘Harvey’, said proudly, “The king of the Dark Forest, also the king of the entire Yulan Continent, the most invincible and powerful existence!” The three purple-gold rat kings were all very proud.
The king of the Dark Forest? The king of the Yulan Continent?
Linley was shocked inwardly and thought: “Is the king of the Dark Forest also the king of the Yulan Continent? Is he even stronger than the War God and the High Priest?”
Linley’s heart stirred, and he quickly asked, “May I ask, what is your father’s name?”
The second purple-gold rat king, ‘Hart’, said: “Linley, you may call our father… Lord Beirut!”
“Beirut!” Linley’s mind buzzed.
Bebe’s eyes also widened in shock.
PS: Some readers in the review section asked why Linley didn’t ally with the Dark Church to attack the Radiant Church, wouldn’t that be easier?
Answer: First, religion has too great an influence on a nation’s rule. Linley must prevent this from happening. He himself doesn’t care about national territory, but what about his descendants? Linley must consider the future of the entire Baruch family.
Second, even if he allied with the Dark Church, they probably wouldn’t agree. Because Linley’s side is clearly too strong. If the Radiant Church falls, Linley would likely deal with the Dark Church next. The Dark Church is also worried about this.
Third, in fact, making the entire Baruch Empire (Chaos Territory) worship and believe in Linley in the future is also to pave the way for Linley to reach the Deity level later. After all… faith power is a good thing. Hmm, I won’t say more, I won’t say more.
This chapter ends here, and the tenth volume, ‘Baruch’, officially concludes. Starting from the next chapter, it will be the content of the eleventh volume, ‘The God’s Tomb’. The following plot will be even more mysterious and exciting, and the battles will be even more brutal.
..