Chapter 23: Fast? Slow?
The Empress ‘Lashabell’ was terrifyingly powerful. In the boundless desert of the seventh layer of the Necropolis of the Gods, wind blew sand and gravel. Desri, Linley, Fain, and the other six human Saint-level experts, as well as Bebe and the other five magical beast experts, all hovered in midair, each one seriously pondering what to do next.
“If there’s truly no hope, I suggest… we give up.” Desri spoke with difficulty.
The other experts all looked at Desri.
“Just give up like this?” Fain’s eyes held a trace of unwillingness.
They had waited over a thousand years for this opportunity, and now they had even passed the sixth layer. Giving up now was indeed very unwilling.
“There is absolutely no hope.” Desri shook his head. “Each and every one of the Empress ‘Lashabell’s’ tendrils is that tough, and she has tens of thousands of them. Most importantly, even if her tendrils are severed, they can regenerate automatically.”
Desri looked around at everyone. “Everyone, are we going to just go and get ourselves killed?”
Linley and Bebe exchanged a glance.
“Boss, let’s give up.” Bebe sent a soul message to Linley. “We’re not in a hurry. At worst, we can wait another hundred years until we’re all stronger. Then I’ll ask Grandpa Beirut to specially open a passage to the Necropolis of the Gods for us.”
Bebe also felt it was hopeless.
Linley’s mind still held the terrifying scene of those countless tendrils instantly wrapping around them, especially the feeling of being trapped within it himself. That sense of crisis was truly heart-stopping.
At this moment, the three Six-Eyed Golden Lions communicated through their eyes. Then, one of them spoke solemnly, “No, we are not completely without hope. We still have a little hope.”
“Hmm?”
The experts hovering in midair all looked in surprise at the Six-Eyed Golden Lion who had spoken.
“Still hope? You say there’s still hope? What hope?” Fain immediately pressed.
The Six-Eyed Golden Lion nodded. “We three brothers have a special technique. We can use our ‘six eyes’ to emit six beams of light to envelop an opponent. It can completely immobilize the opponent, making them unable to move.”
“Unable to move? Freeze their body?” Linley was greatly shocked.
This technique was too perverse. Wasn’t it just making the opponent a sitting duck for others to attack?
Everyone present, even the usually silent Olivier and the Black-Armored Giant Scorpion, had shock in their eyes.
“Right, I remember now.” Rosalind said in surprise. “I recall that when we first entered this seventh layer, Bebe and the others went beneath the desert and caught that child monster. Later, it was one of you three brothers who killed that monster. When you killed it, your six eyes emitted black light that enveloped the monster, and it couldn’t move. It just let you kill it.”
Linley and the others also recalled that scene.
“If that’s the case, then we’re sure to win.” The Black-Armored Giant Scorpion rumbled. “Make the Empress ‘Lashabell’ unable to move, then directly destroy her soul. When her soul is scattered, the Empress will surely die.”
“It’s not that simple.” The leading Six-Eyed Golden Lion shook his head. “This technique of ours isn’t invincible. According to what you said, if we could just immobilize any opponent and then kill them, wouldn’t we be invincible? This technique… it also depends on who we use it against.”
Linley and the others nodded.
Yes, if these Six-Eyed Golden Lions used this technique against a Deity-level expert, they would probably be killed by the Deity-level expert with a wave of their hand.
“Using this technique against that child monster was naturally easy.” The Six-Eyed Golden Lion said solemnly. “But the Empress ‘Lashabell’ is hundreds or thousands of times stronger than her children. When she goes berserk, her power becomes terrifying. Immobilizing her will be very difficult.”
The other two Six-Eyed Golden Lions also nodded.
Linley and the others understood in their hearts.
It was like using a large iron cage to trap a horse or cow. But could you use the same large iron cage to trap a dragon that was thousands or tens of thousands of times stronger than a horse or cow?
“However, although the Empress ‘Lashabell’ is strong, she hasn’t reached the Divine level. If we three brothers join forces and use this technique together, I estimate… we can immobilize the Empress ‘Lashabell’ for about one second.” The leading Six-Eyed Golden Lion said.
Linley and the group felt a surge of joy.
One second? It sounds short, but for experts like Linley, they could exchange dozens or even hundreds of attacks in one second.
“Of course, this is just an approximate time. Since we haven’t actually fought, we don’t know exactly how long we can immobilize her.” The Six-Eyed Golden Lion said.
Everyone understood, but they also knew… that the three Six-Eyed Golden Lions working together could definitely make the Empress unable to move for an instant.
“Everyone, who is confident they can kill the Empress in an instant?” Desri immediately looked around at everyone.
The three Six-Eyed Golden Lions could give everyone a momentary opportunity. Now it was up to who could seize it.
“It’s a pity there’s no Wind-style Saint-level Magus here.” Rosalind sighed and shook her head. When it came to single-target attack power, a Wind-style Saint-level Magus was still the strongest. Once the ‘Dimensional Blade’ was unleashed, it could even tear space apart, definitely capable of cutting the Empress in two.
The experts present all remained silent.
“Linley, what about you?” Fain looked at Linley.
Linley remained silent.
The Empress ‘Lashabell’ had a dense mass of tendrils. It was hard to say how long the three Six-Eyed Golden Lions could immobilize her. If he got close to the Empress’s body and she broke free from the ‘immobilization’ just then, those countless tendrils would wrap around him.
He wouldn’t even be able to escape.
After all, even with his Black Duran Heavy Sword and Violet Blood Soft Sword working together, he could only break through about a hundred tendrils at a time.
“Boss.” Bebe shook his head at Linley.
The chance was simply too small.
“Whoever kills this Empress, if there are any divine artifacts in this seventh layer, they will belong to him. I believe everyone will have no objections.” Desri looked around at everyone and said.
Everyone nodded.
“Anyway, there are still nearly two years until the ten-year deadline.” Linley said solemnly. “We don’t have to rush. Let’s all think of a good plan.”
All the experts nodded. Without a certain degree of confidence, they wouldn’t choose to go to their deaths.
…
The desert was boundless.
Linley hovered in midair, his eyes closed, sensing the caress of the wind. Regarding the laws of the wind element, Linley had gained some insights into both the ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ aspects. Now, as he comprehended the laws of the wind element, he naturally immersed himself in these two aspects, his mind and heart resonating with the wind element.
“Hmm?” A scene suddenly appeared in Linley’s mind.
It was when the Empress ‘Lashabell’ had first attacked, her countless tendrils and vines shooting out at extreme speed. At that time, Linley and the other experts all felt as if the surrounding space had frozen, as if they were stuck in mud or a swamp.
“At that time, the Empress’s tendrils moved according to a special profound mystery, yet they created the effect of space freezing.” Linley’s heart stirred.
Space freezing was actually a relatively high level within the ‘Slow’ aspect. Linley had currently cultivated to the point of space stagnation, still some distance away from space freezing.
“The Empress’s tendrils were all extremely fast, even Rutherford and the others didn’t have time to escape.” Linley was puzzled. “When those tendrils shot out, their speed was so great that space became blurry. That should be considered ‘Space Overlapping Shadows’ within the ‘Fast’ aspect. But why did the combination of so many tendrils create the effect of ‘space freezing’?”
Linley was confused.
At the same time, Linley couldn’t help but carefully recall the scene of those countless tendrils shooting towards them, analyzing those profound mysteries.
After a long time, Linley, who was floating in midair, opened his eyes. He flipped his hand and took out the Violet Blood Soft Sword. With a shake of his hand, he swung it—
Instantly, thousands of violet sword shadows appeared in front of Linley. The area covered by the sword shadows was completely blurred. This move was Linley’s fusion of ‘Space Overlapping Shadows’ and ‘Wind Ripple’. The Wind Ripple could unleash thousands of sword strikes in an instant.
“No.”
Linley frowned.
“If I make each sword shadow like that tendril, and unleash thousands of sword shadows in an instant, it should also be able to produce that special effect, ‘space freezing’.” Linley swung the Violet Blood Soft Sword again.
Yes.
At this moment, Linley was precisely trying to simulate the Empress ‘Lashabell’s’ attack by using ‘Wind Ripple’ to unleash thousands of sword strikes in an instant.
Again and again…
“Sssss—”
The Violet Blood Soft Sword once again transformed into thousands of sword shadows soaring into the air. The area of several meters covered by the violet sword shadows suddenly froze. The thousands of sword shadows, like countless tendrils wrapping around, finally converged on a single point. Only a—
“Pfft!” sound was heard, and a crack appeared in space.
Linley’s eyes lit up.
“Yes, space freezing.” Linley finally showed a joyful expression on his face.
“Finally succeeded.” Fortunately, the Violet Blood Soft Sword could bend, allowing him to experiment repeatedly and finally fully learn the Empress ‘Lashabell’s’ move. However, in the Empress ‘Lashabell’s’ move, the thousands of tendrils converged to wrap around the opponent.
In Linley’s move, the thousands of sword shadows merged to attack a single point.
“In the past, the ‘Wind Ripple’ technique could launch many consecutive attacks, but once it turned into thousands of swords, due to wind resistance, it was impossible for the countless swords to converge on one point.” Linley had always been troubled by this.
When a sword is thrust, it must naturally follow the wind’s trajectory to achieve an instant thousand strikes.
But to unite a thousand swords into one goes against the power of the wind. As the saying goes, a slight difference can lead to a great error. Going against the power of the wind makes it fundamentally impossible to achieve a thousand swords in an instant.
“But by using this special pattern to unleash so many swords, it becomes possible.” Linley was very surprised.
Those thousand swords were also unleashed in a single instance, but they weren’t randomly following the wind. Instead, they seemed to trace an arc, forming a strange centripetal force, and finally, all the sword shadows naturally merged into one point.
“How peculiar.” Linley marveled inwardly.
But Linley was overjoyed in his heart.
“Although the attack power of any single one of those thousand swords isn’t strong, when so many swords merge into one, the attack power increases by a thousand or ten thousand times.” Linley’s heart was pounding with excitement. The unity of a thousand swords fully utilized the speed of the Violet Blood Soft Sword.
Wind Profound Mystery — Ten Thousand Swords as One!
This was another breakthrough in Linley’s comprehension of the Wind Profound Mystery.
In terms of attack power, this was far stronger than the ‘Rhythm of the Wind’.
“However, this move is a single-target attack, aimed at one target.” Linley knew very well that those thousand swords would ultimately coalesce into one sword. Wherever that one sword passed, all obstacles would be turned to dust.
Without thinking too much, the instant fusion of a thousand sword shadows and the stacking of attack power would make this sword strike reach a terrifying level.
Furthermore, this move would also produce the peculiar effect of ‘space freezing’.
“Why does the ‘Fast’ aspect’s thousand swords produce the ‘Slow’ aspect’s special effect of ‘space freezing’?” Although he had successfully cultivated it, Linley was still a bit puzzled.
In the laws of the wind element, the two major aspects of ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’ were completely opposite, yet at this moment, they seemed to be interconnected.
“If I can’t figure it out, I won’t think about it.” Linley was overjoyed at the moment. “The strongest sword strike of the Wind Profound Mystery can completely eliminate all obstacles. With this sword strike, I don’t have to fear any tendrils blocking my path ahead.”
Linley’s heart was filled with confidence.
…
Three days later.
Having fully comprehended this strongest sword strike of the Wind Profound Mystery, Linley set out with the other experts towards the Empress ‘Lashabell’. This time, the others would provide supporting attacks, while Linley himself would deliver the final blow.
After flying for a long time.
“That vast green sea ahead should be the result of the Empress ‘Lashabell’s’ numerous children gathering.” Desri pointed into the distance.
At the location where the black pyramid had been, there was now a vast green sea, formed by the gathering of countless ‘oases’.
“Haha… I thought you were scared and had fled back to the sixth layer. I didn’t expect you to dare to come back.” A crisp voice rang out over the green sea. Above the green sea, a humanoid monster glowing with green light and possessing thousands of tendrils was hovering in midair.
It was the Empress ‘Lashabell’.