Chapter 32: Blood Stains the Underground
Everyone was well aware of the strength of the Abyssal Blade Demons. One or two were not terrifying, but if they truly faced Linley and his group of eleven in battle, at least half of Linley's side would likely die. And now, the Abyssal Blade Demons were densely packed, numbering in the tens of thousands.
No choice!
Flee!
"Follow the second plan. Advance through the underground." Linley's voice resounded in everyone's minds.
"Chi~~" The long scorpion tail of the black-armored giant scorpion began to spin, easily piercing the nearby metal mountain wall. The black-armored giant scorpion swiftly carved out an underground passage at an astonishing speed, and Desri, Rosarie, and the others quickly rushed in.
Linley, Fain, the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion, Bebe, and Olivier brought up the rear.
Every Abyssal Blade Demon was like lightning, like countless locusts, instantly covering the area.
"Kill." Linley held the Black Heavy Sword in one hand and the Violet Blood Soft Sword in the other.
At this moment, countless Abyssal Blade Demons charged forward. Whether it was Linley, Fain, the Six-Eyed Golden Lion, Bebe, or Olivier, they all faced a terrifying onslaught. Among them, 'Olivier' was the first to be forced back.
Olivier wielded his Profound Ice Sword, black and white light flickering on his body's surface. The Profound Ice Sword clashed with the battle blade of an incoming Abyssal Blade Demon. Olivier's body trembled, his gaze turning cold as the Profound Ice Sword skillfully leveraged the impact to parry.
"Chi--" The Profound Ice Sword, crackling with black and white light, sliced the Abyssal Blade Demon's head clean off.
But immediately, three Abyssal Blade Demons struck at Olivier simultaneously. Olivier's expression changed. He rapidly retreated to dodge, but in terms of speed, these Abyssal Blade Demons were comparable to Fain and Bebe. Olivier could only use his Profound Ice Sword to barely block one strike.
"Pfft!" Two consecutive slashes landed on his battle-qi shield.
Olivier's battle-qi shield shattered instantly. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Olivier used the impact of the blade strikes to quickly flee into the tunnel dug by the black-armored giant scorpion. Even so, his waist was cut nearly in half.
If he had been a moment slower, he would have been cleaved in two.
"Bang!" Next, Fain was forced back into the tunnel by a wave of Abyssal Blade Demons. He was struck by a combined attack from four Abyssal Blade Demons, sent flying, and his body was even shattered into three pieces. But Fain's head quickly fled into the tunnel.
At the same time, Fain's body regenerated at an astonishing speed.
"Linley, be careful. If you can't hold on, retreat quickly." Fain sent a soul message as he fled.
Linley already felt the terror of these Abyssal Blade Demons. In just one exchange, after he had killed four of them in a single breath, his 'Pulsating Defense' and 'Earthguard Saint Armor' were hacked to pieces by a flurry of blades from the countless Abyssal Blade Demons.
Dragon scales shattered, blood splattered.
The power of the Life Source Pearl within his body surged out. "Chi chi~~" The dragon scale injuries were repaired again. Linley's 'Pulsating Defense' reformed on his body's surface.
"Yoo~~"
Bebe transformed into eight figures, attacking wildly. Over a dozen Abyssal Blade Demons had already died under his claws. But the Abyssal Blade Demons were clever; dozens of them immediately attacked the 'eight clones' simultaneously. Each clone was struck by three or four Abyssal Blade Demons.
Bebe's body was knocked back, and there were traces of blood on his fur.
"Boom." A group of Abyssal Blade Demons surged toward Bebe.
"Bebe, retreat." Linley shouted.
"Swoosh." Bebe didn't delay and rushed into the tunnel. As he fled inside, his fur was torn open, and his body was covered in blood. Linley's heart ached at the sight. After all, Bebe didn't have a Life Source Pearl!
The Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion had a black battle armor on its body. They lasted longer than Bebe.
"Linley, if you can't hold on, retreat quickly."
The Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion was also forced to flee into the tunnel by the massive wave of Abyssal Blade Demons, its body covered in blood. As each rear-guard entered the tunnel, the defensive perimeter naturally shrank.
When the Six-Eyed Golden Lion left, Linley immediately retreated to the tunnel entrance.
"Kill him." Countless Abyssal Blade Demons roared, raising their sharp long blades to strike at Linley.
"Not good." Over a dozen Abyssal Blade Demons simultaneously struck at Linley from all directions—above, below, front, sides... more than a dozen in total. Each strike was as fast as lightning, too fast!
Linley's Violet Blood Soft Sword and Black Heavy Sword only managed to kill two of them, while the other dozen or so blades struck his body simultaneously!
"Bang!" The 'Pulsating Defense,' which had reached the 64th level of 'Earth Pulse,' collapsed.
"Not good." The sheer impact of over a dozen blades hitting his body sent Linley flying. As he was thrown back, his 'Dragon Scales' were shattered, blood gushed out, and the green light of the Life Source Pearl continuously flared as his body repaired itself at an astonishing speed.
"I can't hold out anymore. They should have fled a good distance by now."
Linley also retreated along the passage.
"Roar~~" A massive number of Abyssal Blade Demons roared and charged into the underground tunnel. Meanwhile, at the outer mouth of the canyon passage, a huge crowd of Abyssal Blade Demons gathered and poured into the tunnel one after another.
"Chase them." Countless Abyssal Blade Demons howled.
Linley glanced back. The eyes of those Abyssal Blade Demons were filled with bloodthirsty madness.
"Rumble~~" Instantly, surging earth-element energy gathered, and massive boulders formed behind Linley, completely sealing the passage. As Linley flew at top speed through the tunnel, more and more rocks continued to appear behind him.
Instant-cast eighth-level earth magic—Rain of Rubble.
"Although the black-armored giant scorpion is the fastest among us underground, this world is a metal world, and the ground is all metal. Its speed in carving a passage definitely can't match pure flight speed. For now, I can only delay as much as possible."
Linley flew while completely blocking the passage behind him.
"Swish!" Behind him, a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons flew at top speed along the tunnel.
The boulders Linley created to block the passage were ignored by these Abyssal Blade Demons; they simply charged headfirst through them. The sharp blades on their foreheads easily split the boulders apart. These Abyssal Blade Demons chased at extreme speed.
Although they could easily break through the rocks, their speed was still somewhat affected.
...
Linley soon caught up with the other experts ahead, as his flight speed was much faster than the black-armored giant scorpion's tunneling speed. Desri, Fain, and the others were flying side by side, with the black-armored giant scorpion leading the way.
"What do we do now?" Linley asked urgently.
Behind them, a massive horde of Abyssal Blade Demons was still chasing at top speed.
"Judging by speed, if we stay underground, we're faster than the Abyssal Blade Demons. We can shake them off, and once we're far enough away, we'll go find the divine spark." Desri said. This was the decision he and the other experts had reached.
Even now, they were unwilling to give up.
Earlier, when they had approached the god's corpse, they had used their souls to examine it. The god's head had long been split open, and the divine spark was gone. It was merely a tool used to lure them!
*******
While Linley's group was speeding underground, a dense swarm of Abyssal Blade Demons was flying above the surface. Leading them were three blood-red Abyssal Blade Demons.
"Almost time. My children, ten of you go down every ten li. Begin." The leading red Abyssal Blade Demon boomed.
As they flew at extreme speed, squads of ten Abyssal Blade Demons each plunged directly into the ground, easily piercing through the metal earth and flying straight into the depths. One squad entered every ten li. The Abyssal Blade Demons' flight speed above ground far exceeded Linley's group's underground speed.
"Trying to escape through the underground?" The thin, leading red Abyssal Blade Demon sneered.
"Hmph. Our people number over a million. This ten-thousand-li region is already a net cast from heaven to earth. How can they escape?" Another red Abyssal Blade Demon said.
The third red Abyssal Blade Demon laughed loudly: "I've already stationed a tribe of over ten thousand Abyssal Blade Demons at the passage back to the tenth level. No matter where they flee, they'll die!"
...
If Linley had known that the number of Abyssal Blade Demons in the eleventh level exceeded a million, they would have given up long ago.
But they didn't know!
In that canyon, the Abyssal Blade Demons that had actually engaged Linley, the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion, Fain, Bebe, and Olivier at the cave entrance numbered only about a hundred. The rest were too crowded to attack in time.
Even so, Linley and the others were already pushed to their absolute limit.
...
The eleven experts were speeding through the underground. The tip of the black-armored giant scorpion's tail spun rapidly, easily carving a path. Its speed was much faster than the Abyssal Blade Demons' pace as they smashed through the boulders behind.
"It looks like we can shake off those Abyssal Blade Demons." Fain's heart calmed slightly.
"Not good." Linley suddenly looked up. Not just Linley, but Desri, Fain, and the others also looked up.
In an instant—
"Rumble~~" The metal above them collapsed, and nearly ten Abyssal Blade Demon figures charged down simultaneously. Upon spotting Linley's group of experts, they immediately let out excited, high-pitched roars: "Roar~~"
The roars caused the metal ground to tremble, transmitting the sound at extreme speed in all directions. Sound traveled much faster through metal than through air.
Deep underground, a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons were speeding around, searching.
"There they are." Countless Abyssal Blade Demons flew toward the source of the sound almost simultaneously. Some even calculated positions ahead of Linley's group to intercept them.
...
"Bang!" The Black Heavy Sword struck an Abyssal Blade Demon's body, shattering it into pieces. But Linley's waist stung as a blade slashed into him. Roaring, he swung his sword backhand. His dragon scales were shattered again and again, only to be restored each time.
Linley roared, driving back the Abyssal Blade Demons that charged at him one after another.
At this moment, Linley and the other ten experts were being besieged by a massive wave of Abyssal Blade Demons. Linley held one front alone, but even so, all of them were in dire straits.
"Bang." Fain and Olivier were both sent crashing into the rocks beside them.
"Back to the tenth level!" Desri said painfully.
Fain, Rosarie, Tulily, the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion, and even Linley were stunned. Over five thousand years of pursuit, and now they had to give up? But more and more Abyssal Blade Demons were coming, and everyone was barely holding on.
As the battle dragged on, more and more Abyssal Blade Demons would be drawn in.
Most importantly, aside from Linley and Fain, who could recover quickly, everyone else relied on Desri for healing. In the midst of such a fast-paced battle, his healing was far too slow.
Fain backhandedly killed an Abyssal Blade Demon, roaring in pain: "Go back!"
"Go back." Tulily said in a low voice.
Though unwilling, though their hearts resisted!
But with the ever-increasing number of Abyssal Blade Demons, they truly couldn't hold out. If Linley hadn't been holding off nearly a third of the Abyssal Blade Demons alone, they would have been finished long ago. Even so... at this moment, they were like a small boat in a tsunami.
On the verge of capsizing at any moment!
No choice!
"Back to the tenth level." The black-armored giant scorpion immediately changed the direction of its tunneling.
"Hurry, we can't delay. The longer we wait, the more Abyssal Blade Demons there will be. We can't hold out much longer." Linley saw several blade lights flash before him. With a low growl, he thrust the Violet Blood Soft Sword and swung the Black Heavy Sword. Even so, he was sent flying back, blood drenching his body again, even exposing white bone.
Green light swirled around him as his body rapidly repaired itself.
"You can't escape." A cold voice rang out. A red Abyssal Blade Demon suddenly burst into the tunnel.
"Not good." Linley knew something was wrong the moment he saw this red Abyssal Blade Demon.
"The first to die will be you." The red Abyssal Blade Demon held a blood-colored long blade in both hands, staring coldly at Linley. The other Abyssal Blade Demons respectfully moved aside, then turned to furiously attack Fain, Tulily, and the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Lion.