Chapter 15: Unwilling to Accept
The sound of explosions and Dylin's roar echoed throughout the entire Dragonblood Castle.
"What's happening?" The War God, the High Priest, and Hiss, along with Delia, Wharton, and Gates, all rushed over immediately. When they saw Dylin confronting Augus and Hambrit in midair, they quickly stood cautiously around Linley.
Delia affectionately took Linley's hand and whispered, "Linley. Is that Augus here again?" Delia looked somewhat worried.
The last time Augus had attacked, Linley had ordered Delia, Wharton, and the others to hide in the micro-plane secret chamber. So Delia and the others had never seen Augus's appearance; in Delia's opinion, the only mid-level god who would attack now was probably Augus's faction.
"It's him. He brought a helper along, but Lord Dylin and Lord Tarosa are enough to deal with them." Linley comforted her softly.
Delia nodded.
They both looked up.
"Haha..." Tarosa also flew up at this moment, laughing loudly. "Augus. I didn't think you'd have the guts to come back. It seems you didn't take my words from last time in the Imperial Capital to heart."
As Tarosa spoke, a green whip appeared in his hand.
"Crackle~" A chilling aura emanated from the whip.
Augus's two divine clones and Hambrit were all shocked inwardly.
"Augus!!!" Hambrit roared through divine sense transmission. Hambrit was furious. This situation was nothing like what Augus had predicted.
Augus also sensed something was wrong at this moment.
The two of them were struggling to resist Dylin's devouring suction force. Augus had split into two clones, and together with Hambrit, they could barely hold out. At this point, they couldn't move much. If, under these circumstances... Tarosa swung his whip to attack, the two of them would be nothing but targets!
"Haha. First, take a few hundred lashes from me!" Tarosa laughed loudly as he brandished his whip.
A few hundred lashes?
Augus and Hambrit, who were struggling to resist the suction force, changed expression drastically. How could they withstand a mid-level god's attack head-on?
"Whoosh~"
The green long whip danced like a giant serpent, transforming into a dazzling green whip shadow. The surrounding temperature instantly dropped to freezing point, and a layer of frost naturally covered the ground. The green whip, like a python lashing its tail, viciously struck toward Augus and Hambrit.
"Retreat!"
Augus and Hambrit gritted their teeth almost simultaneously, their internal energy surging as they forcibly broke free from Dylin's devouring force range, even at the cost of injury.
"Boom!" A violent tremor occurred in midair, generating a powerful gust of wind that even snapped some ornamental plants and flowers in Dragonblood Castle. Augus's two divine clones and Hambrit hovered high above Dragonblood Castle, all pale-faced.
Dylin cursed under his breath: "Hmph. If my divine power weren't insufficiently pure and insufficient in quantity, would the two of you have escaped?"
Above Dragonblood Castle, Augus's two divine clones and Hambrit hovered in midair.
"You two had better get far away, or else I won't show any mercy." Tarosa was still smiling as he looked up at the two somewhat disheveled figures in the air.
Hambrit looked at Augus and transmitted through divine sense: "Augus, that Dylin is the weak one you mentioned? Hmph. I think we should leave." Hambrit wasn't eager to leave immediately, since he had at least accepted a divine artifact from the other party.
Augus stared coldly downward, his heart burning with rage.
His gaze fell on Olivier, who was beside Linley. Augus trembled with fury all over, transmitting through divine sense: "Hambrit, this is my fault. I didn't investigate the other side's strength properly. But... I must kill Olivier. If I don't, I'll die unwilling."
"Are you out of your mind?" Hambrit looked at Augus with dissatisfaction.
Augus's gaze was fixed intently downward as he transmitted: "Hambrit, don't worry... Dylin's devouring suction can only pull in one direction. So, let's split up and attack from below. This time, I'll hold off Tarosa and Dylin. You must kill Olivier. Hambrit, I'm counting on you."
With that, Augus looked solemnly at Hambrit.
Hambrit hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
"Fine. I agree." Hambrit added, "But if I encounter danger, I'll leave first. Don't blame me."
"Of course I won't blame you." Augus looked at Hambrit gratefully. "Thank you."
"Get ready." Hambrit said.
Augus's Light Element divine clone and Fire Element divine clone both erupted at once. A dazzling holy light radiated down, shooting directly toward the area where Linley was. This holy light was actually a purifying radiance; even Saint-level experts would be injured if exposed to it.
Back then, when Augus destroyed the Baruch Imperial Capital's royal palace, he had used this very move.
That move had nearly wiped out everyone in the palace. Only Ankh and Sini survived, with Sini severely injured.
"Not good." Seeing this, Linley didn't hesitate. He immediately punched the ground with both fists.
"Boom!" The entire earth trembled.
A peculiar energy fluctuation appeared directly above the dozens of people around him, like a transparent dome, protecting Linley, Wharton, and everyone else within.
Earth Element forbidden spell—Pulsating Guard!
Pulsating Guard was a large-scale defensive magic, typically used to defend an entire city. For example, if an enemy cast Meteor Shower and countless boulders rained down on a city, Pulsating Guard could be used to resist it.
Having reached the God level, casting forbidden spells was instantaneous.
Moreover, the power was far greater than when cast at the Saint level. Linley controlled the Pulsating Guard to cover only a few dozen meters, and the holy light was completely blocked by it.
"Swoosh!" "Swoosh!" A white and a red blur shot down at extreme speed. Augus hadn't expected the holy light to kill anyone; it was just a move to confuse the situation. As his two clones descended like beams of light—
Hambrit took a detour and stealthily approached Linley's location.
"I'll block him! Tarosa, Augus's two divine clones are yours to handle. Don't mess up." Dylin immediately transmitted to Tarosa.
"Don't worry." Tarosa still smiled carelessly.
Dylin accelerated to his limit, turning into a blur to intercept Hambrit. At that moment, a fiery red blur, carrying a world-destroying momentum, charged madly at Dylin. The knight's lance in his hand was like a fire dragon lunging forward.
Dylin was startled: "Has Augus gone mad?"
Dylin could tell that Augus's Fire Element clone was recklessly using divine power. One had to know... absorbing divine power was very slow. In normal battles, one would be reluctant to use it so recklessly. Using it like this, he wouldn't last long before his divine power was exhausted, leaving him vulnerable.
"Swish!" Dylin's third eye on his forehead immediately shot out a transparent ripple.
Augus's Fire Element divine clone was weaker than his Light Element clone. When hit by the transparent ripple, the Fire Element clone's movement momentarily stalled. Dylin, wearing his divine artifact gauntlets, formed claws with both hands and grabbed directly at Augus's head.
"Clang!"
Dylin clashed violently with the Fire Element clone.
With Dylin tied up by the Fire Element clone, Hambrit headed straight for Olivier. Olivier had no time to escape; his speed was far inferior to Hambrit's.
"Haha..." Hambrit, diving down, had a flash of excitement in his eyes.
"Too early to be happy." A lazy voice echoed in Hambrit's mind. A man in a black robe appeared before Hambrit, holding a narrow blood-red longsword, and slashed directly at him.
Where the sword passed, space shattered completely.
"Boom!" Hambrit's right palm, glowing with green light, struck the blade, sending him flying backward. Hambrit was also wearing divine artifact gauntlets and fought with his hands.
Hambrit was shocked: "This Tarosa also has a Destruction Element clone!"
At this moment, the blue-robed Tarosa holding the whip was still entangled with Augus's divine clone. But this Tarosa, wielding the narrow longsword, had forced Hambrit back with a single move.
"Augus, let's go!" Hambrit urgently transmitted through divine sense, no longer wanting to fight, and immediately fled toward the northern horizon.
"Ah—"
Augus's Light Element divine clone and Fire Element divine clone both twisted their faces in fury, letting out unwilling roars. He truly couldn't accept it. He had sent his Fire Element clone to deal with Dylin, prepared to lose a clone if necessary.
Even if he lost a divine clone, he wanted to kill Olivier! All for... avenging his son!
But Tarosa also had another clone, and judging by its strength, it was the opposite of his own. Tarosa's hidden Destruction Element clone was no weaker than his Water Element clone.
Letting out an unwilling roar, Augus's two divine clones turned into red and white beams of light, fleeing toward the northern horizon.
"It's finally over." Most people in Dragonblood Castle breathed a sigh of relief.
The guards and maids who had hidden themselves were also terrified. A battle of this level... ordinary people like them would die if caught in the aftermath, their souls shattered.
"Tarosa, why do you always hide your strength? At this point, you couldn't even leave one of them behind?" Dylin said somewhat dissatisfied. "Don't tell me you don't have the ability. Your abilities are definitely greater than what I know!"
Dylin and Tarosa had lived together on the Yulan continent ten thousand years ago and were once friends.
They each knew the other's innate abilities well.
"Haha. Don't talk about me." Tarosa merged his two clones into one and smiled at Dylin. "Dylin, why did you only use your devouring ability once? If you had used it again, you might have swallowed Augus's Fire Element divine clone."
Dylin glanced at Tarosa: "Use it again? Easy to say. If I used it again, my divine power would be completely exhausted! Damn it. I failed the first time. I was hoping to kill both of them in one go."
This innate ability was too overpowering.
But using it consumed a tremendous amount of internal energy. The number of times it could be used had nothing to do with strength.
If one was weak, they could only use it two or three times, but each time was weaker. If one was strong, they could also only use it two or three times, but each time was devastating.
"You're always too greedy. If five thousand years ago you hadn't been so greedy, trying to get some lower-level godhoods for your sons by using your devouring ability, you wouldn't have angered Lord Beirut and gotten yourself locked in the planar prison." Tarosa laughed.
Dylin just snorted and said nothing more.
Recalling the events of five thousand years ago made him uncomfortable.
Dylin and Tarosa talked as they walked toward Linley and the others. Linley, the War God, and the others, having witnessed this battle, all felt the gap between themselves and mid-level gods. With their current strength, they would be nothing but lambs to the slaughter before a mid-level god.
"Lord Tarosa, Lord Dylin, thank you!" Olivier stepped forward and said solemnly.
"It's nothing. Just try to cause fewer problems, kid." Tarosa said with a faint smile.