Chapter 4: Strength in Numbers
The metallic lifeform flew at a constant, rapid speed. Inside Linley and Delia's room, Linley was gazing out the window. Below, he could see countless beings on the boundless earth—humans, beastmen, magical beasts, and many other races.
"Those are all Saint-levels," Linley could tell.
In the Infernal Realm, the most numerous beings were actually Saint-levels. Countless Saint-levels were scattered everywhere, but their lives had absolutely no guarantee.
"If I had entered the Infernal Realm back when I was still a Saint-level, that would have been disastrous," Linley thought to himself. "That Hodan tried to lure me into the Infernal Realm when I was just a Saint-level. He definitely had ill intentions."
"Linley, what are you thinking about?" Delia asked curiously.
"Nothing much." Linley shook his head with a smile. "Delia, we've been on this metallic lifeform for over ten years now, haven't we? Time really flies."
"Yeah, ten years already. Probably another ten years and we'll reach Blue Maple City. I hope you can reach the Demigod level in the Wind Elemental Laws before we get there," Delia said with a laugh.
"Let my wind-type divine clone reach the Demigod level too?" Linley himself had no confidence at all. Breaking through bottlenecks could be fast or slow—no one could ever be sure when it would happen.
Meanwhile, as Linley and Delia were talking—
Salomon and Nisse were in another room.
"Brother, why did you call me?" Nisse smiled at her brother.
Salomon looked at Nisse's current appearance. She was wearing a straw hat on her head—a gift from Bebe.
"Nisse, do you really want to be with that Bebe?" Salomon's voice was low and serious.
Nisse's smile faded, and she nodded solemnly. "Brother, to be honest, I never wanted to go to the Azure Continent in the first place. I just couldn't bear to leave you. Whenever I think about what happened to us on the Azure Continent..." Nisse clenched her fists tightly.
Salomon sighed inwardly and spoke, "I understand. Now, I want to ask you—what are your plans with Bebe?"
"Brother, Bebe is really good. Even though he likes to joke around sometimes, he's sincere with people and treats me well. Being with Bebe... I feel happy and carefree, without a single worry." Nisse had a smile on her face as she spoke. "Sometimes when I'm upset, Bebe cheers me up. Brother, don't let his joking nature fool you—Bebe is actually very sharp. He can tell whenever I'm in a bad mood."
"I really like the feeling of being with Bebe." Nisse looked at her brother. "Brother, I'm sorry."
Salomon said in a low voice, "You mean you're not going back to the Azure Continent with me?"
"No, I'm not going." Nisse shook her head.
Salomon remained silent. He had been with his sister Nisse for so many years, so naturally, he didn't want to part with her.
"Brother, I'm sorry," Nisse whispered.
Salomon shook his head and smiled. "Going back to the Azure Continent now is already somewhat dangerous. It's fine—you go with Bebe for now. Once I've settled everything on the Azure Continent, you and Bebe can come find me whenever you have time."
Nisse was overjoyed.
"Brother!" Nisse excitedly hugged her brother.
"Ha ha." Salomon laughed. "Alright, alright. But Nisse, when you're with Bebe and the others, be careful. I won't be by your side."
"I know, Brother!" Nisse quickly said. "Don't worry. We'll just take on some ordinary escort missions. There won't be any danger. Look—we've been on this metallic lifeform for ten years, and we haven't encountered a single danger."
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the metallic lifeform shook violently. Nisse and Salomon staggered slightly.
"Whoosh!" The entire metallic lifeform instantly dissipated, transforming back into a single person. Everyone inside was left floating in midair. Over a hundred people were stunned, and many demons who had been cultivating were jolted awake.
At this moment—
In front of the group of over a hundred people, a dense mass of divine-level experts was floating. The sheer number of them made the one-star and two-star demons' faces turn pale with fear.
"Boss, how many people are there?" Bebe's eyes were wide as saucers.
"It looks like nearly ten thousand," Linley said, his heart tightening. "Nearly ten thousand experts, and they all seem to be Demigods, with quite a few Gods too. If this huge group charges at us all at once..."
Linley's heart skipped a beat.
"Bebe, stay close to me. And Delia, you too. When the time comes, use the Death God Puppet," Linley quickly instructed. "At a time like this, we need to survive until that six-star demon drives off the enemy."
"Nisse, come here," Bebe immediately called out.
"Bebe." Nisse had a smile on her face and looked excited as she went to Bebe. Salomon also flew over and joined Linley's group.
Salomon looked worried and said in a low voice, "This is trouble. With so many people, even a God would be in danger if surrounded by hundreds of Demigods. Let alone nearly ten thousand Demigods here."
"Everyone!"
A clear voice rang out across the sky. "You're blocking us for nothing more than money. We don't want to fight to the death either—that wouldn't benefit anyone. Name your price. If it's within what I can bear, I'll hand it over immediately. How about that?"
The speaker was the silver-haired old man with three black horns.
The silver-haired old man was cursing inwardly: *Where the hell did this band of over ten thousand bandits come from? And there are even twenty Gods among them. I've never even heard of them!*
"Ha ha..."
The leader of the nearly ten thousand bandits, a burly man in a red robe, laughed loudly. "You're straightforward. Then we won't make things difficult for you. We have ten thousand brothers here. How about this—we won't ask for much. Just give us ten billion inkstones. What do you say?"
Ten billion inkstones!
As soon as the number was mentioned, the silver-haired old man was taken aback.
"Ten billion inkstones?" The silver-haired old man looked at the red-robed burly man in disbelief.
"Ten billion?" Bebe muttered. "That's quite a steep price."
Hearing this number, Linley thought about his own wealth of over a hundred million inkstones. *They casually ask for ten billion. It seems my little fortune really doesn't amount to much.*
"Brother, isn't ten billion inkstones a bit too high?" The silver-haired old man's tone hardened slightly. "I can't bear ten billion inkstones. How about lowering the price a little..." The silver-haired old man stared at the red-robed burly man.
The red-robed burly man had hair that looked like burning flames.
"Can't bear it?"
The red-robed burly man looked around and laughed. "Brothers, did you hear that?"
"Ha ha..." A large number of experts laughed.
The red-haired burly man's expression suddenly turned ferocious as he roared, "Kill!"
"Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" ...
The bandits all shouted in unison. As they shouted—"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" ...
Nearly ten thousand experts simultaneously launched their attacks. Some were intangible soul attacks, others were various physical attacks. The sky was filled with countless sword shadows, blade shadows, elemental beasts, and more...
Overwhelming and unstoppable, they surged toward Linley's group.
All the demons' faces changed drastically.
Even a powerful six-star demon like Rielmont couldn't withstand the simultaneous attacks of ten thousand divine-level experts. He could only protect himself and a few people nearby.
"Fall back!"
Linley shouted in a low voice. At the same time, he, Delia, Bebe, Nisse, and Salomon all dove diagonally downward at top speed. Even though they retreated quickly, the attacks were even faster. In an instant, both physical and soul attacks arrived.
Linley and the others dodged using their movement techniques, but the attacks were too numerous, too dense, and too fast!
"Swoosh!" The Death God Puppet suddenly appeared, blocking the front of Linley's group. Two sword energies slammed into the Death God Puppet, tearing open its outer flesh and revealing the metal body beneath. The metal body was completely unharmed.
However, several soul attacks ignored the Death God Puppet entirely, passing straight through its body.
"Delia." Linley directly shielded Delia with his body. A soul attack struck him.
"Nisse." Bebe similarly shielded Nisse. For a moment, Nisse was stunned.
The first wave of attacks passed.
"Linley, are you alright?" Delia asked worriedly. Linley turned to her with a smile. "Delia, don't you know my abilities?" When it came to soul defense, Linley was the best. A single long-range soul attack couldn't possibly harm him.
"Bebe, Bebe." Nisse was extremely anxious, tears even welling up in her eyes. "Bebe, are you okay?" Nisse was on the verge of crying. Although she had known Bebe for a long time, they had never faced danger before, so she didn't know his true strength.
All she knew was that Bebe was also a Demigod.
Bebe, however, was holding Nisse's waist. "Let's run first. No time for talk." He dove downward, and Nisse's face lit up with joy.
"That kid." Salomon nodded approvingly. "It seems I can trust my sister to him."
All the demons scattered and fled in all directions.
"Ha ha, none of you will escape. Kill! Kill!!!" The red-robed burly man roared. Several Gods led their teams in pursuit of the fleeing demons. The remaining dozen or so Gods, along with nearly five thousand Demigods, chased after the silver-haired old man who had hired them.
In fact, the employer wasn't just the silver-haired old man with black horns. There was also another silver-haired old man with white horns. The two silver-haired old men exchanged glances.
"Mr. Rielmont, and the three Mr. Edwards, it's up to you," the black-horned silver-haired old man said.
"Don't worry," Rielmont said calmly. The three Edwards brothers were equally confident.
Linley, Delia, Bebe, Nisse, and Salomon formed a small group. They were currently being chased by several hundred Demigods.
"Trying to catch us?"
Linley held Delia's hand, and his speed suddenly skyrocketed. At this point, Linley's two profound mysteries—Speed and Slowness—were both at their bottlenecks, just a step away from mastery. His speed far exceeded that of ordinary Demigods.
Bebe was also incredibly fast. He held Nisse's hand. As for Salomon, being a God, he naturally kept up easily.
Soon, they shook off the hundreds of Demigods chasing them.
"Numbers really are troublesome," Salomon said bitterly. If he, Salomon, had to fight several hundred Demigods, he might be able to kill them all, but he might also die himself. After all, too many Demigods were too much.
For example—
If he were hit by ten soul attacks at once, even he would be finished.
"Bebe." Nisse's face was flushed red as she looked at Bebe. "Thank you."
Bebe immediately grinned. "Nisse, thank me for what? Between us, do we even need to say thank you?" Seeing the playful look on Bebe's face, Nisse deliberately snorted. Linley, Delia, and Salomon couldn't help but smile at the scene.
"Another group of Demigods. Let's go!" Linley immediately sent a mental message. There were simply too many Demigods. They had just evaded one group of several hundred when another group spotted them. Linley's group immediately darted away.
In terms of speed, they still had the advantage.
Suddenly—
"Boom!" The entire world trembled. Invisible spatial ripples spread out. Trees and stones touched by the ripples instantly turned to dust.
Linley and the other five looked up in shock at the sky. Not just Linley—every surviving demon on the battlefield, as well as the nearly ten thousand bandits, all looked up—
Rielmont stood in the air, sword in hand. The bodies of over a dozen Gods fell from the sky at the same time.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" From among the falling bodies, eight of them suddenly released divine clones, which fled in all directions.
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**Announcement (Today's update will be delayed until late at night)**
Tomato spent Christmas Eve and Christmas busy with the novel, without accompanying his girlfriend... So, uh, his girlfriend is angry.
To be honest, I feel guilty toward her.
So, today I'll be with her... probably until very, very late...
I'll come back late at night.
When I get back, I'll start writing. No problem—I'll definitely update two chapters today...
I'm off... to be with my girlfriend.