Chapter 17: The Battle for the Heavy Treasure
The golden magma lake churned and roiled continuously, and the massive, blazing red boulders that had been shooting everywhere finally ceased.
Linley and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, the broken or shattered fragments of stone on the ground all levitated. Everyone immediately became alert, ready to defend themselves. These floating stone fragments flew toward the walls, which were pockmarked with deep pits on all sides, merging into the pits. With a squirming motion, all the stone walls in the cave returned to a smooth, flat state.
It seemed as if the earlier barrage of boulders had been a dream.
“Whew.” Linley and the others relaxed.
“There are even fewer people alive now.” Delia said softly. Everyone in the cave felt a sense of oppression. That wave of boulders was just an appetizer; the main course hadn’t even arrived yet. Yet, fewer than ten middle gods remained alive.
The highgod demon Sprey spoke loudly, “Everyone, we—”
“Boom!”
Very abruptly, three thick, long bolts of lightning shot out from the distant tunnel entrance, rapidly darting toward the white-horned old man. Most strangely, each of these three thick lightning bolts had a blade of light at its head.
“Hmm!” Salomon frowned slightly.
The white-horned old man immediately became serious. His figure flickered, and suddenly, the entire cave was filled with floating clones, a full three hundred of them. Each clone emanated his soul aura, making it impossible to discern which was the true body.
“Haha!” A wild, arrogant laugh rang out. The three lightning bolts twisted and transformed into three figures—the Edwards brothers.
“Edwards brothers! What are you doing!” The white-horned old man’s three hundred clones throughout the cave roared in unison. “What are you doing!” “What are you doing!” … The angry shouts echoed continuously within the cave, and the roar itself contained a strange, rippling force.
Linley and the other middle gods involuntarily felt their heads spin.
“Sound law?” Linley was startled.
The Edwards brothers had already separated, standing at three of the cave’s tunnel entrances, blocking the white-horned old man’s escape.
“What are we doing?” The eldest of the Edwards brothers sneered. Then he opened his mouth. “Roar!” With this earth-shaking roar, countless bolts of lightning spread out, covering the entire cave. Then, these lightning bolts separated, gathering at two opposite ends.
At one end, the lightning condensed; at the other, it radiated outwards.
“Crackle—”
The lightning at both ends formed a peculiar radiation zone. The three hundred clones were within this radiation zone. But it wasn’t just the three hundred clones; Linley and the other demons were also in this zone. This time, Linley and the others were in trouble.
“Linley, Bebe, this is a material attack from the lightning laws, albeit a rather peculiar one. Protect yourselves.” Salomon sent a divine sense transmission.
At the same time, Salomon spread his hands, and two streams of black light spread out, enveloping Delia and Nis.
A material attack!
Bebe’s body was incredibly tough; he wasn’t afraid.
“Thanks.” Linley sent a divine sense transmission to Salomon. It was good enough that he was willing to protect Delia.
“Ah!” In an instant, Linley felt a shocking, strange electrical force trying to pierce his Pulse Guard armor, not only from the front but also from the back. However, the Pulse Guard’s defense was indeed astonishing. Linley held on.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” …
The three hundred clones exploded one by one. Among the middle god demons caught in the blast, aside from Linley and his group, only two middle god demons managed to survive. The rest perished.
“Second brother, third brother, help out too.” The other two Edwards brothers also opened their mouths.
With two more angry roars, even more lightning spread out. Countless bolts of lightning gathered at the two ends, and the penetrating power increased once more. The two surviving middle god demons screamed in agony, their bodies turned to dust by the lightning, leaving only their divine sparks to fall.
“Hmph!” Salomon grunted softly. The black light enveloping Nis and Delia grew denser, and Salomon’s expression turned somewhat ferocious. “Damn it, these three bastards have gone mad.” Salomon growled.
Bebe’s body was extremely tough; even with this increased electrical penetration, he could still withstand it. But the Pulse Guard armor on Linley’s surface began to tremble violently.
“Not good.” Linley clearly saw countless tiny, needle-like sparks of electricity piercing his Pulse Guard armor again and again. The armor vibrated intensely. At this point, Linley stopped hiding and immediately transformed back into his true form.
“Hmm?”
The Edwards brothers were shocked and looked at Linley.
His body was covered in cyan-gold dragon scales, with a faint cyan light flowing around him. An ancient, powerful aura emanated from Linley’s draconic form, enough to make even the highgods take notice. His formidable draconic body was completely unafraid of the lightning penetration.
“He is?” The Edwards brothers exchanged glances, each forming some conjectures.
A body this strong was definitely not that of an ordinary dragonblood warrior, and the aura was terrifying.
“No matter who he is, our target is just that white-horned old man. Brothers, let’s move.” The Edwards brothers leaped up almost simultaneously, each wielding a thin short blade, with faint lightning crackling along its edge.
The white-horned old man roared in anger, wielding his long staff as he struck down!
“Crackle—” Cracks appeared in the space around them.
“The old man has been hiding his strength all along!” The Edwards brothers’ faces turned vicious. The eldest met the staff head-on with his short blade.
“Boom!”
It was like a thunderclap. The long staff in the white-horned old man’s hand also crackled with lightning. He couldn’t help but tremble slightly. Meanwhile, the other two Edwards brothers shot forward like arrows, their speed so fast that even Linley was shocked.
“This is a complete massacre!” Linley frowned and glanced at Salomon beside him.
This was Salomon’s old servant!
But Salomon remained motionless, watching in silence. It was clear that Salomon had no intention of interfering… or rather, lacked the ability to do so.
“Alas, this old man is going to die.” Linley sighed inwardly.
“Roar!” A deafening dragon roar was heard. A lightning dragon roared, opening its maw and swallowing the white-horned old man whole. In the moment before death, the old man let out a frantic scream. A low, muffled explosion followed.
Then, the lightning dragon dissipated, and the white-horned old man’s corpse lay on the ground.
The eldest of the Edwards brothers immediately picked up the spatial ring. All three of them had smiles on their faces.
“Finally got it!” The Edwards brothers were ecstatic.
The golden light reflected from the boiling magma shone on the spatial ring, making it dazzling!
Linley, however, was now paying attention to Salomon and Nis beside him. Salomon remained very calm, but tears glistened in the corners of Nis’s eyes.
“Salomon definitely doesn’t want to reveal his identity. Now that both old men are dead, strictly speaking, our escort mission no longer has an employer.” Linley thought to himself. Then he glanced at the overjoyed Edwards brothers in the distance.
Linley himself knew very well that the real heavy treasure was probably on Salomon!
“Haha!” Suddenly, a cold, sinister laugh echoed in the cave. Everyone, including the Edwards brothers, turned to look. A figure walked out from one of the cave’s tunnels, completely shrouded in a black robe!
The black-robed man had a pale face and held a golden-furred cat in his arms. He said calmly, “You three brothers dare to covet the heavy treasure of the Boyce family?”
At these words, the Edwards brothers’ faces changed drastically.
“Put down that spatial ring obediently, and I might spare your lives and let you leave.” The black-robed man, Asquen, said coldly.
Linley and the others wisely retreated to a corner of the cave.
“Looks like it’s getting more and more interesting.” Bebe’s eyes sparkled.
Linley, however, was watching Salomon. Salomon now had a cold sneer on his face. Clearly, the Edwards brothers’ predicament was satisfying to him. But Linley was also puzzled: “Isn’t Salomon worried that this black-robed man will eventually come for him too?”
“The Boyce family’s heavy treasure? Dream on!” The eldest of the Edwards brothers roared.
“Boom!”
The three of them simultaneously transformed into three giant lightning serpents, charging at Asquen.
Asquen held the cat in his left arm and extended his right hand. His right hand was covered in a transparent glove, through which the hand was clearly visible—a hand that was blackened and had a scorched, yellowish look.
Lifeless!
He extended his right hand and simply slapped it toward the three attackers. The three lightning serpents strangely shattered inch by inch. The three giant serpents immediately transformed back into the Edwards brothers. The Edwards brothers were terrified and, without hesitation, chose to—
Flee in three different directions, each heading for a tunnel. After the exchange, the Edwards brothers clearly realized that they were no match for this black-robed man. The gap in strength was too great. “He’s at least a Seven Star Demon, maybe even a retired Asura!” The three brothers were panic-stricken.
“Flee?” Asquen smiled faintly. “Pusro!”
“Meow!” The cat in his arms let out a cry.
Suddenly—
The three remaining tunnels abruptly closed completely, sealing the entire cave.
Seeing this, the Edwards brothers were stunned. They turned to look at each other, and then the eldest said respectfully, “My lord, we three brothers no longer want this heavy treasure. We offer it to you, my lord, hoping that you will spare our lives as you said earlier.”
“Oh, you don’t want it anymore?” Asquen laughed.
The Edwards brothers nodded repeatedly.
“Pity. I only give people one chance! You didn’t take that chance just now—” As he spoke, Asquen’s figure instantly transformed into hundreds of phantoms, surrounding the Edwards brothers.
“Shadow Illusion Technique.” Bebe’s eyes widened in shock.
Asquen’s use of it was clearly far superior to Bebe’s, both in speed and in the number of phantoms.
The Edwards brothers couldn’t tell which one was the real body. With a “Bang!” sound, Asquen’s palm struck the head of the third brother, causing it to explode.
“Third brother!”
The eldest and second brothers’ eyes turned red. At the same time, they frantically dodged.
The Shadow Illusion Technique was terrifying because the true body could constantly shift between any of the phantoms. They might dodge one phantom, but could they dodge them all?
“You’re next.” Asquen’s voice continued to ring out.
“Bang!” Another palm suddenly struck, shattering another head.
“Second brother.” Only one was left.
“Bang!” Once again, that withered black right hand, covered in the transparent glove, smashed the head of the eldest Edwards brother.
Then, all the phantoms merged into one. The black-robed man was still holding the golden cat.
In the cave, Linley and the others didn’t dare to breathe loudly.
Too terrifying!
“Is he a Seven Star Demon? Or perhaps a former Asura?” Linley couldn’t help but make such a guess. He could see that Asquen’s speed was terrifying. With a single palm strike, the Edwards brothers couldn’t react at all.
And the power was immense. The combined attack of the Edwards brothers was easily dispersed with a single slap!
“These three fools wanted to get the Boyce family’s heavy treasure, but they didn’t even know who the real target was.” Asquen sneered. At these words, the muscles on Salomon’s face twitched involuntarily.
Asquen turned to look at Salomon and said calmly, “Boyce family brat, did you think that by hiding among the demons, I wouldn’t find you? Hand over your family’s wealth to me. I’ll give you the same chance. Give me the treasure, and I’ll let you go!”
Salomon’s face instantly turned deathly pale, drained of all color.
Salomon turned his head and glared at Linley with hatred, his eyes filled with venom!
He had only told his identity to one person—Linley!