Chapter 25: Blood Spills Across the Sky
The other experts on the metallic life form frowned. To have a middle god come begging for help disgusted them. How could they take such a small fry seriously?
"Help!" Linley cried out in panic, but his gaze pierced through the transparent metal, clearly seeing those inside.
"Keep this up, and we'll kill you," one of the Six Star Fiends snarled.
"Haha, kid. You can't escape." That group of bandits and robbers flew over as well. However, they dared not disturb the metallic life form, afraid that the experts inside might take their anger out on them.
"Let's go. Don't bother with them." The bald-headed captain said indifferently.
"Boom!" Suddenly, the metallic life form exploded violently. All the experts inside were instantly jolted awake, and at the same time, a hazy, earthy yellow halo spread out, covering a spherical space five hundred meters in diameter—the Blackstone Space!
Maximum gravitational pull, directed toward Linley!
"Whoosh, whoosh~" The metal fragments of the metallic life form also flew toward Linley at extreme speed. Amid the chaotic explosion, the experts inside still had no idea what was happening.
Especially the bald-headed captain. He stared in shock as a dragon-scale-covered claw arrived before his eyes!
"Not good! It's the Azure Dragon clan!" The bald-headed captain only had time to realize this.
"Pfft!"
Linley's claw, like lightning, plunged directly into the bald-headed captain's head. "Boom!" The skull exploded, blood splattering everywhere, mingling with the wreckage of the metallic life form as it scattered in all directions. A Highgod divine spark landed in Linley's palm.
In an instant, a Seven Star Fiend was dead!
This Seven Star Fiend died most unjustly. Linley had been flying at the window of the metallic life form, only five or six meters away from the bald-headed captain. For an expert like Linley, that distance was nothing...
In the blink of an eye, he had killed his enemy!
The blame could only fall on this Seven Star Fiend for not being vigilant, for never suspecting that the middle god begging for help could actually be a Seven Star Fiend!
"One." Linley's dark golden eyes swept over the others. Earlier, through the transparent metal, he had seen everyone inside and could only guess that the bald-headed man was the leader. He couldn't distinguish the rest.
So, Linley's first target was this man.
"Whoosh, whoosh~"
Under the terrifying gravitational pull of the Blackstone Space, these experts struggled to resist it, and they were shocked to discover that their captain had been killed in an instant.
"Captain!" Several Fiends couldn't help but cry out.
"So he was the captain." Linley was overjoyed. His guess had been correct. By ambushing and killing a Seven Star Fiend, he had already completed a large part of this mission.
Only then did those Fiends understand!
"So he's an expert from the Four Divine Beasts clan." They also noticed Linley's Dragonform.
"Mr. Mosley." They immediately sent a mental message to the other Seven Star Fiend.
Mosley, from the Ashcroft family, specialized in soul attacks and was the other Seven Star Fiend in this team. Now that the captain, 'Koro,' had fallen in battle, Mosley naturally took command.
"Hiding his aura to such a terrifying degree." Mosley was also greatly alarmed. "Even I didn't realize he was actually a super expert."
Mosley's thinking went down the wrong path. Unable to detect Linley's Highgod aura, he assumed Linley was skilled at concealing his presence and was an expert in soul attacks: "To hide his aura so well, he must be an expert in soul attacks."
"Physical attacks. Kill him." Mosley immediately sent a mental message to the Six Star Fiends.
"Yes."
All the Six Star Fiends acknowledged the order.
"Boom!" An astonishing wave of energy spread out. The other ten Six Star Fiends, lying in ambush more than ten miles away from Linley, were instantly jolted awake. Having just received intelligence reports, their attention had been highly focused.
"The battle has started!" The ten of them changed expression.
"Captain!" Melina grew anxious.
"Hurry. Attack!" Shanta shouted in a low voice, flying up first. The other nine Six Star Fiends also rushed over at top speed.
Although it was over ten miles away, for Six Star Fiends, that distance could be covered in the blink of an eye.
"Captain, you have to hold on."
The ten Six Star Fiends silently prayed in their hearts. Over ten miles, a Six Star Fiend only needed a second to cover. But in a single second, in a battle between super experts, several exchanges could occur.
In battles between Six Star Fiends and Seven Star Fiends, life and death were decided in thousandths or ten-thousandths of a second.
"Physical attacks!"
All the Six Star Fiends received the order and trusted Mosley's judgment. They knew that among the Four Divine Beasts clan, the Black Tortoise clan had the strongest physical defense. The Azure Dragon clan wasn't particularly strong in physical defense, except for their three famous members.
And Linley...
Was clearly not one of those three, nor was he on the list of people they needed to be wary of in their intelligence. His body probably wasn't that strong.
Without hesitation, the Six Star Fiends, while barely resisting the gravitational pull, began to gather power for their strongest physical attacks. Amid the exploding metal fragments flying at extreme speed within the Blackstone Space, white mist spread out.
Like a dream or an illusion, amidst a series of strange, phantom shadows...
"Swoosh!" A completely transparent ice spear tore through space, piercing toward Linley.
"Hah!" With a shout, his clothes burst apart. A burly expert from the Barbary clan wielded a massive ice blade, its edge shimmering with light. Holding this blade, he struck down from above with overwhelming force toward Linley.
"Crackle!"
A dozen ice needles, as thin as embroidery needles, shot forward. Transparent and fine, they were hard to notice if one wasn't paying attention.
Seeing the enemy's reaction, Linley couldn't help but curl his lips.
"Second one!" Linley shot directly toward the burly man swinging the ice blade at him, completely ignoring the ice needles flying at him from behind. With a series of "pfft, pfft" sounds, the ice needles struck Linley's dragon scales but shattered on impact, leaving only white marks.
"Not good." The Six Star Fiends surrounding Linley changed expression.
Especially the giant swinging the ice blade. His heart trembled.
"You can't escape." A voice echoed in his mind. This Six Star Fiend saw a pair of cold, dark golden eyes. Feeling the terrifying gravitational pull and knowing he couldn't flee, he let out a roar.
"Die!" The burly man's face twisted in fury as he roared and brought down the blade with all his might.
Where the ice blade passed, space left a phantom shadow, revealing the spatial tears it had cut.
"Whoosh!" A phantom suddenly lashed out. The air vibrated violently from the speed, creating a sonic boom. A dragon tail slammed heavily into the ice blade. The terrifying force contained in the dragon tail was fully transferred to the blade.
The burly man felt his hands go numb. The ice blade was knocked away, and the palms gripping it were split open, blood streaming down.
"Go with your captain." The voice echoed in his mind.
"No." The burly man roared, his entire body erupting with streams of water that coiled around him.
"Whoosh!"
After knocking away the ice blade, Linley's dragon tail whipped back in the opposite direction, striking the burly man's head with brutal force. It had to be said that Linley's body was simply too strong, and his strength too terrifying.
"Boom!" With a violent shock, the burly man's head exploded. A divine spark drifted down.
Another Six Star Fiend dead!
The group of bandits and robbers stood dumbfounded, watching the scene unfold. Linley had cast the 'Blackstone Space' specifically so that the Earth divine power on the surface of these bandits' bodies would prevent them from being affected by the gravitational pull.
After all, having the bandits sucked in would only get in the way.
The bandits had already flown out of the Blackstone Space's range, but the battle happening above left them stunned.
The battle was too fast!
The power was too terrifying!
"That's a spatial tear, a spatial tear!" A middle-god bandit exclaimed foolishly. Being able to tear through the space of the Infernal Realm required at least a Six Star Fiend skilled in physical attacks. These bandits had never seen such a thing in their lives.
Tearing spatial tears in the Infernal Realm was something they had only heard of in legends.
"That ice spear that tore through space hit that middle god, and he's fine!" The bandits were even more dumbfounded.
A body that could withstand attacks capable of tearing spatial tears... That body was too terrifying.
"He... he..." The bandits stared in disbelief at Linley in his Dragonform.
"That middle god, we just..."
"What middle god? He's an expert. A Six Star Fiend. No, a Seven Star Fiend! A true super expert. He was just hiding his strength earlier." The bandit leader shouted, "Quick, retreat to a distance and watch. Don't get caught up in this. If this battle so much as grazes us, we're dead."
"Yes, yes."
The bandits were completely shaken. They hurriedly fled farther away.
From Linley killing the captain to taking down another Six Star Fiend, it had all happened in the blink of an eye. This instant had completely stunned the more than ten experts on the opposing side.
"Mr. Mosley, his body is very strong." Those Six Star Fiends sent mental messages.
"Our full physical attacks can't even harm him."
Linley had barely dodged earlier. Even the attacks that landed on him didn't faze him. If he wasn't afraid of a Seven Star Fiend's physical attacks, why would he fear those of Six Star Fiends?
"Skilled in soul attacks and strong in physical defense." Mosley sensed trouble. Then, he made a decision in his heart. "Physical attacks are useless against him. I'll have to rely on soul attacks. I need to see if he can withstand my soul attack too."
Mosley had no choice.
"Soul attacks. Surround him!" Mosley ordered.
Mosley knew that even if someone's soul defense was strong, if they were hit by a large number of soul attacks simultaneously, they would still be finished. A true expert could withstand a group assault not because they could block everyone at once, but because only a very few attacks would actually hit them.
"Third one!" Linley immediately locked onto Mosley.
Based on the reactions of the enemy group, Linley judged that this strange man with a green snake hanging from his ear was likely a formidable opponent.
"Swoosh." Linley shot straight toward him.
While resisting the gravitational pull, Mosley couldn't escape Linley's pursuit. Mosley didn't try to flee either. He extended his right hand, and his eyes emitted a hazy black light. His lips moved, muttering something.
"Captain!" At that moment, Melina and the others flew over at top speed.
Linley was delighted. He flipped his right hand, and a strange purple light flared up. The Bloodviolet flexible sword, infused with Linley's power, slashed directly at Mosley.
With the immense strength of his body combined with the 'Profound Truths of Velocity,' the Bloodviolet sword reached an extreme speed.
As the sword passed, spatial tears appeared.
Mosley struck out with his right palm toward Linley, and a translucent black handprint, shimmering with black light, shot toward Linley. Linley's expression changed. At this moment, the other Six Star Fiends also began to unleash their soul attacks.
"Hah." Linley quickly altered the gravitational space.
Gravity downward!
Caught off guard, the Six Star Fiends plummeted, their soul attacks disrupted.
"Pfft." The translucent black handprint, shimmering with black light, flew directly into Linley's body, impossible to block. Linley himself quickly distanced himself from the enemy, focusing all his energy on resisting the soul attack.
The black handprint merged into Linley's body and shot straight toward his mind.
"Not good." Linley's expression changed drastically.
He shot up into the sky, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the enemy, afraid they would continue attacking.
"Boom!" The black handprint entered his mind and slammed directly into the 'transparent membrane.' It trembled slightly, as if about to disperse. But strangely, the black handprint spread out, covering his entire mind, instantly finding a weak point.
Suddenly, the dispersed black energy condensed, forming into a needle shape, and stabbed directly toward the gap in the membrane—