Chapter 11: Surprise
Odin’s sudden self-destruction startled the eighty-two divine-level experts. They waited nervously, their hearts pounding.
Suddenly—
Linley turned his head to look at them. Among the eighty-two divine-level experts, someone immediately spoke up: “Lord Linley, we have fully carried out your orders. Please spare us.” “What happened in the past was all ordered by Lord Odin; we had no choice.”
A chorus of pleas for mercy arose.
“Father, you cannot spare them!” Taylor shouted anxiously from behind.
“Hmm?” Linley turned to look.
Renault, standing beside Taylor, said urgently, “Third brother, these eighty-two absolutely cannot be spared. Back then, those Saints weren’t killed by Odin himself—it was these lackeys. George was killed by them. And Dixie was also murdered by them!”
“It was them.” Delia looked over, her gaze filled with hatred.
What status did Odin have? Would he personally go kill Saints? Nine out of ten evil deeds were carried out by these underlings.
The eighty-two grew panicked: “Lord Linley, this isn’t our fault. It was Lord Odin who gave the orders!”
Linley’s cold gaze swept over them. One divine-level expert, terrified, immediately tried to flee, sending a divine sense transmission: “Run!” From Linley’s eyes, he sensed something was wrong. As one fled, the other eighty-one also attempted to escape.
Some flew into the sky, some tried to burrow into the ground—
“Hum—” A brown earthen-yellow light instantly spread out, forming a massive spherical region several kilometers in diameter, penetrating two kilometers into the earth. Within this spherical region, all eighty-two divine-level experts were trapped, bound by a gravitational force that even a Seven-Star Demon would struggle to withstand.
“Bang!” A few of them, with fragile bodies, collapsed instantly.
Fortunately, divine-level experts wouldn’t die as long as their souls remained intact. Though the eighty-two were pulled uncontrollably toward Linley by the powerful gravity, at least they survived.
“Lord Linley,” the divine-level experts, who had been jumping around moments ago, now begged for mercy.
“Father, kill them. Avenge Uncle,” Taylor urged.
“Third brother,” Renault added.
Linley coldly swept his gaze over the eighty-two: “Yes, you were Odin’s subordinates and had to follow his orders. But over these thousand-plus years, you never left the Yulan Plane. You willingly stayed here… You chose to obey Odin. Death is your own doing!”
If these people had wanted to break free from Odin, they could have gone directly to the Arctic Icefield and traveled to a higher plane. Odin couldn’t have stopped them.
“Linley, you, you—”
The eighty-two either begged in terror, cursed, or muttered to themselves. But under the gravitational force, they rapidly flew to Linley’s side. A surge of powerful earthen divine power erupted from Linley’s body, shooting out like sharp arrows, piercing through all eighty-two.
A low, rumbling sound—the eighty-two turned to dust.
“Wharton, handle these things.” The divine sparks, space rings, and divine artifacts on the ground were swept up by a surge of divine power and floated before Wharton. These lower-level and mid-level divine sparks were still precious in a material plane.
Wharton quickly collected everything.
“Let’s go back.” Linley’s face showed no smile as he shot straight into the sky.
The others from Dragonblood Castle followed him into the air, leaving only two Saints behind. These two Saints walked directly toward the bound envoy from the Baruch Empire. The soldiers guarding the envoy, seeing this, panicked and untied him.
“Haha, your Odin Empire is finished,” the envoy declared loudly.
The ministers of the Odin Empire looked at each other. They understood… before the overwhelming power of the Baruch Empire, the Odin Empire was indeed finished. Moreover, many key members of the empire who had been soul-controlled by Odin would surely rebel now that Odin was dead.
“The empire is finished.”
The battle at the Odin Empire’s capital—Linley’s sudden appearance, killing Odin and the eighty-two divine-level experts—threw the entire Yulan Continent into chaos again. The many powerful figures once controlled by Odin, now freed, were furious and immediately rebelled against the Odin Empire.
Overnight, the Odin Empire collapsed.
Although Odin had more than these eighty-two divine-level experts under him, with a few scattered across the Yulan Continent, they fled in terror to the Arctic Icefield upon learning of Odin’s and the eighty-two’s deaths, leaving the Yulan Plane.
The Odin Empire split at an astonishing speed.
Meanwhile, the Baruch Empire expanded rapidly. And across the Yulan Continent, news of Linley spread once more.
“This Grandmaster Linley disappeared for nearly two thousand years, and now he’s popped up again.”
“Emperor Odin was actually killed.”
The entire Yulan Continent buzzed with tales of this battle.
Half a month had passed since Odin’s death. During this time, Linley, Bebe, and the others stayed at Dragonblood Castle. Though Linley knew Odin’s strongest death-type divine clone had gone to the Underworld, the Underworld was so vast—how could he search for him? It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“Third brother, drink less,” Renault said.
At that moment, Linley and Renault were sitting across from each other in the courtyard, drinking and chatting. But when the conversation turned to Odin and Yale, Linley started drinking nonstop, bottle after bottle.
“Third brother.” Renault grabbed Linley’s arm to stop him.
Linley set the bottle aside heavily, looking bitterly at Renault, and sighed softly: “Fourth brother, my heart aches!”
Linley looked up, tears glistening in his eyes: “Every time I think of Big Brother Yale’s situation, it hurts. Is this really avenging him? At best, I killed Odin’s wind-type divine clone. That wind-type divine clone is far less important to Odin than his death-type one. And Odin is still living it up in the Underworld.”
“And Big Brother Yale? He was so broken that he asked you to kill him.” Thinking of what Yale had endured, Linley felt indignant, his chest tight with anger. “I really want to go to the Underworld, find Odin, and kill him. But finding him is too hard. The Underworld is just too vast!”
The Underworld and Hell were both higher planes.
Looking at the size of Hell, it was clear—if Odin was hiding in some corner of the Underworld, even spending billions of years searching might not find him.
“Third brother.” Renault was also sad but tried to comfort him. “It’s not your fault. Big Brother Yale died unjustly, terribly unjust! But if you hadn’t come back this time, the rest of us wouldn’t even have been able to kill Odin’s wind-type divine clone. You’ve done enough. I think… if Big Brother Yale knew, he’d find some comfort.”
Linley smiled bitterly.
At best, it was only slight comfort.
In terms of pain, humiliation, and torment, Yale had suffered far more than Odin. Killing the wind-type divine clone had little effect on Odin. He was still a Seven-Star Demon, still a powerful figure in the Underworld. Thinking of Odin living freely there made Linley feel wronged.
He wanted to torment Odin, but with his means, this was all he could do.
“That Odin deserves to die,” Linley couldn’t help saying again.
“He does. He deserves to die ten thousand times and still not be enough,” Renault said fiercely. “If he had just killed Big Brother Yale cleanly, I wouldn’t hate him this much. But he…” Renault recalled the last time he saw Yale, the broken, desolate look on his face.
Yale was too pitiful!
He was nearly insane.
“Sigh!” Linley, furious, slammed his fist on the table. “Bang!” The table shattered.
“Boss, boss!” A voice came from afar.
Linley turned to see Beirut, dressed in a black robe, walking in with Bebe. Wharton, Delia, Nisse, Windi, and the others followed behind. Beirut looked at the shattered table in surprise: “Oh, Linley, what’s going on? Why did you break the table?”
“Lord Beirut.” Linley forced a smile. His mood was indeed bad.
“Still brooding over your brother’s matter?” Beirut said with a faint smile.
Linley didn’t respond. Deep down, he was somewhat dissatisfied with Beirut. Beirut, being in the Yulan Plane, must have known about Odin’s death-type divine clone leaving. Yet Beirut hadn’t stopped it. But Linley wouldn’t say anything.
Because…
Why should Beirut help him? Helping occasionally was already generous. He couldn’t expect Beirut to handle everything.
“I know the whole story,” Beirut said with a soft sigh. “I originally planned to leave Odin for you to take revenge. But at that time, I happened to be investigating the Necropolis of the Gods. During that period, Odin’s death-type divine clone went to the Underworld.” Beirut’s voluntary explanation made Linley feel grateful.
Actually, Beirut didn’t need to explain.
Explaining meant Beirut considered Linley family.
“The Underworld.” Delia shook her head. “It’s too vast. Finding Odin is too hard.”
“What a pity,” Beirut remarked.
Bebe sighed helplessly: “And Grandpa just happened to be at the Necropolis of the Gods at that time!” Suddenly, Bebe’s eyes lit up, and he looked up at Beirut. “Grandpa, my boss said we’re going to explore the Necropolis of the Gods this time. When will you open it?” This was something Linley and Bebe had discussed back in Hell.
Returning this time, exploring the Necropolis was indeed part of the plan. But after the Odin incident, Linley had lost the mood.
“Explore the Necropolis of the Gods?” Beirut raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “Bebe, going to the Necropolis wouldn’t mean much for you. As for Linley…” Beirut looked at Linley. Linley listened intently, thinking: “Last time I went to the Necropolis, I felt something deep inside calling to me. I wonder what’s there.”
“Linley, you really should enter the Necropolis of the Gods once,” Beirut said with a faint smile. “But for now, your strength isn’t enough.”
“Not enough?” Linley was stunned.
In terms of strength, he was quite good—close to the level of a Sovereign. Yet in Beirut’s eyes, it wasn’t enough.
“As far as I know, your current strength comes from the Violet Lord God, right?” Beirut chuckled. “Your true strength is still far off.”
“Lord Beirut, when will it be enough?” Linley pressed.
Beirut smiled lightly: “Reach the level of Qinghuo.”
The Qinghuo level?
Linley was slightly puzzled but then understood. Actually, he had no mood to explore the Necropolis recently. The matter with Yale had exhausted him.
“Sigh, your brother died truly unjustly,” Beirut lamented. “It’s a pity I’m not an envoy of the Underworld’s Sovereign. Otherwise, I could ask the Underworld’s Sovereign to help find the undead formed from your brother’s soul after death. A Sovereign could easily restore their past-life memories.”
Linley was stunned.
“Souls drawn into the Underworld?” Linley’s mind exploded. “Right! As long as the soul isn’t destroyed, they aren’t truly dead. Even if they become undead in the Underworld, the soul still exists! They can regain their memories! Yes, Big Brother Yale, Second Brother, Dixie, and… my father!!!”
Linley’s face flushed red.
Red with excitement!
Linley’s greatest regret was his father dying so early, so unwillingly. His father never knew he had avenged him, killed the enemy, or that the Baruch clan had been restored.
And Yale, who died unjustly, and his brothers.
“Lord Beirut…” Linley quickly spoke.
“Lord Beirut, my brother…” Delia also spoke urgently.
“Lord Beirut, Big Brother Yale…” Renault joined in.
In an instant, everyone excitedly pressed for answers.
PS: Chapter one here.