Chapter 23: An Eerie Situation
Several afterimages darted swiftly through the misty forest region of the Nether Mountain.
“Stop.” Linley growled.
Linley and his four companions noticed that no one was chasing them. “Those highgods trapped in illusions, why are they all chasing us like madmen?” Bebe said indignantly. The effeminate man sneered, “They’re already mad!”
“They’re trapped in illusions!” The purple-haired youth, Bruron, barked angrily.
“I said they were mad, not you. Why are you getting worked up?” The effeminate man looked somewhat surprised.
The purple-haired youth snorted coldly.
“Stop arguing.” Linley glanced around and said in a low voice, “Whether these people are trapped in illusions or have gone mad, at least their souls have been affected by the gray mist and are no longer normal. I didn’t expect that killing would attract others. It seems… we must speed up and get out of this gray mist zone as quickly as possible.”
“No rush,” the effeminate man said with a smile. “Maybe there’s a Netherworld Fruit within this gray mist zone.”
Linley shot him a glance.
The Netherworld Fruit could appear anywhere in the Nether Mountain, though the purple mist zone had the highest probability and the white mist zone the lowest.
“If you want to stay in this gray mist zone, I don’t mind,” Linley said coldly. “Let’s move!” With that, Linley and Bebe continued forward. Valette and the purple-haired youth didn’t hesitate and followed Linley. The effeminate man frowned in displeasure, but after looking around, he still followed.
A heavy, gray mist swirled around them.
Linley’s group of five advanced cautiously, alert. If they sensed killing ahead, they would take a detour. Linley and the others had noticed that within the Nether Mountain, walking in a straight line based on intuition never led to the destination. But wandering aimlessly and trying a few times often succeeded.
Step by step, they advanced.
It seemed slow, but in reality, it was quite fast.
“Whoosh!”
A fiery red afterimage suddenly descended from the sky, and the space itself seemed to boil and tremble. An overwhelming aura enveloped Linley as the fiery red figure lunged straight at him, who was in the lead. Linley’s cold, dark-golden eyes swept over, and a layer of earthy yellow light instantly spread from his body, directly enveloping the afterimage!
Blackstone Space! Repulsive Force!
At the same time, Linley moved his wrist. The completely transparent Mirage Sword let out a “pfft” sound, like tearing through paper. A large crack appeared in the space above Linley.
The figure, caught off guard by the sudden change in speed within the Blackstone Space, was directly sliced across the head by Linley’s sword.
One slash, split in two!
Dead!
The purple-haired youth Bruron, the effeminate man, and Valette couldn’t help but feel shock in their hearts. The ambusher’s aura had made space tremble, clearly showing his strength. Yet he couldn’t even survive a single move under Linley!
“Let’s go quickly,” Linley said coldly, suddenly increasing his speed. The others also accelerated, hurrying along. In this gray mist zone, after every battle, they had to leave the scene immediately. Otherwise, in the blink of an eye, other maddened highgods would swarm in and attack.
“He really is strong,” the effeminate man muttered, looking at Linley with a frown. “With his strength, even if we encounter a Netherworld Fruit… I won’t be able to get it.” Following Linley was safer, but when it came to competing for the Netherworld Fruit, they couldn’t outdo him. After all, ordinary Seven Star Fiends, once trapped in the Blackstone Space, were simply lambs for Linley to slaughter.
Having reached the highgod level, Linley’s strength was now close to that of an average Infernal Realm Asura.
“Whoosh, whoosh!” Linley and the others continued darting forward. Whenever they sensed spatial fluctuations ahead, they immediately changed direction. This way, for a while, they didn’t encounter any other maddened highgods.
In the forest of the Nether Mountain’s gray mist zone.
Beneath an extremely thick, low tree that would take five or six people to encircle, dozens of people sat cross-legged. Their eyes were bloodshot, with madness in their gaze. Yet they weren’t fighting each other; instead, they were positioned in different spots around the tree. They looked at each other like wild beasts, wary of one another.
“Whoosh!”
Several afterimages suddenly shot over from a distance at incredible speed.
In an instant, the dozens of people sitting cross-legged all turned to look. At that moment—the dozens of people and Linley’s group of five locked eyes. “Huh?” Linley’s group was startled.
The dozens of people’s expressions twisted instantly, and like lightning, they shot up from the ground.
“Go!” Linley roared.
It wasn’t that they feared these dozens of people, but that being entangled by them could attract hundreds, thousands, or even more maddened highgods, which would be disastrous. To survive here, these maddened highgods were no weaklings. Most had strength close to that of Six Star Fiends.
“Ha!” A purple-haired woman, crazed, swung a large scythe, sending an arc-shaped black light tearing through space toward Linley’s group.
“Heh!” An armored, burly man, also maddened, punched out. With each punch, ripples of spatial distortion spread from his fist, traveling in a straight line and rapidly reaching Linley and the others. Powerful attacks, all physical in nature.
Various physical attacks churned space, causing cracks to appear. Some were flashy and colorful, others blurry and transparent… In an instant, they completely engulfed Linley’s group of five. No matter how fast they fled, they couldn’t outrun the attacks.
Because the dozens of people’s attacks were aimed at a wide area, they were somewhat scattered. Each person faced only two or three attacks. Among the group, Bebe handled it most easily, casually smashing the incoming attacks with his fists. Linley, relying on his body and divine artifact sword, also defended with ease.
But the other three were in trouble.
“Run!” The purple-haired youth Bruron barely blocked two attacks, but a third wounded his left arm. He roared and fled at top speed.
“Damn it!” The effeminate man growled, a black afterimage flashing from his hand as he chopped away a black light heading for him.
His chest was pierced, but he gritted his teeth and fled.
The worst off was Valette! Valette specialized in soul attacks, so defending against physical attacks was difficult. He barely managed to block one, but two more came—one slashed through his lower body, the other across his shoulder. A thigh was severed and thrown aside, and his right arm was also cut off.
Yet Valette still desperately flew at top speed.
“Hurry up,” Linley shouted, spreading his Blackstone Space. Linley’s group of five fled at maximum speed. The dozens of maddened highgods roared as if chasing mortal enemies, pursuing without pause.
On a leaf of one of the many large trees scattered across the Nether Mountain, a green snake emerged again, staring at Linley’s fleeing group.
A moment later, at the mountainous ring zone between the white mist and gray mist zones, Linley’s group of five appeared. Clearly… they had taken the wrong route and hadn’t reached the purple mist zone.
“We’re back again,” Bebe said helplessly.
“At least we got out,” Valette sighed in relief, quickly focusing on healing his wounds. The purple-haired youth Bruron and the effeminate man also treated their injuries. The frantic escape had indeed made them tense. If they were surrounded by another group of highgods, they’d be in deep trouble.
Luckily, after fleeing all the way, they soon left the gray mist zone.
“Prepare well. In a bit, we’ll go back in,” Linley said.
“You go ahead. I’ll go in alone,” the effeminate man said with a faint smile. “Thank you for your help, Lord Linley… but I prefer to act alone. Besides, five people together make too big a target and attract enemies easily.”
“Huh?” The purple-haired youth Bruron and Valette looked at him.
“As you wish,” Linley said coldly.
Bebe sneered at him. “Oh, alone? I think you’re just looking for the Netherworld Fruit.”
The muscles around the effeminate man’s eyes twitched slightly, but he still smiled. “The Netherworld Fruit? That’s entirely a matter of luck. It’s not something I can find just because I want to.”
Bebe snorted and said nothing more.
After a moment, Linley looked at Valette and the purple-haired youth Bruron. Their wounds were healed. “You two should be ready. Let’s go!” Valette and the purple-haired youth immediately followed Linley and Bebe, entering the gray mist zone again.
As Bebe entered the gray mist zone, he turned back and glanced at the effeminate man, letting out a disdainful snort.
The effeminate man kept his smile until the four had left.
“Hmph!” He snorted coldly. “Finding the Netherworld Fruit doesn’t just depend on strength; luck matters more. Now you’re stronger than me, but if I get the Netherworld Fruit and greatly increase my strength, and then get a Sovereign artifact… then!” A black light flowed over the effeminate man’s body, making him look blurry.
Like a phantom, he quietly slipped into the gray mist zone, not daring to move too fast.
“These maddened highgods don’t fight all the time. Sometimes, they hide quietly in some place,” Linley thought, staying alert. “These maddened highgods are just like the magical beasts in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts of the Yulan continent—mad and cruel.”
Linley suddenly felt that walking through the Nether Mountain now was like when he was young, walking through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
Back then, he dealt with magical beasts. Now, he was on guard against a group of maddened highgods! And the place was the Nether Mountain, the highest mountain in the Infernal Realm, where a Sovereign resided!
“Look!” Bebe suddenly exclaimed softly.
Linley and the others immediately looked ahead. There was a corpse floating, tangled in some vegetation. They had seen many corpses along the way, but… this one was someone they knew. The effeminate man!
“It’s him?” Linley frowned, moving closer.
The effeminate man’s face was pale, with a hole in his forehead.
“It’s a green snake!” Linley instantly judged. Bebe sneered, “That guy always acted so arrogant and impressive, thinking he was so tough. He wanted to get the Netherworld Fruit… Hmph, he couldn’t even handle a single green snake!” Linley shook his head inwardly.
If he couldn’t even handle a green snake, walking alone was far too overconfident.
“Let’s go. Be careful on the way,” Linley said, continuing forward.
Valette and the purple-haired youth Bruron glanced at the effeminate man’s corpse and shook their heads. Then they continued on.
But none of them noticed—
The holes on the effeminate man’s body weren’t just one on his forehead. There were three more on his chest and thigh! If they had noticed those three holes, Linley and the others might have been more cautious.
“Boss,” Bebe sent a soul message.
Linley’s expression turned serious. “I sense something’s off too. There’s no sound of fighting around here.” Accustomed to the roars and clashes of battle, hearing nothing now was eerie. The black-robed, purple-haired youth Bruron and Valette were also on high alert, watching their surroundings as they followed Linley, advancing slowly.
Around them—
On the leaves of the large trees, green snakes quietly emerged from behind, staring at Linley’s group. The sheer number of green snakes was enough to make Linley’s scalp tingle. Unfortunately, Linley and the others had no awareness of the snakes’ presence at all.
“Boss, green snakes!” Bebe suddenly sent a message, his gaze fixed on an inconspicuous leaf ahead, where a green snake was silently watching. When the snake noticed Bebe staring at it, it dissolved, turning into green energy that merged completely into the leaf and vanished.
“It disappeared? It can merge into leaves?” Linley was startled.
With a suspicion, Linley suddenly turned his head, his gaze like lightning as he carefully scanned the leaves of the surrounding trees. The moment he did, his face changed dramatically—
In just that one glance, he spotted over ten green snakes!