Chapter 58: Linley’s True Power!
The two passages of the Stellar River, with seven-colored light shooting up to the heavens.
Soldiers from the Dark Divine Realm camp and the Light Divine Realm camp were slaughtering each other madly within the passages. If one looked down from high above, they would see long columns of troops continuously surging into the Stellar River passages on both sides of the river. These passages were nothing short of meat grinders—meat grinders for Highgods!
In the chaos of battle, it was no longer possible to coordinate the actions of a thousand men as a single unit. They could only rely on divine sense to command, allowing teams of a hundred to act in unison.
At this moment, Linley and his three companions were amidst the flow of people.
Among the tens of thousands of soldiers, Linley’s group of four seemed utterly inconspicuous, but some enemy squads had already locked onto them.
"Soul attack! Target, the eleven people thirty meters ahead!" The centurion commander ordered through divine sense. Instantly, the remaining eighty-two soldiers of this hundred-man squad launched a unified soul attack. The transparent, lightning-fast soul attacks shot out like nearly a hundred flying daggers, streaking toward the eleven people around Linley.
Reisgem let out a derisive snort.
"Courting death!" A purple light suddenly radiated from Reisgem’s brow.
The purple light spread out in an arc, sweeping toward that hundred-man squad. However, the crowd was far too dense. Reisgem’s attack even struck two soldiers from his own side while hitting fifty-three enemy soldiers. Of those fifty-three, only about half belonged to that particular hundred-man squad.
This showed just how densely packed the battlefield was.
Of the fifty-five people hit by this attack, fifty-three died on the spot, leaving only two survivors.
Fifty-three badges immediately fell.
"Badges!" This immediately triggered a scramble among the nearby soldiers. In the blink of an eye, the badges were snatched up. Yet, all across the battlefield, badges continued to fall, each one marking the death of a soldier.
"Reisgem, let’s go." The centurion commander’s face turned pale with fear as he quickly ordered his squad to flee elsewhere.
"Impressive, huh?" Bebe laughed.
"Most of those guys haven’t even reached the Seven Star Fiend level. Killing them isn’t hard. That move of mine wasn’t particularly powerful—just a group attack," Reisgem said dismissively. "Everyone, keep your eyes open. Identify the commanders! We can’t stay in one spot for too long. That hundred-man squad just noticed us. If we draw too much attention, a bunch of hundred-man squads might team up and attack us together."
Reisgem was experienced and knew better than to linger in one place.
"Follow me," Linley said.
As soon as Linley spoke, Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihong raised no objections. They stayed close to Linley and pressed forward.
Though the Stellar River passage was drenched in blood and chaos, Linley moved through it as if strolling through a garden. Whenever a squad charged at them, they would involuntarily be repelled by an overwhelmingly powerful repulsive force.
"Reisgem, your Amethyst Space is really something," a voice chuckled from nearby.
Linley and the others turned to look. The speaker was Oeric, who was clad in a dark golden robe. Oeric seemed equally at ease in the chaos. He glanced at Linley and said, "Reisgem, take good care of your friend. This place is dangerous! Even a Seven Star Fiend can die in an instant."
With that, Oeric’s form flickered, leaving behind a black shadow as he vanished into the distance.
Amid the turbulent tide of battle, Oeric moved as nimbly and effortlessly as a fish.
"What’s with Oeric? He didn’t even notice that the gravity space was set up by the boss," Bebe snorted.
"Forget him," Linley said, his gaze fixed ahead. "Up ahead is the central section of the Stellar River passage, where the fighting is most intense. I’ve already spotted several enemy commanders. Let’s go." Linley remained as calm as ever. A person’s state of mind was tied to their strength.
If one was weak, they would be terrified and cautious, like the ordinary soldiers who could die at any moment.
If one was strong, like Oeric, they could move with ease, only needing to avoid standing out and watch out for enemy commanders to prevent being surrounded.
But for someone at Linley’s level, it was like taking a leisurely walk.
"Linley, look ahead!" Reisgem suddenly exclaimed.
Linley’s gaze swept forward. Several miles away, a black-robed man had drawn the attention of over a thousand soldiers from the Light camp. A coordinated soul attack was launched, with some even using their innate divine abilities. The black-robed man dodged the first wave with incredible speed, but still got hit by over a hundred attacks, though it didn’t affect him much.
Then, the thousand-man squad launched a unified material attack.
"Boom!" Over a thousand soldiers, most at the Six Star Fiend level and some at the Seven Star Fiend level, unleashed a combined attack that seemed to shake the heavens and earth. It swept over the black-robed man, who instantly turned to ash. Some nearby soldiers also suffered collateral damage.
A divine spark, a black necklace, a spatial ring, and a blood-red badge fell to the ground.
Linley and the others watched from afar and shook their heads.
"That Nabor guy was really unlucky," Reisgem sneered, transmitting his voice to Linley and the others. "He must have caught the enemy’s attention earlier, but he didn’t realize it. With so many people in the Light camp, it was easy for them to gather a dozen hundred-man squads to surround him. Just two consecutive attacks—one soul, one material—and he was done! Even with a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, it was useless."
Soul and material attacks were both incredibly fast.
Even a commander, no matter how fast, could only dodge a few meters when faced with close-range soul or material attacks. Only Paragons could dodge dozens of meters or even distort space, making them unafraid of being surrounded.
"In a decisive battle, even commanders are in danger," Bebe remarked with a sigh.
Whether in the Infernal Realm or the Netherworld, gathering over a thousand Six Star Fiends for a coordinated attack was extremely difficult. But in this decisive battle, where everyone was a Highgod, it was easy to assemble a thousand-man squad for a joint attack. So… one couldn’t stand out too much. If they did, they had to run!
"Forget about others," Linley said, his gaze suddenly locking onto a distant target. "I’ve found a good one!"
"Oh?" Reisgem, Bebe, and Reihong also looked in that direction.
"It’s them!" Reisgem’s eyes lit up, a glint of killing intent flashing in them. "This time, we can’t let them escape!"
"Kill them all!" Bebe also stared intently into the distance.
About three miles away, three figures were flying together at high speed, chasing a gray-robed figure. Two of them were old acquaintances: the golden-robed Uman and the purple-robed Chegwin. With them was Lamson, who was acting alongside them.
Although Lamson was one of the camp administrators, in the chaos of battle, it was the hundred-man squads that acted independently. The camp commander’s role was limited, so he had appointed a deputy to oversee the situation while he joined his two friends to hunt enemy commanders. Uman’s trio was confident in their combination.
"Haha, trying to run?" Lamson was the fastest among them.
"Swish!" A golden light shot out from Lamson’s hand, tearing through the air and streaking toward the fleeing gray-robed figure. "Boom!" The gray-robed man’s body erupted with a black aura as he turned and punched the golden light with all his might, then tried to escape again.
But that brief moment of resistance allowed Uman and Chegwin to surround him.
"You’re not getting away!" Uman laughed loudly as his body blazed with white light. He swung his wolf-tooth club at the gray-robed man.
"Clang!" The gray-robed man raised both arms and blocked the club with his fists.
But then, the spikes on the club shot out, stabbing toward the gray-robed man’s head. With a metallic clang, the spikes only pierced his face, failing to hit a vital spot.
"Bang!" A golden light followed, piercing through the gray-robed man’s head.
Lamson reached out, and the golden light flew back into his hand. It was a golden, ancient-looking spear covered in strange magical runes.
"Haha, we’re collecting badges fast. This is the third one." Lamson grabbed the falling blood-red badge. Beside him, Uman said confidently, "Lamson, with the three of us working together, who can stop us?"
"Uman, our old friends are here," Chegwin transmitted with a light laugh.
Uman and Lamson immediately followed Chegwin’s gaze. Four figures were flying toward them, led by Linley.
"Linley isn’t dead?" Uman was shocked. Then, a vicious grin spread across his face. "Good that he’s not dead! We failed to kill him twice before. This time, I’ll finish him!"
"That Reihong is mine. I didn’t kill him last time, so it’s time to settle the score," Chegwin said, staring at the distant Reihong. He transmitted to Lamson, "Lamson, go find Lord Magnus quickly. If you run into that Bebe, you’ll die. Among the four, Reisgem is the toughest. We need Lord Magnus to deal with him."
"Alright." Lamson knew that Bebe was a Godeater Rat and didn’t try to be a hero.
But just as Lamson turned to leave—
"You don’t need to run!" A cold voice resounded in their minds.
Lamson, Uman, and Chegwin stared in shock as Linley, who had been flying alongside Reisgem, Reihong, and Bebe, suddenly accelerated. "Whoosh!" Like the wind, he left a trail of afterimages through the dense crowd in the Stellar River passage, appearing before the three of them in an instant!
"This—" Uman and the others were stunned.
Reisgem and the others were still far away, but Linley had already arrived. His terrifying speed was beyond their comprehension.
The three of them immediately recalled what Hemos had said during the gathering, referring to a powerhouse from the Azure Dragon clan.
"Could it be him?" They didn’t have time to think further. In unison, they unleashed their strongest attacks!
"Boom!"
Linley threw a punch, and it felt as though the entire world was pressing down on them. 108 black azure dragons instantly engulfed them, their terrifying binding force reducing the three commanders’ speed by a thousand times. They could only watch helplessly as Linley’s fist came at them, powerless to resist.
"Bang!" The fist directly struck Uman’s head.
Uman’s body trembled slightly. On the surface, he appeared unharmed, but the inside of his head had been turned into mush. A golden badge fell from his body, along with a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact.
"Linley, stop!" A shout rang out in Linley’s mind.
"Magnus?" Linley’s lips curled into a faint smile.
"Stop!" Magnus was frantic.
"Boom!" Linley’s fist, like an unstoppable millstone, swept past Lamson and Chegwin immediately after killing Uman. Under the terrifying binding force, the two had no chance to fight back.
Lamson’s body went limp and fell, a golden badge dropping from him.
Chegwin, however, was sent flying backward, his body trembling. He stared at Linley in horror. "How… how can he be so strong?" The feeling of utter helplessness under that binding force filled Chegwin with terror and fear.
"Not bad, having two defensive Sovereign artifacts makes you hard to kill," Linley remarked, glancing at Chegwin as he picked up the two golden badges. "Boss!" Bebe, Reisgem, and Reihong finally caught up.
"Two commander badges in hand," Linley said, turning to Bebe with a smile.
"Boss, watch out!" Bebe suddenly transmitted a warning.
Linley turned his head. A blurry figure was charging toward him at incredible speed, nearly matching Linley’s own pace. It was an enraged Magnus! Magnus landed beside Lamson, supporting his body as his face twitched with fury.
Uman’s death didn’t matter to Magnus.
But Lamson was his friend—a true friend!
Magnus looked up, glaring coldly at Linley, and said in a low voice, "I told you to stop earlier."
Linley gazed back at Magnus indifferently and said softly, "The people I want to kill, you can’t stop."