Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 47: Downfall of Many Saints
The waters of Liuyan River roared. That massive corpse of the Hellfire Phoenix sank down into its waters, and the sailors above shuddered.
Raising their head up, their eyes were filled with a certain feeling as they looked at the demonic, godlike Linley – invincible, mighty!
“Lord Linley is so powerful.” The sailors were filled with awe.
Right at this moment, because Linley had killed the Hellfire Phoenix, a vicious battle exploded. The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows had begun to do battle with Linley!
“Rumble....” The frantic battle of so many Saints caused the flow of space itself to be disrupted. Wild, howling winds screamed everywhere, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and even the waters of Liuyan River rose in giant waves, as though stirred by a giant.
“What a terrifying Supreme Warrior.” Cramerson’s heart was terror-stricken. But then, a bestial roar. “Hoooooowl!”
The leader of the Fallen Angels, Cramerson, raised his head up and roared furiously, and as he did, magic runes appeared from his forehead. His entire body began to emit insidious cold flames, and the temperature around him seemed to have dropped dramatically. In particular, his body also became covered with dark golden shining scales. This was the legendary ‘Dark Saint Armor’, very similar to the earth-style spell’s ‘Earthguard Armor’.
“No matter how loud you shout, you’ll still die.” Linley’s calm voice drifted out.
Linley’s scale-covered right hand was balled into a tight fist, and it seemed to pass through space itself as it attacked. Whenever that fist passed...space itself rippled and folded over itself. Cramerson’s black longsword, covered in cold flames, once more struck out, as fast as lightning.
The scale-covered fist and the cold, flaming black longsword intersected!
“Clang!”
A metallic ringing sound.
“Fallen Angels exist for battle. Do you think I’ll fear you?” Cramerson was full of confidence, but in an instant, Cramerson’s eyes, nose, lips, and ears all had blood pouring out, and his entire body collapsed from the heavens, powerless.
His body sank into the depths of the Liuyan River, and the river water carried it away.
Profound Truths of the Earth – 256 Layered Waves!
With one head-on clash, Cramerson’s internal organs had been shaken into mud.
“A Six-Winged Fallen Angel wants to fight with me in close quarters combat?” Linley’s dark golden eyes flashed with a hint of cold light. Linley was now a peak Dragonblood Warrior Saint. In physical strength and battle-qi alone, he was ten times stronger than ordinary Saints!
He had such a high foundation to begin with, and Linley’s ‘Profound Truths of the Earth’ and ‘Profound Truths of the Wind’ were both extremely powerful close-combat attacks as well.
When one’s base level of power and one’s mastery of the Laws both reached a very high level, the synthesis of the two would result in not even a person like Desri, someone who was very nearly at the Deity-level, to willingly engage in close combat with a Dragonformed Linley. Fighting in close quarters combat with a Supreme Warrior who had such a high mastery of the laws was asking for death.
“Don’t fight with him in close quarters!” Heidens shouted out loudly.
“Linley’s attacks are very strange. Everyone, be careful.” Osenno called out as well. He was currently fighting with the transformed Undying Warrior Saint, Barker.
As for the Dark Patriarch Affleck and Senior Judge O’Casey, their faces had both changed. The third pillar of their Cult, the leader of the Fallen Angels, Cramerson, had fallen, just like that. Standing atop the head of the Saint-level Black Dragon, Affleck’s hands suddenly became filled with a black crystal ball.
Affleck’s face was solemn, and his lips were moving slightly.
“Hrm?” Linley’s face changed.
“What is that?” Linley could clearly sense an invisible, insidious cold energy penetrate his body. His ‘Pulseguard Defense’ didn’t do anything against it at all, and that insidious force rapidly began to attack Linley’s brain.
Darkness style, forbidden-level spell: the Power of Evil!
This was a spell which the Dark Patriarch was only capable of utilizing with the assistance of their Cult’s treasure, the crystal ball which had come from the Divine Plane of Darkness. Once the enemy was struck by this ‘Power of Evil’, for a short period of time, their body would be totally under the control of the spell user. The duration of the control was linked with the strength of the spiritual energy of the spell user.
If it was used against a Grand Magus Saint, it might not be able to control him, but it would be enough to make the Grand Magus Saint feel dizzy and be unable to react for a moment.
Within the depths of his mind.
That boundless ocean of spiritual energy swirled. The mysterious, seven-colored gem was hovering in the midst of it. When that surge of evil power swept into the consciousness and attacked that boundless ocean of spiritual energy, that faint layer of azure light in the spiritual energy immediately counteracted.
Dark Patriarch Affleck’s eyes were cold, filled with a bizarre allure as he stared at Linley.
“Go. Kill that rat-type magical beast.” Affleck said softly.
“Wait. O’Casey, go kill him, quick.” Affleck’s face suddenly changed. Affleck could clearly sense that Linley’s spiritual energy was counter-attacking. Although Linley was still affected by the spell, the Power of Evil was not able to brainwash Linley’s soul at all.
O’Casey was wielding his two-meter long ‘Judge’s Blade’. The Judge’s Blade, covered with dark, cold light, moved in a strange rhythm as it chopped down towards Linley.
The Judge’s Blade collided directly onto Linley’s Pulseguard Defense.
In that moment...
“Bang!” Like a bubble being broken, the ‘Pulseguard Defense’, no longer being actively controlled by Linley due to the effects of the ‘Power of Evil’ spell, was actually split open. Only when the ‘Pulseguard Defense’ was being actively controlled by Linley was it capable of utilizing the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the Earth’ and be defensively powerful.
If the ‘Pulseguard Defense’ was not being controlled, it only had the simplest of vibrations and wasn’t extremely powerful.
However...
Linley’s draconic scales were different. No matter if Linley was conscious or not, the draconic scales were still draconic scales. A peak-stage Dragonblood Warrior Saint’s scales were ridiculously defensive. In the past, the ancestors of the Baruch clan had relied on them to dominate the entire continent.
“Slash!” Like an ordinary knife chopping against marble, sparks flashed, but only a white scar appeared atop the draconic scales.
“One more chop will break through.” O’Casey secretly said to himself. Just then, the Pulseguard Defense had cancelled out part of his attack. O’Casey’s right hand turned into a blur, and the Judge’s Blade once more came chopping down, aimed directly at the same location his earlier attack had landed.
“Crackle.”
As though he had been set on fire, Linley’s body suddenly once more became covered in deep azure battle-qi, and the battle-qi once more began to circulate in accordance with that mysterious, profound way. With a ‘clang’ sound, Linley’s scale-covered hand suddenly grabbed the Judge’s Blade.
Of course, there was still a thin layer of battle-qi between his hand and the Judge’s Blade.
“You lost your chance.” Linley’s dark golden eyes stared at O’Casey.
O’Casey’s face changed dramatically. “Not good!” He didn’t even have a chance to pull out his Judge’s Blade, and he immediately retreated backwards at high speed. As he flew back, a strange violet light flashed through the place where O’casey had just been.
This was the Bloodviolet sword! O’Casey’s back was covered with cold sweat. He had nearly been chopped in half.
Linley glanced at the disposition of the battle. Right now, Bebe was currently battling that mysterious ‘Lord Fallen Leaf’. Bebe wasn’t able to kill Lord Fallen Leaf at all.
In terms of understanding of the Laws of Light, the leader of the Ascetics, Lord Fallen Leaf, had the deepest understanding in the Church.
In particular, he knew how to transform his body into a line of light, then fly about at ‘light speed’. He was far faster than Olivier had been in the past. Even Bebe, the fastest person on Linley’s side, was only able to be on par with Lord Fallen Leaf.
“Bebe, stop wasting time with that old bastard. Go kill the Angels first.” Linley immediately ordered Bebe.
“Got it, Boss.” Bebe, too, had begun to feel that this old man was hard to deal with.
Fallen Leaf simply didn’t engage Bebe in close quarters combat as well. He relied on his terrifying speed to move about, and then, like a spider, emit line after line of silken white light which contained a terrifying amount of flaming light power, constantly using it to entangle Bebe.
Although Bebe was fast, he wasn’t able to use his speed to his advantage.
“Fighting with this old bastard is like falling into a pit of mud.” Bebe secretly cursed.
“Fighting with this big bastard is nothing more than wasting time.” Osenno felt resigned as well.
Barker, one of the Undying Warrior Saints famed for defense, totally ignored Osenno as he chased after those weaker Angels. Only occasionally would he launch a sudden surprise attack against Osenno. Osenno’s Doppelganger Technique was simply too weird, after all. It was hard for Barker to harm Osenno as well.
But Osenno simply couldn’t deal any damage to the Undying Warrior, Barker.
“Hrmph. It looks like I’ve turned into the weak link.” Zassler laughed coldly as he watched a large number of Fallen Angels and Radiant Angels charge towards him.
Those three Saint-level undead weren’t bad, but they weren’t at the level of Haydson. They were only good for dealing with these Fallen Angels and Radiant Angels. However...how could a Grand Magus Necromancer be so easy to deal with? The Wraith Call ability was only part of the arsenal of a necromancer, after all.
“Die.” The Fallen Angels and Radiant Angels’ eyes were filled with cold light. They attacked at the same time.
Zassler stood in mid-air calmly, his lips mumbling. And then, an invisible ripple burst forth from Zassler, spreading out in all directions. This invisible ripple was quite similar to the one which Desri had used to attack Lehman, or which the Saint-level Gold Dragon had used to attack Linley.
The difference was, the area was clearly much larger.
The two closest Fallen Angels and Radiant Angel felt this invisible spiritual energy suddenly charge towards them. Their bodies immediately trembled.
“Pierce!” “Pierce!” “Pierce!”
At that instant, those three Saint-level undead attacked, and pierced straight through the hearts of the two Fallen Angels and the Radiant Angel, shattering the heart to pieces. Three of the Angels died, just like that. When adding this number to the two Linley had killed at the start and the three which Bebe had killed earlier...only a single Radiant Angel was left, while three Fallen Angels remained.
Only a single person was not engaged in battle. The Holy Emperor, Heidens. Heidens was holding the Radiant Scriptures in his hands while chanting something. He had been chanting for a very long time...Linley felt a hint of worry in his heart.
“Desri and the others really are slow.” Linley muttered, while at the same time he used Bloodviolet to easily chop through a thick Icy Tentacle.
Actually, Linley had been waiting during this entire battle...because he had immediately instructed Haeru to ask Desri and the others to come. As for those three Saint-level dragons, they were hidden in the distance. Only at the most critical moment would those three Saint-level dragons join the battle.
But now...
“Roaaaaaar!” The furious roar seemed to split the heavens, and a flash of lightning pierced through the skies. With a ‘whap’ sound, a Fallen Angel which hadn’t managed to dodge in time was smashed into meat paste. Not even a Dragonformed Linley could match the Saint-level Thunder Lizard for speed, much less a Fallen Angel!
The attack of the Thunder Lizard wasn’t enough to do anything to Linley.
But to kill a Fallen Angel in one blow? More than enough.
“Big brother, leave one for me!” A deep sound rang out, and the massive draconic tail of the Tyrant Wyrm flashed, slapping the fleeing Radiant Angel into a meat paste. At this moment...the rest of the Fallen Angels died as well. It was the Thunder Lizard who had killed them.
It was simply too terrifyingly fast.
“Whoosh!” An invisible ripple suddenly attacked out of nowhere.
“Careful!” Lord Fallen Leaf called out in alarm, but it was too late. This invisible ripple quickly struck all four of Osennos, and Osenno’s dopplegangers immediately dissipated, leaving only one behind.
This attack was the ultimate attack of the Saint-level Gold Dragon – Soul Shout!
“Haha!” A loud laugh as the Undying Warrior Barker, his massive greataxe in hand, chopped straight down at Osenno. His soul dazed, Osenno was in the midst of a nightmare and was totally unable to react.
“SLASH!”
Contrary to no one’s expectations, with a single chop of the greataxe, Osenno was split in half from the top of his skull.
At this time, Heidens finally finished chanting the words to his ultimate attack. His eyes became filled with a hint of coldness, and he pointed a finger at Linley as he gently said two words: “Life...Ripper!” An invisible surge of energy suddenly surrounded Linley.