Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 32, The Blood Stained Underground
Everyone knew exactly how powerful the Abyssal Blade Demons were. One or two of them, they didn’t need to fear. But if one or two hundred of them attacked and fought with Linley’s group head on, most likely more than half of Linley’s group would die. But now, the Abyssal Blade Demons were clustered so densely that they were in the tens of thousands.
There was no choice!
Flee!
“Execute plan number two. Into the tunnels.” Linley’s voice rang out in everyone’s mind.
“Swish...” The Blackscale Scorpion’s long scorpion tail suddenly spun, then easily drilled straight through the side of the metallic mountain. At an astonishing speed, the Blackscale Scorpion chopped a tunnel through the mountain, and Desri, Rosarie, and the others immediately charged inside.
Linley, Fain, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, Bebe, and Olivier were in the rearguard.
Every one of the Abyssal Blade Demons possessed lightning-fast speed, and they came down like a plague of locusts.
“Kill them.” Linley wielded the adamantine heavy sword in one hand and Bloodviolet in the other.
At this moment, with countless Abyssal Blade Demons charging at them, every person, be it Linley, Fain, the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, Bebe, or Olivier, was coming under terrifying attack. Olivier was the first amongst them to be forced backwards.
Olivier, wielding that mystic icesword, was covered with a half-black, half-white aura which glowed at the same time. The mystic icesword clashed against an incoming blade of an Abyssal Blade Demon. As it did, Olivier’s body trembled, then a cold light flashed in his eyes as the mystic icesword suddenly snaked out and attacked again.
“Slash...” The mystic icesword, covered in black and white light, managed to sever the head of that Abyssal Blade Demon.
But immediately afterwards, three more Abyssal Blade Demons simultaneously chopped towards Olivier. Olivier’s face changed, and he retreated at high speed, but in terms of speed, these Abyssal Blade Demons were on par with Fain and Bebe. Olivier could only rely on his mystic ice longsword to frantically block each blade.
“Bang!” Two blades in a row collided against his battle-qi barrier.
Olivier’s barrier of battle-qi was directly smashed apart. Enduring the pain, Olivier relied on the counter-force from the two blows to scurry into the tunnel the Blackscale Scorpion had made. But despite that, nearly half of his waist had been chopped into.
If he had been just a bit slower, his entire body would have been chopped in two.
“Bang!” Immediately after that, Fain was the next to be forced flee into the tunnel by the attacks of a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons. Fain was sent flying backwards by the combined attacks of four Abyssal Blade Demons, and his body was actually chopped into three different parts, but Fain’s ‘head’ flew at high speed into the tunnel and fled.
At the same time, Fain’s body began to rebuild itself at an astonishing speed.
“Linley, be careful. If you can’t hold on, then flee!” Fain mentally transmitted to him while fleeing.
Linley could already sense how terrifyingly powerful these Abyssal Blade Demons were. In but one exchange, after he killed four Abyssal Blade Demons in a row, his Pulseguard Defense and his Sacred Earthguard Armor had been destroyed by a large number of wildly chopping blows from the Abyssal Blade Demons.
His draconic scales were shattered, and blood was spewing out.
The Pearl of Life in his body began to activate. “Rumble...” The draconic scales repaired themselves, and the ‘Pulseguard Defense’ on Linley’s body once more formed.
“Shkreeeeeeee!”
Bebe was transformed into eight different doppelgangers, wildly attacking the opponents. There were at least ten Abyssal Blade Demons who had died to his claws, but the Abyssal Blade Demons were very smart as well. Instantly, dozens of them simultaneously attacked all eight doppelgangers, with each of them suffering from the attacks of three or four Abyssal Blade Demons.
Bebe’s body was immediately sent flying backwards, as he retreated with a hint of blood on his fur.
“Bang!” A group of Abyssal Blade Demons pounced towards Bebe.
“Bebe, retreat!” Linley shouted loudly.
“Swoosh.” Bebe didn’t waste any time, also fleeing into the tunnel. As he fled inside, his body was matted with blood and his fur had been chopped into. Seeing this sight, Linley’s heart ached. After all, Bebe didn’t have a Pearl of Life!
The bodies of the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions were covered with black battle-armor, and thus they were able to hold on for an even longer period of time than Bebe.
“Linley, we can’t hold. Retreat, hurry!”
The three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions were also forced back by large amounts of blade chops from the Abyssal Blade Demons, and they fled into the tunnel, their bodies also matted with blood. With each member of the rearguard having retreated into the tunnel, their defensive perimeter was naturally shrinking.
With the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions gone, Linley immediately retreated into the tunnel entrance as well.
“Kill him!” Countless Abyssal Blade Demons howled, raising their sharp long blades and chopping towards Linley.
“Not good.” At the same time, more than ten Abyssal Blade Demons were chopping towards Linley from every which way. Above, below, in front, on each side...more than ten Abyssal Blade Demons in total, with each blade possessing lightning-fast speed. Too fast!
Linley’s Bloodviolet sword and adamantine heavy sword were only able to kill two of the Abyssal Blade Demons, while the other ten or so blades landed on Linley’s body simultaneously!
“Bang!” The Pulseguard Defense, which was already at the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World – 64 Fused Waves’ immediately collapsed.
“Not good.” Just the momentum force from those ten blows had sent Linley flying backwards, while at the same time shattering the draconic scales on Linley’s body, sending blood everywhere. The green light of the Pearl of Life was constantly flashing, however, and Linley’s body replenished at an astonishing rate.
“Can’t hold any longer. The others should have been able to flee a good distance by now.”
Linley scurried into a tunnel as well.
“Grrrrrrrrrr!” The many Abyssal Blade Demons roared as they charged towards the tunnel as well. At the same time, a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons clustered outside the valley also charged towards the tunnel.
“Pursue them!” Countless Abyssal Blade Demons roared with anger.
Linley turned to glance, and saw the bloodthirsty, wild look in the eyes of those Abyssal Blade Demons.
“Rumble...” Instantly, earth elemental energy wildly began to gather, and a large number of giant stones formed behind Linley, instantly sealing off the tunnel in its entirety. As Linley continued to fly, countless boulders continued to appear out of nowhere behind him.
Earth-style instacast spell of the eighth rank: Rubble Rain.
“Although the Blackscale Scorpion’s tunneling speed is the fastest out of all of us, this world is a world of metal, and even the ground is made of metal. His tunneling speed is definitely inferior to his flying speed. All we can do right now is to try and hang on.”
Linley continued flying while sealing off the tunnel behind him.
“Swish!” From behind, a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons were still flying forward.
These Abyssal Blade Demons didn’t pay any attention to the boulders Linley was using to stop up the tunnel, just using their heads to ram straight through them. The sharp blades atop their forehead instantly split the boulders apart, and they continued to pursue at high speed.
However, although they were able to easily destroy the boulders, their speed was still affected.
Linley hurried towards the experts up ahead. After all, in terms of flying speed, they were moving much faster than the Blackscale Scorpion. Desri, Fain, and the others were flying shoulder to shoulder, while the Blackscale Scorpion was ahead of them, tunneling through.
“What should we do?” Linley asked frantically.
At this time, there was a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons in hot pursuit.
“In terms of speed, underground, we’re traveling more quickly than the Abyssal Blade Demons, so we should be able to shake them off. After shaking them off, let’s go look for the divine spark.” Desri said. This was the decision which the various experts had agreed on.
Even now, they didn’t want to give up.
When they had drawn near that Deity’s corpse just now, they had used their spiritual energy to search it. That Deity’s corpse had been split open by the head long ago, and the divine spark had been taken. The corpse was nothing more than a tool used to attract their attention!
While Linley’s group continued to make their way underground at high speed, in the air above them, countless Abyssal Blade Demons were densely clustered, with three blood-red Abyssal Blade Demons leading them.
“It’s about time. Children, ten every ten kilometers. Head out now.” The leading blood-red Abyssal Blade Demon said loudly.
Flying at high speed, the Abyssal Blade Demons formed into squads of ten, and one squad of Abyssal Blade Demons after another dove directly underground, easily driving through the metallic floor and beginning to tunnel underground. A squad was inserted every ten kilometers, and of course, in the air coming down, they flew far faster than Linley’s squad tunneled.
“They want to flee from underground?” The physically small leader, that blood-red Abyssal Blade Demon, laughed coldly.
“Hrmph. We have over a million citizens. Within ten thousand square kilometers, we will set up a heaven-encompassing web. How can they possibly flee?” Another blood-red Abyssal Blade Demon said.
The third Abyssal Blade Demon laughed loudly. “I’ve arranged a tribe of over ten thousand Abyssal Blade Demons to guard the entrance back to the tenth floor. No matter where they run, they will die!”
If Linley’s group knew that this eleventh floor had over a million Abyssal Blade Demons, they probably would have given up long ago
But they didn’t know!
In the valley, there were actually only a hundred Abyssal Blade Demons who had managed to fight with Linley, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, Fain, Bebe, and Olivier. The others hadn’t been able to squeeze in, due to space limitations.
But despite that, Linley’s group had been forced into a sorry state.
The eleven experts tunneled at high speed as the scorpion’s tail of the Blackscale Scorpion continued to spin at high speed, easily opening the path for them. The speed at which he did this...was far faster than the speed at which those Abyssal Blade Demons behind them were splitting aside those stone boulders.
“It seems we should be able to throw the Abyssal Blade Demons off after all.” Fain grew slightly calmer.
“Not good.” Linley suddenly raised his head. Not just Linley; Desri, Fain, and the others raised their head as well.
In but an instant...
“Rumble...” The metal above them collapsed, and nearly ten Abyssal Blade Demons charged out towards them. These Abyssal Blade Demons discovered Linley’s group, and immediately let out excited, high-pitched roars. “Roaaaaaaaaaar!”
The sound of that roar caused the metallic ground to rumble, spreading through the area. The sound waves travelled much faster through the metal than through the air.
Underground, a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons were searching at high speed.
“There.” A large number of Abyssal Blade Demons simultaneously flew towards the location where the sound came from, and some even predicted where Linley’s group would head next, heading there to block them.
“Clang!” The adamantine heavy sword struck against the body of an Abyssal Blade Demon, shaking it into tiny pieces, but Linley felt pain in his waist, as he had been chopped by a blade. With a furious roar, Linley swung his sword with a backhanded blow. Although the draconic scales on his body were destroyed time and time again, each time they instantly healed.
Bellowing, Linley forced the charging Abyssal Blade Demons to retreat, one after another.
Right now, Linley’s group of experts was suffering the constant attacks of a large number of Abyssal Blade Demons who were assaulting them from every direction. Linley was the only one blocking from his side, but despite that, all of the experts in Linley’s group were in a sorry state.
“Bang.” Fain and Olivier were smashed against a nearby stone.
“Back to the tenth floor!” Desri said in agony.
Fain, Rosarie, Tulily, the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions and even Linley were stunned. The goal they had for five thousand years, were they to give it up now? But more and more Abyssal Blade Demons were pouring in, and they were almost unable to hold on.
After all, the battle was attracting more and more Abyssal Blade Demons to head in this direction.
And worst of all, aside from Linley and Fain who could instantly heal, the others had to rely on Desri’s healing spells, but healing spells, in this sort of high-speed battle, were simply too slow.
With a vicious backhand blow, Fain killed another Abyssal Blade Demon, and then roared in pain, “Back!”
“Back.” Tulily growled as well.
Nobody was willing. Their hearts were unwilling!
But more and more Abyssal Blade Demons were coming. They truly weren’t able to hold on any longer. If it wasn’t for Linley, who was able to take on a third of the Abyssal Blade Demons by himself, they probably would have been doomed long ago. Despite that...right now, they were like a tiny little ship in the howling sea.
They could capsize at any moment!
They had no choice!
“Back to the tenth floor.” The Blackscale Scorpion immediately began to change the direction in which he tunneled.
“Quick, don’t waste time. If we delay, there will be even more Abyssal Blade Demons. I can’t take much more.” Linley only felt as though countless blades were flashing in front of him. Growling, Linley stabbed out with Bloodviolet while swinging with his adamantine heavy sword, but despite that, he was still knocked flying by the chopping blows, with blood once more matting his entire body, and even his white bones showing through.
Green light swirled around him, and Linley’s body quickly recovered.
“You won’t be able to flee.” A cold voice rang out as a blood-red Abyssal Blade Demon suddenly dove into the tunnels.
“Not good.” As soon as Linley saw this blood-red Abyssal Blade Demon, he knew that the situation had just gone from bad to worse.
“The first one to die will be you.” Wielding that blood-red long blade in his two hands, the red Abyssal Blade Demon stared coldly at Linley. The other Abyssal Blade Demon all respectively parted for him, instead wildly attacking Fain, Tulily, and the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions.