Chapter 623: Act 366 – Requiem XVI
Heavy rain poured down as the black hole dragged Brendel’s long-horned demon back into the River of Sulfur, closing completely into a line. The remaining two long-horned demons struggled to rise from the ground, while Brendel stood up from the muddy water. At that moment, Antinna’s voice suddenly rang out:
“Lord, the first node is directly above the portal, and the other two are on the pedestal!” The noble lady sounded somewhat excited.
Brendel firmly noted that Antinna’s speed surpassed his expectations—she was much quicker than he had anticipated. He immediately ordered through their mental link: “Charles, the connection points of the portal with the spatial laws are above the portal and on the two side pedestals!”
“I understand.”
Charles turned to relay the order to the nearby seeker, Gherlok. The knights of Lantonrand quickly surrounded them, while an elderly and a young wizard simultaneously raised their hands, sending two beams of azure light through the rain, crossing the battlefield to strike the portal.
The light resembled two dazzling long spears; where they hit, the rings of light surrounding the portal instantly emitted the most brilliant rays, rippling like water waves. The golden-red portal trembled violently, and the light quickly dimmed.
Just a little more.
The two long-horned demons were startled; if these humans destroyed even one of the portals, it would delay their subsequent army’s arrival at this harbor by an unknown amount of time. They could easily imagine their souls being extracted by the Lord for their dereliction of duty, subjected to eternal torment.
While demons revel in creating pain, receiving it themselves is far from pleasant. The long-horned demons were completely sobered up; it seemed that the bloody scent from Brendel’s body was no longer as enticing, and they immediately turned to pounce on the knights of Lantonrand.
Three to four hundred meters on the battlefield was no more than a blink of an eye to these elemental-infused monsters, and there were countless lesser demons and hellhounds that posed no obstacles in their way. If they wished, they could surely attack before Charles and Gherlok could unleash their next spell.
But how could Brendel allow them to have their way? He had been trembling here for a long time just to buy time.
He immediately launched into a charge, like an arrow released from a bow, aiming straight at one of the long-horned demons. Brendel targeted the creature’s back and swung his sword down; the demon dared not take it head-on, turning instead to swipe at Brendel’s blade with its claws, sending it aside.
But with that stop, it completely fell into Brendel’s entanglement.
Brendel’s sword was deflected aside, and taking a step forward, he struck the demon’s lower abdomen hard with the hilt of his sword. The long-horned demon grunted and stepped back, but Brendel pressed in, withdrawing his sword for another horizontal slash toward the demon’s belly.
The long-horned demon did not flinch or evade, allowing the blade to cut into its abdomen, but seemingly feeling no pain, it clawed back at Brendel.
Its claw aimed straight for Brendel’s heart; in its view, if the opponent did not retreat, it would lead to death for them, while it would merely be heavily injured.
However, it felt that Brendel probably wouldn’t be that foolish. After a dozen rounds of combat with this human, the impression Brendel left was one of cunning despite his weakness. What was more concerning to the demon was the other’s secret weapon, the item that could banish them back to the River of Sulfur. While demons did not die, being banished brought significant consequences; they would enter a prolonged period of weakness during which other demons would surely devour them.
Thus, for demons, being injured and being banished were not much different from perishing.
It did not want to confront Brendel head-on; it simply hoped to force him back. But this long-horned demon could never have imagined that Brendel would not retreat even an inch, withstanding its blow.
It distinctly felt its claws piercing into the other’s body, the feeling of its sharp claws tearing through flesh—something delightful for a demon. But at that moment, the long-horned demon only felt fear.
Because Brendel was clearly the one who had taken the initiative, and he avoided hitting the heart, causing its claw to merely penetrate the opponent’s lung. Given its intelligence, it would never assume that Brendel accidentally walked into its strike.
The other party was evidently plotting.
In fact, this return came even faster than it had anticipated. It felt that its claw had at least gravely injured this human, and in the next moment, a surge of golden flame erupted from Brendel’s body.
In the pouring rain, those flames looked more like splattering blood.
Sunfire blood.
The sacred knight’s counterattack ability immediately showed the long-horned demon the severity of the situation; golden blood splashed onto its face, bursting into flames instantly. Even the claw it had retracted was coated in golden fire—this flame clearly had more to it than mere aesthetics; the intense, piercing pain made the demon scream in agony.
Brendel felt a searing pain as well. However, gritting his teeth, he took a step forward, seizing the opportunity while the long-horned demon clawed at its face and screamed. Like a fierce beast, he lunged, raising the Sword of the Earth to stab into the demon’s throat.
The demon’s scream abruptly halted.
Then another black hole appeared before Brendel, dragging the demon’s corpse back, closing completely into a line.
At that moment, Brendel felt utterly exhausted, kneeling on the ground as if the pain finally returned to him. The rain washed over his lacerated wounds, making him gasp in pain. Antinna hurriedly ran to his side, draping the Cloak of the Giant King over him.
“Lord!”
“Well done, Antinna.” Brendel replied through gritted teeth; however, he still tried to reach for a relic left behind by the long-horned demon that had fallen into the rain.
It was a silver, cylindrical object, which Brendel couldn’t immediately identify. Yet, it was indeed a demon’s relic, and if the knights of the Temple of Fire saw him with it, it wouldn’t be easy to claim it for himself.
After all, possession of demon items inevitably carried a bad reputation, and Brendel did not want this detail to draw attention; to be honest, he had enough trouble already. Wood had even asked him about the Heaven’s Armament, and honestly, the wind elemental spider wasn’t actually one; but the Sacred Sword Technique also gave a rather ambiguous impression.
But unexpectedly, as he reached for it, he inadvertently tugged at his wound, almost letting out a scream, and he failed to grasp the object. Instead, Antinna easily retrieved it. “Let me help you with this; you should pay more attention to your own body,” the aide said somewhat angrily.
Brendel glanced at her and suddenly realized something, his heart stirring slightly.
……
On the other side, the last surviving long-horned demon did not fare much better. In fact, it had just dashed out a couple of steps when suddenly a flame swept toward it.
Its own element was fire, but upon seeing the golden flames rushing toward it, it couldn’t help but let out a shriek.
One was the fire of the elemental rule, the other was the golden flame of the side of the truth—there was an immense disparity between them. The fire separated countless lesser demons, completely swallowing them, and as it approached, it instantly wanted to turn around and flee, but it was already too late.
A long sword emerged from the flames, piercing toward its throat. The long-horned demon desperately mobilized the lines of law around it to resist, but in elemental-level clashes, the strongest elemental counter was generally from the same attribute but a different tier.
Demons’ fire elements were usually magma, while Nicolas’ element was unfortunately similar to the Elemental Fire of King Gilt, leading to a rapid interaction between the two flames; the long-horned demon’s claw was instantly burned to ashes.
Then a hole was seared into its throat by the golden longsword in an instant.
The third black hole appeared amidst the heavy rain.
By this time, Charles and Gherlok were already prepared for their next spell, and another beam of light pierced the long night. This time, the beam precisely struck the already dim portal’s top, and a brilliant golden halo erupted on the portal.
Biologically, nearly everything within the vicinity witnessed this scene.
Along the coast’s hills, those animals hiding in the thickets stared at the golden halo in the sky with wide, terrified eyes. It seemed to spread and sweep across half the sky before vanishing into nothingness.
Not just around Ampere Seale.
Even in the nearby battlefield of the Bu Nuo Anwei City, some noticed the explosion. That golden light illuminating half the sky was hard to miss.
The soldiers on the battlefield paused for a moment before realizing what had occurred, for everyone knew what this battle was for. Even amidst such fierce fighting, cheers echoed through the skies.
Lady Medusa Laisimeka and her Minotaur lord Stark turned their gazes toward the north of Ampere Seale simultaneously.
The explosion’s glow illuminated their faces, rendering them a ghostly white. Behind them, the three massive heads of the Chaos King Nicland displayed dissatisfaction simultaneously; the left head, resembling that of a goat, sniffed the air—there was a trace of the stench of blood mixed with rain.
“Space is trembling violently.”
“Another portal has vanished in the north.”
“The humans are ambushing us from behind; is this how Varla treats the trust of his lord?” the three heads spoke at once.
The head resembling a lizard was relatively calm, the goat-like head appeared astute, while the human head bore a face full of cruelty. The Chaos King Nicland was a notorious lord in hell, but his greatest enemy was the dark elves; compared to them, the cunning king Varla had studied humans more thoroughly, dispatching demons to deal with human sorcerers, mostly his own.
However, among demons, few were fond of that seemingly weak lord, with legends claiming he was once human. Unlike Nicland, who was born in the River of Sulfur tens of thousands of years ago, chaos coursing through his veins.
Lady Medusa Laisimeka did not dare to respond.
Nicland was not in the mood to hear their replies; in fact, this colossal entity suddenly stirred, its entire body becoming semi-transparent. In the next moment, it disappeared entirely.
“He’s gone…” Laisimeka sighed in relief.
“Should we go take a look?” The Minotaur lord still looked apprehensive.
Laisimeka cast a cold glance at him.
“Fool, our mission is here.”
……(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
