048 "Taking the Field."
"Stop acting all high and mighty, I'll smash you into an idiot!"
With a low howl, the Verdant Wolf Spirit unleashed five evil spirits covered in a malevolent shell. They vanished into shadows, but then launched a swift attack from all directions, assaulting Li Aoz and Alexia.
"Reconnaissance."
Alexia raised her hand and swept it across her eyes, instantly exposing the evil spirits lurking in the shadows. She then unleashed both fists, fiercely striking the four-armed snail that lunged at her.
Damn it!
The four-armed Human Snail terrified and hurriedly raised its arms to block in front of it, but its strength was far inferior to Alexia's.
puff--
Alexia smashed the Human Snail's four bent arms with her fists. Her unwavering belief was like the blazing sun. With a heart-wrenching thrust, she burned and melted the Human Snail along with the snow that had fallen in early spring.
With a mighty tug, the once-aggressive Human Snail screamed in agony, its body billowing with black smoke. Then, its upper body was cleanly torn in two by Alexia's wrist strength, melting and burning on the Erbium Gold gauntlets.
Even so, the Human Snail did not die. This spirit was exceptionally tenacious. It almost twisted its last snail shell and struggled to crawl back to the Grand Duke's feet. Archduke Gamos lowered his hand and released a small spirit from his body for the Human Snail to devour, allowing it to slowly recover.
Compared to Alexia's brutal and efficient methods, Li Aoz's techniques were more gorgeous and stunning.
Boom! Li Aoz his long sword, and the vengeful ghost warrior behind him also raised his long sword. The overwhelming killing intent was so real that just getting close to him would make people feel uneasy and Terror.
The Verdant Wolf Spirit and the white-clad female Nether Wife, exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in each other's eyes:
They also believe that everything about them has been seen through.
'A feint attack to test him, to trick him into making a move.'
'That suits me perfectly.'
The two evil spirits communicated with each other and attacked simultaneously. The Verdant Wolf Spirit released a compressed ball of spiritual energy, while the female ghost lifted a folding fan made of human spine and immediately slashed out a crescent-shaped dark ripple.
[Soul-Inscribed Sword Saint — Wargod]--Dieja
[Gravity·Contact] - Superposition
"Two in One - Ghoul Fang Slash!"
The vengeful ghostly figure behind them instantly drew its sword and slashed out, its swirling purple flames sweeping horizontally forward. The two spirits immediately retreated, but they soon realized that no matter what they did, it was too late.
After the vengeful samurai swung his sword, Li Aoz calmly stepped forward and raised his own crystal Tachi.
Gravity-driven!
The acceleration instantly increased to 120G, 1176 accelerations per second, creating a terrifying sonic boom on the spot. While the two evil spirits were still retreating in mid-air, Li Aoz's blade had already slashed past them.
Zheng—
His movements were like lightning. Despite wearing incredibly heavy Lava Armor, his speed surpassed the reaction of sight and nerves. His blades danced like a cavalryman without a mount, or a bee or butterfly flitting through a flowerbed. In a short moment, purple cuts appeared on both Cangcui and Nether Wife's bodies.
"Ugh—damn it, you two, Fetus Ghoul and Thunder Spirit, get moving!"
With a quick dart of his emerald eyes, he feigned a severe injury and hurriedly called out to those behind him:
"Get to work, you two idiots!"
"So verbose!"
The Thunder Spirit's appearance was somewhere between a lion and a deer. Unlike these spirits formed from the resentment of their past lives, its temperament was obviously more noble. As a spirit born of nature, it was the embodiment of the will of the Azure Planet ecosystem and disdained to stand with the evil spirits beside it. It opened its mouth, its spiritual power stirred, and a bright purple ball of lightning immediately gathered in its mouth.
"Throat!"
Thunder Spirit roared, and a dazzling ball of lightning instantly flew towards Li Aoz, forcing Li Aoz, who was constantly slashing at the two evil spirits, to retreat.
Despite Li Aoz's repeated maneuvers in mid-air to create distance, the lightning ball remained fixated on him.
"Soul Mark Tracking - This guy's pretty good."
Seeing that the lightning ball was about to catch up with him, Li Aoz simply turned around and landed, stepping on the ground instantly.
Boom! [Mountains Armor]
[gravitational]
He once again drew upon the power of the earth, and under the control of gravity, instantly formed a rough rock golem that crashed hard into the thunderball.
Crackling sound—
The intense heat melted the rock golem and shattered a corner of it, but it had no effect. Instead, Li Aoz used gravity to grab it and flung it toward the Grand Duke's main body on the throne!
With a whoosh, the Fetus Ghoul instantly transformed, blocking the Grand Duke's path. It flung out its umbilical cord, shattering the rock golem into pieces. Only a few fragments of rock, amidst a cloud of dust, struck Archduke Gamos's face.
Tap tap tap...
Rocks rolled off the Grand Duke's face, lodging in the folds of his skin and among his aged spots, small, hard pebbles sandwiched between his skin and flesh—no one could know what that felt like, but judging from Archduke Gamos's subsequent reaction, it was clearly not an comfortable experience.
Archduke Gamos raised his head and surveyed the battle situation head-on for the first time.
He saw the marble being melted and trampled, like mud, wantonly trampled by two extremely young Beta-rank.
He saw a youthful, vibrant physique, yet it was gradually moving towards a realm of suffering similar to his own. In fact, the power of that woman from the Old Era was growing stronger, even in order to kill him.
He saw how Aoneng, traditionally seen as mere street tricks with no future, were transformed in the hands of a new generation, with various superpowers being combined to create countless possibilities. Just like young people, they were vibrant and full of future potential.
He saw that those who should have been buried with the old world, like himself, now had firm eyes and fought with increasing courage.
He once possessed these things; he should have had such an era.
However, this power turned into a curse.
Archduke Gamos's mind suddenly changed.
Perhaps it was out of jealousy towards young people, perhaps out of resentment at the injustice of fate, or perhaps out of anger at being humiliated.
He removed his breathing mask, slowly stood up, and the swarm of Human Snail that were still devouring weak spirits was still sucking them in, but the next moment the spirits he was holding were immediately returned to Archduke Gamos.
"Gamos, I'm not fully healed yet—"
Before it could finish speaking, the Grand Duke raised his hand and casually touched between the snail's antennae.
Splat!
The Human Snail's body exploded instantly, disintegrating into a vast amount of spiritual energy, which flowed back into Gamos's body. His body trembled slightly, and snail tentacles grew on his forehead.
"Hey, Gamos— " The Fetus Ghoul had just opened its mouth when the Grand Duke grabbed its umbilical cord, pulled it out of its body, wrapped it around his arm, and slammed the placenta on its head onto the ground, dragging it like a meteor hammer, leaving a dark and filthy trail.
"Gamos! Are you turning against us? We're the ones on your side!"
The destruction of the Fetus Ghoul and the Human Snail in succession greatly displeased the Nether Wife.
"If you don't understand the big picture—"
Before she could finish speaking, Alexia punched her, and the Nether Wife stumbled back a few steps, only to find herself standing right in front of the Grand Duke.
Smack
A dark blue crack slowly opened in the Grand Duke's chest, and before his Nether Wife could even scream, she was swallowed whole by the Grand Duke.
The folding fan fell to the ground. Alexia cautiously raised her head, and Archduke Gamos instantly sprang up. The impact of the shockwave alone was enough to knock the incredibly strong Alexia to the ground.
He strode forward silently, dragging his strange steps, completely ignoring the laws of physics, and quickly swept across the wall before pouncing on the verdant figure fighting Li Aoz.
puff--
Even the cunning Cang Cui fell for the trick. Its head was raised high and seized by the Duke, who immediately and cleanly skinned it and draped the pelt over its shoulders, creating a magnificent and savage cloak.
Li Aoz was facing Gamos, and the two were only half a meter apart. They could clearly smell both the flames on Li Aoz's body and the stench of decay and blood on Gamos' body.
"You're not afraid of me."
Gamos's voice was sickly, sounding like that of an old man on his deathbed, yet every word he spoke echoed like thunder throughout the entire Flame Monarch Hall. Facing him directly was an extremely terrifying experience.
Facing Archduke Gamos, Li Aoz understood for the first time just how desperate and fearful those who were crushed by his own gravity truly felt.
This is completely different from when facing the Bio-Kongou. Nethermark Professor doesn't know how to fight, nor is he a true strongman; he's just a lump of rotten flesh built up with Aoneng.
But if the Archduke Gamos Bio-Kongou is a drop of water, then the Grand Duke Gamos is like a flood, sweeping in instantly with the power of destruction and natural disaster.
However, compared to Li Aoz's feelings, the Grand Duke was even more surprised.
"You are not afraid of me; in fact, your eyes are full of eagerness."
What does this mean? It's like an ordinary person with nothing to lose seeing a high-speed train hurtling towards them. Instead of being afraid, they feel a surge of fighting spirit, wishing they could overturn the train and smash it into scrap metal the next moment.
Gamos remained silent for a moment. He felt he had many thoughts and many things he wanted to say to mock the young man.
'Overestimating yourself,' 'meaningless,' 'you'll regret pursuing power sooner or later'—he knew that look all too well.
Before he attempted to rebel against Frostplate's rule but ultimately became Frostplate's agent, Gamos remembered that he must have had that same look in his eyes.
Whether it's the young man in front of her or the bride from the Old Era, they have no grudge against her.
Logically and emotionally, they shouldn't be fighting themselves, especially against an enemy so powerful it inspires despair.
Whether it's a Grand Duke, Frostplate, or any hegemonic empire.
However, he now feels that his so-called mockery was actually proof of his failure.
These two young people are not fighting for personal gain or self-interest, but for their beliefs.
In terms of strength, he was in a completely overwhelming position, but from the beginning, Gamos knew that he had already lost too much.
"...never mind."
Archduke Gamos said nothing.
If you ignore what he did and his historical position, he doesn't actually look like a villain at all.
He seemed more like a listless, despondent old man.
"Thunder Spirit".
Gamos waved his hand, and the natural beast spirits immediately clung to him, merging into his body. A dazzling purple lightning bolt erupted instantly, piercing through the entire structure above the Flame Monarch Hall.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning struck from the crimson and black clouds of Malefic Calamity, piercing through the roof beams and ridge tiles of the Surut Palace and instantly crashing down on Gamos.
A massive cloud of electric discharge instantly enveloped the entire Surut Palace. Seeing the danger, Sisron and the others quickly ordered the Bermudes soldiers on the periphery to retreat and make way.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The earth trembled, houses collapsed, and the Surut Palace, which had a history of nearly a thousand years, shook continuously. A huge cloud of electric discharge spread like cancer cells, engulfing countless warriors alive. Amidst the lightning and thunder, a colossal, inhuman creature slowly opened its six pairs of arms, descending upon the world like a demon.
As soon as the ferocious demon god descended into the world, thunderclouds surged and resonated, all conveying his will in fear. "—Go forth and become a demon."
"Chuma" is a tradition of ancient shamanic culture, which later evolved into a culture in Northeast my country.
Although I am not from Northeast China, I have heard of legends about shamans and similar practices. This interesting folk custom became the direct prototype for the book "Shamanism".
Shamanism, a cultural practice found all over the world, is difficult to pinpoint its exact origin. I think it might be a result of early, simple human beliefs, where tribes relied on figures like shamans and healers for cohesion.