Just after crossing the border of Bone Dragon Prefecture, pursuers appeared behind them.
"Is the internal strife in Bone Dragon Prefecture really that serious?" Naya looked at the three figures behind her and sighed.
"They're not from the Bone Dragon Prefecture, they're here for you—they just happen to need some Nether Stone." Jason stowed away his Metallic Airship, preparing for battle. "Step back a bit."
Jason had long sensed that someone was following him, which was why he changed course and came to Bone Dragon Prefecture. He didn't want to lead his enemies to the Rhine Clan. Obviously, the other party also didn't want to cause trouble in the chaotic Bone Dragon Prefecture, so they revealed their presence here in an attempt to coerce him with force.
Three Highgod arrived, all male, exuding similar auras, clearly from the same family.
"All three are primarily focused on the death element. The one on the far right should also have a decent grasp of the Wind Element. I can't tell the difference between the other two yet." Jason made a simple assessment of the opponents' strength.
The three people opposite were also observing Jason.
The middle-aged man who appeared to be the leader spoke first, "Sir, we are guards from the Bone Dragon Prefecture. Please come with us."
"I'm not going."
"Then I'll have to offend you."
The three people surrounded them.
The three domains overlapped, colliding with Jason's domain. This is a common method used by those of similar strength to begin testing each other.
"The leader should be a Six-Star Fiend, and the other two are Five-Star Fiend."
Jason made no attempt to delay and charged directly at the Highgod on the far right who possessed Wind Clone.
The opponent neither dodged nor evaded, but instead clashed with Jason's golden glove with his scythe. Although he was thrown back by the shock, he managed to block Jason's attack.
Without using the Sovereign Artifact, Jason is currently only Six-Star Fiend at the early stage, and he has a significant weakness in speed.
Two men rushed up from behind, both wielding scythes.
A sharp, Corrosion attack was deflected by the golden Divine Power emanating from Jason's body; another ethereal soul attack pierced Jason's soul but caused no harm.
Jason paid no attention to what was behind him, relentlessly pursuing his target.
The three exchanged a brief spiritual communication and instantly changed their tactics. In their eyes, Jason was a standard Six-Star Fiend, with strong soul and physical defense, but not high attack power or fast speed.
Despite being injured, the Five-Star Fiend in front of Jason took another hit from Jason. Just as Jason paused, the leading Six-Star Fiend's scythe quickly extended, stopping Jason's attempt to pursue and blocking Jason in front of him.
Clearly, they wanted the leading Six-Star Fiend to be the main attacker and hold Jason back, while the other two would launch a sneak attack from behind.
Jason wasn't fast enough to get around his opponent, so he had to change his target and attack the Six-Star Fiend in front of him.
The other three glanced at Naya in the distance, and seeing that she hadn't escaped, they relaxed and focused on dealing with Jason.
Jason knew he couldn't defeat the three without using the Sovereign Artifact. He just wanted to test his strength and see if he could break through. He hadn't officially fought Six-Star Fiend since becoming Highgod; the bandits he'd faced along the way were all four- or Five-Star Fiend.
With a golden gauntlet in his left hand and a blood-red longsword in his right, Jason faced off against Six-Star Fiend wielding a scythe. The two fought to the death, neither willing to back down, both poised to fight to the death.
Jason's strengths lie in his strong physical attacks, his ability to deflect most physical attacks using Profound Mysteries Soul Defense Divine Artifact. His weaknesses are, of course, his extremely slow speed and weak soul attacks.
To his surprise, his opponent's defense against physical attacks was also quite strong. It wasn't a direct defense, but rather the use of the Edicts of Death to directly weaken Jason's attacks.
The three men's direct attacks had little effect on Jason, and he remained completely unafraid even when two of them were constantly attacking Jason from behind.
But to Jason's surprise, they possessed a strange ability—they could directly influence the speed at which Jason absorbed Divine Power.
Whether it was due to the trio's racial talent or some unique method they had developed, the attacks that repeatedly penetrated Jason's soul were easily blocked by the Soul Defense Divine Artifact. However, the Death Divine Power mixed into the sea of consciousness below like ink, causing the originally active sea of consciousness to quickly become sluggish, and the speed at which the Divine Spark spark absorbed Divine Power to drop rapidly.
The Soul Defense Divine Artifact can only protect the Divine Spark and the soul fused with Divine Spark, but it has no protective ability for the sea of consciousness below.
At first, this effect was not obvious, but as the battle continued, Jason found that he could hardly draw upon the Fate Highgod Power, and could only draw upon the power of the middle and Lowgod located at the upper level!
"I've learned something new. I never imagined that three people who aren't even at the level of Seven Star Fiend could possess such a bizarre ability, bypassing the Soul Defense Divine Artifact and directly influencing the divine Divine Power in my sea of consciousness!"
While this wouldn't be of much use to truly veteran powerhouses, since they've already accumulated the Divine Power within their Divine Spark to the peak, enough to last a month of continuous battle without exhaustion, the fact that these three Six-Star Fiend possessed such abilities was already extremely rare.
Taking advantage of a close-range sneak attack from a Five-Star Fiend behind him, Jason ignored the attack in front of him, grabbed the opponent with a backhand, and then covered his entire body with fine blue and white scales.
The attack of the Six-Star Fiend was blocked; while Jason's claw broke the scythe of the Five-Star Fiend that couldn't break free, and pulled a Divine Spark from its head.
This Five-Star Fiend has a Wind Clone. Although the other two also have other clones, only this Five-Star Fiend is extremely fast. Jason knew he couldn't catch up with it if it wanted to run.
Jason swung his blood-red longsword repeatedly, cleaving the headless corpse in two and forcing out the opponent's Wind Clone.
The opponent created more than twenty clones, attempting to escape with the help of their teammates.
Jason's pupils shimmered, revealing the "Annihilation" on all his clones, while his true body was clearly visible in that field of vision.
Enveloped by the Fate Divine Power, which slightly slowed the opponent's body, Jason ignored it and pounced on him, smashing his opponent's head with a single punch.
The other two were slightly stunned by their companion's death. Just moments ago, the three of them had the upper hand, but now the tide had turned in an instant. Especially since Jason had taken their attacks head-on without dodging or evading, without even a hint of reaction.
"Since you have broadened my horizons, then you shall all die under my ' Frost Chill '."
Jason didn't mention the Sovereign Artifact, but instead addressed it directly as "Frost Chill," as he was still wary that these three might have other Divine Clone hiding elsewhere.
The two men immediately realized that Jason had been hiding his true abilities, and turned to run away.
Unfortunately, they also specialize in the Edicts of Death, and their speed is similar to Jason's.
"We are soldiers of the Bone Dragon Prefecture! I also have a clone in Dragon Pupil City! Ah--"
Jason was very direct, punching each opponent one by one, piercing through their Divine Artifact and extracting their Divine Spark.
A Darkness Element- Midgod avatar flew out from the previous Six-Star Fiend, pleading, "Spare me!"
"Who sent you?"
The man tried to bluff his way out: "The Bone Dragon Prefecture Master is now—"
"Let's talk about the Four Divine Beasts Clan."
The man assessed the situation. "We belong to the Ashcroft Clan, and our mission is to hunt down the remnants of the Four Divine Beasts Clan in the Netherworld."
Jason pointed at Naya: "Was she captured by you before?"
"Yes, we deliberately released her. The Ashcroft Clan still has two Seven Star Fiend in the Netherworld, and my clone is—ah!"
Jason knocked his opponent out with a single punch.
He dripped a drop of blood onto the Interspatial Ring: "What utter nonsense! There are clearly no clones left."
Jason tried it out, and one of the Five-Star Fiend, along with its clone, directly destroyed the Interspatial Ring and Divine Artifact that couldn't be bound to its owner. Jason took the three corpses with him, wanting to study whether the ability to slow down the absorption of Divine Power power was a talent or a unique technique.
Judging from the corpse's appearance, it is unlikely to be a descendant of the Nether Serpent, but rather from a vassal family.
Jason looked at Naya: "You heard everything just now?"
"Our family will definitely make them pay!" Naya remained proud, but her faith in the Four Divine Beasts Clan had begun to waver.
"Get on the airship, we need to get going."