Chapter 212 · Volume 1

Hero Gargoyles, The Hell Archduke Appears

As the demons from outside continued to close in on the defensive structure, Chen Xu remained deep in thought regarding the final enhancement affix for his gargoyles.
He scrolled back and forth through the list of affixes, unable to make a final decision.
Should he choose [Extra Fast] to increase the gargoyles' speed and their ability to close the distance on mages, or [Extra Strong] to bolster their overall physical prowess?
Suddenly, Chen Xu noticed an affix in the list that seemed to have never appeared before.
【Hero: Every gargoyle hides a hero's dream.
Grants the skill [Hero's Entrance].
Significantly increases the gargoyle's size and mutates its stone body, granting the passive skill [Forbidden Stone Skin].】
【Hero's Entrance: The gargoyle ascends high into the sky and quickly reinforces a nearby ally. Upon landing, it deploys a Mana-Forbidden Field, dispelling all surrounding magical fluctuations and knocking back all enemies within the field.】
【Forbidden Stone Skin: Engraved upon the gargoyle's stone skin is an ancient, forbidden war—a struggle for survival between mages and Spell-Slayers. Even today, this forbidden war radiates an eerie aura that affects the surrounding magical environment.
Mages below the mythic-tier cannot cast spells normally, and mythic-tier mages have a chance to fail their casting.】
This was the first time Chen Xu had seen an affix provide additional skills. Based on his past enhancement experience, such special reinforcements were usually reserved for high-tier units like ghosts or bone dragons.
He hadn't expected the gargoyles to have a weakened version available to them.
Since that was the case, he would choose [Hero] as the final affix.
Once the selection was finalized, the power of his talent flowed from Chen Xu's soul into the gargoyles.
The gargoyles, which were originally only a little over two meters tall, instantly ballooned to over thirty meters under the talent's enhancement, becoming towering behemoths.
The defensive structure built by Heaven was burst open by their growth, revealing the gargoyles' ferocious, stony heads.
To test the gargoyles' skills, Chen Xu directly summoned Flideng into the middle of a distant group of voodoo banshees.
Voodoo banshees, also known as harpies, possessed human-like torsos covered in blood-red and yellow feathers, with long fangs protruding from their faces.
Seeing Flideng appear so suddenly, the voodoo banshees opened their mouths and let out piercing shrieks. This was a natural talent of the banshees—a scream that struck directly at the soul. Even an epic-tier powerhouse would be knocked unconscious if caught off guard.
However, as a ghost, Flideng was clearly unaffected by the banshees' screams. He reached up and picked at his ear; while it didn't hurt him, the sound was truly unpleasant.
Seeing that Flideng was unbothered, the voodoo banshees immediately changed tactics, and a barrage of spells came flying toward him.
Blood Curse, Hellfire Ball, Blood-Burning Curse, Soul-Splitting Curse, Purgatory Fire, and Soul-Shaking Sonic Wave.
Countless spells swarmed toward Flideng. Yet, he didn't seem to care, simply looking up at the black dots in the sky that were growing larger by the second.
Compared to the banshees' spells, Flideng was more worried about the gargoyles falling from the sky at high speed.
As a ghost, he was a natural spellcaster himself and could easily break the banshees' magic, but these big guys were falling from the heavens so fast—would they hurt him when they landed?
Boom!
Bang!
The gargoyles landed one after another. The massive impact sent the surrounding voodoo banshees flying into the air. The range of the Mana-Forbidden Field was enormous; in addition to the voodoo banshees, succubi and blood demons further away were also launched into the sky.
The hellish spells still traveling through the air were completely dispelled the moment they were touched by the Mana-Forbidden Field.
Excellent. With this reinforcement capability combined with the crowd-clearing dispel effect, the gargoyles would become a nightmare for any mage.
"Wait?"
Just as Chen Xu thought the effect of the Mana-Forbidden Field was limited to knockbacks and dispels, he sensed that after the spells were broken down into raw mana, that energy was being funneled directly into Flideng, the target of the reinforcement.
The engravings on the gargoyles' bodies flickered, and an exceptionally thick mana shield condensed around Flideng.
"Not only does it dispel magic, but it also turns the enemy's mana into a shield. That's quite impressive."
He hadn't expected the Mana-Forbidden Field to have such a trick—forbidding the magic of others while converting it into their own protection.
Once the mana shields were formed, the gargoyles entered their combat forms. Their massive stone wings flapped at high speeds, generating a level of velocity that defied their size as they charged toward the demons in the air.
With their massive size and heavy bodies combined with extreme speed, the gargoyles didn't use any fancy spells. They relied solely on raw, primitive power, smashing the airborne demons to pieces as if they were swatting flies.
In a very short amount of time, the demons in the sky were wiped out by the gargoyle legion. At Chen Xu's command, the crimson eyes on their heads turned toward the demons further away.
With a spread of their wings, the gargoyle legion took to the skies once more, racing toward the distance.
Seeing this, the voodoo banshees and succubi began firing Hellfire Balls into the air. These fireballs, infused with the source of flame from the depths of Hell, were far more powerful than ordinary fireballs.
Furthermore, Hellfire was a flame that corrupted all life. Even the most devout follower of Heaven could not endure a hundred years of roasting in Hellfire before being corrupted into a fallen one.
Facing the swarms of Hellfire Balls, the gargoyles adjusted their positions in mid-air. The massive wings on their backs flapped violently, whipping up a series of fierce gales that blew downward.
Contained within these explosive winds were countless stone fragments shed from the gargoyles' bodies.
The Hellfire Balls were suppressed by the gale and stopped rising. The fragments pierced through the fireballs, scattering them instantly. Not only that, but bolstered by the wind, the fragments became like high-speed cannonballs, pelting the demons on the ground.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The fragments easily tore through the demons' flesh and struck the ground with a rhythmic pounding.
The banshees let out angry howls, immediately attempting to recast their spells to retaliate.
Beneath their feet, pools of pitch-black substance manifested. At the banshees' call, long, slender tentacles extended from the black matter, reaching toward the sky.
These eerie tentacles moved with incredible speed, instantly wrapping themselves around the gargoyles in the air.
The gargoyles' [Forbidden Stone Skin] was actually unable to affect this black substance.
However, the strength of these tentacles was not enough to restrain the gargoyles. The gargoyles used the momentum to drop to the ground, the massive impact once again launching a large number of demons into the air.
Relying on their hard stone bodies, the gargoyles moved at high speeds across the ground. Every punch, every wing sweep, and every heavy stomp wiped out a large swath of demons.
Before long, more than half of the demons on this battlefield were dead or wounded. The gargoyles, knowing no fatigue, continued to sweep through the remnants.
Suddenly, a grand, slightly frenzied voice echoed from all directions. Accompanying the voice was a terrifyingly powerful aura that instantly pinned all the gargoyles to the ground, rendering them unable to move.
"Stranger necrotic archduke, this is the battlefield of the great Hell Archduke, Mogli the Tormentor, and Priest Alifa. By interfering, are you issuing a challenge to me?"
As the words fell, the blood on the battlefield rose into the air, gathering in the sky to form a massive blood-red face.
Mogli continuously exerted his pressure on Chen Xu below, attempting to intimidate him. At the same time, the Hell Archduke's dao rhyme invaded the world, attempting to corrupt the suppressed gargoyles.
"Heh."
Chen Xu gave a disdainful laugh. The dao rhyme he had been restraining within his body instantly erupted. A surge of grey-white light expanded rapidly, filling the entire world and liberating the gargoyles.
"Despicable demon, you were the ones who interfered first!"
His eternal-tier mental strength struck the blood-red face in the sky directly, blowing it apart.
Facing the threat of a Hell Archduke, Chen Xu gave his response through an attack.

Related Series

Discover other series with a similar tone and shared themes.