The ruins of Rusty Town lay silent as a grave under the dark red sky.
Jiang Lin stood still, watching the Shadow of Blood turn into a streak of bloody light and pounce on the nearest crimson claw-wing.
The bloody light moved like a living thing, instantly enveloping, entangling, and devouring the creature.
The entire process took less than a breath. The 2nd-rank peak crimson claw-wing was reduced to a wisp of blood qi that merged into the Shadow of Blood's body.
The aura of the Shadow of Blood surged noticeably.
Jiang Lin nodded slightly, calculating his next move.
During the intense two-hour battle, he had summoned over two thousand five hundred Blood Demons. While these Blood Demons had consumed a massive amount of Aberrant flesh—most of which was used to maintain their existence and heal wounds—they still held a considerable surplus of energy within them.
For the time being, he didn't need to worry about the cost of maintaining them.
However, if he couldn't find new Aberrants and provide a steady supply of flesh after a few days, he wouldn't be able to keep them around.
“Continue.”
With a thought, the streak of light that was the Shadow of Blood darted through the ruins like a bolt of bloodthirsty lightning.
Everywhere it passed, Blood Demons were devoured one after another.
Crimson claw-wings, cursed blood bone dolls, Bloodblade Butchers—none were spared.
The devoured Blood Demons offered no resistance. Under Jiang Lin's will, they simply stood in place, silently awaiting their fate.
These Blood Demons possessed little intelligence. They were driven only by a thirst for slaughter and a fear of death. But under Jiang Lin's absolute control, even their fear could not save them.
Fifty. One hundred. Two hundred.
The Shadow of Blood's aura climbed frantically.
Eventually, it reached the limit of the 2nd-rank. Its attributes could no longer be improved simply by devouring more Blood Demons.
It had reached the stage where it needed to break through its life shackles.
However, its breakthrough seemed to require a much larger accumulation of Blood Demons than a normal evolution.
So, it did not stop.
Three hundred and fifty. Four hundred. Four hundred and fifty...
Finally, upon devouring its five-hundredth Blood Demon, the Shadow of Blood's aura stagnated for a split second before exploding like a flood breaking through a dam!
A crimson shockwave erupted from its body, blasting the surrounding debris dozens of meters away. The air trembled where the shockwave passed, leaving fine cracks in the ground.
3rd-rank.
The Shadow of Blood had officially stepped into the 3rd-rank!
Jiang Lin's eyes lit up.
He could clearly feel that the Shadow of Blood's current aura far exceeded that of a typical 3rd-rank entity. Its body was several times more solid than before, and faint golden patterns were emerging within the crimson glow on its surface.
Those were the traces of Jiang Lin's holy light magic essence being copied.
But this was still only the beginning. It could devour even more Blood Demons to grow into an even more powerful existence.
Of course, the number of Blood Demons required for further growth would be even greater.
The Blood Demon army had already dwindled from over two thousand seven hundred to roughly two thousand two hundred.
“Continue.”
Jiang Lin did not stop it. The Shadow of Blood turned back into a streak of light, pouncing on its next target.
Six hundred. Seven hundred. Eight hundred...
Its aura continued to climb, moving steadily from the early 3rd-rank toward the mid 3rd-rank. Its devouring speed increased, and with every Blood Demon consumed, its aura grew a fraction more powerful.
One thousand five hundred. One thousand six hundred. One thousand seven hundred.
By the time the Shadow of Blood devoured its one thousand eight hundredth Blood Demon, its aura finally reached the peak of the 3rd-rank.
It hovered in mid-air, its body now completely solid. It was no longer a semi-transparent state of blood qi but looked like a true body of flesh and blood. The golden patterns on its surface were dense and intricate, forming complex designs that resonated with the holy light magic essence inside Jiang Lin.
When it opened its eyes, they were no longer empty voids but a brilliant gold, identical to Jiang Lin's own.
In this moment, the Shadow of Blood looked exactly like Jiang Lin's twin brother.
Jiang Lin frowned slightly.
He could feel that the Shadow of Blood's growth had... stagnated. It wasn't a typical bottleneck, but a true "limit."
The flesh-and-blood energy within it had reached a state of saturation. No matter how many more Blood Demons it devoured, its aura wouldn't increase by even a fraction. The energy it consumed simply circulated, compressed, and released within its body, unable to break through that invisible barrier.
“Is the 3rd-rank peak... the limit?” Jiang Lin murmured to himself.
The Shadow of Blood descended slowly and stood before him. Its golden eyes watched him silently, expressionless, yet seemingly waiting for something.
Jiang Lin closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into his body. Through the contract, he could clearly perceive its current state.
It felt as if a wall had completely blocked the Shadow of Blood's path forward. The life shackles were still there, but if breaking them before was like poking through a sheet of paper, doing so now would be like trying to tunnel through a stone wall.
The difficulty had increased exponentially.
It seemed that because they were on Planet Teluofuto, the Shadow of Blood's upper limit was locked at the 3rd-rank peak.
A 3rd-rank peak Shadow of Blood against a 7th-rank peak evil god? Seriously?
The gap was too large. It was bordering on impossible.
Jiang Lin remained silent for a long time, his gaze sweeping over the remaining Blood Demons. Out of the original two thousand seven hundred, only nine hundred were left.
They stood silently amidst the ruins, waiting for his command.
With a thought, he ordered the Shadow of Blood to stop devouring. Since it could no longer grow, there was no point in wasting these combat units. These 2nd-rank peak Blood Demons would still be very useful in the coming battles.
“Return.”
The Shadow of Blood turned into a streak of crimson light and merged back into his body. That familiar feeling of its power blending with his own magic essence resurfaced.
Jiang Lin looked down at his hands. The crimson patterns on the back of his hands were clearer and more intricate than before. They writhed like living things, spreading up his forearms and shoulders before converging into a scarlet brand over his heart.
Unlike before, his internal strength had at least doubled while possessed by the Shadow of Blood. The combination of the 3rd-rank peak Shadow of Blood and his 2nd-rank peak physical body caused his overall combat power to leap forward once again.
Now, if he were to face that 4th-rank king-tier frost ghost again, he wouldn't even need to draw his sword. The raw power boost from the possession alone would allow him to shatter it with a single punch.
But against a 7th-rank evil god... it was still too weak.
“I need to find another way,” Jiang Lin mused.
If he left this planet, would the Shadow of Blood still be considered within the planet's scope? If he remembered correctly, the footage Leah showed him showed the evil god's tumor falling from the sky and landing on Planet Teluofuto's world core.
Could it be that the entity was also bypassing the world level limit by keeping part of its body inside the planet and part of it outside?
He would have to ask the people from Ember later to see if they knew anything.
Before that, however, Jiang Lin discovered that some of the restrictions on his Blood Demon summoning had been lifted.
Crimson light began to spread from beneath his feet once more.
This time, it wasn't a surging Sea of Blood, but a small, concentrated area. His magic essence was rapidly consumed as a crimson figure soared into the sky.
A hunched frame, a violent aura, sharp claws, and scarlet bone wings... it was a crimson blood-wing.
However, this crimson blood-wing's aura was clearly several times stronger than the 2nd-rank peak crimson claw-wings. It was a 3rd-rank peak Blood Demon.
Now that the Shadow of Blood had reached the 3rd-rank, the upper limit of what he could summon had increased accordingly.
The magic essence cost, however, was much higher. A single 3rd-rank peak crimson blood-wing consumed a full tenth of his magic essence—more than ten times the cost of a 2nd-rank peak unit.
It seemed that if he wanted to mass-produce 3rd-rank peak Blood Demons, he would still need to rely on consuming flesh and blood.
At the same time, he realized that the types of Blood Demons he could summon had increased again.
The blood light flashed once more.
A crimson figure rose from the blood on the ground. It was a humanoid creature about two meters tall with a slender frame covered in dark red bone armor. Its head had no facial features, only a bone plate resembling a mask with a fist-sized blood crystal embedded in the center.
Its fingers were long and ended in sharp bone spikes, with a semi-transparent crimson membrane connecting the spikes like some bizarre weapon.
【Blood Demon Type Unlocked: Bloodspeaker】
【Level: 3rd-rank peak】
【Characteristics: Commander-type Blood Demon with high intelligence and mental strength. Capable of controlling a large number of Blood Demons through a mental link to coordinate combat. Lacks strong individual combat power but significantly enhances the group combat capabilities of Blood Demons. One Bloodspeaker can control up to one hundred Blood Demons of the same rank.】
Jiang Lin's eyes lit up.
A commander-type Blood Demon! This was exactly what he needed.
In previous battles, he had tried to command the Blood Demon army himself, but the low-rank Blood Demons were too unintelligent to understand complex orders and could only fight on instinct. Furthermore, he couldn't process the sensory information of over two thousand Blood Demons at once, which severely limited the army's coordination.
If he used Bloodspeakers as a middle layer to handle the command tasks for him...
The combat power of the Blood Demon legion would undergo a qualitative leap!
“Let's test it.”
With a thought, Jiang Lin ordered the Bloodspeaker to establish a mental link with the surrounding Blood Demons. The crystal in the center of the Bloodspeaker's mask flashed, and a wave of invisible psionic energy spread out, instantly covering all Blood Demons within hundreds of meters.
The nine hundred 2nd-rank peak Blood Demons seemed to instinctively want to resist, but under Jiang Lin's will, they all established a mental link with the Bloodspeaker.
Jiang Lin could clearly feel the connection. It was a form of one-way control.
He could now control them directly through his summoning link or indirectly through the Bloodspeaker. However, he was surprised by the range. It could control this many?
But considering it could control one hundred Blood Demons of the same rank, and given the ten-fold increase in magic essence requirements for higher ranks, it made sense that it could control ten times as many lower-rank units.
Resting his chin on his hand, Jiang Lin gave the Bloodspeaker an order: “Advance and surround those ruins.”
A second later, the surrounding Blood Demons moved in unison. They no longer rushed toward the target in a chaotic swarm. Instead, they split into three groups and began a pincer movement from different directions.
The crimson claw-wings took the high ground, the cursed blood bone dolls provided support from the center, and the Bloodblade Butchers advanced from the front.
The entire process was seamless and coordinated—completely unlike an army of mindless monsters.
The corners of Jiang Lin's mouth curled up.
With the Bloodspeaker, he no longer had to personally process a massive amount of sensory data. He only needed to give the Bloodspeaker broad strategic commands, and it would handle the tactical execution automatically. This meant the size of the army he could command would no longer be limited by his own mental capacity.
Standing in the ruins of Rusty Town, Jiang Lin felt the surging power within him and the boost from the Shadow of Blood's possession. Nine hundred 2nd-rank peak Blood Demons were arrayed around him, commanded by the Bloodspeaker like a well-trained army.
“Let's try something else.”
Jiang Lin gave a second command through the Bloodspeaker.
The nine hundred Blood Demons shifted formations simultaneously. The crimson claw-wings dove from their perches, but instead of attacking directly, they circled at low altitudes to create chaos. The cursed blood bone dolls synchronized their curses into three massive crimson runes hovering over the ruins, ready to strike. The Bloodblade Butchers tightened their lines, forming three solid defensive nodes centered around themselves.
The transition was as smooth as if they had practiced it a thousand times.
Jiang Lin's eyes flashed with satisfaction. He turned around, his gaze passing over the silent Blood Demons.
Nine hundred 2nd-rank peak Blood Demons, plus two 3rd-rank peak special units. Combined with his ability to summon infinitely on the battlefield, this force was enough to sweep through any Aberrant nest on this continent.
But against a 7th-rank peak evil god... it still wasn't enough.
Jiang Lin pondered as he sensed the Shadow of Blood's state again. The 3rd-rank peak was a hard limit. That wall was too thick to break through with conventional methods.
“I need to go back and ask Leah.”
Jiang Lin opened his eyes and took out the locator. On the silver screen, a blinking light marked the location of Ember Headquarters, about a hundred and twenty kilometers away.
He then raised his hand, and several fist-sized crystals emitting a dark red glow appeared in his palm. These were pollution crystals he had extracted from the Aggregate cores during the battle. Compared to the ones Ed had found, these were much purer and contained far more energy.
“These might be useful.”
Jiang Lin put the crystals into his spatial ring and looked over the ruins. The battle was over, and the remains of Aberrants were scattered everywhere. He let the Blood Demons consume the last of the flesh to replenish their energy reserves.
Then, with a thought, he issued an order through the Bloodspeaker:
【Stay here. Garrison Rusty Town, clear out any remaining Aberrants, and construct a forward outpost.】
...
Rate on N.U.
