The black-robed man let out a muffled groan and slapped a backhand strike toward Victor's chest, but Victor's figure had already vanished into the shadows.
Mavis's fire whip lashed out from another direction, wrapping around the ankle of a black-robed man who was attempting to ambush Lothar from the side, dragging him to the ground.
Selene stood at the edge of the battlefield, pale blue healing magic essence swirling at her fingertips, ready to support any injured teammates at a moment's notice.
Ten against eight.
The enemy held the numerical advantage, but they failed to gain the upper hand immediately.
This was because Jiang Lin's spatial anchors had disrupted their formation.
The silver-white light had woven a network in the air.
Although it dissipated in less than five breaths, during those five breaths, the ten opponents were divided into three disconnected groups.
The three in the front row were blocked head-on by Lothar and Good.
Of the seven in the back, two were forced back by Dorian's arrows, two were wounded by Victor and Mavis's sudden assaults, and the remaining three were forced to fight individually before they could even deploy their formation.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lin was still waiting.
He was waiting for the enemy to reveal their true trump card.
He did not believe they had mobilized in full force and used three men as bait just to fight an honorable encounter.
They definitely had another card up their sleeve.
Sure enough.
A black-robed man suddenly soared into the air from the center of the battlefield. Spreading his arms, dark red Demon God power surged frantically from his body, condensing into a massive, twisted dark red orb of light above the withered forest.
Dark red mist churned continuously on the surface of the orb, within which countless twisted faces could be faintly seen struggling and wailing.
“Watch out!” Cyrus's voice came through the Apostle Brand, filled with unprecedented urgency. “That's the embryonic form of a Demon God Domain! He's trying to turn this area into the Demon God's home ground! In this domain, their magic essence recovery speed will double, and we will be suppressed!”
Jiang Lin did not hesitate.
Leaping out from behind a withered tree, he unleashed Instant Light Flash to its limit. His figure vanished from his spot, and in the next split second, he appeared right behind the black-robed man suspended in midair.
The Eight Extremities Holy Sword condensed in his palm. At this moment, the golden light on the blade was compressed to its absolute limit, no longer a blinding blazing gold, but a near-transparent, pale gold that resembled solidified sunlight.
This was the result of him simultaneously infusing intermediate-condensation sword intent, liquid holy light magic essence, and spatial cutting into this single strike.
The moment the tip of the sword pierced the black-robed man's back, a resilient, dark red shield emerged from his body, blocking the blade from penetrating any deeper.
Fine cracks surfaced on the shield's face, but it did not shatter.
The black-robed man turned his head, revealing a pale, youthful face beneath his hood, a hint of mockery flashing in his dark red eyes.
“A 4th-rank mid-stage, trying to break my—”
Before he could finish his sentence, his expression froze.
For on the tip of Jiang Lin's sword, a trace of extremely faint, deep blue light was seeping in along the cracks of the shield.
It was ice soul power.
Instead of trying to break the shield by brute force, he sought only to find gaps within the cracks and inject the freezing chill.
The black-robed man's body stiffened abruptly. The dark red shield flickered violently twice, and then, starting from the cracks, a layer of deep blue frost rapidly spread outward.
“You...”
He only managed to utter that single word before Jiang Lin raised his left hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and lightly tapped the back of the man's neck.
Chaotic Interference.
The Demon God power inside the black-robed man's body suddenly fell into disarray. His originally stable magic essence circuit seemed to have been cut right down the middle; the magic essence flow rate in the left half of his body became three times faster than that of the right, causing both of his arms to lose control simultaneously.
His figure suspended in midair began to shake violently. The dark red orb above his head, having lost its controller's guidance, began to expand and contract erratically. Giant bubbles constantly rose to its surface, looking like a pot of boiling lava.
Letting out one final roar, he used every ounce of his strength to force Jiang Lin back, before plummeting from midair and crashing heavily onto the ground, carving out a shallow pit.
Having lost its final support, the orb above exploded with a resounding boom.
A dark red shockwave rippled out in all directions, snapping most of the trees in the withered forest in half and sending layer upon layer of dirt and gravel flying from the ground.
Lothar held his greatsword horizontally before him, unleashing his holy light runes to their full extent to withstand the direct impact of the shockwave, his feet plowing a long trench into the ground.
Good slammed his tower shield into the ground and crouched behind it, standing firm like a reef amidst crashing waves.
Dorian and Victor found cover the instant the shockwave hit. Mavis protected herself and Selene with a fire shield, while Cyrus's rune array projected a pale blue barrier at the critical moment.
Jiang Lin did not dodge.
Standing at the absolute center of the shockwave, he planted the Eight Extremities Holy Sword into the ground before him. The golden light on the blade clashed against the dark red shockwave, causing his robes to flutter wildly and his golden hair to whip about in the gale.
The shockwave lasted for about three breaths before dispersing.
The withered forest was now completely unrecognizable.
Most of the originally dense withered trees had been destroyed, with broken trunks and overturned soil littering the ground. The twilight filtered in, illuminating the messy battlefield with stark clarity.
The black-robed man who had fallen from midair lay in the shallow pit at the center of the battlefield, covered in blood. Dark red blood spread out beneath him, seeping into the soil. His chest still rose and fell weakly, but he had completely lost the ability to fight.
His companions were in no better shape.
Out of the ten, only six remained standing.
Two of them were wounded; one had a bone-deep gash on his arm from Lothar's greatsword, and the other had a long slash across his back from Victor's dagger, dark red blood soaking his black robe.
“Retreat!”
The leading black-robed man gritted his teeth and ordered a retreat.
He could tell that this battle could not be won.
Their original plan had been to use three men as bait to lure their opponents into the withered forest, then surround them with all ten, crushing them with numerical superiority.
But they had underestimated two things.
First, the spatial anchors Jiang Lin had set up in advance.
Second, Jiang Lin's own combat strength.
A 4th-rank mid-stage who had previously faced seven of them alone was surprising enough.
But this time, in the midst of a ten-man melee, he had actually managed to precisely pinpoint the caster who was manifesting the Demon God Domain, severely wounding him in a single strike and triggering a domain backlash.
That golden-haired youth was no ordinary 4th-rank mid-stage. At least, not a typical one.
“You can't retreat.”
Jiang Lin's voice drifted from the center of the battlefield, so calm it sent shivers down their spines.
He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers, and made a clutching gesture toward the six remaining black-robed men.
Spatial Anchors · Secondary Detonation.
Although the silver-white light had dissipated after the first detonation, the residual traces of the spatial anchors remained in the space.
Those traces were not enough to form a complete spatial barrier, but they were sufficient to cause an extremely subtle distortion in the space of this area.
And while this distortion had no effect on the power of Holy Light of the righteous gods, it made the flow of Demon God power highly unstable.
It was like a riverbed suddenly becoming bumpy and uneven; though the water could still flow through, its speed and direction would be disrupted.
The six black-robed men froze simultaneously.
Some took missteps, some aimed their arms in the wrong direction, and others experienced a brief disruption in their internal magic essence circuits.
Though it lasted for less than a single breath.
But it was enough.
Lothar's greatsword came crashing down at that exact moment, slicing a 6th-rank mid-stage black-robed man in two from shoulder to waist.
Good's tower shield sent a 6th-rank peak black-robed man flying. He crashed through three withered trees before coming to a halt, lying motionless on the ground.
Dorian fired three arrows simultaneously in a triangular formation, pinning the legs and right shoulder of a fleeing black-robed man to the ground.
Victor's dagger slit the throat of another black-robed man. Dark red blood gushed out as the man collapsed, clutching his neck and letting out a muffled whimper.
Mavis's fire whip coiled around a black-robed man, and flames exploded across his body, engulfing him in a blazing fireball.
Selene's healing magic washed over an injured teammate, the pale blue light staunching the bleeding of their wounds.
In less than two breaths, all six figures collapsed.
Silence returned to the withered forest.
The north wind swept across the messy battlefield, blowing the scorched scent and the metallic tang of blood toward the south.
As the dust settled on the battle in the withered forest, the north wind carried the burnt and bloody stench across the battlefield.
Six corpses of the black-robed men lay strewn haphazardly amidst the overturned dirt and snapped trunks, their dark red blood soaking into the grayish-brown soil, leaving dark stains.
The caster who had plummeted from midair was still alive, but his chest rose and fell with increasing weakness. The dark red light on his body flickered unsteadily, like a lamp about to burn out.
Lothar sheathed his greatsword, walked over to the man, and squatted down. He reached out to check the carotid artery in his neck, then shook his head.
“He's beyond saving. The domain backlash completely destroyed his internal organs.” He stood up, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield. “Search them. See if there's anything useful.”
The eight of them dispersed, searching through the messy withered forest.
Jiang Lin walked over to the caster, squatted down, and pressed his hand against the man's chest.
A wisp of dark red Demon God power seeped from the man's body, flowing into Jiang Lin's palm, where it was devoured by the Demon Lord Seed at his heart.
This power was far more potent than what he had scraped from the statue earlier, resembling a highly concentrated essence. As it flooded his body, it brought a searing sting, yet the moment it merged into the seed, it transformed into a warm energy that nourished his meridians.
His total magic essence increased once more. Although it wasn't even half a level's worth, the feeling of getting something for nothing was certainly pleasant.
“This guy has some good stuff on him.”
Good's voice echoed from a dozen paces away. He was crouching beside a black-robed corpse, holding up a fist-sized dark red crystal. Fine specks of dark red light swirled within the crystal, resembling a sealed flame.
“This thing has a pretty high concentration of magic essence. Let's take it back for Cyrus to study.”
Cyrus took the crystal, turning it over to inspect it before pushing up his glasses.
“A crystal condensed from Demon God power, and of very high purity. It can be used as an energy core for a rune array, or... to reverse-engineer the composition of Demon God power.”
Dorian searched another black-robed man and pulled out a roll of parchment. Unrolling it revealed a hand-drawn map marking over a dozen locations in the northern hemisphere of Caeous.
Some locations were marked with red crosses, some with circles, and a few with numbers. Lothar leaned in to take a look, his brow furrowing.
“These red crosses should be the cities where they have already erected Demon God statues. The circles are the ones planned, and the numbers are the estimated populations.”
There were nine red crosses on the map, seven circles, and the numbers ranged from several hundred to tens of thousands.
“They're faster than us,” Mavis said, crossing her arms, her fiery red curls losing some of their luster in the twilight. “Nine large cities, meaning at least tens of thousands of believers. We've only just started.”
“Fast doesn't mean stable,” Jiang Lin said as he stored the map into his spatial ring. “Their method of conversion is too crude, forcibly corroding the natives with Demon God power. It shows quick results in the short term, but the long-term consequences are endless. Those who have been converted aren't true believers; they're controlled slaves. We might not have that kind of 'efficiency,' but our believers are voluntary and stable. One of ours is worth ten of theirs.”
Lothar nodded, then turned to the others.
“Any other discoveries?”
Selene stood up from beside a corpse, holding a palm-sized wooden box in her hands.
Opening the lid, she revealed over a dozen pale gold crystals neatly lined up inside—light-attribute magic crystals.
“This person was carrying light-attribute items, probably spoils of war from before.” She handed the wooden box to Jiang Lin. “You can use this.”
Jiang Lin took the wooden box and stored it in his spatial ring.
Combined with the stock he had brought out from the Royal Capital, he now had enough light-attribute magic crystals to construct more than a dozen small statues.
Once the spoils were fully tallied, there wasn't much of use.
A few crystals condensed from Demon God power, a map, a box of light-attribute magic crystals, a few bottles of healing potions, and some scattered magic materials. Most of the black-robed men's weapons were just ordinary enchanted swords and sabers of mediocre quality, so Jiang Lin didn't take them.
Lothar had Good dispose of the corpses using purification reagents to ensure no source of pollution was left behind. Under the effects of the pale blue reagent, the six corpses dissolved and evaporated, leaving behind only small piles of grayish-white powder that were quickly blown away by the north wind.
“Let's go, back to the city.” Lothar put away the reagent bottle and clapped the dust off his hands. “Get some good rest tonight. We speed up starting tomorrow.”
The eight of them returned along the path they had come.
Night had completely fallen. Two dim satellites hung overhead, casting their silver-gray light across the grayish-brown hills.
The withered forest gradually receded behind them, the messy battlefield swallowed by the twilight, as if nothing had ever happened.
By the time they returned to the stone house in the southern district, it was already late at night.
Cyrus reinforced the soundproofing and early-warning runes of the courtyard once more, and Selene checked everyone's physical condition, confirming that no one was seriously injured.
Mavis built a fire in the courtyard, while Good pulled dry rations and water from his spatial ring to distribute to everyone.
Jiang Lin sat on the stone steps in the corner of the courtyard, pulling out the map captured from the black-robed man to study it carefully by the firelight.
...
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