Chapter 1075 – 1075. God’S Atlantis
“Celestial Demon! The ghoul is getting closer!!”
Li Mei said urgently.
I turned my gaze toward the ghoul. Up close, it looked even more gruesome. A putrid smell wafted from it.
“Eat… eat but not full…. Hungry….”
Thump, thump. Each time the ghoul approached, the ground shook. Li Mei and I retreated. Wang Xuan, now a ghoul, seemed to have lost his intelligence, or perhaps he didn’t recognize us as enemies, as he didn’t bother to follow us, instead devouring the corpses nearby.
It was obvious what would happen if Wang Xuan consumed all the corpses around him. So, it would be easier in many ways to take him down before that happened.
Celestial Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Demonic Dragon (黑炎魔龍).
Black flames swirled in my grasp. I squeezed out every last bit of mana. The black flames compressed and took the form of a dragon. I hurled the black flames. The black dragon flew toward Wang Xuan, engulfing his massive body and burning fiercely.
“Kuh, Kuaaaaaaa! It’s hottttt!”
Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Wang Xuan’s screams mingled with the cries of other souls. Black flames continued to burn on his body, constantly producing a hazy smoke.
Another soul was dying in place of Wang Xuan. The black flames continued to burn.
‘I’ve killed him at least 30 times. But it doesn’t seem to be the limit. How many times do I have to kill him to actually kill him?’
Had he grown accustomed to the pain of the black flames engulfing his entire body? At some point, Wang Xuan stopped screaming and instead grabbed one of the scattered corpses with his heavy hand and tore it apart to eat.
“What should we do with that?”
Li Mei asked, looking exhausted.
“I don’t know.”
It wasn’t like I had any brilliant ideas either. The only option that came to mind was to keep killing him until he died.
‘He seems stupid, so dealing with him isn’t difficult… The problem is that there’s no end to it. If I keep fighting like this, I’ll be the one to tire out first.’
My eyes caught Qing Guoli, who was laughing some distance away from us. If I killed him, wouldn’t Wang Xuan stop?
‘He’s not an easy opponent. He must have a few more hidden powers. But if I ignore Wang Xuan and move, Li Mei alone won’t be able to handle him.’
My mana was also depleted. Even if I used Full Recovery, I couldn’t guarantee victory.
“Let’s run.”
“What? After coming all this way?”
“We can’t handle that monster right now. Our goal isn’t to kill that monster. It’s to take the Black Blood Alliance Leader’s position.”
To take the Black Blood Alliance Leader’s position, I had to kill Wang Xuan, but the situation had changed.
Wang Xuan was already finished as the Black Blood Alliance Leader. All I had to do was inform the Black Blood Alliance executives of his current state. No one would want to serve and follow such a monster as their superior.
“…I see. I understand what you mean.”
Li Mei understood without me having to explain much. She and I took out space-shifting scrolls from our pockets and tore them simultaneously. Our bodies remained where they were.
「Space-shifting scrolls cannot be used.」
“Hahaha. You think you can just come in and leave as you please? Did you think I was that easy?”
Qing Guoli laughed. He had blocked space-shifting. Li Mei and I exchanged glances and then dashed toward the door.
Behind us, only Qing Guoli’s laughter echoed.
We ran down the hallway. The servants who had been visible just a moment ago were nowhere to be seen. It seemed like only Li Mei and I were left in the palace.
“We ran out, but… how do we escape?”
The Black Blood Alliance members outside. They were all our enemies.
“Most of them are weaklings, so we’ll manage somehow.”
More than that, I was bothered by Qing Guoli’s relaxed attitude.
We were shocked when we got outside the palace. A scene of hell unfolded before our eyes. They were killing each other.
“You monster bastard!!”
“S, save me!!”
“Why are you doing this? If you have a complaint, say it! Say it!”
“They’re undead! If you die, you turn into an undead!”
“Heh heh. You fools who don’t even know who the true master of the Black Blood Alliance is.”
“Die. That’s the only way you can be of help to him.”
A civil war had broken out.
Those who killed, those who resisted, those who fled. The situation was chaos itself. The worst part was that the dead were turning into undead monsters and attacking the living again.
The 50-meter-high wall had become a prison. It was impossible to escape by flying into the sky. A barrier was blocking it.
And then I discovered a massive black pillar. It was a black pillar that looked to be over 100 meters tall. It definitely hadn’t been there before we entered the palace.
Li Mei looked around and bit her lip.
“It feels like we’ve become insects that have been collected. Since when… since when has the Black Blood Alliance been played by Qing Guoli?”
“I don’t know, but it’s probably been a while. And what’s important right now isn’t that. It’s how we escape.”
I looked at the wall. There was a door leading to the outside. If flying was impossible, we had no choice but to go through the door.
‘They’re guarding the door to prevent us from leaving. They’re not at the level of the Great Sage of Salvation, but they’re quite strong.’
There were a total of four doors. One each in the east, west, south, and north. I took Li Mei and headed for the west door. It seemed the easiest to deal with.
We dashed toward the west door. There was no need to protect Li Mei. She wasn’t weak enough to be taken down by some random thugs.
Kwa kwa kwang!
The palace door was spectacularly destroyed, and Wang Xuan appeared. In his ghoul state, Wang Xuan grabbed and crammed anything into his mouth, whether it was undead or human.
“Kuaaaaaaaak…!”
“It’s a monster!!”
“Is that face the Alliance Leader?!”
“Has the Alliance Leader become a monster too?!”
The chaos intensified.
It wasn’t bad for us. The more chaotic it was, the better it was for escaping. But that was only for a moment. There were those who followed us as we headed west.
“Li Mei-nim!!”
“Please, please take me with you!”
“I pledge my loyalty to Li Mei-nim!”
Those who were quick to notice followed us. Li Mei and I didn’t bother trying to shake them off. We didn’t have the time, and if they were lucky enough to survive, they would make decent witnesses.
“Hahahaha! It’s hilarious to see you running away with your tails between your legs! Aren’t you ashamed as a Helten?!”
Qing Guoli’s voice boomed. It was a meaningless provocation.
The west door was guarded by four men. They were men with skin so pale it was almost blue.
“Celestial Demon, they’re not humans, they’re Jiangshi.”
Li Mei said. They certainly didn’t feel like humans.
“You seem to know them well?”
“It was one of the top-secret projects the Black Blood Alliance was working on. Creating and operating a Jiangshi unit. The leader of the Jiangshi unit was Zhang Chao. I thought it had failed… but it seems it was successful after all.”
“You know a lot about Jiangshi? Are there any weaknesses?”
“I don’t know. The Jiangshi that Qing Guoli creates and controls are just loyal killing dolls. Since they’re undead, wouldn’t they be weak against holy power?”
The ‘Inquisitor’s Leather Gloves’ came to mind when she mentioned holy power. But I only thought of them, I didn’t take them out. They were gloves that had the power to use Selbretina’s holy power. It could arouse suspicion from the system or other gods.
‘I should use it here. Full Recovery.’
[Full Recovery is used.]
The fatigue in my body disappeared, my stamina recovered, and my mana surged. I suppressed the smile that was forming on my lips. Full Recovery was special when used when exhausted. To exaggerate a bit, it felt like being reborn after dying. It actually feels terrible when you die, though.
Celestial Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Celestial Demon Sword (天魔劍).
Refined demonic energy flowed into the sword. A pitch-black sword aura (劍罡). I swung it, also known as an aura blade, at the Jiangshi.
The black sword stopped after cutting through part of the Jiangshi’s body.
“Tsk.”
It was a power that would be considered top-tier in an ordinary fantasy novel, but in this world, it was just a slightly stronger power.
‘No. These Jiangshi are special.’
Celestial Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Celestial Demon Sword (天魔劍) Demonic Wind (魔風).
I continuously cut through the Jiangshi’s bodies. I cut off their arms and ankles, but they didn’t scream once and counterattacked. Killing dolls. Li Mei’s assessment of them was accurate.
Thud, thud.
The severed limbs of the Jiangshi fell to the floor. I stretched my stiff shoulders and headed for the door.
The door opened. It was quiet. There were no moving corpses or shouting humans. Li Mei and I dashed toward the second wall.
“The door is open!”
“Let’s go!”
“Li Mei-nim! I pledge my loyalty to you!”
“Save me!!”
Many people followed us.
•••
We got out surprisingly easily.
There were no pursuers sent by Qing Guoli. Qing Guoli didn’t even try to catch us.
I looked at the Black Blood Alliance members who had followed us. About 300 people. They were all that had survived. The others had died without being able to escape. According to Li Mei, the casualties would be over 1,500.
“It’s a bit strange to say this… but why isn’t Qing Guoli chasing us?”
“My guess is that either killing us wasn’t his goal from the start, or he’s confident that he can kill us anytime… Only he knows the exact reason.”
We walked out to completely escape from Zone 5,845, the three walls.
I stopped. My steps halted. It wasn’t my will. It was because an invisible, transparent wall was blocking us right in front.
「You cannot leave the zone.」
“……”
I grimaced and swung my sword at the transparent wall. The sword, wrapped in a dark sword aura, bounced right back. The transparent wall didn’t even have a scratch.
The faces of Li Mei and the others turned pale. They clung to the wall. They punched the wall and shouted.
“Damn it!”
“System! What the hell is this?!”
“Let us out right now!”
Qing Guoli had known from the beginning that we wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Celestial Demon, look behind you.”
Li Mei said in a serious voice. I turned my head back. The large black pillar that had been in front of the palace was getting bigger. It was already over 150 meters, then 200 meters… it kept growing to 300 meters.
A black wave spread out in all directions from the black pillar. The walls that were touched by the wave transformed. They twisted, broke, and writhed. The sky was gradually turning pitch black.
「Zone encroachment has begun.」
I realized that things had gone to shit.
If we stayed like this, we would all die. I glanced at Li Mei. If my guess was correct, I could manage to hold out. I had the power to do so. But Li Mei was not. If we stayed like this, Li Mei wouldn’t last long and would die.
‘I’ll use system AP. I want to borrow the power of a god.’
「A minimum of 1.3 million AP is required.」
It was impossible to overcome this situation by borrowing the power of a god. The fact that the required AP was over 1 million meant that the current situation was that serious.
“Li Mei, come here. I have something important to tell you.”
“Yes. Is there a way?”
“……”
Li Mei approached me.
I took my sword and stabbed it into the wall. The tip of the sword couldn’t even penetrate.
Celestial Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Celestial Demon Sword (天魔劍).
I concentrated my celestial demon energy at the tip of the sword.
Normally, I would never be able to break through the system’s barrier. But now that the zone was being transformed by zone encroachment, the story was different.
Kiiing.
The sword pierced the wall. I took a breath and began to concentrate more. With the Celestial Demon Divine Art (SSS), it would be possible.
I lowered the sword.
The transparent wall cracked and connected to the outside.
“Li Mei! Get out!”
“If, if I leave, what about you, Celestial Demon?”
“I’ll take care of myself, so get out! And go find the Valdert Duchy! Got it?”
Li Mei’s eyes wavered. After hesitating for a moment, she went outside.
Kiiing!
The transparent wall shook. The sword was flung out. I couldn’t go out myself. I was barely able to open a gap in the wall.
Outside the wall, Li Mei was pounding on the wall, opening and closing her mouth repeatedly. It seemed like she was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear anything. I smiled at her and waved my hand.
