Chapter 425 (1): Watch Closely, Wayne. This is How You Use Julia.
Two on two.
The two high-ranking demon lords from Hell each extended their vitality fields. Thanks to the Lord of Envy, they were able to use their Authorities in Hell. Their demonic power far exceeded that of the demons being chased down by the Thrones.
Stolas and Enguema were well known in Hell, and they similarly enjoyed quite a reputation in Heaven. They had always been fighting more powerful middle-tier angels like Cherubim. Only the three Cherubim who represented three of the Seven Sacred Virtues could guarantee a victory over the two demon lords.
Stolas and Enguema pressed their backs together. Stolas’s vitality field was a veil of darkness, while Enguema’s was a sea of blood. They lived up to their titles as the Night Tyrant and the Blood Tyrant.
The dark dome seemed smeared with thick ink, with a twisted vortex devouring all light and hope, plunging the entire world into oppressive shadow. The shadow continued to distort, with only a vague silhouette visible. Now and then, there would be a dull noise, like the sound of being strangled and suffocated. The low whispers were bone-chillingly cold.
Across from the darkness was a crimson world. Its infinite expansion fluctuated violently like waves, with countless broken limbs and remains floating within. They made eerie, low growls as they bobbed in the crimson water.
Vapors of blood rose and filled the space between heaven and earth. Sometimes, red lightning would strike and illuminate the twisted clouds, casting them in an eerie dark red. The clouds resembled sinful demonic faces, looking down at the terrible ocean of blood from above.
The Lord of Night vs. The Headless Knight
The Lord of Blood vs. The Death Knight
Stolas held the last key and held onto the belief that it could still control the Headless Knight. Seizing the chance, he left the cunning human, Wayne, to Enguema.
Enguema and Wayne were acquaintances. Back then, on Dragonheart Island, he had arrogantly tried to steal the Sea God’s faith and ended up becoming a laughingstock in Hell.
“Oh, it’s you. I remember you...”
Wayne raised an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to chat with Enguema, but before he could finish his sentence, the mount between his legs suddenly vanished, and he landed on his two feet.
Julia was gone!
Summoned by Shadow Nightmare, she had moved from between Wayne’s legs to Rognes’s legs.
Wayne cursed under his breath, but he wasn’t going to complain since his homewrecker act was just that, an act. Besides, only the victims and the losers complained. A veteran homewrecker knew that rather than wasting his time complaining, it would be more effective to give her a good ride right in front of Rognes someday.
Wielding Shadow Nightmare while riding on Julia, Rognes cut a dignified picture. Save for his still missing head, he had almost returned to his former glory.
Watch closely, Wayne. This is how you use Julia!
The victim of cuckolding shouted about love and bonds while charging into the world of darkness on his mount. Volatile waves of Death energy disintegrated everything to ashes. A vitality field could distort life essence and forcefully turn an enemy into their own vassals. That, however, did not apply to Rognes.
Stolas knew very well how formidable Rognes was. With his Authority in Hell, he enhanced his descended thoughts to the limit and turned into streaking dark light, lunging at the Headless Knight with the chains of the Seven Deadly Sins surrounding him.
Stolas had taken the form of a black-robed mage, wielding a thin, black blade. The sinful light of an inverted pentagram poured down from his robe.
At the same time, a grey magic circle expanded from beneath Julia’s hooves. She left a teleportation mark with her step, solidifying Death’s corruption and making it impossible for darkness to recover after being corrupted.
Rognes didn’t have a vitality field. None of the chosen knights who relied on their divine artifacts did. Their power didn’t come from their training. They had been made demigods by their divine artifacts.
Though the knights could reach the peak overnight, they couldn’t progress further.
That was why the knights relied on raw power. They didn’t need techniques when they were fighting weaker enemies; when they were fighting stronger enemies, on the other hand, the enemies would always be more skillful.
Rognes was a different story. Unlike the other chosen knights, it wasn’t because of Shadow Nightmare that he didn’t have a vitality field, and his strength had nothing to do with the divine artifact.
Boom!!
Shadow Nightmare cut down Stolas with a single swing. Facing the infinite black chains, Rognes cracked the reins and went through the newly formed portal, chasing after Stolas to make another swing.
Rognes wasn’t at his peak, and neither was Stolas. When both were weakened, Stolas still wasn’t Rogne’s match, overpowered as soon as the battle began.
This time, he didn’t have cannon fodder or allies with him, and Death’s subordinate gods weren’t here to sneak up on Rognes. If nothing went wrong, the result of the battle was already decided.
Wayne, on the other hand, dismissed the Death energy around him since there was no point in maintaining the appearance of the Death Knight without Julia and Shadow Nightmare. Reverting to human form, he held Rognes’s head in his hand.
“It’s you?!” Enguema’s eyes widened with sudden rage. This human was the one who made him the hot topic and a laughingstock in Hell for a period of time. If not for the valiant sacrifice of kind-hearted demons like the Thousand-eyed Demons and the Lord of Envy, Enguema would’ve continued to occupy the headline and receive the jeers of all demons.
“Oh, have you only recognized me now, Blood Tyrant?” Wayne huffed, tossing the skull into his personal storage.
He miscalculated!
Demons were too incompetent in intelligence work. He had assumed that Enguema already recognized him. If he had known that Enguema hadn’t put two and two together, he would’ve kept up his disguise. Then he might get another chance to fool the demon!
The crocodile man growled, his eyes rippling with red mana that was supposed to make Wayne’s body go berserk. It didn’t work. He found nothing but a white void inside Wayne’s body.
Wayne floated and slowly entered the sea of blood. Under Enguema’s look of surprise, he conjured a three-meter-diameter vitality field.
Opening your vitality field in a demigod’s domain? If you want to die—no, to become my dog, I’ll do it for you.
After a brief moment of shock, Enguema’s expression turned ecstatic. He enhanced his thoughts with his Authority and pushed his domain to maximum power, corroding Wayne’s vitality field to transform him.
A mere legendary god was nothing without Shadow Nightmare.
***
In a corner, Sukra lay prone on the ground as if she were dead. She found it perfectly reasonable for her to slack off. She didn’t even want to move a finger. The Holy Maiden of Death had nothing to do.
She had every reason to rest. With two Death Knights around, there was no reason for her to intervene. Besides, she had long wanted to play dead.
When she was all alone, she couldn’t slack off even though she wanted to. Shouldn’t she be allowed to rest a little when she had four thighs to latch onto? Any Holy Maidens would’ve done the same when they saw two chosen knights charging at the frontline.
Speaking of Holy Maidens, Holy Maidens came. Corte and Galen had run to the other side of the catacombs and then come back. Even though their divine arts were formidable, there was nothing they could do.
Corte, the energetic Holy Maiden, didn’t even seem tired after the round trip. She might be able to run a few more laps. Galen, on the other hand, was physically weaker. Her fair, soft skin was as vulnerable as it looked. If her physique hadn’t been trained to an impressive degree thanks to her being an archer, she would’ve fallen far behind.
They saw the vitality field in the distance, then the Thrones pursuing the demons, thoroughly confused. When they ran away, the Thrones had been the ones surrounded by the demons and Rognes, the Death Knight. Why were they all gone all of a sudden?
They stealthily moved in to retrieve Sukra. They fell silent when they looked at Sukra’s lifeless, pale, unmoving body. There was a hole in the cloth cladding her chest, and she wasn’t breathing.
“Damn it!” Corte punched the ground, her eyes reddening. “We didn’t find Wayne, and now Sukra’s dead. I haven’t managed to do anything.”
Galen felt a pang in her heart. She remembered Sukra’s face and how, when they glanced back before their escape, she had stood strong before the three demon lords without any fear. Thinking back to her worthless self, she couldn’t stop sighing.
“Galen, can she still be saved?”
“She’s all cold...” Galen murmured slowly. “We don’t know where Wayne is. We can’t wait any longer. It’s time to do something.”
“Oh, are you using that?” Corte swallowed. “You’ll die, and I will, too.”
“We’ll only die if we’re unlucky. I’ve made the calculations. The odds are ninety percent, quite high.”
“The odds of our survival are ninety percent?”
“The odds of our death.”
Corte’s expression crumbled. “If I had known that we would die soon, I would’ve barged into his room that night. Then at least I would’ve gotten a good ride—bah, at least I would’ve completed the goddess’s mission. Now he’s dead, and we haven’t completed the oracles.”
Do you even hear yourself? Galen scoffed silently. Are you doing it for the goddess’s oracle? Clearly not. You just want to do him!
“What nonsense have you been reading...” Galen grumbled darkly. “Forget it. We may not be the ninety percent. Let’s summon the goddesses’ will together. Even if we die, our thoughts will follow the goddesses to the Divine Realms.”
As Holy Maidens, they wouldn’t die so easily. With the gamble, they might just avenge Sukra.
Corte nodded. They pressed their hands together and muttered under their breath, about to use a divine art that had never been seen in the Chosen Land.
The Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight were indeed close. They even had a combo skill. It was because of the Goddess of Nature’s pressure that the two besties had banded together. They had no other choice.
Sukra raised her hands, holding their wrists.
“...” x2
“Bastard, you haven’t died?” Corte raged. She had shed tears for nothing.
“Is it a bad thing that I’m alive?”
Ignoring Corte and Galen’s curses, Sukra explained what had happened concisely. She had promised to keep Wayne’s identity as the Death Knight a secret, so she lied that Wayne had shown up suddenly like a god, barely convincing Corte and Galen.
“After we split at the entrance, Wayne defeated Rognes. He came here before you did, so you never found him back there...”
“He killed the Spider Queen and cut off the Blood Tyrant’s arm, taking away two of the keys that controlled Rognes...”
“Rognes and Wayne took on the two strongest demon lords. All the other demons were scared witless, so you don’t have to do anything but play dead like me.”
“I’ve lain down in the office for a whole day. If I continue to lie down in the catacombs, wouldn’t I have come for nothing?” Corte’s eyes widened. Her sense of honor prevented her from slacking off.
“You have no drive at all, and you call yourself a Holy Maiden?” Galen said judgmentally.
“What’s wrong with slacking off...?” Sukra mumbled. She had fought and struggled. Now that she could finally have peace, she had no qualms lying down.
Not even the goddess could stop her from slacking off.