Chapter 108: Destruction

Aoding used a thick, long branch to brace the World Tree, and the World Tree slowly stopped tilting.

Aoding exhaled, gazing at the sky that resembled a gray curtain; the fragments fell rapidly, but were instantly shattered by the Eternal Spear, turning into fine dust that floated in the air and drifted down slowly, much like a movie screen.

The curtain slowly descended, as if the play were ending. Or perhaps a mighty one was about to die.

The sky was gloomy and dark; beyond the white, misty curtain, a dirge seemed to sound.

Lin Xi Yan looked at the sky and began to find it odd—how the thing that had been fragments turned into powder in an instant. They only saw a black shadow weaving back and forth among the fragments. Though they felt puzzled, they still pulled Wang You and ran toward Feng Yan's direction...

Even though Wang You felt something was wrong during that time, they only glanced around and ultimately said nothing.

The two of them both wanted to see him, and their hearts were extremely anxious.

At this moment, outside the city of Li State, Li State's soldiers acted extremely ferociously, launching a swift assault, and the Dwarves were at one point ordered to retreat by Jin Meng.

Each of their bodies bulged with blue veins, looking fierce and demonic.

Seeing this, the Dwarves could only obey Jin Meng's command and withdraw slowly.

Then a huge roar from the sky interrupted the battle between the two armies.

The sky began to shatter like glass and then fell toward the ground! Yet the Li State soldiers were unaffected; they continued to attack the Dwarves.

But a black shadow in the sky appeared, instantly igniting the Dwarves' fighting spirit!

"Look over there!" a Dwarf shouted, eyes wide, pointing at the sky over the city.

"Eternal Spear! That's the Eternal Spear! Our king has returned! He really has returned!" the Dwarves exclaimed excitedly upon spotting the Eternal Spear.

"Then I no longer have to fear you scum!"

The moment they saw the Eternal Spear, the Dwarves seemed to regain their courage. They faced the Li State soldiers head‑on, no longer fearing them.

And the Li State soldiers also rushed forward with great speed toward them!

Just as Jin Meng thought the Dwarves before him would be instantly annihilated, he despairingly closed his eyes...

But the next second, the Li State soldiers' wails rang out!

"Ah!"

Jin Meng heard the Li State soldiers' cries, and suddenly snapped his eyes open; he felt something fall onto him from the sky, patted his clothes, and a layer of white ash settled.

Jin Meng felt strange, then looked at the Li State soldiers; on their bodies it seemed as if something that fell from the sky had killed them.

Their eyes were wide open, unable to believe what they saw. Some soldiers still tried to press forward, attempting to kill a Dwarf. He struggled to crawl forward, a long trail of blood dragging behind him...

The scene was extremely gruesome; the soldiers lay on the ground, some barely breathing, some already dead, their bodies riddled with fragments, blood continuously flowing.

Jin Meng could no longer bear to watch, and he turned his head aside.

The Dwarves, seeing the Li State soldiers' condition, were also frightened by the scenes. Yet the next second, they saw a corpse slowly crawl out of the pile, still trying to kill a Dwarf! When it reached a Dwarf, a light tap on the forehead caused the soldier to lose its breath.

The soldier lay on the ground, and from every wound blood poured out, slowly reddening the soil beneath him.

"Do they kill us merely for the pleasure?" the Dwarf asked, glancing at the corpse from time to time.

Jin Meng looked at the bloodstains on the ground, then at the Li State soldiers' death poses; in that brief interval, their blood dried quickly, and the corpses shrank rapidly as if they were contracting.

The soldiers' bodies gradually became emaciated, turning into skin‑and‑bone corpses, and their moisture vanished quickly, eventually becoming a sheet of human skin.

Just as Jin Meng was surprised, he felt a slight tremor in the ground, and a small root emerged from below, pulling the corpse back underground.

It was at that moment that Jin Meng finally understood the cause.

"I feel sorry for you," Jin Meng said, looking at the corpse that had just crawled beside the Dwarves, while watching its continual transformation.

"Is this power bought with overdrawn life? So that's it—it's a side effect of the Dwarves' body‑made enhancement elixir?" Jin Meng pondered, while glancing at the massive World Tree, which had tilted to a dangerously extreme angle.

"So this is the World Tree the Dwarves speak of?"

Although Jin Meng had seen the World Tree outside Li State's city walls long ago, then it stood tall and majestic. Now, however, the World Tree felt like the fleeting afterglow of an elderly man about to die.

"There!" Jin Meng's eyes widened as he saw a tiny human silhouette! He shouted loudly, "That's the King of the Gods! So it's not a legend! It's true, a real story! Aoding really exists!"

At the moment of Jin Meng's astonishment, the Dwarves knelt down and bowed toward that spot.

At this point, Jin Meng finally comprehended a certain power. This power, silent and unseen, resides in some people's minds; they can become mad or terrifying, and all of this stems from their creed.

Fortunately, their creed is Aoding!

All the Dwarves looked at Aoding devoutly; with an Eagle Helmet on his head and golden armor, he appeared immensely heroic, and the Dwarves prayed for him, hoping their chief god would triumph.

Aoding grew increasingly strained; he had already employed all his magic and bore eighteen runic runes on his body.

But Aoding also knew he could not sustain it for much longer.

Aoding sighed, saying, "Is this the prophecy? It seems that sometimes magic can fail."

He could not stop it; he could only watch helplessly as the World Tree's trunk slowly cracked, and its roots intensified their voracious absorption of the earth's nutrients.

Unable to stop it? Aoding thought so, feeling helpless; he clearly remembered how, during the last Ragnarok, he perished in Fenrir's massive jaws. Yet, is it the same this time? Aoding still felt some resentment and sighed.

"Am I feeling helpless, or am I unwilling to accept?" Aoding muttered to himself, watching the sky gradually turn gray‑white, the glass shards of the sky slowly shattered by the Eternal Spear. Now, the Eternal Spear had returned to Aoding's hand.

It was an unremarkable long spear, its shaft forged from the World Tree's toughest branch, the mightiest weapon of the divine king, and a symbol of the Dwarves' glory.

Aoding gave the World Tree one last glance, then raised his long spear and hurled it toward the World Tree!

The Dwarves looked up at their god, watching him once again raise the Eternal Spear and fling it directly at the World Tree!

Boom!

With a massive blast, a huge hole was pierced through the World Tree!

The Eternal Spear returned to Aoding's hand, and Aoding turned his head aside, no longer looking at the World Tree.

"Aoding, it's here, finally here! Finally here!" the Red-clothed Devil could no longer contain his joy and shouted loudly.

The Red-clothed Devil looked toward the World Tree and saw that it no longer tilted toward the ground, but had stopped.

Stopped? Just as everyone felt puzzled, a sound of bark cracking was heard!

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched the middle of the World Tree, the crack widening ever more.

"The World Tree, really..." the Dwarves could not continue speaking, only watching silently.

"The World Tree is...!" Chen Hao shouted, but before he could finish, the World Tree's trunk had completely burst open, sending splinters flying and producing yellow smoke.

"How's it going?" The person hiding at home looked around as fog suddenly rose, went to close the window a bit, couldn't help muttering: "It's not foggy weather these days, is it?"

After a while, the two struggled to open their eyes, and saw a "dragon" fly away!

Feng Yan looked up at the sky, saw that bald body, and the two couldn't help complaining together: "This isn't a dragon at all, it's clearly a worm!"

Yang Xin was also attracted by the sight; by the time he came to his senses and aimed his crossbow at Feng Yan again, it was already too late.

"Kill!" the Dwarves' battle cry shook the heavens as they all charged forward!

The soldiers of Benefit State instantly felt extreme panic; in their view, the Dwarves were surely going to be killed by the defending soldiers. But now they have arrived, which means the defending soldiers……

The soldiers knew the outcome, they slowly retreated, and were also surrounded by the Dwarves.

"It's over, Yang Xin!" Feng Yan watched as the Dwarves surrounded Yang Xin and the king, then stole a glance at Wang Tingwan and said.

"How could this be? I lost?" Yang Xin muttered to himself, while his colleagues observed the surroundings; they had already been surrounded by the Dwarves.

Yang Xin was unwilling; seeing the king also slowly retreating, he, though unwilling, still retreated, waiting for an opportunity.

The World Tree had been completely destroyed, leaving only the roots and stumps; as the wind blew again, wood shavings filled the sky, dancing in the air……

Yang Xin was unwilling, but as the wind blew the wood chips, they flew up all over the sky, and Yang Xin thought he had a chance.

"It's foggy!" Yang Xin said with a smile.

Yang Xin aimed again in Feng Yan's direction, even though he couldn't see clearly.

"Well then, goodbye," Yang Xin pulled the trigger.

The arrow passed through Feng Yan's waist, tearing his clothing.

This also angered Feng Yan; he drew the Black Sword, about to counterattack, when he heard a howl!