Chapter 141: The Yearning of Human Hearts, a Blow Gathering Ten Thousand People!

City Square, on the high platform.

Ekusi, who had turned into a pale giant more than two meters tall, had eyes full of hatred and resentment in his blood-red pupils. He looked at Xia Mingyu as if his gaze were as sharp as a knife.

He should have taken this opportunity to advance to the New Moon Rank and become a Bishop of his god. Now, although the former had been achieved, he had fallen into a lower-rank vampire who had lost the world's protection and could never advance again under the influence of that damn Sage!

Clearly, he only needed to advance one more rank on the merchant's path, and he could have advanced to a true vampire of the Crescent Moon Rank.

And by then, relying on the pain gift obtained by being promoted to Bishop, he could also rely on spreading pain to naturally advance to a Vampire Archduke of the Radiant Moon Rank, truly achieving equality with Lord Saimen and jointly leading the Kelai clan.

This was the beautiful future he had planned for himself, but now everything, everything had been destroyed!

He had already realized that Xia Mingyu, who was called a Sage, was the culprit. Without him, Luo Sha could never have discovered the secret of the Dusk Tea, and the bewitched people could not have been awakened by the bard he brought, and Twilight City would have been destroyed long ago!

"Ahhhhh, Xia Mingyu, I want to pull out your bones one by one and crush them, I want to skin you and pull your tendons, making you experience all the tortures in the world!"

Ekusi let out a sharp roar, and surging blood-red magic erupted from his body, actually setting off waves of invisible air blowing in all directions; ordinary people couldn't even stand firm under such fierce air waves.

Swish!

In just an instant, his huge body disappeared from the spot, turning into a blood-colored stream of light and tearing through the air at an extremely terrifying speed, pouncing toward Xia Mingyu.

"Don't hurt my Master!"

Cat Shadow, Snake Thrust activated!

Brown magic surged out, Berg gripped his long sword tightly, and leaped up toward Ekusi with the blessing of the two abilities.

That long sword forged from refined iron, wrapped in a whistling sound of breaking through the air, slashed toward Ekusi's head.

Clang!

Under Berg's unbelievable gaze, the blade of the long sword was actually caught by Ekusi's pale palm, making a deafening metal collision sound.

It was as if he hadn't hit a flesh-and-blood body, but some kind of hard steel.

"Is that all the strength you have? You were so arrogant just now, wanting to chop off my hands and feet."

A trace of mockery flashed across Ekusi's cold face, and the palm holding the sword blade began to exert force.

Bang!

Accompanied by a crisp bursting sound, the blade of the long sword was crushed alive, and the fragments splashed, deeply nailed into the floor.

The next moment, Ekusi's thick right leg kicked toward Berg's chest like a siege hammer.

"Bear Skin!"

Berg's pupils shrank, brown magic wrapped around his body, and he, who had no time to dodge, could only exert his own defensive ability to the maximum.

Boom!

Accompanied by an ear-ringing impact sound, Berg was knocked flying for dozens of meters like a kite with a broken string, rolling on the ground several times wretchedly before barely stopping the impact.

"Ugh..." He clutched his chest and dry-heaved, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Berg raised his head, his expression surprised.

He never expected that the merchant, who was originally thin and weak, would have his physique soar more than ten times in an instant after turning into such a monster!

Coo, coo, coo.

Ekusi, who wanted to solve this Hunter first and then slowly torture Xia Mingyu, was about to continue the pursuit when he saw hundreds of white doves flapping their wings and pouncing on him.

The flock of doves submerged Ekusi's huge body like a blizzard.

"Get out, get out!"

Ekusi waved his hands with sharp fingernails angrily, tearing the white doves attacking him one by one.

With his vampire body as hard as steel, he could have ignored the attacks of these white doves, but helplessly, these white doves were too insidious, specifically attacking his eyes, crotch, etc., which really made him annoyed.

Clearly, he is a Sage, how can his abilities be so insidious?

"Violet Flame Luo Lan!"

After finally tearing apart the flock of white doves blocking his vision, Ekusi saw a flower made of purple flames crashing over.

Boom!

The raging violet flower exploded with the pistil as the center; the high temperature caused the surrounding air to steam, and the eerie dark purple light submerged Ekusi.

Under everyone's expectant gaze, the light gradually dissipated, revealing Ekusi's charred body, with bright red flesh vaguely exposed between the gaps.

Then...

"Hahahaha, what a painless attack!"

Ekusi clutched his face and laughed wildly, his laughter so grating it almost tore people's eardrums.

He suddenly felt that turning into a lower-rank vampire wasn't such a bad thing; at least now, he had the power to crush everything currently and take revenge to his heart's content!

"Your Highness, Ekusi is afraid that he now has the combat power of the peak of the New Moon Rank. Please take your attendant and avoid it for now; I will take the knights of Twilight City to drag him down and buy enough time for you."

Looking at the rapidly regenerating wounds on Ekusi's charred body, Luo Sha said solemnly.

Even if it meant sacrificing all the knights of Twilight City, she absolutely could not let the Master, who shouldered the mission of saving Sosia and even the Western Continent, die here.

"Master, please leave with me immediately!"

After taking a kick from Ekusi, Berg clutched his chest and walked over staggeringly, kneeling on one knee and requesting.

He knew that with the Master's personality, it was difficult to leave everyone and run away, but as an attendant, he could not watch his Master fall into the situation of death and humiliation no matter what, so he had to take the Master away, even if... it was forced in the end.

Do I really have to leave everyone and run away?

Listening to their words and looking at the pleading on their faces, Xia Mingyu felt chaotic in his heart for a time.

He did not fear death, but he feared failing to fulfill the responsibility he shouldered.

Since learning that Leo Masha, the Crimson Fire, had exchanged his life for everything at present, an invisible shackle had been added to his body, binding him to only move forward.

He knew that no matter from which angle, running away now was the correct choice, but... how could he leave his companions behind!

He had already... abandoned them once, absolutely could not have a second time.

Think, think again, Xia Mingyu, even if it's an impossible thing to achieve, there must be other ways!

Tap, tap, tap.

After his injuries were completely restored, Ekusi saw a group of Transcendent Knights wearing heavy armor holding knight swords surrounding him.

After the bewitched crowd was lifted from control, these Transcendent Knights guarding the edge of the square finally freed their hands and rushed over to support.

"If you don't want to die, get out of the way."

Ekusi said coldly. With his current strength, these Transcendent Rank knights, no matter how well-equipped they were, could not be his opponents.

It was just that if the time dragged on, it was hard to guarantee that the damn Sage and Luo Sha wouldn't run away.

Swish, swish, swish!

Responding to him were sword blades slashing toward his face.

After nimbly dodging several slashes toward his eyes and other fragile places, Ekusi let those sword blades slash on his body.

Clang, clang, clang!

When the sharp knight swords slashed on his body, they were like hitting steel and could not advance an inch.

Recalling the previous capture by these knights and the private lynching he suffered in prison, a trace of tyranny flashed in Ekusi's blood-red pupils.

"Go to hell!"

Ekusi stretched out his pale, large hand and grabbed the head of the Transcendent Knight closest to him, then began to exert force.

Bang!

Accompanied by a tooth-aching sound of metal and skull bending, the Transcendent Knight's head, along with the helmet he was wearing, was crushed alive by Ekusi.

Blood and mud splashed, staining Ekusi's body, and the knight's headless corpse fell powerlessly.

After seeing this terrifying scene, the Transcendent Knights had a trace of fear in their eyes, retreating a step in unison, but soon rushed up again to surround Ekusi.

Retreating was because of humanity, but rushing up was also because of humanity.

For a knight, failing to fulfill the mission and staining their honor was a more terrifying thing than death.

"Go, Knight!"

"Sage, eliminate that ugly monster!"

"Ekusi, I..."

Just as Ekusi was impatiently wanting to kill these blocking Transcendent Knights one by one, a burst of grating cursing attracted his attention.

He looked in the direction of the sound angrily, only to see the crowd in the square who had woken up, currently supporting each other, cheering for the knights on the high platform while cursing him loudly.

These damn foolish people actually treated him, who had turned into a vampire, as a monster!

He was clearly a noble Kelai person, and the whole world was a paradise sent by the Creator to the Kelai people. These foolish people were just parasites in the paradise, and they dared to humiliate him like this!

"Ahhhhh!" Ekusi let out a roar.

In his rage, he no longer spared magic; a massive amount of blood-red magic erupted from his body, turning into a magic torrent that almost broke through the sky.

Those Transcendent Knights who surrounded him were blown back by the air waves caused by this magic torrent, and even stumbled and almost fell.

"Go to the Underworld!"

Taking this opportunity, Ekusi's palm bent into a blade, wrapped in magic, and slashed horizontally fiercely. Suddenly, a blood-red blade light more than two meters long slashed toward the crowd cursing him below!

Swish!

The blood-red blade light tore through the air and made a sharp whistling sound. If this blow slashed down, heaven knows how many people would be cut in half at the waist.

"Do, re, mi, fa..."

Just at this time, accompanied by pleasant piano music, several silver-white musical notes appeared out of thin air, forming a shield to block the blood-red blade light.

Boom!

The two collided in the air and made a deafening explosion sound.

Seeing that the blood-red blade light was finally blocked, Damien, who was playing the lyre, breathed a long sigh of relief.

This was one of the abilities he gained after advancing to a Chanter, capable of turning the musical notes of the music into solids for attack or defense through playing.

It was just that this was only a temporary solution; if he wanted to truly solve this battle, he still had to look at the situation on Lord Starfire's side.

Thinking of this, the silver-haired poet's gaze toward the black-haired youth on the high platform had a trace of worry.

If it really reached the worst situation, he would definitely use his own life to drag down Ekusi's pace and buy time for Lord Starfire to escape.

Only hoping that Lord Starfire, who escaped, could settle his sister well, and give the man on the ground a rest.

"Wait, I have it!"

Looking at the black-pressed crowd with excited emotions in the square, Xia Mingyu suddenly thought that after he advanced to the Harvest Sage, besides "Bountiful Harvest," he also gained an ability.

Yearning of Human Hearts: When people feel respect for you from the bottom of their hearts, you can gather their strength into yourself and release a blow that exceeds the limit.

Right now, the number of people here had already exceeded one hundred thousand. If he could really gather their strength into himself, then even fighting across ranks would not be impossible.

After all, no matter how small the number, multiplying by one hundred thousand would become huge, and no matter how large the number, dividing by one hundred thousand would become small.

It's just that he didn't know if he would be blown up if he accommodated the strength of so many people in one breath... but it didn't matter, as long as he could eliminate Ekusi and protect Twilight City, then cold death wouldn't seem so terrifying.

Then, gamble!

A trace of determination flashed in Xia Mingyu's pupils. The next moment, black magic erupted from his body like a tide, submerging him like a raging black torch.

"Phew." He took a deep breath, then opened his mouth with a solemn voice:

"All residents of Twilight City in the square, listen to my words."

Under the influence of magic, his voice instantly spread throughout the entire city square.

In an instant, the crowd who were excitedly cursing Ekusi quieted down, and there was a bizarre silence in the square.

Ekusi, who realized something was wrong, wanted to hurry up his attack, but was blocked by the Transcendent Knights around him and Berg, who came to support, regardless of the cost.

The knights knew that if anyone could influence the entire battle situation and kill the villain in front of them, it was only that Sage.

Gambling with their own honor and life, they must buy enough time for that adult!

"That greedy Kelai merchant has ravaged the entire Twilight City, bringing unknown amounts of grief. I swear to the country that raised me, I will definitely bring him eternal death!"

"But my strength alone is meager, failing to kill the enemy, but if I gather the strength of one hundred thousand people, I can definitely give the villain the judgment of heavenly thunder."

"All people who respect me from the bottom of your hearts, please raise your right hand and lend me your strength; I will definitely take the anger in your chests and bring him to destruction!" Xia Mingyu said loudly.

The next moment, countless people in the square raised their right hands one after another, and even those guards wearing leather armor did the same.

"Listen, the wind passes through the Southern Region, bringing legends from afar~"

At the same time, as if it were an instinctive reminder, Damien played and sang the "Sage's Hymn" which was gradually becoming popular in the Southern Region.

"A Sage, he walks between the mortal world, his steps firm and silent~"

The crowd who raised their hands also sang along with his piano music.

"The crazy farm woman who lost her child, arrogantly calling the Sage her son, people thought she was going to face swords, but it was his embrace and blessing~"

With the rise of the hymn, small blue-white light spots rose from the right hands raised by the crowd. At first, the number was small, but as the light spots kept emerging, they soon became as numerous as a sea of stars and impossible to measure.

Then, these blue-white light spots gathered on Xia Mingyu like ten thousand rivers returning to the sea, reflecting him into a brilliant light, as if he were a god and impossible to look at directly.

And Xia Mingyu, who was at the center of these light spots, only felt surging strength that he had never had before in his body; he even had a trace of the feeling of dominating everything when he was in the Starfire Hall.

A strange piece of information and hallucination flashed in his mind; he seemed to have finally awakened his core magic!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 142 =====