Chapter 295: with translation of chapter title

Easily eliminate these two.

Artemis hurriedly charged into the pack of ghost‑faced beasts.

Her right‑hand curved blade reaped the fallen beings.

Even though some ghost‑faced beasts wore armor with shields, they could not withstand the curved‑blade slashes brimming with Spiritual Energy, and Artemis's swing was strong enough to slice the beasts' bodies smoothly, its efficiency far surpassing that of stance‑based energy weapons.

At this moment.

Artemis thrust out her left foot, tripping a ghost‑faced beast, turned forward, placed her right foot on its chest armor, and pressed down hard…

"Puff!"

Putrid, corrupted blood spurted outward, the beast's upper body collapsed instantly, and it died on the spot.

And all this happened in less than a blink.

A hunting god and five gray knights swiftly cleared all the ghost‑faced beasts beneath the low hill.

They confirmed that nothing else survived.

The party regrouped, walked to the top of the hill, proceeded steadily, and gradually approached the interior of the metal temple.

Enter the temple.

Arrive at the hall.

Artemis and her companions discovered the source of the faint blue glow outward—a vortex opening slowly expanding, like one created by a jump‑drive engine.

Or, rather, a portal.

The vortex‑like portal was temporarily sealed, but it had already begun causing airflow fluctuations inside the hall.

In front of the portal stood a gaunt, sunken‑eyed ghost‑faced beast whose eyes were filled with blue light.

When it saw Artemis and her group entering the hall, it spontaneously ignited itself, as if completing the final step of a ritual, using its own body as a key to fully unseal the portal.

Await the beast turning to ash.

"Hoo—!" A gale roared, and the vortex intensified.

Artemis's silver‑white ponytail swayed with the violent airflow; she had no mind to tend her hair and immediately shared what was happening to alert the Sparta units and the gray knights.

Sharing completed.

The comm relayed a reply from a crew member of the Crescent Moon: "Sir! A portal of the same scale was found in the Pulton rainforest; so far there are twelve in total!"

"Understood," Artemis decided, "Notify the knights to rush to the portal and help the allies deal with the incoming demon tide."

"Received," the crew member replied.

Conversation ended.

The airflow gradually subsided, and the portal's vortex ceased expanding, its diameter finally stabilizing at roughly twenty‑five meters.

The faint glow faded, no longer hazy.

Beyond the portal lay a clear blue sky, the surroundings resembling the summit of a mountain, dotted with numerous building clusters and a massive, grand palace.

In the plaza at the front of the palace stood twelve conspicuous statues.

Seeing the scenes beyond the gate, the five gray knights felt unfamiliar, but for Artemis they were very familiar, even… comforting.

Because they were almost identical to the Olympus Temple.

The twelve statues depicted, respectively, the divine king Zeus wielding the weapon "Thunder", the goddess Hera brandishing a "Scepter", the sea god Poseidon raising a "Trident", Hades clad in "Underworld armor"…

They are the twelve Olympian deities, among them the hunting god poised to draw his bow, once glorious.

Of course, Artemis's various memories and feelings flickered briefly; now she focused her attention on the seemingly countless "demon army".

"Roar—!"

The beast's roar echoed throughout the temple hall, shattering the brief calm.

Over a dozen "Owls" surged out of the portal first.

These "Owls" had wingspans of up to five meters, feathers shifting from blue to purple to pink, asymmetrical irregular multiple eyes, and serrated claws.

Following them came a ground tide of beasts covered in gradient‑colored scales, resembling wolves and tigers.

"Take out this rabble!"

Artemis let out a battle cry and sprinted forward, gripping her moonlight curved blade in her right hand, pulling a grenade from behind her waist with her left, snapping the pin with her index finger, releasing the safety with her thumb, and tossing it forward with modest force.

A "Howl!" sounded.

A wolf‑tiger beast, for some reason, suddenly leapt, opened its slime‑coated mouth, and flawlessly swallowed the grenade mid‑air.

Then.

"Boom—!"

The explosion shattered that wolf‑tiger beast, whose mind was fixated on fetching things, into several pieces from inside out, while spewing dense mist generated by the Crescent Moon's water nearby.

In the blink of an eye.

The gray‑knight‑exclusive Crescent Moon grenade successfully created a vacuum zone within the Beast Tide, corroding the native wolf‑tiger beasts from the other dimension completely, with immediate effect; its efficiency far surpassed that of dealing with the real‑world ghost‑faced beasts.

It was clear that the wolf‑tiger beast that swallowed the grenade intended to use its body to reduce the grenade's blast radius.

Its action indeed had some effect; otherwise the grenade exploding in the open would have only "purified" more of its kind.

At the moment the grenade exploded.

Artemis was already "going against the current", repeatedly swinging and chopping with her right hand; she thrust her left hand forward to grab the wolf‑tiger beast lunging at her, twisted its neck forcefully, then casually flicked it away.

After freeing her left hand, she twisted her waist, detached the burst‑arrow gun attached to the outer armor of her right leg, and continued harvesting the demons pouring from the other dimension.

The five gray knights did the same.

"Twang! Twang! Twang!"

The distinctive pleasant crack of the burst‑arrow series rang out, indicating that the scene continuously staged demons' bodies being shattered, exploded, and corroded.

"Awo…! Roar…!"

Their wailing echoed through the temple hall as Artemis and the five gray knights, like flood dikes, staunchly held back the demon torrent.

Boom—!

At that moment, at the temple entrance, three visibly large spatial distortions appeared.

Immediately after the distortions ended, three gray knights teleported here, joining the battle to "purify" the demons.

The gray knights' Holy Shield Terminators, along with each legion's Honor Guard, each underwent a "major update" and acquired a Short-Range Teleportation Device.

Fourteen years ago.

Officially, the research was led by Sui Bian, but in reality it was Sui Bian's exchange for a single‑piece hyper‑space corps equipment; after company researchers simplified it, the teleportation device could be integrated beneath the Terminator's power pack.

Now.

Three gray knights arrived here, and shortly after, three Sparta squads that had been sweeping nearby showed up.

A total of eighteen Spartans equipped with Mark‑V Thunder Hammers ran through the passage, reached the underground temple hall, and used overwhelming firepower to suppress the demon tide.

Aside from the standard. 75‑caliber explosive arrow rifle, one heavy squad also carried a 1.0‑caliber explosive arrow machine gun and a handheld plasma cannon.

Moreover, the heavy squad leader's helmet bore an olive branch, and a plasma shoulder cannon was mounted on his right shoulder.

After joining the fight,

Ignoring remaining ammunition, a full volley instantly crippled the demons' assault, especially the plasma cannon's exploding "sparks" that continuously scorched the metal temple.

The fierce clash ended temporarily as metallic wails of "ka…—" and the "boom—" of collapsing structures rang out.

Even a massive temple could not withstand the onslaught of a hunting god and twenty‑six giants; it shattered with a thunderous crash.

Large metal plates rained down, and the supporting metal pillars on either side tilted outward.

Whirr—!

Artemis and her companions' powered armor generated an energy shield, helping to resist several‑ton and tens‑of‑tons of heavy objects.

Puff—! Puff!

Instead, the beast‑type demons were repeatedly crushed into mush by the heavy objects, their foul blood splattering, gradually turning into "black water" and being forced back into the other dimension.

The collapse halted.

Artemis and her group reformed, forming a semicircular formation atop the ruins, keeping a set distance from the continuously open portal.

Meanwhile, under cover from several Spartans and gray knights, Artemis and the others successively reloaded.

The demon tide temporarily eased.

However, replacing those beast demons that weren't even low‑rank demons were orderly, shield‑wielding "Divine Servant Soldiers".

These "Divine Servants", averaging over three meters tall, still wore ancient Greek armor, wielded various Spiritual Energy‑infused melee weapons and massive shields, and marched out of the portal in heavy infantry formation.

Yet their faces and bodies had long been warped and mutated by the other dimension; their skin was covered with gradient‑colored scales, and uneven "auxiliary mouths" sprouted on cheeks and necks.

Where, a ten‑thousand‑year‑old guardian of the Olympus Temple, once bravely followed Zeus into the other dimension to eradicate demons, still exists?

Fallen Servants were not as helpless as beast demons; using physical shields and Spiritual Energy barriers, they withstood explosive arrow fire and plasma cannon volleys, suffering only minor losses before closing in on Artemis and her group, ready for close combat.

Seeing this,

A hot‑tempered Sparta squad leader immediately attached his explosive arrow gun to his outer thigh armor, drew the "normal‑size" Chain Sword hanging at his waist, activated it, letting the chain spin at high speed, then charged straight into the enemy ranks, shouting loudly:

"Brothers! For our fathers! For humanity! To liberate these ones who cannot keep their hearts and have become playthings of the evil god!"

"For our fathers!"

"For humanity!"

The Spartans roared in unison, drew their Chain Swords, and followed the leader into close combat with the fallen Servants.

At the same time, the gray knights shouted battle cries like "Die, demons!" and "Try burning souls!" as they entered melee.

Amid the melee,

A figure cloaked in a violet‑blue cape, appearing to be a high‑rank fallen Servant, wielded a war spear at a speed invisible to ordinary eyes, thrusting toward a gray knight's back.

But with a "swish!"

Another brother covering from behind used a vengeance‑goddess powered halberd to cut that fallen Servant in half at the waist first.

"Ah!"

The fallen Servant screamed miserably as its body ignited, thrashing desperately to extinguish the flames, but in less than a blink it was reduced to ash.

After all, the halberd's blade was still saturated with the gray knights' Spiritual Energy.

At the start of the melee,

Even though the fallen Servants held an overwhelming numerical advantage and stood half a meter taller than the Spartans equipped with Thunder Hammers V, the battle was not one‑sided.

They were already beyond mortals and bore the Blessing of an evil god, yet each could not completely suppress the Spartans or gray knights, especially with the power and reaction boost of Thunder Hammers and Holy Shields.

The battle stalemated.

The fallen Servants' numbers seemed endless, while the Spartans and gray knights strained to hold the line, suffering no casualties for now, though reinforcements were still en route and would take time to arrive.

However, Artemis, flanked by two gray knights providing cover, was not fond of a stalemate.

She retracted her explosive arrow gun and moon‑shaped curved blade, and drew a full‑moon bow.

Holding the bow in her left hand and pulling the string with her right, at the moment the fully drawn bow resembled a full moon, the pure Spiritual Energy within the bow spontaneously formed a radiant Spiritual Energy arrow.

Aiming forward.

She released her right hand.

Swoosh——!

The arrow, like a wild horse unbridled, left a after‑image and flew straight toward the far side of the portal.

Hoo! Hoo!

All fallen Servants along the way, even if not directly pierced, were incinerated into ash if they stood in the arrow's path, unable to even utter a scream.

In an instant,

the Spiritual Energy arrow successfully entered the portal, landing on the Parlas statue at the plaza's center, and then…

Ri—

Boom———Rumble———!

Although this bow was named "Full Moon" according to Artemis's preference, in fact the explosion created a dazzling "light sphere" that resembled the sun.

The "light sphere" expanded at extreme speed, swiftly engulfing the plaza on the other side of the portal, along with the assembled army of fallen divine servants, and even the building complex and palace were tragically affected.

This time.

The fallen divine servants in the underground space, once illuminated by the light, will self‑ignite…

It is a self‑ignition of both body and soul.

Immediately thereafter, shockwaves surged out of the portal, striking outward, causing the energy shields of the Thunder God's Hammer and Holy Shield to rise again.

Artemis narrowed her eyes, stared at the "light sphere", and as she re‑slung the Full Moon Bow to her waist, she couldn't help exclaiming:

"His divine power… Spiritual Energy… has actually reached such an exaggerated level?"

Fortunately, her body can withstand the Full Moon Bow's backlash; if an ordinary person drew the bowstring, they would be reduced to ash.

———————

…

While Artemis was destroying the palace.

Four thousand kilometers away from Budapeni, in a rainforest deep in the night zone, there exists another underground space with a portal.

The fierce battle taking place in this underground space likewise paused briefly, because that Spiritual Energy arrow emitted sun‑like radiance.

The fallen divine servants on this side suffered heavy casualties, but at least more than half survived.

Since Parlas was here, he promptly released a large amount of Spiritual Energy, forming a barrier to block the portal.

Here also are the Sparta OriginalBody that it greatly admires and wishes to recruit personally, John, and a hundred Sparta warriors and guard units fighting alongside the OriginalBody.

According to Parlas's original plan, it intended to, before "that man" and another OriginalBody arrived at Pu'erdun, attempt to physically defeat John, then use bodily contact to enact corruption.

After freeing up space, it will then deal with its sister, who has already lost divine power and whose mind also shows "issues".

But it did not expect its sister to possess the Full Moon Bow, nor that the Full Moon Bow would directly fling her "Divine Realm" in the other dimension, or rather her "home", straight away.

(End of Chapter)