Chapter 539: Annihilation 2 and Loss of Control

Fizz—

The high-temperature heat force collided with the negative energy, stimulating a large amount of foul, fishy stench.

Within the stench, there was a black-purple magical power as if it were tangible.

After a brief clash.

It took a dozen or so flame rays just to barely grind that wisp of negative energy down to nothing.

Rod also used this to roughly estimate the strength of the Infernal Grand Duke before him.

Roughly around 700 Ke.

But note, this estimated value is the opponent's current strength after enduring the torment of divine blood and having gone through a months-long battle over the blood.

Far from his peak.

Rod pressed hard with his arm muscles, squeezing out the inactivated, rotting eyeballs on his arm.

Immediately, 【Regeneration】, the Plague Domain, and the Grass Domain went into full effect, rapidly filling in the empty spots.

【Repulsion】 erupted with force once again.

With a cold face, he had already charged forward.

The Black-Gold Soul-Trembling Blade in his hand had its Dread Demon Eye fully activated, and the massive spiritual energy of 【Giant Slash】 densely gathered.

【Six Flashes】 + 【Giant Slash】 + 【Blessing of the Ancient Sky Tree】!

【Power Release 1800%】!

The surging, razor-sharp spiritual energy exploded with a roar, and in an instant a giant energy sword lit up the sky.

Even though his spiritual capacity had greatly increased after advancing to the upper tier of seventh rank, after this one move, the spiritual energy within Rod's body was directly drained dry.

At the same time, getting this close made him realize.

Asmodeus's complexion was extremely unsightly—sunken, blackened eyes, and ghastly pale lips visible even through his dark red skin.

After this Infernal Grand Duke resisted the dragon breath beside him with a grim face.

Facing Rod's charge, he was even a beat slow.

His hands stiffened for a moment before he conjured a 【Blade Barrier】 before him.

"Scram!"

Rod certainly paid no heed.

Relying on the augmentation of 【Dragon Scale】 and the Guardian Domain, he forced his way through this wall of force bristling with blades and swords.

Sizzle sizzle—

A rather plain spell, but its power was outrageous.

As sparks flew, several protruding sharp blades actually managed to break through the Dragon Scale.

Asmodeus's face showed a trace of shock; he tried to cast again, only to find his left hand hanging limply, unresponsive.

And at this moment.

The giant spiritual sword had already fallen upon him.

Puchi—

Clang—

As the flash swept past.

The light died away.

Rod kept his cold face, holding the sword-swinging pose.

Asmodeus raised the crimson scepter in his hand to block the black-gold longsword aimed at his neck, leaving a shallow dent.

Several cracks appeared on his black-red elegant robe, blood spraying from within, revealing cone-shaped sword wounds deep enough to see bone.

The two dark elf leaders in the distance, Tasha and Natalie, both widened their eyes.

Faces full of disbelief.

What was going on?!

Was this man outrageously strong, or was the Grand Duke's condition outrageously poor??

The two of them could no longer tell.

Boom!

A sudden enormous roar erupted.

They saw Rod's Dragon Scale burst with magical aftershock.

Then it was corroded into a large hole, piercing through his chest.

The man let out a muffled grunt, sent flying backward by the tremendous impact force like a cannonball, slamming into the ground and kicking up a great cloud of dust.

"The bloodline node! Give it to me!"

Asmodeus suddenly lost his elegant composure, roaring at Natalie.

After being injured, his condition became even stranger.

Half his face was hideous and terrifying, the other half calm and vacant.

"Yes! Right away!"

How would Natalie dare disobey? She hurriedly began circulating the magical power within her body.

The Lilith physical blood drop she had placed on the bloodline node Xihill had fused with her own blood; beyond forced charm, it also carried an extremely strong enslavement ability.

It simply could not be removed.

However.

As the spell circulated, she discovered that her commands had elicited not the slightest response.

"How could this be."

"Where are the people, Natalie! Call them over, quick!" Tasha, afraid of being caught in the blast, urged anxiously.

"Something's off. My spell isn't working at all." Panic flickered in Natalie's eyes.

"What? Didn't we plant the Lilith blood-drops? How can they not be working!"

Asmodeus naturally noticed the situation of the two as well.

His nearly four-meter frame exerted crushing pressure, his eyes heavy with oppressive might.

He looked down at the two kneeling before him.

After a flash of magical light.

Even his voice carried a hint of disbelief: "Lilith's power has been overwritten?"

The succubus ancestor Lilith was a long-established veteran of the ninth tier, even older than he was.

Though she had been missing for years, no one had yet been able to surpass her charm arts.

A power that overwrote Lilith's charm arts—

A weapon of the Great Cultivator from the other-dimensional space—

The aura of the Ancient Sky Tree, extinct since the Second Epoch—

Such earth-shattering treasures, hidden in this little Twilight Hill?

Hmm?

Asmodeus was mid-cast, healing the sword wound on his body, when he suddenly sensed the blood within him mutating and infused with a faint spirituality.

"The blood ability of the Vampire King Yulia?!"

He instinctively assumed that this powerful ninth-tier being had arrived on the scene.

Because of the chaos caused by the divine blood, the one Asmodeus least wanted to face right now was precisely this ninth-tier being—the world's foremost master of blood manipulation.

But a moment's thought told him it was impossible.

That ninth-tier being had the temperament of an arrogant, brattish ringleader; if she were here, she'd be raising a ruckus.

Then where did this blood spirituality come from??

From the sword wound!

Asmodeus turned his head to look down.

He happened to see the dust settle as the great pit buried under rubble on the ground was violently flung open by a tremendous force, debris scattering in all directions.

A huge hand suddenly burst from the earth.

Then in one motion clawed at the ground.

With a crash, the tall, handsome man with a hole pierced through his chest pushed himself up, face cold.

His chin was smeared with the fresh blood he had coughed up.

But his eyes held not a trace of fear; they met Asmodeus's gaze squarely.

"Forest Warden Rod."

Asmodeus suddenly thought that, if he could take this man into his service, it might greatly aid his Infernal enterprise.

However.

The timing was wrong.

He forced himself to endure the turmoil and agony within, gathering magic at the tip of his staff, aiming it at Rod.

The kneeling Natalie added: "The blood-vein node must be inside the Windwall Forest. Only this forest warden is protecting that person. Even if he dies, it doesn't matter—there are plenty of his confidantes in the forest; surely one of them knows the node's location."

As she spoke.

Natalie suddenly felt a gravity spell clamp onto her own feet, yanking her sharply downward.

Her flight spell couldn't withstand the force at all; she could only scream in terror: "My lord, save me!"

"How dare you!"

Asmodeus roared, the high-tier spell on his staff about to be unleashed in an instant.

Rod's face was cold; he stood immovable.

Suddenly, green arcs of electricity crackled in his hand, his eyes flashed like lightning, and behind him the war-spirit of the fungal warrior Gorgon flickered past.

【Annihilation】!

Rod knew this Infernal Archduke's condition was at its absolute worst.

And he had also figured out the other's purpose.

Frantically searching for the tiefling Sahel, who served as the blood-vein node.

Clearly, he was merely attempting to walk back the old godhood-ascension path of "becoming the blood lord of all tieflings"!

And hoping thereby to rid himself of the divine blood!

In that brief clash just now.

【Insight Demon Eye】 had let him see clearly that the crimson staff was suppressing the chaos within the other's body.

Asmodeus's growing frenzy after the exchange was by no means due to injury. His inner essence was far more abundant than Rod's; a single spell could easily restore him.

It was because the crimson staff had been damaged!

Under this Infernal Archduke's once-again stunned gaze, the staff in his hand suddenly crumbled section by section, dissolving into powder as it fell through the air.

Yet the ruby at its tip was of absurdly high quality.

After enduring the baptism of the green electric arcs, it remained perfectly intact, and under gravity's pull began to drop.

The next moment.

Asmodeus's aura and magic exploded outward in an uncontrollable blast!

Blood-colored flames gathered behind him into faces that were gentle yet scrutinizing; his features twisted with pain pushed to the extreme, and he was forced to half-kneel, trembling beyond suppression.

His face twisted in fury as he roared: "Mystra!!! Enough!!!"

And the dragged-down Natalie received no rescue.

Under the dual effect of 【Grasp】 and 【Gravity Wave】, she screamed as she was swiftly pulled down to the ground.

Rod snorted coldly, faced this dark elf head-on, his five fingers like blades, and his arm pierced straight through her chest.

Blood exploded in a spray.

The dark elf Natalie, whose soul had been confiscated, possessed extremely strong vitality and did not die immediately; instead, she shrieked miserably.

She quickly adjusted, pulled open her clothes with both hands, revealing a voluptuous yet blood-soaked body.

Her expression was wretched and pitiful.

Her eyes erupted with bewitching red light, staring fixedly at Rod who was right before her.

"Let me go and I can let you experience a man's ultimate pleasure."

"Charm technique?"

Rod sneered.

The ultra-high spiritual resistance brought by 【Will of the Firmament】 simply could not be shaken by some no-name's charm technique.

He spat a mouthful of bloody foam onto her face.

Then with another swing of his arm, he flung her away: "Go play by yourself."

Natalie had been overjoyed that he hadn't struck a killing blow, when suddenly her whole body stiffened.

Trembling, she wiped the bloody foam from her face.

An absurd wave of lust actually surged into her head in an instant.

Her legs went weak and she collapsed; in a flash, the light of reason in her eyes was already occupied by a pink glow.

One hand reaching downward while the other dragged her convulsing body as she crawled toward Rod, her throat clogged with something thick, her words slurred.

"Rod, Rod, Rod, Rod, Rod. Give it to me, look at me. I beg you. Rod—"

The bewitching bodily fluid, aided by several drops of Lilith's blood, had successfully evolved into a superior skill.

Not to mention its effect far surpassed before, it also carried other additional skill effects.

【Victory Pod】 isn't here, so I'll let you cling to life for a while.

Rod kicked her away with one foot and looked once more at Asthmothiel frozen in midair in the sky.

"Ninth-tier? Grand Duke? It's not like I've never beaten up a ninth-tier before."

Otherwise, did you think the Grand Cultivator's Pruning Shears in my hand came from where?

【Power Liberation 2000%】! Adjusted to a permanent effect.

【Throat of the Abyss】! Adjusted to a permanent effect.

【Julia's Blood Burst】: 5 stacks.

【Paralyzing Claw Strike】: 2 stacks.

The next moment.

An overwhelming surge of spirituality blasted skyward!

The spiritual shockwave swept the dust from the ground clean, rolling upward, shattering everything in its path.

Rod's entire body swelled up by a size.

His skin turned pale red, his eyes flooded with crimson, and sharp canines bared in a snarl!

【Berserk】!

(End of this chapter)