Chapter 67: The End of Chivalry

Li Ang made many preparations for this great battle.

These included, but were not limited to, exhaustion bombs made from life force itself buried beneath the Era Oak, using the Era Oak as a sacrifice to destroy all surrounding enemies with total equality.

There were also the series of unpredictable reactions brought about by the shattering of the Myriad Phenomena Labyrinth's token. As a Wonder created using a token of the God of Wisdom, even after being torn apart in the material realm, it could potentially bring about unimaginable, unpredictable, and unknown consequences.

In the worst-case scenario, Li Ang's plan was to directly blow up Stonehenge, using that instantaneous torrent of energy to tear the continental shelf, destroy everything, and wipe out all the Chivalrous Expeditionary Force and demons of the Chaos Wasteland on both land and sea, starting over from scratch.

That explosion would likely destroy the entire Broken Lands and trigger a massive tsunami across the entire Old World, but Li Ang did not care.

Because for Li Ang, he would simply need to relocate to the snowy mountains of Norsca to re-establish his kingdom. Although losing one developable Planet Wonder plus one reviving Planet Wonder was certainly a bit regrettable, Li Ang had this plan in place for the sake of continuity.

The last resort was to completely abandon these territories and the Matrix, manipulating the Winds of Magic to jump directly into other large regions. He would stop playing in the Old World. As a mage with powerful magic, he possessed this ability.

Having made countless contingency plans and hidden dozens of trump cards and "table-flipping" items, Li Ang then calmly planned for the war at hand.

Fortunately, the difficulty of the Chivalrous Expedition was really not very high.

And besides half of them being wiped out by friendly fire, there were many things that were beyond Li Ang's expectations.

The anticipated attacks from the four entities of the Xu Jing never came; they merely dispatched some random demons and troops to interfere with the operation of other towns and fortresses, and then basically did nothing else.

Among them, the God of Life acted as a mole, frantically stuffing life force into the Giant Tree Outpost, blocking the God of War's troops outside the gate so they couldn't even enter. And the demons of the God of Wisdom just performed and sang outside the Heavenly Fortress without any real large-scale offensive.

Only the God of Pleasure took a look at the front line, casually promoted Joshua, and then there was nothing more.

They didn't manage anything, just watching from the sidelines, not even exerting pressure on Stonehenge.

So much so that they were happy to see Li Ang borrowing and simulating the Paths.

Perhaps, just as they had said in the beginning, this was a great game, and the most important part of a game was watching the fun. Clearly, the fun Li Ang could provide was far more interesting than Joshua.

The result of this was that Joshua, as a demon of the God of Pleasure, couldn't even put up much resistance. Although the Chivalrous Expeditionary Force had been corrupted for many days, the vast majority were still ordinary Humans who would never fight side-by-side with demons. Not killing them was already considered quite restrained.

As a beginner quest, even if the number of these demons and raiders had been multiplied by nine, they would have completely lost the ability to resist under the power of the Pale Army's third Path, the Wisdom Path. With the fighting ability of the War Path, the Undying Nature of the Life Path, and the teleportation of the Wisdom Path, they had completely lost.

While the Humans and players were sneaking away in defeat, the demons rushed up wave after wave, constantly being converted from Chaos cultists, charging into the battlefield like adding oil to a fire.

Then they died, were absorbed by the World Scar, and converted into magic power to be poured into the Pale Army.

Finally, the Gede Knight stomped and crushed Joshua's slimy lower body, looked at the blood-oozing demon leader, let out a threatening low growl, and turned to look at Li Ang.

"It seems your gods don't like you very much."

Facing Joshua, whose facial features were oozing blood and whose six arms and snake-like lower body had been torn apart, leaving him only gasping for breath, Li Ang shook his head with some regret.

The azure light of wisdom changed unpredictably in the firmament, and the pale monsters were no longer the ash-like pale white. Crimson runes, pale green blood vessels, and azure flames appeared on their bodies. These soulless ones stared coldly at the last demon with dim, yellow eyes.

After all the demons died, they left no physical bodies behind; they had all been absorbed by Stonehenge.

Only the empty shells they had broken free from remained, fluttering like sails, proving that these monsters were things gestated from human bodies.

"You tried your best... but in the end, your limits are only here."

Ignoring the terrified gazes of the other surviving Humans and players, Li Ang snapped his fingers lightly and appeared instantly beside Joshua. Looking at the ferocious appearance of the purple demon, he wore a look of pity. "There is no way to convert those projected Souls, nor is there any way to make more people join your ranks; the result is just like this. You could never resist people's pursuit of a better life. Although everyone hates me, a wizard of unknown origin, they fear you demons even more."

"Perhaps the Pleasure Path and your feasts make you feel that Humans and players will always be on your side. But even the soulless ones know that your distorted Souls are even uglier."

"And your tactics also have big problems; you actually wanted to use attrition tactics to wear us down."

Under the azure light, Li Ang, whose eyes were like whirlpools, looked at the demon at his feet who was vomiting blood and beginning to convulse, and said softly: "Wanting to convert troops into undying demons and then using the demons' physical advantages to stall the Pale Army until all their conversions were exhausted—a very good strategy. And as an apostle of the God of Pleasure, you can also feel that there is no Pleasure Path within them or myself."

"But, you got one thing wrong, Joshua. I indeed did not possess the Pleasure Path just now, and I indeed did not understand the power of pleasure. But after so many demons died, it would be impolite not to understand it. Even if you could stall past the Wisdom Path and kill them all, I still possess the abilities brought by your Pleasure Path... they will be faster, more elegant, and more agile."

"After all, every demon that dies within the range of Stonehenge is my food. And now, your death has helped me complete the final step."

'You have killed a sufficient number of demons! All demon fragments have been dismantled and sacrificed!'

'You have unlocked the Pleasure Path!'

Pale purple radiance gestated in the sky.

The demon eyeballs that were once Joshua trembled, looking at the magnificent sky in bewilderment.

As a demon of the Pleasure Path, he could feel what that purple light represented. It was supreme pleasure, the most orthodox Path, the destination he dreamed of reaching.

"Heh..."

The final sigh was dug out from his lungs.

He stared with wide eyes at the World Scar suffused with noble purple, watching the purple light begin to glow on the limbs of those ugly and terrifying soulless bodies; that gaze seemed to be questioning, and also filled with anger.

This clown—no, or rather, a performer under the God of Pleasure—finally expressed his emotions as the curtain fell on the stage. He was unwilling to accept his death, and also angry at why the God of Pleasure would treat his enemies with such tolerance. He did not understand what was happening to all of this.

But regardless, he no longer had a reason to live.

"Just consider it a nightmare, Knight Joshua. After waking up, you will find that you are already living in the most perfect ideal."

"..."

The demon said nothing, just continued to stare with his eyes, watching the purple of the firmament, and finally spat out a mouthful of blood, slowly losing his vitality.

Li Ang gently brushed over the eyes of the demon that was once Knight Joshua, making him close them. The massive demon entity gradually turned into light, becoming fragmented pieces and rainbow rays. Those pale purple rays, like other demon entities, rose like a wisp of blue smoke into the wound in the sky.

And under the somewhat panicked gaze of all the people and players, Li Ang slowly stood up and looked at these remnants.

"Now, it is time to talk about our problems."

Looking at these people, the smile on Li Ang's face was incomparably sincere and earnest.

"I am truly a very merciful person; won't you consider the suggestion I proposed?"

(End of chapter)