Chapter 155: The scorching sun hung high in the sky!

The very moment Luo Yan saw Kesen Skull-Crusher, the latter also saw the former standing in the middle of the battlefield.

A bloodthirsty grin immediately spread across that ugly face, and a pair of pupils burning with killing intent seemed to be saying, "We meet again."

Luo Yan looked at him in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock.

Undead?

No—

That guy was definitely not undead!

He couldn't sense even a shred of necromantic aura from that ogre!

It was then that a minuscule possibility suddenly surfaced in Luo Yan's mind.

This guy had indeed been killed by him!

It was just that shortly after, the Kesen he killed had entered the chaotic Reincarnation Pool to receive the baptism bestowed by the "Flame of Destruction," and soon after, carrying the memories of his previous life, he had been reborn in a more powerful form!

This guy had been born again!

And with the help of ritual magic, he had rapidly grown to adulthood!

Watching those fearless Ka'ao soldiers, Luo Yan suddenly grasped their way of survival and finally understood why they, who were addicted to slaughter, hadn't destroyed themselves.

They spent their short lives pleasing Kalmandes, achieved sublimation of their souls after death, and were reincarnated once more to become His warriors!

What Kalmandes bestowed upon them was not eternal life, yet it was no different from it.

Because after death, it wouldn't be long before they returned to the battlefield, facing their opponents in a more powerful form!

This was their way of survival!

If it had been him who was killed back then, the final outcome would likely have been the same as his: entering this endless cycle of death...

"What utter blasphemy..."

Luo Yan swallowed, his scalp tingling.

Especially when he thought that if he had lost to that guy behind the Gate of Chaos, his final fate would likely have been to become just like him, cycling through an endless life and death, experiencing death over and over again...

Even a terror demon born in the deepest part of hell couldn't help but feel that this was a bit too hellish.

Blue blood seeped out from beneath Valgur's carapace, suddenly congealing into frost, climbing up the war blade that had pierced the false sheath, and finally touching Kesen's fingers.

Kesen, who had been laughing wantonly, suddenly stiffened and quickly pulled the war blade out of the giant frost beetle's head.

Although his reaction was fast, his movement was still a step slow; in just a moment, his fingers had turned into ice sculptures.

That was the curse flowing in the frost beetle's blood!

Looking at his frozen fingers, Kesen suddenly grinned hideously, squeezed hard with his right hand, and actually crushed the frozen fingers to pieces!

Seeing the little bug clinging to his back refusing to leave, Valgur finally raised his head and let out an angry roar, pressing his belly against the ground.

As he lowered that massive and clumsy body, thousands of frost beetles began to crawl onto his back.

Kesen brandished the war blade in his hand, hacking down more than a dozen frost beetles that had crawled to his side. However, facing that tidal wave of an offensive, even as a Chosen of Chaos, he was unable to cope for a time.

Seeing that the surging hive was about to drown him, the ogre suddenly raised his head and roared, then threw the war blade in his hand fiercely into the air.

With a "clatter" of metal colliding, the iron chains wrapped around him were carried toward the dome by the whistling war blade, just like a fishing line lunging toward a winch!

At this moment, a pterosaur cavalryman whistled past, just happened to grab the iron chain flying into the air, and then jerked the reins upward.

Under the traction of the pterosaur, Kesen, clutching the iron chain, leaped into the air just before the swarm could drown him, as if he had caught an elevator!

Seeing the little bug that had been outputting damage on his back about to fly away, Valgur let out an angry roar and spat a frost breath toward the dome!

That mist, which looked like a solid entity, was like a waterfall flowing backward; it seemed as if even the air had been frozen into ice blocks!

However, the speed of that frost breath was ultimately too slow; the whistling pterosaur cavalryman dodged it easily, not even grazing a single hair.

A mocking and cruel smile appeared on Kesen's face.

Just as he, clutching the iron chain, circled around and was about to kill his way back, a dense rain of arrows suddenly lunged into the air!

The whistling sound of the arrows was like a swarm of locusts!

The pterosaur circling in the air didn't even realize what had happened before it and the cavalryman on its back were shot into hedgehogs by the whistling crossbow bolts!

"Gaa—!" The pterosaur, bleeding profusely, let out a piercing howl, rolled out of control in the air, and plummeted downward.

And at the same time, Valgur, raising his head, opened his bloody maw and bit the falling pterosaur into a blood mist, bones and flesh alike, with a crunch!

At that critical moment, Kesen released the iron chain in his hand in time and flew out, relying on inertia, which was the only reason he wasn't taken away by the giant frost beetle in one bite.

However, even so, he was thrown quite hard, crashing heavily onto an open space a hundred meters away.

The cracked and withered land was actually smashed into a deep pit by him!

Thanks to the thick fat acting as a buffer, otherwise, this impact alone would have been enough to send him away again, having been born not long ago!

Kesen staggered to his feet, shook off the mud hanging on his body, and tried to figure out what had happened just now.

However, just as he raised his disheveled head, he saw an elite army armed to the teeth appearing at the edge of his vision!

Those demon soldiers were dressed in uniform black armor, carrying square shields on their backs, and holding heavy crossbows half a person tall, engraved with inscriptions!

As a former member of this labyrinth, he knew their identities all too well—

Those were the Black Dragon Crossbowmen of Desperate City!

It was said that the bowstrings of those three thousand heavy crossbows were all made from the tendons of black dragons through the secret arts of dragon hunters, and within a hundred paces, they could even easily penetrate the protective Qi of a Bai Yin-tier warrior!

In terms of power alone, this thing was much more powerful than a firearm; the only drawback was that the quantity was limited, after all, giant dragons were not common, and even harder to deal with.

Lei Ji Dragong had previously claimed to have three thousand black dragon heavy crossbows, but it was hard to say if there were even two thousand in reality; after all, no one had counted them one by one, and it was more likely that ordinary crossbows were mixed in to make up the numbers.

However, regardless of how many real ones there were, the fame of the Black Dragon Crossbowmen was well-known in the Lei Ming County area.

It was said that on the battlefield, even the famous Trident Knights had to avoid their edge... although even without considering the special nature of the Black Dragon Crossbowmen, very few knight orders would charge the crossbowmen's position head-on.

Kesen Skull-Crusher's pupils contracted slightly.

What he feared was not the black dragon heavy crossbows, but that three of the four existing Demon Generals of the Lei Ming County labyrinth had actually appeared here!

It seemed that during the time he was away, this labyrinth had indeed undergone significant changes.

Speaking of which—

He didn't seem to have seen that half-breed shadow demon so far.

At this moment, Kesen suddenly realized something.

However, just as he was about to find a handy weapon from his side, a cold dagger had already quietly pressed against his throat.

It was a matter of an instant, so fast that he didn't even have time to react, and a wisp of thin, veil-like black smoke blew his head away.

Watching Thanos, who had suddenly flashed behind the Chosen of Chaos, Blanxia, who was about to order the arrows to be fired, slowly lowered the whip she had just raised.

At this moment, Luo Yan, carrying a battle axe, ran over from afar.

"Wait a minute—"

Just as his voice fell, the headless corpse standing there and the head that had flown away fell to the ground at the same time.

Watching Luo Yan Dragong running over from afar, Thanos, standing next to the headless corpse, frowned slightly and asked, puzzled.

"Is there a problem?"

"This won't kill him..." Not expecting to be a step late, Luo Yan bit the bullet and repeated his discovery.

After listening, Thanos showed an expression of surprise, frowned slightly and pondered for a long time, but remained unmoved.

"It doesn't matter, it's just an ant," he said nonchalantly, flicking the dagger in his hand lightly, "I'll just kill him again when the time comes."

Even if a Chosen of Chaos could be resurrected again and again, that guy's strength couldn't expand without limit.

Ultimately, it was the person who determined the total amount of extraordinary power, and the gods only determined the rules of distribution.

Although Thanos didn't understand these deep-seated reasons, experience told him that there was a limit to the favor from the gods that a mortal could bear.

Otherwise, there would be no room for mortals in the war between hell and the surface; it would just become a competition of who could brag better.

As he spoke, he cast his gaze toward the Black Knight who was in a fierce battle with Glak, licking the corner of his mouth excitedly.

Unlike that ogre.

That guy might become an interesting opponent!

Watching Thanos turn and leave, Luo Yan was speechless.

At this moment, black shadows darted past him, following Thanos's footsteps toward the surroundings of the Black Knight.

That was the assassin corps loyal to Thanos.

Although their numbers were far inferior to the soldiers under the other three Demon Generals, no one dared to underestimate this force hidden in the shadows!

Blanxia, in full military attire, stood under the military flag of Desperate City, looking in the direction where the black shadows disappeared, revealing an intriguing smile.

She had originally thought that Thanos only intended to take action himself, but she didn't expect him to have brought all his hidden assets to the battlefield.

So much so that she couldn't help but suspect whether this guy had secretly done something to the Demon King, or had some handle on the Demon King.

Shaking off the descendants clinging to his body, Valgur looked in the direction from which the crossbow bolts had flown, his deep voice and frost-covered breath drifting out of his hideous mouthparts together.

"Thanks."

There wasn't much gratitude in that voice; after all, in his view, even if no one had helped, he could have dealt with those mosquitoes buzzing around, at most it would have taken some time.

Blanxia didn't care, just smiled and said.

"You're welcome."

As her voice fell, the thorn whip in her hand swung forward, and the Black Dragon Crossbowmen, having completed reloading, poured round after round of arrow rain toward the rear of the Chaos army again.

The battle was not over yet!

Luo Yan had no time to worry about other things for the moment; just taking a short breath, he carried his battle axe and killed his way back in.

Even if Kalmandes's servants were immortal and would be resurrected before long, if he wanted to close the Gate of Chaos, he had to defeat them on the battlefield!

And at the same time, in the center of the battlefield, watching the arrows and magic light flying around overhead, the players all shouted that it was satisfying and awesome.

The scale and intensity of this battle were more than a step higher than the previous battle in the Misty Forest.

The only regret was that the modeling was a bit monotonous; this time there were no flying squids, heart-eating demons walking upside down, or cyclopes throwing stones.

Kalmandes's servants were more like a traditional army, composed of light and heavy infantry, cavalry, and archers.

And that Black Knight with a boss-like appearance was also completely styled as a human knight, not looking more frightening than the guy with tentacles under him at all.

However, it also fit that saying: the weirder the skin, the weaker the person. That Black Knight holding a long sword looked unremarkable, but was clearly much harder to deal with than the previous mad speaker named Mel, actually fighting Glak, who had the peak strength of a Platinum-tier, to a standstill, and even faintly gaining the upper hand!

Glak let out an angry roar, and his double-edged battle axe swept fiercely toward the mount under the Black Knight.

Facing that strike like a thunderbolt, the silent Black Knight didn't dodge or evade, just blocked it nonchalantly, parrying this seemingly fatal strike.

"Clang—!"

The sound of metal clashing echoed on the battlefield, and the sparks that burst out flew several meters away, just like molten iron splashing on a forge!

Feeling the pain coming from the web between his thumb and index finger, Glak felt a jolt of fear.

He had not only used his full strength in that strike just now but also activated the ancestor's blessing flowing in his bloodline.

Even a Diamond-tier demon, as strong as Lei Ji Dragong himself, couldn't be unscathed under his full-strength strike!

Yet this guy not only took it, but was also completely fine!

Diamond?

Purple Crystal?

A Grandmaster or Demigod shouldn't be...

A trace of sweat seeped from Glak's forehead; he couldn't see the depth of the person in front of him at all, and even felt that this guy was getting stronger the more he fought.

Actually, this couldn't be blamed on him.

The Chosen from behind the Gate of Chaos were simply not creatures of this world, and the extraordinary power they possessed did not come from this world, so their strength naturally wasn't suitable to be measured by the standards of this world.

The knight in black armor looked down at him, the long sword in his hand boiling with silent flames, while beneath the burning armor, a bloodthirsty and scorching fierce light shot out.

Without a word of communication, both sides seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding, and the moment their eyes met, they killed each other again.

Even though he realized that the strength of the opponent in front of him was above his own, Glak had no intention of retreating at all; instead, the fighting spirit in his chest grew higher and higher.

At this moment, a black shadow suddenly drifted over from not far away, quietly spreading and creeping toward the back of the Black Knight like a shadow.

Seeming to sense the threat coming from behind, the Black Knight suddenly flipped the long sword in his hand and swung it backward, drawing an arc-shaped wall of fire behind the horse's hooves!

"Ping—!"

The whistling dagger seemed to have hit a solid wall, failing to penetrate the burning wall of fire at all!

The flickering black shadow retreated upon contact, like a feather blown away by the wind, landing on the ground ten meters away and transforming into a human figure. The warhorse under him let out a neigh, and the Black Knight holding the reins looked slightly solemn, clearly much more alert in an instant.

Although judging from the short-range clash just now, the strength of that shadow demon was clearly inferior to the orc in front of him, the sense of threat the former gave him far exceeded the latter.

Looking at Thanos, who was wearing a black cloak, Glak, holding a double-edged battle axe, grinned, a clear look of joy flashing in his eyes.

Shortening the distance between his hand holding the axe handle and the axe blade, he set up a posture ready for a mixed double-team.

"Didn't expect that one day I'd join forces with a guy like you."

Playing with the dagger in his hand, Thanos said nonchalantly.

"I didn't expect it either; it's not too late for you to go back on your word now."

Glak raised an eyebrow.

"Are you scared?"

Thanos sneered lightly.

"I mean, you can stay on the side and leave this guy to me."

Glak laughed out loud and said mockingly.

"Cut the crap!"

As his voice fell, his feet exerted force suddenly, and he chased after the Black Knight who was trying to pull away.

The Black Knight, who was trying to retreat, was stuck by him again and had to give up the plan to retreat, brandishing his long sword to hack together with the double-edged battle axe.

At the same time, Thanos, who came to support, didn't stand by, and the two daggers kissed the back of the Black Knight like poisonous snakes.

The one-on-one turned into a gang-up.

Facing the mixed double-team of the two, one long and one short, the Black Knight bathed in flames, even with the blessing of Chaos, was unable to cope for a time.

Seizing the latter's flaw, Glak's battle axe swung out fiercely, hacking squarely at the neck of his warhorse!

More than half of the flesh and blood on the neck was scraped away, and the warhorse didn't even have time to let out a neigh before it died and fell to the side.

The mount under him sank, and the Black Knight fell off the horse, caught off guard.

His iron boots had just touched the ground, and before he could stand up, he was met with a dagger stabbing toward his face, and he could only hurriedly raise his long sword to parry.

Thanos, who failed in one strike, didn't stop, but stabbed more than a dozen times in succession, and borrowed the momentum to jump backward amidst a clatter of metal clashing, his figure drifting backward and freezing in the air.

Looking at the mysterious smile frozen in the air, the Black Knight who had lost his warhorse instinctively felt a trace of something bad.

However, before he could react to what had happened, the shadow demon hanging in the air turned into countless black afterimages, stabbing toward him with the momentum of ten thousand arrows piercing the heart.

"Dagger Rain!"

The constantly flickering afterimages were like flying shuttles wandering in the air; one second they were heading straight for the Black Knight's face, and the next second they had already drilled out of his chest.

In just an instant, the Black Knight's armor was pierced with holes, revealing scarlet blood and the miasma of Chaos.

The seriously injured Black Knight knelt on one knee, only able to rely on the long sword to support his body, and a shrill howl finally drifted out from beneath the silent black armor.

That sound was like a painful wail, and also like a devout prayer.

And at the same time that the howling sound started, a vision suddenly appeared in the air beneath the labyrinth dome.

A burning head was overlooking the earth, its pupils like the sun staring downward, scorching the entire battlefield with its scorching gaze.

Illuminated by that scorching light, both the Ka'ao warriors and the orc soldiers let out painful howls.

Their skin was emitting blue smoke, as if they had been set on fire.

And at the same time, bathed in that scorching light, the Black Knight's strength seemed to have been sublimated, and the wounds on his body were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Glak looked at the Black Knight who had stood up again in shock, his expression slightly moved.

"This is... Holy Light?!"

Thanos, wearing a black cloak, looked solemn, his voice hoarse as he said.

"Holy Light doesn't look like that..."

Holy Light wouldn't scorch the living, only kill the undead and demons.

And that light that scorched everything was clearly the opposite; except for the Chosen of Chaos, all living creatures were equally affected by that light... including demons!

Instead, the undead didn't suffer any damage!

That was more like a pure sun!

Looking at the Black Knight who had stood up again, Thanos and Glak raised their weapons again, looking like they were facing a formidable enemy.

The Black Knight took off his helmet, revealing a face covered in blisters, and the corners of his mouth, like scars, hooked into a creepy grin.

Suddenly, he spoke in a stuttering voice.

"You are strong... you have received the favor of my Lord... but it ends here."

Looking at the Black Knight who had raised his long sword, Glak, holding the battle axe, sneered and said.

"I thought you were a mute, didn't expect you to be able to speak."

The Black Knight ignored him, just facing the long sword in his hand, spitting out obscure true words like a spell.

"My name is Atum, serving the flame that destroys everything, the scorching sun that burns everything... die with honor!"

The long sword held in his hand was like a burning torch, and that turbid and crimson light was even more like the sunset falling into the horizon!

At this moment, a petite and exquisite figure suddenly flashed in the air, her scarlet eyes emitting a light full of killing intent.

"Die for me!!!" A suppressed low growl came from Cici's mouth, her petite and youthful face twisted into a ball because of anger.

Spiritual power like a sea wave condensed into a spear at the center of her brow, stabbing straight toward the Black Knight's head.

However, an accident happened.

Perhaps it was because her clansmen were suffering the torment of the scorching sun, unable to offer her surging spiritual energy as they had before.

That spearhead constructed of spiritual power was like a toothpick stuck on a city wall; not only did it fail to hurt him in the slightest, but it was instead scorched by the flames of Chaos.

A sharp pain drilled into the center of her brow, and Cici, flying in the air, let out a painful cry, falling straight from the air toward the battlefield.

The Black Knight named Atum just glanced in her direction and said with a sneer.

"Where did this fly come from?"

Glak glanced in the direction where the little demon fell.

He didn't care about that guy's life or death; what made him alert was that this guy was unscathed when facing the concentrated fire of the little demon's spiritual power!

"A bit tricky..." Thanos flicked the dagger in his hand, his eyes flickering as he said, "If Blanxia chickens out, I'm afraid the two of us alone won't be his match."

At first, he intended to use this guy's head as a gift to apologize to the Demon King, but now he was a bit stuck in a dilemma.

Glak stared silently at the burning long sword, his face as heavy as water, not knowing what he was thinking.

Speaking of which, where is the Demon King?

The blood shed by the Bloodblade Clan was enough to prove their loyalty, yet that guy hadn't appeared from beginning to end...

Cici, falling from the air, felt a trance in her spirit, her crumbling consciousness playing before her eyes like a slide show.

She tried to flap her wings to stabilize the airflow passing by her side, but her body simply wouldn't listen to her.

The backlash of Chaos on her spiritual power had almost burned her nerves, and she couldn't even feel her body below her neck.

Perhaps she shouldn't have been blinded by anger because of her clansmen's pain, perhaps she should have acted more cautiously... but it seemed meaningless to say these things now.

She felt her speed getting faster and faster, having broken through the critical point of a safe landing, with no possibility of pulling up again.

Feeling the increasingly surging airflow in her ears, a bitter smile squeezed onto Cici's face.

Although the Nightmare Land had never had a queen for more than ten years, she might be the shortest-lived one... and the only one who fell to her death.

It was hard to say which was more embarrassing compared to being skewered on a flagpole.

Hopefully, the Demon King could treat the Nightmare Land a little better, given that she had offered her loyalty to the Great Tomb until the end.

Hopefully, Mixi could shoulder the responsibility on her shoulders.

Among all her subordinates, only that guy's head seemed a little more useful, just lacking a bit of steadiness...

But these were all things that could be cultivated slowly.

Just as Cici closed her eyes and had almost accepted her fate, a warm and firm touch suddenly supported the back of her head.

The airflow passing by seemed to have been strangled by that powerful arm, and the momentum of the rapid fall came to a sudden halt.

Feeling that warmth that made her heart beat faster, Cici opened her eyes suddenly, but what came into view was an unexpected face.

"Demon, Demon King?!"

Her face was full of surprise, not understanding why the Demon King would be here, and even less understanding why he, who only had Bronze-tier strength, could fly.

Honestly, Luo Yan didn't fly very well, but it was no problem to lift himself up using air-type magic.

Not to mention he was now Bai Yin-tier.

Even when he was Bronze-tier before, he could easily do it by relying on his understanding of spells and his control over magic power.

"Does this count as me returning the favor from before?" Looking at that pretty face stained with a red glow, Luo Yan made a joke casually.

The situation at this moment seemed to be exactly the same as when he was in the Misty Forest, the only difference being that it was himself below at that time, looking up at that effortless smile.

Now, the positions of the two had completely reversed.

And unlike himself, this Queen of the Nightmare Land was clearly not as calm as him, or rather, didn't have his thick skin.

That petite and exquisite face had completely turned red like a ripe apple, and climbed over her crystal-clear earlobes toward her fair neck.

He would just assume it was sunburned.

After all, it wasn't just him who needed face; his vassals also needed that thing.

Cici, who was usually dignified and elegant, moved her lips in a panic, stammering for a long time before squeezing out a sentence.

"Demon, Demon King... you, you shouldn't have come here, that guy... you are not his match..."

Luo Yan's eyebrows lifted lightly.

"Who allowed you to say that?"

"Sor, sorry! Please forgive my rudeness... I I I... I was just worried about you..." Realizing her slip of the tongue, Cici buried her head in shame, wishing she could break free and hit her head on the ground.

Looking at Cici curled up in his arms, Luo Yan smiled faintly; although he felt this contrasting appearance was very interesting, considering their future interaction, he didn't continue to tease her, but stopped at the right point.

Controlling the airflow dragging beside him to descend slowly, Luo Yan's feet touched the ground, then he looked up at the "sun" burning beneath the dome like a scorching sun.

That sun was like a giant's head!

A pair of burning pupils were overlooking the earth, watching those pawns manipulated and scorched by Him.

Gradually, He seemed to notice a strange gaze, and that pair of pupils full of slaughter and provocation also focused on Luo Yan at the same time.

Responding to that burning gaze as the Demon King, Luo Yan answered Cici's incoherent concern just now in a nonchalant voice.

"You don't have to worry about me."

"This is my Demon King territory."

"And it is also my home field."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 156 =====