Chapter 429: There's a Way—Use This

It was a six-meter-wide, nearly two-story-high iron ball, perfectly round because it was literally a sphere.

As it rolled along the road, it flattened the ground beneath it into a smooth, solid path.

"This thing would be great for rolling roads—ah, damn it, run!" Du Luo Ken blurted out instinctively, then immediately realized this wasn't the time to talk about road rollers and shouted loudly.

The Inner Text leader controlled the bone dragon to dive down, shouting, "Run, run fast, get to the sides!" while trying to block the iron ball.

The bone dragon he rode was over twenty meters long, but stood only six or seven meters tall on the ground—trying to stop such a rolling iron ball seemed impossible.

The bone dragon tried, its front claws sparking as they scraped against the ball, but failed to slow it even a fraction, and was instead swallowed by it.

Just before losing balance, the bone dragon strained to tilt sharply right and collapsed onto its side.

Crack! The dragon's thigh bone was crushed; after the ball passed, it lay sprawled on the ground in a split, its foot bones pressed flat into the earth, so flattened not even a pry could pull them out.

Ahead of the iron ball lay a flat, unobstructed stretch; countless skeletons and zombies lined the road in a long row, as if placed there specifically for the ball to crush.

These skeletons and zombies had been driven out—they had no soul link to Ang and were too inflexible to be commanded to perform complex maneuvers like "get to the sides." If nothing blocked the Rolling Demon King, it would immediately become a bone-crushing machine.

"Aaaah!" The little angel screamed and shot forward, arriving at the front of the group, shoulder braced.

Whoosh! Four light wings unfurled, and a thick beam of light struck the iron ball.

The light vanished; the surface of the iron ball melted slightly, then instantly solidified again—only the surface looked smoother, with no real effect.

The iron ball rolled forward unchanged.

The little angel froze. Her ever-effective Radiant Holy Light couldn't even scratch this iron ball?

"Too thick—the shell's too thick! And while it's rolling, the holy light's damage disperses, the heat conducts away—wait, what's she doing? Crazy? Get out of the way!" Du Luo Ken was mid-sentence when he saw a terrifying sight.

The little angel didn't retreat—instead, she pulled out a massive hammer, defiant. If Radiant Holy Light couldn't hurt the iron ball, could a tiny hammer really smash it?

Du Luo Ken panicked, his cloak swirling as he turned into smoke and vanished from sight.

But someone moved faster—Luo Ke felt a lightness at her waist; the Guardian Sword had been snatched away by Ang.

In his heart, the God of War and Protection throbbed wildly, surging power flooding out; Ang swung his divine sword, and light lashed onto the little angel, forming a semi-transparent protective barrier.

The light stretched, then retracted, pulling Ang toward it.

Boom! The iron ball slammed into the barrier with a deafening crash—and bounced upward, then crashed again, rolling backward.

The terrifying iron ball could not break through the protective barrier activated by the Goddess of War and Peace herself.

"Aaaah!" The little angel waved her Earthly Holy Hammer triumphantly, yelling at the iron ball.

Ang swatted her on the head: "Aaaah!"

He casually confiscated her hammer—she couldn't be trusted with weapons. With a weapon, she always did dangerous things; with matches, she played with fire; with a pool, she played in water—sooner or later, she'd get hurt.

The Earthly Holy Hammer, just pulled out, was still dazed, mumbling: "What happened? Are we plowing? Or did you pull me out to smash that big iron ball?"

Learning it was meant to smash the iron ball, the Earthly Holy Hammer roared in fury: "Do you have any decency? Any humanity? You're using me to hammer this lump? It's thousands of times bigger than an anvil—are you hammering it or hammering me?!"

Creak—creak—the iron ball began to shake, first tilting back, then rolling forward, the motion growing larger, as if preparing to roll again.

This wouldn't do. Ang swung the Earthly Holy Hammer and CRASHED it into the iron ball.

Vvvvvv—the Earthly Holy Hammer and the iron ball both vibrated persistently.

Nai Ge Li Si flew over and spotted Du Luo Ken, who was covering his face and slowly revealing himself from the side.

"Why are you covering your face?" Nai Ge Li Si asked, puzzled.

Du Luo Ken lowered his hand, revealing a flattened face, as if beaten by a giant hammer: "I rushed too fast—I crashed into it."

Ang's protective barrier had blocked not only the iron ball, but also Du Luo Ken.

"Oh dear, you look much better now—your nasal bone broken?" Nai Ge Li Si gloated.

Luckily, his teeth hadn't fallen out—a minor injury. Ang pinched his nasal bone, cast two Cleansing Spells, and it was fixed.

"What the hell is this thing?" Nai Ge Li Si pointed at the iron ball.

"A construct, what else? At least Guardian Construct level—and even more extreme than a Guardian Construct," Du Luo Ken said.

"Patexi?" At the mention of Patexi, everyone understood.

Though Patexi appeared briefly, whenever it moved, everyone got headaches—its iron-tube defense was impervious to attack.

This construct, called the Rolling Demon King, was clearly even more extreme than Patexi—it was literally just a ball, relying on rolling to inflict damage; when it couldn't roll, it was just a lump of iron.

This lump of iron was absurdly hard—it had taken the little angel's Radiant Holy Light with no damage at all; only the spots struck by holy light had their pits and craters smoothed over, like a skincare treatment.

Ang had smashed it once, and it had trembled for a long time, then started creaking again, trying to roll.

Ang tilted his head, swung the hammer again—WHUM.

"Useless—the shell's too thick, the hammer's too small. The damage never reaches the interior; it's all dispersed by the outer shell," Du Luo Ken said, scanning the Rolling Demon King with his soul.

But he couldn't see inside—the shell was too thick. This dense metal blocked his thoughts after just one meter; within that one-meter-thick shell, he saw no internal structure at all.

The iron ball began creaking again, swaying back and forth, the motion growing larger.

Ang grew angry—he refused to believe he couldn't break it. He gripped the hammer handle tightly, and a torrent of soul energy surged into the hammer.

The Earthly Holy Hammer trembled and asked: "Y-you… what are you planning?"

Ang ignored it. This soul within the Earthly Holy Hammer had a tongue sharper than lightning—the more you responded, the more it talked.

Arching his body, Ang unleashed a soul howl: Aaaah—

This was no ordinary soul howl—it was the Requiem of the Undead:

Undead spirits and immortal souls, crossing the river of death, the wind of rest is yesterday's clamor, the darkness ahead is the future…

"Uh, please be gentle," the Earthly Holy Hammer surrendered. If he was summoning the Requiem of the Undead, what could it possibly say?

Vast soul energy flooded into the Earthly Holy Hammer, its vibrations spreading—everyone clearly felt the thunderous beat of war drums, and faint, ethereal singing drifted through the air~

Undead spirits—

And immortal souls—

Crossing the river of death—

CRASH! Ang swung the Earthly Holy Hammer and struck the iron ball.

This time, the iron ball didn't even tremble—it stopped with a soft pfft.

The CRASH echoed outward; all nearby undead felt their souls jolt, their soul flames flaring several times brighter.

Dozens of Silver Skeletons with exceptionally strong soul energy immediately condensed their soul flames and leveled up on the spot.

"I almost forgot—you've got another name: the Hollow Hammer," Nai Ge Li Si suddenly remembered.

The Earthly Holy Hammer knew what he meant and immediately denied it: "No, I didn't, don't say that—it's the Requiem's doing."

If people thought its upgrades were tied to it, it'd have another job besides crushing rocks—this had nothing to do with it.

"Anyway, it had some effect. Hitting things regularly isn't a bad habit," Nai Ge Li Si said.

Nei Wen watched all this from afar, dazed, not even hearing his bone dragon calling him—so the dragon shoved him hard in the rear.

Rubbing his butt, Nei Wen walked over, staring in disbelief at the two-story-high iron ball, then at Ang—he still couldn't accept it. The infamous Rolling Demon King had been subdued so easily?

Don't be fooled by the silly name—in reality, no one who'd seen this iron ball could laugh. It was like an invincible war machine, crushing everything in its path.

No matter what attack struck it, it felt like a tickle; all it had to do was roll, and it shattered enemy formations. Against skeletons and zombies that couldn't dodge well, it could wipe them all out alone.

Of course, the Rolling Demon King had weaknesses—like pits, or inability to attack aerial foes—but under its extreme defense, no one could touch it.

Who could have imagined this demon that had tormented so many would be subdued in mere moments? It was simply unbelievable.

Nei Wen walked up to Ang, knelt on one knee: "I pay homage, my lord. You're the one who dwells in the cemetery, aren't you? Forgive me, my lord—I didn't recognize you. My apologies."

Even if Nei Wen was stupid, he now knew who had shattered his Undead Staff.

Ang tilted his head; Nai Ge Li Si quickly said: "Rise, no need for such formalities. By the way, how's your bone dragon? Severely injured?"

At this, Nei Wen's heart trembled even more: "The… thigh bone is broken, but… my lord's soul chant seems to have condensed its soul significantly."

This lord, by his soul chant alone, had strengthened a bone dragon's soul—something that, to Nei Wen, was even more astonishing than subduing the Rolling Demon King.

The Spirit Dragon Knights had been passed down for centuries—all their bone dragons came from ancestors, and none had ever mentioned using soul chants to forge soul flames.

And… that little girl beside the lord—could she be a Holy Spirit Angel? He'd seen holy light, smelled its scent in the air.

Though curious, Nei Wen dared not ask.

"Broken thigh bone? Come, let's see." Nai Ge Li Si flew over, glanced, and said: "Broken? This isn't broken—it's fossilized."

Too ruined to extract—no point digging it out. The bone dragon shook off the shattered bone and staggered to its feet.

"Do you have any spare bones? Go back and replace it. This one's crushed—no amount of bone nails can patch it back together," Du Luo Ken said.

If the damage weren't so severe, he might've tried repairing it—but this level of shattering, if it happened to a human, was called comminuted fracture.

Nei Wen shook his head: "We don't have any this large. The Dragon King is the biggest in our Spirit Dragon line."

"Biggest? This?" Twenty meters long was the biggest? That's what you call a Dragon King? This is an embarrassment to the dragon race.

If you brought over Aubenli's forty-meter-long bone dragon, what would you call it? Dragon Emperor?

Fortunately, despite losing a leg, the bone dragon could still struggle into the air—once airborne, the missing leg barely affected its movement.

Finally, everyone's attention returned to the iron ball.

"What do we do with this thing? It's called the Rolling Demon King, right? Why such a weird name?" Nai Ge Li Si asked.

Nei Wen spread his hands: "It acts like a demon king—can't be killed, just like the ultimate demon in knight novels—and it's round and rolling, so over time, everyone just started calling it that."

It was, indeed, an apt name. Had Ang not stopped it, it would have rolled through this entire line of skeletons and zombies, crushing them from head to tail and back again, turning them all to fossils—no one could have stopped it.

"Now the question is, how did it get here? Did it roll here on its own? If so, why wasn't it noticed? If not, how did it get here?" Yin Bi suddenly spoke up.

Moving such a massive iron ball isn't easy—like Patexi, though powerful, Ang rarely deployed it because it consumed too much soul energy.

We still don't know what energy drives this Rolling Demon King, but its movement must be extremely energy-intensive. How does it normally relocate?

Roll there? Unlikely. The energy cost is so high, even a household with a magic crystal mine couldn't afford it. It must be transported by other means, then activated.

"So, besides this iron ball, there should be someone nearby controlling or moving it? Where? Any sign?" Nai Ge Li Si asked.

"No sign. They must have fled."

"What now? Can we dismantle it?"

Du Luo took out the Golden Pointing Rod and touched it to the large iron ball; where the rod made contact, the surface quickly melted into liquid and dripped down, and soon a pit the size of a fist appeared on the ball's surface.

Du Luo shook his head and stopped this pointless waste.

A fist-sized pit meant nothing to a massive iron ball over six meters in diameter; unless he was willing to spend days peeling away layer after layer, he would never open it.

"No way, we can't even deal with a lump of iron?" Nai Ge Li Si grumbled.

"That's not true—we could build a furnace right here and melt it, but the internal structure would melt too," Du Luo said.

"No, that won't do—I still want to know what's inside that makes this huge lump of iron move," Nai Ge Li Si hurriedly said.

Watching their discussion, Ang suddenly spoke: "There's a way—use this."

PS: Huh, does it look like there's a double moon ticket?