Chapter 98: Cannon Fodder Angel

Boom! The earth trembled for a moment.

"Was that an earthquake?" Nai Ge Li Si said in surprise.

Suddenly, a clamor of noise rang out from outside. Everyone rushed out to look and saw a pillar of light piercing straight down from the sky, landing in the World Tree forest outside the Demon Valley.

Seeing Ange and Nai Ge Li Si's expressions changed drastically. Seeing Ange said urgently, "Not good — the gods of Light haven't vanished. This is a Heaven's Stairway. They're using me as a beacon to teleport over. Quick, blow my body apart!"

Nai Ge Li Si shook his head: "There's no time."

The Heaven's Stairway was precisely the name of that pillar of light. It was a special method of projection, piercing straight through two planes, capable of continuously projecting large numbers of troops — a bridge by which the Holy Heaven Kingdom conquered other worlds.

The so-called Holy Heaven Kingdom, in the legends of the Church of Light, was a place with no hunger, no sorrow, no pain, no sickness or injury, no aging, no parting. Its rivers flowed with purified holy water sweet as honey, its granaries held grain that never ran out, and it was forever filled with happiness and joy.

So long as one washed away the original sin upon one's body, one could reach the Heaven Kingdom and enjoy eternal peace.

Everyone ran toward the World Tree forest outside the Demon Valley, and soon saw the landing point of the light pillar. The enormous pillar of light slammed into the ground, and at the impact site the World Tree forest was blasted open into a great circle. Every World Tree within the circle, along with the various crops nearby, was smashed to pieces.

Seeing this scene, a flame burst forth on Seeing Ange's head: How dare they bomb my trees….

A streak of light and shadow plummeted at high speed from the very top of the light pillar, slammed into the ground with a tremendous bang, and the earth jolted.

The light and shadow landed in a single-knee kneeling posture with both hands bracing the ground, then suddenly raised its head. With a whoosh, a pair of pure white wings spread open behind it, and it charged out from the light pillar.

One saw it loosely grip with both hands, and as it swung, a sword of light had already condensed — unmistakably a Holy Spirit Angel.

"The blood of the blasphemer is the finest Sacrificial Offering to the Light." The Holy Spirit Angel proclaimed in a cold voice.

No sooner had it finished speaking than a pillar of light slammed into it, instantly vaporizing the flesh and wings from its body, leaving only a charred black skeleton that collapsed to the ground with a clatter.

Everyone stared in horror toward the direction the light pillar had come from. The petite, adorable angel skeleton was turning to ash, its whole body dissolving into flying dust that gradually scattered and drifted away — a sight that wrung the heart unbearably.

Then… they saw it shake its body, shake off the flying ash, reveal its pure white skeleton, and casually scurry-scurry-scurry over in front of Seeing Ange. The first time it cast Holy Light Radiance, it had felt uncomfortable for a while, but now after casting it there wasn't even a hint of discomfort — clearly it had adapted.

Seeing Ange tilted his head: "Ao." (Casted too early.)

The angel skeleton pointed at the scattered angel: "Ao ao!" (It was mean to me.)

"Ao!" (Can't fight anymore.)

The angel skeleton flapped the wing bones that had only a single bone left: "Ao!" (Mend mend.)

"Ao!" (No time, let's go.)

Boom! Another streak of light and shadow descended from the sky, slamming into the landing point of the light pillar, and a new Holy Spirit Angel rose to its feet.

"Ao…" (Oh…) The angel skeleton drooped its wing bones and walked away dejectedly.

The second Holy Spirit Angel charged out of the light pillar and made its proclamation: "Where the Holy Light reaches, darkness retreats."

Whether darkness retreated or not was unknown, but some people did not retreat. Lord Nai Ge, who was stuffing beets into his mouth with one hand, intercepted it, his long sword thrusting straight for the opponent's face.

Boom! Another streak of light and shadow descended from the sky.

The instant it charged out of the teleportation array, a great club swept across and struck the Holy Spirit Angel's body.

Before it could even get its proclamation out, the angel hastily blocked, and its entire form was sent flying by the blow.

"This one's mine! Don't steal it!" The Great Shaman declared loudly, shouldering a great club as thick as an ordinary person's waist. Behind him was a group of Purple Bones Titans who, having failed to steal the kill, were forlorn and crestfallen.

Anyone who had seen the Purple Bones clan in the past would probably fail to recognize them now — every one of them had grown rounder, and their height had increased considerably as well. The Great Shaman was no exception, though the growth was less obvious in one of his advanced age.

Abundant nutrition allowed these half-blood Titans to develop once more, experiencing a second spring.

The third Holy Spirit Angel finally charged out: "Purify the darkness—" Before it could finish, a string of fireballs came crashing down on its head.

Seeing Ange was firing fireballs at the Holy Spirit Angel from afar — three fireballs per second. The fireballs in the air almost linked into a single beam, spraying out like a chain of fire bullets.

At first the Holy Spirit Angel was unimpressed — this low-level magic couldn't even break through the holy armor on its body, and there was no need to block at all.

But when a continuous string of fireballs swept across its body, it no longer thought that way.

Bang bang bang bang bang… the sound of fireballs striking its body merged into one continuous stream. Each fireball could only make its form tremble slightly, but a continuous barrage slamming into it forced it to retreat ceaselessly. The strength of the holy armor on its body dropped sharply, and cracks visibly appeared before its eyes.

The angel no longer dared entertain the thought of tanking head-on. With a powerful kick, its entire form shot upward, and at the same time it spread its wings and beat them hard to the side. Its rising form made a ninety-degree turn and skimmed off to the side.

But it was no use. Seeing Ange's gaze locked tightly onto it, and the fireballs he fired performed large-angle maneuvers in the air, curving at nearly right angles as they shot toward the angel.

Because the angel was moving, the fireballs lined up in a row, and the line of intersection between each fireball and the angel was different, producing a very dazzling, comb-tooth-like pattern.

As the angel flew, fireballs kept slamming into its body. When it made its second turn, the holy armor on its body was smashed to pieces by the barrage, and fireballs landed on the angel's body.

Holy light blazed mightily on the angel's body, and sacred radiance tightly shielded its form. Its wings beat frantically, and its body twisted through nine bends and eighteen turns in the air — giving off the feeling of an ant on a hot pan.

With such violent maneuvering, the fireballs finally began to miss — at least one-tenth of them overshot, losing the effect of the gaze-lock.

But what of it? The remaining nine-tenths still slammed into the angel's body. The sacred radiance on its body was forcibly stripped away layer by layer, visibly weakening until it vanished.

The fireballs continued to strike the angel's body. The angel began to smoke, then caught fire, then suddenly lost control and plummeted, slamming into the ground. The unspent impact force sent it tumbling endlessly, and by the time it stopped, only a charred black corpse remained.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Seeing Ange. Some had heard Nai Ge Li Si brag before that Seeing Ange was a magic battery, but only today did they truly understand what was meant by "battery."

A Holy Spirit Angel, forcibly swept into a charred corpse by a first-tier Fireball spell — heavens, is a first-tier spell really this terrifying?

Every Holy Spirit Angel that broke out of the encirclement would face fireballs sweeping in like a bullet chain. Whether they tanked or dodged, none could break through the blockade and approach Seeing Ange.

The remaining Purple Bones Titans couldn't steal any kills, and squatted forlornly on the ground drawing circles. They had been farming the land for so long, hadn't fought in ages, and their hands were itching terribly.

Yet Seeing Ange and Nai Ge Li Si could not be happy.

"These are all one-point-nine-meter first-tier angels, just cannon fodder. The high-tier ones haven't come down yet," Seeing Ange said worriedly.

"Sigh, you've gotten us killed. I shouldn't have let you run amok here. Did you do it on purpose?" Nai Ge Li Si sighed.

Seeing Ange said aggrievedly, "How would I know it'd turn out like this? Shouldn't they have just lit me on fire directly? Was there any need to activate the Heaven's Stairway?"

It was as if one could have simply stomped an ant to death with one foot, yet insisted on hauling over a cannon to blast it. Activating the Heaven's Stairway once was no small cost, but causing the divine power on Seeing Ange's body to lose control and burn right there was merely a matter of a single thought.

Unless their target was never Seeing Ange in the first place.

"Uh, I think it really might not be your fault. This isn't the Heaven's Stairway — this is the Heaven's Descent," Nai Ge Li Si murmured, gazing toward the end of the light pillar.

At the end of the light pillar, a colossal phantom appeared, like a vast mountain range, slowly descending along the light pillar.

The phantom's descent was extremely slow. At that rate of falling, it would take at least a full day to reach the ground. But when it had descended halfway, night fell, and the wind rose.