Chapter 503: The Redemption of Itza

Looking at the entire battle situation in Itza, perhaps only Nakai was qualified to withstand a must-kill strike from Khorne across the realms, but the Jungle Spirit was currently trapped among the Steel Bull Cavalry launching a charge behind the Flesh Hounds; help from afar could not save those in immediate danger.

The level increase restored Sinuoli's status as a Dwarf, but it could not restore his consumed divine power, which relied solely on the conversion of faith. And no matter how good the state of a peak mortal was, it was hard to escape the Blood God's ruthless hand.

"Has an otherworldly fiend appeared in the world again!"

That lethal skull did not need to fly for long; a few seconds later, before Sinuoli had been smashed to pieces, he heard a long, angry groan deep within his soul. He opened his eyes impatiently and looked up at the altar atop the pyramid.

"The mission entrusted to me by the Master is to defend this world."

The remains of Lord Kroak were still sitting with head bowed, but a green spirit hovered above them. The seemingly soft and powerless claws made a supporting gesture, and the dark green Magic Shield forcefully held back the blood-red great star, constantly wearing down the divine power within it; no matter how it spun, changed direction, or lunged left and right, it could not break through.

"Puff!"

A moment later, the divine power deposited in the skull was exhausted and extinguished suddenly like a lightbulb, leaving nothing behind—even though it had once been a powerhouse that suppressed a region, how could the remaining bones withstand the remote collision between a First Generation Slann and the Lord of Skulls?

"The great First Generation has awakened!"

"Follow its guidance, for the Great Plan!"

"Praise the great Lord Kroak!"

Sinuoli's praise was louder than any Lizardman's; surviving a brush with death after a hearty battle allowed his constantly tense emotions to be relaxed and vented.

"With me here, you shall not covet this sanctuary!"

The spirit toad's raised claws closed gently, and the Chaos Rift, which had been teetering on the brink of destruction by the skull thrown by Khorne, collapsed; the unease deep in Sinuoli's soul caused by being locked onto by a great terror vanished.

The crisis at the top of the tower was resolved, but the battle situation before the Star Bridge had rotted—Khorne's appearance had driven His Greater Daemons and Bloodletters completely mad. Displaying killing techniques beneath the Skull Throne was a blessing that lesser daemons could only cultivate over eight lifetimes, and if they gained the favor of the Evil God, it meant ascending to a higher rank.

The remnants of the High Elf troops had lost their will to fight; Yisitelanna, relying on her tacit cooperation with the giant eagle beneath her, swooped down swiftly and saved Prince Irelia by a hair's breadth. Almost the moment they made contact, the daemons tore apart the Saurus Oldblood and his Carnosaur who were attempting to intercept them.

Facing their suicidal, fanatical charge, the Overlord of the Rainforest also felt the threat; without the Beast Tamer to drive them, the Stegadons instinctively cleared a path, and the swiftest Blood-Crushers had already stepped onto the stairs of the pyramid where the Old Ones descended.

"Fallen souls, I grant you redemption, the redemption of Itza!"

The spirit of Lord Kroak nodded and looked around; the existence of daemons, especially Khorne's daemons, disgusted it immensely. As it spoke, it raised a finger, and a small white ball of light appeared in the center of the battlefield after the front line had been pushed back, right in front of the Star Bridge plaza.

"Pfft, pfft!"

The remaining portions of energy gathered for the resurrection ritual rose in four streams from beside the Second Generation Slann, intertwining as they were poured into the point of light. Under Kroak's exquisite control, the white ball of light swallowed and inhaled; instead of expanding due to the energy input, it actually had a tendency to collapse inward.

"Little ones, kill one more and earn one more!"

The disappearance of their master left the Khorne daemon army stunned in place like being doused with cold water in the dead of winter. Only the Bloodthirsters understood to some extent that there were still powerful beings among the realms who could resist His great power. Kabanha looked up, then charged straight at a Stegadon without covering or blocking, intending to make one last push on the skull ranking.

"Ka, um, Karanak, what a piece of trash, you've ruined the Great Father's grand undertaking!"

Yufu was trapped in the Dwarf shield wall, which was like quicksand, and found it difficult to move; the Nurgle daemon army had resilience but lacked impact, and without the Winds of Magic, relying only on their own reserves to drive the plague torrent was not enough to drown the elite troops who had extremely high resistance and were further bolstered by Rune Magic and Valaya's Divine Art.

But no matter how furious it was, its many split-open mouths mumbled for a long time, yet it dared not directly criticize the most ferocious of the Four Gods. Engaging in a war of words and annoying Him would mean being hit by a skull in the Realm of Chaos, which was no laughing matter.

"Bang!"

Waiting is always the most frightening thing; in this regard, Lord Kroak was still relatively merciful. The ball of light finally shrank into a single point, and then a sun, a white sun, appeared on the Star Bridge.

"Ah!"

"Woo!"

Sinuoli instinctively and decisively crouched down and closed his eyes, but the Order warriors around him who had been looking forward to it were not so lucky. The energy compressed to the extreme and then released brought an unparalleled impact; the intense flash and sharp sonic boom were more than they could bear.

"Whoosh!"

Kroak's "redemption" was aimed only at the Chaos daemons, but the aftermath of the spell kicked up dust that filled the sky and obscured the sun. As the first wave of smoke rushing toward them gradually dissipated, a mushroom-shaped cloud appeared in Sinuoli's eyes.

He knew this was the high-temperature, high-pressure air mass at the center of the explosion rising rapidly, gradually cooling with the replenishment of cold air. The air that was to sink after being cooled was then blocked by the hot air continuing to rise from below, spreading out in all directions.

"Whoosh! Worthy of being the first servant of the Old Ones. But I suppose it requires enough energy."

Beneath the mushroom stalk, the chaotic battlefield had been thoroughly purified; there were no more daemons, only the severed limbs and broken arms belonging to the Order side, and the damaged bridge deck and railings, telling of the epic decisive battle that had just occurred.

"Is there anyone left who can stand? Count the losses and tend to the wounded!"

Taking out Valaya's Divine Cup and tossing it high into the air to let it pour out healing spirit wine, Sinuoli climbed the pyramid quickly. Having paid a great price to bring about the resurrection of Lord Kroak, he naturally wanted to pay his respects at the first opportunity.

"The magic priests are resting, please wait a moment, King of the Warm-blooded."

The Eternity Warden Chakasi lowered its massive beast-bone helmet to him humbly—Sinuoli's hard fighting had earned the respect of every Lizardman. But this did not prevent it from still holding its Star-Iron Greatclub horizontally to carry out the Slann's orders.

"Come over, there are things that must be explained."

Lord Mazdamundi's voice was filled with an irrepressible weakness and exhaustion; passing through the wall of Temple Guard, only his palanquin was suspended by the altar in the center of the pyramid.

"As you can see, we have recalled the soul of the great First Generation, but in order to stop the Evil God, it was forced to act before the ritual was complete, resulting in the soul failing to fully merge with the body. At the moment, it seems to have fallen into a deep slumber; Lord Zuma is attempting to communicate with it."

"What about the other two?"

"Heh, just as we expected, the evil spirits attacked the other geomantic nodes simultaneously; two Shenmiaochengshi have been breached. To fill the gaps, they overdrawn their strength and must recover slowly."