Chapter 2817: Chapter 2817
"Roar!"
Enk let out a thunderous shout, and the Golden Tiger Brigade abruptly halted in their tracks. Even the warship carrying Heishan, which had yet to escape the anti-flight barrier, came to a standstill.
But it was already too late for them to stop. What happened next left them utterly stunned.
A sinister, ghastly black gate materialized out of thin air behind Ye Liuyun’s army.
The moment the gate appeared, an overwhelming sense of dread gripped everyone’s hearts, as though they were staring death itself in the face. Thick, shadowy miasma seeped from its edges, spreading slowly like a creeping nightmare.
The temperature across the battlefield plummeted, sending chills down everyone’s spine—not from cold, but from the suffocating aura of death.
"Boom... rumble..."
Then, with a deafening groan, the massive gate began to creak open. A torrent of icy black mist surged forth, and from within the abyss came the blood-curdling wails of tormented souls.
"What the hell is that? Why does it feel so terrifying?" Enk immediately turned to Wen Yuan and Feng Qiong for answers.
The two alien elders could only shake their heads in disbelief. Despite their vast knowledge, neither had ever witnessed such a horrifying sight.
As the gate rumbled open, every alien warrior fixed their gaze on the darkness beyond.
Suddenly, a shadowy mass burst forth from the gate. When the black mist dispersed slightly, they could finally make out the monstrous figure—a three-headed hound, its fur as black as the void, its six eyes burning with malevolence.
"A Cerberus!" Wen Yuan blurted out instinctively.
He had never seen one before, but the legends were unmistakable.
"A hellhound? Does that mean this gate leads to the underworld? But why would it appear here? Did these humans summon it?" Enk’s mind raced with questions, his grip tightening on his weapon.
The three-headed hellhound emerged, scanning its surroundings with keen eyes before wagging its tail at Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun raised a hand and pointed toward the Golden Tiger Brigade on the opposite side.
"Roar!"
The hellhound lunged forward with a thunderous bellow directed at the alien forces.
"Damn it, that human called for reinforcements!" Enk realized the situation had taken a dire turn.
Almost instantly, the Gate of the Underworld trembled as a surge of ghostly energy erupted. Leading the charge, Xiu Luo burst forth with an army of vengeful spirits at his back.
Howls, roars, and wails filled the air—deafening, chaotic, and overwhelming. Even if not all the millions of spirits cried out at once, the sheer volume of their voices was enough to shake the battlefield.
Yet, none of the aliens could grasp the true scale of the spectral forces. All they saw were endless waves of wraiths, shrouded in eerie black mist, flooding out from the gate and surging toward the Golden Tiger Brigade with bloodcurdling shrieks. Worse still, these spirits weren’t bound by the anti-flight barrier.
The barrier suppressed the living but had no effect on the dead. Countless specters closed in from all directions, surrounding the alien troops.
Enk and the elders quickly recognized that these spirits were once their own kin. Though none were particularly powerful individually, their numbers were staggering.
Cloaked in dark, malevolent energy, the spectral horde charged relentlessly. The Golden Tiger Brigade had never trained to fight such foes, and the soldiers froze in confusion, unsure how to react.
"Retreat!"
The moment Enk heard the wails of the spirit army, he knew they were outmatched. Without hesitation, he barked the order to fall back.
But the cruel irony was this: the same anti-flight barrier that had trapped their enemies now slowed their own escape.
The armies were already deployed, making retreat nearly impossible at this point.
"Three-Eyed and Red-Armored elites, use your dark beams and soul attacks to eliminate those wraiths and form a defensive line to cover our retreat. Elder Wen Yuan, destroy the anti-flight formation immediately. Black Mountain, return for reinforcements at once. All Golden Tiger troops, withdraw at full speed!" Enk issued commands in rapid succession.
Yet the wraiths, unhindered by the anti-flight restrictions, moved far faster. Soon, the inky miasma and the tide of specters had already swallowed the vanguard of the Golden Tiger forces, their advance relentless as they surged backward.
From the depths of the Netherworld Gate, more wraiths poured forth endlessly. The Asura commander directed their assault, ensuring they avoided friendly fire on Ye Liuyun’s own troops.
Bai Su, meanwhile, dragged the Soul Suppression Mountain to the gate’s entrance, standing guard. Inside, Zhuge Feiyu had the Death Bell primed—any living being foolish enough to charge in would trigger its deadly toll.
Under the cover of the swirling black mist, Ye Liuyun and his doppelganger donned cloaks of invisibility, slipping unseen toward Enk and the other elite warriors. His golden eyes caught sight of Wen Yuan breaking away from the main force with a few strong fighters—likely heading to dismantle the formation. His doppelganger immediately gave chase at full speed. The anti-flight barrier worked in their favor, and he had no intention of letting it be undone.
"Central forces, unleash your soul attacks! Hold back these wraiths!" Enk barked another order.
But the wraiths were too swift. The vanguard had already been overwhelmed, too slow to react. Many of the weaker-willed warriors had their souls extinguished on the spot, their lifeless bodies collapsing to the ground.
Now, Enk could only pin its hopes on the central forces to buy time for the rear guard’s retreat. Yet the wraiths, wielding their spatial powers, split their assault—half engaging the central troops while the rest swarmed the rear from all directions.
The Three-Eyed and Red-Armored elites of the Golden Tiger forces did indeed possess the dark beams and formidable soul power to slay wraiths. But the sheer numbers were insurmountable—for every wraith they destroyed, another took its place. And with the specters attacking from every angle, their defense crumbled.
Seizing the chaos, Ye Liuyun struck. Using temporal manipulation, he captured the elite warriors, whisking them away into his spatial realm. The rest fell to his blinding white light, ambushed before they could react.
By the time time resumed its flow, the elite defensive line had vanished without a trace.
"Seal of the Demon Suppressor!" Ye Liuyun summoned the ancient tablet, its power surging toward Enk.
"Demon Vine, go drag that Elder Fengqiong over here!" Ye Liuyun commanded the demonic plant to seize the elder while the Sealing Demon Stele pressed forward.
As the massive stele came crashing down toward Enke’s position, Elder Fengqiong found himself within its shadow. However, the stele was momentarily held back by the resistance of the surrounding alien warriors. Seizing the opportunity, the Demon Vine slithered underground, its tendrils coiling around Fengqiong before yanking him beneath the earth and delivering him straight to Ye Liuyun.
Covered in dirt and utterly disoriented from being dragged through the darkness, Fengqiong only regained his bearings the moment the vine hurled him back above ground. But before he could react, Ye Liuyun struck with lightning speed—a soul attack that branded the elder with a slave mark before vanishing him into a pocket dimension.
Meanwhile, the Demon Vine extended more tendrils, aiding the Sealing Demon Stele in battle as it devoured the alien warriors.
Enke attempted a soul assault against both the stele and the vine, only to realize—to his shock—that neither possessed a soul to target.
At the same time, Ye Liuyun’s doppelganger had already caught up to Wen Yuan, who was frantically dismantling the formation.
