Chapter 283: Chapter 164: 5 Holy Crown Reinforcements
"Urrggghhh..."
"Heheheh..."
"Woooo..."
Amidst a dense cacophony of shrieking Evil Spirits, a horde of Middle Rank Level Evil Spirit Creatures surged forth from the roiling, tide-like Death Black Mist.
If Zorn focused solely on nurturing his Catastrophe Origin Land, he could indeed cultivate a large number of Upper Rank Level Evil Spirit Creatures.
It was possible, but unnecessary.
As time passed and Zorn advanced to the Holy Crown Level, the Catastrophe Origin Land would naturally begin to produce a certain number of Upper Rank Level Evil Spirit Creatures on its own.
But for now, it mainly produced Middle Rank Level Evil Spirit Creatures.
At the moment, compared to having the Evil Spirit Creatures kill his enemies, the Level 14 Death Black Mist posed a far greater threat.
Essentially, any life form below Level 13 would die instantly upon contact.
Zorn’s Evil Spirit Calamity was currently in an open form, a proper, large-scale Ancient God Curse.
The Death Black Mist spread out in all directions, continuously devouring the lives of the Demon City’s inhabitants.
The Evil Spirit Calamity was now showcasing its terrifyingly efficient killing power.
This was one of the frightening aspects of an Evil Spirit Wizard as a potential Evil God.
As the Evil Spirit Calamity reaped its harvest of death, Zorn could feel Spiritual Essence flowing into him like a gurgling stream.
’As this Evil Spirit Calamity expands and blooms, my advancement to Level 15 is a sure thing.’
’Next up is...’
Zorn narrowed his eyes, looking at his Holy Crown Level teammates outside Black Teeth Demon City.
’...to eliminate that Demon Tree Knight.’
Besides Zorn, nine others possessed Holy Crown strength.
However, only six of them were currently fighting together.
The other three had already concealed themselves.
Since the Demon Tree Knight was exceptionally cunning and wanted to use surprise attacks, Ames and the others could naturally counter a surprise attack with one of their own.
If that Demon Tree Knight dared to emerge and counterattack, the hidden members would surely unleash a thunderous response.
’Right now, the Level 14 Evil Spirit Calamity is constantly spreading, and the large-scale slaughter continues to advance!’
’If the Demon Tree Knight can endure the destruction from the Evil Spirit Calamity,’
’then... he absolutely won’t be able to tolerate the burning of the Ritual Fire.’
’I just need to wait quietly, and... that Demon Tree Knight will show himself soon enough.’
The Transcendents of the Dark Cosmic Realm relied heavily on their Dark Demon Tree.
It was just like how the Transcendents of the Star Realm relied on the Tree of the Magic Ring.
Without the Tree of the Magic Ring, the augmentation from Zorn’s Calamity Rune Magic Ring and the immense power of his Ancient God Curses would both vanish.
He would only be left with the base damage of his Sequence’s strength.
While waiting, Zorn began to gather and accumulate power for his strongest Ancient God Curse, Disaster Thunder Echo.
The range of the Evil Spirit Calamity grew ever larger.
At the same time, fires were breaking out all over the towering and vast Dark Demon Tree.
In some areas, the Ritual Fire had already grown to a considerable size.
Many Level 11, 12, and 13 Upper Rankers were trying various methods to extinguish the flames.
But the intensity of the Ritual Fire was astounding, especially burning upon a perfect offering like the Dark Demon Tree.
Even though many Upper Rank Level Transcendents were trying their best to put out the fire, they could only slow the flames’ expansion.
However, Zorn had ignited fires in over a hundred locations.
With flames spreading from a hundred different spots, it was impossible for them to extinguish them all.
Meanwhile, Ames and the others, who were steadily gaining ground outside Black Teeth Demon City, also noticed the signs of progress inside the Demon City.
"Everyone, be careful. Zorn has already unleashed a large-scale Evil Spirit Calamity. A tide of death has swept through the inside of the Demon City," Asmi explained in a low voice amidst the battle.
"More importantly, Zorn has also set fire to the supposedly formidable Dark Demon Tree."
"The Dark Demon Tree is the source of the Black Teeth Demon City Lord’s power."
"The longer this drags on, the more the City Lord of Black Teeth Demon City will be weakened."
"The City Lord is the one who should be panicking now. We just need to focus on defense."
The others had also now seen the Dark Demon Tree being consumed by black flames.
Their spirits were lifted.
"Hahaha... Truly worthy of being a super-genius from the Divine Kingdom! I never expected him to pull off such a brilliant move, setting the Demon Tree on fire."
"I heard that Demon Tree has an extremely powerful self-awareness and can resist many kinds of attacks."
"I have no idea how Zorn managed to set that terrifying Demon Tree alight."
"Heh heh... As far as I know, Zorn is a potential Evil God. This has already been confirmed by a Divine Spirit."
"Everyone knows how powerful the methods of Evil Gods are. Those three Crown Level Lower Rank Evil Gods defending their World were so strong that even a Middle Rank Divine Spirit had trouble breaking through."
"True. If the path is clear, the Evil Spirit Sequence can lead directly to the Evil God Sequence. It’s only natural for him to have some incredible abilities."
"Heh... Compared to his method of igniting the Divine Tree, I find his Evil Spirit Calamity even more terrifying."
"If that Evil Spirit Calamity is allowed to expand unchecked, heh heh... I’m afraid Zorn might slaughter everyone in Black Teeth Demon City all by himself."
"Indeed. A powerful, large-scale ability like the Evil Spirit Calamity can continuously increase its own strength through slaughter. It’s truly a top-tier method for wiping out cities and nations."
As they talked, they all shifted to a defensive-focused battle stance.
Just as Asmi had said, the combination of the Evil Spirit Calamity and the Ritual Fire was indeed holding the Demon Tree Knight, Black Tooth Ge, over a fire.
While the group defended together, the Dual Blade Walker, Andy, seemed to have drifted away from the team.
With two quick slashes, he shattered an incoming Ice Cone Spell, then blocked a constricting chain that struck like a viper.
Just as he turned to fly back toward the group’s position, a sinister figure that had long been lying in wait suddenly burst forth.
It shot straight at Andy.
The sharp glint of the spear, infused with the piercing power of the Dark Demon Tree, was enough to run Andy through and shatter his Sequence to pieces.
At the very instant the Dual Blade Walker, Andy, was about to be impaled, his twin blades bizarrely slashed out at the unstoppable spear tip.
CLANG!
The astonishing blade light and the spear point collided.
Andy’s Sequence trembled violently, and cracks began to appear on it.
But in the end, he had blocked the spear.
"Damn it!"
Seeing that his strike had failed to kill the Level 15 Dual Blade Walker, the Demon Tree Knight, Black Tooth Ge, felt his expression sink. He knew this was bad.
BOOM!
A terrifying bolt of calamitous lightning from an ancient time and space struck down instantly.
The others were clearly prepared as well, unleashing all sorts of astonishingly destructive attacks on the Demon Tree Knight.
Even with his extremely strong Defense, he was inevitably injured by the fierce onslaught.
Black Tooth Ge tried to use the Dark Demon Tree to teleport away and escape.
But his injuries made it impossible for him to perfectly conceal his aura.
During his escape, he was hit by two more waves of various attacks, including Forbidden Curses and Ancient God Curses, before finally getting away.
"Damn you, Exotic Realm invaders!"
Having fled far away, Black Tooth Ge gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath as he assessed his injuries.
Although he was a Level 17 Holy Crown Knight, he was facing a full ten top-tier experts from the Exotic Realm who had just entered the Holy Crown Level.
Their numerous Ancient God Curses and Forbidden Curses were more than capable of threatening him.
If there were only three or five of them, he wouldn’t have been afraid.
But there were ten of them, and they were exceptionally cunning, which made the situation extremely difficult and troublesome.
What terrified Black Tooth Ge even more was that his Dark Demon Tree was being burned on a massive scale by those astonishing flames.
As time passed, he could feel his power constantly draining away—and at an accelerating rate.
If this continued, he would only get weaker and weaker.
Eventually, he wouldn’t even dare to fight back.
This had forced him to act.
He had finally found an opportunity, but... he had fallen right into their trap.
’Should I keep waiting for another chance?’
’Or should I try to extinguish the flames on the Demon Tree?’
’If I keep waiting, I won’t succeed.’
’But if I go to put out the fire on the Demon Tree, the moment I reveal my aura, those Casters with their long-range abilities will definitely target and strike me first.’
’I already called for help from the Legendary City, but there’s been no response and no support!’
A wave of desperate bitterness washed over him, and Black Tooth Ge tasted ash in his mouth.
’It’s over! Black Teeth Demon City is finished!’
Gritting his teeth, Black Tooth Ge knew that if he stayed here, he would almost certainly die with his city.
"Damn you, people of the Exotic Realm! This isn’t over between us!"
With that thought, Black Tooth Ge teleported away, heading in the direction of the Legendary Demon City, Chi Huang Demon City.
Of course, Zorn and the others had no idea that Black Tooth Ge had already fled in secret.
The defenders of Black Teeth Demon City were also unaware.
The battle between both sides raged on.
Zorn was simultaneously feeling the Spiritual Essence pouring in from Black Teeth Demon City, feeling the rich Cosmic Essence gained from sacrificing the Dark Demon Tree, and remaining on guard against the Demon Tree Knight.
’Cosmic Essence can significantly raise my level cap, which will greatly reduce the difficulty of my Sequence’s advancement.’
’Although advancing to Holy Crown and Legendary is a clear path for me, reducing the difficulty gives me more time to cultivate.’
’Also...’
Zorn looked past Black Teeth Demon City into the endless Dark Dimension.
’The Demon Tree Knight hasn’t shown up for so long. There’s an eighty percent chance he’s already escaped.’
’After all... with the Demon Tree burning, his power is constantly weakening. If he didn’t flee, he would have lost the Demon Tree’s protection, and a Knight Sequence can’t hide its tracks on its own.’
’Once it reached that point, not fleeing would mean certain death.’
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Zorn took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
’Next, I need to see if there are any reinforcements.’
’If there are no reinforcements, then Black Teeth Demon City is as good as ours.’
’But if there are...’
Zorn’s eyes narrowed.
’...that would be trouble.’
The scale of the Ritual Fire grew more and more astonishing.
A third of the Dark Demon Tree’s canopy was now engulfed in the raging Ritual Fire.
The fire at the roots had also begun to spread to the canopy.
Once it had burned to this extent, no Transcendent dared to try and extinguish the flames anymore.
If they came into contact with it, they would be burned to death themselves.
Even if a Holy Crown expert were to arrive, it would likely be impossible to put out a Ritual Fire of this magnitude.
"Haaa..."
Feeling the rich Magic Ring Essence being drawn in through the Ritual Altar, Zorn couldn’t help but feel a stir in his heart.
One of the purposes of absorbing a Magic Ring Spirit Fruit was to obtain Magic Ring Essence to accelerate one’s comprehension and consolidation of their Rune Magic Ring.
And the amount of Magic Ring Essence contained within this towering, Holy Crown Level Demon Tree was simply astonishing.
Even though most of it was being sacrificed, just by burning this entire Holy Crown Level Dark Demon Tree, the Magic Ring Essence he would gain would be enough for him to cultivate in seclusion for more than ten, or even twenty, years.
When most of the Dark Demon Tree was shrouded in Ritual Fire, Zorn was finally able to make contact with the root power of the Dark Demon Tree.
At the same time, as his perception penetrated deep into the roots of the Dark Demon Tree, it spread out rapidly.
’Found you.’
A moment later, Zorn located Black Tooth Ge, the City Lord of Black Teeth Demon City.
Just as Zorn had predicted, Black Tooth Ge had already fled to a location extremely far away.
As Zorn continued to perceive his surroundings for another moment, his expression suddenly changed.
’This is bad!’
Several familiar yet unfamiliar auras suddenly burst into the range of his Dark Demon Tree-enhanced Perception.
Five Holy Crown experts were rushing over as reinforcements.
His heart sinking, Zorn immediately summoned all his Evil Energy and unleashed a thunderous roar.
"Everyone, retreat now!"
"Five Holy Crown experts from a Legendary Demon City are on their way to kill us!"
