Linley found it somewhat hard to believe. The Holy Union was one of the six major powers, and the Radiant Church had existed for millennia. In all that time, no one had ever dared to attack the Radiant Temple. But given the attack just then, as well as that loud voice, someone had definitely just attacked the Radiant Temple.
“KING!”
Suddenly, in unison, several rough voices rang out loudly. There was definitely more than one loud voice!
“Stop!” An angry bellow.
“That’s the Holy Emperor.” Linley could clearly tell it was him, but right after the Holy Emperor’s voice rang out, there was a—
“BAM!”
A terrifyingly powerful force descended upon the Radiant Temple, causing the entire Radiant Temple to shake violently. The light shining from the myriad complicated magical patterns covering the Radiant Temple began to flicker and shudder, while on the walls of the Temple, cracks began to emerge.
“How terrifying.” Doehring Cowart sighed in amazement. “A single attack was enough to nearly collapse the entire Radiant Temple.”
“BAM!”
Yet another terrifying strike. This time, even the giant magical formation covering the Radiant Temple, the Glory of the Radiant Sovereign, wasn’t able to withstand it. With an exploding sound, the Radiant Temple split open at the middle, and the top eight floors of the Radiant Temple collapsed.
“The protective magical formation was destroyed.” Linley could feel his cell beginning to shift about, as if it were sliding down.
Linley was both amazed and overjoyed. Before this, the cell walls were extremely sturdy, because any force used against it would be absorbed by the entire magical formation. But now, the magical formation itself had been destroyed! Linley’s hands transformed into a pair of draconic claws, and he immediately smashed a giant hole into the walls with five or six punches.
Linley immediately burst out from within the hole he had just created.
“Bloodviolet Godsword!” When Linley had been seized, the Bloodviolet Godsword had been taken from him by the Radiant Church. But since the Bloodviolet Godsword had already been personalized and bound by Linley long ago, with a mental command by Linley, it began to fly towards his direction, arriving in Linley’s hands shortly afterwards.
By now, the Radiant Temple was in a state of chaos. No one could be bothered to worry about Linley.
With a tap of the foot, Linley sent himself leaping down into the plaza below. Right now, the Radiant Temple Plaza was littered with corpses. Far too many had just died. There were many people engaged in battle against magical beasts as well.
“So many people.”
Linley was totally stunned.
The skies were filled with countless types of flying magical beasts — Dragonhawks, Bluewind Hawks, Winged Pegasi, Thunderwing Pegasi, Emerald Dragons, Fire Dragons, Black Dragons… all sorts of dragons. The sight of these creatures blocking out the sky with their mass was enough to freeze anyone’s heart.
And the numbers of magical beasts on the ground were even more astonishing.
“Is that…?”
Linley stared in the direction of the Radiant Temple. In the air directly above it, there were over ten enormous magical beasts.
“A Savage Worldbear… Bloody-eyed Maned Lion… Electrobolt Panther… Thunderwing White Tiger… Thunder Lizard… Tyrant Wyrm…” Linley saw one legendary Saint-level magical beast after another, all hovering in the air above the Radiant Temple. He was utterly stupefied at the number of Saint-level magical beasts that had just appeared.
What’s more, the person leading these Saint-level magical beasts seemed to be a human.
He was a very devilish looking young man, wearing a dim gold robe, with a strange slit-like scar on his forehead. This devilish young man was coldly, calmly looking at Heidens and Heidens’ forces. Heidens, Mr. Fallen Leaf, and five other Saint-level human combatants were all standing in mid-air, staring back at the young man. Clearly, the Radiant Church’s side was in very bad shape.
“You…” Heidens and the other humans were furious.
“I really am so sorry for disturbing you on your Yulan Festival, but I must inform you that your Radiant Church needs to go find another place to be your Holy Capital,” the devilish young man said calmly.
Linley could clearly hear these words, and he couldn’t help but be secretly be shocked at how terrifying this young man was.
“Boss, boss!” Linley suddenly heard Bebe’s voice ringing out in his mind. Linley could sense Bebe’s location, and he couldn’t help but turn to look at him. He saw a black blur pass through the massive throng of people and magical beasts. Shortly afterwards, the blur arrived, and with a leap it threw itself directly into Linley’s arms.
“Bebe.” Linley felt extremely moved.
“Boss.” In Linley’s arms, Bebe was also so moved that his little eyes turned moist.
70
Deity-Level Combatant
There were magical beasts both inside and outside of Fenlai City. Countless numbers of magical beasts. This city, which had just been celebrating the 10000th Yulan Festival, now found itself having run into the day of the Apocalypse. Deaths were happening constantly, and the population of this Holy Capital, Fenlai City, was dropping at a terrifying rate.
Both the higher ups of the Radiant Temple as well as the commoners were fleeing for their lives from the magical beasts.
“Quick, quick, stop dawdling!”
Duke Bonalt roared furiously. Right now, Duke Bonalt didn’t give a damn about his ‘king’. He only led his own family out of his Duke’s manor, along with ten of his most powerful guards, immediately fleeing towards the outside of the city. The only thing he had on him was a few magicrystal cards.
They were fleeing for their lives!
“Father, let’s go rescue Nessa,” pleaded Duke Bonalt’s son Albert.
“You bastard, if you want to live, then follow me!” Duke Bonalt howled furiously. “Let’s go!”
Duke Bonalt paid no more attention to his son, and immediately led his wife and his other children out. As for Albert, he hesitated there for a moment, then ground his teeth and pulled out his sword as he ran in the other direction.
“You ungrateful whelp!” Duke Bonalt swore, but in his heart, he was extremely grieved.
But Duke Bonalt knew very well that right now, Fenlai City was covered with magical beasts. Magical beasts of the seventh rank could appear at any time, and even magical beasts of the eighth rank and ninth rank were not rare. Right now, if they didn’t immediately flee the city, they wouldn’t have a chance at surviving.
“Son, forgive your father,” Duke Bonalt said to himself, while at the same time, he shouted at his guardsmen. “Quick, let’s leave Fenlai City! Once we’ve reached safety, each person will receive thirty thousand gold coins!” At a time like this, Duke Bonalt was not going to be stingy.
“Yes, Lord Duke!” The guardsmen exulted. Thirty thousand gold coins was more than enough for them to live out their lives carefree.
But after travelling just two or three kilometers, they had already encountered and killed two magical beasts of the seventh rank, five magical beasts of the sixth rank, and three magical beasts of the fifth rank.
“Grooooowl!”
A ten-meter-high black bear began to run at them at high speed from far away, each step causing the earth to shake. All of the faces of the guardsmen turned white after seeing the black bear . Duke Bonalt shouted loudly, “Quickly, flee! That’s a Violet Tattooed Bear! Quickly!”
An adult Violet Tattooed Bear was generally a magical beast of the ninth rank.
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear which Linley had encountered in the Foggy Valley within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts was a particularly strong representative of its kind.
“Groooowl!” The Violet Tattooed Bear clearly had its eyes set on Duke Bonalt’s group, and it continued running towards them, causing both the earth and the hearts of Duke Bonalt’s group t
o shake. The Violet Tattooed Bear was running in a totally direct line towards them. Anything that got in its way was smashed.
“Bam!” With a wave of its arm, a three-story-high building was disintegrated, showering Duke Bonalt’s group with rubble.
“Smash!” A piece of rubble nearly half the size of a man came smashing down on one of the young daughters of Duke Bonalt. The pretty, delicate head of that girl was instantly transformed into a pile of mud-like meat paste, as blood and brain matter splattered across the stone and across the ground.
Duke Bonalt and his men didn’t even have the chance to be angry or to be heartbroken, because immediately afterwards, the Violet Tattooed Bear slammed its huge paws down upon one of the guards, turning him into nothing more than ground meat.
“Ah!” Duke Bonalt suddenly realized that a giant foot was coming for him, and he frantically tried to roll away.
“WHAP!”
The Violet Tattooed Bear stepped on Duke Bonalt, killing him on the spot. If someone as weak as Duke Bonalt would have been able to avoid the attack of a Violet Tattooed Bear, then the Violet Tattooed Bear wouldn’t have been worthy of being classified as a magical beast of the ninth rank.
“Grooooooowl!” The Violet Tattooed Bear raised its head and roared, beating its chest with excitement, before turning and heading in a different direction to find more prey.
Crushed to death. Swiped to death. Slapped to death. Bitten to death. This was extremely common and normal, now. Regardless of whether they were nobles or commoners, right now in Fenlai City, life was a very fragile thing. And so, one noble and commoner after another died.
Fenlai City was a scene of utter catastrophe.
And the place where the slaughter was the most ferocious… was the area around the Radiant Temple.
On the massive plaza in front of the Radiant Temple, the mighty Knights of the Radiant Temple as well as the Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal were engaged in ferocious battle against the magical beasts. The defense here was the stiffest, and so even more magical beasts congregated here as well.
Linley and Bebe were in a corner of the Radiant Temple Plaza, but the two of them were very safe. This was because, given their current strength, they had nothing to fear as long as a Saint-level combatant didn’t come attack them.
And right now, all the Saint-level combatants were in the skies above the Radiant Temple.
“Boss, there’s so many Saint-level magical beasts.” Bebe’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.
Linley looked up again at the Saint-level magical beasts in the air above the Radiant Temple. Linley hadn’t expected that at a critical moment such as this, the Radiant Church was able to mobilize seven Saint-level combatants within Fenlai City.
“The Saint-level combatants which the Radiant Church officially acknowledges having can be counted on one hand. In truth, it has many powerful combatants lying hidden. This is just the Holy Capital, yet they already have seven Saint-level combatants. Most likely the total number of Saint-level combatants within the Holy Union is a good deal higher.”
Linley finally had an idea of what the highest levels of power within the continent were like.
The aura of a Saint-level combatant was enough to cause dread in lesser individuals. Any of the seven Saint-level humans in the air above could easily kill Linley, as though Linley were nothing but an ant. But right now, those seven Saint-level humans were at a definite disadvantage!
Magical beasts were naturally more powerful than humans.
For ordinary magical beasts, immediately upon reaching the Saint level, despite being early-stage Saint-level magical beasts, generally only middle-stage Saint-level human combatants would be a match for them. For those particularly powerful magical beasts that reached the Saint level such as the Armored Razorback Wyrm, the Tyrant Wyrm, or the Nine-Headed Serpent Emperor, upon reaching the Saint level, they could only be matched by a peak-stage Saint-level human combatant.
And right now…
Over ten Saint-level magical beasts stood in mid-air, and amongst them were a Bloody-eyed Maned Lion, a Tyrant Wyrm, a Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape, and other incredibly strong Saint-level magical beasts. Any one of them was capable of fighting with the Holy Emperor head to head.
What was even more amazing was that in front of these magical beasts, there was that devilish ‘young man’.
“Are you a human, or are you…?” Heidens stared at that devilish young man.
The devilish young man glanced coldly at Heidens. “A human? How could I be a pathetic human? Humans are nothing more than food to us magical beasts!” The devilish young man’s words were loaded with absolute contempt. Even when looking at Heidens, he was filled with nothing but utter contempt.
“Haha, if our almighty King wished to kill you, it would be as easy as flipping over his hands. He’s giving you guys face. You’d best accept it. Haha…” That Violet-Eyed Goldfur Ape shouted loudly with laughter.
The expression on Heidens’ face changed dramatically, and so did the faces of the six Saint-level combatants behind him.
A magical beast that could take human form. What sort of power was this?
“Could it be that yet another Deity-level combatant has appeared on the Yulan continent? An invincible entity?” Heidens felt extremely sour. In the past, there had only been three individuals who had stood at the very peak of power in the Yulan continent; the ‘War God’ of the O’Brien Empire, the ‘High Priest’ of the Yulan Empire, and the ‘King’ of the Forest of Darkness.
Heidens didn’t imagine that the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts would suddenly produce its own ‘King’, who was able to take human form as well.
“Broke through the Saint level to reach the Deity level. A Deity-level magical beast. This…” Heidens knew very well how terrifying a Deity-level magical beast was. To this ‘King’, killing these seven human Saint-level combatants would be like child’s play.
Heidens instantly made his decision…
They had to retreat!
Right now, preserving as much power as remained to the Radiant Church was the most important thing of all. If it lost seven Saint-level combatants, the Radiant Church’s power would drop by at least half, and its status would drop as well.
“A Deity-level magical beast. How could a Deity-level magical beast appear out of nowhere?” Heidens cursed to himself. He had no idea that this Deity-level magical beast had been accidentally released by Linley from within the Foggy Valley. And as it just so happened, when this Deity-level magical beast had implemented the plan he had been formulating for over half a year, he had accidentally saved Linley.
Fate truly was a strange thing.
“Mighty King of Magical Beasts, I am the Holy Emperor Heidens. Might I ask what you wish of me?” Heidens decided to submit.
The devilish young man smiled and nodded. “Your name is Heidens? Very well. What you need to do is lead your people and flee to the north. The magical beasts of my Mountain Range of Magical Beasts will also continue to expand to the north. When the day comes that my magical beasts feel they have enough territory, they will stop expanding.”
Heidens’ heart was filled with fury.
What sort of offer was this?
When they felt they had enough territory, they would stop expanding?
“Hmph, don’t worry. We won’t take over all of the territory belonging to your Holy Union. At most, we’ll take half. Right… as of right now, the Holy Capital of the Cult of Shadows has been destroyed by us as well,” The devilish young man said casually.
“The Holy Capital of the Cult of Shadows?” Heidens and the other six Saint-level combatants were all startled.
Could it be that the magical beasts of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts had launched simultaneous attacks against both the Radiant Church as well as the Cult of Shadows? This was too insane! They knew that the magical beasts in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts were quite numerous, and there were quite a few Saint-level magical beasts
there as well. But they hadn’t imagined there would be enough to launch simultaneous assaults against two major powers.
“You can beat it now. Oh, and there’s one more thing I can tell you. My name… is Dylin,” The devilish young man said casually.
Hearing the conversation going on up above, Linley was totally stunned. Clearly, this horde of magical beasts wasn’t just attacking Fenlai City; it was attacking the entirety of both the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance. And judging from what the devilish young man was saying…
They intended to take over half of the territory of both the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance!
“Then it seems the twelve kingdoms and 32 duchies to the west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts are going to plunge into disaster.” Linley felt terrified.
“The King of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, Dylin?”
Linley firmly imprinted this name, ‘Dylin’, into his memory. After having quietly listened for a while, Linley stealthily made his way through the crowds and departed, heading to his own residence at high speed. This was because he had left a number of things back at his manor.
“Hoooowl!” A powerfully built Windwolf noticed Linley and immediately lunged at him.
“Swish!”
A flash of violet light. Linley didn’t even pause or slow down, but that powerful Windwolf suddenly split in half, staining the ground with its blood. On the road back to his manor, Linley saw that the streets had become avenues of death and destruction. There were magical beasts everywhere.
But by the time Linley reached the intersection between the Fragrant Pavilion Road and the Greenleaf Road, Linley saw a squad of troops numbering thirty-something strong. Wherever this squad went, the magical beasts were unable to block them.
“Boss Yale?”
Linley suddenly saw that Yale was bound on the back of a powerful warhorse. “Second Bro and Fourth Bro are here as well. Only, they are riding their horses.”
“Father, let me go, let me go! Let me go save Third Bro! The Radiant Temple has already been demolished. This is our best chance to save him!” Tied up and bound, Yale continued to shout loudly from his position on the back of the warhorse. The person actually riding the warhorse was an extremely powerful looking red-haired man.
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 55