by welyjesch
Linley glanced the nearby Barker.
The two shared a look, then nodded.
It was time to prepare to go down.
“Whoooosh.” “Hisssss.”
The Ba-Serpent continued to snore, and that sound was a sound which seemed to ring throughout this third floor. The atmosphere surrounding of the thirty remaining Saints, by contrast, seemed extremely grim and terrible. If one was unlucky, one’s soul would be destroyed and wouldn’t even have the chance to become a departed spirit in the Netherworld.
“Swoosh!” The next person was that burly man Linley had sparred with, Clay. Clay moved like a bolt of lightning, going in an arced line towards the tunnel entrance. Clay was extremely lucky; he dodged all of the flows of black gas and strode onto the stairway.
Clay had a hint of a smile on his face. He glanced back at the other Saints, then went up.
“This is the moment.” Linley noticed that the black gas had revealed a fairly large opening, and immediately prepared to charge. But there was someone who was even faster than Linley, and charged down before Linley did, forcing Linley to come to a halt.
Indeed, because the opening was fairly large, that Saint had managed to seize the opportunity to charge through.
Just as that Saint was letting out a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt enormous pain. Lowering his head, he saw that an extremely thin current of black gas had wrapped around his right foot, and that his right foot had already transformed into powder.
At the same time…
Stretching up from his right foot, his entire right leg instantly disintegrated. By the time this Saint reacted to what was going on, his entire body below his chest had disintegrated.
The feeling of his soul suffering extreme anguish caused this Saint to let out an uncontrollable scream of pain.
“Ah!!!” A piercing, agonized howl pierced through the calm of the third floor.
The pain he felt was so great that it was worse than being cut by ten million knives. The Saint didn’t want to make any noise, but he simply couldn’t endure it. He had never suffered pain like this before…
The faces of all the Saints present instantly changed. No blood could be seen in their faces.
They were finished!
“Flee!” Someone let out a sudden, angry roar. By now, it no longer made a difference if they made any noise at all.
The thirty-plus Saints were like a flock of terrified sheep as they wildly began to flee at their maximum speed.
But with a terrifying rumbling sound, the ten-kilometer long body of the Ba-Serpent suddenly began to move, and as it did, the massive, tough iceberg mountain exploded into tiny pieces.
The entire iceberg mountain shattered apart, revealing the passageway that had been hidden within it. The exit of that passageway….was like a little window hanging in mid-air.
The exploding iceberg mountain carried with it an irresistible amount of force in the shards it sprayed everywhere. Many of the Saints were struck by the ice and knocked flying backwards while they vomited blood. Each piece of ice contained within it a terrifying amount of force.
“Terrible.” Linley felt that he was like a soldier who was dodging an endless rain of arrows. Large pieces of crushed ice transformed into countless streaks of light, blasting in each directions.
“Barker.” Linley’s face suddenly changed greatly.
Barker’s dodging abilities weren’t comparable to Linley’s. He finally was struck by a large piece of ice.
The ice itself wasn’t frightening. What was frightening was the enormous power with which it had been hurled out.
“Bang.” The piece of ice shattered apart, knocking Barker backwards. Barker spat out a large mouthful of blood. “Lord, flee, hurry!” A weak voice escaped from Barker’s mouth.
The apocalypse had descended upon the third floor.
The previously slumbering Ba-Serpent’s metallic eyelids opened. His dark, enormous eyes which had a hint of blue in them swept the surrounding area with a glance.
The Ba-Serpent had awoken!
Just a casual movement of its body had contained such terrifying force. If the Ba-Serpent had truly been trying to kill these Saints just then, would any of them have been able to flee?
“You want to go in?” The Ba-Serpent raised its head, staring at entrance to the fourth floor which was located above it.
At this moment, someone was charging towards the entrance at high speed. Clearly…this person was trying to enter the fourth floor. If Linley raised his head to look, he would have seen that this was the Prodigy Sword Saint, Olivier. But he had been noticed by the Ba-Serpent.
“Swish!”
The Ba-Serpent’s eyes emitted two rays of dark blue light. Given the speed of these two rays of dark light, Olivier definitely would die.
But suddenly, Olivier’s body was surrounded on one side by a cover of black battle-qi, and on the other side by a cover of white battle-qi. His speed suddenly tripled, and with a ‘hiss’ sound, his two severed legs fell down from the sky.
But Olivier himself flew into the fourth floor.
Those two rays of dark light originally should have pierced into Olivier’s chest, but Olivier’s sudden increase in speed caused these two rays of dark light to only strike his legs. Two holes had appeared in his legs, which had quickly began to grow at an appalling speed.
But Olivier was very decisive.
He had cut off his own two legs!
If that Saint who had his foot brushed by black gas had known how powerful the black gas was and had immediately severed his leg, he might have been able to preserve his life.
“None of you will escape.” The Ba-Serpent rose up, staring around itself.
Right now, there were two Saints who had already reached the exit to the second floor, but just as they were about to enter, for no reason whatsoever, their bodies suddenly turned into ice, and then, like cracked ice, suddenly shattered into dozens of pieces.
The other experts on the third floor now felt true despair.
“That bastard dragged our entire group down.” Linley felt his heart tremble.
Terror!
Right, Linley was currently terrified!
The Ba-Serpent hadn’t even moved, but two Saints who had already reached the entrance to the second floor had suddenly died. What technique had the Ba-Serpent used? Linley didn’t know. And this not knowing was what was so terrifying.
“Perhaps in the next instant, I will be suddenly frozen as well.”
“I don’t even know where Barker is right now.” Linley’s heart was filled with bitterness.
Linley suddenly gritted his teeth.
No time to worry about anything else. Even if he died, he’d die trying.
Linley’s hands were currently wielding Bloodviolet and the adamantine heavy sword. Linley raised his head to stare at the entrance up high. At this moment, Linley was only a few thousand meters away from the entrance to the fourth floor. This sort of distance, Linley could cross in the blink of an eye.
“Swish!” A human form shot towards the entrance to the fourth floor at high speed.
But in mid-air, the Ba-Serpent’s eyes once more shot out with those two rays of dark light, piercing through the man’s head. Yet another Saint died.
“Everyone, together…” A Saint didn’t even have the chance to finish his words before, just like that, he died.
The Ba-Serpent’s eyes stared with amusement at the dead person. The Ba-Serpent wasn’t in a hurry to kill those people. He had just taken a long nap. Now that he was awakened, it would be somewhat diverting for him to play with these ants in front of him.
“Swish!” “Swish!”
Several human forms charged towards the skies. One of them was the Dragonformed Linley.
From the Ba-Serpent’s eyes, each eye shot out four rays of dark light in succession. A total of eight rays of dark light suddenly shot out at the eight people, Linley included. The others were unable to do what Olivier had done and suddenly
triple their speed.
One human figure after another died in mid-air.
One of the rays of blue light was striking towards Linley’s head. Linley felt a sort of dread in his heart. Without question…once he was struck by the blue light, he would definitely die. In the last instant, Linley suddenly brandished Bloodviolet.
“Clang!” Linley moved like a flash of lightning, scurrying into the fourth floor’s entrance.
Of the eight people present, seven died, one survived.
“Eh?” The Ba-Serpent raised his head in a surprise glance, and then murmured softly, “Intriguing. I didn’t expect to find so many wonderful surprises amongst this group of humans. One of them was capable of simultaneously using the Laws of Darkness and Light, while this one…actually has such an incredibly precious divine artifact.”
……
This was a world of snow, endless snow.
Linley stood in the middle of the blizzard, panting. Even now, his heart was still gripped by fear. Just then…Linley had seen the cold, remorseless eyes of the Ba-Serpent as it had shot out those rays of dark light. The little bit of power he had gained from his understanding of the Laws, in front of such an attack, was nothing but a joke!
What to do?
“It saved my life.” Linley looked at the Bloodviolet sword in his hands. This was truly a divine artifact.
Although the adamantine heavy sword was very tough, it still couldn’t be described as a divine artifact. Thus, in the last moment, Linley had chosen to use Bloodviolet to block that ray of dark light. Bloodviolet hadn’t disappointed Linley. When that ray of dark blue light had struck Bloodviolet, it only made Bloodviolet tremble once; it didn’t damage Bloodviolet at all.
“The ray of dark blue light didn’t possess any impact force. What it only had was a strange devouring force.”
Linley stared carefully at Bloodviolet. It was the same as it had always been. Linley knew that Bloodviolet was no ordinary weapon…because from that day when he had first activated its baleful aura, Linley had discovered those large amounts of corpses, many of which emanated an aura that surpassed that of living Saint-level magical beasts.
This was the weapon of a Deity. As to whether Bloodviolet’s former owner was a Demigod, a full God, or a Highgod, Linley had no idea.
But Linley believed that for this divine artifact shouldn’t be damaged so easily by the God-level Ba-Serpent’s attack.
Linley had bet his life on it, and he had betted correctly. He had survived.
“But Barker…” Linley looked back at the nearby entrance. Below the entrance was the third floor, and Barker was still there. Linley, however, wasn’t able to do anything. In front of the Ba-Serpent, he had no ability resist whatsoever.
“I didn’t expect that you would survive as well.” A cold voice rang out from nearby.
Linley turned to look.
Olivier was currently sitting on the snowy ground, his twin leg stumps surrounded by an aura of white light. At the same time, they were quickly regrowing. By now, they had already regenerated to the knees.
Book 11, Necropolis of the Gods – Chapter 14: The World of Snow
Olivier’s face was currently very pale. Just then, he had used all the power available to him, but the price of tripling his speed was not a low one. And with the loss of both his legs…Olivier was currently in very bad shape.
“Why aren’t you leaving?” Olivier raised his head, staring at Linley.
Linley just stood there, in no hurry to leave. He could tell that at present, Olivier’s strength had dropped dramatically. With his legs gone, Olivier’s movement ability in any battle with enemies would drop greatly as well. Although he could fly…flying while lacking two legs would make one’s agility drop by half.
“Thank you.” After a long silence, Olivier said these two words. And then, he focused on healing his wounds.
Linley’s heart was in great pain right now. He turned back to look at the third floor. “Barker…if Barker truly died, then if in the future, his wife Leena, their two kids, Gates, and the other brothers ask me…” Linley felt helpless.
In front of the divine beast, Ba-Serpent, he had been lucky to even stay alive.
There was no way Linley could have saved Barker at all.
“I hope that Barker’s luck was as good as mine. Perhaps he will enter the fourth floor, or flee back to the second floor.” Linley stood there without moving, partially to help Olivier protect against any creatures from attacking him, and partially because he wanted to wait…
Wait to see if Barker would come out into the fourth floor as well.
After a long while…
“I’m done.” Olivier stood up and glanced at Linley, not saying anything else. He immediately transformed into a blur as he flew high into the sky.
Linley stood there for another half hour. In the end, he finally let out a long sigh before flying into the air as well.
The frozen ground was blanketed with white snow, and it was also dotted with many large, proudly standing trees. The snow covered these trees with a layer of silver decoration. After flying for a while, Linley saw a familiar face. It was Clay, who had sparred with him at War God Mountain.
“Linley.” Clay laughed as he flew over. “I thought that you had already…below…”
“I just entered the fourth floor. The person after you let out a scream of pain, and the Ba-Serpent woke up.” Linley shook his head. “I was only lucky, but my good friend Barker…”
Clay said consolingly, “Don’t be too sad. Soon after I entered the fourth floor, I discovered Olivier with his legs severed. From him, I learned that the Ba-Serpent had woken up. I thought that all of you had been killed by the Ba-Serpent. It’s already very lucky that you survived. Your friend would feel happy for you as well.”
Linley nodded.
The two flew side by side, and Clay cautioned, “Stop thinking about your friend. This fourth floor is extremely dangerous as well. If you are distracted and die as a result of it, that would be a terrible waste.”
Linley suddenly came to himself. Taking a deep breath, he shook his head a few times. “Got it.”
“Fain told me that in the past, they had retreated to the fifth floor. This Necropolis of the Gods has eighteen floors in total. In the top eleven floors, every five floors represents one ‘layer’. The first four floors aren’t too dangerous, while the fifth floor is actually the least dangerous of the entire layer.” Clay explained.
Clay had been alive for much longer than Linley. He knew many more things as well.
“Oh? The fifth floor is the safest of the first five floors?” Linley was surprised.
“Right. From what Fain told me, according to the War God, every five floors is a layer. The danger from the first to the fifth floor is fairly average, while the sixth to the tenth floors are extremely dangerous. Even Fain could die at any time.” Clay reminded.
Linley nodded. In the future, he would be extremely careful.
“The sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth layers are all extremely dangerous. Compared to these four floors, the tenth floor is actually less dangerous by comparison.” Clay laughed.
Linley memorized these words. This was all information which Fain had no doubt received from the War God.
The War God had definitely passed through the first ten floors. Naturally, he knew the situation in these floors.
“Five floors a layer, with the fifth floor being the safest floor of the first layer, while the tenth floor is the safest floor of the second layer.” Linley suddenly had a strange feeling. “It seems as though the safe level is to allow everyone some time to prepare.”
Clearly, the sixth floor would suddenly rise greatly in difficulty and danger.
The eleventh floor was a place where there were corpses of Deities and divine sparks. As long as one wasn’t a fool, one would understand…the eleventh floor was most likely far more dangerous than the earlier floors.
While flying past the snowy landscape, Clay
laughed, “Only in the first five floors can we rely on our personal strength to fight through those various life forms. Once we reach the sixth floor…we will have to rely on our intelligence, our strength, and our luck, all combined.”
Linley nodded.
In the past, Desri and Fain had been so frightened that they didn’t dare to enter the sixth floor. They had hidden in the fifth floor until the ten years were up.
“Whooosh.”
There was a pile of snow below. Suddenly, a creature erupted from beneath the snow, flashing at Clay like a white flash of lightning. Clay’s body instantly turned metallic, then with a furious roar, his right fist directly down towards that attacking creature.
“Bang!”
The fist slammed directly against a furry palm.
Clay was sent flying backwards at high speed, while that furry creature also landed hard against the ground.
“Such enormous power.” Clay inwardly sighed in amazement.
Linley looked down with surprise as well at that furry creature. Linley had sparred with Clay before, and he knew how physically powerful Clay was. “Clay is ten times as powerful as Haydson was, and his defense is comparable to Barker’s. But he was only on par with this creature.”
The creature below suddenly stood up like a human would.
“A bear?” Linley stared with shock at the creature below and spoke out.
That seemingly bear-like magical beast was covered with white fur, but he had a black ring of fur lining his eyes, as though someone had punched his eyes and made them swell. Actually, that made this furry magical beast seem very adorable.
“I’m not a stupid bear. I’m a Snowy Panda-Cat.” That furry magical beast rebuked.
“Swoosh!” At this moment, the Snowy Panda-Cat suddenly rose up again, this time charging straight at Linley…like a flash of white light, the Snowy Panda-Cat arrived in front of Linley. Linley couldn’t help but be shocked by its speed.
“Whap!”
Linley’s draconic tail, glittering with metallic light, struck against the Snowy Panda-Cat. The sudden attack by the draconic tail was extremely fast, not giving the Snowy Panda-Cat any chance to respond at all.