Chapter 223: Death

Eyeless had finally joined the battle against Yamata no Orochi.

.

As someone who had always trained and improved through adversity, this was a hardship that he had to endure.

Aside from the director, Yamata no Orochi was the most formidable opponent he had ever faced, so this attack was also the most serious strike that Eyeless had unleashed thus far in this battle royale.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

His blade flashed through the air with a cold gleam that resembled a bright crescent moon, leaving a trail of light that was several dozen meters in length in its wake. Everything in the path of the streak of light was instantly severed, including one of Yamata no Orochi's heads.

The decapitated head slipped silently off Yamata no Orochi's body.

Prior to being severed, the head had been tearing at Diana's body, and after being decapitated, it hung limply down from Diana's abdomen. The headless body began to writhe and thrash violently while black blood gushed out of the wound.

Eyeless's blade was so fast that it took Yamata no Orochi half a second to register the pain and the fact that it was missing a head, following which all of its other heads began to screech in agony.

The three other heads that were tearing at Diana instinctively released her before opening their cavernous mouths to retaliate against Eyeless.

In the face of the three oncoming serpentine heads, Eyeless lashed out thrice with his blade in rapid succession to force them away, but during this time, he had been surrounded by Yamata no Orochi's other heads.

At this point, Clown had already concealed itself once again, so Eyeless was left to bear the full brunt of Yamata no Orochi's wrath.

Eyeless raised his head, and even though he couldn't see, he was using his telegnosis to assess his surroundings.

He was but a puny human holding a sword, standing in the face of a serpentine deity, resembling a brave, legendary warrior.

"I recall that according to Japanese legend, Yamata no Orochi was slain by Susanoo no Mikoto using the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. My sword is not as sharp as the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, but so long as I possess the conviction, I can slice through all hardships in this world."

Not only was Eyeless not intimidated by the extreme peril that he was in, an unprecedently mighty aura erupted from his body as he rose to the challenge.

In the next instant, he was beset by a fearsome barrage of attacks from Yamata no Orochi that encompassed the entire area that he was in, making it impossible for him to evade.

As a result, Eyeless was forced to unleash his Thousand Slash technique again. This time, he was swinging his blade even faster than last time, allowing him to keep out the vast majority of the oncoming attacks.

However, there was a limit to how fast he could swing his blade, and it was unable to keep out the rumbling thunder, nor was it able to defend Eyeless from attacks that came from the ground beneath his feet.

The soundwaves of the thunderclaps were still assaulting Eyeless's eardrums, while stone spikes erupted out of the ground underfoot. No matter how fast Eyeless's blade was, there was no way that it could sever soundwaves.

Ultimately, Eyeless was wounded by Yamata no Orochi, and after his defense was overwhelmed, he sprang up into the air, trying to use the stone spikes as launch pads to evade the subsequent attacks, but a burst of glacial energy abruptly surged toward him at Yamata no Orochi's behest, instantly immobilizing him on the spot.

The glacial energy was capable of freezing Diana, so it was naturally also able to do the same to Eyeless.

Eyeless possessed tremendous speed and offensive prowess, but ultimately, his psychic body was just that of an ordinary man, so his defenses were bound to be a little lacking.

After he was frozen solid in mid-air, a serpentine head immediately swept toward him like a battering ram, trying to shatter his frozen body.

In this dire situation, Clown arrived on the scene just in the nick of time, carrying Eyeless away to save him from the lethal attack.

Clown was able to swoop in so quickly because it didn't go very far after attempting that sneak attack on Oni no Miko. Instead, it had been concealed nearby this entire time, waiting for another opportunity to strike, and it naturally wasn't going to allow Eyeless to be killed so easily.

Eyeless was a formidable foe, but at the moment, the enemy of an enemy was a friend, and without Eyeless's help, there was no way that he could secure the ultimate victory in this battle royale.

However, saving Eyeless was not a simple task. In the instant that Clown swooped in to save the day, it exposed its own location, and as a result, it was forced to face Yamata no Orochi's wrath.

That may not have been the best idea...

Looking at the giant serpentine head that was swinging its way, Clown immediately tossed Eyeless aside before concealing itself again.

However, it wasn't going to be allowed to escape so easily this time.

Yamata no Orochi's remaining seven heads instantly gathered in one place to rain down attacks upon Clown.

In the face of the devastating barrage of attacks, Clown quickly sustained a whole host of injuries, but right at this moment, he was suddenly dragged underground by someone.

"Armadillo?"

"That's right! You saved my life, and I've repaid the favor now."

Armadillo was burrowing his way through the earth, and he wasn't much slower than he was on the surface.

Oni no Miko was naturally furious that her sworn enemy had gotten away right under her nose once again, and she pulled out an arrow before stabbing herself violently a few times, piercing several more holes into her own body.

More black mist surged out of those wounds before seeping into Yamata no Orochi's body, making it even more violent and agitated.

"Kill him!"

The earth-attribute head let loose a thunderous roar as it unleashed its forbidden technique, the very same fabled technique that was said to be capable of destroying the entire island of Honshu.

After the forbidden technique was unleashed, the entire basin began to ripple like a wave before exploding violently, and it was as if doomsday had truly arrived. The entire earth was beginning to churn and tumble like clothes being tossed around in a tumble dryer, while countless bottomless rifts were opened up on the ground.

This was a truly cataclysmic earthquake, and even the mountains outside of the final zone were affected.

Many mountains were quickly toppled, sending countless giant rocks tumbling down from above.

Amid the violent earthquakes, Nie Yiyi could see that many of the combatants that had previously been frozen solid were instantly shattered on the spot. She was desperate to save Hook from the same fate, but at this point, she could barely even keep herself alive, so she could only watch as Hook fell into one of the deep fissures.

"No! Hook!"

Before Nie Yiyi even had a chance to grieve for Hook, she failed to spot a giant rock that was flying toward her as she was distracted, and the rock smashed her straight into the ground.

The earthquake had completely cleared out the entire final zone.

Everyone had perished with the exception of only a handful of the most powerful battle royale participants.

Even though Armadillo and Adam were both underground, they were also struggling immensely as the earth closed in around them. Despite Armadillo's earth manipulation abilities, he was throwing up mouthfuls of blood incessantly under the crushing force of the compressing earth, while Adam was barely able to breathe.

Right as the two of them were considering returning to the surface, the earthquake suddenly stopped.

"What happened?"

Armadillo was looking around with a curious expression. All of the violent tremors running through the ground had abruptly ceased, as if the plug had been pulled on an earthquake simulation machine, creating a rather jarring experience.

"Let's go back to the surface and take a look."

With that, Armadillo and Adam returned to the surface, and as soon as they did so, they could sense that the air temperature also seemed to be warming back up.

They then turned their attention to Yamata no Orochi to find that it was looking nowhere near as aggressive and fearsome as before. Its seven heads were drooping down limply onto the ground, and it appeared to be in an extremely feeble state.