Chapter 2508: Losing the Catch and the Bait

Both sides’ subordinates had been mostly wiped out by the Oblivion River Water. The only ones alive were experts of the Eighteen Monster Generals’ caliber.

But despite the fewer monsters present, the battle only grew more intense. There had been too many distractions earlier, and some of the experts had been using the cover of the commotion to slack off. But now that the distractions were eliminated and both sides were done probing each other’s capabilities, it was time for them to get serious.

The Monster Lord was no longer holding back; every attack he unleashed was a killing blow. He was determined to kill the Lord of Slaughter for good. When everything had been under his control, he'd prioritized safety and opted for a war of attrition to wear down the latter. However, the appearance of this mysterious but powerful expert left him with a feeling of danger.

If he manages to rescue the Lord of Slaughter, it will be the worst-case scenario.

The Lord of Slaughter had ruled for so long that he had many old subordinates loyal to him. Furthermore, those in the middle and lowest echelons, oblivious to his true nature, revered him. It had taken the Monster Lord years of scheming to dispatch the Lord of Slaughter’s subordinates to rural places, thus temporarily isolating the latter. But if the Lord of Slaughter escaped and gathered his old subordinates, the tables could turn. Considering what was at stake, the Monster Lord didn’t dare to hold back anymore.

The Lord of Slaughter charged at the Monster Lord with a furious roar. His hatred for the Monster Lord ran so deep that he wanted nothing more than to rip the latter to shreds. Unfortunately, he had suffered two consecutive blows, such that he struggled to even protect himself from the Monster Lord. It would be hard for him to take down the Monster Lord here.

Seeing the two bosses going all out, the Monster Generals felt a tremendous boost in morale. They unleashed their strongest skills, and even those who were severely injured climbed to their feet to help out. Experts of their caliber, as long as they weren’t killed on the spot, boasted incredible regenerative prowess. By now, those who had been injured were ready to fight once more.

Of course, the Shadowhorror Devil and the Doomsday Spirit were still fighting with each other and didn’t have the time to join the battle.

The Monster Generals wouldn’t dare to intervene in the battle between the Monster Lord and the Lord of Slaughter. Now that the Lord of Slaughter was a beast trapped in a cage, there was no telling what he could do out of desperation. It was unwise to provoke him right now.

Thus, they turned their attention to Salamay. They didn’t know who she was, though she had mentioned ‘Father’ when she first entered. It was perplexing, as they knew that the Lord of Slaughter didn’t have a daughter of that age better than anyone else.

The stronger a cultivator was, the lower the leakage of their spirit would be, thus making it tougher for them to have a child. The Lord of Slaughter only had an extremely young daughter, and the Monster Lord had stationed her tens of thousands of kilometers away from here. So, who was this woman?

In any case, her weakness made her the perfect target.

Mojard tried his best to protect Salamay, but with his current strength, he was no match for so many Monster Generals. Soon, he started receiving injuries.

“Hm? When did you become so weak, Incestuous King?”

“Where’s the soulspeak you’re so proud of?”

“Is he feigning weakness?”

...

The Monster Generals were perplexed, but they weren’t too worried. They had the absolute advantage here. It wouldn’t change a thing even if Mojard was feigning weakness.

“Save me!” Salamay was no weakling, but this was a battle involving the top experts of the Monster World. She was severely outclassed here.

The Lord of Slaughter didn't know her identity, but he could tell she was on her side. Furthermore, he felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy toward her, so he howled in her direction.

A terrifying sonic boom jolted the Monster Generals’ bodies, causing their blood flow to go into disarray. That gave Mojard and Salamay a chance to regain their footing.

The Monster Lord harrumphed. “I’m your opponent!”

He summoned a three-headed bird to attack the Lord of Slaughter.

The Lord of Slaughter’s eyes reddened. He revealed his true body, which resembled an enlarged T-rex, and both of them fought each other even more intensely. Wherever they passed by, the sculptures in the Imperial Tomb shattered into dust.

Surprisingly, the Fiend God sculpture and the Imperial Tomb’s overall structure remained untouched despite the powerful shockwaves emanated by the two bosses. The Monster Lord and the Lord of Slaughter couldn’t resist looking at the towering Fiend God sculpture, wondering if there was a secret hidden in it. However, this wasn’t the time for their minds to be wandering. They had to prioritize eliminating the enemy before them first.

Without the Lord of Slaughter’s help, Mojard and Salamay soon fell into a disadvantageous position once more. Salamay could only shout for Zu An to help her.

Zu An dodged the Shadow Monster King’s attacks while replying telepathically, “Tell me how they're faring, and I’ll save you.”

Salamay understood that she couldn’t reveal her relationship with the Lord of Slaughter, or else the enemy would use her as a hostage to threaten her father. She gritted her teeth in anger, but this brief moment of hesitation caused another attack to land on her. Left with no choice, she replied telepathically, “Don’t worry, Suolun Shi is still alive. I merely temporarily imprisoned her elsewhere. If you don’t save me, she'll go down with me.”

“What about the others?” Zu An remained unmoved.

“I don’t know their whereabouts. I was lying,” Salamay replied helplessly.

Zu An had figured as much, and he breathed a sigh of relief. That being said, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to Suolun Shi’s plight, so he performed an instantaneous movement to appear at Salamay’s side and dragged her away from the Scorpion King’s incoming giant pincers.

Before the two of them could exchange words, a flash of light appeared beside Zu An. “Your opponent is me!”

The light and shadow surrounding the Shadow Monster King began to distort. He was confident that he was within the top three of the Monster World. With the downfall of the Incestuous King, he even thought about having a showdown with the Monster Lord. His confidence was rooted in his ability to slow down the time around him. The space around him was folded to such an extent that his opponent couldn't attack his main body. That made him undefeatable. On top of that, he had another trump card up his sleeves.

He'd noticed that when the War Priest acquired his droplet of Oblivion River Water, Zu An didn’t look regretful at all. That suggested the latter had more valuable artifacts with him. He was determined to acquire them while the Monster Lord was distracted, or else he wouldn’t get this chance again.

As the Shadow Monster King pressed closer, Zu An remained on his guard, knowing that he was a fearsome adversary. Fortunately, there was an information disparity between both sides. Zu An knew the tricks the former had up his sleeves.

Breaching the Shadow Monster King’s distorted space was easy enough for him—the Taotie’s Heaven-Devouring Sutra did the job perfectly. That was how he'd pull it off in the future. But to avoid digging holes for himself in the future, he had to give up on that easy solution.

It was a good thing that Zu An's grasp of spatial transformations had greatly deepened. He unleashed the Star Shattering Imprint, using his tenfold attack power to penetrate the folded space around the Shadow Monster King to strike the latter’s main body.

The Shadow Monster King was horrified. He couldn’t understand how Zu An’s attack had reached him. But there was no time for him to think further. He could already feel death encroaching on him. Without any hesitation, he activated his survival skill—Time Severing—to stop this deadly attack. Then, he took this opportunity to quickly retreat. Fear lingered on his face, and he hesitated to confront Zu An once more.

What’s with that fellow? How is he this formidable? More importantly, it feels as if he knows my abilities.

It’s a huge loss this time. Not only did I fail to acquire any of his artifacts, but I ended up using Time Severing once. I can now only use it once more.

He felt so regretful that he thought his intestines would turn green.

Zu An was startled. When he'd first fought the Shadow Monster King in the Sealed Land, the other party had revealed that he had once encountered a powerful enemy and was forced to use Time Severing, resulting in him only having one use left.

Could that powerful enemy be me?

A blue light suddenly glowed from the hall, and a massive formation emerged from beneath the crowd’s feet.