Chapter 582: Xia Zuo’s Severe Injuries and the Power of the Demon God (I)

Two hundred kilometers above ground, a missile flew under the cover of the night. It was over a hundred meters long, more than ten meters wide, and flew twenty times faster than the speed of sound.

Hundreds of meters of gold-and-blue flames trailed behind it, scattering powerful winds and transparent shockwaves.

Despite having an insane velocity and being designed to strike targets 10,000 kilometers away, the missile barely made a sound.

Runes etched on its surface shimmered continuously, keeping the missile quiet by reducing air resistance and absorbing sound waves. It flew through the sea of clouds like a spectral phantom, subtly adjusting its trajectory to avoid forbidden zones thousands of kilometers ahead.

Within just over twenty minutes, the hydrogen bomb launched from Abyssal City closed in on a cluster of volcanoes. The flames at its tail shifted, and the missile’s nose angled downward, piercing the thick clouds in the blink of an eye.

As the missile left behind a massive hole hundreds of meters wide, the Lava Giant King on the altar below immediately sensed the threat.

Its expression quickly filled with terror and despair. It had heard the demon kings talk about the humans’ destructive weapons like the one plummeting toward it.

The Lava Giant King had thought that hiding behind the frontlines and simply tapping into the earth’s magma to launch attacks would keep it safe. It hadn’t expected this outcome.

"Run!"

Boom!

Searing flames erupted from the Lava Giant King, engulfing its surroundings with a blazing domain. A towering pillar of fire then shot up.

In a desperate attempt to intercept the missile and buy time for its kin to escape, the Lava Giant King instantly ascended thousands of meters and threw a fiery punch that was surrounded by rings of flame. The attack burst toward the descending missile, but before it could hit the projectile, the missile emitted a dazzling burst of light.

Boom!

A fireball ten kilometers in diameter bloomed in the sky.

For a moment, the world lost its color and sound, leaving only the radiant fireball. It unleashed a searing wave of fusion-generated heat and pressure, obliterating everything in its path.

The Lava Giant King’s fiery domain shattered as its nearly indestructible body dissolved and disintegrated.

Tens of thousands of Lava Giants—most of them at the Seventh Heavenly Realm—roared in despair as they crumbled within the sea of lava.

Fiery debris and molten rock scattered in all directions as volcanoes within a radius of over ten kilometers collapsed. Even those further away trembled violently. Moreover, the nuclear blast made pillars of lava shoot skyward.

The volcanic ash clouds that had blanketed hundreds of kilometers dissipated instantly, allowing the blinding light to illuminate the sky within over a thousand kilometers. It was as if the explosion brightened half the heavens.

A mushroom cloud rose more than a hundred kilometers into the sky and expanded into a diameter of over sixty kilometers. The deafening roar of the explosion echoed endlessly, shaking the earth and sky.

Within a thousand kilometers, countless Purgatory Demons and their armies of subordinates stared in shock at the direction of the nuclear blast.

Even Alexis, who was over 1,100 kilometers away, felt the tremors and the palpable destructive energy rippling through the air. Its expression darkened as it gazed at the glowing fireball on the horizon.

"The humans’ weapon of mass destruction!" Alexis muttered.

Boom!

The ground beneath Alexis shattered as it launched itself into the sky, transforming into a streak of black light.

Dark gold, bat-like wings unfurled behind Alexis. With a slight flap, it flew across the sky like a black-and-gold comet.

Several dozen kilometers behind Alexis, a thousand-meter-long, nine-headed colossal beast soared into the air, stirring a tidal wave of energy.

The middle-stage mythical-level beast served as Alexis’s bodyguard.

As a true descendant of the demon god, Alexis’s status was exceedingly prestigious. It had come here for training, to experience a War of Civilizations firsthand.

Meanwhile, atop a collapsing volcano that was half-submerged in lava, Xia Zuo and the others stood in awe, their faces reflecting their shock.

"

Phew!

A hydrogen bomb mixed with crystal energy is terrifying!"

Even in the era of myths, humanity’s nuclear weapons remained formidable. The integration of rune technology and crystal energy only further enhanced the hydrogen bomb’s destructive capabilities.

Upon detonation, the bomb released a mythical-level explosive force, instantly obliterating vast areas. It was highly effective for clearing large numbers of enemy troops. It could also be stored in spatial equipment for close-range use, serving as a last resort that ensured mutual destruction.

Most importantly, the hydrogen bomb was relatively inexpensive. With an elite squad guiding it, it could deliver precise strikes across tens of thousands of kilometers. This time, Xia Zuo’s squad had directed a hydrogen bomb to annihilate one of the Purgatory Demon’s high-level armies.

The four glanced at the massive crater a few kilometers away, their expressions growing serious. "Let’s move. We can’t stay here."

After spending such a long time battling humans, the Purgatory Demons had learned that the humans’ destructive weapons required signals for guidance. Hence, they knew that a precision strike like this likely meant an elite human squad was nearby.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Shrouded in aura-concealing secret techniques, the four cultivators moved swiftly toward the frontlines, flying close to the ground at an altitude of less than 100 meters.

In the Purgatory Demons’ territory, flying high was tantamount to courting death.

...

"Destructive weapon."

Hundreds of kilometers in the sky, Great Demon King Kusakla turned slightly, his gaze locking onto the brilliant light thousands of kilometers away.

A domineering draconic roar shook the heavens and earth. A vast area above Kusakla fractured, and a golden dragon claw descended from the sky, radiating immense power.

"Balong, you're courting death."

Boom!

Kusakla transformed into a towering eight-armed demon that was over a thousand meters tall. With its massive arms, it tore a segment of the hellish landscape and hurled it toward the golden divine dragon.

The two beings, both at the level of heavenly kings, clashed against each other relentlessly, their attacks making the battlefield quake.

Heavenly King Balong and Kusakla were famed for their physical prowess. The very heavens seemed to tremble as their strikes echoed far and wide.

As they fought, three other king-level conflicts ignited over four thousand kilometers of the battlefront, further escalating the ferocity of the war.

Heavenly King Balong and the three other kings were not just randomly attacking. They aimed to disrupt the demon kings from issuing orders, which would allow them to encircle and annihilate the elite squads that had ventured deep into the territory of the Purgatory Clan.

Despite their efforts, however, some orders were successfully transmitted. Around the nuclear explosion zone, powerful true demons and their allied forces rapidly mobilized.

Just seven hundred kilometers from the blast site, Xia Zuo and his group encountered a team of true Purgatory Clan demons and their vassals.

"Don’t hold back. Eliminate them!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Xia Zuo, a beginning-stage Ninth Heavenly Realm powerhouse, launched an overwhelming assault alongside Wang Yan and two late-stage Eighth Heavenly Realm experts, swiftly obliterating the enemy squad of two late-stage Eighth Demonic Mark true demons and seven ordinary Eighth Heavenly Realm fighters from vassal races.

"Move!"

The four breathed slightly heavily, but they dared not linger. They turned into streaks of light, darting into a nearby mountain range at supersonic speed.

However, their progress was once more abruptly halted. A chilling pressure fell upon them as their gazes locked on a three-meter-tall demon standing atop one of the mountain peaks in the distance.

Despite its small size, it emanated a suffocating oppressive aura.

A chill ran down their spine.

Very strong. Very dangerous.

Xia Zuo’s pupils contracted. "We can't stop here. Scatter!"

The four unleashed their full power, shattering the surrounding air and darting off in four separate directions at maximum speed.

As fighters, they had been honed in the crucible of war, making them unafraid of death. Their decisiveness and clarity in dire situations were unparalleled.

"Nine Heads, handle those three. Don't let them escape."

A roar laced with mythical-level pressure disintegrated the clouds within a ten-kilometer radius.

A thousand-meter-long colossal beast with nine dragon-like heads appeared under the moonlight, its lion-like physique covered in jet-black scales.

The beast's presence alone made the humans’ expressions grow even grimmer. The two late-stage Eighth Heavenly Realm experts couldn’t help but smile bitterly at their misfortune.

In this battlefield where mythical-level entities were concentrated at the frontlines, encountering such a creature deep in enemy territory was exceedingly rare—and profoundly unlucky.

Hum!

As the four split apart, the nine-headed beast opened its massive jaws, accumulating and shooting black energy beams from within each maw.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black beams swept across the terrain, obliterating mountains, shattering the earth, and reducing everything in their paths to dust. The devastation spanned dozens of kilometers.

The two late-stage Eighth Heavenly Realm fighters and their Ninth Heavenly Realm ally desperately evaded, relying on the rugged mountain terrain to dodge the relentless barrage.

As the beast’s attacks corralled them deeper into the mountain range, Alexis focused its attention on Xia Zuo, who had transformed into a streak of black light. He traversed over twenty kilometers and darted out of the mountain range in the blink of an eye.

In Alexis's perception, the human genius possessed remarkable strength and concealed a formidable power within him—so powerful that it made even Alexis feel a faint sense of danger.

"Finally, a human genius who’s actually powerful. I can only feel satisfaction from crushing the skulls of humans like him."

The cliff beneath Alexis collapsed as it vanished.