Chapter 136 (2): Self-Destruction

The sacred spear pierced into the Thousand-Eyed Demon’s face, the tip protruding from the back of his skull. Almost at the same time, the fire greatsword cut into the demon’s shoulder, its scorching edge cutting down to his chest and abdomen before finally stopping.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon’s eyes flashed viciously as his body began inflating like a balloon. Renata froze momentarily, abandoning her spear and kicking Wayne in the back before spreading her wings for a speedy retreat.

Wayne took a moment to register what was happening. The kick was heavy and forceful, an efficient sneak attack. He nearly collided face-to-face with the Thousand-Eyed Demon. Instead of turning to run immediately, he shot his white tail out like a serpent to coil around Renata’s neck before the angel could fly far.

“Guk!” Renata’s eyes rolled into her skull at the sudden halt to her momentum. She bit on the tail.

Wayne used her velocity to accelerate, beating his bat wings to distance himself from the Thousand-Eyed Demon. As he passed Renata, he swung his tail hard across her face.

Get lost!

After two accelerations—more importantly, after slowing Renata down twice—he successfully moved her behind him, shooting out several hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

“It’s too late to run now...”

The Thousand-Eyed Demon roared with laughter, his inflated body suddenly exploding. There was no thunderous rumble or any light or heat. Instead, dense swarms of bugs scattered like a rainstorm, the black torrents churning and covering the sky. The sea of bugs spread everywhere, reaching every corner. In the heat of the molten territory, the millipedes quickly shriveled from a loss of moisture.

Sensing an incoming danger, Wayne flapped his wings to continue accelerating, his fire sword dancing continuously to conjure red waves to roast the bugs into ash. Meanwhile, Renata had realized something. She found Atori and Gunther with her senses and rushed toward them as quickly as possible.

When immortals fought, mortals suffered. The two Gold-ranked mages couldn’t join the battle between the angel and the two demons, so they stayed far from the molten red sea, finding a relatively safe corner. But then they saw Renata flying towards them and the dense swarm of millipedes. They exploded with white light...

Rumble!!!

The white sphere of explosion expanded until sweeping across an entire section of the sky, overturning the molten sea and triggering tsunami waves. Renata reached Atori and Gunther, wrapping both men in her white wings. At the final moment before the white light struck, she erected layers of defensive magic to protect them.

Twisting currents crashed into them, and the hurricane of heat came down like a physical thing. Atori’s vision went white. In his dazed state, he could hear nothing but the explosions.

The air was exploding, and the space was shaking. Visible cracks spread in all directions, snaking between the molten flows and the dark sky, further destabilizing the space. At the top of the dome, hundreds of wind dragons roared furiously, rolling and tearing the spatial rifts into bottomless ravines. Deep within the dark vortex, electric currents crackled as the gates of hell shuddered violently.

After some time, the explosion’s shockwaves dissipated. The scattered lava flowed back from all directions, filling the depression in the center of the space.

With her defensive magic circles shattered, Renata’s protective wings around the two clergymen were rendered charred and bloody, the left wing hanging powerlessly. Sweat poured down her taut face like rain.

Gunther held the Golden Law and recited sacred scriptures to guide the angel’s sacred power, healing Renata’s injuries and restoring the wings to their original holiness. The effort left his face pale like paper.

“The Golden Law consumes too much of my thoughts. I can’t summon more radiance. Thankfully, the Thousand-Eyed Demon is dead, and the bat was seriously injured from the explosion.”

“No, the Thousand-Eyed Demon isn’t dead. His thoughts remain. And the bat isn’t critically injured, either. It’s the lord of this territory...”

Renata spoke slowly in a lilting and pleasant voice, at odds with her young face with baby fat. “The Thousand-Eyed Demon is attacking the gates of hell. He knows he’s going to lose and wants to send his remaining thoughts back to hell to minimize the losses from this descent attempt.”

As demons’ oldest opponent, the angel knew their way all too well. Once, the gates of hell had opened in heaven. The Lord of Pride led the armies of hell in an invasion, and the demons, fearing the considerable sunk cost, had all used the same escape tactic.

“The gates of hell are open. Will other demons descend?” Gunther asked urgently.

Renata said after a moment, “Possibly.”

The two clergymen’s expressions turned grim. Before they could say anything, Renata conjured her sacred spear and flew into the air. “I’ll stop demons from descending, but it’ll require more power. It’s time for you to make sacrifices.”

Gunther nodded. That wouldn’t be a problem. If he didn’t sacrifice himself, who else would? They couldn’t count on the bat-like demon, could they?

The demon would die laughing upon hearing that!

***

Deep in the molten sea, Wayne merged into the Bat Demon’s body, submerged in lava and blowing bubbles.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“That was close. I almost got injured.”

Before the Bat Demon, the altar had taken the brunt of the explosion. Though there was no serious damage, neither cracks nor missing corners, the carved patterns and text on top had been worn smooth.

“The key should be ruined.”

He stayed true to his original plan. Even in the most dangerous moment, he remembered to destroy the treasure he didn’t want anyone else to have, making sure he was the last one to benefit from it. After all, power was relative. When one grew stronger, another became weaker in comparison.

Sensing the heavy, oppressive thoughts above, Wayne frowned. It was the Thousand-Eyed Demon. Since the demon had failed to achieve his goal with his first self-detonation, he decided to go for a second attempt, creating an even bigger explosion to take Wayne down with him.

The demon had gone mad!

As the lord of the territory, Wayne had the ability to stop the Thousand-Eyed Demon, but he couldn’t leverage his authority to the fullest yet. While he had figured out a few tricks during combat, his understanding was limited, not enough to make the demon sit down for a proper conversation.

He had a vague feeling that with his authority, he could completely crush the Thousand-Eyed Demon and still have energy to capture the angel and lock her in a basement, but after several attempts, he still couldn’t figure out how to wield that power properly. The feeling of being stuck was uncomfortable, like a bubble of air stuck in his chest.

For example, he felt that in his territory, he should be able to come and go as he pleased, teleporting to any location, but he couldn’t make it happen. Something seemed to be restricting his thoughts.

“Is it the gates of hell?”

He looked up at the sky and saw the vortex blocked by a black figure. The Thousand-Eyed Demon’s thoughts had twisted reality and conjured a millipede roughly a thousand meters long. Its flat body resembled a centipede, but its head was identical to a millipede’s. Overall, it was more like a millipede from primeval times. It was evident what would happen if that thing exploded.

Surging energy coursed through every part of the millipede’s body, flowing into its hundreds of legs. The legs writhed like fangs of mouth-like orifices, which opened and revealed black demonic eyes.

Seeing Renata approach with a sacred spear in hand, the Thousand-Eyed Demon ignored her. The angel had little holy power left after protecting the clergymen, so she didn’t pose a threat. The Bat Demon hiding in the lava sea, on the other hand, had to be dealt with.

The Bat Demon had only just been born and become lord, yet had already learned to use the authority. It clearly had incredible potential. If left alone, wouldn’t the mortal realm be at the Bat Demon’s mercy?

The Thousand-Eyed Demon seethed with frustration. He had gone through the trouble of descending to conquer both the mortal realm and hell; it was for himself, not to give someone else a gift.

“What I can’t have, you won’t, either!”

Black light shot out of the thousand or more black demonic eyes. Deadly rays crisscrossed and spread to form a great net. While blocking Renata, they gradually weakened the stability of the surrounding space.

He would destroy the territory and detonate the gates of hell to drag the Bat Demon to hell with him!