“You damned bastard, release You’er! Let him go!”
Upon seeing You’er injured, Timobi roared in fury.
His hands unable to reach, he resorted to kicking Antos, though his efforts had no discernible effect on the man.
“Don’t rush, I’ll release them both in a moment. You included, hee hee hee.”
Antos gripped both You’er and Timobi by their necks, a sinister grin spreading across his face, intending to hurl them into the demonic array.
****
A thunderous crash echoed as the ceiling above the plaza suddenly fractured, a massive chasm tearing open.
A figure, wreathed in frenzied demonic energy, descended with explosive force, his knight’s sword sweeping wide.
A gale raged, tearing countless ghouls into scattered chunks of flesh.
“You cur, how dare you harm my son? If I don’t pulverize you today, I’ll stop calling myself Tilu!”
Tilu brandished his sword once more, deflecting the surging tide of ghouls around him before looking up at Antos, his eyes glinting with fierce malice.
“Hee hee hee, what can a mere Arch-Swordsman like you possibly do to me?”
Antos had initially been startled by the sudden intrusion, but upon sensing Tilu’s aura, a look of utter disdain quickly crossed his face.
“He’s not the only one!”
A voice drifted down, and several more figures descended from above.
Clad in matching uniforms, they were deacons from the Adventurers’ Guild.
“You demon, you have wrought havoc across our Donghuang. Today, you have nowhere left to run; surrender now!” one of the leading deacons declared, pointing at Antos.
As his defiant words fell, powerful demonic energy erupted from all the deacons simultaneously, none seeming significantly weaker than Tilu.
“Damn the Adventurers’ Guild; they are incredibly persistent.”
Antos’s expression darkened at the sight.
Even with his sixth-tier strength, confronting so many Arch-Swordsmen and Arch-Mages simultaneously would prove quite troublesome.
Fortunately, no Sword Saints or Arch-Mages of the highest caliber had appeared; otherwise, he would be utterly incapable of handling the situation.
“Dad!”
Spotting Tilu’s figure from afar, Timobi let out a joyous shout.
“Dad, hurry! Beat this big bad guy to a pulp!”
“Silence, you stinking brat!” Antos snarled, his fingers tightening, a low, chilling hiss escaping his clenched teeth.
“You filthy vermin, tear these annoying nuisances to shreds for me!”
The ‘filthy vermin’ he referred to were, of course, the ghouls.
Receiving their master’s command, the ghouls, fearless of death and impervious to pain, began to lunge indiscriminately at everyone.
“Earth and Water elemental swordsmen and mages, protect the children! The rest of you, follow me! Let’s slaughter these abominations!”
With the leading deacon’s command, the curtain rose on the battle.
****
Demonic winds surged as Tilu, a veritable cannonball of raw power, shot upwards from below, directly at Antos, who stood at the edge of the altar.
“You mongrel, release them!”
Tilu raised his knight’s sword with both hands, and as a tempest swept around the blade, a Storm Greatsword, ten meters long, materialized, cleaving down towards Antos.
The immense wind pressure caused Antos’s face to twitch, yet he showed no panic.
The bat-like wings on his back abruptly expanded, crashing against Tilu’s Storm Greatsword like two massive cleavers several meters wide.
Intense demonic energy surged and splattered, almost blinding everyone.
With a resounding crash, both figures were simultaneously thrown off balance, sent hurtling backward.
The difference was that Antos used his bat wings to dissipate the recoil, while Tilu slammed solidly into a stone pillar behind him, shattering the thick column.
“Crimson Flame Burst!”
“Great Wind Cascade!”
Magical brilliance flared as two Arch-Mages from the Adventurers’ Guild launched their attacks.
A raging fireball and a swirling wind cascade enveloped Antos from above and below.
The intertwining wind and fire unleashed a terrifying power, like the gaping maw of a beast, instantly devouring Antos.
Naturally, You’er and Timobi, still clutched in Antos’s hands, could not escape.
“Bastards!”
The magic arrays beneath the two Arch-Mages’ feet had just faded when they were struck by a furious, heavy punch from Tilu.
“If anything happens to my son or young master You’er, I swear I will never forgive you!”
“If that creature escapes, it will cause an even greater catastrophe!”
The two Arch-Mages rose from the ground, their faces impassive as they spoke to Tilu, for they, too, had their mission.
Tilu had no desire to argue with them.
He gripped his greatsword, his gaze fixed intently on the erupting mass of wind and fire demonic energy in the sky until it finally dissipated.
First to emerge were Antos’s charred bat wings, curled into a spherical shape, protecting his body.
Both You’er and Timobi had thus narrowly escaped harm.
“Pesky nuisances, get down there and become nutrients, hee hee hee.”
Antos had protected them not out of any goodwill, but because he couldn’t let them die prematurely.
Without hesitation, he then hurled both of them towards the altar.
“Damn it, I can’t move…”
This was an excellent chance to escape, but You’er’s shoulders had both been pierced, leaving him utterly powerless.
He couldn’t even use a breakthrough sword technique to carry Timobi to safety.
At most, he could only shield Timobi with his body as they both plummeted into the altar’s blood-ink demonic array.
“Son!”
This sight made Tilu’s eyes burn with rage.
His feet shattered the stone slabs as he charged towards the altar where the two had fallen.
“Don’t go in!” an accompanying deacon tried to warn him, but could not stop him.
Buzz!
Buzz!
With the arrival of new ‘sacrifices,’ the altar’s demonic array surged into furious operation.
Grey demonic mist billowed forth, and the ‘Reaper’ phantom, scythe in hand, reappeared.
The phantom raised its scythe, and if its blade struck, You’er and Timobi would undoubtedly have their blood and souls stolen, just like the girl before them!
Shriiiiek!
The phantom’s scythe slashed down, carving an ear-splitting shriek into the floor inscribed with the demonic array.
The strike, however, missed its mark; in the nick of time, You’er had used his body to push Timobi, who was the intended target, out of the way.
But the phantom seamlessly delivered a second strike.
“Breakthrough Technique: Storm Pierce!”
Boom!
In that critical moment, Tilu, enveloped in demonic winds, descended like a meteor from the heavens, carrying immense force, smashing the ‘Reaper’ phantom and its scythe into smithereens.
“Timobi, young master You’er, let’s go!”
Having arrived just in time, Tilu hoisted You’er and Timobi onto his back, intending to flee the altar and the demonic array with them.
However…
Buzz!!
Buzz!!
How could the Holy Death Demon Pearl, hidden within the blood-ink light pillar, allow such a delicacy to escape its grasp?
It unleashed wicked and surging blood-ink demonic light.
Under the illumination of the demonic light, one ‘Reaper’ phantom after another was born, leaving Tilu no escape route.
“Damn it!!…”
Tilu’s face changed drastically, for each ‘Reaper’ phantom emanating from the array brought with it a sense of impending death.
The gleam reflected from each ‘Reaper’s’ scythe was bone-chilling and suffocating.