Chapter 1896. Everyone’s Effort
The multiple interruptions slowed Mammon's advance, allowing everyone to catch up to him. His combat clone had run out of duration, so the world sentinel could come as well. The world sentinel was in shambles, though. If not for its high defense and HP, it would have been defeated by Mammon's combat clone.
Mammon looked at the opponents surrounding him. Jeanny and Freddie had also arrived. David and his magnetic drones never stopped tailing and attacking him from range. The Armaments of the Gods also caught up to him. These giant weapons still had a few seconds left in their duration. Only his target, Spring Crown, stayed away. Spring Crown fought other demons.
Seeing that made him wonder. Where were his other underlings? They clearly outnumbered the enemies. Why did it not appear so?
The reason was that Nova had abandoned the defensive walls. The underworld forces swarmed these defensive structures and destroyed the siege weapons without resistance. Nova had all their forces crowded around Mammon. This created a circular meat wall that surrounded Mammon and prevented other demons from entering, but outside this meat wall was the demon army.
This effectively meant the defender army was surrounded by the enemies. There was no escape. It was fight or die. Nova had truly gambled everything on this battle. There was no more retreat. Either they killed Mammon, or the demons outside the circumference whittled them down to the last soldier.
Even the mobile fortress came over to join the fight against Mammon. The siege weapons on the fortress opened fire, damaging the few demons inside the circumference whom Spring Crown fought against.
"Hey! Why don't you help fight Mammon?!" Selena called to Spring Crown from the fortress wall. She cast spells at the demons below.
"That devil is too scary!" Spring Crown answered.
Selena was speechless. What kind of an answer was that? Wasn't the whole reason these four came here to fight Mammon? Why was this number-one gamer chickening out now?
Their discussion didn't continue because a loud blast attracted their attention. They looked over and saw the ones who surrounded Mammon had been blown away from him. Mammon then zoomed in their direction.
"F*ck! He still doesn't let me go!" Spring Crown cursed. He left the demons he was fighting and ran past under the mobile fortress. He was using the mobile fortress as a cover.
Selena was still bewildered by the situation. But with Mammon coming at them, she didn't have the luxury of thinking too much. She and the other spellcasters inside the fortress cast their spells. However, Mammon's speed let him arrive at the fortress before they finished their casting.
Mammon gave the mobile fortress a double jump kick. Everyone inside the mobile fortress fell to the floor from the impact. The spells they were casting were forcefully canceled.
Mammon flew over the mobile fortress while the fortress dropped to the ground. He landed behind the mobile fortress, where Spring Crown was.
"Crap!" Spring Crown cursed again. Mammon was glaring at him while grimacing. Having three pairs of eyes and three mouths doing that was extremely unsettling. 𝚏r𝗲ewe𝚋𝐧𝚘vel.𝚌𝚘m
"F*ck this! Jeanny, I'm sorry. I can't save these skills for later!" Spring Crown yelled as Mammon's darkness-coated claw came slashing at him.
His weapon transformed again, but the transformation was different from before. It turned into a buckler that was two times the previous size. Its surface also changed shapes, with many layers of metallic horns jutting out. A layer of crimson aura blanketed the buckler.
When Mammon's claw clashed with the buckler, a shockwave radiated out.
Mammon was astounded. He expected Spring Crown to get flattened into the ground from the blow, but he felt a great power resisting him. He then felt this great power shoved his hand to the side. Behind the buckler was a different outworlder. Or more correctly, the outworlder had a different form.
The outworlder that was holding the buckler now had demonic features. His body was covered in crimson scales with overlapping carapaces protecting certain parts, making them look like armor. At the top of his head was a pair of large horns and two pairs of smaller horns behind. On his back were two slim black wings. Crimson flames were constantly burning on his body.
'Demonization? No, it's different!' Mammon thought.
What Spring Crown used were the skills from his fallen apostle's weapon, Demonize Weapon and Devilize.
The transformation stunned Mammon for a breath. Spring Crown didn't let the chance go. His weapon transformed into a spear, a demonic large spear.
He made an upperthrust while using Penetrating Stab combined with Seven Spears Assaulting Heaven. Mammon's reflex was fast enough to block the thrust using his arm even when he was still shocked by the turn of events.
Too bad Spring Crown's spear art was only a copy, and he could only pull four rapid stabs. However, his weapon under the Demonize Weapon had a strong wounding chance, so it drew blood from Mammon's arm in addition to scoring high damage.
"Ragghh…! This will be the last time you wound me!" Mammon screamed.
His other claw swiped from the side. Spring Crown flapped the black wings on his back. He shot away before the claw arrived.
Mammon didn't let him go. He turned into a flash and intercepted Spring Crown before he got far. His speed was still faster than Devilized Spring Crown. They clashed multiple times at high speed.
After several clashes, Spring Crown was sent crashing into the ground. Mammon was about to strike the grounded Spring Crown, but something else crashed into him. The impact halted his charge and allowed Spring Crown to get back up.
He looked at the one who halted him. It was Jeanny, also in Devilize form. David and Freddie, who were nearby, had also activated theirs.
"Hehe, you people have also used yours," Spring Crown said.
"Only the Devilize. We are saving our Demonize Weapon for later," Jeanny said. "Hopefully, we can get him into that state before our Devilize runs out of duration."
"Then, let's finish this quick!" Spring Crown exclaimed.
To do that, Jeanny used Beacon of Hope, increasing their prowess.
With Devilize, the four were quick enough to limit Mammon's movements. This allowed the battle dragon and the world sentinel to catch up and help pin Mammon down. Even the mobile fortress barged in and used its two metal arms to grab Mammon. Together with the world sentinel, who again had vines entangling Mammon's body, the devil had difficulty moving. This gave the others the freedom to land more attacks.
Unfortunately, the world sentinel's duration was coming to an end. When it did, the mobile fortress alone couldn't hold Mammon down. By then, Mammon's HP had been whittled down to less than 20%.
"Be careful! Wilted said he has a powerful offensive skill when his HP is low!" Jeanny warned everyone.
Mammon finally realized his precarious situation. With the world sentinel gone, he bumped his titanic body into the mobile fortress. The fortress' barrier was flickering. The rune diagram's power was at its end. He then tried to fly up. Yet, the fortress' two metal arms continued clamping down on him. They refused to let go. The fortress was too heavy for Mammon to pull into the sky.
"You think you can kill me just by sacrificing yourself? Think again!" Mammon roared. A surging dark aura shot up from his body. The aura was so intense it might as well be a black flame. The aura expanded until it completely covered Mammon. All everyone saw now was a thick pillar of black flame that went straight up into the sky.
"This is it! Everyone, move away!" Jeanny instructed.
Everyone did, except for the mobile fortress.
"Mother?!" Jeanny called.
"We can't let him get away," Nova uttered. "I can feel him trying to pull this fortress up. In the sky, it will be difficult to stop him. If he joins up with his army outside, he can hide behind them. They can even heal him. All our efforts will be wasted then. Don't worry, I wear the amulet of rebirth. Just make sure you win this war!"
Jeanny was about to reply, but a loud explosion stopped her. The dark pillar Mammon created suddenly shrunk and turned into a black blade. This black blade zoomed forward and sliced through the mobile fortress. The fortress' weakened barrier couldn't stop it.
The fortress split into two. Dark energy engulfed the fortress' two parts. This dark energy then erupted in a spectacular explosion. The huge blast caused a shockwave that radiated out and pushed everyone back.
When the blast was over, a huge crater was seen where the mobile fortress used to be. Mammon was the only thing still alive in this crater. He spread his four wings wide and shot upward.
He couldn't believe he was forced to flee. He knew the enemies tried to box him in. He had let them. He was confident he could take care of them even when he was alone. He saw now he had gravely underestimated the enemies.
Never mind, he thought. He would still defeat these enemies. He just needed to meet up with his army first.
As he gained altitude, two people intercepted him.
"Leaving so soon? I thought you wanted your revenge?" Spring Crown asked.
"You can't leave! For the sake of everyone's effort, we will defeat you!" Jeanny exclaimed.