Chapter 743: Hell Python
The 18 Death Knights that were riding Nightmares formed a small line and assaulted from left and right of Lin Li’s Light and Darkness Domain. The strength of the Death Knights was actually not too outstanding on the surface. The strongest one had just reached level-19, while the weakest one was at level-18. In fact, after Lin Li subdued and acquired them, their abilities didn’t change much, because they didn’t have a lot of opportunities to devour soul fire in large amounts.
Lin Li originally planned to use the bones of the Titan obtained from the Haiga Mountain Range to build a legendary fortress that could effectively enhance the strength of the Death Knights. Unfortunately, he was trapped in the chaos of time and space for half a year. After returning to the Tower of Dusk, he was too busy with his own matters, and did not have time to build the Black Front Fortress. Moreover, as he got more and more power, he also ignored the Death Knights. After all, even if he spent time to build the Black Front Fortress, the strength of the Death Knights wouldn’t be increased immediately.
In fact, the Death Knights were truly a self-contained system that could not be constrained or affected by any force. Only the Death Knights that had suddenly broken through to level-20 could command their own kind. Those were called Retribution Knights. Besides, when Lin Li acquired the Death Knights, he was actually mistaken for a Retribution Knight by them. Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for them to take orders from him even if they’d got killed.
Generally speaking, there could be only one Retribution Knight. When a Retribution Knight appeared, all Death Knights in Anril would abandon their evolutionary path and let their power stay in the original level forever. They would also allow the soul fire that they had devoured to be dedicated to the only Retribution Knight. However, the strength of the Death Knight itself would not actually stagnate because of the stop of evolution. As long as the Retribution Knight that led them became stronger, they would be able to exert more powerful abilities during battles.
Although Lin Li was not a real Retribution Knight, and couldn’t strengthen the combat power of the Death Knights using the bonus effects of the halo, Lin Li still had the debris of the stars that could strengthen all Undead creatures. The Light and Darkness Domain that Lin Li was now activating was akin to a strong battle aura to the Death Knights. Although the levels of the Death Knights in the Light and Darkness Domain were not high, the combat power that they exerted was not inferior to a real Retribution Knight’s.
However, Lin Li found it to be a pity that there were so few Death Knights. The 18 Death Knights formed a line, and they looked just like needles in the endless Black Current. Although the sharp ones could pierce through all obstacles, the impact on the enemy was almost negligible. Looking at the riders who were rushing in from left and right, Lin Li was filled with regret. If it were the Death Knights that were led by the Retribution Knight in the Seven-Realm Spiral, they would probably be able to destroy the endless Zago Demons.
The Lord of Nightmares was inclined to attack on the spiritual level. In addition to disrupting the rhythm of attacks of the Zago Demons, he would also control a few Sickle Black-armored Demons from time to time and suddenly attack enemies. The demon Gordon was just like a small glistening Alchemy Colossus. While slaughtering the Sickle Black-armored Demon, he was still tearing the thick carapace from their bodies and chewing on them.
Ujfalusi controlled the Humerus Wyrms and made them circle and hover above the heads of the Death Knights in the Light and Darkness Domain, continuously casting various curses. This time, he did not summon the Undead Army. When faced with the Zago Demons, the Humerus Wyrms would not play any significant role at all. Hence, his task was to follow the Death Knights and weaken the enemies that the Death Knights were facing.
Vampires were natural assassins, and in this large-scale battle, the role that assassins could play was actually very limited. However, Norfeller was after all a rare Legendary powerhouse amongst Vampires. With the talent that he acquired during his level-22 enlightenment, he could easily see the enemy’s fatal weaknesses. Therefore, although only one enemy could be attacked by him at a time, the results would be very significant, and almost every blow would be able to kill a Sickle Black-armored Demon.
While commanding his various subordinates, Lin Li tried to deal with the various waves of attacks by the Zago Demons. He would glance at the other battles from time to time. Naturally, he didn’t care about the well-being of Rosen. The ones he were truly concerned about were the other three old men: Andoine, Aldwin, and Macklin. Andoine was his teacher who led him to the magic palace and meant a lot to him. On the other hand, Aldwin and Macklin had also given him a lot of help when he participated in the trial in the Alanna Guild of Magic. Although Lin Li could barely save himself, he would definitely not sit back and do nothing if the three old men were really in danger.
However, judging from the current situation, it seemed that what Lin Li worried about was unlikely to happen. Although Andoine was also a level-23 Legendary-mage and the Thorn Domain that he created was not an extremely powerful Magical Domain, his combat experience was obviously vaster than Lin Li’s by more than one level.
In Andoine’s Thorn Domain, the wild plants that were growing rapidly had already covered the burning flames on the ground, and the thick vines were like green pythons tightly winding around any enemies that broke into domain. Although the finely serrated sickles of the Sickle Black-armored Demons were extremely sharp, they would be unable to cause too much damage even to seemingly fragile plants once they did not have any leverage. If a single vine was cut off, two or three others would replace it immediately. The hard and smooth carapaces of the Sickle Black-armored Demons made crackling sounds when the green pythons wound tightly around them.
The problem with the Thorn Domain was not because of Lin Li’s mistake, but because Andoine’s rich combat experience had already exerted enough power to make up for the shortcomings of the weak Thorn Domain, at least for the time being. The Black Current had yet to constitute an effective threat to Andoine for now.
Not too far away from Andoine was Aldwin, whose power had forcibly been upgraded by one level using Geresco’s staff. However, the promotion by foreign objects was only an improvement in strength, and it was impossible to gain a true understanding of nomological power at level-23. Although Aldwin showed the magical waves of a level-23 mage, he was still worlds apart from an actual level-23 mage.
Fortunately, the Magical Domain owned by Aldwin was the Flaming Storm Domain that was known purely for its power. Although there was no room for evolution in the Magical Domain, it was rather advantageous only at the Legendary level. In the sky that was within the range of the Magical Domain, the crimson clouds continuously rolled in, while fireballs fell onto the ground like rain. The flames on the ground seemed to be swallowed by the flames of the Flaming Storm Domain, and turned into a burning sea of red flames.
The Zago Demons that poured into the Flaming Storm Domain were covered in oil as soon as they stepped into the sea of flames, and were instantly ignited, becoming huge flaming torches. Some of the higher-ranked ones seemed to have a certain resistance to fire-element magic, but their carapace was already burnt red as they continued to pounce on Aldwin. However, the fireballs that fell ruthlessly smashed against the ground and engulfed them in flames.
Although in the present situation, Aldwin and Andoine did not seem to be in bad predicament, Lin Li still commanded his subordinates to slowly approach the two of them because Lin Li found out from Connoris that the Sickle Black-armored Demons were just shields for the Zago Demons, and the real enemies had yet to surface.
However, it was not an easy task to move in this turbulent Black Current, and it required more than just flying over. In fact, they had to maintain a strict defense. There were not only Shadow Assassins and Death Knights, but also plenty of Legendary powerhouses. However, they felt like a floating boat in this Black Current, and every mile of movement would require plenty of effort.
At this moment, the Black Current in the direction that Lin Li was facing suddenly separated and moved apart to both sides, and a figure that was nearly 100 meters long emerged in the Light and Darkness Domain. It had a shield-shaped black shell and two forelimbs that had sickles more than 10 meters long. It also had thick and sharp spikes.
A Shadow Assassin suddenly darted out of the darkness like a ray of black lightning, and collided with the giant’s head. However, the giant python-type demon was surprisingly quick and nimble. With a slight turn of its head, it would spurt out thick liquids at the Shadow Assassin, causing its Shadow Iron body to corrode. The sealed soul would also be instantly extinguished in the scorching flames.
“A Hell Python!” Lin Li panicked, and raised the Helios’ Scepter high in the air, no longer bothering to move towards Andoine. The dozens of Angels of Light and Dark suddenly formed a figure in the void, flapping their black and white wings for a while and holding a long spear.
The Hell Pythons were one of the main contributors to the Zago Demons’ power. Compared to the Sickle Black-armored Demons, they were definitely stronger by more than just one level. In addition to having strong power and high defense, the liquid that they spat out was also highly poisonous and corrosive, and much stronger than a dragon’s breath. More importantly, they did not have high-end combat power even though they were one of the strongest. Although there were less of them than the Sickle Black-armored Demons, they were rather numerous too.
Dozens of Angels of Light and Dark swarmed towards it with sharp spears and giant swords that were condensed with the power of Light and Darkness. However, they couldn’t do any damage to the carapace. The Hell Python swung its sickles forward and directly split several Angels of Light and Dark in front of it, after which it spat out some venom that caused the Angels of Light and Dark to corrode.
Lin Li’s research on the power of Holy Light and Gloomy Dark was much more advanced now, and although the condensation process was rather hasty, each Angel of Light and Dark also had level-18’s power. Yet, they could not even endure the attacks of the Hell Python.
Lin Li could clearly see that the surging Black Current was dividing into various channels behind the Hell Python—more of them were quickly passing through the Black Current. They were also rushing in the direction of several other battles.
Although Lin Li had already heard about them from Connoris, he never knew how terrifying the pythons were until he experienced it himself. Lin Li’s face became a little gloomy; he suddenly tightened his grip, and the dozens of Angels of Light and Dark that surrounded the Hell Python immediately gave up and leaped onto its body. The conflicting power of Light and Darkness resulted in a vigorous explosion. Despite the amazing defensive power of the Hell Python, the force of the two opposing forces of light and darkness was definitely not something it could resist.
With the roar of the explosion, the 100-meter-long Hell Python was finally blown to pieces, while the Light and Darkness flashed and flickered. However, despite the destruction of a Hell Python, Lin Li couldn’t relax at all. The power consumed by such an attack was not ordinary. If there were only dozens of them, Lin Li would probably still be able to cope with it, but looking at the endless Black Current in the distance, Lin Li reckoned that there had to be hundreds of them.
Moreover, Lin Li still remembered what Connoris had said about the Hell Pythons being considered less than high-end in terms of combat prowess amongst the Zago Demons. Actually, even if the tyrant Balak were to appear on his own, none of them would be able to flee. Balak was a true ancient deity and a powerhouse amongst them. Even a Legendary powerhouse might not be able to be his match[1].
The situation in front of him was definitely fatal. Lin Li was continuously launching his attacks only because he didn’t want to let it go without putting up a fight. Besides, if Lin Li died there, none of his servants who were bound to him by the Soul Contract would survive even if they did not participate in the battle.
“Go to hell, disgusting bug!” Angelano suddenly yelled on the battlefield.
The Sickle Black-armored Demons could not constitute a threat to the Titan-level Alchemy Colossus at all. It did not even need any magical weapons. It could kill those demons just by stepping on them with its huge feet.
[1] I think the author means being unable to escape here lol.