novelraw Chapter 427 - 426 - Power of a Progenitor
Chapter 427 - 426 - Power of a Progenitor
Time became impossible to tell in the illusions. The mist made the city seem far away but likely it had to be mirroring the layout of the village or it would be easily overcome. Lind watched for a time as the demons carefully moved in teams.
They were also leaving a time by their tunnel, but Lind suspected that was a trap for him or Fey. Cutting off the enemy was a sound tactic but it could be used against a foe to anticipate their actions.
There was more than illusions at play as he could sense roughly the number of people as well. The entrance seemed to only have 10 to eyesight but the formation allowed him to know there were at least 30.
The 50 or so entering the village gave him at least 80 he was dealing with inside and more outside. It was far more than he had expected. Something was wrong but he would not figure it out by watching. It was time to thin the herd.
Lind put away his robes as his body began to grow. He would not be detected with all the illusions but the moment he began, chaos would ensue. The sneer on his snout made him look far more vicious as he moved off into the mists.
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Normally, a misty night would be perfect for their activities, but Galder quickly realized his senses were severely limited. It told him the person who made the illusions was very powerful but unlike any illusion formation encountered before, their Qi did not seem to affect it.
That kind of power was very rare and only a very short list of people could make them. The few grand masters were well known but the resources needed to buy them were astronomical.
To cover even the small village would bankrupt several sects easily. The fact Galder felt nothing while on the wall also spoke of a very high end illusion.
He turned to Saman but realized he could not see the demon leading his group! He then realized he could not feel any of the groups anymore.
"Beware an enemy attack!" Galder's voice echoed back to him but no voice answered. His four comrades had their weapons out but there was nothing, just the mists and the palace.
The silence began to be pressure when Galder felt the air shift. He ducked but nothing came. His instincts had screamed of danger but now he was lower to the ground with no attack evident.
What had that feeling been?
"Leader?" The voice of one of his followers made Galder turn but a nightmare was back there. A massive hulking form stood in the mists with vertically slit eyes and Galder never felt them at all!
"Behi–" he did not even finish the warning when 2 of the demons at the back were ripped in 2. Emerald claws dripped blood but the large shadow was easily tracked by Galder. He was clearly stronger, yet he felt fear in his soul.
Why? Why was he afraid of a weaker cultivator?
A glance at his fallen soldiers answered him. The injury was as lethal to anyone else, but their technique would normally allow them to live longer and possibly recover if they could feed, yet both corpses were still.
Further, they felt alien to him! There was no Fiend Qi in them at all!
"KILL HIM!" Galder processed all of that in the time it took for the shadow to move. The 3 of them flared their primary skill but were shocked when it touched the shadow and emerald light flared.
It looked at its hands and slowly nodded as if it expected the result.
Galder summoned a blade that looked wrong. It was pitch black but light seemed to be eaten around it as the air distorted. It was a Fiend sword! Such artifacts were rare and an instant death sentence to possess.
Galder felt such a threat but when the sword sailed through the air, it was stopped simply by a clawed hand while the other 2 attacks actually did damage. They were normal demonic weapons but why did his more powerful Fiend sword fail?
Emerald light flared and the sword crumbled into dust. It was only at that moment that Galder recalled where he had seen the hulking form before.
"LIND FREY! KILL HIM, HOLD NOTHING BACK!" All 3 tried to feed on him. They had no other more powerful ability but were shocked when it not only failed but an emerald sheen of light shot from the large humanoid dragon to them!
Galder quickly cut his connection and leapt back, but his 2 followers were too slow. He felt horror as the demons died without any injury! They simply fell over!
"What are you?! How are you doing that?!" Galder had faced many enemies but never met one that killed them with a touch of their Qi. The large shadow shrank before Lind Frey stood as a bare chested human before him.
His eyes narrowed as blood came from the demonic weapons that injured him. Why did those work?
"Your subordinates had a better grasp or they at least had no option but could actually hurt me. It seems your reliance on Fiend Qi will be your death." The cold dark green eyes had no mercy but Galder confirmed he was only tier 3! How could such a weak human beat him!
Galder refused and unleashed his full power. His body began to wither but the power was near tier 8! It should crush the human into a meat pulp!
He would need to feed soon after, but he had to kill the upstart in front of him. Lind did not panic as emerald light returned around his body.
"So the strength does not matter, or maybe you can't really bring out the strength of Fiend Qi? Interesting." Lind then looked on as Galder felt all hope leave his body.
"You have been very instructive, thank you." An emerald flame appeared in his hands and Galder felt the dregs of Fiend Qi try to leave his body! It was repelled by that flame!
"Lady Xin will make you regret this! She will toy with you for billions of years! I will be laughing from Hell!" Galder was shouting partly in true anger and hoping to draw attention from one of the other parties, but it was all too late.
The last thing Galder saw was the emerald light blinding his eyes.
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Lind had killed 2 other teams before finding the leader of the first assault. He already knew any Fiend Qi attack was useless but the weapon had been a gamble. He was just as shocked when it crumbled to nothing just by contact.
The final attack had brought up some disturbing ideas to Lind. The use of the Fiend Qi came at a price. It seemed to consume the user, so stronger uses clearly were the cause of the damage.
The large demon's body was damaged even with his harmony burning out the Fiend Qi. The damage was already done.
It left some dark questions that he doubted he would get answers to. Why did the Fiend Qi consume its host and was it intended or was there something else going on?
"I have no time." Lind knew the illusions could not last forever. He had tested enough to know that he had to kill them faster and their reliance on Fiend Qi was not their only weapon but actual weapons were not true threats.
He dove back into the mists and continued his massacre.
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Saman felt a pulse from his storage pouch. A deep frown appeared on his face as the only reason for that pulse was Galder dying. It was not so much a life tablet but an artifact that tied commanders to each other on missions.
They left an imprint on the idol, an ugly thing by any standard, and then for a month, they would know if the leader of a group died. There were only so many idols and the imprints had to fade before being used again, but they had not even passed a single night!
"Set some defenses, Galder is dead." His 4 companions did not seem bothered and instantly obeyed. Saman tried to contact the team by the entrance tunnel but his stone failed. Either it really failed or the illusion was far more impressive than he imagined.
The former was standard tactics but the latter was actually terrifying. Such a level of illusion was no different from a controlled reality. A special realm or Inheritance was essentially the same thing but an illusion master on such a scale was someone that should be known to the whole world.
The flash of a sapphire and golden face suddenly came to Saman and he felt his heart go cold. His wife! Lind Frey's wife was the spirits' cursed Mistress of Illusions!
He had easily had at least a decade to somehow get some formation plates from her and the Fierce Fairy was supposedly close to the family as well. Saman actually broke out in a sweat as he grasped his current situation.
"We need to break this illusion, now!" Saman turned to see the 4 formerly active men now lying on the ground. They were dead! When did they die, how?!
"Such a small amount can kill up to tier 4 but tier 5 can resist it seems." A voice came from the mists as a crimson robed Lind Frey emerged. He did not seem wary at all. He stood examining the corpses as if Saman was not there!
Such disregard from a junior would normally anger Saman but all he felt was terror. What was this man? He was not human at all!
Lind looked at Saman and seemed to be thinking about something.
"You are wise not to attack. Attacking seems to make the reaction worse. Not attacking does not stop it entirely and I can't yet control it either. Staying still was the best choice." Saman had no idea what the man was talking about but he made sure to keep his hands in the open.
"How are you doing that?! What happened to them?" Time, time was all he could buy but Lind sneered at him.
"Why should I be telling a dead Fiend toy that? You are a toy by the way. The technique may give you more life but I think I am understanding how that works now. A few of the others pushed themselves and died before I could even do anything." Saman felt his terror rise as swear broke out on his back.
Over extension was exactly as he described. It was no problem to use at tier level skills or Arts but going above came at the price of life force. All of them knew that!
"Anyway, you are the last one. I don't suppose you can tell me why you are all here?" Saman almost laughed. The absurd calm tone simply seemed insane as death was coming. All his instincts screamed to fight but the lone voice of experience told him there was nothing he could do.
The man before him was death the moment he was that close.
"You will die! Your little pet Maiden will be sent to oblivion! No one can stop the Great Mistress of us all! She will–" Saman felt his veins burn! Something broke inside him and for a moment clarity came back.
He recalled being forced into a ritual to consume his own family over 2 million years ago. He remembered being enraged and horrified as that temptress laughed but once he fed, it all fell away.
Tears fell as he looked at Lind and some last vestige of his old self broke through.
"Kill her, please kill her!" Surprise on the human face was the last thing he saw as darkness closed in.