This was Du Ze's second time seeing Baal. Compared to his hasty coming and going the last time, this time he finally had enough time to take a look at the legendary first demon god.
Across from them, Baal was like a towering mountain blocking everyone's way—not in terms of size, but in terms of his powerful aura. He was about two meters tall, with curved horns that matched his height, and a pair of deep purple eyes that could be mistaken for black—a symbol of the demons' extreme power. The demon god stood in the center of the arena, looking as majestic as an emperor, making everyone realize how insignificant they were.
Du Ze looked at Baal, as if he saw the future Xiu. In terms of blood relationship, Baal should be considered the father of Xiu's grandfather, but the two people who looked 60% similar standing face to face like this, looked like a father and son. Du Ze actually thought fortunately, the last time Baal dragged the God of Light to die together, it was more or less for Xiu, right? So this time, would Baal choose to let them pass like Belyar did?
Baal is a difficult opponent to defeat both emotionally and physically.
The arena was silent at this time. Under the pressure of the First Demon God, everyone felt short of breath and even began to restrain their breathing. Baer had been staring at Xiu. His eyes were deep and nothing could be seen. Du Ze only heard Baer say to Xiu: "Your name."
"build."
"Draw your sword."
Everyone was stunned. Without greeting or communication, the First Demon God just declared a duel so cleanly. Seeing that Xiu did not say anything, Baal raised his hand, and purple-gold arcs gathered around him, preparing to attack.
"We are almost done with the Demon Arena, but you still don't understand? If you want to move forward, you must destroy everything that stands in your way - or is it that you can't do anything to me?"
The jumping lightning made Baal's face change from light to dark. Baal stared at Xiu and said in a voice close to a sigh: "You shouldn't be merciful. The demons are not supposed to be merciful."
[The demons paid with kindness and took away the destruction. 】
Hearing Baal's words, Du Ze almost reflexively thought of the copy of "Mixed Blood". Before he could think about it carefully, he saw Xiu slowly walking forward.
"Indeed." Xiu agreed with Baal. He stretched out his hand and the thousand changes transformed into a magic knife in his hand. "So I will kill you."
He has something he desires very much, and for that goal, he can throw away everything, give up everything, and even destroy everything.
After hearing Xiu's response, Bal's expression was more of joy than relief.
"I will not show mercy," Baal said. "If I let you go and let you be killed by other gods, it would be better for me to kill you with my own hands."
Are there other gods? While Du Ze was in a daze, Xiu and Baal had already faced off. The entire arena was covered by thunder, and Mor had to protect everyone in the corners of the arena. Even he did not dare to face the terrifying energy contained in those seemingly small arcs.
Baal took a step, and the hissing lightning formed a thunder circle, spreading outward from the place where Baal stepped, so fast that it was impossible to see clearly. Xiu used his bat wings to protect himself, and when the thunder circle passed by, he spread his wings and chopped down at Baal from the air with a knife in both hands.
“Sizzle——”
The sharp blade chopped off a purple light, and the purple-gold lightning condensed into a solid in Baal's hand, forming a lightning blade. The lightning flowed to the blade of Fenyu, forming a shining chain. Xiu tried to retreat, but Baal's lightning blade firmly attracted Fenyu like a magnet. The strong current flowed to Xiu through Fenyu, and Xiu frowned, with a flash of pain in his expression. It was a power he was very familiar with, but this time it brought him harm.
Baal stared at Xiu, and one lightning ball after another began to gather around him. Just as he said before, Xiu had no chance to breathe. One lightning ball after another bombarded Xiu, and even with the protection of his wings, Xiu was seriously injured. He pursed his lips, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. Xiu also used the Thunder of Destruction, but as soon as his lightning touched Baal's lightning, it was instantly destroyed by the opponent, just like a child encountering an adult, unable to resist.
"Only those who have been hurt can understand its true power," Baer said. "We have the power to destroy everything - including ourselves."
Three lightning balls pierced Xiu's wings, but Xiu's eyes lit up. Lightning represented destruction, and he knew that this force was very strong, so strong that his body could hardly bear it, so every time he used this force, he would instinctively suppress it to a level that would not hurt his body.
Xiu looked at Baal, then closed his eyes. He had to move forward, so he had to destroy all obstacles.
"Buzz—"
The originally purple-white lightning instantly condensed into purple-gold, and they became thinner and thinner, and even faintly turned into purple-black. Xiu opened his eyes, and the purple eyes flowing with lightning became brighter and brighter, and finally looked like a ball with mercury flowing, and the narrow demon pupils were particularly clear.
Xiu's body began to bleed all over, and if he tensed up a little more, he would turn into a pool of blood. His lightning was finally compressed to the thickness of a hair, and it was more appropriate to call it an arc than a lightning. The purple-black arc easily tore through Bal's sword, breaking through all obstacles and jumping towards Bal.
Baal looked at Xiu who looked like a bloody man. Although the power was very strong, it was still a little immature. For Baal, even if he couldn't escape the attack of the purple-black arc, he could drag Xiu to die together with him the moment he was hit.
——But that’s not necessary.
Baal waved his hand, and the remaining ten lightning balls hit the purple-black arc, and then were broken by the opponent. At the moment when he was engulfed by the lightning, the First Demon God narrowed his eyes slightly, seeming very satisfied.
“Sizzle—Snap!!!”
Thunder roared, and the entire arena shook. When Du Ze came out from Mor's protection, what appeared before him was a half-destroyed arena. The incomplete arena floated in the void, and Xiu, covered in blood, stood on one of the floors. Opposite him was not a magic teleportation array, but a purple light that went straight into the sky. It seemed to be the exit of the Demon God Arena.
Is this... the end?
Xiu was badly injured, his left wing was broken, and his whole body was covered with wounds. Du Ze tried to help Xiu deal with the wounds in a panic, but at this moment, the arena seemed to be unable to bear it anymore and began to collapse. Without giving them time to hesitate, Mor led everyone directly into the purple light. Du Ze closed his eyes and opened them again, and found that they were back to the circular hall where they entered the tower. The hall was still packed with people, and even though Mor was in dragon form, he didn't feel crowded.
Du Ze didn't care about why they came back. With the help of the sisters and Ariel, Du Ze began to treat the wound of Xiu. When he saw the hole, his heart was pounding. Under the protection of Mor, he couldn't see anything, but could only hear the sound. From the current tragic situation, both sides did not hold back. Although he didn't see it, Du Ze didn't know why he felt that both Baal and Xiu got what they wanted.
Xiu seemed a little tired, leaning lazily against Du Ze without saying a word. People were coming and going around, but no one could bother anyone. After applying medicine to Xiu's wound, Du Ze breathed a sigh of relief, and then found that Xiu was staring in one direction. Du Ze followed Xiu's gaze and looked over there, and then was stunned - was the stone statue there before?
There were several stone platforms placed around the circular hall, and a stone statue appeared on one of the platforms. Its appearance was very standard, and because it was too standard, it had no characteristics. Only a pair of bat-like wings could show that it was a demon. Du Ze was very sure that he did not see such a demon stone statue when he first came in. This stone statue should have appeared after they finished fighting in the Demon God Arena.
...Is this a sign that they have passed a level? The Demon Arena is just the first level of the tower?
Du Ze glanced at the other blank stone platforms, and this time he counted them carefully, and there were exactly seven. Du Ze thought of the main god that Baal had mentioned before, and added the number of stone platforms, and finally realized the author's sinister intention - one shot for each race~ dear.
Damn, I've already become a bloody man after fighting a demon arena. Wouldn't it be exhausting to fight a copy of all races! QAQ Xiu looked at the stone statue thoughtfully. There was only one entrance to the circular hall, the light gate, which meant that they could only move forward and not retreat. Except for old John who couldn't move and Du Ze who was equipped by Xiu, everyone else was sent by Xiu to the hall to find Rachel and others. Du Ze only then remembered the Thunder Legion that was separated from them. According to Dan, as long as they passed the first level, they could recruit followers without limit.
They searched the circular hall for several times but did not see any members of the Thunder Legion. They did not know whether they had not come out or something unexpected had happened. Both Heidi and Dan mentioned that the Tower of God was very random and it was completely a matter of fate to meet them again, so they could only give up.
Although Xiu's wounds needed some time to heal, they only rested for one day in the round hall before deciding to enter the light gate again. In the round hall, although other people were in a different space from them and could not contact them, they could still see them. Under the gaze of so many people, many things were inconvenient to do, and even sleeping was not stable.
Even though he was seriously injured, Xiu still pulled Du Ze to walk in first. Although he had entered once, Du Ze still felt a sense of nervousness about the unknown the moment he stepped into the light gate. The bright light gradually faded, and before his vision was restored, Du Ze felt the wind blowing on his face, with the scent of grass and a hint of decay.
Du Ze blinked. They were in a small forest. Opposite them, there were about a hundred skeletons looking at them. Among them were skeleton soldiers, skeleton warriors, skeleton archers, and a skeleton wizard. Mordin instantly transformed into a dragon and prepared to attack. What saved the skeletons from being crushed to pieces was their action.
All the skeletons knelt down in front of Xiu in an orderly manner. The leader was the skeleton wizard. He opened his hollow mouth and used the necromancy spell to speak: [Master Centurion, please lead us to occupy the Chaos Continent.]
...What is this unfolding?
Xiu seemed a little surprised. He asked the Skeleton Mage, "What did you call me?"
[Master Centurion, please lead us to occupy the Chaos Continent.] said the Skeleton Mage.
No matter how they asked, the Skeleton Mage would only repeat the same sentence mechanically, which seemed to be deliberately arranged. Du Ze stared at the Skeleton Mage. Unlike the Demon God Arena, this time the God Tower probably prepared some hints for them?
Xiu thought for a while, then tried to give instructions to the group of undead, and found that they really obeyed his command. It seemed that the group of skeletons really regarded him as their centurion. The first half of the skeleton mage's words had been explained, and the latter part seemed to be asking Xiu to use these skeletons to conquer the Chaos Continent?
The situation was unclear, and they didn't know whether to believe the information revealed by the Skeleton Mage. They decided to leave the forest and explore the surroundings. From the experience of the Demon Arena, the initial level would not pose too much threat to them. When the group walked out, the group of skeletons followed them spontaneously. Even if Xiu asked them to leave, the group of skeletons would just stay there stupidly for a while and then follow them again.
The forest was not big, and it took about an hour to get out. Du Ze was stunned after walking out of the forest. The scene in front of him made him feel that he was not in the tower but in the Chaos Continent. The blue sky was endless. Outside the forest was a small village, not big, with less than ten households, and the end could be seen at a glance. It was autumn, the harvest time, and Du Ze saw several farmers bending over to pick up wheat ears. When those people looked up and saw them walking out of the forest - especially Xiu Shi with wings and horns, their smiling faces instantly turned into fear.
"The dead are coming——"
The people screamed miserably, and the whole village was startled. Every household closed their doors and windows. The few people who were in the fields were so frightened that their legs were weak. They huddled together with their hoes, trembling.
Du Ze watched all this in silence, while Old John, maintaining a gentle smile, stepped forward and tried to communicate with the other party.
"We are sorry to disturb you. Please don't be afraid. We have no bad intentions." Old John's voice was convincing. "If you wish, we will leave immediately. Before that, may I ask..."
Old John's words were interrupted by stones thrown at him. One of the farmers seemed to be frightened and recklessly grabbed a stone and threw it at Old John with all his might.
"Damn undead!"
Old John had to step back to avoid the stones. Seeing this, the others seemed to be inspired and started picking up stones to throw at Du Ze and his group.
“Go to hell!”
"Get out of here, you evil undead!"
Xiu grabbed the stone that was about to hit Du Ze and crushed it into powder. He stared at the group of people who were cursing and seemed to recall some bad memories. At this moment, the skeletons behind caught up. When they saw the village, the group of skeletons seemed to be stimulated by something. They rushed out of the woods and rushed towards the farmers in the fields.
As the farmer lifted the stone in triumph, he saw skeletons rushing towards him. One person had his neck broken by the skeletons, but the other reacted faster and grabbed a hoe to cut the skeleton in half. Even with half of its body missing, the skeleton could still crawl with its hands, grabbing the man's thighs and climbing onto his body, its dark eye sockets staring into the man's terrified and desperate eyes.
“Click.”
The farmers in the field were killed in the blink of an eye. The Skeleton Mage staggered to the corpses, and his hollow mouth creaked twice. A cloud of black smoke enveloped the corpses, and the corpses were melted into skeletons in an instant. The skeletons climbed up from the ground, looking a little confused at first, but then they immediately joined the group of skeletons, and they could no longer be distinguished from each other.
After dealing with the peasants, the skeletons began to rush into the village. Du Ze subconsciously looked at Xiu. Xiu didn't know whether he didn't see it or didn't want to stop it. At this time, Xiu looked up at the sky in the distance, which was the direction they came from. Compared with the clear sky here, the sky over there was filled with layers of dark clouds, exuding a strong ominous atmosphere.
"So that's how it is..." Xiu laughed softly. His expression was very strange, as if he was mocking, but also implying an extremely deep sadness. After noticing Du Ze's gaze, Xiu put his hand on Du Ze's neck, and his voice was soft and low, as if he was telling a bedtime story.
"Have you heard of the undead scourge?"