“Swish!”
A devilish violet light chopped out, and the dozens of tendrils in front, almost as though they had become brittle, were chopped through by Bloodviolet.
“Swoosh!” Linley immediately seized the opportunity to fly out from the hole he had created.
“Boss.” Bebe immediately flew over. “Quick, onto my back.”
Bebe had transformed his size to become larger, and without hesitating at all, Linley directly leapt onto Bebe’s back, and Bebe’s speed immediately increased dramatically. Bebe, Desri, and Fain were the fastest in the group, and now that Bebe was moving at maximum speed, he quickly escaped the tendrils behind them.
“Whew.” Only now did Linley let out a long sigh.
Just then, the feeling of being surrounded by hundreds of tendrils really was akin to the feeling of the end coming.
For the sake of chasing after Linley, the Queen Mother, Lachapelle, had lost ground on the others. In addition, after witnessing Linley’s dangerous situation, the others had learned to be smarter.
“Quick, Olivier, onto my back,” a Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion shouted, while the other Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion barked the same to the nearby Rosarie. Amongst these experts, the fastest were Bebe, Fain, and Desri, and after them were the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion, Tulily, and the Blackscale Scorpion.
As for Linley, Olivier, and Rosarie, they were slightly slower.
Both Olivier who trained in the Elemental Laws of Light and Linley who trained in the Elemental Laws of the Wind were all extremely fast. In addition, Olivier combined both darkness and light, while Linley was a Dragonblood Warrior… but compared to the likes of Bebe, Fain, Tulily, and the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions, the two were still slower.
“This Blackscale Scorpion is really fast as well,” One of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion said casually while flying.
The Blackscale Scorpion was of a race that normally was of the ninth rank. It was already quite incredible for this Blackscale Scorpion to reach the peak Saint stage. For his speed to be so fast as well… truly was amazing.
The eleven experts fled at high speed, and in the end, the Queen Mother, Lachapelle, finally gave up.
“Just now, that human youngster’s sword was quite strange.” The Queen Mother Lachapelle stared as Linley’s group disappeared beyond the horizons. “With but a single sword, he broke over ten of my tendrils, but the most amazing thing is… although the other dozens of tendrils his sword passed by didn’t shatter, they were damaged so severely that they only had a tenth of their usual strength.”
“Whew. Let’s take a rest,” Desri said.
The eleven experts didn’t dare land on the desert, and so they halted in mid-air. Clearly, that Lachapelle had truly terrified this group of people.
“This Queen Mother is simply too much of a monster,” Fain said with a frown. “Even Rutherford and Karossa were killed in an instant, and just then, when she chased after us, I felt extremely nervous.”
Everyone was resting right now.
When they were fleeing earlier, they hadn’t dared to be the slightest bit incautious.
“Linley, I saw that Queen Mother attack you. What do you think?” Tulily looked at Linley.
Linley’s face was rather ugly to look at.
That scene earlier had been way too dangerous. Linley shook his head and said solemnly, “This Queen Mother is far more dangerous than the Flame Tyrant. When I attacked it with Bloodviolet just now, my full force blow wasn’t able to break through that tendril. This… you must understand, there were thousands on thousands of these tendrils.”
“It didn’t break under your full force blow?” The faces of all the experts changed.
Everyone knew how strong the Dragonblood Warriors were. Despite combining that with the Profound Truths of the Wind, Linley still hadn’t been able to break through the tendril with a single blow. One could imagine how tough that tendril was.
“Afterwards, when the tendrils surrounded you, Linley, we were all very worried. How did you manage to break out? Given the toughness of those tendrils, it must have been extremely difficult,” Desri asked, and all the nearby experts looked at Linley.
Right now, experience was very important.
Rutherford and Karossa, who had also been surrounded by the Queen Mother’s tendrils, were both dead. Only Linley had escaped.
“My escape was an extremely risky one,” Linley admitted it openly. “A large number of tendrils had surrounded me, and in that sort of situation, I had to go all out.” Linley’s face had a hint of bitter laughter on it. “So I immediately used the adamantine heavy sword, combining both swords in my attack.”
“I first used the adamantine heavy sword to utilize the Profound Truths of the Earth, the same blow that killed the Flame Tyrant.” Linley shook his head. “My most powerful sword blow was only enough to destroy ten or so tendrils.”
“But the strange thing was… when I followed it up with Bloodviolet, I was instantly able to easily break through dozens of tendrils, and then I seized the opportunity to charge out,” Linley said.
Earlier, when Linley had first used only Bloodviolet to chop at that tendril, he hadn’t been able to break through it despite striking with full force. But this time, he was able to chop through dozens.
“How is that possible?” The others were puzzled as well.
Linley hadn’t had any time to consider this question while they were fleeing, but now, Linley suddenly understood after thinking about it. “Right. The Profound Truths of the Earth rely on vibrational waves to attack the enemy. The ten or so tendrils in front of me were directly vibrated into little pieces. Most likely, the dozens of tendrils behind them, although not completely destroyed, should have been badly damaged internally.”
With its internal components damaged, the tendrils naturally were no longer very tough.
Following with another full-strength blow from Bloodviolet, it wasn’t too difficult to break through those dozens of damaged tendrils.
“Enough about that. What we need to think about is… how we should deal with the Queen Mother. If we don’t eliminate the Queen Mother, it most likely won’t permit us to enter the exit and go to the eighth floor,” Desri said with a frown.
The experts all nodded.
“What should we do?” All of them frowned in thought.
One of the three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions spoke. “Based on what I know, once the tendrils or vines of a plant creature are destroyed, it will be very hard for them to regrow them. The higher class the plant creature is, the tougher and more resilient their tendrils will be, but similarly, the tougher it will be to regrow them.”
“Therefore, what we can do is to divide into multiple attacks, eliminating a few tendrils with each attack. In the end… once the Queen Mother no longer has any tendrils left, won’t we be able to slaughter it as we please?”
Hearing the words of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion, Linley, Fain, and the others all nodded.
If everyone joined forces and used forbidden-level spells and their ultimate attacks at the same time, they should be able to destroy a few tendrils. Once the Queen Mother, Lachapelle, chased after them, they would flee. But then they would attack her, again and again…
To reduce the number of tendrils the Queen Mother had was something they were capable of.
Slowly, one step at a time, they would still have a chance of success.
“Can’t be done.” Bebe shook his head.
The entire group of experts looked at Bebe, confused. Bebe shook his head and said, “Earlier, when I went to rescue the Boss, I saw exactly what happened. After the Boss broke through those tendrils and fled onto my back, those tendrils were regrown, and the speed of the regrowth was very fast. In a short period of time, they were completely recovered.
“How is that possible?” The three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions couldn’t believe it.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” A Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion shook his head.
“But t
his is what I, Bebe, personally witnessed. How can it be false?” Bebe rebutted. “In addition, how could I possibly lie about something like this?”
The three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions fell silent. They all believed… that in a critical moment such as this, Bebe wouldn’t possibly lie. But the three brothers had encountered this sort of plant creature in the past, and they knew some things about this type of creature.
“No matter what the reason is, the fact of the matter is that this Queen Mother’s tendrils have the ability to regrow,” Desri said solemnly. “We need to come up with a method on how to kill the Queen Mother.”
Everyone stayed silent.
The tendrils were so tough that even Linley’s full force blow with Bloodviolet couldn’t break through. The worst part was… this Queen Mother’s tendrils could regrow themselves.
What to do?
The deaths of Rutherford and Karossa were still fresh in the minds of every single expert.
23
Fast, Slow?
The Queen Mother, Lachapelle, possessed tremendous power. In the air above the boundless desert of the seventh floor of the Necropolis of the Gods, the wind blew the sand as Desri, Linley, Fain, and the other human experts, along with Bebe and the other magical beast experts, stood there in mid-air. All of them were seriously pondering their next steps.
“If we don’t have any hope at all, I recommend… giving up.” Desri forced the words out.
The other experts all looked towards Desri.
“Give up, just like that?” Fain’s eyes had a hint of unwillingness.
They had waited a thousand years for this opportunity, and they had even passed the sixth floor. He was indeed rather unwilling to give up this opportunity now.
“We have no hope at all.” Desri shook his head. “A single tendril of Queen Mother Lachapelle’s is already so durable, and she has thousands on thousands of them. More importantly, even if you break those tendrils, they’ll naturally regrow.”
Desri looked around him. “Everyone, you tell me, must we insist on going to our deaths?”
Linley and Bebe exchanged glances.
“Boss, let’s give up,” Bebe said mentally to Linley. “There’s no rush for us. At worst, in another hundred years, when the two of us have become stronger, I’ll ask my Grandpa Beirut to just open another tunnel to the Necropolis of the Gods, just for us.”
Bebe felt it was hopeless as well.
Linley couldn’t help but think back to the terrifying scene of those countless, densely packed tendrils surrounding him, especially the feeling of him being surrounded by them. That sort of dangerous feeling truly was heart-shaking.
But just at that moment, those three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions glanced at each other, and one of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions said solemnly, “No, we aren’t entirely hopeless. We still have a bit of hope.”
“Oh?”
The levitating experts all stared in surprise towards those Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions.
“We still have hope? You say we still have hope? What hope?” Fain immediately asked.
That Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion nodded. “We three brothers have an ultimate attack. Through our ‘Six Eyes’, we can emit six rays of light to cover our opponent. It will paralyze the opponent and completely prevent them from moving.”
“Paralyze them? Prevent them from moving?” Linley was greatly shocked.
This ultimate attack was simply too monstrous. Didn’t it essentially mean that it would force the opponent to just stand there and be beaten?
Everyone present, even the perpetually silent Olivier and the Blackscale Scorpion, had their eyes filled with amazement.
“Right. I remember, now,” Rosarie said with surprised joy. “I remember that when we first arrived at the seventh floor and Bebe and the others entered the sands and seized that ‘child’ monster, it was one of you three brothers who killed the monster. When you killed it, your six eyes emanated a ray of black light that surrounded the monster, paralyzing it and forcing it to allow you to kill it.”
Linley and the others remembered that as well.
“If that’s the case, then we’ll win for sure,” the Blackscale Scorpion rumbled. “Let that Queen Mother, Lachapalle, be paralyzed, and then destroy her soul. Once her soul is destroyed, the Queen Mother will definitely die.”
“It isn’t as easy as that.” The leader of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions shook his head. “Our technique isn’t undefeatable. The way you are interpreting it, we would be able to immediately freeze any opponent we encounter and then kill them. Wouldn’t that make us invincible? This technique depends on the power of the opponent.”
Linley and the others nodded.
Right. If the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions used this technique against a Deity, most likely that Deity would just kill them with a flip of the hand.
“This technique of ours is naturally highly effective against that ‘child’ monster, of course,” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion said seriously. “But the power of the Queen Mother, Lachapalle, is hundreds of times stronger than her children. When she lets loose, her power is astonishingly great. To paralyze her will be very hard.”
The other two Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions nodded as well.
Linley and the others all understood this.
It was like a giant metal cage. It could be used to imprison a horse or a cow, but if you used the same metal cage, could you possibly use it to trap an enormous dragon that was thousands of times stronger than the horse or the cow?
“However, although the Queen Mother Lachapalle is strong, she isn’t at the Deity level. If we three brothers join forces and use this technique together, most likely… we would be able to paralyze Queen Mother Lachapalle for around a second,” The leader of the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions said.
Linley and the others felt joy in their hearts.
A second? Although it seemed like a short period of time, to experts such as Linley, a second was enough to allow one to exchange tens or hundreds of blows.
“But of course, that’s just an estimate. After all, without having actually fought her, we don’t know how long we can paralyze her for either,” The Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion said.
Everyone understood, but they also knew… that these three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lion, working together, would definitely be able to cause the Queen Mother to be paralyzed for a moment.
“Everyone, who amongst us feels confident in being able to kill the Queen Mother in an instant?” Desri immediately looked at the others.
The three Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions would be able to let one of the experts have a single instant of an opportunity. Now, the question was who had the best chance of success.
“Sadly, we don’t have a wind-style Grand Magus Saint.” Rosarie shook her head and sighed. In terms of the most powerful single-target attack, the title had to go to wind-style Grand Magus Saints. Once the ‘Dimensional Edge’ came out, even space itself would be cut through. It would have definitely been capable of cutting the Queen Mother into two parts.
All the experts present were silent.
“Linley, how about you?” Fain looked at Linley.
Linley maintained his silence.
The Queen Mother, Lachapalle, was surrounded by a dense cluster of tendrils. How long the Six-Eyed Golden Ni-Lions would be able to paralyze her for was unknown. If, as soon as he drew near the Queen Mother’s body, she escaped from the ‘paralysis’, then he would definitely be surrounded by countless tendrils again.
He wouldn’t even have a chance to run.
After all, even the adamantine heavy sword and Bloodviolet combined could only break through roughly a hundred tendrils each time.
“Boss.” Bebe shook his head towards Linley.
The chance of success was too low.
“Whoever kills the Queen Mother shall be the one to take possession of the divine artifact of the seventh floor, if there is one. I think no one here will object.” Desri looked at everyone.
Everyone nodded.
“We still have two years before the ten-year time limit,” Linley said solemnly. “There’s no need for us to rush. Let’s spend some time to think about it.”
All the experts nodded. Unless they had at least some degree of confidence, they wouldn’t choose to throw their lives away.
The boundless desert.
Linley hovered there in mid-air, his eyes shut as he attuned himself to the blowing of the wind. With regards to the Elemental Laws of the Wind, Linley had already gained some new insights into both the ‘Fast’ aspect and the ‘Slow’ aspect. At this moment, he was attuning himself to the Elemental Laws, and so he naturally was attuned to these two aspects as well.
His mind became one with the wind elemental essences.
“Hrm?” Linley’s consciousness suddenly had an image appear within it.
When the Queen Mother, Lachapalle, had attacked the first time, those tens of thousands of tendrils had suddenly shot out at high speed. At that time, Linley and the other experts had all sensed that the surrounding space had suddenly frozen, and felt as though they were wallowing in cement or through a pool.
“At that time, the Queen Mother’s tendrils were moving in accordance to a strange, profound mystery. It somehow achieved the effect of causing space to freeze.” Linley’s mind suddenly had a thought.
Spatial freezing was in truth, a fairly high-level interpretation of the ‘Slow’ aspect. Linley still had some distance to go from his current level of ‘slowing’ space to truly ‘freezing’ space.
“The Queen Mother’s tendrils were all extremely fast. Even Rutherford wasn’t able to flee.” Linley was puzzled. “But when those tendrils shot out, they were so fast that space itself became blurred. It should be the ‘spatial folding’ interpretation of the ‘Fast’ aspect. But why was it that all of those tendrils combined were able to create the effect of ‘spatial freezing’?”
Gods of Yulan: Book 4 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 18
