Chapter 422: One Lord Against a Kingdom

The clear sky turned crimson.

More than a hundred Mythics had joined their power, and the world above Firecloud Region changed before the defenders’ eyes.

Bull Demon Lords looked up in horror.

"The River of Blood! There are Bloodkin among the attackers!"

"An Emperor couldn’t draw down anything this powerful. Has a Blood Progenitor come?"

Even Aurelia and the others looked startled.

A river several kilometers wide poured from the void. Dense and heavy as gold and quicksilver, it seemed ready to crush everything beneath it.

Instead of striking the ground, it split.

Countless branches spread through the air. The largest were hundreds of meters across; the smallest, only a few. They wound between one another above the battlefield, forming a vast network of crimson currents.

"So dense!"

Katrienne’s voice rang with delight.

"Together, we’ve drawn from the River’s middle and upper reaches!"

Cassian entered the Region just in time to hear her. Nine, Lysette, Rhea, the Stormlance Valkyries, and more than a hundred of his strongest fighters guarded his arrival.

"What’s the highest Quality of Blood Effigy you can summon?"

By now, the rivers filled the air for dozens of kilometers around the entrance. They could have spread farther, but doing so would weaken the formation.

Several broad currents protected the arrival point. Enemy attacks vanished into them. Even the blows of Level-115 Legendary Nine-Stars could do little more than send waves across their surfaces.

"Legendary at the very least, my lord."

Katrienne swept a hand forward.

The rivers boiled.

Blood-colored creatures rose from them, taking many different forms. Their upper bodies resembled living creatures; their lower halves remained joined to the currents.

Cassian inspected the nearest, a giant several dozen meters tall.

[Blood Effigy]

[Level: 100]

[Quality: Legendary — Nine-Star]

[Combat Rating: 320,000 stars]

"Nine-Star!"

As the formation’s leader, Katrienne could sense its full extent. Her next report drew sharp breaths from everyone nearby.

"There are 9.12 million Effigies active, my lord. The weakest are Rare, making up ninety percent. More than a hundred thousand are Legendary. Over ten thousand of those have reached Nine-Star."

Nearly ten million creatures, none below Rare. More than a hundred thousand Legendaries among them.

The force was almost a hundred times the size of Demonic Calamity.

And as long as the formation held, it could keep regenerating its Effigies.

Cassian looked over the rivers with growing satisfaction. Mordane had defended against repeated waves of Elemental Beasts with a Blood River Formation of his own. A hundred and twenty Emperors producing this much together was hardly unreasonable.

Katrienne had already begun the attack.

Crimson streams flowed above the Bull Demon Domains. A Legendary Nine-Star Effigy stretched the column joining it to the river by a hundred meters, then drove its fist into a Barrier.

The shield trembled.

"Die!"

A Level-115 Mighty Bull Demon Hero shot into the air. His iron staff came down on the Effigy’s head and smashed it apart.

Not a drop of the scattered blood reached the ground. The river drew it all back.

Within seconds, another Effigy formed.

Hundreds of Legendary Effigies surged toward the Hero and surrounded him.

He roared, swinging his staff desperately. His Combat Rating reached a million stars, but the creatures closed on him from every direction. He could not even find a path to escape.

They tore him apart.

Half a minute later, more than a hundred thousand Effigies broke through the defenses of the Rank-XXII Fortress below. Screams rose from inside as the formation consumed every living thing in the Domain.

The battle spread with terrible speed.

Hundreds of thousands of Effigies shattered every second. More rose to replace them. As long as the hundred and twenty Blood Emperors could sustain their Aether, the attackers would keep coming.

The Bull Demon Lords were overwhelmed.

"Our Barriers can’t hold them!"

"Fall back! Get beyond the formation!"

"We’ll die faster if we leave our Domains!"

Others saw the only real answer.

"Push into the rivers! Kill the ones controlling the formation!"

It was the right tactic.

But Cassian’s fighters were waiting beneath its protection.

Aurelia, Lysette, One, and Seven joined the attack. Liora unleashed Demonic Calamity. Nine brought down Void Sanctuary. Chains of Order formed around Lethria, while the Dawnwings unleashed Heaven’s Judgment and the Eclipse corps filled the defenses with Sunfire.

Millions of Bull Demon troops left their Domains and tried to force their way toward the Blood Emperors.

They died in masses.

Within an hour, the defenders’ will to fight collapsed. Lords and troops began fleeing toward the rear.

Half a day after the assault began, nearly a thousand Domains within the first several dozen kilometers lay in ruins. Tens of millions of troops had defended them. Only half escaped beyond the formation’s reach.

The Blood Emperors released their hold.

The immense river retreated into the depths of the void.

Cassian looked over the hundreds of billions of Battle Essence and the countless items gained in the fighting. Satisfaction spread across his face.

"Rest here. Blood Emperors, recover as quickly as you can."

"Yes, my lord!"

Katrienne’s face was even paler than usual. The results had been magnificent, but maintaining that formation had exhausted the legion.

Cassian was in no hurry.

His spatial seal covered the entire Region. The Lords still inside could not relocate their Domains away from him.

He was also certain now that the Firecloud Court had no Mythics.

That was reassuring. It was a little disappointing too. A Level-120 Mythic would have been difficult to kill, but the rewards would have made the trouble worthwhile.

Two hours later, he resumed the advance.

The army moved forward another stretch of tens of kilometers. The Blood Emperors raised their formation again, and Cassian continued steadily toward Firecloud Palace.

Three days of fighting brought him to its walls.

Once more, the Blood River Formation spread across the sky.

The Lord of Firecloud was no Mythic Beast Emperor, but he was powerful. At Level 120, he formed a white bull manifestation a hundred meters high and several hundred meters long.

It held out for five minutes against the combined attacks of two Crystal Princesses.

Before he died, the king gave a furious, unwilling roar.

"Human Lord! However strong you are, you cannot stop the hundred races of the Outer Realms! In less than three months, your Homeworld will follow our Court into ruin!"

A great crash drowned the last echoes of his voice.

Firecloud Palace, the seat of the kingdom’s power, collapsed.

[You have destroyed Firecloud Palace. National Fortune gained: 16.]

"To think even a middling Court would take this much effort," Cassian murmured. "With the strength I have now, I expected it to be easier."

Any other Lord who heard him would have cursed.

One Lord had destroyed a kingdom. Most people would scarcely believe it was possible, and he was complaining about the work.

The king had made preparations before the battle began. Lower-Level War Lords, Farming Lords, and those who followed entertainment paths had been dispersed into public maps.

Cassian had killed only ten to twenty percent of the Court’s Lords.

He had little interest in chasing the weaker people who remained. The returns would not justify the time. He would gain more by finding another target.

And the harvest from these past few days had already exceeded even his expectations.