Chapter 369: The Blade Sovereign Descends

The White Dragon Lord stared at the incoming, spinning meatball. Padhak was not only using the rotation to accelerate and increase his impact, but his body was also exuding a continuous stream of ominous, black-red energy. This energy formed a rapidly spinning drill over the demon lord's body—evidently some kind of special secret technique.

Just as the White Dragon Lord had invented Amos's Frost Tier Domain, other High-Tier Legends likely possessed unknown, exclusive techniques of their own. For a High-Tier Legend to rely on a secret technique, it had to possess unique merits even if its raw power wasn't earth-shattering.

The two Eight-Armed Snake Demons followed closely behind Padhak, like vipers in the shadows waiting for the chance to bare their fangs. The White Dragon Lord dared not be careless; an incantation tumbled rapidly from his lips.

Frost Bulwark!

A translucent, hollow spherical ice wall enveloped the White Tower, obscuring the interior from the four demons outside.

Frost Bulwark was a premier master-level ice-type defense magic. Bolstered by the White Tower, the ice layer's thickness doubled; in terms of sheer defense, it nearly reached the threshold of legendary magic.

The bullet-like, blood-red drill struck the Frost Bulwark, boring a massive hole into the ice wall. Through the opening, the Frost Bulwark revealed its ten-meter thickness, practically forming a short frost tunnel.

After piercing the Frost Bulwark, Padhak's assault slowed. The drill's speed dropped sharply, but the demon lord continued his charge toward Moon's Protection.

Despite the gaping hole, the Frost Bulwark did not vanish, though it had lost its defensive utility. The two Eight-Armed Snake Demons darted into the opening one after the other.

Inside the White Tower's control room, the White Dragon Lord sensed the displacement of air around the opening and rapidly chanted another incantation.

Floating Ice Sword!

Three ten-meter-long Floating Ice Swords coalesced in a triangular formation. They carved an arc through the air, bypassing Padhak to strike at the large hole in the rear. That opening was the exact convergence point for the three arcing blades.

Because Padhak's massive body blocked their line of sight, the Eight-Armed Snake Demons failed to notice the Floating Ice Swords forming. They only realized the three greatswords were hurtling right at them as they passed through the opening.

The leading Eight-Armed Snake Demon gritted her teeth. Blocked from behind by her companion, she had no choice but to brace herself. She swung her scimitars frantically.

Her eight scimitars danced into a blur of afterimages, resembling rapidly flashing crescent slashes. The three ice swords arrived in the blink of an eye, clashing against the blades.

Crack! Crunch!

A series of teeth-aching cracks rang out. The Eight-Armed Snake Demon surprisingly utilized the Keen Edge enchantment on her legendary scimitars to hack the ice swords to pieces. However, the immense impact carried by the ice swords left her vital energy roiling.

While the Eight-Armed Snake Demon cleaved the ice swords, Padhak slammed into Moon's Protection at the front. Unsurprisingly, the barrier's forbidden spell-level defense stopped the demon lord in his tracks.

The fat Padhak quickly dropped his spinning state and slapped at Moon's Protection. As his palm descended, it continuously expanded into a bizarre, gigantic hand completely disproportionate to his body.

Padhak poured continuous energy into the giant hand until its volume reached a third of the White Tower's size. Tangible energy resembling blood-red flames wreathed the surface of the palm.

Thoughts flashed like lightning through the White Dragon Lord's mind. Given the defensive might of Moon's Protection, letting the demon lord smash it for a full minute wouldn't cause any severe issues. Coming to a sudden decision, he rapidly chanted another incantation.

Void Banishment!

Eerie purple magical energy shot from the crystal atop the White Tower. The Eight-Armed Snake Demon at the hole had just neutralized the ice swords and had no time to react before the purple energy struck her. She vanished instantly.

Void Banishment was a control magic that temporarily banished a target into the void. Unless the enemy could shatter the spatial barrier with absolute strength, they could only passively wait for the duration to end.

The stronger the target, the shorter the banishment. The White Dragon Lord estimated that Void Banishment would trap this Eight-Armed Snake Demon for twenty seconds. Those twenty seconds would decide victory or defeat.

Just as the White Dragon Lord expected, the remaining Eight-Armed Snake Demon hastily retreated upon seeing her companion vanish. The White Dragon Lord injected his mana, rapidly repairing the hole in the Frost Bulwark.

By this time, Padhak had already slapped Moon's Protection twice, though it had merely drained a fraction of its energy.

Even without seeing the situation behind him, Padhak sensed that one companion's aura had vanished while the other was rapidly retreating. Panic seized him.

"Demon! You! Have been abandoned!"

The White Dragon Lord, the Cat-Woman, and the Sanctuary Duo had dared to challenge a lich sitting in his Tower of Bones because they possessed the foundational trust to entrust their backs to one another. But to demon lords, 'trust' was a laughable concept.

When they held the upper hand, the importance of trust wasn't apparent. Yet the moment they fell into a disadvantage, this hidden danger amplified infinitely and led to a complete collapse.

By exploiting this superficial alliance—where the demon lords appeared united but were divided at heart—the White Dragon Lord had successfully separated the three great demons. Now, he only needed to deal with Padhak alone. His incantations flowed rapidly once more.

In front of Moon's Protection, Padhak wore a savage expression. He knew this was the time to fight for his life. As for running—Dimensional Anchor locked down the space, and the Frost Bulwark blocked his path. He certainly didn't dare expose his back to the White Dragon Lord.

"Uwaaaargh!"

Padhak's eyes turned blood-red as he roared at the sky, sickly green drool stretching between his yellowed teeth. His crimson heart throbbed violently, pumping blood and energy to every corner of his body. Like a balloon, Padhak's already inflated form swelled further, transforming into a hundred-meter-tall giant.

"Roar!"

With a howling gale, a hand the size of a windmill slapped toward the control room at the top of the White Tower. The White Dragon Lord could even clearly see the fine lines between the dense scales on the demon's palm.

The White Dragon Lord felt a flicker of surprise, realizing that Padhak's body wasn't just inflating with air, but truly growing larger. A thick layer of fat lay beneath the demon lord's dense scales. His massive, pig-like belly jiggled and swung with his exaggerated movements, looking inexplicably comical.

The energy-wrapped giant hand slapped against Moon's Protection, shuddering the entire White Tower. The White Dragon Lord sensed Moon's Protection's energy instantly drop by one percent. At Padhak's frequency of three full-strength attacks per second, Moon's Protection would only last half a minute.

Half a minute was short, but it was enough time for Padhak to die ten times over!

Ice Vivification - Empowered!

Behind Padhak, several sharp, massive ice spikes sprouted from the Frost Bulwark, stabbing toward the giant demon.

With insufficient room to dodge inside the Frost Bulwark, Padhak was struck directly. Fat could indeed defend against blunt weapons, but it was practically useless against sharp objects like ice spikes. The empowered spikes tore through his tough demonic skin, plunging into his chest cavity, forcing apart muscle and bone, and rupturing his internal organs.

In the White Dragon Lord's vision, Padhak's chest seemed to bloom as several sharp ice spikes jutted out. The spikes were slick with black-red, foul-smelling demon blood. Blood poured from Padhak's mouth and nose—a clear sign that his organs had been destroyed.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Padhak coughed up large mouthfuls of fresh blood, splattering it across Moon's Protection. The demon's most vital organ—his heart—had been pierced by an ice spike. With the White Dragon Lord watching him like a tiger eyeing its prey, Padhak was certain to die unless a miracle occurred.

The demon lord raised his head toward the control room. His crimson eyes were filled with hatred, madness, and brutality.

In the control room, the White Dragon Lord sensed the restless energy inside the demon lord and understood Padhak's intention. The vivified ice buried inside the demon lord spread and bloomed wildly, but it was too late to stop him.

With merely a single thought, Padhak's core demon blood flared to life. As if the fuse of a detonator had been lit, the energy within the demon lord reacted rapidly, and his body swelled like a balloon.

Boom!

The violent explosion hurled flesh and blood against Moon's Protection, crackling and splattering like a torrential rainstorm. The entire White Tower shuddered from the blast, and the ornaments on the desks inside toppled to the floor.

Other than the White Tower, the Frost Bulwark bore the brunt of the explosion. The terrifying energy shockwave exceeded its endurance limits. Like a hollow sphere exploding from the inside, blood-soaked shards of ice shot wildly in all directions.

A moment later, the retreating Eight-Armed Snake Demon looked toward the White Tower. The forbidden spell-level defense magic on the tower's surface—Moon's Protection—was now dim, looking as if it would dissipate from a single further strike.

Inside the White Tower's control room, the White Dragon Lord let out a sigh of relief. Having withstood Padhak's self-destruction, Moon's Protection only had eight percent of its energy left. It was on the verge of shattering, but at least it had held.

Seeing the White Tower intact, terror struck the Eight-Armed Snake Demon, and she fled into the distance. The fire demon that had been tangled in combat with the High-Tier Legend Ice Elemental saw this and similarly used magic to evade its opponent, turning and fleeing.

The flying demons that had just arrived near the battlefield stared in dumbfounded shock. Then, like startled birds, they scattered and fled.

The White Dragon Lord ignored the fleeing demons and recalled the Ice Elemental. The White Tower and the Ice Elemental kept a close watch on the empty air, pinning it from front and back. This was the exact spot where the first Eight-Armed Snake Demon had vanished.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon's figure appeared out of thin air. Before she could even grasp the situation, a shadow fell over her head—the descending greatsword of the Ice Elemental. At the same time, the White Dragon Lord unleashed his prepared magic.

Ice Imprisonment!

The Eight-Armed Snake Demon's body immediately froze over as an irregular, rectangular block of ice encased her entirely.

Ice Imprisonment could freeze a target in solid ice. While inherently only a high-grade magic, with the amplification of the White Tower, its power reached the master tier. Moreover, the sole purpose of this master-level spell was to temporarily trap its target.

Unsurprisingly, the Ice Elemental's greatsword smashed into the ice block, shattering it to pieces. The Eight-Armed Snake Demon spewed demon blood, her head spinning. Entirely drained of strength, she went into a freefall.

At the same time, the White Dragon Lord fired an ice spear, aiming right for the heart of the semi-conscious Eight-Armed Snake Demon.

Suddenly, a terrifying aura erupted from the falling demon. Her plummeting body halted, suspended midair. The ice spear fired by the White Dragon Lord was struck by this horrific aura and deflected backward.

"This aura!"

The White Dragon Lord's heart raced as he stared fixedly at the floating Eight-Armed Snake Demon. An immense power that absolutely did not belong to the High-Tier Legend rank was rising from her. This power was a pure, blinding white, and just by gazing at it, the White Dragon Lord felt as if he were facing an endless flurry of blade strikes.

"The Blade Sovereign?!"

Hanging upside down, the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's stiff body slowly rotated until she stood upright. Her closed eyelids lifted, revealing eyes that radiated a chilling, blade-like gleam. Her gaze pierced straight through the walls, meeting the White Dragon Lord's eyes inside the control room.

The White Dragon Lord instantly felt a razor-sharp blade of light pierce right between his brows. It brought an overwhelming sensation of having nowhere to run, as if he would perish under a blade in the very next second.

An internal alarm tripped, snapping the White Dragon Lord fully awake. His mouth felt incredibly dry.

"A mental attack?!"

Recalling what had just happened, the White Dragon Lord was gripped by lingering fear. If he had truly believed that he was killed by that blade light, he likely would never have woken up. He would have turned into a vegetative, living-dead dragon, entirely at the mercy of his enemies.

Such a horrifying end made him shudder. Raging fury ignited within the White Dragon Lord's heart, but he remained level-headed. His thoughts spun like lightning.

Deities all possessed means of creating avatars. They would leave a trace of an avatar within their core believers, allowing them not only to glean information through the believer's body but also to save their life at a crucial moment. Some powerful beings at the Abomination Rank possessed similar methods.

That meant the Blade Sovereign had likely been using the Eight-Armed Snake Demon's body to observe the battle all along, only emerging to save her minion when the White Dragon Lord was about to strike the killing blow.

However, the power carried by this kind of avatar was limited. She had just launched a mental attack against the White Dragon Lord, and even an Abomination Rank powerhouse had to expend energy corresponding to the magic's power to kill a High-Tier Legend.

Thinking of this, a crazy idea surged in the White Dragon Lord's mind.

Kill it!

The Blade Sovereign, possessing the body of the Eight-Armed Snake Demon, saw that the White Dragon Lord had withstood its mental attack. It glanced at the White Tower's control room, then at the Alliance Territory behind the tower. A flash of apprehension crossed its eyes, and expressionless, it turned and flew toward the Demon Territory.

Whoosh!

A sharp ice spear shot toward the back of the Eight-Armed Snake Demon.

Sensing the rush of wind behind it, the expression of the Blade Sovereign controlling the body first registered shock, then instantly contorted into fury.

"Little bug! You're courting death!"

Provoked by a weaker being, the Blade Sovereign was enraged beyond measure. It spun around and slashed a blade of light toward the White Tower.

The ten-meter-long crescent blade light squarely struck the incoming ice spear. The spear was cleaved cleanly in two, falling powerlessly from the sky as the blade light continued toward the White Tower.

The High-Tier Legend Ice Elemental raised its shield and stepped in front of the White Tower. The crescent blade light slammed into the kite shield in the Ice Elemental's hands, instantly cleaving a deep gash into it and nearly piercing straight through the icy aegis.

The Blade Sovereign turned and fixed its gaze on the White Tower's control room, its eyes brimming with endless killing intent.

"Little bug! You have successfully enraged me! You will regret this!"

Feeling the Blade Sovereign's almost tangible killing intent, the White Dragon Lord pushed his vigilance to the absolute limit.

"Your Excellency Sovereign, perhaps you are the one who will regret descending this time. If your true body appeared before me, I would turn and run immediately. But right now, you are nothing more than an insignificant avatar!"