The Era of Gods

Chapter 329: Chapter 329 Reawakening

Above the pathway between the two realms, the wind and clouds transformed, coalescing an invisible force into a blinding bolt of lightning that struck the incarnation of the Child of Nightmare, who was preparing for one last massive dispel, shattering the unprepared avatar completely.

Immediately after, the pathway between the realms shook violently, and even across two Divine Territories, the fury of the Child of Nightmare was palpably felt.

By then it was too late to stop it. By the time the second Nightmare avatar took shape, the summoning had already been completed.

The Child of Nightmare on the other side realized this too and therefore did not continue to coalesce a new avatar.

The moment thirty-six thousand Rank 6 Super Large Water Elementals appeared, the water elemental energy throughout the Divine Territory began to converge here. Light blue like a flood tide surged over, quickly alleviating the dry climate caused by the concentration of Fire Elements.

Given the natural incompatibility of water and fire, Kurbert looked particularly unfavorably upon these Water Elements. If it weren’t for Lin Xiao watching over the area, the two elements with opposite natures probably would have clashed first.

Although there weren’t as many of the thirty-six thousand Rank 6 Super Large Water Elementals of the Transcendent Level as there were during the battle against Luo Shuang, there was actually not much difference. Soon, a vast expanse of water took shape, and as they urged it forward, it reached the retreating vanguard of the Small Fishmen, quickly submerging them.

Upon entering the water, the Small Fishmen moved as agile as fish in water, becoming exceptionally flexible, while most of the Nightmare Creatures did not know how to swim. Aside from a few that could, the majority could not stabilize their bodies in the water, and were unable to breathe, which was the most lethal issue.

In less than thirty seconds, these Nightmare Creatures started to retreat towards the directions free of water—it was an environmental limitation, completely unavoidable.

The Water Elementals moved forward slowly, not pursuing the fleeing enemy, as there was no need to. They just directed a sphere of water five to six kilometers in diameter towards the pathway between the worlds, leaving the Nightmare Creatures fleeing in other directions to be eradicated by the Earth Dwarves, other Small Fishmen, and some Asura Naga.

But at that moment, the Legendary Nightmare Beast standing guard at the entrance turned around and struck the gap between the worlds with its weapon. A surge of Nightmare Power erupted from the strike, and with it, a dense swarm of Nightmare Creatures.

This second wave of Nightmare Creatures was each enshrouded in a layer of gray light. They crashed into the water without showing any sign of asphyxiation, and remained quite agile in the water. Although not as nimble as the Small Fishmen, they moved as if on flat ground.

“Interesting!”

Lin Xiao waved his hand and sent in the remaining Asura Naga.

The Asura Naga, as a Transcendent species, showed even more agility in the water. Their towering figures approached the frontline, and the oncoming Nightmare Creatures collided with a group of Supreme Naga. With weapons raised and falling, a swath of creatures was slaughtered, and the water turned blood red.

As for the Transcendent species of at least Fifth Level, taking on these Nightmare Creatures, whose strength ranged from First to Fifth Level and most of whom were Levels one to three, was a total massacre. It was almost a one-slice kill all the way through, and soon they were bearing down on the Magma Sea of Nightmare Creatures towards the pathway between the realms, where the massive Legendary Nightmare Beast could be seen from a distance.

The Legendary Nightmare Beast, stationed by the Child of Nightmare to defend the pathway, could not stray far from the pathway. It could only watch helplessly as the horrifying spectacle unfolded among the many Nightmare Creatures.

When the Supreme Naga and elite Water Elementals arrived in front of the pathway, the Legendary Nightmare Beast lifted its huge blade and brought it down. A black qi blade cut hundreds of meters deep into the water, catching a dozen Supreme Naga and several dozens of Small Fishmen off-guard and cleaving them to death.

In response, the sea water boiled. With the direction of the Gnome leader, five hundred Transcendent Water Elementals cast their spells simultaneously. In a breath, tens of thousands of water arrows, as thick as a thumb and nearly a meter long, came into being, turning into a rain of arrows targeting the beast.

The Legendary Nightmare Beast didn’t budge. The water arrows hit it and were dissolved by the protective Nightmare aura, but the nearby Nightmare Creatures suffered disaster, being shot dead in large numbers.

“Again!”

A second volley by over five hundred Super Large Water Elementals once again decimated the ranks of the Nightmare Creatures.

With the strength of the Rank 6 Transcendent Water Elementals, such a low-level spell like water arrow could almost be cast non-stop, wave after wave, keeping the enemy pinned near the entrance to the pathway between the realms.

After several waves, no more Nightmare Creatures poured out from the pathway, and the only presence there was a single towering Legendary Nightmare Beast and otherwise silence.

Seeing this, about a thousand Super Large Water Elementals gathered and directed their assault on the pathway between the realms. Since the enemy would not come out, they would attack inward.

The Transcendent Water Elementals had just approached the Legendary Nightmare Beast when a heart-palpitating aura suddenly emanated from the pathway. A pitch-black column with a diameter of three to four meters burst forth directly, striking the group of Water Elementals and causing a huge explosion. From Lin Xiao’s perspective in the God Country, the explosion created a vast empty space in the five to six-kilometer diameter sphere of water near the pathway, as a black column of light shot up from the void into the sky.

In one blow, about a thousand Transcendent Water Elementals were halved, with the remaining ones all injured.

Then the gateway between the worlds cracked once again, and an even denser wave of Nightmare black gas surged forth. From it emerged one after another of large, powerful Nightmare Creatures.

A large group, at least of the Transcendent Level Rank 6 with quite a few of Rank 7, charged out from the Nightmare Realm, including a Rank 8 Legendary Winged-man, over ten meters tall and with six wings on its back.

These powerful Nightmare Creatures were obviously meant to break the deadlock. As the six-winged Legendary Winged-man spread his wings, countless black lights surged into the sky. Seconds later, the Vault of Heaven dimmed, and numerous thick black lightning bolts descended from the sky and hammered into the water,

taking advantage of the opportunity provided by that first wave, they used their formidable strength to push forward against the rain of arrows, carving out a space at the breach between realms, from which a large number of low-level Nightmare Creatures emerged.

As this wave of Nightmare Creatures surged forth, there was another heart-stopping salvo, and a second, extremely thick pillar of light blasted forth.

The Child of Nightmare, seeing his subordinates outmatched, had already personally intervened.

Lin Xiao had no solution to this, his accumulated Divine Power insufficient to act so rashly, nor could he intervene frequently. He could only rely on his subordinates to withstand the onslaught.

Fortunately, the first wave was mostly made up of summoned Water Elements, so their loss was not a cause for grief.

Luckily, the opponent was unaware of the details; otherwise, they could have simply waited a few hours until his subordinates were too spiritually exhausted to maintain the summoning, and the Water Elements would have vanished on their own.

By occasionally expending a great deal of strength to intervene personally, the Nightmare Creatures managed to forcefully push back the nearly thirty thousand Rank 6 Transcendent Water Elementals.

But such a situation was ultimately unsustainable. The main issue wasn’t whether the Nightmare Lord’s power was sufficient; rather, Lin Xiao noticed that the domain of the Nightmare Lord was filled with numerous Nightmare Creatures but lacked in powerful ones.

To be more precise, the opponent had far fewer Nightmare Creatures above Rank 6 than Lin Xiao.

At this point, Lin Xiao had more than three thousand Rank 6 Naga Warriors, seventy-one Rank 7 Naga Warriors, plus over three hundred Rank 6 Grand Magicians, six Rank 7 Grand Magicians, the Earth Dwarves’ development was a bit slow – only forty to fifty Rank 6 Earth Dwarves and one King of Dwarves.

In total, he commanded over three thousand four hundred Rank 6 experts, seventy-eight Rank 7 powerhouses, and two Legendary figures – Slarda and the Flame Lord Kurbert.

The Wise Goblin leader Alemente and the Fishman Hero Tide Lord Akens, as well as the Black Dragon Nejelanmu, were all at the Rank 7 level.

Although each of them had the potential to ascend to Rank 8 Legends, and it was almost certain they would achieve it, having the potential was one thing, while the timing of advancement was another; clearly, their potential was not yet sufficient to reach the Legendary level.

This was due to a lack of foundational depth, and even if he were to infuse them with Divine Power, it would be in vain if the basic conditions were not met; no amount of Divine Power could facilitate an advancement.

But even so, their high-tier combat strength was more than enough to overpower their opponents, overpowering this Child of Nightmare whose true strength and numbers of his Clan far exceeded those of Lin Xiao.

So strong overall, yet with only five to six hundred high-tier warriors above Rank 6 – in this respect, the Nightmare Lord was no match for the Divine Territory Players who cultivated their Clans with great care.

Therefore, after about half an hour of intense counterattack, more and more Nightmare Creatures of Rank 6 and above were either slain or injured and their combat strength diminished. Their assault gradually weakened, and even continuous support from the Child of Nightmare was futile. At this stage, despite the Child of Nightmare’s power, he did not have the strength to suppress so many Transcendent beings on his own.

As the Nightmare Creatures were gradually pushed back by the army of Water Elementals, it wasn’t long before the battlefront was pressed back to the vicinity of the dimensional passage. Nearly half of the invading Nightmare Creatures were killed, and the rest retreated back into the Nightmare Realm, including the guarding Legendary Nightmare Beast, which was forced back into the Nightmare Realm under the watchful eyes of the powerful warriors.

Having driven the opponent back into the Nightmare Divine Realm in one go, Lin Xiao ordered the Wise Goblin Mages to cancel the summoned Transcendent Water Elementals, allowing the prepared Fire Elementals to cast various Fire Laws back and forth near the dimensional passage, transforming the area into a vast Magma Sea to prevent enemy incursions, and then… a ceasefire.

Yes, a temporary ceasefire.

After assessing the opponent’s strength in the battle just now, Lin Xiao already had plans for a counterattack, scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

Today, the Wise Goblins had repeatedly summoned Enhanced Water Elementals, and their spirits were nearly spent. Continuing the battle would lead to the loss of combat strength.

He had to wait for his subordinates to recuperate and gather their spirits before summoning a large batch of Super Large Water Elementals in one fell swoop for a counterattack against the Nightmare Realm.

By this point, Lin Xiao was quite confident of defeating this Nightmare Lord from the Nightmare World, but on the condition that his losses were not too great. It was foreseeable that as long as they did not leave that bizarre world, they would encounter other Children of Nightmare after defeating this opponent. Battles were inevitable, and in order to last longer, he had to minimize the losses of his subordinates.

After all, this was a full-scale merger with the Divine Realm; death here meant true death, with no possibility of resurrection.

This was also the main reason he had been so cautious in this battle for so long – to reduce losses.

The Lava Sea blockade was very effective. Over the course of the two days, although the enemy occasionally probed with attacks, their defense was tight. With tens of thousands of Fire Elementals under the leadership of a Legendary Flame Lord, the enemies simply couldn’t break through.

Perhaps the high-tier Nightmare Creatures could make it, but their cannon fodder numbers were the majority and couldn’t get through. Even with direct intervention from the Child of Nightmare, the bulk of the Fire Elementals were too far away to be touched.