766 Infected Energy

"Gosh! How many surprises can they keep?" Kiva wondered as he shook his head at the loss of the Lion Mantises. There was still some crown energy left within the crystal, and his mana had recovered, so he decided to order the next batch of Lion Mantises onto the scene.

"Artha Two, it looks like your good pal Artha One has disappointed me greatly. I strongly suggest that you take up the slack by eliminating the current threat on the defensive island platforms. Or else, do not ever think of reviving back." Kiva said as he sent the remaining crown energy mixed with his own magic into the next batch of Lion Mantises.

"Understood, my Liege. My soldiers and I will clear the shame of the 1st Lion Mantis Platoon." Artha Two hastily replied as he kneeled down to receive the remaining King's 'blessing' from Kiva. He felt the same kind of power pulsating in his veins as his predecessor. Yet his portion was not potent enough to enable him to grow into a colossal form like how Artha One had been able to.

Kiva could have shamelessly asked for more, but he wanted to achieve some results first, before requesting the second dose of crown energy into his crystal...even though he suspected by now, the King would give it to him without much thought.

"How many of those abominations do you have?" Stolas folded his arms as he watched Kiva turn his Raven Head back to a Bat head once again.

"Not very princely of you to eavesdrop on my conversation with my subjects." Kiva made double meaning pun to poke fun at Stolas.

"But since I am in a rather happy mood… maybe another 300 more? Perhaps by the end of this year, I will have a total of 600...ish? The Dungeon Core that I was given by King Baal can only do so much. " Kiva flaunted his power openly towards Stolas, knowing he could do nothing about it.

"But perhaps, Moloch's core could be a great supplement to my research lab. I should consider that." He thought to himself, and now, he started to feel Stolas's presence to be a little more than an annoyance.

"With your curiosity appeased, I suggest you stay in your tent, or better yet, you should return back to the Demon Metropolis. Who knows how long his Majesty's patience will last with you snooping around?" Kiva taunted Stolas, knowing full well that retreating back to their city would be a disgrace. The Prince kept quiet as sometimes doing nothing would be best.

The Lion Mantises took their leave by bursting into the skies, going for the defensive platform. However, Qiu Yue and Moloch had learnt their lesson about keeping the skies a little too empty.

Though the Clay Dragon was still around to clear some minor aerial threats, it was definitely not fast enough to catch up to each individual Lion Mantis if they split up. Thus, Que Er's Crows were used to fill the gaps while the medics and healers were busy patching the Wyvern Goblin Knights and their rides in the floating military platform.

Since the crows were not able to catch up to them, they got placed at specific areas, so that they could at least become a nuisance to the Lion Mantises. It did slow them down a little, but the time bought was still not enough for Dread Reaver and Flame Ripper to catch up.

The existing Lion Mantises that had survived the culling, transformed right in front of the two goblin heroes. Some of them grew a pair of arms, giving them four Mantis Blades per Lion Mantis while others grew a new pair of wings, allowing them to be more agile in their fight. The Goblin Heroes also noticed that their carapace armour seemed much sturdier and their bulging muscles had grown two-fold.

With Dread Reaver unable to use the same skill again, the Lion Mantises' caution wore off, and they began to start preying on the two Goblins as well as their surrounding allies. Even the Avatar of Ifrit who was supposed to have one of the most prominent speed attributes compared to the rest of the monsters in Jin's army was barely able to keep up with the newly transformed dual-winged Lion Mantises.

The Orcs and cultivators worked together to fight against this new menace, but their efforts proved to be futile. Their swords were not cutting them deep enough, or they were too slow to react despite Ke Mi's slow debuff music.

Everyone believed that if not for the Zither Mistress, they would have lost their lives in the blink of an eye, perhaps even without realising how. Yet, the two Goblin heroes were doing their best to prevent as much loss as possible. Unfortunately, the two of them were experiencing difficulties against the newly transformed Lion Mantises.

As for Dread Reaver, he nearly lost his arm when fighting against two four-bladed Lion Mantises at once and eventually his head. An Orc had come to interfere against a third one who had nearly succeeded in ambushing. Too bad the brave Orc lost his life in the process.

"How dare you!" Dread Reaver shouted as he twisted his sword, bringing it into a gridlock against the Lion Mantis who killed the Orc and placed his palm on the Lion's head. "HOW DARE YOU!" Dread Reaver shouted from his deathly looking mask and in his rage, he had forgotten the other two Lion Mantises just right beside him.

Eight Mantis Blades pierced through Dread Reaver's armour, and yet it did not stop the life and rage burning inside the Death Knight. Flame Ripper had seen what was happening, but there was no way he could help his pal right now. He was too busy trying not to meet the same fate.

The third Lion Mantis was able to get out of the gridlock, but the moment he did that, he suddenly felt that he lost his grip on the blades even though they were attached to him. At this point, the other two Lion Mantises saw what was happening that made the third one feel so restless. The Death Knight was pulling the soul essence of the third Lion Mantis manually out of his body.

At the same time, he was consuming it and ignoring the other two.

That, of course, prompted the two Lion Mantises to retract their blades and go for a second wave of stabbing, however at that point, Dread Reaver was able to parry the other two's attacks with his sword.

"Did no one teach you not to disturb somebody during their meal?!" The Death Knight bellowed, his eyes were burning red with anger while his helmet moved as if it was crunching on the soul of the Lion Mantis. He felt his pain from the stabs he received was dulling as he consumed more of the soul. The Lion Mantis, which got his soul taken out now became an empty husk and started to decay right in front of them.

Now Dread Reaver understood why the Lion Mantises could be moving so quickly or hold four blades. He got a taste of the crown's energy that was embedded in the soul of that Lion Mantis he had absorbed and the energy pulsating through him was intoxicating.

"Alert! The System has detected major interference with Death Knight Dread Reaver's sanity. Urging Death Knight to stop consuming the infected soul." The System kept popping up in front of Dread Reaver as well as the multiple alerts.

"Shut up! I know what I am getting into. I just need more power right now." Dread Reaver waved the annoying message away. Then he pointed his sword at the two Lion Mantises, and his black blade was shimmering with murderous energy.

"System will provide souls to Death Knight Dread Reaver for free in this current battle, in exchange for him stopping the infected soul consumption. Failure to comply will result in the System imprisoning the Death Knight." The System stated with a severe warning.

"Tsk, and here I thought I can feast on the rest of the Lion Mantises here. Fine, I accept your proposal. You better serve me enough souls to stop the endless slaughter of our allies." Dread Reaver replied in the System Channel as he discarded the last bit of the soul and took the initiative to strike.

"Understood." The System agreed but did not stop at that. Because of the sudden change which the System did not understand, it did a quick analysis of Dread Reaver. Only then did it learn that the interference signature was similar to the energy pulse from the Dungeon Core.

Thus, it could only conclude that those chimaera soldiers had been infected by the rumoured Crown of Beyond Depravity. Suddenly, a mission appeared on Jin's phone, which took him by surprise. It had been a long time since the System had created a task for him.

"Destroy the Crown of Beyond Depravity at all cost. Rewards: Dungeon Supplier Rank Up to 5." Jin read and realised it was a nearly a two rank upgrade from his current Dungeon Supplier Rank. He vaguely recalled certain permissions were lifted when he reached rank 3 but had no idea what was waiting for him at Rank 5.

"Why the sudden mission?" Jin asked, and the System was direct.

"Bring the remains to the System for isolation, containment and subsequent conversion to aid with increasing the processing capabilities. It should be usable as an alternative to the Titan Brain." The System stated, but only in hindsight did Jin realise this was a tall order to accomplish.