Chapter 1179: 1179. Ashes

Fighting for a better future and struggling to prevent the worst were quite different mindsets, but Noah and the others didn't get to choose in that situation.

King Elbas was too strong. Nothing they did slowed down his offensive, so they could only keep throwing attacks and traps at him. They would have to deal with the damages after they managed to win.

"Slow down the pace," Noah conveyed through his inscribed notebook after he reached a silent agreement with Great Elder Diana. "Stay alive. This will last a while."

Noah's simple orders were enough to change the strategy of the army. The Ape God retreated even faster than before, and the Copying Technique activated to facilitate its escape.

An army of magical beasts appeared at some distance from King Elbas and charged toward him while launching countless attacks.

That would typically force the Royal to unleash his sea of flames, but the attacks burned before they could even reach his figure. The pressure radiated by the golden crown was too intense for those weak abilities.

The copied beasts then tried to use their bodies to stop him, but they suffered from the same fate of their innate abilities. Their figures turned into ashes due to the passive effects of King Elbas' technique.

Nothing seemed able to come near him. The heat and pressure radiated by the three fiery items were too intense for anything under the sixth rank.

Elder Julia was in charge of the Copying Technique, and she also had a screen that allowed her to keep track of the battle. Seeing that King Elbas' technique had made him untouchable forced her to deploy the strongest beasts trapped under the forest of White Woods.

Ravaging Demon, the White Ape, and the Flying Snake appeared near King Elbas, and multiple copies filled the area.

Elder Julia didn't need Noah's approval to resort to that display of power. She had understood that the situation was far more tragic than they had predicted.

King Elbas stopped tracking the Ape God to stare at his new opponents. There were more than twenty rank 6 existences around him, but none of them was able to cause the slightest amount of fear in his mind.

They were nothing but puppets meant to slow him down and make him deplete energy.

"I will play your game," King Elbas announced. "I will destroy everything and everyone you throw at me. Numbers can make up for the difference of power at times, but I will show you that this doesn't apply to me."

King Elbas waved his spear after he finished speaking, and long trails of golden flames shot out of the line that he drew with the weapon's tip.

The rank 6 beings' copies tried to dodge the flames, but their figures ended up engulfed in that raging sea. They didn't even manage to resist for a second under their power.

Elder Julia quickly summoned new copies, but another wave of flames engulfed them before they could even fully form. King Elbas only needed to pass them when he moved his spear. The golden flames coming out of the trajectory traced with the weapon did the rest.

Those exchanges repeated themselves a few times before King Elbas had enough room to point at the place where the Ape God had disappeared. The golden halo filled the entire region again, and a fuming pit replaced the teleportation matrix used by the beast.

King Elbas knew that he was fighting in the enemy territory. The defenders had a clear advantage since they didn't mind the condition of the new continent.

Still, King Elbas could easily take care of the teleportation matrices and doors connected with the separate dimension. He only needed to take his time destroying all of them.

Elder Julia never stopped summoning the three rank 6 guardians. The Council and the Shandal Empire had redirected resources toward the Copying Technique before the battle, but its expenses already surpassed their wildest imagination.

King Elbas attacked the ground only when he managed to take care of the rank 6 copies fast enough. His strategy was slow, but the Royal inevitably cleared a large area from its inscriptions.

Then, he began to move toward the next region. He never flew, but he managed to cross entire kilometers with a casual sprint.

The traps placed beforehand activated whenever he reached a designated spot. Instabilities unleashed a storm of saber-shaped runes in the sky, and other peculiar inscribed items showed their power to stop King Elbas.

The Royal could ignore the saber-shaped runes, but some of the traps released a strange liquid that managed to suppress part of his flames for an instant.

That was one of Thirty-seven's creations. It was an azure liquid that tried to imitate King Elbas' flames to counter them.

Of course, the liquid couldn't do much, but King Elbas had to deplete a bit more energy to restore his items to their peak, so the leaders considered that a win.

However, nothing truly managed to stop King Elbas, and Noah had to deploy the Ape God again to slow down the destruction unleashed by the Royal.

The platoons' attacks made of hybrids and cultivators barely managed to get near King Elbas' figure, and the Copying Technique was too ineffective for the energy that it depleted.

The defenders needed more time, and Noah wasn't willing to deploy the powerhouses just yet. The death of only one of them would start a chain reaction that would end with their defeat.

The Ape God reappeared in the distance and unleashed a series of raging winds toward King Elbas. The Royal didn't hesitate to point his spear at the creature, and the golden halo covered the region again.

When the light dispersed, a large fuming hole had replaced the beast's teleportation matrix, and the Ape God was in a different area, ready to launch another attack.

Those types of exchanges continued for a while. The creature now knew how fast King Elbas' attacks were, so it could act according to that timing. Noah did the same since he ordered the platoons to attack whenever he found the right chance.

King Elbas' offensive had finally slowed down once the Ape God had stepped forward. The quasi-rank 7 creature kept the Royal busy for entire hours before he suddenly changed approach.

The rank 6 copies appeared around King Elbas once again, and he began to move his spear toward them as usual. The Ape God used that chance to launch its violent invisible force, but the Royal stopped his movement and redirected the weapon at the creature.

The copies charged at King Elbas, but the crown radiated a heatwave that turned their bodies into ashes. Then, the golden halo filled the entire region again.

The golden light remained in place for a few seconds at that time, and a peculiar scene appeared in the experts' vision once it dispersed.

King Elbas had left his previous position and was now in front of the Ape. His hand was around the creature's neck, and he floated at a few meters above the ground, enough to lift the beast from the terrain.

The Ape God had lost all its limbs. Both its legs and remaining arm had disappeared while the golden halo filled the region, and its expression was empty. There wasn't even pain on it.

"I guess this is your strongest asset," King Elbas said as he glanced at the Ape God one last time before golden flames covered its figure.

In a few seconds, the tall body of the quasi-rank 7 creature became nothing more than ashes.