Amidst the sky's darkness and the earth's scorching heat, more than a hundred fire lions fought on the front lines against a purple-gold giant centipede. The Beast God bravely leads the battle at the forefront because he is confident that he can take down his enemy with minimum risk.
After all, his enemy wasn't the unreasonably strong Ruvoid God.
"Activate the traps, trigger the anti-curse mechanism to merge with them, and launch thousands of blade array formations!" Regulus shouted loudly as he tried his best to suppress the giant centipede.
"Thousands blade array formation, activate!" The fire lions shouted as they activated the array formation.
The five barriers towered up to a hundred meters high. The giant centipede was confined within a pentagonal sealed ground. Regulus used an instant teleportation talisman to escape the confinement.
*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*
Thousands of slashes were released per second. Twenty-seven fire lions controlled the formation in a cold sweat as they had to inflict as much damage to the giant centipede before this monster destroyed the array formation.
*Hiss!*
The giant centipede roared in pain as its body was bombarded with countless physical attacks. Purple blood splattered onto the ground and melted the rock. The giant centipede tried to burrow into the ground but failed. Thus, it immediately attempted to destroy the magic circle beneath it.
*Crack* *Crack* *Crumble*
The array formation collapsed, and the fire lions spat out a mouthful of blood as the backlash was severe.
"Good job, my descendants. Let's see if you can survive this attack or not, centipede. Mixed beast God's art of destruction!" Regulus appeared in the sky, wielding a super-long spear. He lunged at the giant centipede with a combination of mixed elemental magic for a fatal impact straight to his opponent's head.
*Bam!* *Rumble!*
The super long spear pierced through the centipede's head, sending the mixed destructive elemental reaction straight into the brain.
"Hmph!" Regulus exerted more force, then impaled the giant centipede to the ground. He made sure its brain had been crushed into mush with a crushed skull.
The giant centipede writhed in agony, but it wasn't enough to kill it. Its long body moved like a sharp whip, about to entangle the Beast God.
"!?" Regulus retreated as he was almost caught in a death counterattack.
The giant centipede stretched, then severed its hollow head. However, two more heads grew shortly after.
"It's not enough to kill that Emperor-level accursed giant centipede. Keep attacking it while it's in a weakened state!" Vanessa called out from the other side of the battlefield.
"Don't tell me what to do! I already know that." Regulus' veins popped out in annoyance.
"Do whatever you like!" Vanessa snorted sarcastically, then slashed at any accursed creatures that approached her.
"The battle will last longer if we don't handle the source. We can't retreat because their threat will only get worse. This is a desperate war that we must win in the first clash. Let's head straight to their base and slay those monster summoners first."
"They can reproduce themselves continuously. This will be dangerous, and we must quickly retreat after slaughtering the summoners. Activate your beast tattoo. Break one's limit now!"
Theo and Leila ordered their troops to go straight to the enemy's lair. It had already been half a day since the battle started. Still, the accursed creatures swarmed in had not diminished even though thousands had been obliterated.
"Yes, ma'am!"
More than two hundred beast warriors activated their trump card. Their beast tattoos appeared on their skin, and the strength of their overalls soared several times.
"Let's go." Vanessa doesn't use her limit break technique because she can fight effectively without the risky buff.
She then flew to the enemy's lair with her uncle, aunt, and more than two hundred brave warriors.
Vanessa's troops went to the enemy's backline, and the defensive armies took the vanguard position to hold off the attacks of accursed creatures.
*Boom!* *Boom!*
Beast God and his family battle into the recovered giant centipede, and Vanessa's troop struggles to eliminate the most troublesome enemies in the backline.
A thunderstorm enveloped the battlefield, and the scorching hot fire had turned the other side into a volcanic area.
The desperate clashes lasted for one day and one night, and it was utterly drained of everyone's power because no one chose to back down. Everyone fought to the last drop of blood on the front line to eradicate the accursed creatures.
Now, only a few were still able to stand straight and fight. Thousands of brave warriors died on the battlefield; some were seriously injured or exhausted.
Only ten of Vanessa's troops could still fight, and they returned to the scorching hot battlefield.
"Haah, huff, hah... Why does it keep regenerating? Now that centipede is just like a seven-headed hydra." Regulus panted heavily as he felt exhausted.
He didn't expect a mere Emperor-level accursed creature to be this troublesome. His opponent was only an overlord-class monster, but he still couldn't kill it even with the help of dozens of fire lions? He was unconvinced.
'Master, the giant golden centipede now has seven poisonous heads. What should we do?' Vanessa asked for enlightenment as the primary forces could no longer fight effectively. After all, they all went all out with a limit break.
'It's a somewhat reckless but effective plan, Vann. Several hundred accursed creatures have escaped, and the third layer of encirclement is dealing with them. When the giant golden centipede has seven heads, its final form is the strongest and the weakest. It can no longer be revived with its skill. Please be careful with its seven heads. Anyway, I've handled the calamity clouds~' Elysia responded without delay.
'Alright, thank you, master!' Vanessa looked up. She just realized that the dark calamity clouds had disappeared, and the evening sun had already illuminated the earth. It was not the light from the Beast God's flames but the sun in the clear sky.
"Beast God, that is the giant golden centipede's final form. The most powerful state but also the weakest. Once we kill it in its current state, it can no longer be revived!" Vanessa raised her longsword high and shouted loudly.
"Huh!? Alright, my family and I will take care of this monster. You and the beast armies should handle the accursed monster tides." Regulus frowned, but the fiery mantle that covered his body burned even brighter.
"We have eradicated them, and the third layer of siege deals with the accursed who fled." Vanessa crossed her arms.
"What!?" Regulus had expected the extermination to be slower. He looked to the side, and sure enough... no accursed creatures could be seen.
Apart from the devastated terrain, only a few hundred brave warriors were left. Hundreds of others were brought to the backline to treat their serious injuries, and the fact that thousands of warriors had died weighed heavily on his heart. Some of his descendants also joined the main forces but were nowhere to be seen.
"Well then. If that is your final form, then I can go all out to eliminate you. The prolonged battle will only consume stamina and energy. Let's end it in this one final move." Regulus growled, and his Beast God's mark lit up in flames.
He prepared his ultimate attack by risking all his remaining strength for his finisher move. If he still failed to kill this troublesome centipede, he needed to drag that white tiger girl so that her master would come down to finish this monster.
*Swoosh!* *Boom!*
Regulus dashed at the giant golden centipede, creating a vortex of fire, lightning, magma, and wind blades. He tore his enemies to shreds with insane speed as he didn't let his enemies have a chance to fight back.
"..." Vanessa, her uncle, and aunt watched the divine-class destruction from a relatively safe distance.
They knew they couldn't get involved because it was the Beast God's battle, or it could be called the battle of pride. The strongest one had to be taken down by the fire lions.
'Perhaps, the Beast God went all out to reclaim his dignity and confidence? He did not hide behind his wives and children but fought at the forefront. Did the reproach of the two ghosts, the God's remnant souls, affect him?' Vanessa wondered but didn't care because it was a good sign for the Beast God to be serious in battle.
After the multi-elemental vortex died down, the seven-headed golden centipede had already been chopped into several pieces. It slowly turned into a black mist of darkness curse and shot towards the Beast God.
"Anti-curse mechanism!" Regulus took out an anti-curse rod and activated it in a hurry.
His heart almost skipped a beat because the curse targeted him instead of becoming a calamity cloud like the other monsters slaughtered on this battlefield.
*Swoosh*
The curse was sucked into the anti-curse mechanism. Regulus breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on the smoldering ground, looking up at the sky in relief. "I killed it. It's over, right?"
"Yes, the battle here is over. Please dispatch a team to scout this area and other reinforcements to search the zone within a three thousand-kilometer radius. No accursed monsters are allowed to escape. For the rest, please retreat and recuperate. The final battle will occur in five or six days." Vanessa announced her conclusion in a solemn tone to everyone.
The Beast Emperors then sent their reserve troops to carry out the cleanup.
Everyone could only celebrate the brief victory because they knew the more terrifying final battle against the Ruvoid God was still waiting for them soon.