Chapter 276 Chapter275-The True Might of a Devil
Facing the ferociously approaching Darkblade, John remained unmoving, his face even adorned with a faint smile.
With a gentle flick of his finger, the Shadowflame Seed suddenly hovered above his head, starting to rotate slowly.
Swirls of dark Shadowflame spun out from it, merging with each other and eventually forming a massive ball of fire.
This flame met Darkblade head-on, enveloping it completely.
As the crackling sound of burning echoed, the dark greatsword, which had been invincible against Hills, was now unable to break through the Shadowflame, ultimately being burned to ashes.
John sighed inwardly, truly worthy of being the primordial flame of the abyss, a thing that even the Soul-Devouring Devil Ghana revered so much.
Its power was indeed formidable.
Upon reaching level five, John had gained perfect control over the Shadowflame Seed, and the ways he could employ the Shadowflame in attack had substantially increased.
A glint flashed in John's eyes; the floating Shadowflame Seed above him seemed sentient, abruptly spewing out another ball of Shadowflame that transformed into a roaring fire serpent, charging towards Ghana not far away.
Seeing this, a trace of doubt flashed in Ghana's eyes, but it quickly turned into a hint of mockery.
With a point of his finger, the fire serpent abruptly dispersed in mid-air.
"How ridiculous, do you truly believe the Shadowflame can threaten me? I am a great Devil, and while the Shadowflame is powerful, it can never harm a pure-blood demon. I have already told you that with just the Shadowflame Seed, you will never be able to defeat me!" Ghana said, his face full of disdain.
John's eyebrows furrowed slightly; he knew that what Ghana was saying was not false.
After all, the Shadowflame was born in the inner layers of the abyss, existing in symbiosis with the demons; even if he could perfectly control this item, he couldn't harm Ghana with it.
After pondering for a moment, with a subtle notion, John retrieved the floating Shadowflame Seed above his head back into the equipment column.
With a flip of his right hand, an ancient long sword appeared in his grasp.
It was the Divine Equipment Divine Palace, the very weapon he had used to defeat the Desire Devil Mammon previously.
[Divine Palace (Divine Weapon): With a single thought become a god, with a single thought become a demon, only with Divine Palace can one Divine Slay the demons.]
A succinct description, yet it revealed unparalleled dominance...
John raised an eyebrow as he continued to read on.
[Level: Above 600, additionally requiring 1200 strength and 1200 constitution]
[Class: Warrior, Spellblade, Assassin...]
[Attributes: +2500 health points, +1000 strength, +800 constitution, +80% true damage, +50% armor penetration...]
[Attached Skill 1: Inquiry Strike; upon activation, it condenses an energy blade that inflicts massive damage to all enemies within a linear distance of 5000 yards while reducing their defense, with a maximum potential of inflicting 100% true damage...]
[Attached Skill 2: Divine Slay (passive skill); equipping this weapon permanently enhances the wielder's damage against deities. The smaller the level difference, the greater the increase in damage, up to a maximum of two-fold...]
...
Gently stroking the hilt of Divine Palace, John slightly channeled his inner energy into it, causing the Divine Palace to radiate a blinding glow.
Suddenly, a sword light several meters long formed, revealing an unparalleled sharpness.
The disdain on the face of the Soul-Devouring Devil Ghana suddenly froze, his eyes fixated on the Divine Palace in John's hand with a serious expression.
"You human, you really have a lot of good stuff on you... but these things will be mine soon, after I devour your soul..."
Although his words were arrogant, Ghana consciously summoned his weapon equipment.
A somewhat bizarre-looking set of scales appeared, with two wide-mouthed skull heads hanging at both ends.
This was the primary weapon of the Soul-Devouring Devil Ghana, akin to the scepter left behind by the Desire Devil Mammon.
It was rumored that before Ghana devoured a soul, it would weigh the soul on the scales to measure its weight.
John, observing the bizarrely shaped yet darkly magnificent scales, slightly raised an eyebrow.
Clearly, this was another piece of Divine Equipment, and its attributes wouldn't be much weaker than those of the Divine Palace he held in his hand.
Watching Ghana single-handedly holding the silver scales, John realized that it was only now that this being was truly bringing out all its strength.
What transpired before was just trivial, merely playing with the others below.
The Soul-Devouring Devil spread its flesh wings, hovering mid-air, emanating an abyssal, demonic, terrifying aura.
This aura was eerie and cold, as if capable of penetrating the flesh to influence the very depth of the soul, invoking an involuntary desire to kneel and submit.
This wasn't an illusion; Ghana inherently governed the order of souls, an overseer of harvesting them, and its divine might naturally acted directly upon the soul.
The aura already affected the other squad members below, who were in the middle of healing.
They gritted their teeth, struggling against this deep-seated desire to submit originating from their souls.
If not for the barrier of John's Divine Guardian, they might have already fallen into mental collapse, becoming dark minions by now.
Such was the majesty of a deity; even those strong beings of two to three hundred levels had absolutely no power to resist it.
It was precisely because of this that the team members' faith in John as their leader grew even stronger, elevating to a level of reverence.
Through the protective barrier of the Divine Guardian, they were forcibly holding on, while their leader faced the Devil on the front lines, without any barrier whatsoever, yet not only unaffected by the Devil's aura, his presence became even more radiant and upright.
It had even reached a point of equal footing, a sight profoundly shocking.
Some squad members, who were healing faster and were almost recovered, gathered to whisper among themselves.
Baelga: "Tell me, is our Galewind team leader really just five or six hundred levels? I feel like he's not far from becoming a god, you know?"
Yunis: "So incredible, if only I could cultivate to the leader's level one day."
Saphir: "Young man, it's good to have ambition, but cultivation isn't just about hard work; talent is a crucial part too!" n/-o-(v-(e-(l-)b/.1)(n
Baelga: "Old Saphir is right; look at Alcys, practically gave up everything to cultivate, even willing to become an Ascetic, but isn't he still at this level? Reaching the half-god realm seems infinitely far."
Baelga's voice was loud, reverberating like thunder across a clear sky.
Alcys naturally heard them; he opened his eyes, his gaze as calm as an age-old well: "At least I wouldn't go provoking someone who can face a Devil head-on the moment we meet."
Baelga: "..."
He had come to realize that not all ascetics were dull and silent.
Alcys, at the very least, was a person with a sharp tongue and a dark mind.
Yunis suddenly asked from the side, "Mr. Saphir, did you know the leader for a long time? It seems like you two are quite familiar with each other."
Saphir laughed heartily, "To tell you the truth, Galewind once registered as a mercenary at the Mercenary Hall I oversee. We hit it off back then. Even though we only met twice, we indeed can be considered old friends..."
Yunis instantly wore a face of admiration.
Baelga asked incredulously, "What? The leader, with his power, actually had an interest in being a mercenary?"
Saphir said irritably, "What's so surprising about that? Galewind is so young, isn't it very normal for him to entertain himself by being a mercenary?"
At this moment, Dragonfang, who was healing with his eyes closed beside them, suddenly opened his eyes.
He said with a husky voice, "I heard that Galewind, like a large number of new professionals who suddenly appeared recently, all came from unknown places. Oddly enough, I once secretly investigated the identities of these new professionals under the emperor's orders but no matter what methods I used, I couldn't find out where they specifically came from..."
"The number of these people is extremely large, mostly concentrated in the northern territory. Each of them was only level one when they first appeared but they level up extremely fast!"
"It's not just our two great human empires; many other races also have a lot of them. According to the clues we have touched upon, even on the other side of the Doomsday Mountain Range, a large number of new professionals have appeared... I really don't know what the purpose of these people appearing here is. They call themselves 'players'; are they just here to play?"
A faint solemnity permeated Dragonfang's voice.
It was quite apparent that the massive influx of players into the Godslayer world had already attracted the attention of the native forces.
However, since the levels of the players were generally quite low and posed no immediate threat, these forces were only monitoring them discreetly for the time being.
Saphir slowly shook his head: "Guardian Dragonfang, no one can answer that question. However, these new professionals coming from unknown lands seem to have their own set of behavioral norms and shouldn't pose a threat to us in the short term."
Dragonfang sighed softly, murmuring in a voice only he could hear, "Let's hope so..."
He looked up at John in the sky, whose aura was becoming increasingly blazing, a hint of anxiety flashing in the depths of his eyes.
This young man named Galewind likely hailed from the same place as those new professionals, yet his strength seemed somewhat absurdly potent.
If several more individuals of such strength were to appear, it would have an extremely profound impact on the empire and even the entire Godslayer Continent.
Whether that was good or bad remained unknown...
Hills also came out of his meditation, opening his eyes.
He spoke faintly, "At least for now, the captain stands with us. That is more than enough."
The others nodded one after another, expressing their agreement.