Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 915 Profound
"ash--!!!"

On the altar, a human face growing from a grayish-white mountain of flesh roared excitedly, its undisguised ecstasy echoing wildly in the underground space, causing the entire altar to tremble violently.

[You have become the prey of "The Devourer" Elizid, and are unable to leave "The Realm of the Dead (Complete)"]

Rumble——! !

Golden-red text flashed across the altar. On the altar, accompanied by a low growl from Elizid, whose only remaining human face was visible, a large amount of black liquid seeped out. From Xinlai's sight, tongues and faces rapidly grew, chanting in unison a kind of ominous hymn:
"Lud, Domnul adncilor."

"Lud, Regele Devortorului."

"Laud, Regele nostru."

As the majestic and solemn chorus faded, it momentarily imbued the cold and dark altar with an unusual sense of holiness. Xin Lailai, standing at the edge of the altar, watched this scene and without hesitation drew her bowstring, firing another demonic arrow at the enormous human face that had grown from the mountain of flesh.

boom--! !

A jet-black demonic arrow swept through the air, striking the giant face squarely in the face, causing its dark purple health bar displayed on the Xin Lai Lai Blessing interface to drop sharply. But the next second—

"Lud, Domnul adncilor..."

As the majestic hymn ended, dark purple orbs of light were released from the hands of the bulky figures surrounding Elizid, replenishing his lost health in less than half a breath.

Seeing this, Xin Lailai's eyes flickered. She instantly realized that before stopping the choir around the opponent, she probably wouldn't be able to really harm Elizid in front of her. So she changed her target without hesitation. Just as she was about to try to clear out the bloated hymn singers around the giant mountain of flesh, she seemed to sense something. Her pupils shrank slightly, and she unhesitatingly used the bow of her fine iron longbow to block behind her!
Clang——! !

Sparks flew from the altar, and a sharp, black spear suddenly appeared from behind, colliding with the longbow and knocking Xin Lailai back several steps.

At the same time, as this attack landed, seven figures, each with a different appearance but all composed of pitch-black liquid, emerged from the surrounding darkness one after another. They looked up at Xin Lailai amidst the constantly echoing hymns. Xin Lailai looked at the seven figures before her, whose auras were far superior to those of the undead and wandering spirits outside. Her gaze paused slightly on one of the figures wearing a large wizard's hat before she fell silent.

"..."

Without a doubt, the seven figures before us are the heroic Ash who successfully entered this place and then disappeared without a trace.

"One against seven, huh..."

Although judging from the attack just now, these Heroic Ashes manipulated by the Deep are far less powerful than they were in life, considering the presence of the Choir and Elizid himself, they are still a force not to be underestimated.

Considering that they seem to be summoned by the chorus and are composed of the power of the deep, although it has not been verified, these hero-level ashes that were pulled out may also have some kind of immortality mechanism, just like Elizid.

therefore--

"Kill the hymn singers first." "Okay!"

The cold instructions fell into her mind, and in just two breaths, Xin Lailai made a decision instantly. She switched her longbow to a longsword, raised her hand to condense demon chips, and rushed towards the nearest bulky figure.

"Lud, Regele Devor..."

The next second, the solemn chanting ended, and as Xin Lailai moved, the seven powerful shadowy figures, including the big-hatted shadowy figure, also moved in unison.

The spear-wielding shadow was the first to rush out, snatching the spear that had fallen to the side. The three shadows wielding dual swords, a long blade, and a greatsword followed closely behind. The shadows holding books and bows, along with the shadow in a big hat, chanted incantations and rapidly constructed three distinct ranged attacks.

"Ashes...devour...!!"

"Fire...I...need...more...flame!!"

As the distorted roar subsided, a gigantic human face roared atop the gray-white mountain of flesh. In an instant, a ghostly light erupted, and spears, twin blades, flames, lightning bolts, black streams... all sorts of attacks came crashing down on Xin Lailai.

Forced to endure the concentrated fire, Xin Lailai sensed the rapidly approaching threat of death from behind. Her eyes flashed, and she switched the Holy Bell in her Blessing equipment slot to a round shield. She abruptly stopped amidst the surging golden energy, spun around, and swung her sword in a slash.

Boom——! !

In the next instant, golden light burst forth, colliding heavily with the attack coming from behind. It repelled the four melee-type shadowy figures charging at the forefront, and like a flower bud suddenly closing, it gathered up all the ranged attacks released by the big-hatted shadowy figures and others, transforming into a four-colored stream of light with gold as the main component. It swept along the blade in Xin Lailai's hand, traversing an arc parallel to the ground in mid-air, before suddenly exploding outwards.

Wang Jian – Against the Trend!

Conversely, he used the arc-shaped sword light from the attacks of Big Hat Shadow and others to strike the bulky figure in the bishop's robe who was constantly chanting hymns, instantly splitting him in two.

The first one.

"Lai Lai, behind you!"

A piercing sound of air being torn apart swept by. The spear-wielding shadow, which had been pushed back, stopped its retreat and stepped forward without hesitation, throwing the spear out from the shockwave that instantly tore through the air. Xin Lailai, as if she had opened her third eye, shifted her feet and dodged to the side, letting the spear pierce the gray-white mountain of flesh in front of her.

Although they cannot use the Star Luo Domain, with the improvement of their intelligence attribute, their mental power has long been able to extend to several meters away from their body surface. Combined with the advantage of having two souls in one body, in a world like Ash World where everyone is disabled, it is no different from having a precognitive cheat.

Of course, relatively speaking...

Wow——! !

A sharp whooshing sound cut through the air as the twin-sword shadow and the long-blade shadow, who had managed to delay Xin Lailai with their spear shadow, slashed simultaneously, pressing down on Xin Lailai from the left and right.

In a normal world, given the physical strength displayed by the Twin-Blade Shadow and the Longblade Shadow, it would be utterly impossible for them to rush to his side and surround him so quickly after being forced back.

However, under the rules of the Ash World, unless the attribute difference is so huge as to be outrageous, even a Lord of Cinder cannot be much faster than a Heroic Ash in terms of reaction speed. This is the inconvenience brought about by the rules of the Ash World.

Precise parry!

On the altar, realizing that if she dared to ignore this place, she would be instantly drained of her stamina and executed by two blows, Xin Lailai's eyes flickered slightly. She decisively raised her shield to block the longsword figure beside her. In the fleeting golden light, she collided with the slashes of the longsword shadow and the twin sword shadow with her bare body, and took a small half step back with a muffled groan.

Although their precise parries had been very effective throughout the journey, they were now facing a Heroic Ash who had left behind one legend after another in this world. With their reaction speed unable to overwhelm the opponent and being outnumbered, even if the opponent was just a puppet controlled by the power of the Abyss, it was obviously impossible for them to easily seize the opening in the opponent's attack and achieve a perfect parry.

However, even without triggering a perfect parry, simply being able to deflect two attacks with combat skill effects with a single precise parry, and even avoiding being weakened, was more than enough for them, after all...

—Their target is not these invincible puppets!
“Lud…!”

A burst of dark light erupted, and several demonic power chips that had silently spread to the figures of the chanting hymns around them suddenly exploded, causing their chanting to stop abruptly.

Upon seeing this, the spear and greatsword shadows, located a few meters away, suddenly stopped in their tracks. Then, under Xin Lailai's gaze, they all retreated and, together with the big-hatted shadows and several other ranged shadows behind them, defended the remaining three hymn chanters.

Defense.

Yes, after being wiped out by Xinlai in a few rounds, the hero-level Shadow, who should have been on the offensive, was forced to become the defender.

And this also means... from this moment on, the initiative in this battle has once again fallen into their hands! The tide has turned!

Xin Lailai admitted that in a head-on confrontation, it would indeed be difficult for them to deal with ten Hymn Singers while facing seven immortal and indestructible Hero-level Shadows on the opponent's home turf.

however--

For them, who had fought countless battles against abyssal creatures, the fact that the seven Heroic Shadows possessed the weakness of Hymn Singers and were not particularly intelligent... meant from the very beginning that they were destined to be no match for them, who had survived countless sieges by abyssal creatures.

This is another huge advantage they possess compared to the world's strongest individuals.

How to escape from an encirclement, how to reverse the situation when under siege, how to make reasonable battle arrangements by utilizing the positioning and distribution of the besieging enemies... These are experiences that can only be accumulated by surviving numerous siege battles. Obviously, they cannot be accumulated in a world like Ash World, where even Lords of Cinder are afraid of being surrounded by three high-attribute monsters.

“Laud, Rege…”

On the altar, the magnificent chorus still echoed from the underground space, but its volume was noticeably smaller than before.

If you look up, you can see that above the altar, illuminated by eerie blue will-o'-the-wisps, a dark cloud exuding a strong sense of foreboding is gradually growing larger amidst the constantly repeated chanting of hymns.

prayer.

Even without any explanation, based solely on the changes since the start of the battle, Xin Lailai already understood that the huge black cloud gradually forming above was definitely the effect corresponding to the last part of the three-part chant of the hymn singer.

A massive prayer that requires an extremely long time to complete.

This is the ultimate result of the inability to stop the chanting of hymns.

As for the power it unleashed, considering the time required for this prayer, Xin Lailai did not believe that it was something they could withstand at this stage with their health and parrying abilities.

death.

Without a doubt, if this prayer is allowed to go on, that will be their only fate.

Even considering the existence of these heroic shadows and the words shouted by Elizid's face, it is seriously questionable whether they have a chance to be reborn from the spark after death.

Of course, Xin Lailai wasn't going to give the other party that chance.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh! !

Hundreds of barely audible whooshing sounds rang out simultaneously. On the altar, Xin Lailai, whose steps had been temporarily blocked by the combined defense of the Hero-level Shadows, suddenly stopped. With a screeching sound as her shoes scraped against the ground, she bit down on the Elemental Bottle that had suddenly appeared in front of her mouth, tilted her head back and drank a mouthful of blue potion. At the same time, she swung her sword fiercely, gripping the pitch-black greatsword formed from hundreds of demonic crystal chips with both hands and swinging it with all her might in the direction of the Shadows and the Hymn Singer!
King's Sword - Magic Explosion.

Boom——! !

The next second, a heavy collision erupted as the demonic greatsword, over ten meters long, clashed with the weapons and defensive spells wielded by several shadowy figures, causing the entire altar to tremble violently. And the next second…

boom! ! !
The raging demonic power, equivalent to emptying thousands of mana points, erupted like a pitch-black beast, swallowing up the several shadowy figures and the hymn chanter in front of it.

When the shockwave from the demonic power subsided, the spear-wielding and greatsword-wielding shadows at the forefront vanished into thin air. Even the hymn chanters protected at the rear lost two members from the original three. And that's not all—

Missed.

On the altar, as the dark storm dissipated, the shadowy figure with the large hat that had been supporting the defensive spells at the very back stared at the suddenly empty altar before him, slightly startled, and then abruptly looked up.

however……

"Too late."

King's Sword - Instant Strike.

Zheng!
A burst of dark light erupted as Xin Lailai, using gravity and acceleration to briefly push her speed beyond its limits, swooped down from the dark clouds above. Grabbing a longsword formed from a magic crystal and demonic power, she flashed past between two intersecting dark lines, severing the last two hymn chanters in half at the waist.

Boom—!

With the deaths of the last two hymn chanters, the movements of the several heroic shadow figures, who had already brought their weapons to their feet and were about to unleash their spells, suddenly froze, and with a whoosh, they collapsed together with the dark clouds above.

The grand hymn that had been echoing around the altar abruptly stopped, and the giant face growing on the grayish-white mountain of flesh coughed up a mouthful of black blood, muttering in disbelief:
“My people… how could they… cough cough…”

King's Sword - Madness.

Before the giant face could finish speaking, Xin Lailai, who was in front of it, decisively took a step forward, rushed to its front, gripped the two demon swords in her hands, took a step, and after a brief moment of preparation, swung her muscular arms with all her might, frantically slashing at the gray-white mountain of flesh in front of her.

"Ugh... Ahhhhhhh...!!"

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!!

In an instant, a series of destructive demonic power erupted, causing the long health bar displayed on the blessing interface to rapidly decline. The face atop the grayish-white mountain of flesh howled in agony, but it couldn't stop Xin Lailai's actions at all. Finally…

boom!
The crystal longsword, with only a last vestige of demonic power remaining, plunged heavily into the wrinkled, brain-like mountain of flesh amidst the spurting jets of black blood, abruptly silencing the giant face's roar and reducing the purple health bar in Xin Lailai's vision to zero.

But seeing this, Xin Lailai showed no joy. Instead, she used the magic chip and the gray-white flesh mountain to stomp heavily, using the force to fly back several meters. Without hesitation, she took out her round shield, jumped and rolled, and after creating a distance of more than ten meters, she heard the faint sound coming from her ear and turned around without hesitation to raise her shield to block.

boom! ! !
The next instant, the enormous, grayish-white mountain of flesh, over thirty meters tall, suddenly exploded, transforming into a hemispherical black shockwave centered on it. This shockwave blasted everything in sight away, and as the hemispherical shockwave dissipated, a maniacal laugh suddenly rang out:

"Hahaha...hahahaha...hahahahaha!"

A maniacal laugh echoed as a large amount of black liquid flowed from the cracks in the altar and the surrounding darkness, converging towards what should have been a gray-white mountain of flesh.

"I've been waiting... I've finally waited for this... Hehe... Hehehehe!"

A chilling grinding sound rang out, and as the black impact dissipated, the scene before us gradually emerged.

"Ash that has the potential to become king... come forth..."

A black liquid, resembling oil, slowly flowed from its surface, like a slowly rising curtain, gradually revealing the enormous beast claws tightly connected to its arms, the jet-black serpent-winged staff, and the handsome face that had become severely woody, leaving only pure hunger and madness.

"If I eat you... I will surely be able to... regain Wang Huo's attention!"

……

(End of this chapter)