Storm of Gods

Chapter 254 Ancient Angels
Golden light enveloped Li Xin and Celia. The liquids, upon touching the golden light, began to sizzle and burn, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench. The tunnel also surged and compressed violently. Li Xin maintained his balance amidst the swaying, continuously striking with his fists. The entire tunnel shook violently again, and the two of them suddenly lost their footing and plummeted downwards at high speed.

bass……

Li Xin and Celestia floated in mid-air, beneath them in a blood-black pool, bubbling and with bones floating on the surface. Suddenly, human faces emerged from the surrounding walls, grotesquely emitting sharp whistles that assaulted their brains. Celestia's magic ring was shattered, but it did not break through Li Xin's Immovable King Seal.

Numb, fleshy tentacles sprouted from the surrounding walls, reaching for the two. Li Xin immediately unleashed his mental blast, causing the approaching tentacles to explode in mid-air, none of them managing to get close to the two.

Li Xin carried Celia across the blood pool. He didn't want to linger in this awful place. After passing the blood pool-like area, they entered a sticky, dark tunnel. The tunnel was sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, and occasionally Lickers would emerge from the tunnel walls to attack the two of them, but Li Xin killed them all.

Gradually, Celia's emotions stabilized. She would occasionally cast spells to block the Lickers, but most of them only served to disrupt them. The Lickers here were much stronger than those outside, and many of her spells were not very effective in sudden situations. Moreover, her reaction time was not fast enough. Real combat was vastly different from the training at the Faculty. However, Celia had one good point: she was bold and never acted rashly. She was somewhat like a fox borrowing the tiger's might.

The two ventured into the dim light for a while. There were other users in the passageway, but not as numerous as outside. They seemed to be parasitic, their attacks appearing impossible to defend against, but Li Xin could always detect and kill them beforehand. The foul-smelling liquid was also blocked by the golden light protecting him. The passageway was sometimes wide and sometimes narrow; in narrow places, a couple of cuts would widen it. It was like a maze, winding and turning. After an unknown amount of time, the two finally saw the exit, and everything seemed to have returned to normal. When they stepped out of the passageway, Celia was stunned by what she saw. This was not a room in the castle, but an isolated space under the sky, shrouded in mist. Dozens of huge chains, like pythons, coiled and intertwined around the space, suspended in the air. The chains converged at a point in the center and then hung high in the sky, their ends disappearing into the mist.

Beneath the chains was a tall, humanoid monster. Celia, who had just survived the ordeal and wanted to say something witty, suddenly choked up.

The peculiar giant, sitting there, was nearly four meters tall. Behind him were a pair of enormous red fleshy wings, their muscles mottled and rotten in many places. He wore tattered armor, which, though worn, still bore inscriptions that resembled a tribal emblem. He also wore a dark red, worn-out cloak. He had long, messy, silver-gray hair. Where his breastplate was torn, his bones and dark, shriveled muscles were exposed. The exposed part of his left chest looked hollowed out, and something seemed to be gleaming dimly within it. A thin chain pierced through his chest and also converged in the mist above his head.

His thick lower limbs didn't seem human; his huge feet were dug into the ground, and a massive, blood-red greatsword was stuck in the ground in front of him.

"This is... an angel?" Celia swallowed hard. Her damned luck—she actually encountered a mythical creature in her own sacred land. It just didn't make sense.

A door was right behind the broken angel. Celia looked at Li Xin with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. The broken angel was probably asleep or already dead. They were lucky enough to sneak around it. As long as they left this place, they could activate the Gate of Truth and leave. Although it was an eye-opening experience, the moment she saw this angel, she didn't want to stay here for even a second longer. If this guy woke up, they would all become sacrifices.

She roughly estimated that she had been wandering around inside for nearly two hours. If it weren't for Li Xin's stable and confident demeanor, and the miraculous golden light protecting her, she would have collapsed long ago.

That golden light was also magical. Celia had never seen such power before. It did not belong to an array, nor did it seem like spiritual energy. It could bring a strong belief that isolated everything outside. The moment Li Xin withdrew the golden light, Celia instantly felt a bone-chilling malice behind her. Let alone being eaten by those monsters, just this kind of malice could drive a person crazy.

"Brother Li, should we run?" Celia swallowed hard and whispered a reminder to Li Xin, who was focused on the broken angel.

"Do you recognize this creature?" Li Xin asked.

“Divine relics can gain a mythical form when the fifth life star is activated. This one with blood-red wings should be a battle angel on the path of knights. We shouldn’t be reckless. Even a basic mythical form is a crushing defeat for anyone below the fifth life star…” Celia calmly advised, afraid that Li Xin would act rashly. “It’s too late,” Li Xin shook his head. In fact, he had been trapped since the moment he appeared. This was the owner of the castle. “You should stand aside for a while. I might not be able to keep an eye on you.”

Celia opened her mouth, but what did she care? They were all going to die here anyway. The broken angel, half-crouched on the ground, slowly raised her head, her crimson eyes opening. In an instant, a powerful, suffocating aura enveloped the entire room. It was a half-masked, half-human, half-skull face that was cracked, but its blood-red pupils looked human. It looked at Li Xin and Celia, opened its mouth, and moved its body with a creaking sound. "Young enforcer, and a... little flea."

Upon hearing this, Celia, who had initially been somewhat timid, jumped out as if her hair had been bristled. "You're the flea! Your whole family are fleas! You worthless flea! No wonder you're tied up here!"

The broken angel spoke in Hera, and Celia retorted in Hera, her voice rising and falling with great force. After speaking, she immediately shrank back behind Li Xin, peeking out her head.

The ravaged angel slowly stood up. Its massive body, nearly six meters tall, exuded immense pressure. Its blood-red wings, when spread out, were also six or seven meters long. However, only half of its left wing remained, and both were tattered and withered.

In an instant, the powerful aura emanating from the battle angel pressed down on the two of them. Li Xin didn't care and held the Immovable King Seal to block it head-on, while Celia huddled behind Li Xin, trembling.

Seeing that a mere enforcer who hadn't even reached the fifth life star had actually blocked his oppressive aura, the Battle Angel showed a hint of surprise. Perhaps it was truly because he had weakened so much that he couldn't even intimidate a young enforcer. A trace of pain appeared in the broken angel's eyes. This pain wasn't physical, nor even spiritual, but rather a sense of helplessness and numbness in the face of prolonged decline. Unable to live, unable to die, he was slowly being worn down here. When he looked at Li Xin, his eyes became more lively. "Youth is truly wonderful."

"Senior, my sister and I meant no offense. We would like to know how we can leave this place?" Li Xin asked. The other party seemed to be able to communicate, so he still wanted to try to be polite first.

"Senior?" The broken angel seemed somewhat unfamiliar with this title, yet also nostalgic. Its crimson eyes flickered, and its pupils contracted repeatedly, as if it were in agony. "Who am I?"

The angel clutched her head, looking as if she had fallen into chaos. Then she began to scratch her head, tearing off chunks of withered flesh. The tearing sound made Celia's legs go weak. The angel's featherless wings trembled and flapped back and forth, dropping things with a soft thud. The chains on her chest rattled loudly.

She had no idea what Brother Li was doing. Was this a time for chatting? He was leading her away, saying the door was right there. This angel was chained up; maybe they could take a gamble and have a chance.

Li Xin looked at the broken angel before him. He wasn't as optimistic as Celia. The chains on the angel were different from those thick chains. The angel didn't have the aura of a fallen one. Of course, he didn't dare to make a hasty judgment. Habit can be dangerous. The highest-level fallen one he had ever seen was a Devourer. Devourers are the kind of creatures that devour and contain the bodies of their prey, turning the prey into part of themselves. They are twisted monsters. This broken angel in front of him looked neither human nor ghost, but he didn't have the chaotic aura of a Devourer, even though he was a bit crazy now.

The door was there, but based on his previous experiences, Li Xin didn't think it was the exit.

(End of this chapter)