CHAPTER 98 (2): I WAS WAITING FOR MY TEAMMATES, WHAT WERE YOU WAITING FOR?

Heidi bellowed in fury, grabbing soldiers one by one to chew and swallow them. Her eyes turned deep red until tears of blood flowed. After a sudden racing of her heart, the boss began her second transformation.

The three-meter-tall crocodile shrank to two meters, her limbs becoming slender and her figure graceful. Though parts of her body were still covered in scales, most had reverted to delicate pale skin. Most striking was her face, which had turned back to her human one. Dark blood trails streaked down from her crimson eyes. She radiated an evil charm.

Kael was surprised by her power. Now he believed that the demon wasn’t just toying with her.

He couldn’t understand why Heidi had asked two mages she didn’t know to do the work when she had found her father’s hiding place, and Blood Worship had made her powerful enough to enter this chamber alone. Was there something more to the entrance? Or was this her master’s mission for her?

Fierce wind howled, giving him no time to think further. He shifted into an illusion to avoid the attack, but at that moment, intense heart palpitations struck him. The blood in his vessels lost control and violently surged in reverse. The resulting pain pierced him like a steel needle through the back of his head. His vision blurred as a collision sent him flying into the wall, embedding him within it.

Blood stained his white shirt red. He had to grit his teeth to stop himself from blacking out. A holy radiance healed his damaged organs and bones, but the crimson figure was already rushing at him once more.

He dodged in a panic, looking like an old lady diving under a blanket, landing on his rear and grimacing in pain.

Heidi extracted her right arm from where it had pierced into the rock wall. It was pale, slim, and ordinary-looking, her long red nails resembling manicures. She glared at Kael, breaking through his mental defense in a clash of their minds. She manipulated his blood to go in reverse again.

Bang!

Kael got slammed into the stone wall, his neck gripped by her delicate, smooth hand, losing his ability to fight.

Heidi looked down at him from above, ripping his white shirt open with her left hand and violently tossing his cross pendant aside.

“Mage, your blood smells enticing,” she whispered close to Kael’s cheek, licking the blood away like a part of foreplay.

Kael’s eyes twitched. After a moment of recovery, he said, “Please stop. You’re the demon’s mistress. If he sees this, he’ll think you’re cheating on him.”

After a pause, Heidi turned his head to the side and prepared to take a bite at his neck to feed on his warm blood, but then Kael raised both hands horizontally to form a cross with his entire body. Intense holy light poured out, its brilliance overwhelming the magic circles. It condensed into a holy lance, easily piercing through Heidi’s chest.

The palm-sized hole erased her sternum, spine, and heart, instantly killing her. She collapsed to the ground, her body reverting to human form.

Supporting himself against the wall, Kael gasped for breath. Holy light coursed through his body to gradually repair his battered form.

“Blood magic is as troublesome as ever. Could those old geezers be right...”

“Humans do have limits.”

Two minutes later, he shook his dizzy head, barely recovering eighty percent of his strength. He turned to look at Myron Bart, who had been motionless. “Mr. Bart, if I’m not mistaken, you’re my client, not your son Hayden. You crafted quite a nice dream for him.”

“Yes. I deeply regret making a deal with the demon. My body is gradually getting out of my control, as is my family. My deal with the demon caused them to dream of the demon, too, especially the outstanding ones...” Bart looked at Heidi’s body with regret. “I hope you stop me. The demon is awakening within my body. I can feel it. He’s already come to Dragon Heart Island.”

Kael’s pupils contracted as he remembered the murals depicting the evil god’s descent. His heart began racing uncontrollably. He drew a breath and tried to suppress his erratic heartbeat, but soon discovered that his heart was beyond his control. It beat faster and faster until he collapsed while clutching his chest.

Meanwhile, Bart’s withered body stood up, his eyes completely crimson. With a curl of his finger, he collected a wisp of gold from the bottom layer of the magic circles.

“Humans lack devotion. They sign contracts and swear not to go back on their word, but they always try to find loopholes. Unlike us. We respect a contract’s sacred binding power and only operate within the rules.” Bart put the golden dragon blood into his mouth, closing his eyes to enjoy the enhancement to his body—no, he was no longer Bart when his mind was replaced by an evil god in hell.

Just as humans were fickle in their dealings with demons, demons distrusted humans, too. When it came to the grand plan of descending to the mortal world, the demon of blood chose to handle it personally. So far, it had achieved eighty percent of its goal.

With the golden blood consumed, Bart’s shriveled body quickly filled out. Golden threads coursed beneath the skin, and his cheek suddenly split into a bleeding gash.

“Too weak. This body cannot bear more of my consciousness, nor can it control the dragon blood...”

The evil god looked at Kael. While a Silver-rank mage was mediocre, he had to be much stronger than Bart physically. He would make a good enough vehicle to take the evil god back to the Bart Estate. There, they would find a perfect vessel of the holy spirit constitution that would be able to carry most of their consciousness. Then their power would be more fully unleashed!

Speaking of power, the evil god couldn’t help but think of the Death Knight, puzzled by how the Death Knight had become two. Hopefully, the imposter would be as tough as the last time they met and not fall to his knees from simple intimidation.

Clack!

Footsteps approached. The evil god looked over to see the black-haired mage. Just a small fry! With a thought, the evil god manipulated his blood to go in reverse, waiting for the mage to die from an exploding heart. But nothing happened. The evil god gradually became unable to sense the target’s blood. The hollow body was like that of an undead, without flesh and blood.

“A disciple of Death. Quite troublesome...” The evil god made a grasping motion, pulling a blood-red crystalline sword from Heidi’s corpse. “How repulsive the aura of Death is. Kneel before this god’s mercy—”

Bang!

A bullet hit the evil god’s eye socket, interrupting their pontification. Wayne’s eyes glinted with grey mist, his entire body filled with Death’s eternal tranquility. Holding a gun, he walked forward while pulling the trigger.

The evil god was sent rolling across the ground.

When Wayne got into melee range with the evil god, he had run out of bullets. The evil god looked up with a wicked grin, only to see a fist wielding brass knuckles rapidly approaching.

Bam!

Half of the skull shattered with a dull sound, breaking into pieces. Silent roars echoed in all directions, and crimson shadows flickered eerily. But it was useless. This was the Chosen Land, not the evil god’s territory. They couldn’t be omnipotent through mere thought in this realm.

Wayne continued to swing his fists silently, devastating the body the evil god possessed. The demon from hell turned out to be quite disappointing, nowhere near as powerful as the Lord of the Void.

Kael struggled to open his eyes. Seeing Wayne beating up the evil god, he chanted and drew a simple magic circle on the ground with his blood.

“Don’t let them leave. They found a method to descend...”

With that, he closed his eyes and fainted.

A holy magic circle sprang into formation with great force, making a heavy blow at the crimson shadows and forcing the evil god’s consciousness back into the host body. Wayne’s punch landed once more, shattering a piece of the blood crystal.

A bloody vortex emerged nearby. The evil god reconstructed a body that was half human and half crystal, conjuring a sword of blood. Their twisted face radiated indignation. The script wasn’t supposed to go like this!

Oh, what a nice script, Wayne thought. The story is supposed to unfold this way!

With a serious expression, he put on another brass knuckles. The evil god growled and swung their sword down in a direct trajectory, but in five moves, Wayne spotted an opening and knocked them down once more.

He delivered punch after punch without mercy. The god had a weak forehand strike and an imprecise backhand strike, as well as sloppy footwork and slow reactions. He wasn’t going to go easy on such a pathetic deity.

Strike while it’s down!

He raised his fist. Death followed like a shadow.