NOVPUB
Chapter 75: The Night of Judgment 4
A spatial crack formed, unleashing a storm that created chaotic energy currents, sucking in everything in its path. The city lord and the elders hurriedly summoned a massive energy shield to protect themselves from the incoming punch wave that followed the crack.
However, as the punch wave met the shield, it shattered instantly like glass, continuing forward toward the giant battle formation avatar. The elders tried to raise their defenses, but the avatar collapsed the moment it was swept by the punch, which then struck the heart of the formation.
Pui!
All the elders spat out a mouthful of blood, a side effect of the destroyed avatar. The destruction of the formation, combined with the punch wave, caused all the marquess-stage elders to faint, while the others sustained fatal injuries. Their organs shook, and their energy became unstable—this was the drawback of using a battle formation.
When you link yourself to others in a formation to create combined techniques, your power exceeds what you can individually achieve. But when the technique is broken, the backlash is severe.
The effects were devastating for those at lower cultivation stages, causing them to faint instantly. Even the grand elder, at the grand duke stage and the brain of the formation, suffered greatly. His energy became chaotic, and his internal organs ruptured and bled. The elders were incapacitated, unable to continue the fight.
The city lord had already dodged out of the impact zone when their shield shattered. He witnessed all of this with trembling eyes, but his shock was short-lived as he sensed someone behind him. Instinctively, he swung his green fire sword, but his shock deepened when the energy flow of his technique became unstable. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
The technique weakened, and as it approached Aldrian, the young man easily blocked it with a hand coated in golden energy. The city lord was stunned, and before he could react, Aldrian’s hand had already clamped around his neck.
Aldrian’s grip was firm, and his energy seeped into the city lord’s body. After a moment, Aldrian released his hold, controlling the energy within the city lord’s body to seal his meridians and dantian, effectively incapacitating him.
For the first time, the city lord felt true dread—it was as if he had been turned into a mere mortal. Powerless, he could only sit there, weak and helpless.
"What did you do to me?" the city lord gasped, but Aldrian didn’t respond. With the surrounding elders critically injured and the city lord captured, Aldrian had effectively taken control of the manor.
He turned his gaze to the one person who hadn’t done much—the man with the fan, who had merely stood there as a torchbearer, subtly obstructing his movement. The man met Aldrian’s gaze with a smile, seemingly unfazed by the earlier display of might.
Aldrian also smiled.
"Looks like you still have a trick up your sleeve."
"What if I am, and what if I’m not? In the end, despite a few mishaps, my plan will still succeed," the man replied.
"Is that so? Then can I ask you something? Why are devils like yourself stationed here? Judging by your cultivation level, you must hold a high rank in the devil territory, Agrin Livan."
The man trembled slightly but tried to suppress it. He was shocked that Aldrian had identified him as a devil and even knew his name. Trying to maintain his composure, he answered calmly, "I don’t know how you figured out that I’m a devil or even my real name, but I assure you, whatever you’re planning here is useless. In fact, thanks to your arrival, my plan can be accelerated. I can finally leave this place."
"Was it your plan to capture Yu Ruomei while I was here? To steal the treasure? With all those devils surrounding the Yu manor?"
The man’s smile stiffened slightly, though he continued to grin.
"They aren’t the only cards I have up my sleeve. I will win in the end."
"Oh? Then you must be relying on the thing beneath this mountain," Aldrian said, pointing downward. At that, the man’s smile vanished, his expression turning grave. Without hesitation, he activated his devil form. He no longer cared about the people around them witnessing his transformation—after tonight, the city would be in ruins, and the devils would strike a blow to the demon territory, causing their unity to fracture.
The elders and guards who had been watching this unfold were filled with terror. Realizing that the city lord’s manor had connections with the devils, some of the lower-ranking elders turned furious eyes toward the higher-ranking ones.
"What is the meaning of this?! Are we really allied with the devils?!" one of them demanded.
"Grand elder! Don’t tell me you’re part of this treachery!" shouted another.
As the elders began accusing one another, pointing fingers and blaming each other, the low-level guards trembled. They had unknowingly been working with devils. Their hearts sank, feeling the weight of their betrayal against the demonic cult. Fear consumed them—they worried there was no future for them now, or worse, that their fate was already sealed because of tonight’s events.
Amid the chaos, Aldrian remained focused, sensing the powerful entity beneath the ground. Agrin Livan smirked coldly, preparing to act, but before he could, he noticed Aldrian stretch out his hand toward him. Confused, he instinctively dodged as something shot toward him.
He looked back and saw Aldrian had grabbed a spear from one of the guards. It was an ordinary spear, the lowest-grade weapon used by the guards, leaving Agrin baffled by Aldrian’s intentions.
No longer caring, Agrin unleashed his power, his aura flaring at the middle grand duke stage. Channeling his devil energy, he summoned a giant devil avatar—a monstrous Rakshasa, terrifying in form, with protruding fangs and an aura powerful enough to instill fear in anyone who faced it.
Agrin formed a massive fireball, its size growing until it resembled a miniature sun, visible even from the base of the mountain. He glanced at Aldrian, who seemed completely uninterested, focusing only on feeling the ground with his hand. Veins bulged on Agrin’s forehead, frustration mounting as he felt insulted by Aldrian’s lack of attention.
Without hesitation, Agrin hurled the fireball toward Aldrian. The enormous flaming orb blazed through the air, but Aldrian barely reacted. With a calm expression, he shaped a sword out of his energy and, with a single slash, split the fireball cleanly in two. The two halves flew past him, dissipating harmlessly in the air.
Having found what he was looking for, Aldrian leaped into the air, careful not to touch the ceiling of the defensive dome, which towered at a height of 500 meters. Once airborne, he positioned himself as if about to throw a javelin. Channeling both his golden energy and the power of his domain into the spear, he hurled it toward the ground. The spear struck with a booming sound, splitting the earth and causing a massive earthquake that shook the western peak. Everyone lost their balance from the force of the impact.
Agrin stared in astonishment as the spear created a massive hole and sent cracks rippling across the entire manor’s ground. He wanted to strike Aldrian again, but suddenly his body became impossibly heavy, almost immobilized.
"This... this is gravity! He can control gravity!" Agrin thought, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You’d better stay put. I’ll deal with this for now," Aldrian said calmly, his focus entirely on the hole he had created. As he concentrated, a loud, ear-piercing shriek echoed from the depths of the darkness below.
The earth trembled violently, each passing second amplifying the shaking. Agrin, sensing the immense presence beneath the ground struggling to break free, began to laugh with manic delight.
"You arrogant fool!" Agrin shouted, struggling to speak under the crushing force of the increased gravity.
"You’ve provoked my trump card, and now you won’t leave this place alive! This entire city will be destroyed!"
Despite the suffocating weight, Agrin grinned like a madman, his eyes gleaming with triumph as the ground beneath them continued to quake violently.
Not long after, the creature from underground surged upward at incredible speed, its massive body moving with surprising agility despite its size. It lunged toward Aldrian, but he easily dodged the attack, glancing at the beast—a towering serpent-like creature, its body as massive as a mountain.
The beast, unable to stop in time after missing its target, crashed into the defensive dome above. To the horror of those watching, the dome shattered instantly upon impact.
"A Black Rock Snake... and it’s at the middle Emperor stage," Aldrian murmured to himself, his eyes narrowing. The snake turned its giant head toward Aldrian, who had teleported to a height above it.
"Who dares disturb this king’s slumber?" a hoarse voice rumbled from the snake’s mouth, its sheer power making the air tremble.
Aldrian remained silent but he glanced at the snake’s head, noticing a wound. "It seems the spear couldn’t handle my energy and broke before it could pierce deeper," he sighed.
With a resigned expression, Aldrian touched his storage ring. "In the end, I’ll have to use this."
He then pulled out a bow and an arrow.
