DD2 [556-557] (Patreon)

Chapter 556: Splitting into Three Columns; the Undead Demi-plane

"Nicely done. Keep advancing!"

After seizing Yulong Pass, Su Yu ordered his legions to take a short rest and reorganize.

Using Yulong Pass as a base, they also replenished supplies.

Though those eerie creatures had occupied Yulong Pass, the pass's original stores were still intact.

All of it was useful to Su Yu's legions.

Inside Yulong Pass.

Within a lavish great hall.

Su Yu studied the map before him, his starry eyes slightly narrowing.

"Young Master, Yulong Pass is secure. Should we seize the momentum and drive straight for the heart?"

Ju Zi, clad in brightlight armor, had clear, autumn-water eyes burning with a blazing fire.

The fire of war.

Pointing at the map, Su Yu said, "Yulong Pass is perilous terrain and a crucial southern gateway."

"We can treat this as our temporary base."

"Ahead of us lie three major strongholds: Haibo City, Zhongshan City, and Yelan City."

"If we take these three, we'll have Mingdu by the throat, with our army at its gates."

"But precisely because of that, those three strongholds will be the real test."

"According to our information, those bizarre creatures have a clear hierarchy."

"The strongest we met today were no more than Soul Saint level—the bottom rung."

"That absolutely doesn't mean they're easy to deal with."

Su Yu rose and paced, hands clasped behind his back. "Next, we may be facing the high-tier eerie creatures."

"Ju Zi, don't get careless just because of today's victory."

"Ju Zi understands!"

She nodded earnestly, her expression grave.

Today's battle had gone unexpectedly smoothly, and it had indeed made her a bit dismissive.

But Su Yu's solemn reminder made her put away her slight contempt.

Calm-eyed, Su Yu said lightly, "Next, I'm splitting our forces into three columns."

"You will lead the Holy Slayer Army, along with the elders and enshrined of the Ice God Palace, to strike Haibo City."

"At the same time, with Lingguang as commander, the Ice God Guard will attack Yelan City in the east."

"As for me, I'll take the middle route and strike Zhongshan City."

"We'll rendezvous beneath the walls of Mingdu!"

Ju Zi started, then hurriedly said, "Young Master, if both the Holy Slayer Army and the Ice God Guard are deployed, how will you take Zhongshan City alone?"

Su Yu shook his head. "I have my own plan. You needn't worry."

"Young Master!"

"Carry out the order."

"You…"

Ju Zi's chest rose and fell for a moment. She suddenly turned her head aside, cheeks puffed in frustration.

To her, this was sheer recklessness.

No matter how strong Su Yu was, he couldn't be an army by himself.

Besides, those eerie creatures also had powerful beings among them.

"Lingguang, I'm entrusting Yelan City to you. I'll have Xue'er travel with you."

Shui Lingguang nodded. "Rest easy, Young Master. I understand."

"Sister Lingguang, you're going to indulge his recklessness too?"

Shui Lingguang smiled softly. "Just trust the Young Master. He never shoots an arrow without a target."

Ju Zi fell into thought.

Su Yu indeed always planned before acting, but right now, at his side were only two legions—the Ice God Guard and the Holy Slayer Army.

With both legions redeployed, was Su Yu really going to take Zhongshan City alone?

 Wasn't that madness?

But Su Yu's decision was made. She had no choice; with a light harrumph, she went off, sullen, to make preparations.

That afternoon, as Su Yu had ordered, Ju Zi and Shui Lingguang led the Holy Slayer Army and the Ice God Guard to attack the other two cities.

Su Yu brought only a few people—Di Mingli and others—to the outskirts of Zhongshan City.

…

Zhongshan City!

 A great metropolis of over a million souls!

 After being occupied by the eerie creatures, the number turned was astronomical.

Not only that, this Zhongshan City's foes had an actual leader in command.

Their strength was the greatest of the three cities.

"As expected, it's different."

Looking at the eerie creatures patrolling to and fro atop the gate tower, Su Yu narrowed his eyes.

Compared to those at Yulong Pass, the eerie creatures here were obviously more disciplined.

It showed that someone was controlling them.

"There are so many—how are we supposed to fight this?"

Wang Dong'er was dumbfounded, utterly at a loss.

Just a handful of them, against an entire city of eerie creatures?

Seriously?

Even Di Mingli blinked—rare for her—her composure unsettled.

She might be reckless most of the time, but reckless wasn't the same as stupid.

With so many eerie creatures, even if they exhausted all their soul power, they wouldn't kill even one percent, right?

"Relax. I'm not sending you to charge the lines."

Su Yu chuckled softly.

He formed seals with both hands, his eyes turning gray as an obscure spiritual ripple spread outward.

Space trembled, and a rift appeared in the air ahead of them.

The rift was pitch-black and ominous.

"Arise!"

With Su Yu's shout, a ghastly roar seemed to echo from within the rift.

Under the shocked gazes of Wang Dong'er and the others, skeletal beings crawled out one after another.

They were nothing but bones, with ghostly green flames burning in their skulls.

"What the—what are these things?"

Wang Dong'er was taken aback. She hadn't imagined Su Yu could summon such uncanny things.

"These are undead warriors. Against these eerie creatures, undead are a perfect match."

Su Yu opened the undead demi-plane gifted to him by Electrolux.

Using undead against the uncanny—heaven-made.

In that undead demi-plane, undead warriors were as boundless as the tide. Even if they were all sacrificed, Su Yu wouldn't feel a pang.

To deal with monsters, use monsters. Use magic to defeat magic.

"Roar!"

Under Su Yu's command, countless undead warriors surged toward Zhongshan City.

Inside Zhongshan, the eerie creatures, as if provoked, counterattacked.

Outside Zhongshan, two breeds from different planes—equally nightmarish—fought tooth and nail.

"My god!"

Wang Dong'er exclaimed, staring at Su Yu like she'd seen a ghost.

Where had Su Yu gotten such spooks?

Wait…

Was it that Electrolux?

 Recalling a script she'd once read, Wang Dong'er finally remembered.

She'd forgotten—Su Yu was also a necromancer.

This guy had a lot of identities!

"Truly unexpected."

Meng Hongchen couldn't help but marvel, finding Su Yu more and more unfathomable.

He had far too many hidden cards.

Su Yu's lips curved. He stared at Zhongshan City, his gaze sharpening.

Chapter 557: The Twelve Lords of the Holy Prison; Su Yu's Vigilance

"Roar!"

Ghastly howls rose without end as one undead after another crawled out of the rift like a tide, endless.

They fell in droves, fearless and unflinching, one wave after another.

Even with corpses piling up beneath the walls, the undead kept pressing forward.

Only magic can defeat magic.

Against these fearless eerie creatures, only these likewise shambling undead could do.

High above.

Wang Dong'er and the others stood at Su Yu's side, their beautiful eyes complicated.

The war before them was monsters pecking at monsters, its savagery beyond words.

Every moment, countless undead were reduced to heaps of bone, and countless eerie creatures left mangled limbs strewn across the field.

Inside Zhongshan City, were there not over a million eerie creatures?

 But the undead were just as endless.

From morning into night, and from night into the small hours of the next day, the fighting didn't cease.

Two breeds as if from the same hell kept tearing into each other.

"Roar!"

A howl like hell's cold wind split the sky.

Huge eerie creatures poured out of Zhongshan.

They were bigger, fiercer, and their auras stronger.

Most strikingly, their eyes were lively. They were fundamentally different from the puppet-like eerie creatures before.

Charging into the undead ranks, a single roar from one of them shattered countless undead into fragments.

"This…"

Wang Dong'er and the others stared in surprise. These newcomers were clearly not simple.

"As expected."

Su Yu's expression was calm, unruffled.

The eerie creatures had ranks.

If the previous ones were cannon fodder, then the ones now had nascent intellect.

These should be high-tier eerie creatures.

They were far beyond the fodder from before. Each was at least at the Soul Saint level.

The baleful aura they carried was even heavier.

"Interesting."

Su Yu chuckled, pointing with one hand. From the undead plane, hulking undead began to climb out.

Grotesque in form, but immense in size.

"Let's see who can outlast whom."

Su Yu said no more—he just kept releasing undead.

Under his control, the undead charged with ruthless decisiveness.

Undead and eerie continued their war.

…

…

"What the hell are these things?"

Watching eerie creatures survive bombardment without dying, Ju Zi frowned deeply.

Grade-six soul-guided shells couldn't finish them in one blow. As expected, these new eerie creatures were a tough nut.

"I don't believe we can't blast you to bits!"

A hard light flashed in her eyes as Ju Zi bit down on her silver teeth. "Demon Battalion, bring up the rocket artillery!"

If one shell won't do it, then several!

 She refused to believe this bone could not be gnawed.

…

…

Yelan City!

 Shui Lingguang lifted a slender hand and slapped down a swath of eerie creatures.

"Soul Douluo, Titled Douluo… as expected, there are very high-tier beings among these eerie creatures."

These high-tier ones not only had far tougher vitality, but also possessed the intelligence the fodder lacked.

They were especially hard to deal with.

"Ice God Guard, form the combined domain!"

With Shui Lingguang's order, the Ice God Guard shifted formations, and an endless tide of cold surged out.

Where the cold tide reached, all eerie creatures froze into ice.

Then, under a rain of icy lances, they shattered.

Suddenly, Shui Lingguang's beautiful eyes flashed. A black pillar of light rose in the city, and her lovely face tightened.

Black mist spread. As the pillar flared, two figures slowly appeared in the sky.

They wore black robes, their auras cold and uncanny. Treating them as a great enemy, Shui Lingguang's body tensed; killing intent flickered in her eyes.

"As expected… more abominations…"

…

…

"Boom!"

A massive mushroom cloud soared, and along with it, Zhongshan City's lofty gate tower turned to ash.

Wreathed in rosy light, Su Yu reached out with his left hand and clamped down on a black-robed throat.

Below, another black-robed figure bled from every pore, a man of blood.

"The Lord… will not spare you."

The black-robed figure forced the words out. Su Yu's hand was like an unbridgeable chasm, crushing his lifeline.

"How fitting. I wasn't planning to spare him either."

Su Yu gave a cold laugh. Invisible spiritual force poured overbearingly into the black-robed man's sea of consciousness, ripping through and seizing every scrap of information.

Moments later, Su Yu's eyes flashed cold, and the black-robed man in his grasp turned to ash.

With a casual shot, the other black-robed figure writhing on the ground likewise crumbled to dust.

"Puppet Envoys… the Twelve Lords of the Holy Prison… the Emperor of the Holy Prison…"

Su Yu murmured, his gaze more solemn than ever.

The information he had torn free was far beyond his expectations.

The enemy was stronger than imagined.

"Su Yu… are you alright?"

Wang Dong'er and the others rushed to his side, worry in their eyes.

Su Yu shook his head, his gaze passing over the faces of Wang Dong'er, Di Mingli, and the rest. He sighed softly.

"I'm fine. But this time… we may be in serious trouble."

Su Yu exhaled lightly, his fists clenching tight.

"What on earth is it?"

Wang Dong'er asked at once.

Eyes on the already-fallen Zhongshan City, Su Yu said quietly, "I learned some things from that soul search. Frankly, they're startling."

"They all come from a plane called the Holy Prison."

"The Holy Prison plane?"

Wang Dong'er was puzzled and wary.

Su Yu nodded. "The Holy Prison plane is extremely powerful, with countless strong beings."

"What's most notable are the Twelve Lords of the Holy Prison."

"The Holy Prison plane is divided into twelve layers: Flame Prison, Nether Prison, Ice Prison, Necro Prison, Thunder Prison, Yin Prison, Evil Prison, Frenzy Prison, Spirit Prison, Blood Prison, Black Prison, and Fiend Prison."

"Each prison has a ruler who controls all the eerie creatures in that layer."

"These are the so-called Twelve Lords of the Holy Prison."

"What gives me pause is that, according to that man's information, these Twelve Lords are all god-level powerhouses."

Su Yu's eyes cooled, starry gaze glittering with frost. "And above the Twelve Lords, there is an Emperor of the Holy Prison."

"He is the true master who rules all twelve layers of the Holy Prison."

"Power like that chills the bones."

Su Yu's voice was soft, but what he said struck like thunder.

Whether Wang Dong'er or Di Mingli, both widened their eyes at once, incredulous.

"So many deities—how is that possible?"

Wang Dong'er cried out, horror in her eyes.

She knew very well what a god meant.

That was a being beyond mortal limits, with unfathomable power.

The might of gods was absolutely beyond the reach of human soul masters.