Chapter 503
Chapter 503 - 483: Siege
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10 min read
It was a harrowing battle, worthy of songs and tears... for the knights involved.
The divine-made puppet, increasingly awakening its divine consciousness, became more and more unable to understand its current situation. It felt that it could easily crush the mortals in front of it, yet somehow, they could evade its Divine Punishment every time.
The divine-made puppet did not have a clear mind, probably already forgetting how many times it had used the Divine Curse of Death without achieving the expected outcome.
The trees around it had withered, and the ground had become a wasteland. Yet, no matter how many times, it could never kill the two "flies" in front of it.
One of them was a Flaming Knight with a blazing black flame that made the divine-being nauseated. The flame could not be extinguished, and not only did it burn and repel its power, but it also fed on its flesh.
The other one was always standing at a safe distance, producing countless losing pawns. Every time the puppet attempted to give the curse of death, he would stand in the way, rendering the curse ineffective.
The newborn puppet was continuously increasing its output.
But as soon as it got close, the Flaming Knight, with his disgusting flames, was an insurmountable barrier. Every assault resulted in mutual losses, with the attacker often having to tear off their own burning flesh... If it weren’t for the fact that it could instantly squeeze a replenishment of power from the Hand of the Divine, it would have probably come to an early end.
Being thrown into a frenzy, the divine-made puppet did not know how to break through. What frustrated it the most was that it could not obtain more power from its main body... nor the knowledge on how to use it!
Compared to the unceasingly draining power, the "knowledge" of how to use the power was more important.
Now, the Beast God puppet’s methods of attack were extremely limited, either using a few select Divine Curses or engaging in close combat with the revived Beast God techniques... only to be sent back by the Flaming Knight.
The life-stealing black flame, after being strengthened by the Sun Fire, became the mortal enemy of the Life system Beast God. The puppet’s organs swelled, mutated, and exploded. Even though they regenerated in an instant, it consumed the "Hand of the Divine" that served as its power source.
On the other side of the battlefield, the knights and Lu Ping’an were not doing well either... They had been fighting for a full three hours.
The first wave of losers had already fallen, dragging both sides into a bloody and brutal tug-of-war.
They had already sent two batches of their logistics force, Lu Ping’an had used up his investment quota for today, and most warriors had at least incurred a "Life Installment Payment Delay" once.
The worst injured was Knight Ben... As the strongest in the team, he willingly took up the most significant responsibility.
So, he attempted a head-on clash with the Beast God puppet.
The result was not mentioned... He neither had Lu Ping’an’s cautiousness and smoothness nor Catherine’s flaming power and astonishingly lucky outburst. Naturally, after tens of minutes of fighting and injuries piling up, he was caught off guard and fell.
𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Falling alongside was Lu Ping’an’s Little Flame... Fearless in the face of a powerful enemy, a rare trait among beasts, but engaging in a head-on fight was clearly not something a high-intelligence creature would do.
It fell much faster than Knight Ben, and Lu Ping’an had already taken it back to their base.
As the conductor of the battlefield, he always maintained control over the pacing, personally stepping in when necessary, allowing Catherine to fall back and catch her breath.
"...Xue En, have you not yet taken your turn?"
"I can still manage."
Xue En’s expression was somewhat uncertain, but Lu Ping’an knew this was the limit of his "confidence."
As a result, Lu Ping’an signaled Catherine to step back and let Xue En take her place... Lu Ping’an didn’t know how he managed to hold on, but now, equipped with local armor, Xue En could take only two hits from the Beast God.
As soon as he got there, another slap sent him flying.
But this time, Lu Ping’an laughed.
"You didn’t fly as far as last time, did you get stronger again?"
Xue En’s physical strength was visibly improving, especially when engaging the Beast God puppet. Other knights filled the gaps as he was knocked away.
At this point, most of the knights had undergone noticeable physical mutations, some turning into werewolves, others into lion-headed creatures... This seemed to be the Beast God puppet’s innate ability, but in practice, it was a foolish act of feeding the enemy.
Not only their physical strength was improved, but also their resistance to the "Beast God power," especially against various supernatural auras and abilities.
For example, Xue En took a direct hit from the Death-curse, yet survived unscathed... His unlucky encounter could spell misfortune for the Beast God puppet on the other side as well.
They sensed that the divine-made puppet before them, like a leaking balloon, was losing its breath and power uncontrollably.
The mercenary group member, Baman Zhen, even volunteered to fight, deliberately exposing herself to the resistance and welcoming this transformation... Her red lion form was fluffy, with a pair of round ears and a tail, appearing somewhat charming.
However, her power increase was not significant, far less exaggerated than Xue En’s all-around improvement... Perhaps, it was because her foundation was already too high.
On the battlefield, probably the only one without any changes was Lu Ping’an himself... He had already completed most of the pre-requirements for the Parasitic Tree, so in a sense, he had already mutated into a "tree-man" and naturally could not mutate again.
Worth mentioning was that Tian Xi among the three little ones also volunteered to fight. She hid on the edge of the battlefield and underwent her mutation, turning herself into an Eagle-man with two white feathers that made her look more like a pigeon than an eagle, which was quite funny. However, to date, her mutation had not yet given her the ability to fly, making her transformation somewhat pointless.
Well, some people had already realized that in a sense, this battle had become an opportunity for outsiders to "freeload" a transformation without any consequences.
The Knights could not understand why these outsiders would actively accept such "evil and cruel" changes. Did they not have families? Were they not worried about being discriminated against or cursed when they returned to their own world?
As the battle dragged on to become a war of attrition, the intervention of the Moon God severed the link between the Divine-made puppet and "that underground thing," resulting in some events becoming inevitable.
Perhaps it was fate; it brought forth the beast god puppet’s nemesis—Catherine.
"Can you still handle this?"
"...I can hold on."
The drugged Catherine was shaking all over. She had broken her physical and mental limits dozens of times, but each time she was pulled back like an unyielding ghost.
And behind the battlefield, the courtyard was once again exerting its advantage, with various magic potions and "fine foods" being constantly sent out. The warriors became more and more energetic as they fought, and if they were injured, there were emergency medical services available.
As a battlefield conductor... no, as a mobile command center, Lu Ping’an had become overly qualified.
He continuously assessed the situation on the battlefield, moving injured soldiers and those unable to fight back to the rear while skillfully using the chess-like "Instant Healing," which was rather overpowered. If the divine beast puppet had not been so ignorant of common sense, it might have already shouted that someone was cheating.
Realizing the opponent’s lack of intelligence, Lu Ping’an knew that as long as he blocked it, victory was only a matter of waiting.
He divided the battlefield into two parts: one with the powerful outsiders forming a defensive line to support and limit the puppet.
The other part consisted of the outermost foreign visitors who defeated the foul-smelling horde of zombies to prevent them from becoming nutrition for the Beast God puppet... Lu Ping’an was not worried about it becoming stronger; he was afraid it would become wiser.
From what could be seen now, this monster’s intelligence was quite limited, and it only targeted Catherine (Holy Fire) for the kill. As long as Catherine did not die, the pressure on others was not too overwhelming.
In less than ten minutes, the defensive line that had lost Catherine was once again torn to shreds. If it were not for the Beast God puppet’s lack of intention to break through, it would have succeeded in escaping long ago.
The Knights clenched their teeth, but Catherine, despite being injured on multiple occasions, became stronger and more ferocious as the battle continued.
Vaguely, she had completely mastered the black and red blaze, even able to transform herself into a flaming blaze in a blink of an eye... Her biggest pressure now was actually serving as the "weaponized" Zhi Xi.
As an abnormal "Animated Armor," even if Zhi Xi suppressed her instincts, she would still erode the "driver" within her. Some things might be doomed to remain in the armor, while some impurities might confuse Catherine’s spirit body.
Her spirit body was inevitably eroded, but from another perspective, Zhi Xi became the second beneficiary of this battle.
Zhi Xi’s armor gained more "lotus" and "fire feather" patterns, and for some unknown reason, her size increased. Her metallic color gained an orange tint, and she continued to evolve... Now she can use Sun Fire and Black Flame without a driver.
In a sense, Catherine’s Qi Yun had been stolen by Zhi Xi who acted as her "weapon," taking away a large part of it.
This was the result of Lu Ping’an ordering Zhi Xi to show restraint, otherwise, a few hours of Catherine driving Zhi Xi at full power would have corroded her temporary body.
As a price, Catherine, who had returned to the battlefield, lifted the giant Beast God puppet and slammed it to the ground with brute force.
The immense energy consumption of the armor was not without rewards; the enhanced protection and size allowed her to engage in close combat, making the Beast God puppet wary of the double flames surrounding her. The "Auras" that absorbed life and energy turned the Beast God puppet into a blood bottle that was the key to Catherine’s ability to fight until now.
As an analogy, if Lu Ping’an wore Zhi Xi, it would raise his combat power from a second-tier level to the standard of a fourth-tier battle-profession.
In addition to that, Catherine also activated "Black Flame," "Withering Aura," and carried the Holy Flame, which already reached the level of a sixth-tier hybrid battle-profession.
The astonishing strength, coupled with good luck (all sorts of perfectly dodged bullets), allowed her to persist in the battle miraculously... If she had not been present, even with Qi Yun, there would be no carriers to wield the power. Lu Ping’an and his party would have most likely fled.
Ultimately, the reasons for the outsiders and the native Knights to fight were different.
The Knight Corps was enduring with gritted teeth as they no longer considered their future. If they could not stop this monster, then their homeland would be doomed from foreign invaders.
Finally, the Beast God puppet could no longer bear the onslaught and began to shrink once again as it was pushed back.
The Infiltrators hiding in the shadows also lost their patience.
— End of Chapter 503 —