Netherworld Retrograde

Chapter 1246 618: The Sea of Black Mud

It might not be like the Golden Ancient Tree, able to support an entire Forbidden Zone. Its level of life even surpasses a King's.

But it's still terrifyingly strong; judging by Life Force alone, the Swallowing Ancient Tree has already surpassed most Supremes.

Unfortunately, its true body is still just a tree. It can't move, can't fight.

It can only rely on its parasitic creatures to fight and hunt.

But that's enough to buy the Horror Demons time. Once that Supreme Horror Demon is born, even a Champion will have to shy away from its sharp edge.

Meanwhile, in a corner deep within the Disaster Fog.

The Horror Demons communicating with the Disaster Fog were rapidly mobilizing other Horror Demons.

The Humans' breakthrough speed was too fast. So fast that their countermeasures weren't even fully in place before the Humans barged through.

"The King's Land is hard to breach, and those Humans are fighting like they're insane. Not a trace of cowardice!"

"The existence of a Champion in itself inspires Human morale, and now there are three Champions! The Human side has already decided to fight to the death without retreat! Unless the Human Champions are defeated, Human morale will never collapse. Back then... have you ever seen mad mortal freaks planning to use hot weapons to encircle and kill an Overlord Horror Demon?"

"We must rescue Deep Red first. I don't know why it suddenly reacted so violently, but once it breaks free of its restraints, victory will be ours. The Human Champions have played all their cards and still can't Block a Supreme."

"Two Champion Horror Demons actually went against the malice that defines Horror Demons and chose to assist Humans? The Champion inheritance really does have some tricks to it."

"No, according to the intel from the Forbidden Zone Creatures we killed, that location is the Array Eye of the first layer!"

"They want to dismantle the Dark Side Triple Heaven! Mobilize every force that can be mobilized, Block the Ninth Champion! Even if we have to throw lives away, we must stall him!"

"We don't have any Champions. The Horror Demons don't dare to fight to the death—let the Swallowing Ancient Tree hold the line first!"

Those who'd been hiding behind the curtain all this time were finally growing anxious.

"Has that Supreme Horror Demon still not been born? What do the leaders guarding him say?" A Horror Demon asked, "Contact them and ask what's going on!"

However, another Horror Demon was staring at the Crystal Stone before him in shock.

The three Crystal Stones representing the leader Horror Demons were, at this moment, completely dim.

Which meant they were already dead.

"How... what happened? They were attacked? In that kind of place? Who could it be?" The Horror Demon's shock turned to rage, assuming some powerful Human had infiltrated somewhere.

But then it saw a hazy fluctuation spreading from the Disaster Fog consciousness, a wave filled with complicated emotion—and Fear.

What? Fear? Lamentation?

The mighty Disaster Fog of Fear, condensed from Fear itself, actually had such emotions?

What happened?

Yet the next second, the Horror Demons fell silent, because while they were talking, a phantom-like stream of water had somehow seeped through their mysterious defensive barrier.

Even stranger, the leader Horror Demon who'd been guarding the outside now stepped in along the current. Violet Fire flickered in its eye sockets, and with every step, a blooming patch of Other Shore Flowers radiating ghostly light spread beneath its feet.

"Back off! That's not our companion anymore!"

A Horror Demon roared and raised a hurricane, but the gale that could shred steel simply passed through the black water, as though it were only an illusion.

"What is this? Sinful Black Mud?" The Horror Demons quickly dodged, only to realize the water had already seeped in all around them. Before they even noticed, the River had surrounded them.

"Then we'd already be dead... that's a power even more terrifying than the corruption of Chaos. And this..."

A Horror Demon looked at the pitch-black phantom River and murmured, "It's the Nether River... O great Disaster Fog consciousness, prepare to detach yourself. If you still can..."

Watching the encroaching 'guardians,' the mysterious Horror Demons erupted with ferocious Divinity.

Even if they dwelled in the shadows, they were still powerful Horror Demons.

The battle was fierce but brief. When everything fell quiet again, violet light flickered in their eyes, like Other Shore Flowers blooming within the Nether River.

...

At the same time, on the First Battlefield.

On the edge of the King's Land, a black tide was also surging in.

The instant the black tide entered the King's Land, the Black Tortoise Dominator sustaining the "King's Land" turned deathly pale as the pressure spiked.

And as that black tide flooded the Battlefield, all the powerhouses from both sides who had died—whether Human or Horror Demon—now crawled up from the Battlefield.

Endless violet light burned in their eyes, like a sea of flowers...

The Qi Fortune Dragon even let out a furious hiss of its own accord.

"Go!"

...

On the other side, Li Yelai had already spotted that colossal Ancient Tree from afar.

He also saw the building standing out in the Wilderness.

It had originally been a hospital, warped and shifted here by twisted space.

The once-white walls were now covered in bloodstains and bullet holes.

And it was packed with Horror Demons.

With the arrival of the Doll and the Champions, they were thrown into chaos.

"Found it, the Array Eye of the first layer." Li Yelai's gaze swept across the giant tree in the distance. "The Swallowing Ancient Tree, huh? If its true body could fight, we probably wouldn't be able to hold it off."

"Its Life Force is so strong," the Doll said. "If we had the chance..."

"Yeah." Li Yelai nodded. The Life Tree Fluid of this kind of Ancient Tree was crucial to the Old Mad King. If they got the chance, they'd snap this thing in two and wring every last drop of tree sap out of it!

Give the Old Mad King a brutal boost in lifespan—then to hell with Black Origin City's revival. Let it taste the Old Mad King's fist first!

The pitch-black Dark Abyss where it stood was also an Extraordinary Ore Vein of Demon Abyss Mountain.

If they could hollow this place out before the Disaster Fog dissipated, it would be a considerable boost for Humans as well...

Yet something bizarre happened.

The distant Ancient Tree suddenly let out a wail.

Its massive trunk shuddered, and countless parasitic creatures poured out like snowflakes—not to attack the approaching Li Yelai, but to swarm toward some other location... and tear into a group of Horror Demons.

The eerie scene left Li Yelai and the Doll stunned. Infighting? At a time like this?

But soon, as they drew closer, Li Yelai noticed that the Horror Demons fighting the Ancient Tree's parasites all had violet light reflected in their eyes.

At the same time, Li Yelai also noticed the pitch-black River surging beneath those Horror Demons' feet, spreading toward the Dark Abyss where the Ancient Tree stood with unstoppable speed.

"The Sea of Black Mud?" Li Yelai's heart trembled. He had once paid audience to the Master of Green Flames and seen Him walk upon the Sea of Black Mud. From Dawn's Memory Fragments, he'd learned that it wasn't truly a sea, but the incarnation of all malice in existence.

Now, could it be that someone feared the Sea of Black Mud so much that they ended up shaping this Horror Demon instead?

(Hold on a few minutes, still a bit left, just keeping my attendance streak)