He poured more power into them, meant to draw fire for him. Not only did he transfer a large portion of his energy, he also fused in many parts of his body transformed into Black Mist Avatar. If these units were damaged, even Belial would feel weak for a while.
This was no longer just simple ecological Clone. In other words, if another truck appeared in the sky and carried his main body away, his consciousness would most likely revive within these Clone. That was different from before.
These bodies were crafted with much more care. Without a constant external Crystal energy supply, they needed internal circulation, making each of them a miniature Crystal ecology. This was where Diablo truly shined.
Its ability to absorb resentful souls and convert them into energy proved useful again. Resentment was everywhere in this place, so even with low efficiency, it was enough to keep the basic ecology running. All the Clone coiled up and settled inside shell-like Crystal hulls that resembled spacecraft.
They flew off in four different directions like seeds being scattered. Belial flapped his wings and lifted his main body into the air. The ground below, completely drained, shattered into fragments as the shockwave reduced it to Shard.
A guerrilla war? No. This was an advance in the opposite direction.
"You mean he not only did not plan to come back, but even intends to charge in the opposite direction and kill his way through?"
"From the results sent back by the communicator and his behavior, it looks like that is exactly it. At Belial's current speed, my detectors simply cannot keep up."
Bella was already pushing the aircraft as hard as she could, yet she still could not match Belial's pace, and the connection was cut again. From the last corner of the image, they saw him create four Clone and one thing that made Ham's eye twitch, before flying off toward four unknown directions.
Lilith leaned on what might literally be a brain moving closer to Belial and thought for a moment. She roughly concluded that this guy was not thinking about running at all, but instead wanted to charge straight at his enemies head-on. Judging by his posture, he truly believed he could win and never even considered losing, and after thinking it through, she realized he had never actually lost before, so she let it go.
"No, seriously, can this really work? This is just too…"
Ham's eye was still twitching, and she could not tell whether fate had decided she would always be the shocked supporting role. Belial always managed to pull off something unbelievable, and just when she thought his ceiling was already high enough, he raised it again. When Belial first entered Abyss, everyone had opposed it because it was far too dangerous, especially when he was the only one who could face them head-on and still win, the kind of powerhouse you would never trade even one-for-one, let alone one-for-three.
But now, down there, he had already slaughtered nearly a tenth of them, and by any result-based measure, that was a huge profit. Yet at this moment, he became even more reckless, choosing to clash directly. "Maybe he wants to break them one by one," Ham said, trying hard to follow Belial's thinking, though she could only guess part of it. "There are dozens of them, strong or weak, but they are still Crimson-level."
She looked around and considered pulling Lilith and Bella in to pool ideas, hoping they could piece together a complete Belial-style brain. This was how the rear always was, with Belial only needing to kill straight ahead, while those behind spent enormous effort guessing what he was planning.
No matter how much they thought above, below them a hunt far greater than any war against a lone wolf had already begun. No one would allow a monster that kept growing by feeding to remain nearby. Finding Belial's general position was simple, since Lord of Vortex Tides (Ebirah) and God of Division had recently vanished, and The God of Scars, Devouring Serpent, and Stagnation had died earlier as well.
By connecting the locations where these hunted prey had fallen, they could roughly outline the beast's hunting range, and once they counted it out, cold sweat broke out everywhere. Who was this ruthless old schemer, already wiping out nearly a tenth before being noticed, and what kind of existence was it? What kind of Authority could hide itself this well?
Swallowing that much at once meant it could not digest everything immediately, so if they struck now, the gains would naturally be theirs. With this thought, an ancient and savage The Continent drifted through this Void, bearing a thick armor shell built from countless corroded remains. It resembled a wingless Great Dragon as it contemplated its move.
Suddenly, it sensed an unknown object in its territory, which, after passing a certain point, turned sharply and flew straight toward its Divine Kingdom. What the hell was that thing? It tentatively moved a claw, slashing out winds sharp enough to Rend even Mariana Trench, striking at the incoming meteor, but it could not keep up and the attack was pierced through instantly.
The object fell straight into this phantom wilderness of The Continent, filled with countless ferocious beasts, drilling deep into the ground before it could even understand what it was. Then, deep underground, the thing detonated with Rend. Vines, flowers, and grasses formed from majestic Crystal twisted together and greedily chewed their way upward, as if the meteor were a seed that had sprouted, countless roots already embedded deep into the earth.
What it drained as nourishment was everything borne by this Divine Kingdom. On the surface, the controlled beasts were skewered by vines bursting up from below, dragged underground, and absorbed into raw fuel. The lord's eyes widened at once, and faced with something clearly dismantling its home, it struck without hesitation, swinging a heavy claw, though it held back slightly to capture and inspect it first.
This could be the work of another rival, or that lone wolf. The earth was Rend apart into a massive Rift, enough to dig out the tree formed by the seed, yet the result was not as smooth as expected. Instead, the ground itself was absorbed by the vines, linked together, and a massive battery-like halo spread over the tree, then contracted, gathering into a blue-green bolt of electricity at the roots.
A Charged Particle Cannon powerful enough to make even the moon suffer slammed straight into the local the Lord. Even that enormous body was blasted away, and its thick armor was carved open with a deep gash like a chisel cut. Amid a roar that shattered everything around into broken Shard, a colossal figure hundreds of meters tall stepped out from deep underground like a moving mountain range.
Its tattoos were also made of crystal, carved into fine lines resembling layered muscles across the peaks. Unlike other glowing Crystal, its color was a heavy gray-green, and each step of its thick feet shook the land. Rings of electricity flowed around its body, blocking all hostile forces, and when it roared, several mountain ranges rivaling Everest were reduced to dust by extreme vibration.
Forests rose around its feet and spread as it advanced, spawning similar monsters that began to plunder everything not their own. The local the Lord let out a roar tinged with fear. Who the hell was this thing?
It was not the only one thinking that. Another being, shaped like a flying eight-armed creature, was suffering the same fate. Its Divine Kingdom resembled a nebula vortex made of countless floating stones like an asteroid belt, smooth and brilliant outside but deep as a black hole within.
At the deepest point, a bright meteor repeatedly streaked through. Within the asteroid domain, the meteor released dense, lightning-like Heat Ray in all directions, melting, burning, and blasting apart the encircling rocks. Some were even infected into similar entities and rushed toward the Giant Octopus coiled at the vortex center, as spiked Crystal crystal flowers burst across its body, splashing strange blue glowing blood.
It lashed out in fury with a tentacle, gathering asteroids into a crushing net, but the tentacle was quickly pierced and severed by a tail covered in sharp Crystal. The crystals on its back exploded into Shard, revealing a massive Space beast with huge Crystal shoulders, bright Gold Rank-colored horns, and a slightly red abdomen. It roared and spat searing Corona Beam like Lightning Magic, while both hands gathered crushing gravity and slammed it into the vortex core like a brutal slap.
The expanding Energy Field had already eroded nearly a third of this starfield and kept spreading, devouring more asteroids to expand its domain. Another battle had erupted elsewhere. Mountain after mountain linked together into a massive, cold Crown, silent and lifeless, allowing no change.
Here there was only ice, snow, and wind, along with bones sealed beneath the frost. The layered peaks converged into a webbed Imperial Palace and nest at their tips. Eight bright Gold Rank eyes lit up in the depths, saw-like legs stretching to the edge of its Divine Kingdom, while a gem-like gold-red heart beat on its surface, silk threads hanging from its mouth.