Read Novel Full Chapter 589- Demonic City (4)
Chapter 589: Chapter 589- Demonic City (4)
"Yeah!!!"
The knights of the Temple of Light slammed their fists against their breastplates and shouted thunderously.
Reinhardt’s words, boosted by his skill [Voice of Providence], were like a powerful spreading flame, it filled everyone with unshakable resolve.
The next second, they all mounted their horses and marched in a neat formation behind him.
Just before heading out, he turned his head slightly toward Erza.
"Crimson Knight."
The latter looked at him, hands folded around her arms.
"Do not destroy the nest until we return."
Erza’s eyebrow twitched.
Reinhardt did not say anything more and charged straight at the Abyss Nest.
The knights followed without question.
Behind them, Erza watched their backs as they approached the rippling barrier, then disappeared inside as if getting swallowed whole.
"Damn Divine Paladin."
She couldn’t help but mutter under her breath.
.
Inside the Abyss Nest, the world was completely different.
They were still inside the city, there were still streets and buildings around them.
However, everything had been swallowed by thick layers of pulsating flesh.
Walls bulged outward like tumors, veins crawled like writhing serpents.
Membrane like growths spread everywhere, roads had turned slick and organic, fleshy tendrils covered the ceiling, and viscous acidic ponds formed all around the city.
The feeling was like standing inside the stomach of something alive.
The air was suffocating and heavy. Every breath burned their lungs.
As for the demonic energy, the sheer concentration of it gave one goosebumps. It was enough to make even a high-ranking knight dizzy.
What’s more, along with the demonic energy came a multitude of negative debuffs.
Fear... Dread... Madness.
Reinhardt felt it instantly.
The Abyss Nest was trying to devour them.
That said, how could Reinhardt let that happen?
Without hesitation, he activated one of his titles.
[Wielder of the Divine Light].
Light erupted from his body and bathed everyone in its glow. The golden radiance was like a rising sun, pushing back the suffocating darkness.
[Wielder of the Divine Light]: Description- The first and purest light of creation. Boosts defense and aura strength, making all nearby allies immune to fear.
Effects-Sovereign’s Presence (AoE Debuff): All enemies within ten miles of Reinhardt suffer from [Terror], reducing their attack power and movement speed by -40%, and causing a 20% chance to flinch upon engaging Reinhardt.
Divine Recompense (Aura Buff): All allies gain +50% attack speed, +35% resilience, and +25% mana regeneration when within a two mile radius of Reinhardt. Holy attribute abilities gain +100% effectiveness.
The effect was immediate; the pressure, the negative debuffs, everything disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Listen carefully. This place is no longer a city, but the stomach of the Abyss Nest. Expect attacks from every direction. Do not break formation and stay alert."
Reinhardt hurriedly issued commands.
In this dark, grotesque place, he was their beacon of light. His presence immediately dispersed all hesitation from their minds.
That’s right, as long as the Commander was with them, there was nothing to fear. All the knights seemed to hold onto this thought, almost in a manner of blind faith.
"Let’s move."
Reinhardt led ahead.
Behind him, the Knights of the Temple of Light marched in perfect formation through the living nightmare.
As they marched deeper into the capital, the more the nightmare revealed its true shape.
Having swallowed an entire city, everything around had been transformed into slick organic terrain.
Every corner, every street was filled with danger.
Suddenly, Reinhardt raised his hand, gesturing for his knights to halt.
All eyes went to the thing in front of them.
Before them stretched a wide basin of thick, bubbling liquid.
A swamp!
Though it was no ordinary swamp, but rather...
"Gastric acid."
Reinhardt slowly muttered.
The swamp in front of them, the viscous pool that exuded sickly green fumes and filled with half consumed remains of what looked like humans, was none other than the digestive fluids of the Nest.
"Form crossing lines."
On his command, the knights used the debris and the hardened organic ridges to cross the swamp.
However, how could it be so easy?
Even embryonic, an Abyss Nest was still an Abyss Nest. It was alive and sentient, and they were its food.
Suddenly, the walls around them started moving, lurching. A wet, tearing sound echoed, followed by massive fleshy tendrils erupting from the surrounding structures, whipping through the air like living serpents.
The knights, already alert, unsheathed their swords and culled all of them down.
However, with a tearing noise, more and more followed.
Had it been any other knight order, given the present situation and the sudden attack, then perhaps they might have had a headache.
However, the Temple of Light was different.
Under Reinhardt’s Spartan training, imparting of new skills, and their experience so far, they were able to easily fend off the Nest’s attack.
What’s more, all of them were buffed by Reinhardt’s ridiculous title effects. Under such a condition, even the new recruits fought like seasoned knights.
Before long, they were easily able to get through the hurdle.
"Keep moving."
However, this was just the start; there were more horrors waiting for them inside.
As soon as they reached a plaza, they witnessed a scene that shocked quite a lot of them.
A mountain filled with bodies. In front of them, near the clearing, were hundreds, no, thousands and thousands of corpses.
Men, women, children, old, all the population from the ghost towns they had passed by on their way here was at this moment in front of them.
For a moment, everyone froze in their place.
They all knew vaguely in their hearts that something was wrong and that the population of entire towns and cities of Lunaris could not disappear into thin air.
They had all hardened their hearts before they dived into the Abyss Nest.
Still, witnessing the scene in front of them unsettled quite a lot of them. Knights weren’t emotionless machines of war after all.
Be that as it may, this state did not last long.
On their commander’s instruction, they soon raised their swords, battle intent radiating out of their bodies as if they were facing a great enemy.
No sooner, the corpses started moving.
Crimson light ignited within their hollow eyes, their bodies twisted violently, bones cracking and stretching as flesh swelled grotesquely.
Within seconds, the ground erupted with movement.
Flesh Demons!
The knights quickly identified their enemies. This was not their first time encountering such an enemy. Demonified knights were one such example.
In essence, both were the same. Demonic energy corrupting humans and taking over their dead bodies and instincts.
Though the latter was much more troublesome to face.
Demonified knights and demonified citizens, it was clear which was more powerful.
Still, even though they were facing simple flesh demons, their numbers were still a threat.
GRAAHHH!!
With a gruff roar, the citizens of Lunaris, now twisted into monstrous forms, charged at them.
They flooded the streets like a tidal wave of corrupted bodies, clawing and screaming as they rushed the knights.
Reinhardt calmly gave his command.
The knights of the Temple of Light held their formation. Shield up and one foot planted back, they raised a solid wall.
Soon, the flesh demons came crashing against the wall of shields.
Grating noises erupted all around the formation.
Sounds of bones breaking, sounds of metal crashing, bodies getting squashed or the flesh tearing apart.
The discordant mixture of sounds filled the place.
Although weak individually, after getting demonified, these citizens became powerful meat shields.
They did not care whether their bodies broke or fell apart, they threw their bodies at the knights brutally.
The knights responded swiftly.
While their companions held the Flesh Demons in place, they used their swords and skills to cull down the number of enemies.
[Holy Light], [Holy Shield], [Blessings of Valor], [Judgment Slash], [Radiant Ascension].
All kinds of skills exploded, lighting up the darkness. Every swing erased dozens of demons at once, every skill explosion tore through their ranks.
That said, for each one that fell, more and more arrived to take their place. The nest had not only consumed the capital but all the cities and towns of Lunaris.
One could imagine the population size of one of the Seven Great Kingdoms. Their numbers were beyond counting.
And the nest was now unleashing them all.
Still, this was not the worst of the horrors.
For knights used to fighting enemies more powerful than them, flesh demons were nothing more than just meat shields.
Their attacks were plain and weak, something that could easily be handled by them. Though it still wore them down and consumed their stamina.
Exactly what the nest wanted.
At this moment, the ground trembled. The fleshy walls lurched back, and the swarm parted. Then something huge, something massive, showed its appearance.
A towering flesh demon composed of fused bodies... hundreds, perhaps thousands of corpses, melded together into a single writhing monstrosity.
Faces protruded from its massive form, screaming silently. Arms extended in every direction like a forest of grasping limbs.