Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 527 Total Destruction
Looking at the eagle-lion skeleton lying in the pit, the group felt a sense of absurdity, recalling their previous actions of getting off the vehicle halfway and carefully avoiding the pit.

Li Xia and Victor exchanged a glance and walked towards the skeleton at the same time, bending down to examine it carefully from one end to the other.

The crater where the skeleton was located radiated outwards, with vitrified fragments scattered all over the ground, clearly indicating that it was created by a fall from a great height.

There weren't many traces or accumulated dust around them; compared to the tunnels they had traversed, it was practically spotless.

"The time of death is very close, extremely close!"

Li Xia's expression turned serious. The tunnel had been abandoned and turned into that state in just one or two years.

Its current 'spotless' state suggests it was likely killed just in the last few days.

It might even have been yesterday!
If they had been even a little faster, they might have run into the person who killed the King of the Wasteland.

"Victor, can flesh rot this fast?"

"Did you notice it too?"

Victor's fingers gripped one of the bones, and he said in a deep voice:

"Not only the flesh and blood, but even the decomposed bone marrow is gone. It's impossible for the decomposition to be so rapid."

So someone removed its flesh and bone marrow! No—”

Victor's expression grew increasingly grim as he looked at the smooth, pristine bones:
"It was more like a monster had swallowed it whole, scraping away all its flesh with its barbed tongue and greedily sucking its marrow."

Only when nothing more could be extracted did they spit out the discarded bones.

The wind, carrying the stench of decay, seemed even colder, stirring up the dust on the wasteland, like the ashes of a world burned to ashes.

Everyone was silent. The griffin had been killed, and its flesh and blood had been completely devoured.

It is obvious that there are not many people capable of killing a griffon, and the only ones who could devour a griffon to this extent are those corrupt followers of the Church of the Night.

"Is it Simmons? Or the Virgin Mary? Or the four bishops?"

Iris's voice was a little hoarse as she asked in a low voice:

"What was his purpose in killing the Griffin? Did he intend to use the flesh and blood of these monsters to become stronger?"

"Although I'd love to say no, the truth is basically what you said."

Victor tapped the skeleton in front of him, and a loud metallic clanging sound rang out:
"Only those monsters could use such an evil method of devouring corrupted flesh to increase their power."

The monsters of the Church of the Night are already very powerful, yet they still choose to devour flesh and blood.
What do they want to do?
Could it be that Simmons has truly reached a critical point, preparing to reach an even higher level of 'godhood'?

"I suggest—"

Li Xia took a deep breath, feeling that time was becoming increasingly urgent. Since arriving in this world, it seemed that he had experienced a lot, but in reality, only three days had passed.

That's already incredibly efficient. If we gave it to many Apostles, they might not even have emerged from Ogan City yet, still wandering around in the dream world, and would eventually be taken down by the corrupted Collins.

Even so, the enemy seems to be getting stronger every second.

"Don't worry about anything else, go straight to the next area and check on the situation of the overlords of other areas."

If it's the same as here, then we can just pass through without any trouble.

"What if he didn't die?"

"Iris asked curiously."

A hint of murderous intent flashed in Li Xia's eyes:
"Then kill them! One bell of enemy food is worth twenty of mine!"

The first half of the sentence is clear, but what does the second half mean?
"Xia, you mean..."

A flash of understanding crossed Fafner's greyish-white eyes.

"We're racing against time. If we can kill the monsters before they do, we can prevent them from gaining power. That's double the benefit, right?"

"more than!"

Li Xia shook his head. The three little ones had already jumped up and, with great coordination, lifted the cart, putting the reins around Xiaotian's neck.

Within seconds, Iris found herself sitting in a car, speeding forward at breakneck speed.

Li Xia's voice still came through clearly even amidst the howling wind:
"The fact that they came out to kill these overlords could not have been a full-scale attack. Judging from the previous traces, it seems that an individual or a small number of people killed the Griffin. There is no sign of a large-scale encirclement and suppression."

This means we are very likely to run into them ahead of time, which is an excellent opportunity!
An opportunity to engage in a direct confrontation without facing siege or breaking through layers of defenses!

Victor and Fafner's eyes lit up. Xia was right!

Aside from a few troublesome figures, the Church of the Night's biggest obstacles are its vast number of followers and members within the fortress.

Without these additional factors, they could have blocked Simmons, Our Lady, or any of the four cardinals in the wilderness.

That would be the best-case scenario, one where external factors are minimized!
Without the slightest hesitation, Victor stood up and slammed his left hand hard on the wooden cart, almost causing the simple cart to fall apart.

Before he could roar in anger, a faint white light emanated from Victor's palm.

As the murmured chants arose, blessings instantly appeared and covered the wooden cart.

The wooden cart shuddered twice, and to the horrified eyes of the three children, a loud 'bang' resounded, creating a conspicuous sonic boom cloud around it.

"My grass!"

Awoo only managed to let out one cry before Xiaotian's terrified scream could be heard from ahead.

"boom"

The people inside the car scattered like fireworks.

"Brother, I'm calling you brother now!"

Awoo summoned a fine stream of water to wash the mud off his second and third brothers, and then spoke to Victor, who was sitting with his head down in the back of the wooden cart 2.0:
"Is it that Grandpa Long can't break the sound barrier? Is it that Grandpa Long doesn't have the ability? It's that the conditions don't allow it!"

If the law of gravity is focused on acceleration, it can easily break the sound barrier.

The problem is that breaking the sound barrier at low altitudes is inherently extremely dangerous, especially for those flying only a few meters off the ground.

Once an obstacle appears, there's no time to turn, and the rudimentary carriages can't withstand this level of acceleration.

Li Xia does have aircraft, but the more sophisticated the instrument, the more likely it is to develop a 'machine spirit'.

Perhaps the aircraft will develop its own ideas shortly after it takes off.

"If it weren't for the boss's quick thinking and protection of the old man, we might be standing here with heavy hearts, weeping over his body, and maybe even composing a poem: 'His campaign was cut short, and he died before achieving his goal! This has left heroes to weep with sorrow!'"

How much longer until we reach the water?

Li Xia interrupted Aowu's output. Although he didn't say anything swearing, the old priest Victor's head was almost lowered between his legs.

There's no need to keep pursuing this relentlessly. Ultimately, it's a matter of perception. Different technological paths lead to different focuses.

The priest profession is basically unsuitable for high-speed charging or similar tasks. They are more suited to providing support from the rear or taking out a one-handed hammer and acting as a two-handed warrior.

"Almost there, maybe another ten minutes or so." Awoo finally stopped outputting his output with a hint of relish, took out the replica map, carefully compared it, and gave his answer.

Get ready—

As soon as Li Xia finished speaking, Xiao Tian suddenly ran towards the air with all his might. The wooden cart drew an arc in the air and flew higher.

Suddenly, several enormous, earthworm-like monsters sprang out from the ground. They opened their ferocious mouths and their bodies, as thick as oil drums, thrashed wildly.

The mouthparts passed right by the wooden cart and fell limply into the muddy ground below.

"Water tapeworms!"

Iris suddenly stood up, pressed her face against the window of the wooden cart, and stared intently down:

"These are parasites that only large aquatic monsters have. But why are there water tapeworms here?"

"The answer may be simple."

The car suddenly stopped, and Li Xia looked at the scene in the distance, which resembled a seafood slaughter market, with all sorts of strangely shaped fish floating on the water.

Large clumps of dark red blood, somewhat coagulated due to pollution and distortion, floated on the water's surface.

The land on the shore had become unusually muddy, as if a heavy rain had just fallen, and there were traces of battle everywhere, with broken plants.

The ground was shattered into pieces, the earth turned upside down.
And most conspicuously, there was a huge skeleton lying across a puddle on the bank.

Without even looking, the overlord of this water area—the Abyssal Shark—has followed in the footsteps of the Wasteland Overlord, the Griffin, but the Abyssal Shark is clearly more troublesome than the Griffin.

The two sides fought at least one major battle, leaving behind numerous traces. It is also possible that the battle took place in the sky, thus leaving no obvious traces.

However, judging from the aftermath and the scene of the battle, the people who killed these overlords were not incredibly powerful.

"It shouldn't be Simmons."

Victor stared intently, letting out a soft breath. His expression was ambiguous, whether it was relief or disappointment.

"At least Simmons won't have such a hard time beating this guy. Even if you despise Simmons's character, this fallen archbishop can still be considered the strongest in the world."

Even in a class of its own, the good news is we don't have to face Simmons right now.

The bad news is, we'll most likely still have to go to Edmunds, overcome numerous obstacles, and fight the enemy leader in their own backyard.

"Furthermore, the other side is somewhat picky about food. Apart from the regional overlord, the Abyss Shark, none of the other monsters had their flesh and blood absorbed."

What does it mean?
Don't like it?

Iris also offered her own perspective:

"Or is it that someone under Simmons has finally lost his ambition and wants to challenge Simmons through this method of devouring flesh and blood and sucking marrow from bones?"

"No, he's not one of Simmons's men!"

Victor shook his head again, denying the conjecture, and pointed into the distance with great complexity and doubt.

"Do you see that? That used to be a fortress of the Church of the Night, and it was the enemy we attacked during our last great expedition, which was lured by false intelligence."

In any case, the flags and lighthouses there would never be lowered or extinguished, but now not only are the flags and lighthouses gone.

Even the fortress was completely collapsed.

"Do we have backup?"

"How could someone using this method be our accomplice?"

Ruthlessly shattering Iris's conjecture, Victor returned to the bow of the ship, straining to see what lay ahead.

"That's right, the fortress has collapsed!"

"Never mind that—"

Li Xia calmly patted the roaring dragon egg, signaling it to set off again.

The car traced another curve in mid-air and moved toward its next target.

Each subsequent location made the team even more silent.

The Green Swamp Poison Lizard, the master of the swamp's poisonous miasma, lay in the center of its favorite swamp, with only a small part of its head exposed, while most of its body was swallowed by the swamp.

The savage lord of the forest—the ferocious tiger—had its entire head shattered, and its remains, like a tattered rag, were carelessly tossed beneath the red maple tree.

As for the Lord of the Mountains and Rivers—the Rock-Splitting Demon—it simply shattered into small stones, which scattered all over the ground.

Clearly, the monster was growing stronger by constantly absorbing the flesh and blood of the regional overlord.

Upon discovering this fact, Iris and Victor were clearly on edge.

To deal with the current Church of the Night, attacking them in a scattered manner is the best solution they can think of.

At this point, any unexpected and powerful assistance will lead to a complete replanning of the project.

They thought they would continue on this journey until they reached their final destination, Edmunds.

They continued until they crossed the mountain where the Rock Demon lived and found a strangely familiar figure near the riverbank close to Edmons.

The figure was leaning against a huge rock, seemingly resting. What drew attention was the figure's unusually swollen abdomen and sudden...

Li Xia slowly stretched his hand to his side, pulling the long spear that crackled with electricity out of the air.

His expression was unusually serious, yet he showed no surprise:
"Collins!"

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

Dear readers, I am very sorry, but Little Carp has discovered a new situation and is actively looking for a hospital to prepare for treatment.

Therefore, there may be instances of needing to take leave in the coming period (one day off at a time).

I was originally hospitalized for pneumonia, and since my electrocardiogram showed some abnormalities, I scheduled a cardiac ultrasound to give myself peace of mind.

The result was congenital heart disease.

When I saw the results, my mind went blank, and this afternoon I've been making phone calls nonstop, trying to find people to inquire about my condition.

Fortunately, it was discovered early and the condition was not too serious. In addition to the ventricular septal defect, there was also pericardial effusion and ventricular and atrial hypertrophy.

We have decided to have the surgery at the children's hospital, but we still need to go through the examination process again. The specific surgery time is yet to be determined.

So I'm really sorry, I'll probably have to take about four days off each month until the surgery is over.

Thank you for your understanding and support, and thank you for your continued companionship. Thank you!

[P.S.: I took my little koi fish to the hospital at 7 a.m. this morning and didn't get back until tonight. I almost fell asleep while writing the second half, so some parts might look a bit strange. Please forgive me.]

(End of this chapter)