Bighorn Bull is in charge of leading, and I, Beria, am in charge of raising it.

As Belial's energy dwindled, rendering him unable to fire the Descium Ray any longer, he simultaneously retrieved another portable miniature plasma spark, desperately trying to replenish his energy. At the same time, he focused intently on the spot where Gua had been standing.

However, Belial's face did not show the slightest joy or relief despite the successful hit. Instead, it was as if he had discovered some incredible secret, and his entire body visibly flushed red!

Because at that critical moment, from Belial's perspective, it was clearly visible...

It wasn't that Gua suddenly lost focus, or that after so many years of separation, their coordination had become rusty, causing them to be a beat slower...

Instead, countless human souls suddenly emerged from Gua's body and tightly embraced Gua's limbs!

This created a crucial opportunity for Belial's strongest attack, allowing it to strike the unsuspecting Gua!

Chapter 40 Ultra Bomb

And indeed, it was just as Belial had seen...

Even before the fusion, because he sensed that his older brother and sister were in danger, Juda, who should have quietly absorbed human souls to speed up his recovery, had to swallow them whole and absorb all the remaining human souls into his body without having time to completely decompose them.

Then he was teleported to Mord's side. Before he could even remind her of this, Mord pulled him along and they merged directly into the current Gua!

This resulted in the human souls that he absorbed into his body maintaining their conscious awareness and appearing in Gua's body at the moment the fusion was completed!

Then, watching Belial fight on despite repeated defeats, even when he was covered in wounds, gradually inspired the souls of humans who had fallen into utter despair and were passively waiting for death.

The first to take action were the youngest children, who were also the most likely to believe in hope.

Under Juda's torment, their remaining fragments of soul were significantly weaker than those of the others. Compared to the vast torrent of dark energy within Gua, they were as insignificant as a lone boat in a raging storm, poised to capsize at any moment.

They had no weapons, no power, and not even a complete consciousness...

Yes, it was just that one sentence I vaguely heard in the last moments before I died, when I was held in my parents' arms...

"Don't be afraid, the Giant of Light will come to save us."

They believed it.

And now, they finally saw the giant of light who had only appeared in stories. Recognizing Belial at a glance by the lifelike statue that once stood atop their home, they naturally assumed that Belial, as their parents had said, had been drawn into this desperate battle to save them!

And so, these children, no more than twelve years old, began to fight in their own way in response to the giant of light before them!

Furthermore, driven by their inner faith, they displayed astonishing resilience at this moment! They became the first pioneers to sound the clarion call of resistance!

Next came the adults who had fought valiantly against the invasion of the Gua Empire, shedding their last drop of blood on the battlefield.

They harbored the deepest hatred for Gua and were the most determined to resist. The remaining fragments of their souls were also more solidified than those of the children, and could withstand the erosion of dark energy for a longer period of time.

Seeing the children begin to rebel, and as their memories of their past lives gradually returned, they spontaneously organized themselves. Just as they had done in life, they protected the children behind them. They then used their own souls to withstand the soul suppression that Gua unleashed after sensing something was wrong. They bought more time for those young but resilient souls to launch their attack!

Their burning passion vanished in the moment of their death. But their unwavering commitment—to protect their homeland, to protect the next generation, to protect those lives weaker than themselves—transformed into a solid shield, once again protecting their children from all harm from the outside world!

Then there are the old people who, sitting on the bench in front of the statue of the Giant of Light, filled with gratitude and longing for Belial, tirelessly told their descendants the story that had been passed down from generation to generation since their ancestors.

They were the oldest group on this planet of survivors. The light on the fragments of their souls had become so faint as to be almost invisible.

Even after regaining self-awareness, they lacked the strength to challenge the soul nodes within Gua's body like children, nor could they use themselves as a shield to withstand Gua's violent suppression like adults.

But the location from which they emerged from Gua's body was more crucial than anyone else's.

They selected various joints from Gua's armor, using all the wisdom and patience they had accumulated throughout their long lives to find every weak connection point in the gaps of Gua's supposedly indestructible armor.

Then, using their remaining souls, they painstakingly embedded themselves into those gaps. At the cost of their own souls being scattered, they destroyed from within, leaving cracks in Gua's armor.

This caused Gua, who could have been immune to the Desium Ray's baptism, to finally let out angry cries of pain the moment he was covered by the beam, which was full of violent destructive power!

Therefore, upon noticing the abnormality within his body, Gua could no longer afford to deal with Belial. Instead, he directly confronted Belial's attacks while simultaneously mobilizing the dark energy within his body to attempt to repair the out-of-control soul links.

Each energy surge crushes countless souls into fragments.

But what shocked and enraged him was...

For every piece of Gua crushed, a new group of souls would immediately rush to fill the void!

No sooner had one node been suppressed than another node would be subjected to a collective onslaught of even more souls!

The control over these human souls is constantly being weakened by their relentless resistance!

In the end, these people, who should have been puppets, fuel, and slaves to be manipulated at will by the Gu Asan siblings...

At this moment, it has become a noose that is strangling Gua’s throat and forcing him to reveal a fatal flaw in such a way that is far beyond imagination!

As the last rays of the Desium Ray faded, they slowly dissipated from the scorching center of the explosion. Gua's figure reappeared in Belial's sight.

Its pale, skeletal armor was now covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

A large section of the shoulder armor around Mold's face on his left shoulder was shattered.

The arrogant expression on Gina's face on her right shoulder was replaced by shock, anger, and bewilderment.

Even on the chest, on the true head that belonged to Gua, there was a scorch mark extending from the forehead to the jaw. The edges of the wound constantly emitted holy light, preventing the wound from healing itself.

However, Gua's predicament did not end with withstanding this blow.

On the contrary, more and more human souls, after seeing the Desium Ray successfully damage Gua, seemed to see a glimmer of hope and began to struggle and resist even more frantically within Gua's body!

They didn't live to see the Giant of Light return...

But at least after death, we must strive for even the slightest chance to attack for the hero who is fighting a bloody battle right now!

To repay Belial for saving their race ten thousand years ago, in place of their ancestors!

That's why, even though they knew perfectly well that every collision within Gua's body would hasten their own demise, they still rushed forward without hesitation!

From the moment the Gua Empire invaded, they deeply understood one thing...

When faced with trouble, never sit idly by and wait to die!

So much so that when Gua reappeared, although he still stood ramrod straight, he exuded a suffocating sense of oppression…

However, without a doubt, this was the first time Belial had successfully breached his defenses and caused him substantial damage since the start of the war!

But Belial was not happy at all...

Because from the energy fluctuations emanating from the human souls that kept appearing before him, he sensed their origins...

And I understood why, from the moment I appeared on this dark planet, I had a vague, inexplicable sense of familiarity with it…

This caused Belial's reason to be instantly and completely consumed by rage! Only one thought raced through his mind...

Gua must die today, no matter what!

Even at the cost of my own life—!!!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

With a thought from Belial, azure energy cubes began to appear around him.

In the blink of an eye, the number had reached as many as 500,000! They had already emptied out all their stockpile, leaving not a single one!

The sparks hovered around him, their blue and white light weaving together into a dazzling yet deadly sea of ​​stars, casting his entire silhouette in a radiant silver-white hue.

"Ha, trying to attack me with this weird gadget again? That's so unoriginal... Don't forget, this kind of attack isn't even good enough to tickle me."

Seeing this, even Gua, who considered himself invincible, couldn't help but catch his breath. He increasingly understood why the three Gua siblings, despite having all the advantages, chose to combine and summon him, while simultaneously offering a brave but ultimately cowardly "kind" reminder, trying to dissuade Belial from this dangerous move.

"...Wait a minute, what are you doing? Are you crazy! Absorbing so much energy, your body definitely won't be able to handle it, and then...!"

But what happened next left Gua dumbfounded once again!

Because Belial didn't simply throw the energy cubes at them to detonate as he had done before. Instead, he slowly stretched out his arms, like an ocean embracing all rivers, and began frantically absorbing the energy stored within them right in front of Gua!

Five hundred thousand portable mini plasma sparks were activated simultaneously. Blue-white light emanated from the surface of each energy cube, transforming into countless fine streams of light that converged towards the timer on Belial's chest.

This caused Belial's timer to visibly jump from red to blue, then from blue to dazzling pure white, and finally from pure white to blinding gold...

As the energy index continued to increase and compress, a layer of dazzling golden light began to appear on Belial's body, which made Guaben feel fear!

However, conversely, just as Gua instinctively exclaimed in surprise...

Already severely injured, Belial's condition worsened rapidly under the excessive energy absorption. Even his color timer began to show fine cracks with a slight cracking sound!

Belial felt as if he were in a boiling pot of oil, enduring unimaginable pain!

"Hahahaha! Just what I wanted! I don't care about anything else now! I just want you dead—!!!"

However, for Beria now, the deep guilt and self-reproach stemming from failing to protect these surviving descendants, and even relying on their sacrifice of souls to fight against the Gua in order to give him a chance to defeat them, far outweighs the physical pain he feels!

As the golden light shone even brighter, not only did cracks appear on the color timer, but even his body began to disintegrate and shatter due to the immense energy he could no longer withstand. Belial, however, uttered not a sound of pain. Instead, amidst bursts of maniacal laughter, he displayed extreme composure, coldly mocking Gua, each word delivered with deliberate sarcasm.

"Thanks to their efforts, I discovered... the previous explosive attack wasn't so much ineffective against you, but rather that you have a very high resistance to energy attacks. This meant that the explosive damage, which couldn't be concentrated in one point, was reduced by your resistance and couldn't keep up with your self-recovery speed. That's why you looked completely unharmed when you came out, right?"

“But what if I integrate all this energy into my own body and then release it all at once, like the Descium Ray that just hit you…”

Do you think you can handle it?

"Varied……!"

The moment the words left his mouth, before Gua could react, Belial suddenly crossed the spatial barrier between them and appeared in front of Gua.

As a strong sense of crisis surged within him, the head on Gua's chest instinctively opened its blood-red maw, attempting to unleash dark energy rays to force Belial back.

But Belial was faster than it could react. It was as if Gua was a fragile piece of tofu. With just a raised hand and a thrust, it easily pierced through Gua's chest and firmly grasped Gua's heart!

At that moment, Gua's body began to tremble violently!

Besides the intense physical pain, it could clearly feel that the fragments of its soul, which had been tainted by dark energy and locked firmly within its body, were being gently but firmly peeled away by an invisible hand!

The first to be separated were the youngest children.

Their souls, after repeated active attacks, are now so weak that they are almost imperceptible. They rely solely on their last remaining instincts to attack any dark energy they can touch.

Until the moment Belial's light touched them, they felt as if they had returned to the warm embrace of their parents, gradually relaxing and allowing Belial to gather them together...

Next came the adult soldiers.

They also suffered significant losses, and their reaction was even more extreme. They even instinctively attacked Belial the instant he was pulled away!

It wasn't until they realized that the light now enveloping them, while incredibly gentle, was also filled with apology and guilt—a light completely different from the dark energy they had previously fought so fiercely against—that they understood its power.

They gradually stopped struggling and, soothed by Beria, peacefully fell into a deep sleep.

Finally, there were the elderly...

As the main force binding the Gua's actions, their sacrifices were no less than those of adults. By the time Belial found them, less than one-tenth remained, and their soul fluctuations had weakened to the point where they were almost completely integrated with the dark energy. This meant that Belial needed several times more energy than when saving other souls to separate them from the soul link nodes within the Gua's bodies.

Even so, Belial was unwilling to abandon any soul.

He gritted his teeth and used a portion of the light energy that was frantically dissipating from his body to scan every corner of Gua's body, ensuring that no noble soul was forgotten in the cracks of the dark energy.

Then, he placed all the extracted souls into a special container.

The container appeared to be no bigger than a fist. Its outer shell was constructed of crystal and some kind of silvery-white alloy, with extremely faint yet remarkably stable energy fluctuations flowing across its surface.

That was a special device that Belial secretly developed to contain souls, in order to prevent himself from being possessed by the soul of the Reiblood aliens sooner or later, and from the moment he realized that he had scientific talent.

Although it was never tested after it was completed, and it required a lot of rare materials, Belial spent 20,000 years to make only one.

But now, Belial is incredibly grateful that he had made preparations in advance and did not hesitate to use this trump card to serve as the last refuge for these innocent souls.

Belial then diverted a portion of his energy to completely envelop the container. Ensuring it couldn't be destroyed by external forces or intercepted by undead monsters, he sent it towards the Land of Light. Incidentally, he also sent an Ultra Sign to the Land of Light, instructing them to prepare to receive the special device while simultaneously activating their defensive barrier to avoid being accidentally injured by his subsequent attacks.

Then he turned his head again to face Gua.

There was no longer any emotional fluctuation in his eyes.

There is only one kind of anger that, after reaching its peak, is followed by an almost cold calm.

His hands, which were gripping Gua's heart, tightened again. Facing Gua's piercing screams, the golden light emanating from his body began to flicker wildly at an ever-increasing frequency. His body, unable to withstand this immense energy, began to disintegrate from the bottom up…

First, the timer on his chest shattered, and fine crystal shards fell from his chest, turning into countless dazzling particles of light in the golden glow.

Next came his arms, where searing cracks appeared on his silver-red skin. Each crack looked as if it had been branded open from the inside by a red-hot iron, with light particles gushing out from it.

Then his legs began to gradually transform into particles of light, starting from the soles of his feet and moving upwards.

With each breath, more and more fragments of his body dissipated, signifying that his life was being burned away bit by bit from the inside out by this immense, unbearable energy.

However, the energy fluctuations emanating from Belial were also constantly increasing!

Just like Beria today, it's a nuclear reactor that has reached a critical point and could trigger a massive explosion at any moment!

Therefore, watching Gua finally panic and begin desperately attacking Belial in an attempt to make Belial loosen his grip...

Beria suddenly laughed.

"Hahahaha! So, you can be scared too... Feel honored! I've only ever seen and imitated this move before, but I've never actually used it!"

The laughter lacked the previous madness, the tragic grandeur of facing a desperate situation, and even anything that could be called "emotion."