Chapter 1911: First Liege's Obsession
First Liege's appearance, who was dressed in a white robe, did not match Lin Huang's imagination. He looked like he was in his 20s at most. He was almost as handsome as Aza, but lacked the feminine vibe.
"Is there anything that you need from me?"
Lin Huang asked right after taking a good look at him.
"I want to borrow some people from you," First Liege informed Lin Huang of his intention directly.
"Borrow people?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrows.
"The powerhouses from the Sword Alliance who have mastered over ten quadrillion chaotic cosmoses. The ones who participated in the previous battles." First Liege nodded. "I want to borrow them."
Seeing that Lin Huang was staring at him and said nothing, First Liege continued, "I want to challenge Aza, but I need people to help me delay and deal with the three Outer Gods and the Black Goat's Offspring that might show up."
Lin Huang squinted his eyes as he listened up to this point. "Do you have the confidence to challenge Aza?"
To him, the First Liege's aura was only as strong as Aza's Primordium. If they really were to fight, the chances of victory were 50/50. However, Aza also had an endless amount of clones.
"I don't, but since Aza is already here, I don't think we should delay this matter any further," First Liege said expressionlessly.
Lin Huang frowned. "Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao should've told you that Aza has countless clones in other timelines and dimensions, right?"
"I know." This was the only thing First Liege responded with.
Lin Huang spoke after seeing that First Liege did not elaborate further, "Even if you fought Him and won, what meaning is there in killing His Primordium? His Primordium can project His will into any of His clones. He'll rise up again sooner or later."
"Then I'll kill him again when He does! I'll keep killing him until He no longer dares to show Himself!" First Liege's tone was laced with killing intent.
"I don't think you understand what Aza's ultimate goal is." Lin Huang shook his head helplessly. "He wants to become a Transcender and refine the Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao! In order to achieve this, He has been plotting for hundreds of eras. I don't think a guy like Him would give up His goal easily just because He lost a couple of battles."
"Also, even if you do win once or twice, can you guarantee that you will keep winning? As soon as you fight him, you'd become Aza's primary target. Even if you really defeat Him, from then on, He'll keep finding ways to attack you every time until He defeats and kills you!"
"He's not the only one who has clones. I have them too. Even if I'm killed, I will rise up again!" First Liege sounded determined.
"This guy…" Lin Huang frowned.
Lin Huang gained a rough understanding of the man before him, who was so stubborn that he seemed to be on the verge of being possessed.
Perhaps he had been trained by Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao, and had been constantly reminded of his objective to defeat Aza, so much so that defeating Aza had become his obsession.
Lin Huang did not continue to advise him after witnessing his determination.
"Alright then. Since you've already decided, I'll send people to delay the Outer Gods for you. How many people do you need?"
"All of them." First Liege had clearly thought it through before coming here. "It'll be tough if the legitimate Black Goat's Offspring appears.
"Also, I'm not asking the Sword Alliance to help for free this time. I can pay to hire them!"
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows when he heard that. He was secretly happier now. "Sure, I'll tell them, but I don't know how many people will be willing to help. You can discuss the hiring fees with them later. When do you need them?"
"I need some time to prepare. Let's make it three days later." First Liege gave him a timeline directly. "Didn't Aza give us three days as well? I want to give Him a surprise then."
"Sure! I'll get them to empty their schedules for that day." Lin Huang agreed directly.
First Liege left after obtaining Lin Huang's phone number.
He thought for a moment after watching First Liege leave. He sent over a will projection to the dimension where Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao was again.
"First Liege just came to me, though I suppose you already knew that." Lin Huang said directly.
"I saw." The cloud-like Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao spoke again.
It did not say that it knew, but it said that it had seen it. It had witnessed the entire conversation Lin Huang had with First Liege.
"Did you instigate him this time or…"
"It was his own decision," Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao answered before Lin Huang could finish.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Lin Huang asked further.
"I tried to, but it didn't work." Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao's tone sounded rather helpless. "He's the child that I chose, not my puppet. He usually listens to my suggestions, but he's very determined this time."
"Perhaps his stubbornness has something to do with the fact that I've been reminding him about his mission. Killing Aza is his reason for existence, so he probably wanted to take action as soon as Aza's Primordium showed up."
"No matter whether he wins or loses, it doesn't matter." Although Lin Huang did not stop First Liege, it did not mean that he agreed with what he was doing.
"Looking at the result, it's meaningless indeed." However, the Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao clearly held a different perspective. "If he takes action, it will force Aza to activate more clones urgently… If we look at it from that perspective, it's a good thing."
"So he's just a sacrifice to you?" Lin Huang squinted his eyes.
"Just like Aza, he has many clones too. He won't really die even if his Primordium dies. All he has to do is to change the body he uses," Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao explained calmly.
It was at this point that Lin Huang suddenly recalled that Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao was an entity of absolute intelligence. It did not possess any feelings for other living beings. To it, First Liege was just a tool that could be used to fight Aza, and that was about it.
In all likelihood, Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao probably thought of Lin Huang in the same way.
Lin Huang did not dwell on the matter after dismissing his will projection.
He informed Bai and the other imperial monsters instantly.
"There's a job for you guys. Join the assault on Aza three days from now. Get ready, your mission will be to delay the Outer Gods and the Black Goat's Offspring. Kill them off directly if you can."
Bloody was the first to respond, "You've located all of Aza's clones?"
"Not yet. I won't be the one fighting Aza this time, but rather Heaven Secret's First Liege. He needs your help," Lin Huang replied immediately.
"I got happy over nothing. I thought that you were going to fight, boss. Can I not go? I'm worried that after Aza kills that First Liege, I'll be killed too," Charcoal voiced his objection instantly.
"This is a paid job. From what I know, First Liege should be quite wealthy. Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao spent almost all of its resources on him alone. You guys can negotiate your payments with him directly," Lin Huang offered them a simple explanation.
"Money doesn't really matter, though I suddenly feel like moving my claws. I want to fight!" Charcoal changed its tone quickly.
"You're no longer afraid of Aza attacking you after killing that First Liege?" There was clearly a teasing tone in Grimace's response.
"I'm not an idiot. Can't I run once I see that the situation is turning bad, even before he's defeated?" Charcoal sounded like it was proud of itself.
"Does that First Liege really have the ability to fight Aza?" It was Bai who asked the next question.
"His level of ability is similar to Aza's Primordium," Lin Huang responded quickly, "If they really were to fight, I'm guessing the odds are 50/50."
The imperial monsters were relieved when they heard Lin Huang's evaluation of First Liege.
They were initially worried that First Liege did not know his limits. Now it seemed like that was not the case.
"Those who are willing to go, it's best that you can confirm with me today so that I can figure out the headcount. Also, remember to make yourself available three days from now."
Chapter 1912: Challenge Coming from First Liege
Time flew by and, soon, three days had passed.
The three-day deadline that Yogg announced officially ended.
Only a couple of people prostrated themselves before Aza's throne at the door of the borderless mystic territory.
Nobody could tell whether He was happy or sad from His facial expression. However, Yogg, Nyarlathotep and Shub looked terrible at the moment.
Aza opened His eyes slowly, glancing across the couple of people who were prostrating themselves to surrender to Him.
The most powerful one was only a dominator-level rank-4 powerhouse, while the remaining few people were basically at rank-2 and rank-3. There was also one dominator-level rank-1 powerhouse.
They were shaking as Aza glanced at them.
They could clearly sense His glance, and it felt like He had seen through everything about them and that they could not hide any secrets before this man.
Without Aza doing anything at all, the dominator-level rank-4 powerhouse suddenly floated up. The latter was unable to control his own body and flew slowly toward Aza.
He was secretly panicking inside but, at that moment, a gentle voice rang out.
"No need to be afraid. Since you've chosen to yield to me, we're family from now on."
The bald dominator-level rank-4 powerhouse seemed to feel comforted by that voice. He appeared relaxed now. Not only had his fear disappeared entirely, he even felt joyful now.
The couple of people who were prostrated on the ground felt the same as well.
Aza stretched out a slender finger as the dominator-level rank-4 powerhouse hovered before Him. He tapped it softly between the bald man's eyebrows.
When Aza's fingertip touched him, a layer of black fog began to linger on the bald man's body.
At the same time, his body and God's soul began to mutate quickly, while his aura began to skyrocket.
The remaining people faintly saw that the bald man seemed to have countless strands of hair growing frantically on his head. However, the next second, the rumbling black fog swallowed him whole.
Not only did the black fog block everyone's vision and probing techniques, it even blocked the sound from within. This caused the entire process to proceed silently.
Only Lin Huang could see what was happening inside the black fog.
As the fog lingered, the bald Dominator's body began to mutate quickly. He released an extremely devastating shriek, and countless strands of hair sprung up on his smooth scalp. From beneath his neck, countless dense metal-like scales appeared.
Arthropod-like limbs, similar to Bug Tribe's, sprang forth from his torso…
In the end, he mutated into a bug monster with countless arthropod-like limbs entirely. His aura had skyrocketed. He was now a dominator-level rank-9 that had mastered trillions of chaotic cosmoses.
What confused Lin Huang the most was that his God's soul had mutated completely. Compared to the bald main's previous aura, it seemed that 'it' was a completely different person now.
"This doesn't seem like a simple mutation. It looks more like he's been replaced by something else…"
By the time the black fog covering his body finally faded, the bald Dominator had turned into a bug monster with many legs and countless strands of hairs on his head. Everyone could finally see what it looked like to be "blessed" by Aza.
The few people who were prostrated on the ground did not show much of a response when they saw his transformation. They remained in a state of strange "joy".
Clearly, Aza's voice from earlier had caused them to fall into such a state.
Only after converting the bald Dominator entirely did Aza look at the remaining people.
This time, He did not pull them to Him. Instead, He stretched out a finger and pointed it at them.
A couple of black gleams shot forth and penetrated them, entering their bodies from between their eyebrows directly.
The six of them were covered in black fog almost at the same time, and started undergoing the mutation process.
Lin Huang watched the scene unfold from afar. He clearly saw the entire process of those six people being mutated.
"So it's not limited to just replacement, they're being mutated by having their will distorted forcefully…"
He had finally understood Aza's technique.
Aza seemed to be able to plant a seed with His own imprint into another living being's body. Such a seed would corrode the host's God's soul and physical body, turning the person into a new species under Aza's command.
Although the creatures that were transformed this way retained the memories from before, they would no longer be the same living beings as before. Instead, they would become brand new individuals.
One had to say that this technique suited Aza's style indeed.
As soon as the six monsters' 'reincarnation' was completed, the black fog that lingered on their bodies began to fade away.
At that moment, a terrifying golden saber gleam shot forth from the sky. It appeared less than three meters in front of Aza without warning.
The attack was aimed at the space between Aza's eyebrows.
However, the saber gleam began to slow down rapidly when it arrived three meters away from Aza. When it was less than a meter in front of Him, He flicked away the saber gleam with his finger calmly.
The saber gleam faded away instantly!
"Enemy attack!" The blond-haired Yogg finally reacted at this moment, after which He screamed.
The remaining people readied themselves for battle and put their guard up.
At that moment, a voice echoed from the sky above.
"Seems like you already sensed my arrival and even lured me to attack on purpose." the white-robed First Liege showed himself.
Aza revealed a faint smile. "You can only blame your own terrible hiding skills."
Indeed, as First Liege said, Aza had pulled the bald Dominator closer the first time to hint to First Liege, who was hiding, that He had His guard down, thus luring him to initiate an attack.
"It doesn't matter if my hiding skills are terrible. It's sufficient as long as I have the ability to kill you." First Liege's killing intent surged.
"Stop thinking so highly of yourself. You don't have the ability to do so." Aza's tone was cold. It seemed like He did not take First Liege seriously.
"We'll only find out if I have that ability after trying." First Liege swung his saber as soon as he was done speaking. The saber gleams were like golden bolts that tore the sky. They were like countless tentacles charging forward, covering the entire sky instantly.
He expanded the range in his attack intentionally, enveloping the three Outer Gods and all of the Abyssal monsters within the attack.
He was not trying to hit everyone there, but wanted to use them as a way to distract Aza.
Aza clearly understood First Liege's intentions instantly, but He merely scoffed. He then floated up from His throne.
He flung His sleeves and sent the three Outer Gods and all of the Abyssal monsters out of the range of the attack.
He moved His fingers the next second, shooting out black electric arcs at the golden saber gleams.
First Liege chuckled when the black and golden gleams collided.
"Do you think your underlings can escape?"
Aza spread out His Divine Telekinesis to where He had teleported the three Outer Gods to earlier. He saw over 20 figures appearing around Yogg and the rest. The auras emitted by those figures had even surpassed that of the three Outer Gods…
Chapter 1913: You Know What I Mean, Aunty
"It's you guys…"
Nyarlathotep recognized Bai and the others as soon as he saw them arrive.
After all, it was not their first time seeing each other.
He had been hiding inside the mystic territory when the Black Goat's Egg was breeding monsters, and had observed everything that had happened outside.
Bai and the others had suppressed their combat strength intentionally back then and successfully deceived Nyarlathotep. They got the Black Goat's Egg to complete the last breeding round and obtained many Kingdoms and resources in return.
As such, when Nyarlathotep saw them again, he was furious.
"They must be those people that you were talking about before." Yogg, who was standing to the side, guessed.
Naturally, the failed plan with the Black Goat's Egg could not be hidden from Yogg and Shub.
Nyarlathotep had told them the truth. Of course, he had exaggerated stories about how "cunning" and "despicable" they were.
Given that they were not disguising their combat strength at the moment, it was only natural that Yogg and Shub could guess who they were.
"Hey, we meet again," Grimace greeted them from the other side in an annoying manner. He focused his eyes on Nyarlathotep after taking a glance at the others. "We really want to thank you for the big gift from earlier. It was such a great harvest for us."
Nyarlathotep, who already looked terrible, looked even worse now that Grimace was poking his wound.
"So, are you going to give us more gifts today?" Grimace teased further while smiling after seeing the terrible look on Nyarlathotep's face.
"I'm not sure if you can receive this gift!" Nyarlathotep replied while gnashing his teeth.
"Just come at me, let's see if I can receive it." Grimace kept smiling.
Nyarlathotep scoffed and said nothing further.
He realized that he would not gain the upper hand in terms of words while Grimace was present.
However, Grimace clearly did not plan to let things go just like that. "If you're not going to give me anything, I can only attack you…"
Before Grimace was even done speaking, Nyarlathotep's pupils shrunk suddenly. He flew to the side quickly, as he sensed a fatal threat coming from behind him.
"When did you get here?!" Nyarlathotep had shock fill his face. He had not sensed Grimace moving at all, but the latter had appeared behind him out of nowhere.
"Be careful, this guy is an expert in illusions!" Yogg, who was not far away, yelled.
"Oh, no. I've been busted so quickly…" Although Grimace said that, there was no worry evident in his tone of voice at all.
At the same time, an illusory shadow appeared next to Yogg's ear. It said softly, "I suddenly think that you're more interesting than he is. Maybe I should kill you first…"
Before the shadow was even done speaking, Yogg had turned into a shadow himself and faded away.
Grimace's shadow stuck to Shub's back directly when he saw Yogg running away. He played with her hair. "Aunty, if I'm not wrong, you were the one who created the ootheca, right? Give me a few more."
Shub's hair was squirming frantically as if they were alive. Grimace's shadow snickered before fading away.
Within the blink of an eye, Grimace had messed around with the three Outer Gods all on his own.
The many Abyssal monsters were stunned as they watched this scene.
One had to know that the three Outer Gods were terrifying powerhouses that were only second in power to Aza. They possessed absolute power.
However, they were still tricked. Not only that, it seemed like they could not do anything to Grimace at all.
"You're courting death!" Nyarlathotep stared furiously at Grimace.
At this point, he now treated Grimace as his mortal enemy.
"It's useless for you to keep saying that. You have to back up your talk with actions." Grimace clearly did not take his threat seriously.
"Nyarlathotep!"
Just as Nyarlathotep was about to attack out of rage, Yogg's voice could be heard.
"We've been tricked."
Nyarlathotep was stunned at first, after which he calmed down instantly.
His pupils shrunk at that moment, and his body began to transform quickly. He turned into a pharaoh wearing a triangular golden crown.
A golden staff appeared in his hand. There were complicated dark purple sigils engraved on it.
He held it with his eyes closed and began to chant.
A moment later, the surroundings collapsed like shattering glass and faded away.
When Nyarlathotep opened his eyes again, he realized that the Abyssal army behind the three of them had mostly been killed.
The few that were still alive were dying.
Abhoth, who was in the form of a meatball, had been crushed into mincemeat entirely.
Ghroth, who was like a giant eyeball, had exploded. There was only a pile of goo remaining where its body once was.
Tulzscha, which was like a green pillar of fire, was weakly emitting a few sparks…
Although these supreme powerhouses had mastered over ten quadrillion chaotic cosmoses they were severely injured. They had lost their ability to fight completely.
"Yikes, I didn't expect you guys to see through this." Grimace's spoke softly. He looked at the transformed version of Nyarlathotep with great interest. "You're pretty capable."
"Grimace!" Bai frowned. He suspected that Grimace had let them out in advance on purpose.
After all, this guy was known for his distasteful behavior.
According to their initial plan, they were supposed to trap the three Outer Gods in the illusion, and only let them out after they had killed all of the Abyssal monsters.
However, Grimace clearly had not trapped them for long enough.
This resulted in them escaping the illusion before Bai and the others had finished killing the final few Abyssal monsters that had mastered over ten quadrillion chaotic cosmoses.
"You really can't blame me for this." Grimace shrugged. "I didn't know that he could shatter my illusion."
Bai did not dwell on the matter. Although those few were still alive due to their strong will to live, they had already lost the ability to fight and no longer posed a threat.
"Little Witch!" Bai turned his head and yelled.
Witch attacked instantly. A shadow enveloped and swallowed all of the dying Abyssal monsters.
Nyarlathotep wanted to save them, but it was too late.
The Outer Gods looked at Bai and the rest with anger.
They really had not expected Grimace's illusion to be so terrifying. They were tricked without them realizing, resulting in them being the only survivors.
Any opportunity to form battle formations with the army of Abyssal monsters was completely gone now.
"I think that you guys can still struggle a little more." Grimace suddenly said while smiling. Subsequently, he looked at Shub and gestured at her. "You should know what I mean, aunty."
Chapter 1914: Shub's Trump Card
Shub frowned. She undoubtedly knew what Grimace was hinting at.
"Let them out."
Yogg, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up while Shub was still hesitating.
"There's no way we can win if we don't release them now."
"Then the war later on…"
According to the initial plan, the Black Goat's Offspring would only be used in the final war. After all, they were weapons solely created for that purpose.
Not only did they innately possess the Outer Gods' abilities, they could be strengthened continuously as they devoured more Kingdoms.
Although they had already been cultivated for a couple of months and fed many Kingdoms, they were far from reaching their peak state at the moment.
"We have to handle the crisis in front of us first," Yogg interrupted Shub.
Nyarlathotep, who was standing to the side, spoke up too, "I agree with Yogg's opinion."
An annoying voice rang out immediately after, "I agree too!"
The voice belonged to Grimace.
Right after that, Nyarlathotep waved his staff.
Yogg and Shub then saw the tiny glass-like illusion fragments shatter quickly around them.
"It's useless. I can see through all of your illusion techniques when I'm in this form." Nyarlathotep looked at Grimace expressionlessly.
Grimace had initiated his illusion secretly again while they were talking. However, the illusion was no longer a threat to the three of them.
"I must say you've piqued my interest even more." Grimace was not discouraged by the fact that his technique had been rendered ineffective. In fact, he became even more excited. There was burning desire in his eyes when he stared at Nyarlathotep.
He glanced at Yogg after saying that. "I'm sorry, my dear handsome man with the glasses, I can only push your rank on my hunting list down to second place now."
"You change so easily. Such a douchebag!" Charcoal, who was not far away, teased him.
Clearly, the atmosphere on Bai and the others' side was quite relaxed.
On the other hand, Shub had no choice but to use her trump card.
She did not make this decision due to the instigation of her two partners, but rather due to her own concerns.
The three of them might not be able to defeat these people from the Sword Alliance even if they were to fight with them one on one.
Now there were 20 of them on the opposite side, which meant that their enemies had the upper hand in terms of numbers.
If she did not use the Black Goat's Offspring now, the three of them would most probably die here. If that happened, she would not be able to summon the Black Goat's Offspring to participate in the final war later on.
Shub performed the hand seals quickly, while Bai and the others watched expressionlessly.
None of them stopped her because they hoped that she would summon the Black Goat's Offspring.
They knew that each of the Black Goat's Offspring's Kingdoms were as powerful as the Outer Gods.
Shub had 11 oothecas now, which meant that she would be able to breed 11 Black Goat's Offsprings.
To Bai and the others, this was equivalent to gifting them 11 Kingdoms on the same level as the three Outer Gods.
Shub and the others were unaware of their covetous thoughts. They only believed that Bai and the others wanted to kill off the Black Goat's Offspring and the three of them to prevent future troubles.
Very soon, she completed the hand seals.
Her body then regained her original form, which was that of a gigantic black cloud. There were organs of various living beings floating around inside the cloud.
There were heads, limbs, eyes and mouths…
Naturally, there were also countless tentacles.
"Aunty, your Primordium is so ugly! You're scaring me!" Grimace's voice could be heard once again.
Nyarlathotep and Yogg stared furiously at him, but Shub made no effort to respond at all.
Her body began to squirm even faster now, and it did not stop expanding.
Her body, which was initially as big as a chaotic cosmos, expanded at least a hundred times bigger within the blink of an eye.
The expansion finally slowed down when the size of her body was close to the size of the door of the mystic territory that had opened this time.
A moment later, a giant hoof slowly stepped out of the black fog…
"The Black Goat's Offspring!"
Bai and the others stared fixedly at the monster that the black fog had bred.
It was a gigantic monster with hooves. It had three elephant-like thick hooves.
There were huge black blobs of flesh on its hooves. There were irregular goat mouths and eyes all over those blobs.
On top of the flesh, there were thick tentacles standing erect like horns…
This monster was similar to the "Black Goat's Offspring" the ootheca bred in the final round of breeding, but it had slight differences in terms of form. The strength of its aura was also higher.
The aura of the Black Goat's Offspring before them had clearly surpassed the Outer Gods. It was no weaker than Bai and the others. It was definitely a supreme powerhouse that had mastered quintillions of chaotic cosmoses.
After the Black Goat's Offspring emerged, they very soon saw a second giant hoof step out of the black fog.
The second Black Goat's Offspring emerged.
Its form looked exactly the same as the first one. It was just that there was a slight difference in terms of the strength of their aura. Nevertheless, it had also mastered quintillions of chaotic cosmoses.
Subsequently, the third and the fourth ones emerged…
The Black Goat's Offspring spawned one after the other.
After the 11th one emerged, the gigantic black fog finally started to shrink.
However, Bai and the others were no longer focused on her. Instead, they were staring at the Black Goat's Offsprings.
"We don't know what their abilities are yet, so let's separate them first and fight them individually!" Bai ordered immediately.
He was the first one to charge at one of the Black Goat's Offsprings.
Lancelot, Kylie and the others soon followed after him quickly.
Grimace was the only one who chose not to, instead only taking a brief glance at the Black Goat's Offsprings before turning to look at the three Outer Gods.
The very next second, Shub's expression changed; she had just regained her human form. The reason being was that she suddenly realized that she had lost track of the Black Goat's Offsprings.
She turned and looked around. She noticed that Nyarlathotep and Yogg were the only ones left around her.
The eleven Black Goat's Offsprings she had bred were not the only ones that had disappeared. The people from the opposite side were gone too.
"I'd like to welcome the three of you to my Kingdom!"
The three Outer Gods could not help but frown when they heard that voice.
It was the same annoying voice that they hated from the bottom of their hearts.
Grimace's illusory large face appeared above their heads. He looked at the three of them with a smile.
"Didn't you want me to breed the Black Goat's Offsprings? What? You dare not challenge them now that they have been bred?" Shub's voice took on a mocking tone as well.
"There's no rush. Those things with thick and rough hides aren't easy to kill." Grimace's other large face appeared not far away. "I'll kill you guys first. Wouldn't I easily obtain three Kingdoms that way?"
Chapter 1915: Grimace's Kingdom
One had to say that Grimace had planned well.
He had already mastered quintillions of chaotic cosmoses. Meanwhile, the three Outer Gods before him had clearly mastered less than a hundred quadrillion chaotic cosmoses.
In terms of strength alone, it would be easy for Grimace to kill three of them instantly.
However, since they were the Outer Gods under Aza, it would only be natural for them to have some tricks up their sleeves.
Just like how Nyarlathotep broke Grimace's illusion technique multiple times.
Although Grimace had not been using all of his strength, it was sufficient proof of the stunning capability of Nyarlathotep's technique.
Nevertheless, now that they were dragged into his Kingdom unknowingly, even Nyarlathotep would not be able to escape now.
"Now that you're in my Kingdom, you'll have to play by my rules…"
When the three Outer Gods heard what Grimace said, they had a bad feeling.
"Let me think… what sort of game should we play?" Grimace's illusory shadow held his chin and fell into a state of deep thought.
At that moment, Yogg attacked. He waved and a spatial rift instantly appeared where Grimace's illusory shadow was.
However, Yogg's pupils shrunk the very next second, and his expression looked even more terrible now.
The reason being was that the attack did not do anything to Grimace at all.
It was as if his attack had landed on a different dimensional layer than the one the shadow was in.
"Stop wasting your time. Inside my Kingdom, all of your attacks on me are futile until the game officially begins," Grimace's projection explained while smiling, "The players can only fight once the game has begun."
After hearing that, the three Outer Gods instantly understood the characteristics of Grimace's Kingdom.
Most of the Kingdoms would either elevate one's combat strength directly, indirectly or restrict their opponents in certain aspects.
However, a small number of people's Kingdoms were more unique.
Their Kingdoms belonged to the category of rule-type Kingdoms. Those who entered their Kingdom had to follow the rules of the Kingdom in order to fight.
Grimace's Kingdom clearly belonged to this category.
This type of Kingdom was also the most difficult to deal with.
After realizing that, the three Outer Gods activated their Kingdoms almost at the same time.
They wanted to use their own Kingdoms to circumvent a portion of the rules in Grimace's Kingdom.
However, they realized the very next second that they could not activate their Kingdoms at all.
Grimace obviously sensed what they were doing, after which he smiled again. "I've already told you to stop wasting your time, but you just won't believe me."
Their three expressions looked extremely terrible now.
"Alright, I've made up my mind." At that moment, Grimace appeared to have made his decision. "Let's play 'Statue'."
The three of them were stunned when they heard the name of the game.
Grimace ignored their reactions and began to describe the rules of the game.
"These are the rules of the game. I'll count to three, after which you guys must dodge all of the statue's attacks. If any of you are touched, even if it's just a strand of hair that's touched, that person will turn into a statue directly, and thereafter join in on the attacks on the remaining players…"
How was this 'Statue'?!
It had no similarities to the actual game at all!
The three Outer Gods secretly complained in their hearts.
"What would happen to the people turned into statues after the game ends?" Yogg was the first to calm down and ask a crucial question.
"They'll become part of my personal belongings," Grimace answered while smiling, "To be exact, they'll become a toy in my Kingdom."
Yogg's pupils shrunk, after which he asked, "What if we win?"
"Ha…" Grimace chuckled softly, but he responded anyway, "If any player really wins, that player can leave my Kingdom in one piece."
"I'd like to add to that. The players who lost can't leave even if someone wins."
"What is the combat strength of the statue?" Yogg asked further.
"Similar to the three of you," Grimace explained patiently, "If I used one stronger than you guys, that would make for an unfair game."
"Asie from dodging, we can attack too, right?" It was Nyarlathotep who asked the next question.
"Of course you can." Grimace smiled even brighter now. "As long as you can guarantee that your physical body won't touch the statue, you can use any of your techniques."
"What's the duration of the game? There must be a limit, right?" Nyarlathotep asked while squinting.
"Ten rounds!" Grimace's huge face above their heads replied while smiling, "Oncethe ten rounds end, and if any of the three of you win, that person can leave in one piece. In addition, that person won't be added to my list of hunting targets for a brief period of time."
"I have one more question. Since it's a fair game, then you should be a player too, right?" Yogg made it seem like he was asking a question, but he was actually trying to drag Grimace into the battle.
"Of course! I'll be the player fighting against you guys—the statue!" Grimace's tone clearly became even more excited now.
"I'd like to confirm something before the game begins." At that moment, Nyarlathotep spoke up again, "During the game, the attacks we launch on the statue are valid, right?"
"Of course they are," Grimace gave him an affirmative answer directly, "If you guys have the ability, you can try to kill me. This is another way to win this game."
"Perfect, I like this method of victory." Shub, who was standing to the side, felt her killing intent rising.
"Aunty, your killing intent is leaking out…" Grimace teased her inappropriately.
Shub's killing intent grew even more intense.
Nyarlathotep and Yogg remained calm. They asked a couple more questions regarding the rules of the game.
"If that's all, then let the game officially begin."
Grimace's few large illusory faces finally faded away slowly. His real face formed not far away from the three of them.
Although they saw the face consolidating, they did not act rashly.
The reason being was that they knew that attacking would be completely a waste of time until the game officially began. They would only waste their Dominator Power by doing so.
As the three of them watched, Grimace's body distorted rapidly. Within a few breaths of time, he had transformed into a gigantic tree.
It was tens of thousands of meters tall with countless branches spread in all directions. There were at least millions of branches on the tree.
The three Outer Gods clearly looked terrible when they saw his transformation.
He dared to call that a statue?!
That looked more like the statue's ancestor!
Fortunately, the three of them clearly sensed that the strength of the tree's aura was similar to theirs.
They were at the very least relieved about that.
If Grimace did not adjust the aura and used his own combat strength after transforming into this "statue", the three of them would most likely lose during the first round.
Once the statue consolidated completely, a lady's voice that sounded somewhat machine-like suddenly echoed in the sky.
"One, two, three, statue!"
Chapter 1916: One, Two, Three, Statue
As soon as the machine-like female voice rang out, Grimace, who had transformed into a gigantic tree, stretched out hundreds of millions of his branches, which charged toward the three Outer Gods like a net.
The Outer Gods dodged immediately, but the branches pursued them, making it difficult for them to shake the attack off.
The three of them moved as fast as they could, dodging frantically along the way.
Very soon, the branches from the gigantic tree had almost spread across the entire space.
The Outer Gods soon realized that the space in which they could maneuver had rapidly shrunk.
They shifted their strategy instantly and began to fight back, clearing out the branches that were coming at them.
However, the tree that Grimace had transformed into was not to be underestimated either. His recovery ability was rather terrifying.
All of the branches seemed to regenerate quickly the moment they were chopped off.
Although that was the case, the brief period of respite after chopping off the branches greatly relieved the pressure on the three.
The first round of attack lasted for a whole day before it finally stopped.
The Outer Gods could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Throughout that day, the three of them had, several times, actually tried to take the initiative to attack Grimace.
However, he had pretty stunning defensive ability after being transformed into a gigantic tree. They only managed to chop off the branches after using almost all of their might, so one could imagine how helpless they were against Grimace's extremely thick trunk.
Among the three of them, even Yogg, who possessed the most powerful attack ability, only left a scratch that was less than ten centimeters deep on the tree trunk.
Meanwhile, Nyarlathotep and Shub's attacks only left scratches that were less than five centimeters deep.
The tree that Grimace had transformed into had a trunk that measured thousands of meters in diameter.
Even if he did not obstruct them with the branches and allowed them to attack him, it would take tens of thousands of their attacks to break the tree.
Not to mention that, apart from the branches, the trunk also had powerful regeneration abilities.
He used less than 0.01 seconds to restore the scratch that Yogg had left behind.
After trying several times, the three of them belatedly realized why Grimace said fearlessly, "If you guys have the ability, you can try to kill me. This is another way to win this game."
The reason being was that they would never be able to win in this way.
After confirming this fact, they could only try to clear the game normally by holding on for ten rounds!
Fortunately, although they were a little clumsy in the beginning during the first round, they very soon adapted to Grimace's attack patterns.
If the level of difficulty remained the same, they would be able to hold on for ten rounds.
Just as they were thinking that, Grimace's voice suddenly rang out.
"The first round can be considered a warm-up. I wanted you guys to become familiar with the rules of the game. After all, it's boring to have the game end so soon."
The three of them felt their hearts sink when they heard that.
Clearly, the game would only become more difficult from now on!
As soon as Grimace was done speaking, the machine-like female voice suddenly rang out again.
"One, two, three, statue!"
The second round of the game had officially begun!
The gigantic tree Grimace had transformed into suddenly shook as soon as the machine-like voice faded.
It only took a moment when the tree split into two at speed that was visible to the naked eye.
The three of them raised their brows when they saw that.
As expected, the difficulty level had increased in the second round!
The very next second after the tree had completed the split, the branches of the two gigantic trees seemed to come alive like snakes.
"So fast!"
Shock flashed in Nyarlathotep's eyes. He was stunned to discover that not only had the number of branches been doubled in this round, but even their attack speed had been increased almost tenfold.
They had spent a day adapting to the rhythm of the battle, and now it had changed completely!
"Be careful, only one tree's attack speed has increased!"
This had caused the three of them to fall into a dangerous state again. It was even more dangerous than when the first round had begun.
Yogg quickly told the other two the result of his observation through voice transmission.
However, things did not look much better for them.
In reality, they could handle the two trees easier if both possessed the same attack speed.
The reason being was that, if the trees' attack speed was consistent, there would only be one battle rhythm to adapt to, which would make it easier for them to adapt.
However, the two trees' attack had two different attack speeds now. This meant that they would have to adapt to two different battle rhythms.
Not only that, as there were too many branches, they could not tell which tree the branches were from. They could only adjust themselves according to the attack they faced at that moment.
It would mean that they had to adjust their speed continuously in order to respond to two different battle rhythms.
Things would be even more difficult this way!
The two battle rhythms were torturous to them.
However, after half a day, they finally adapted to the battle rhythms and successfullysurvived the second day, feeling a little exhausted.
Grimace finally stopped his attack, after which the three of them felt significantly relieved.
However, they soon felt uneasy.
The reason being was that they could foresee that the third round of attack would be even more difficult.
Once the machine-likevoice said "one, two, three, statue!" again, the gigantic trees that Grimace had transformed into split themselves again.
The two trees split at the same time. It only took a moment for them to split into four different trees.
The three Outer Gods looked even more terrible when they saw the scene unfold before them.
"I must admit that you sort of inspired this game."
Grimace's faces appeared on the four gigantic trees at the same time. All four faces looked at Shub. There was obvious mockery in his tone.
The Outer Gods said nothing. From his words, and the scene unfolding in front of them right now, they had already guessed the direction the game would take over the next few rounds.
There were four trees in this round. There would be eight trees in the next round, and then 16 in the next…
Grimace's game setting was clearly inspired by the ootheca's breeding rule from before.
The three Outer Gods' hearts sank.
They were already exhausted from having to deal with two trees.
As the number of the trees multiplied, the difficulty level would continue to increase.
What the three of them were the most afraid of was that all the trees' attack speeds would be different.
They had taken half a day to adapt to the two trees.
The more trees there were, the longer they would need to adapt.
Once they failed to adapt, their battle rhythm would be thrown into total chaos.
At that point, leaving being touched by the branches aside, they might even be crushed into mush by the countless branches.
They became nervous as they looked at the four trees in front of them.
It had merely taken a moment for those trees to be split and formed.
The next second, an intense sense of crisis arose from behind them.
Without hesitation, Nyarlathotep moved away in a flash.
Yogg was even faster than him, and disappeared directly.
However, Shub was a little too late…
A dark green branch quietly tangled itself around her ankle.
Her body began to assimilate with that branch at speed that was visible to the naked eye. Her body transformed quickly, as tree bark and branches sprung from her body continuously…
Within a second, she had turned into a gigantic tree completely!
The fifth tree started besieging the remaining two Outer Gods immediately!
Chapter 1917: All the Best
The 4v3 situation had now turned into a 5v2 situation.
What made Nyarlathotep and Yogg feel even more despair was that, apart from the first gigantic tree, which had behaved normally since the beginning, the remaining four trees were all different.
The tree's battle rhythm was no longer the only issue.
The second tree's branches attacked extremely quickly.
Its attack speed had almost reached the limits at which Nyarlathotep and Yogg's physical bodies could react.
The third tree was even tougher. The aura of its branches could be concealed, which allowed it to avoid the probing of the two Outer Gods' Divine Telekinesis.
This was the tree that had gotten to Shub just now.
The fourth tree's branches would split when broken, shooting out two to ten branch splinters randomly.
The random manner in which the branches split made it difficult for them to guard against.
The fifth tree that Shub had turned into was pretty tough too.
The branches that were broken would instantly grow into big trees that were slightly smaller than the original tree.
Although their abilities were nothing compared to the five gigantic trees, these smaller trees had mastered over ten quadrillion chaotic cosmoses.
Fortunately, those newly-grown trees would only hinder them slightly.
Their defensive and regeneration abilities were not as insane as the gigantic trees.
With Nyarlathotep and Yogg's abilities, they could destroy them.
Not only that, they would not be assimilated and kicked out of the game even if they were touched by those smaller trees.
Nyarlathotep only came to that conclusion after experiencing it himself.
Though the threat they posed was small, their branches were identical to the branches of the gigantic trees.
The two of them could only determine the owner of the branches based on the strength of their aura when the branches got closer.
Nevertheless, they did not dare to be hit by the branches from the smaller trees easily.
The reason being was that, as soon as the branches got to them, even if they were delayed a slight moment, it might result in them being touched by the gigantic trees' branches.
The third round of attack almost completely exhausted Nyarlathotep and Yogg.
The two of them had been running around clumsily for the entire day.
Yogg's situation was better, as running was his expertise.
However, it was tough for Nyarlathotep.
The countless branches from the five gigantic trees and the hundreds of smaller trees seemed like an endless web that covered the sky.
He was experiencing countless life or death situations every minute and every second.
He even endured the attacks of the smaller trees in order to avoid being touched by the branches of the gigantic trees.
Fortunately, this round had finally ended.
The two of them finally experienced a brief moment of respite after seeing the five gigantic trees recalling their branches, and the smaller trees disappearing.
However, their relief did not last very long, as the pressure would only continue to mount with each subsequent round.
This was only the third round. The fourth and fifth round would only get tougher.
'Will I be able to last until the tenth round?' Nyarlathotep was doubtful of his chances.
He looked at Yogg. The latter did not look relaxed at all.
Nobody knew what Yogg was thinking about. He was in a deep state of contemplation to the point that he did not even notice Nyarlathotep's gaze.
As the machine-like voice said "One, two, three, statue!" again, the five gigantic trees began to split at the same time.
This included the gigantic tree that Shub had transformed into; it was splitting as well.
Nyarlathotep looked even more terrible when he saw this.
Grimace's voice could be heard at this very moment.
"I forgot to tell you guys. If one of you ends up being transformed into a statue, that person will be like the other statues in each round, splitting and participating in the hunt of the remaining players."
Ten gigantic trees had completed the splitting process by the time Grimace was done speaking.
The fourth round of battle had officially begun!
Sensing the invisible threat that was coming from beside him, Nyarlathotep dodged without hesitation.
As usual, Yogg was faster than he was.
The five new gigantic trees had completely different abilities compared to the five trees from before.
One could perform space flickering and was no less powerful than Yogg.
Another could slow time, causing all movements within a certain range of its branches to slow to a crawl.
Yet another could accelerate attack speed. It could adjust the attack speed of its branches, ranging from onefold to tenfold, as it wished, which constantly changed the rhythm of the battle.
One could target their auras, which made all of Yogg and Nyarlathotep's concealment techniques invalid.
The final new gigantic tree's branches would shoot out countless leaves as soon as it was attacked.
The fourth round was undoubtedly many times more difficult than the last round.
Nyarlathotep was almost touched a couple of times, but Yogg came to his rescue.
Nyarlathotep was almost completely exhausted by the end of the round.
He had used up all of his techniques in this round.
If Yogg had not rescued him, he would have been turned into a gigantic tree.
The two of them finally got a chance to breathe when the ten gigantic trees halted their attacks.
However, Nyarlathotep knew that it was impossible for him to last until the tenth round.
As he watched the ten gigantic trees begin to split again, Nyarlathotep said to Yogg through voice transmission, "I've become a burden now, so just ignore me. Save your Dominator Power and try your best to last until the tenth round."
Seeing that Yogg was staring at him without saying a word, Nyarlathotep continued, "Master Aza needs you."
A sparkle flashed through Yogg's eyes when those words were said. He nodded. "Got it."
"One, two, three, statue!"
The machine-like voice soon echoed across the sky.
The fifth round had begun!
Nyarlathotep moved to dodge in a flash without hesitation. However, a green vine quickly crept up behind him the next second, strangling him.
His body was assimilated and transformed instantly…
20v2 had become 21v1.
There was no change in the expression on Yogg's face as he watched Nyarlathotep transform into a gigantic tree. His eyes only dimmed momentarily.
He kept dodging as he faced off against the 21 gigantic trees pursuing him.
His body left countless afterimages in the air. His body did not stop moving for one second.
Although the branches of the 21 gigantic trees almost covered the entire sky, they did not manage to even touch the corner of his clothes and, just like that, the fifth round of the game came to an end.
Subsequently, the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds commenced…
The number of gigantic trees multiplied over and over again.
Twenty-one trees!
Forty-two trees!
Eighty-four trees!
A hundred and sixty-eight trees!
Each and every one of them had different special abilities.
However, they could not do anything to Yogg, who was like an illusory specter.
His comprehension of Dimensional Dao was terrifying.
Not only could he teleport instantly, but the Time Dao he had mastered could even influence the movements of the branches of the gigantic trees around him.
This was why he seemed like a specter, wandering in and out of the material plane throughout those few days. He could not be touched at all.
Nevertheless, the consecutive days of intense dodging drained his Dominator Power significantly.
He finally released a long sigh of relief when the eighth round ended.
Grimace's teasing voice could be heard whispering softly again while the gigantic trees were splitting.
"There are two more rounds. All the best."
Chapter 1918: An Army of One?!
Grimace saw the exhausted expression on Yogg's face, and noticed dwindling Dominator Power reserves…
Though the latter was like a specter, no matter how great his mastery of Dimensional Dao and Time Dao was, without Dominator Power, he would be a sitting duck.
As Grimace expected, Yogg could not last until the tenth day.
Within an hour of the ninth round starting, a branch had tangled itself around his wrist.
He was assimilated and transformed into a gigantic tree as Grimace watched.
Once the transformation process was completed, the statue game officially came to an end.
All of the Outer Gods had been killed!
In reality, the ending was set in stone the moment the three had come under the confines of the rules of Grimace's Kingdom.
Unless the powerhouse possessed a level of ability that could tear his Kingdom apart, that powerhouse would have no way of winning at all as soon as they entered his Kingdom.
The reason being was that, inside Grimace's Kingdom, Grimace would be the one deciding the game to play, as well as the rules of the game.
Although he announced the rules at the outset, nobody knew that he could add in new rules as and when he wished.
Moreover, he could also choose to only tell the players the core rules of the game and hide the other rules that might influence and determine who won the game.
To put it simply, he was invincible inside his Kingdom.
Grimace returned to the battlefield after withdrawing his Kingdom with a smile on his face.
Almost nine days had passed, but Bai and the others were still fighting the Black Goat's Offsprings.
As he expected, the Black Goat's Offsprings had a terrifyingly strong physical defense. Their defensive ability was almost on par with Tyrant.
Apart from that, they were completely immune to God's soul-type techniques.
Although the 11 Black Goat's Offsprings had lost the strength to fight back and were just being thrown around by Bai and the others, none of them had died throughout the nine days.
Even Lin Huang, who was watching the battle secretly, exclaimed as he watched.
"These things are definitely the perfect weapons of war!"
Apart from possessing terrifyingly high levels of defense and strength, Lin Huang learned from the information Heaven's Secret provided that the Black Goat's Offsprings could elevate their abilities by devouring other living beings.
If they were allowed to eat those powerhouses' bodies on the battlefield as they wished, their combat strength could totally breakthrough past the thousands of quadrillion chaotic cosmoses that they had mastered now. It was definitely possible for them to master hundreds of quintillions of chaotic cosmoses.
The current Black Goat's Offsprings could be considered half-matured at best, which was why Bai and others were beating them up.
Seeing that none of them had activated their Kingdoms, Grimace appeared next to a Black Goat's Offspring and pulled it into his Kingdom while nobody was watching.
As the Black Goat's Offspring started looking around blankly, Grimace's huge face appeared in the sky again. "Let's play a game, big guy…"
"Grimace, that b*stard!"
Charcoal was gritting its teeth.
They had initially tacitly agreed to fight together, and share the Kingdoms equally later on.
In the end, not only did Grimace take the three Outer Gods for himself, he even secretly took a Black Goat's Offspring away…
"Don't worry. I'll make him spit it out." Bai glanced at where Grimace had disappeared from and spoke in a heroic manner.
…
While Bai and the others were still besieging the Black Goat's Offsprings, Aza's Primordium and Heaven Secret's First Liege were in an intense battle on a battlefield on the other side.
The two of them had similar levels of combat strength. However, in terms of abilities, Aza was slightly more powerful.
Nevertheless, First Liege was equipped with a set of infinite supreme treasures, so he was able to fight on equal footing throughout those nine days.
In fact, because he was a saber cultivator with powerful attack abilities, to outsiders, it almost looked like he had the upper hand and was suppressing Aza.
However, Lin Huang, who was watching the battle secretly, saw through the matter clearly.
Although First Liege was powerful, it was almost impossible for him to kill Aza given his level of ability.
Aza was almost invincible among powerhouses of the same level.
Even Lin Huang did not think that he could kill Aza easily if he fought Aza at the same level of strength, let alone First Liege!
On the other hand, Aza felt that First Liege, who was equipped with countless infinite supreme treasures, was like a hardened tortoise shell. He did not know where to begin or target with His attack.
This caused the battle to fall into a stagnant state throughout those nine days.
Nevertheless, Lin Huang could clearly see that, as the battle dragged on, it was only a matter of time before First Liege would be defeated.
The reason being was that the rate at which First Liege drained his Dominator Power was greater than Aza's, due the the fact that he was covered in infinite supreme treasures.
In comparison, Aza did not face such an issue.
His body was as strong as an infinite supreme treasure to begin with.
One had to know that First Liege was a saber cultivator with powerful attack capability.
Excluding Lin Huang, First Liege's attack capability should be considered to be the highest in the entire infinite universe.
Not only that, the saber in his hand was an infinite supreme treasure.
However, Aza had been fending First Liege off with His bare hands from the very beginning of the battle.
His fists had even collided face-on with First Liege's infinite supreme treasure saber a couple of times.
The impact from the battle between the two was quite terrifying. Almost half of the infinite universe's central zone had been destroyed by their countless attacks.
Living beings aside, the stars in the sky were all gone from the impact of their attacks.
Half of the area had become a void.
As the intense battle went on, the range of destruction continued to expand.
Meanwhile, Bai and the others' battle with the Black Goat's Offsprings finally came to an end a few days later.
They did not use their trump cards, as they were in no rush to end the battle. They simply drained the Dominator Power in the Black Goat's Offsprings slowly and killed them off easily afterward.
The Black Goat's Offsprings happened to be great sandbags for them to train themselves in many aspects as well.
However, the Dominator Power in the Black Goat's Offsprings' bodies was limited.
After being "tossed around" by Bai and the others for some ten days, the Dominator Power in their bodies was finally exhausted.
Although that was the case, it still took a significant amount of effort for Bai and the others to get their attacks to cut into the Black Goat's Offsprings' flesh. It took them a little more time to kill the ten Black Goat's Offsprings.
As for the Black Goat's Offspring that Grimace had pulled into his Kingdom, it had died inside as it lost the game on the second day it stepped inside the Kingdom.
It was only after Bai spoke to Grimace that the latter submitted the carcass unwillingly.
However, they did not ask Grimace to give up the bodies of the three Outer Gods'.
Lin Huang saw through Grimace's intention. He compromised in order to advance. He gave up the carcass of the Black Goat's Offspring on purpose so that he could keep the Kingdoms of the three Outer Gods.
Lin Huang said nothing about the matter.
In reality, Bai and Kylie had seen through Grimace too, but they did not dwell on the matter.
After killing off the Black Goat's Offsprings, the Outer Gods and the dominator-level powerhouses under Aza, Bai and the rest left the battlefield without hesitation and returned to Lin Huang's side to avoid the possibility of Aza seeking them out for revenge.
At this point, Aza had basically become an army of one.
What confused Lin Huang was that, even up to the point Bai and the others left the battlefield, Aza displayed no reaction at all. His face did not even exhibit the slightestchange of emotions.
Clearly, it was impossible for Him to not have noticed what had taken place.
'Does this guy not care about His underlings' lives at all? Or does He think that He can defeat the entire infinite universe on His own?!' Lin Huang felt a sense of doubt rising in his heart.
Chapter 1919: I'm Not Powerful Enough Yet!
Lin Huang was a little suspicious of Aza's reaction, but he did not dwell on the matter.
All of His underlings with high combat strength had been killed by Bai and others.
Regarding the dominator-level powerhouses that were rushing into the infinite universe from the various mystic territories, those were only dominator-level rank-5at best. They basically did not pose a substantial threat to the infinite universe.
There was only one threat remaining—Aza!
However, Lin Huang did not plan to interfere in the battle between Aza and First Liege.
The reason being was that it really did not matter who won or lost.
Even if they both died, it would just be their bodies that died.
The two of them would simply be reincarnated through one of their clones.
Therefore, for the next few days, apart from continuing to integrate chaotic cosmoses, Lin Huang only arranged for Bai and the others to distribute the loot they obtained from the battle.
Apart from the 11 Black Goat's Offsprings, regarding the remaining dominator-level powerhouses, whoever killed them would take their Kingdoms.
Lin Huang only briefly chided Grimace for snatching away the three Outer Gods. He did not get him to spit out their Kingdoms.
The reason why they did not apply the same rule to the Black Goat's Offsprings was mainly because everyone participated in the kill. Furthermore, there were too many chaotic Kingdoms in the Black Goat's Offsprings' Kingdoms.
Therefore, Lin Huang got the imperial monsters to share them equally.
This included Bloody and the couple of Queen Mothers and Bug Emperors that did not participate in the battle; they got their share of the benefits as well.
Meanwhile, the dominator-level powerhouses' carcasses, including the Black Goat's Offsprings' carcasses, were all given to the Bug Tribe Queen Mothers.
Grimace was the only one who requested special permission to keep a Black Goat's Offspring carcass.
His reason was that he could turn the Black Goat's Offspring into a puppet since he was an expert in the Puppetry Skill. He also guaranteed that the combat strength would not be any weaker than the modifications on the creatures the Queen Mothers bred.
Lin Huang did not reject Grimace's request. After all, the main reason he gave the carcasses to Bug Tribe Queen Mothers was also to make weapons of war that were on par with the Black Goat's Offsprings.
Although Aza's underlings did not look like much of a threat now, since Lin Huang's side now had the resources, they would still go ahead and create these weapons first no matter whether or not these weapons would come in handy later.
On the second day after getting their hands on the resources, Lin Huang suddenly received a telepathic voice transmission from Grimace.
"The three Outer Gods' God's souls have faded, and their memories have been wiped."
"Aza did that to them?" Lin Huang asked that instinctually.
"That's possible, but there's also another possibility." Grimace paused. "Perhaps the three Outer Gods that I killed weren't their Primordiums!"
"What about the other Abyssal Dominators? Did a similar situation happen?" Lin Huang quickly asked.
"I examined a couple of carcasses and found that they were all normal," Grimace replied.
Lin Huang fell into a brief period of silence. "Bring the bodies of the three Outer Gods to me."
Grimace appeared in front of Lin Huang a moment later.
He said nothing and took out the three bodies directly.
Lin Huang nodded after scanning the bodies with his Divine Telekinesis. "Your guess was right. These bodies are just clones."
"There are no signs of their God's souls being attacked. Their Primordiums must've recalled them. If it was done by Aza, He wouldn't be able to hide it from me no matter how thorough He was."
"So those three guys are still alive?" A ferocious gleam flashed through Grimace's eyes.
"They must've used a clone technique similar to the one Aza uses." Lin Huang frowned. If that was the case, Aza aside, it was rather hard to kill the three Outer Gods.
The reason being was that their clones could hide in any dimension.
If they were like Aza in the sense that they used reincarnation to form their clones, as long as they did not expose themselves, even Heavenly Dao would not be able to locate them.
"Just let it go. Go back and refine the Kingdoms." Lin Huang finally understood why Aza did not care about the three Outer Gods' deaths. The simple reason was that His three warriors had not died at all!
"Can't you do something to locate their Primordiums?" Grimace was a little confused.
"I would've killed Aza if I could do that." Lin Huang shook his head helplessly. "There's no solution to the technique. Even Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao can't find their clones."
"There's something that Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao doesn't know in this world?!" Grimace was shocked.
He was, of course, aware of what the Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao was.
Theoretically, as long as it was something that happened in the infinite universe, it was impossible that it would be unaware. The reason being was that it was watching everything from every aspect.
"Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao isn't all-knowing." Lin Huang shook his head.
"So there's no way that we can kill Aza and the three Outer Gods completely?" Grimace asked further.
"There's no solution at the moment." Lin Huang could only reply honestly.
"Alright then…" Grimace did not say anything further.
Just as he was about to put away the bodies and leave, Lin Huang suddenly heard Grimace's telepathic voice transmission, "I think Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao might be hiding something from you."
He left in a flash without waiting for Lin Huang to respond.
Lin Huang squinted and thought about what Grimace had said.
He had never suspected Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao. The reason being was that, as the Heavenly Dao, it had no emotions, nor did it have desires. It was impossible for it to have any ulterior motive.
He had never suspected anything it said.
However, he realized that there was something that he had overlooked after hearing what Grimace said.
Theoretically, Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao was all-knowing in the infinite universe. There was nothing that could hide from it.
Perhaps there were things that could bypass its observation under special circumstances. For instance, the telepathic voice transmission he had with Grimace.
This was due to his Goldfinger, Xiao Hei. Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao could not probe that.
Perhaps there were other special circumstances as well.
Lin Huang was not too sure whether Aza creating His clones belong to that category of special circumstances.
Nevertheless, Lin Huang had also thought about another possibility—Grimace, who had a terrible character in the first place, was stirring up trouble!
It was possible that Grimace made Lin Huang suspect Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao on purpose just for fun.
He did not dwell on the matter for too long after giving it some thought.
No matter whether it was Grimace's bad taste in jokes, or Great Chaotic Heavenly Dao's intentionally concealing things from him, he did not plan to investigate.
At the very least, Aza and the three Outer Gods were not a threat to him at the moment.
Therefore, he decided to focus all of his attention on continuing to integrate more chaotic cosmoses.
No matter who his opponent was and how powerful the opponent was, as long as he was powerful enough to suppress everything, he would not have to worry about any scheming or plotting.
"I've only mastered 95 undecillion chaotic cosmoses now. I haven't even reached 100 undecillion. That's far from being powerful enough to suppress everything. I must continue to strengthen myself!"
After notifying his imperial monsters about the news that the three Outer Gods were still alive, Lin Huang's Primordium shut his eyes to continue creating more will projections to integrate chaotic cosmoses. He was unwilling to delay this for even a second.
At that moment, in the central zone of the infinite universe far away, the battle between Aza and First Liege, which had lasted for over half a month, went on…
Chapter 1920: New Crisis
The battle between Aza and First Liege finally ended after going on for over a month.
First Liege was defeated and killed by Aza on the spot.
Although Aza was weakened after the battle, Lin Huang did not attack.
The reason being was that he knew very well that it was rather meaningless to kill Aza's Primordium.
He also knew that although First Liege was defeated, he did not truly die.
He had a technique similar to Aza's. As long as his clones were alive, he could not actually be killed.
Unfortunately, his equipment was taken by Aza.
After He won the battle, Grimace's speculation was verified.
The reason being was that Lin Huang saw the three Outer Gods stepping out of the mystic territory's entrance and appearing before Aza.
The Outer Gods that appeared this time looked exactly the same as the three Grimace had killed earlier, but their combat strength was clearly much more powerful. Judging by the strength of their auras, they had mastered thousands of quadrillions of chaotic cosmoses.
Over the next few days, Aza soon began to make new arrangements.
Shub recovered her original form. The ink-like black fog was rumbling and squirming continuously. One could occasionally see slippery, black tentacles slithering around like snakes inside…
Judging by the aura fluctuations, Lin Huang could sense that she seemed to have entered a state of deep sleep.
However, the aura emanating from her did not stop growing.
"She's breeding Abyssal creatures in her body!" Lin Huang came to that conclusion instantly.
Just as he concluded, there would be a giant mouth appearing on Shub's black fog-like body every now and then which would spit out an Abyssal creature. This continued over the next few days.
Each of these Abyssal creatures had combat strength of dominator-level rank-9!
She would breed some ten or so of these Abyssal creatures everyday.
These Abyssal creatures had basically mastered hundreds of billions to trillions of chaotic cosmoses. They were considered rather powerful among dominator-level rank-9 powerhouses.
Lin Huang finally understood why Aza did not care about His underlings' deaths now.
The reason being was that, as long as Shub was around, she could create an endless amount of those powerhouses.
Although they were not as powerful as the three Outer Gods and the Black Goat's Offsprings, they had mastered hundreds of billions to trillions of chaotic cosmoses, which represented the peak of combat strength in the infinite universe.
After Shub bred those monsters, Yogg would teleport them to different places.
Lin Huang could clearly see that these monsters would destroy the places in the infinite universethat they were randomly teleported to, devouring everything there to their hearts' desire.
They even had abilities similar to Shub, in the sense that the living beings they devoured would turn into their offsprings that could be bred.
However, compared to Shub, they could only breed offspring once each day, and could only breed a number of offspring based on how many lives they devoured.
Moreover, the combat strength of the offspring they bred was equivalent to the lives they devoured.
Although that was the case, the damage they caused to the infinite universe was significant.
This was mainly because they had a stunning level of combat strength. In the entire infinite universe, only Dragon Emperor and a small number of other powers could fight against them. They hardly encountered anyone capable of fighting them.
Almost all of the living beings present where they appeared would be devoured and turned into Abyssal monsters.
Lin Huang locked onto the Abyssal monsters' coordinates and shared the information to his imperial monsters.
In the entire infinite universe, perhaps only Bai and the others had sufficient ability to easily kill those monsters.
They created clones and teleported them to where the Abyssal monsters were in order to attack them.
This was the only way Lin Huang could handle these Abyssal creatures at the moment.
Theoretically, they could eradicate the problem by killing Shub.
However, Aza was seated right next to her at the moment. Even if Bai and the others formed battle formations, with their abilities, they would not be able to defeat Aza.
Lin Huang could not go over and kill Aza himself either.
As soon as he attacked, Aza's clones might go into hiding entirely.
Since He had the patience to only attack after waiting for hundreds of eras, He definitely had the patience to wait another hundred eras.
However, Lin Huang could not wait that long, so he could only restrain his urge to attack until the opportunity to kill Aza completely came.
As such, Shub continued breeding everyday.
Bai and the others would send their clones over to attack the monsters.
Throughout the next few days, they managed to get the chaos under control completely.
On this day, Shub suddenly extended a part of her body into a blob of black fog.
Within that fog, the images of Bai and the others killing the Abyssal monsters were projected.
The monsters she had bred had sent those images back after they were killed.
She did all this to probe how many high-level combatants there were exactly in the infinite universe.
"It's them again?!" Nyarlathotep's tone was clearly somewhat furious when he saw Bai and the rest.
"Seems like they are using their clones to attack the offspring Shub bred." Yogg, who was standing to the side, frowned.
At that moment, Aza, who was sitting on the throne, finally opened His eyes slowly.
As He continued to recall His clones from the different dimensions, His ability kept skyrocketing everyday.
He had initially only mastered a septillion chaotic cosmoses, but that number had multiplied a hundred-fold throughout those few days. He had now mastered over 100 septillion chaotic cosmoses.
He merely glanced at the projection before saying to Shub, who was still breeding Abyssal monsters, "Increase the number of monsters. Just breed beginner dominator-level rank-9 monsters for now."
Naturally, Lin Huang heard what Aza said clearly.
He instantly understood what He meant.
Although this would decrease the offsprings' combat strength, which would allow more powerhouses in the infinite universe to participate in the battle against them, the number of dominator-level rank-9 powerhouses in the infinite universe was limited.
Moreover, no matter how powerful Bai and the others were, they had a limited number of clones too.
As long as the number of offspring Shub bred surpassed what the infinite universe could handle, the entire infinite universe would suffer and Abyssal contamination would grow even worse.
Shub decisively changed Her breeding method after receiving Aza's order.
In the squirming black fog, giant mouths opened one after another. They began to spit out dominator-level rank-9 Abyssal monsters frantically.
Although these monsters' combat strength was also at dominator-level rank-9, the strength of their auras was clearly much weaker than the monsters Shub bred previously. They had basically only mastered hundreds of million to a billion chaotic cosmoses.
After modifying her breeding method, Shub's breeding efficiency rose at the speed that was visible to the naked eye.
She could only breed some ten offspring within a day previously, but now that number had skyrocketed to tens of thousands of offspring a day.
Yogg quickly teleported the tens of thousands of dominator-level rank-9 Abyssal monsters to every corner of the infinite universe.
Although these offspring had mastered fewer chaotic cosmoses, their characteristic of breeding through devouring did not change at all.
Within a day, the balance in the infinite universe was broken again…