Chapter 279 ·The Final Battle
Chapter 279: The Final Battle! A Method of Mutual Destruction!
The Calamity Army realized it.
The final battle had arrived!
The Lord was the territory's ultimate trump card. There was no problem he couldn't solve, leaving the Players both excited and full of anticipation, while also feeling somewhat frustrated.
Demonized Dian Wei was challenging the Lord!
This was bound to be a spectacular battle with explosive entertainment value!
This battle also signified that the development of the Wan City map had reached its conclusion.
It wouldn't be long before the game updated with a new expansion pack and a brand-new map.
When that happened, there would surely be a broader world setting, greater challenges, more interesting gameplay, and even more exciting adventures, something every Player naturally looked forward to.
As for their frustration, it came from the fact that once an NPC at the Lord's level entered the battle, the mission rating would probably suffer a considerable impact.
“Our strength is still lacking!”
“Yeah. If we'd performed a little better, even if we couldn't defeat Dian Wei with the legion's strength alone, at the very least we could've beaten him during the stage when Military Advisor Jia and the others stepped in. Our rating and overall rewards would've been much higher!”
“Forget it. We already did our best. If we want better rewards, we'll have to work harder normally and improve the legion's overall strength.”
“Enjoy the show! Enjoy the show!”
“……”
The Calamity Army continued resisting the Abyssal forces attempting to capture Matou Hamlet.
At the same time, each major legion dispatched several members
to record the battle between the Lord and Dian Wei.
As Hang Yu appeared riding the Shadowless Evil Dragon Steed, an almost tangible aura of Majestic King's Might rapidly enveloped the entire battlefield.
Even Dian Wei displayed the expression of facing a formidable enemy under this overwhelming pressure.
Dian Wei could sense it!
This man's strength was extraordinarily powerful!
He was even stronger than Jia Xu!
This was the opponent worthy of his full effort!
Dian Wei felt exhilaration rise from the depths of his soul.
It was not only the instinctive hatred an Abyssal inhabitant held toward the people of the Stars, but also the joy of one powerful warrior finally encountering another.
Under the suppression of Majestic King's Might, Dian Wei's battle intent and killing intent were not weakened.
Instead, they became even stronger.
“This Dian Wei is arrogant and untamable.”
Jia Xu stepped forward and said,
“This subject will lend the Lord a hand!”
Hang Yu replied,
“No need. Even for me, General Dian is a rare opponent. Out of respect, I shall face him personally. You only need to stand by in the rear and observe. Do not interfere.”
“Yes!”
Without another word, Jia Xu immediately withdrew.
Wen Ping and Zhou Cang likewise retreated from the combat zone.
They began assisting the Calamity Army against the other Abyssal troops, while simultaneously bestowing their Fate Skills upon Hang Yu. Hang Yu was already tremendously powerful.
Now, with the Fate enhancements of two famous generals, his strength undoubtedly reached an even higher level.
“General Dian, although you cannot possibly defeat me, I still wish to see where your limits truly lie.”
Dian Wei discovered that Hang Yu carried not the slightest trace of killing intent.
This meant that from the very beginning, his opponent had never regarded this as a life-or-death battle.
To Dian Wei, that felt like an insult.
Unlike before, Hang Yu's goal was not to eliminate Dian Wei.
Instead, he intended to purify him without killing him.
To accomplish this, Hang Yu first had to defeat Dian Wei, strip him of the ability to resist, and only then carry out the next stage of his plan.
This was far more difficult than simply killing him.
That was precisely why Dian Wei could not sense any killing intent from Hang Yu.
“You're courting death!”
Dian Wei planted his crimson great halberd into the ground and began condensing boomerang-like hand halberds.
In an instant, he released eighteen of them.
Each spun like a boomerang, shooting toward Hang Yu with lightning speed.
Facing the opponent before him, Dian Wei had no intention of holding back.
His opening move was already a thunderous offensive.
Even another Overlord-Class opponent would face enormous danger under such an assault.
However, Hang Yu neither dodged nor retreated.
He activated the Golden Light Guardian Art, surrounding his body with golden radiance.
Every flying halberd was blocked several meters away by a gigantic golden shield.
-0!
-0!
-0!
Dian Wei's violent barrage failed to shake Hang Yu's Golden Light Giant Shield in the slightest.
Hang Yu did not possess a talent such as “Shield General,” nor did he have any Fate Talent related to defense.
His Golden Light Guardian Art was certainly inferior to Wen Ping's in terms of specialization.
However, Hang Yu's total attributes surpassed Wen Ping's by an overwhelming margin.
Precisely because of that, the defensive power he displayed at this moment was probably five to eight times stronger than Wen Ping's.
Dian Wei unleashed wave after wave of flying-halberd storms.
Yet after nearly a hundred rounds of relentless bombardment, Hang Yu's defense remained as immovable as a mountain, never once showing signs of danger.
The berserk offensive that could have blasted most Overlords of the same level into pieces
failed to reduce even a single point of Hang Yu's health.
“So incredible!”
“The Lord is cultivating the same technique as Wen Ping!”
“Wen Ping is already the five-star defensive god general in everyone's eyes, but compared to the Lord at the same level, he's like a little brother!”
If Mad Blade Old Wang, the Calamity Army's greatest defensive specialist, were a paper shield, then Wen Ping would be a solid wooden shield, while the Lord himself was undoubtedly a super titanium-alloy shield.
At this moment, Hang Yu continuously maintained the Golden Light Guardian Art.
Both man and mount seemed rooted to the earth, becoming one with the ground beneath them, all enveloped by an invisible golden shield.
Seven draconic streams of qi coiled around his body.
This was the effect of the Huangtian Demonic Dragon Set.
As the seven dragon auras wrapped around him, they further enhanced Hang Yu's attributes and skill effects, allowing him to remain as steady as Mount Tai against Dian Wei's flying-halberd storm.
Roar!
Dian Wei pulled up his great halberd and smashed it down.
The instant it struck the golden radiance surrounding Hang Yu, it was blocked by an enormous shield.
“Your attacks are too weak!”
Hang Yu casually flicked a finger.
An overwhelming repulsive force instantly erupted, forming a shockwave that shattered the surrounding ground.
“An attack of this level is nowhere near enough to threaten me!”
-3532!
Dian Wei's massive body was blasted backward over a hundred meters, plowing a gigantic trench across the ground.
Only by driving his halberd into the earth did he finally halt his retreat.
This scene left every Player on the battlefield utterly stunned.
Blocking Dian Wei's attack alone would've been astonishing enough!
Yet the Lord had not only blocked it—
he had sent Dian Wei flying with nothing more than a flick of his finger, even inflicting considerable damage!
How was that possible?
It was simply absurd!
In truth, there was nothing strange about it.
The Golden Light Giant Shield was a top-tier Blue Skill created by fusing multiple techniques, including Giant Shield Barrier, Reflective Force, Savage Shield Bash, Shock Shield Bash, and Army Breaker Charge.
It possessed exceptionally powerful defensive and counterattack capabilities.
The reason Wen Ping had been unable to reflect or counterattack was simply because the gap between his strength and Dian Wei's had been too great.
He had no spare capacity to do so.
Hang Yu was different.
After absorbing a tremendous amount of the attack with the Golden Light Giant Shield, he activated both its reflection and shock effects, easily blasting Dian Wei away while dealing damage.
“How terrifying!”
Even Wen Ping inhaled sharply.
He knew exactly how terrifying Dian Wei's attacks were.
Under such overwhelming assaults, he would already be fortunate just to hold on.
Yet in the Lord's hands, the Golden Light Guardian Art displayed unimaginable power.
Hang Yu said, “You still have a chance. If you have any truly powerful techniques, now is the time to use them all.”
Dian Wei grinned savagely.
“Good. Then let me show you... my true power!”
He let out a roar that shook the heavens, sending shockwaves through the health and attributes of nearly everyone present.
Black lightning erupted from the surrounding void, instantly pouring into Dian Wei's own body.
After absorbing this tremendous energy, his body which looked neither like stone nor metal, but resembled red bronze began to change.
Originally standing five zhang tall, like a Titan giant radiating overwhelming physical oppression, he rapidly shrank until he was less than half his original size.
The enormous, bulky red-bronze shell vanished.
Dian Wei appeared before everyone in an entirely new form, as though he had cast off a heavy suit of armor that had restrained his true power, allowing his genuine strength to be unleashed.
“Look!”
“Dian Wei just had an armor break!”
“What armor break? That's obviously the boss's second form!”
“Heh, interesting. The first form looked a bit like Truth Butcher Kog'Rei, while the second form resembles Kahn of Myriad Creations. Although he's much smaller now, the character model is still unbelievably cool and domineering!”
“I think the second form is even more manly!”
“……”
If the first form had been a heavy bronze armor form, then the second form was a black-silver light armor form.
It had shed much of its bulk and weight, becoming far more explosive.
Dian Wei's physique was now far more defined.
Every line of muscle radiated explosive strength.
He resembled a terrifying six-armed Demon King.
This inhuman, bald Demon King was now covered in silver armor.
The armor seemed fused directly into his body, its flowing energy becoming even more condensed.
Hang Yu could clearly sense that after entering his second form, Dian Wei's health had decreased considerably, yet his attack power and attributes had skyrocketed, becoming nearly twice as strong as before.
Before Hang Yu could comment—
“Die!”
Dian Wei transformed into a storm too fast for the naked eye to follow,
his crimson demonic skeletal halberd sweeping across the battlefield,
crashing into the Golden Light Giant Shield.
Boom!
With just one strike, cracks appeared across the golden shield.
Countless black bolts of lightning surged through those cracks, striking Hang Yu's body.
-0!
-0!
-0!
However!
It still wasn't enough!
Hang Yu activated Three-Army Shield along with Golden Skin Iron Bones.
Even though the Golden Light Giant Shield could no longer block everything, it still protected his body.
“Now that's somewhat acceptable. But this level of power is still far from enough.”
“Is that so? Then I'll increase the intensity!”
Hang Yu remained completely unmoved!
Meanwhile, Dian Wei transformed into a storm of death.
He continuously flashed around Hang Yu, his halberd carrying thunderous force like a torrential downpour, attacking simultaneously from every direction.
Hang Yu reacted instantly, driving the Golden Light Guardian Art to create golden shields.
Every shield appeared precisely at the point where Dian Wei attacked.
This required not only overwhelming defense, but also reaction speed and reflexes that rivaled Dian Wei himself!
One strike.
Five strikes.
Ten strikes.
Fifty strikes.
One hundred strikes!
Although Hang Yu had not launched a single attack from beginning to end, the two had actually exchanged over a hundred rounds already!
It had to be said—
Dian Wei's strength was truly terrifying!
Even relying solely upon the Golden Light Guardian Art, Hang Yu gradually fell into a disadvantage.
The defensive golden light was steadily worn away, and even his health had begun to decline.
At this rate, his defenses would inevitably be broken sooner or later.
“Interesting!”
Dian Wei's attacks grew increasingly savage!
He intended to shatter Hang Yu's defenses in one overwhelming burst.
His fighting style contained no fancy techniques whatsoever.
It was simply relentless, brutal head-on exchanges!
Naturally, Hang Yu would not allow him to succeed.
When the battle reached the one hundred fiftieth exchange, he suddenly seized an opening.
Golden radiance erupted from his body, forming a gigantic shield just before Dian Wei's attack landed.
The next moment, a violent giant shield slam crashed directly into Dian Wei's body!
-6432!
He was blasted away once again.
This time, the damage was even greater than before.
Hang Yu's Golden Light Guardian Art had also reached its limit.
He immediately circulated the Medicine King's Alchemy Canon, condensing three great medicinal pill techniques and injecting them into his own body.
In an instant, his health completely recovered.
His attributes climbed to an even higher level.
“General Dian, if you've already exhausted your tricks, then I believe this battle has reached its conclusion.”
Dian Wei suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of danger descend upon him.
Even his soul trembled.
The next moment—
Shrinking the Earth Into an Inch!
Hang Yu instantly cast the spell, teleporting behind Dian Wei.
He immediately followed with the Secret Technique Shadow Assassination, closing the distance in an instant.
At the same time, he circulated his cultivation technique.
Blazing energy swept across the battlefield.
His great spear let out a resonant cry, like the songs of countless birds, or a phoenix soaring through the heavens.
The endless spear shadows transformed into hundreds upon hundreds of flaming phoenixes, instantly engulfing Dian Wei beneath their overwhelming numbers!
“Thousand Phoenixes Soaring Together!”
-3533!
-2233!
-3456!
……
This technique combined both the exquisite variations of the Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix Spear and the overwhelming ferocity of the Fiery Tiger Wild Blade!
Dian Wei could not defend against every strike.
He was pierced by ten spear thrusts in succession, suffering nearly thirty thousand points of damage.
When the two finally separated, Dian Wei's body was covered in wounds.
Each one resembled a molten spear hole, constantly releasing blazing energy.
Only someone with Dian Wei's terrifying physique could survive such an attack.
Had it been an ordinary Overlord, those ten spear thrusts would already have reduced the body to ashes.
“What cultivation technique is this?”
Dian Wei had clearly recognized traces of Zhang Xiu's Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix Spear within Hang Yu's spear art.
Yet Zhang Xiu's version had nowhere near such overwhelming power.
“You want to learn it? This Lord can teach you.”
The technique Hang Yu used, Thousand Phoenixes Scorching the Plains Spear, had been created by fusing two Blue cultivation techniques.
Not only did this new technique retain every move from the originals, it had also evolved numerous brand-new techniques.
For example, the move he had just used—
Thousand Phoenixes Soaring Together.
It was essentially an enhanced version of Hundred Birds Leaving the Forest.
The latter was merely a Green Skill, whereas the former was Blue quality.
Combined with a far more powerful cultivation technique, its might naturally could not be compared.
“You are strong.”
Even Dian Wei was forced to admit it.
However, he coldly declared, “You still cannot defeat me.
All of you shall perish here and fall into the Abyss forever!”
Everyone watching was astonished.
“They've already fought to this extent.”
“Does Dian Wei really think he can still win?”
Although Dian Wei's displayed strength was already unbelievably powerful, it was obvious he still lagged behind the Lord.
Yet judging from his tone, it didn't sound like empty bravado.
“Lord, be careful!”
“He may still have a trump card!”
“……”
The Players also became nervous.
After all, since the game's launch, they had never seen any monster or powerful expert fight the Lord for this long.
Dian Wei was the first.
As expected of the fiercest general in the world of the Three Kingdoms!
Although Dian Wei's mind and ideology had been twisted by Abyssal Corruption, his intelligence had suffered no impairment.
He realized that the Starsea Lord's strength was terrifying.
Not only did he possess top-tier defense, he could also heal himself, wield terrifying combat techniques, and even possessed formidable spellcasting ability.
This was an opponent with virtually no weaknesses.
Precisely because of that, the only way to defeat him was to settle everything in one decisive burst.
If Hang Yu were given even the slightest chance to recover, he could fully heal himself, restore his defenses, and return to peak condition.
There was no other choice!
“Although winning with this move is somewhat dishonorable...”
“You must die!
Your Heart of the Stars...
I'll gladly take it!”
Dian Wei once again summoned countless bolts of black lightning, instantly tempering his body anew.
His form changed once again.
His body, already reduced to two or three zhang, compressed further to less than one zhang.
Third Form!
Dian Wei actually had a Third Form!
If the first form was heavy armor, and the second form was light armor, then the third form was armorless.
Dian Wei's giant-like body compressed until it stood at less than three meters tall.
Compared to an ordinary human, it still radiated tremendous pressure, yet the difference in size was no longer as overwhelming as before.
His body resembled a flawless work of art.
Every inch of flesh had transformed into transparent dark-gold crystalline material.
Within every inch of crystal raged an incomparably compressed storm of lightning, making him resemble a Demon God descended upon the mortal world, as though every movement held the explosive force to obliterate an entire mountain.
The Players were utterly amazed once again.
“This guy has a third form too!”
“How ridiculously overpowered!”
“As expected of the ultimate boss of Wan City!”
“……”
However, after entering his Third Form, Dian Wei did not launch an attack.
Instead, he rapidly gathered vast amounts of energy within his chest and abdomen.
Everyone present could sense that a catastrophic force was being prepared.
Once unleashed, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“What's he trying to do?”
“Oh no! Is he trying to self-destruct?!”
“What? That's allowed?”
“He wants to take everyone down with him!”
“……”
Dian Wei had gathered all of his energy together.
He was most likely preparing a battlefield-wide attack, one that would annihilate everyone present including himself.
As an Abyssal inhabitant, so long as he was not purified by the Stars, he would never truly die.
In other words, if this attack succeeded, it wouldn't take long before Dian Wei revived once more from the Abyssal Dream.
And then, he would undoubtedly be the victor of this battle.
Dian Wei's deafening voice echoed through everyone's ears.
“Running dog of the Stars!
I know you're still hiding your true strength!
Bring out everything you've got and try to stop me!”
“One exchange to decide the victor? That suits me perfectly!”
Hang Yu pushed the Thousand Phoenixes Scorching the Plains Spear to its utmost limit, activated The Martial Saint's Three Strikes, and instantly charged before him.
Dian Wei transformed his demonic skeletal halberd into six short halberds, gripping one in each of his six hands, preparing to block Hang Yu's coming attack.
As long as he withstood this exchange, he was confident he could end the battle completely!
However, the ferocity of Hang Yu's assault far exceeded even Dian Wei's imagination!
Almost in a single instant, three slashes descended.
The first slash fell.
One of Dian Wei's arms exploded into ashes, dealing over eight thousand points of damage.
The second slash landed.
Two more arms were destroyed, dealing over fifteen thousand points of damage.
“This is bad!”
Although Dian Wei still had three arms remaining, he could clearly sense that Hang Yu's third slash was empowered by Majestic King's Might.
Its momentum was even more terrifying than the combined force of the previous two slashes.
The instant the third slash descended, Dian Wei's remaining three arms were reduced to dust.
Left with no other choice, Dian Wei released the gathered energy ahead of time.
The terrifying power erupted, forming an instantly expanding black sphere.
Within half a second, it engulfed hundreds of meters, swallowing the Starsea Lord in the process.
The residual energy from this attack flattened everything within a thousand-meter radius in the blink of an eye.
The battle was over.
Dian Wei collapsed upon the battlefield.
He had been reduced to critical health.
The final attack had completely exhausted his strength.
Everyone witnessed this scene and stared in shock.
Hang Yu's aura had disappeared.
“What happened?”
“What just happened?”
“The Lord couldn't have... No way!”
“……”
Dian Wei was thoroughly satisfied with this outcome.
“I won!”
Although he had been forced to release his energy early, causing him to lose the ability to destroy himself, and preventing him from eliminating Jia Xu, Wen Ping, Zhou Cang, and the others, any one of them could now easily kill him.
But the Starsea Lord was already dead!
The Offspring of the Stars should have lost the power of the Stars!
Without the power of the Stars, even if they killed him, they would never be able to purify him!
It wouldn't be long before he awakened once more within the nightmare!
When that time came, the corruption of Old Wan City would erupt completely out of control, and he himself would finally break free of his shackles!
…………
Meanwhile.
Inside the Lord's Hall.
Hang Yu slowly opened his eyes.
A trace of surprise flashed across his face.
“Hm? My mirror projection... was actually defeated.”
It could only be said—
As expected of Dian Wei.
He truly was monstrously powerful!
Although the mirror projection was nowhere near as strong as the original, it had still inherited all of the original's abilities.
The fact that Dian Wei could defeat the projection meant that against Hang Yu's true body, he could at least survive dozens of exchanges.
Of course, against the real body, he would never have had the chance to unleash that battlefield-wide attack.
Even so, that was already impressive enough!
Hang Yu took out the Heavenly Evolution Treasure Mirror and activated it once again.
The mirror projection created by the treasure mirror had already been destroyed.
Normally, the treasure mirror would enter a seven-day cooldown before creating another projection.
However, that cooldown was not absolute.
At Hang Yu's current tier, he only needed to consume five million Essence to bypass the cooldown and immediately create another mirror projection.
Five million Essence?
To the current territory, that was practically nothing.
In other words, a mirror projection like the one just now could descend to any territory under Hang Yu's direct control, or even any uncontrolled area that had a vision anchor.
It ignored distance.
Ignored obstacles.
Ignored every restriction.
It was the ultimate airborne deployment unit!
Furthermore, even if the projection was destroyed, he could recreate another one within moments.
As long as the territory possessed sufficient Essence, he could deploy mirror projections endlessly.
Everything Dian Wei had struggled so hard to accomplish was ultimately meaningless to Hang Yu.
Hang Yu reached out and brushed his hand across the mirror's surface.
Five million Essence flowed into it.
Closing his eyes, he once again descended through the treasure mirror.
In the form of a mirror projection, he instantly reappeared on the battlefield of Old Wan City.
Full health!
Full condition!
Hang Yu's mirror projection had appeared once again!
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