Chapter 396 – You Have Eliminated the Monster Overlord

The Gnoll Fang Lair covered a vast area, with numerous flesh structures towering deeper within.

The entire lair still possessed considerable defensive capabilities, and Mu Yuan couldn’t claim they had achieved victory so easily.

However,

Among the several Gnoll Legends observed earlier, Deadbone had slain the strongest one, Dolai had annihilated two, Lu Liu had crushed one, leaving only an ordinary Gnoll Legend who had fled deeper into the lair.

Only one Legendary enemy remained.

Even if the flesh structures, war machines, and traps within the Gnoll Fang Lair were troublesome, with only one Legendary Realm entity leading them, they couldn’t exert much effectiveness.

It was like,

No matter how high the Tower’s damage output, with only one Hero defending, it would be swiftly demolished in minutes.

The sole remaining Gnoll Fang was merely an ordinary Legend.

Meanwhile, Tianyuan City’s forces were all fully-equipped Legends.

After eliminating 4/5 of the major enemies, Deadbone ceased aggressive assaults and instead advanced steadily and methodically.

It didn’t excessively destroy the flesh structures either, merely clearing a safe path along the central route.

Soon,

The four Legends—Deadbone, Dolai, Lu Liu, and Mirena—arrived before the Gnoll Fang’s second main defensive line.

From a distance, numerous crimson Towers stood tall on the high mountains, numbering at least several dozen.

The Towers emanated ominous and eerie auras.

Surrounding them were tens of thousands of elite monsters and rumbling war machines.

Numerous and tightly defended.

Yet it seemed as if the four seemingly outnumbered figures had surrounded them.

They were the ones being surrounded.

And indeed, that was the case.

Dolai struck first, extending its fair finger, a wisp of red light flickering at its fingertip before rapidly expanding, swelling into a scorching red sun with a diameter of over a hundred meters in just two blinks of an eye.

Holding the Great Sun aloft, it swung it forward.

The Blazing Sun rolled onward, carrying an indescribable oppressive force and destructive power capable of incinerating everything.

“Such might…!”

Mirena’s eyes widened, unable to suppress a gulp.

There were many legends about this Dolai Legend, its name renowned throughout this Great Domain.

Its most famous battle was undoubtedly fighting one against six, defeating and slaying several Monster Legends, ascending to divinity in a single battle.

But Mirena had never witnessed Dolai in action before; today was her first time.

“How can it gather energy so swiftly? In the blink of an eye, it unleashes an attack equivalent to an ordinary Legend’s full-power strike after accumulating Heaven and Earth Qi to Perfection. It didn’t even borrow Heaven and Earth Qi!”

It was as if the ultimate moves of other Legends—with their ‘long wind-ups’ and ‘long cooldowns’—were merely its ordinary basic attacks in its hands.

Mirena finally understood why the previous battle had ended so quickly. With such a prodigious Legend present, ordinary Legends stood no chance of resistance.

Dolai wasn’t at the Peak Heaven-Earth Realm Legend, but it was certainly no weaker than a Peak Legend!

The Blazing Sun crashed down.

Distant defensive lines erupted with crimson beams and piercing shrieks, continuously diminishing and neutralizing the orange-red Blazing Sun’s power.

The sole remaining Gnoll Legend hastily gathered Heaven and Earth Qi, unleashing its own desperate strike.

BOOM——!!!

A blinding radiance erupted on the horizon.One after another, Flesh Towers and flesh weapons cracked, shattered, fragmented, and then incinerated in the brilliant light.

With a single strike, a corner of the entire defensive line was torn open.

But Dolai was not satisfied. These flesh structures and weapons were incredibly resilient, constantly healing themselves. Moreover, its previous attack had been too direct, and much of its power had been neutralized mid-way.

Deadbone also felt the progress was slow.

“At this rate, breaking through this defensive line will likely take us over 20 minutes.”

“Let’s attack together and target the weak points.”

Mirena: “…”

To be honest, breaking through a main defensive line in twenty minutes—wasn’t that fast enough?

Or did human units of time differ from those of elves by, say, a tiny bit?

She didn’t know what to say, so she remained silent.

She had ample exploration and combat experience, but today, none of it seemed applicable.

At this moment, Dolai refused.

“No, I still have an ultimate move. It’s guaranteed to be efficient and direct—trust me, trust me!”

“Alright then.”

Since Dolai insisted, what could Deadbone, as the big brother, do but let it have its way?

Dolai gathered all its strength, materializing a Space-Tearing Seal and imprinting it into the space before it.

Its Space-Tearing Seal had been used recently and couldn’t yet unleash 100% of its power, but…

Against inanimate objects, it didn’t need the full force of the Space-Tearing ability.

Crack~

Space split open, fracturing into a fissure right in front of Dolai.

Immediately, this spatial rift rapidly extended into the distance, branching out a kilometer away and spreading further in a fan-shaped pattern.

The spread wasn’t particularly fast—if it were chasing a Legend, it would fall far behind.

But here, only inanimate objects stood in its path.

Dolai’s Space-Tearing ability had a far greater range than the interference range of the aberrant Towers and other flesh structures. Spatial cracks couldn’t be blocked or neutralized by conventional means.

Soon,

Crash—

Pieces of space shattered like mirrors. Although the space quickly healed, all the Flesh Towers and other structures within the area were completely destroyed, while the remnants were dragged into the collapsing void.

Deadbone spread its wings and flew through the narrow path of newly healed space.

In just a few breaths, it caught up with the sole remaining Gnoll Legend.

Ignoring the aberrant gazes around it, Deadbone conjured a barrier of bones to block the crimson beams assaulting it. Then, with a few swift moves, it slew the Gnoll Legend.

Meanwhile, Lu Liu charged into the fray alone, his massive, towering golden form manifesting as he swept through the battlefield with his great Spear.

In no time, they had shattered the defensive line into disarray.

To the east and west, many flesh structures were still visible in the distance, but Deadbone paid them no mind, heading straight deeper into the nest.

The Crimson Mist grew denser.

Somewhat to Deadbone’s surprise, they encountered no third defensive line.

It seemed the entire Jackal Fang had only these two main lines of defense.

“Could there still be traps ahead?”

It pondered.

Dolai: “…”

With so many bizarre flesh structures around, was that still not enough?

“If there are any more traps, we’ll just blast them away. No trap can withstand one Blazing Sun—if one isn’t enough, we’ll use two.”

It declared.

Deadbone then replied, “Then let’s blast away.”

Dolai: “Huh? Really blast them?”In the distance stood a resplendent, golden palace. Surrounding it were structures made of flesh alongside ordinary buildings, all exquisitely crafted in a style that seemed more human than typical of Gnolls.

Dolai felt a twinge of reluctance at the thought of demolishing it all.

But reluctant or not, it understood priorities. Besides, these buildings couldn’t be moved back anyway—they’d have to be torn down sooner or later. Since demolition was inevitable, blasting them away made little difference.

Time to blast.

Dolai took a deep breath, drawing in vast amounts of natural energy as it commenced its demolition work.

…

Half an hour later,

Mu Yuan followed the main force led by Bone Four, clearing dangers as they advanced straight into the core of this Monster Overlord’s domain.

Nothing remained of the earlier grandeur and golden splendor. All that was left was shattered ground, crumbling walls, drifting Crimson Mist, and…

A massive blood pool in a gigantic crater ahead.

It could almost be called a lake of blood.

Hundreds of meters in diameter, the blood pool bubbled and churned. At its center grew a crystalline, tree-like structure of blood-red material, branching out continuously, with a small, unripe fruit forming at its tip.

When Mu Yuan arrived, Lu Liu was standing by the blood pool’s edge, beams of purifying white light shooting from his palm.

He had been purifying for some time.

With only Lu Liu working alone and the blood pool’s immense volume, the purification progressed painstakingly slow, seemingly endless.

Of course, the situation wasn’t critical, so whether purification went faster or slower wasn’t particularly urgent.

That’s why neither Deadbone nor Dolai were present—they were busy neutralizing other hazardous zones.

The undead legion had split into squads, sweeping through the surrounding areas.

Mu Yuan called Sophia over, and together they stepped forward to lend their strength to the purification effort.

…

Meanwhile,

“Filth! I, General of Tianyuan City, shall eradicate you!”

Dolai hovered high in the sky, surveying the land below.

Around it, massive, scorching Fireballs floated ominously.

From time to time, it waved a hand, sending one crashing down, shaking the heavens and earth, letting the light of the Righteous Path shine upon the land.

…

Rakshasa wasn’t commanding troops at the moment. He traveled alone, delving deep into remote corners of the Jackal Fang Lair.

Tracking traces.

Exterminating remnants.

A glint flashed in his eyes.

The next moment,

“Die!”

A Fourth Order Gnoll leaped from a fissure in the ground, spear gleaming with bloody light, thrusting toward Rakshasa with lethal intent.

The angle was tricky.

The timing perfect.

This was an ambush by a Fourth Order Gnoll using the terrain to its advantage.

The next moment,

Two large hands extended from Rakshasa’s back. One firmly grasped the bloody spear while the other, fingers joined, stabbed forward.

Thud—

The dark hand pierced through the high-ranking Gnoll, emerging from its back, clutching a crimson, beating heart.

He squeezed.

The heart shattered.

But at that instant, several more figures emerged from the suddenly splitting brown-red earth.

Weapons infused with torrential energy impaled Rakshasa’s body.

“We got him!”

“He’s a top-tier Fourth Order.”

“But no matter how strong, he’s still only Fourth Order. No Fourth Order can survive our combined assault.”

The Fourth Order Gnolls exchanged glances.

The next moment,They suddenly realized the sensation of piercing through felt off.

The dark-faced burly man who had been impaled transformed into a grayish-black smoky cloud, enveloping them within its haze.

Screams echoed from within the grayish-black smoke.

Soon, everything returned to silence.

The smoky cloud coalesced, revealing Rakshasa’s form.

…

Elsewhere.

At the shattered entrance of the Gnoll Fang Lair.

Dozens of high-ranking Gnolls rushed out.

Moving with extreme speed, they attempted to scatter and flee into the surrounding Black Mountain Range.

Suddenly,

the earth trembled like waves, as thick roots resembling subterranean dragons burst forth, impaling one high-ranking Gnoll after another who failed to react in time.

The roots danced wildly, encircling and trapping them, quickly binding and crushing over a dozen stronger Gnolls.

Then, the root boundary continued its violent rampage, stirring up wave-like tremors.

Within seconds, three Fourth Order elite chieftain-level Gnolls followed their kin’s fate, perishing in the sea of roots.

From beginning to end, they never even caught a glimpse of Tree Spirit Grandma’s true form.

…

“Kill as many as you can.”

“Leave none alive!”

Monsters—even those appearing intelligent like humans, even intelligent monsters with similar behaviors—are ultimately still monsters.

They are bloodthirsty, cruel, murderous beings born to destroy and annihilate!

Never harbor any sympathy for monsters!

Monsters don’t have what we’d call offspring; they emerge from the Crimson Mist, tainted with Filth, surviving by preying on humans.

“Lord, Squad Thirteen has found the Gnoll Fang’s… human breeding farm. Preliminary estimates indicate over a thousand humans inside, along with hundreds of elves and other races. But… but…”

As Sophia spoke, her fists clenched tightly, her voice cold as ice.

Mu Yuan connected to the scout Black Crows and saw a valley flowing with blood and Filth. Inside, humans and elves stood naked, shackled, their eyes vacant.

“Kill, keep killing.”

“We don’t need to preserve anything. Destroy the entire Gnoll Fang Lair.”

“No need to deliberately preserve monster corpses either. Destroy them if necessary—let there be no intact remains.”

This is humanity’s war against monsters.

This is Tianyuan City’s first eradication of a Monster Overlord.

It’s merely the beginning, the first of many—the second, third, and countless more to come.

The Gnoll Fang Lair echoed with continuous explosions. Dolai abandoned its treasure-collecting obsession, flying relentlessly, slaughtering incessantly.

Deadbone felt no empathy for these creatures; it cared only for its own kin.

But since the Lord was enraged, it too was enraged.

It would unleash the Lord’s wrath on their behalf.

Around them, broken and incomplete skeletal remains hummed and trembled. Countless bones rose, forming a tidal wave of corpses. Deadbone stood at the forefront of this bone tide, surging toward every enemy in sight.

The cleanup operation wouldn’t end soon.

The Gnoll Fang Lair still housed numerous Flesh structures. Even someone as powerful as Dolai couldn’t afford carelessness against these—negligence meant injury.

Mu Yuan remained vigilant against other Monster Overlords.

Isloria was currently piloting the Epic Mage Tower, hovering high in the sky, watching the land below.

At this moment, the purification effort combining three individuals’ power finally neared completion.

The miraculous white light of purification shot into the heavens, completely enveloping the vast Blood Pool.

Rumble—The Blood Pool began to tremble and crack, shattering with a crashing sound.

At this moment, the thousands of remaining Flesh structures within the entire Gnoll Fang Lair also trembled in unison, beginning to fracture and collapse.

All Filth, all Flesh, completely dissipated.

The drifting Crimson Mist also started to disperse.

The world began to regain a trace of vitality.

“Ding!”

“Notification: You have eradicated a Monster Overlord (Regional Level) and purified it.”

“Notification: As this is your first time leading the eradication of a Monster Overlord, the World’s Reward will be upgraded by one level.”

(End of Chapter)