Chapter 77: The Decisive Battle, The Fallen Dark God, and the Missing Finger

Chapter 77: The Decisive Battle, The Fallen Dark God, and the Missing Finger

The heavy hammer came down with force.

The Banser Ancestor's Mace pierced the dark god's heart with a 'pfft' sound, causing a burst of dark blood to spray onto Iron Arm's head, covering his face with a thick layer of black energy.

Iron Arm tried to lift the war hammer for a third strike, but the mental pollution he had suffered made it impossible to muster the strength to raise the hammer in his hand.

The heart of the Evil God Barton had been pierced by the Banser Ancestor's Mace, and the resurrection ritual seemed destined to fail.

The situation reached a stalemate.

The outcome of the battle hung in the balance with this final blow.

Iron Arm summoned all his strength, lifting the war hammer once more, his arms trembling with the effort.

Just then, a sharp claw pierced Iron Arm's back, its fiery claws emerging from his chest. It was the Flame Horn Devil Overseer, still alive despite his severe injuries.

The war hammer clattered to the ground as Iron Arm slumped powerlessly.

"Father!" Mia cried out, tears streaming down her face as she rushed to her father's side.

After impaling Iron Arm, the Flame Horn Devil Overseer grabbed the dark god's heart and forcefully pulled out the Banser Ancestor's Mace.

With the mace removed, the dark god's heart began to spew forth black energy.

The Flame Horn Devil Overseer tightly held the heart, tore open his chest, and stuffed the heart into his own chest cavity. Then, he roared skyward, his cry piercing the clouds and echoing through the heavens.

Dark veins extended from the pitch-black heart, absorbing his energy.

"Father!" Mia cried as she threw herself onto Iron Arm, sobbing uncontrollably.

Iron Arm managed a loving smile, his trembling hand caressing her face as he wiped away her tears. "Mia, you are the bravest Banser warrior. Always be brave... take this..."

He placed the war hammer of the Banser Clan Leader into his daughter's hands.

"Father!" Mia wailed, collapsing onto her father's body, her shoulders shaking violently.

"Mia, go. We haven't lost, and we can't lose," Iron Arm said, pushing his daughter away with his last ounce of strength.

Mia stood there, her emotions running high, clenching her teeth. She picked up the war hammer from the ground and, with a shout, turned and charged towards the Flame Horn Devil Overseer, hammer raised for a powerful blow.

...

Outside the Altar.

Lu Heng's heart sank as he witnessed Iron Arm's fall. He raised his sword towards Lei Jin Hao, his anger barely contained as he shouted, "Get out of my way!"

Lei Jin Hao's body was filled with the dark god's energy, and his frenzy had lasted for a full ten minutes, causing his sanity to slip away.

He laughed maniacally, "Now, you're inferior to me in every attribute. What can you do to me?"

Lu Heng's expression darkened. Previously, he had forced Lei Jin Hao into a frenzy using Shadow Traverse, and had been recovering his Source Essence energy.

Now, with his energy almost fully restored, he was ready to use his second Source Essence skill.

Under the influence of the dark god's energy, Lei Jin Hao gradually lost his sanity, his eyes fixated on Lu Heng alone. He attacked relentlessly, disregarding his own safety.

Bang! Lei Jin Hao unleashed a powerful Aura Blast, sending a shockwave that shook the very mountains.

With his Source Essence energy fully restored, Lu Heng immediately activated Shadow Traverse, disappearing into the shadows to dodge the incoming Aura Blast.

Then, he shot out from the shadows, passing through Lei Jin Hao and appearing behind him. In the instant the Cyclone Steel Aura dissipated, Lu Heng executed the Returning Sword Style, spinning and delivering a chilling circular slash.

As he deactivated Shadow Traverse, his sword sliced into Lei Jin Hao's chest, severing his upper body.

Lei Jin Hao's upper body flew away, his eyes wide with shock and struggle. He tried to scream, but no sound came out, and his world quickly faded to darkness.

After killing Lei Jin Hao, Lu Heng immediately turned towards the Flame Horn Devil Overseer, picking up the Banser Ancestor's Mace and thrusting it into the pitch-black heart.

"Ah!"

A piercing, agonizing scream reverberated in Lu Heng's mind.

The mental pollution spread out.

The Flame Horn Devil Overseer lashed out with his claws, but Lu Heng dodged the attack, spinning and slicing off the devil's arm with a swift sword strike.

Mia, tears streaming down her face, rushed forward and swung the war hammer, smashing it onto the Banser Ancestor's Mace.

Clang! Pfft!

The mace pierced the dark god's heart, causing a burst of dark blood. The black energy dissipated, and the piercing scream that had echoed in everyone's minds abruptly ceased.

[Destroy the Evil God Barton's heart, awakening the special talent "Demon Hunter."]



[Demon Hunter (Talent): Gain Demon Hunter instincts, enhancing demon essence perception and increasing damage against demons by 20%.]



[Kill the Flame Horn Devil Overseer, absorbing 200 points of demon energy.]



[Source Energy level increased to 20, all attributes +2, Agility attribute +0.6]



The dark god's heart exploded into a bloody mist, signaling the victory of the decisive battle.

The Evil God Barton's control over his clan rapidly waned, and the demons, losing their will to fight, began to scatter and flee.

The battle was finally over.

The dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and light returned to the world.

"Father, wake up!" Mia's cries echoed once more.

She collapsed onto Iron Arm, sobbing uncontrollably.

Iron Arm's chest bore a wound from the devil's claws, and blood flowed freely from it.

Mia pressed down on the wound, but the bleeding wouldn't stop.

However, the chest wound wasn't the most critical injury. The most severe was the thick black energy covering his face, a sign of mental pollution invading his marrow and heart, slowly draining his life force.

In his final moments, Iron Arm raised his trembling hand, grasping Mia's hand with a loving smile. "Mia, you succeeded. We defeated Barton..."

"But you..." Mia's face was filled with grief.

The Banser warriors gathered around their leader, singing the Banser Clan's prayer song.

The song was not just for their leader but also for their fallen comrades who had sacrificed themselves in the flames of war.

Lu Heng couldn't understand the lyrics, but he could sense the longing and sorrow for their fallen comrades in the melody.

It wasn't just the Banser Clan that suffered casualties; the battle had taken a heavy toll on the mutants as well. Fewer than one in ten mutants survived.

With the failed resurrection ritual of the Dark God, the main questline of the Abyssal Battlefield was completed. The surviving Mutants, heavily wounded, chose to return one by one, using Divine Energy to heal their injuries.

In front of Lu Heng, a prompt appeared, offering him a choice of three rewards.

[Complete World Quest: Destroy the Dark God's Heart]



[Reward: Choose one of the three rewards]



[1. Consume 600 points of Divine Energy to establish a spatial anchor point. After returning, you can consume Divine Energy to re-enter this world.]



[2. Consume 600 points of Divine Energy to remove the mental pollution of the Banser Clan Leader, Iron Arm. Gain the loyalty of the Banser Clan, and in the future, you can make the Banser Clan your vassal.]



[3. Consume 600 points of Divine Energy to delete a skill.]



Lu Heng wasn't surprised by this three-choice reward.

These three-choice rewards were unique to high-level Abyssal Battlefields and could only be obtained by personally completing the World Quest.

World Quests in the Abyssal Battlefield were not explicitly shown. Only by making contributions that changed the world's situation could one possibly obtain World Quest rewards.

Since there were no quest prompts, the methods for obtaining World Quest rewards were not fixed, making it extremely challenging.

Among the first three rewards, the first and third were considered standard.

For completed World Quests that weakened the Abyss's influence on this world, the first reward would appear, allowing the establishment of a spatial anchor point, and the ability to re-enter this world by consuming Divine Energy in the future.

The third reward was also standard, allowing the deletion of a skill.

Mutants had a limited number of skill slots. Once they were filled, learning new skills would become impossible.

Consequently, obtaining advanced skills later on would be awkward.

In such cases, the third reward came into play, allowing them to choose to delete an unwanted skill and learn an advanced one instead.

This was also the only way to modify a skill combination if one had made poor initial skill choices.

Thus, in the future, many Mutants would attempt to complete World Quests for the third reward.

However, for Lu Heng, the third reward was of little use. With Divine Evolution, he could directly upgrade skills without deleting lower-level ones.

From a practical standpoint, the first reward offered the best short-term value.

After returning, he could still consume Divine Energy to enter this world and obtain resources.

As for the second reward...

In reality, with Lu Heng's current reputation among the Banser Tribe, as long as he established a spatial anchor point and continued to enter this world to impart the art of Tempering, he could gradually gain the loyalty of the Banser Clan.

However, after reading through the three reward options, Lu Heng didn't hesitate. He approached Iron Arm, raised his palm, and released Divine Energy towards him.

Divine Energy flowed into Iron Arm's body, dispelling the darkness on his face.

The Banser Clan warriors witnessed this, unsure of what was happening, but they could tell that Lu Heng was saving their leader.

Mia quickly wiped away her tears, looked up at Lu Heng with wide eyes, and a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes.

After consuming 600 points of Divine Energy, the darkness on Iron Arm's face was completely dispelled, and he returned to his normal appearance, although he still looked extremely pale due to excessive blood loss.

As a top-tier powerhouse in this world, Iron Arm's injury was severe, having been pierced through the chest at level 20. However, with timely treatment, he still had a chance to survive.

The Banser Clan's physician had been tending to Iron Arm's wound, but due to the severe mental pollution from the Dark God, the bleeding wouldn't stop.

Now that the mental pollution was dispelled, the bleeding finally ceased.

"Take your leader back for treatment," Lu Heng said, lowering his hand.

The Banser Clan warriors saluted Lu Heng, expressing their sincere gratitude in the Banser Clan's way, and then they found a stretcher to carry the unconscious Iron Arm back to Hammerstone Castle.

Lu Heng stood in the ruined temple, watching as the Banser Clan Leader disappeared at the foot of the mountain, preparing to return to Blue Star.

Feeling Lu Heng's impending departure, Mia wiped away her tears and hugged him around the waist, sniffling as she said, "Thank you."

"No need. Perhaps we'll meet again in the future."

Since Lu Heng didn't choose to establish a spatial anchor point, he couldn't teleport back after returning.

However, with sufficient strength in the future, he could find other ways to teleport here, but it would take a considerable amount of time.

Lu Heng looked around and said, "Quickly gather and destroy all of Evil God Barton's remains to prevent his resurrection."

They had just destroyed Evil God Barton's heart, and there were still some scattered remains to be dealt with.

The Banser Clan warriors were already cleaning the battlefield, collecting Evil God Barton's remains.

Aside from the heart, there were some flesh and two finger segments...

Lu Heng frowned as he looked at the collected remains of the Dark God, and asked, "Where's the other finger segment?"

"Is there another finger segment? We've searched the entire Great Hall, and there are no other remains," a serious Banser Clan captain inquired.

"Keep looking. I'm certain there were two finger segments."

Lu Heng was very sure because he had witnessed the Flame Horn Devil Overseer taking the remains from the Soul Box and placing them into the Blood Feast Chalice at the start of the ritual.

Aside from that pitch-black heart, the most noticeable remains were those two finger segments.

However, only one finger segment had been found.

"Hurry and find it! We must find that finger segment!" Mia suddenly became tense, directing the Banser Clan warriors to search for the last finger segment.

Upon realizing that a finger segment of the Dark God was missing, Lu Heng's face turned solemn, and he had a vague idea of what might have happened.

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end