The Balrog took a deep breath, its chest expanding, and with the last ounce of its strength, it swung its long saber horizontally.
The Tailed Beast Bomb approached. The Balrog’s pupils narrowed to pinpricks. The entire world seemed to slow down in its eyes. The Tailed Beast Bomb, moving at extreme speed, now crawled like a snail. Though the Balrog’s speed was even slower, it had discovered something.
The saber slashed.
The saber struck.
Feeling the mountain-like weight of the force transmitted through the saber, the Balrog twisted, its muscles bulging, its teeth grinding. A beast growled low in its throat. With a mighty heave,
The black energy sphere of the Tailed Beast Bomb was directly flicked away by the Balrog’s long saber. It flew over the moonlit plains, struck the ground, and erupted in another earth-shattering explosion.
The tremors of the dimension were commonplace. Hurricanes raged, and the already devastated environment continued to plumb new depths of destruction.
The Tailed Beast Bomb had failed, but it bought Li Xi precious time. An evil wind assaulted from behind. The Balrog, still recovering from flicking away the Tailed Beast Bomb, hadn’t had time to exhale the turbid air from its chest. Its depleted muscles ached unbearably, but facing a deadly attack, it could only hastily turn and place its long saber horizontally in front of itself.
Using the Shadow Manipulation technique, the Three-Tails Isobu towered two of the Balrog’s heights. The Balrog, at this moment, was like a mantis with a bent arm, trying to stop an oncoming wheel.
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle"
The ferocious bone needles on Isobu’s back scraped against the Balrog’s long saber repeatedly. Not sparks, but a series of flames danced.
In terms of sheer strength, the Balrog might not have been weaker than Isobu. But one had been gathering its strength for a long time, while the other had just expended its full power to flick away the Tailed Beast Bomb and was now at its limit, still bearing non-trivial injuries. The comparison was clear.
The Balrog’s eyes threatened to burst, its eyeballs almost popping out like those of a dead fish.
But despite its utmost effort, the long saber in its hands felt like a disobedient child, trying to escape its grip. Even as blood from its cracked tiger’s mouth flowed onto the saber and burned into flames, enhancing the saber’s power, it couldn’t withstand the attack from Isobu, whose strength had not diminished at all.
"Ahhhhhh"
With one hand on the hilt and the other pressing the blade, the Balrog grunted continuously. Its muscles bulged, and cracks in its shattered exoskeleton chest plate bled faint black blood. It was clear the Balrog had reached its limit. Its body lowered, and it began to retreat uncontrollably.
Just as the two were locked in a stalemate, faint footsteps sounded behind the Balrog. Matatabi, the Two-Tails, burning with blue flames, swung its claws, which were larger than a house, and swiped.
The Balrog saw Matatabi’s attack, of course, but Isobu, using Shadow Manipulation, prevented it from daring to slacken or neglect its defense. Thus, it could only watch helplessly as its body was pierced and sent flying by Isobu’s sharp claws.
The feeling of its body being pierced was so clear. The pain of its ruptured internal organs and bleeding was so stark.
Internal organ fragments, more than a meter long, were dragged out by the sharp claws, along with spurting black blood. The Balrog had never been so severely injured in such a short time since the battle began. This completely exceeded its imagination.
"Kill him, kill him, kill him."
Seeing the black blood falling from the sky, the Evil God Silkworm in Li Xi’s heart screamed hysterically, urging Li Xi to slay the Balrog.
"Be quiet. I have my own plans."
The Three-Tails and the Two-Tails, who had stopped their Shadow Manipulation, increased their speed and caught up to the battered Balrog.
The Balrog looked miserable now. Because its blood had been splattered by Matatabi’s attack and then smeared with sand from the ground, it looked worse than a beggar.
There were three large parallel gashes on its chest and abdomen, inflicted by the sharp claws of Matatabi. Each wound was as large as a pot. If not for the Balrog’s sturdy body, Matatabi’s claws would have created a貫穿 wound. Black blood gushed out uncontrollably.
The Balrog was a tough character. Feeling the injuries on its body, it knew this wouldn’t do. It flipped its hand, and its entire arm became like a red-hot iron poker, plunging into the wounds.
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle"
Black smoke rose, carrying the aroma of roasted meat.
"Ahhhhhh"
The three large wounds were instantly seared shut by the Balrog itself, stopping the flow of blood. The pain, like torture, made the Balrog’s lips twitch, and its eyes, filled with hatred, seemed capable of igniting the entire world.
Especially upon seeing the two approaching Tailed Beasts, it felt like they wanted to feast on its flesh and drink its blood, and that even digging up its ancestors' graves wouldn’t quell its hatred!
However, the recurring weakness in its body forced the Balrog to entertain the worst possible outcome for its battle. It glanced sideways at the spatial rift in the distance. The multiple large-scale attacks had not caused significant damage to it, and it continued to emanate mysterious spatial fluctuations. But unlike before, when demons erupted from it, the number of demons coming through the spatial rift now was pitifully small. Even a few that came through turned back and fled upon seeing the situation.
These demons truly dared not participate in a battle that could cripple a small dimension.
These were not the worst things. What angered the Balrog more was that the demon army, which had been fighting fiercely on the battlefield, had long lost its initial arrogance. Instead, they were fleeing like stray dogs.
Even demons, accustomed to the harshness of the Abyss, found it difficult to endure such brutal combat and such rapidly changing environments.
The Balrog picked up its long saber again. It had been directly attacked by Tailed Beast Bombs multiple times and had blocked Isobu’s Shadow Manipulation. Its long saber remained as sturdy as ever.
"Scrape"
Matatabi’s claws scraped against the saber, emitting a piercing shriek and igniting continuous flames. The series of cat-like swipes forced the Balrog into pure defense, completely losing its ability to attack.
The Balrog had no time to counter. As soon as it blocked Matatabi’s attack, Isobu’s massive tail lashed out.
"Boom"
The Balrog was struck on the wound on its abdomen by Isobu’s tail.
Pain, immense pain.
The wound, which had just been cauterized and stopped bleeding, was instantly ripped open. The secondary pain made the Balrog, who had evolved and upgraded through battle, tremble. Its entire soul seemed to shrink in agony.
The Balrog was once again sent flying. This time, before it could even hit the ground, Matatabi swiped again. The Balrog was passed along in mid-air, like a football kicked by an international superstar, never seeming to reach the ground.
"Come on, just a little more, just a little more."
The Evil God Silkworm in its heart couldn’t control its excitement, treating Li Xi’s heart as a nightclub and dancing wildly.
"Let me finish him."
Isobu raised its head, opening its massive mouth as countless points of light converged. In less than two breaths, a small Tailed Beast Bomb appeared.
Isobu stepped forward and swallowed the Tailed Beast Bomb. Its body instantly sank, pressing a perfect turtle-shaped pattern into the ground.
It spat towards the Balrog’s location.
"Boom"
A yellow beam of light shot out.
Matatabi, as if it had eyes on its back, dodged the yellow beam of light just in time as it fired, revealing the Balrog, which was being pummeled and couldn't land.
What did it feel like to watch an energy beam shoot towards oneself? If it had its full strength, the Balrog would merely smile slightly.
But now, ravaged and covered in wounds that exposed bone, its vitality at an unprecedented low, facing the energy beam head-on, the Balrog wished it could die.
At this moment, it had to admit it felt a sense of despair. What kind of opponents were these!
Its eyes were as desperate as a fool who had walked for seven days in the desert without water. As a final struggle, it raised its long saber to its chest.
"Boom"
"Ahhhhhh"
Explosion, flames, energy shockwaves, a small mushroom cloud, and the Balrog’s screams echoed repeatedly throughout the dimension.
"How is it? Is it dead? Is it dead?"
The Evil God Silkworm eagerly asked the moment the Balrog was hit.
Li Xi’s smile held a mysterious quality. "It’s not dead, but it’s definitely severely injured."
"Can’t die?" The Evil God Silkworm was incredulous. So many heavy blows, and still not dead? Was this thing made of iron? Even iron would melt.
Just as the Evil God Silkworm expressed its doubt, a colossal figure suddenly shot into a nearby spatial rift from the dust kicked up by the explosion. Its hunched posture as it fled resembled that of a dog.
"No way? He ran away?" The Evil God Silkworm doubted its own eyes. This was the lord of a dimension, who had occupied an entire layer of the Abyss. How could he flee like a dog?
Li Xi didn’t reply. Matatabi, who had been ready, fired a Tailed Beast Bomb in pursuit. Just as the Balrog passed through the spatial rift, the Tailed Beast Bomb arrived, its timing perfectly executed.
The Balrog, having escaped into the spatial rift, knew what the attack behind it was without looking back. It had experienced such attacks several times, and each time it was excruciatingly painful.
The boundless hatred could not be washed away by even the waters of the heavens. It swung its hand, and the long saber that had blocked multiple attacks, now wreathed in magma flames, pierced through the spatial rift and returned to the small dimension.
"Boom"
The Tailed Beast Bomb did not pass through the spatial rift; it was blocked by the Balrog’s long saber. At this moment, the spatial rift, affected by the close-range explosion, became unstable, shrinking at a visibly rapid pace.
The two Tailed Beasts, through the spatial rift, met the gaze of a pair of blood-red eyes filled with hatred.
"You just wait. Your death is not far off. I swear on my honor that your corpses will become my finest collections." The Balrog issued its oath during the last moments of the spatial rift’s fusion.
Isobu also spoke calmly, "Please take good care of my twenty-fifth layer of the Abyss for me. When the time is right, we will come to claim it ourselves."
Matatabi added, "As a reward for you guarding our home, our merciful selves will allow you to live in the world for a while longer."
The Balrog’s gaze, filled with hatred, trembled. It seemed to understand something. Why had he been able to pass through the spatial rift so smoothly? Because he was close enough to it. Upon realizing he was no match for the two Tailed Beasts, the Balrog had intentionally moved towards the spatial rift.
But now, thinking about it carefully, didn’t the two Tailed Beasts know his little trick?
The conspicuous spatial rift stood there; even a blind person could sense it. How could the two Tailed Beasts not sense it?
Then why did they act this way?
Did they not know he wanted to escape?
From these last few words of exchange, a chill rose from the Balrog’s heels to its forehead. The pain from its dozens of wounds faded in this chill.
They had done it deliberately. They had never intended to kill him; they had let him escape.
But why?
The Balrog dared not think further, but even if its head were chopped off, the most likely possibility continued to flood its mind.
"That Balrog and these two strange demonic beasts will not be satisfied with a dilapidated small dimension. Their goal from the very beginning has been the twenty-fifth layer of the Abyss, their home."
"Bang"
Watching the two demonic beasts’ matching eerie smiles, the spatial rift closed, and the two dimensions were once again severed.
The Balrog stared at space, unable to regain its composure for a long time. It didn’t know when these two strange demonic beasts would break through space and arrive, but it knew that once they did, with its own strength, it would surely perish.
"I need help."
.........
In the small dimension, Li Xi looked at the long saber the Balrog had left behind at the spatial rift. Even without its owner, the saber still emitted terrifying heat. Its length of twenty-five meters was beyond Li Xi’s current capabilities.
Li Xi reverted from the Isobu form to his Balrog form, accompanied by Matatabi, who was engulfed in blue flames. In front of him, the demon army was digging itself out of the earth.
The demons who survived in such an environment were either extremely lucky or possessed some strength.
The most conspicuous were the ten Balrogs. They looked left and right. Despite having many subordinates behind them, facing two powerful beings who had defeated and driven back the Balrog, they didn’t know whether to surrender or surrender?
"We........"
Finally, one Balrog couldn’t bear Li Xi’s piercing gaze and mustered the courage to speak of surrender.
But his words were immediately interrupted by Li Xi. An impartial judgment fell from Li Xi’s Balrog mouth, "I sentence you to death."
"Boom"
Matatabi, who had already anticipated Li Xi’s intentions, fired a Tailed Beast Bomb. The ten Balrogs and a small part of the demon army behind them died instantly. Even if these ten Balrogs survived due to their tenacious vitality, they couldn’t escape the merciless slaughter of the two powerful beings.
Li Xi’s Balrog bloodline essence had once again experienced a great harvest. Li Xi estimated that his current reserve of Balrog bloodline essence could push him to the threshold of a Balrog, just shy of divine power.
And with the Evil God Silkworm, divine power was merely a matter of time.