98: Chapter 98 Sacrifice of Oneself

"Impossible, impossible!"

The leading Black-Robed Person cried out in shock at the sight.

But suddenly, a thick mist rapidly rose in the surroundings, which significantly improved the mental state of the several Black-robed Men, leading them to believe that the formation had not been much affected.

On the opposite building, Nie Ning's lips curled up slightly, a mocking look in his eyes.

The Black-Robed Person muttered incantations, continuing to activate the summoning ritual, and a flickering phantom of a shield appeared above the formation once more.

At that very moment, a blood-colored tentacle shot out, directly piercing through the heart of one of the Black-robed Men.

The Black-Robed Person spat out blood, turning his head with difficulty toward the direction from which the tentacle had appeared.

He saw a bizarre, two-meter-tall Flesh Spider crawling up the formation along the tentacle.

Seeing this, the leading Black-Robed Person drew the longsword at his waist and severed the tentacle, then moved to the side of the injured Black-Robed Person.

Suddenly, the leading Black-Robed Person's expression changed, and his body rapidly retreated backward.

The tentacle burrowed into the Black-Robed Person's body; the man hit by the tentacle began to swell, as if worms were crawling inside him.

'Bang!'

The Black-Robed Person's body exploded.

Quick-witted and agile, the leading Black-Robed Person summoned a square barrier to block the splashing flesh and blood.

The Flesh Spider's tentacles twitched slightly, and the splashing flesh and blood seemed to be attracted, rapidly converging toward the spider.

After being replenished by the flesh and blood, the Flesh Spider's size grew slightly larger once again.

"A Corruptor!"

Witnessing this scene, the leading Black-Robed Person turned pale with fright.

Although only a very few people knew of the Corruptors' existence, the destruction they caused was enough to terrify that small group of people.

At least there was still room for bargaining with the gods they summoned, but the appearance of a Corruptor represented the beginning of total destruction.

Moreover, this Corruptor's strength was very high, capable of easily killing a High-Tier Knight; its power was likely already on par with his own.

But that was only its surface strength.

A Corruptor's attacks carried a mental corrosion effect; the longer the battle lasted, the easier it was for one's mind to be affected.

Not to mention, he still didn't know what abilities this Corruptor possessed.

For a moment, the leading Black-Robed Person's face turned grim as he looked toward his companions.

His companions saw his look, and a flash of fanaticism appeared in their eyes.

"Using our own flesh and blood as a guide, we pray for our God to descend upon this world!"

With that, several Black-robed Men pulled out daggers and stabbed them directly into their own hearts.

As the daggers sliced across their chests, warm blood splattered onto the corpse at the center of the formation, which was then absorbed by both the corpse and the formation.

Nie Ning's expression hardened, and he once again condensed a ball of light in his hand.

However, due to overusing spells just now, waves of sharp pain were radiating through Nie Ning's body.

But at this moment, he had to destroy the formation as quickly as possible; otherwise, once the evil spirit descended, he wouldn't fare well either.

The ball of light flew rapidly toward the formation in the air.

Just as it was about to succeed, a black shield rose once again.

'Bang!'

The ball of light exploded outside the shield.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the Black-robed Men began to wither at a speed visible to the naked eye; clearly, this shield was being sustained by their life force.

Seeing this, Nie Ning's face turned grim, but he soon noticed that the Flesh Spider was still inside the shield!

Under Nie Ning's control, the Flesh Spider rushed toward the Black-robed Men, intending to interrupt their sacrifice.

The leading Black-Robed Person saw this and blocked the spider's path.

But the current Flesh Spider was no longer the same one that had encountered the Little Boy.

Although its size was much smaller and it hadn't absorbed as many people, as a soul of corruption, the Human-Faced Balloon's growth efficiency could almost rival that of an evil god.

This was also the terrifying thing about Corruptors.

After devouring one Great Knight and several High-Tier Knights, the Flesh Spider had inherited the vast majority of their physical power.

If it could devour the people of an entire city, its strength could likely rise to a level equal to a descending evil god.

...

The Flesh Spider split off several tentacles to attack the leading Black-Robed Person.

Facing an opponent with the strength of a Great Knight and recovery abilities far exceeding one, even though the leading Black-Robed Person was an Evil Spirit Priest, he could still only barely block the spider's attacks.

Furthermore, a Corruptor was almost immune to any negative effects.

Aside from pure mental destruction and overwhelming offensive output, it was very difficult for an ordinary Transcendent to face one head-on.

But for the leading Black-Robed Person, this was enough.

As long as the sacrificial ritual continued, the moment the God descended would be the end for both this ghostly thing and that brat!

...

While the Flesh Spider was entangled with the Black-Robed Person, a group of people arrived downstairs.

These people had extraordinary auras and wore exquisite armor.

Several among them had powerful presences, evidently having reached the level of Great Knight.

Nie Ning didn't know many of them; the most familiar were City Lord Valk and the butler, Horun.

A group of knights leapt up to the high building where Nie Ning was located.

"Lord Wizard."

Horun bowed slightly, seemingly intentionally reminding everyone of Nie Ning's status.

"Lord Wizard."

Hearing this, the others glanced at each other and then bowed to Nie Ning to show their respect.

Although knights were already very powerful nowadays, compared to wizards with their myriad of methods, they were ultimately a step behind.

In terms of status, wizards were not subject to the control of the Wilbes Republic.

When individual military power has transcended, if a noble title is not backed by strength, one does not have the qualifications for equal conversation.

"Mm."

Nie Ning nodded and looked back at the group, but then he immediately frowned.

"Why didn't Ms. Audrey come?"

"Wizard Audrey said she needs to prepare some things and asked us to stall for a while first,"

Valk stepped forward and said.

"In that case, what you need to do is very simple: try to break the formation above."

With that, Nie Ning used his limited remaining mana to control the soil beneath the building, raising a platform under the formation.

Large-scale manipulation of soil was a heavy burden for Nie Ning.

Being able to reach this step was only because his Five Elements Manipulation had reached the intermediate level.

Otherwise, with his current strength, it would be nearly impossible to achieve this in such a short time.

At this moment, sweat seeped from Nie Ning's forehead, and he mentally cursed his earlier impulsiveness—why on earth did he destroy the building for no reason?

However, the group of knights was stunned by Nie Ning's methods.

Most of them were actually seeing a wizard for the first time, and it was certainly the first time they had seen someone use wizardry in such a way.

Even the well-traveled Valk was filled with wonder.

He had long known that Audrey didn't want to stay here at all.

If not for internal reasons within the Crimson Holy Blade, Audrey probably would have run off long ago.

Now that there was such a powerful wizard guarding the place, even if Audrey left, they probably wouldn't have to worry too much about harassment from Corruptors.

...

As Nie Ning constructed the soil platform, everyone's attention was drawn to the fight on the formation.

A Corruptor versus an Evil Spirit Priest?

He wondered if there would be any merit in turning this into a theatrical play.

While they might still have a chance to see wizards, a scene of a Corruptor fighting an Evil Spirit Priest was truly a once-in-a-millennium event.

...