For the Mastanians, launching an assault would certainly be deadly against ordinary beings from the lower realms. However, for Haoyun and Dao Lao, even with their combat abilities restricted by chaotic black hole energy, this level of siege was still far from sufficient. Therefore, Dao Lao first swung his Demonic Annihilation Staff, which transformed once again into a giant baseball bat of light, smashing two entrances leading from the direction of the King's palace into the rear garden, temporarily halting the reinforcements from entering. Then he leaped forward, joining Haoyun in a battle of decimating the enemy ahead.
The dozen or so Yongmu Star people rescued by Haoyun and Dao Lao from the King's palace were equally formidable. While some were officials accompanying King El Er, they possessed impressive combat prowess. Upon joining the fight, they didn't become burdens but instead, with their extensive combat experience, quickly formed a cohesive defensive formation alongside Haoyun and Dao Lao. This allowed them to resist the attacks of over a hundred ground troops and dozens of griffins from the air.
Although the accompanying ministers of King El Er recognized Haoyun and Dao Lao's formidable strength, facing numerous enemies, they were not deluded into thinking they could easily escape unscathed. Therefore, as they joined the battle, the elder among them handed the Dark Yin Realm Battle Armor to Dao Lao, instructing earnestly, "Warriors, facing many enemies, we may not survive this ordeal! This battle armor is more valuable than our lives. Please ensure it reaches Queen Elina on Yongmu Star. Remember, it's crucial for activating the teleportation array in the palace! Just place the battle armor on the array, and it will activate, transporting you back to the palace immediately!"
Dao Lao had not expected the armor given to him by the elder to possess such capabilities, but it clarified why the elder deemed it more precious than their lives. Accepting the armor, Dao Lao reassured, "Rest assured! With us here, you will definitely return to Yongmu Star! Remember! Stay close to us, don't stray! Have confidence in yourselves! Don't give up easily!"
Then, Dao Lao called out through the system, "Hey! Jia Meir! How's it going over there? There are too many enemies outside; we need to speed up dealing with them!"
"If you dare call me Jia Meir again, I'll kill you along with everyone else!" Dream Jia warned in annoyance, the name reminding her of painful memories from the Fragrant Nebula.
With a thunderous explosion erupting from the fountain in the center of the palace garden, the surprise fountain burst open with tremendous force. Seizing the momentary distraction caused by this sudden sound, a splendid figure burst out from the gaping hole in the fountain, soaring into the sky. With a high-tech lance in hand, she swiftly fired upon several griffins preparing to dive-bomb Haoyun and his group. These griffins were pierced by energy blasts from the lance and ignited, falling from the sky as fireballs before they could even scream.
Dream Jia's absolute superiority in all living beings was evident in this primarily melee battle, so her appearance immediately clarified the situation. With the combined force of Mastanians and Yongmu Star people forming their defensive line, the enemy troops, even with numerical superiority, quickly found themselves on the defensive.
Though the invaders were formidable, under the combined assault of Haoyun and his group, the joint Mastanian-Yongmu Star coalition guarding the rear garden was soon annihilated. However, Mastanians were not a cowardly race by nature, and reinforcements continued to pour in incessantly. This time, the reinforcements included heavily armored warriors clad head to toe in heavy armor and wielding giant shields.
Upon their arrival, these heavily armored warriors did not immediately engage in combat but instead raised their shields to construct two massive shield walls at both ends of the rear garden. Clearly, their goal was to trap Haoyun and his group within the garden as much as possible. As for why these reinforcements did not attack immediately and instead let Mastanians on griffins harass Haoyun and his group with blow arrows from the air, that remained unclear.
However, leveraging the protection provided by the corridor's terrain and the shields confiscated from previous battles, Haoyun's group managed to completely withstand the blow arrow attacks launched by the Mastanians from the air. Yet even so, it was clear from the current situation that these Mastanians and Yongmu Star coalition were not their match. Therefore, Haoyun, Dao Lao, and Dream Jia had no reason to continue stalling here. After instructing Haoyun to protect the King's entourage, Dao Lao and Dream Jia took the initiative to launch an attack.
First, Dream Jia utilized her superb aerial combat skills and the powerful firepower provided by All Beings Equal to clear the griffins in the sky above the garden. Then, she coordinated with Dao Lao, who was attacking from the ground, to scatter the heavily armored warriors below. Surprisingly, their attacks still managed to inflict damage on the soldiers holding giant shields.
However, this time, they could clearly feel that they couldn't dispatch these soldiers as easily as before. These heavily armored soldiers not only had the ability to block their attacks with giant shields, but even when they suffered injuries that would have been fatal, they wouldn't immediately fall, instead silently getting back up to hold their ground.
"What's going on?! How did these heavily armored soldiers suddenly become so tough?!" Haoyun, a member of the King's entourage, quickly noticed the difference in these soldiers.
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Before Dao Lao and Dream Jia could respond to Haoyun, a Mastanian engaged in aerial combat with Dream Jia on a griffin spoke up first, "I knew it! How could those little deer from the Everlong Star cause such a commotion? It turns out the priests from the Divine Spirit Realm have graced us with their presence! Ahem, ahem!"
This Mastanian, who previously only made unintelligible noises, now suddenly spoke like a human, swiftly withdrew from the battlefield on the griffin, and continued, "Since the three of you are here, why rush to leave? Why not stay a while longer and enjoy the cultural scenery of our Everstar World! Ahem, ahem, ahem!"
After the Mastanian said this, those flying griffins seemed to receive some kind of command and all ceased their attacks. Even though Dream Jia continued to fire at them, these Mastanians only dodged her energy blasts as much as possible, flying up into the sky without retaliating.
"Hmph! Stop pretending! If you have the guts, reveal your true form! I promise you, I won't let you die without suffering!" Seeing the griffins that were trembling in fear of her earlier stop fighting upon hearing the Mastanian speak, Dream Jia sneered disdainfully. Then, she focused again and aimed directly at the speaking Mastanian, piercing him and the griffin he was sitting on with a single shot.
After Dream Jia killed the Mastanian, the scene fell silent. However, just over ten seconds later, this silence was shattered by a powerful and heavy flapping sound coming from above. Following that, a gigantic griffin, several times larger than a normal one, quickly flew from the direction of the King's Hall with a group of griffins escorting it. Then, Haoyun and the others saw a man standing nonchalantly on the back of this giant griffin, swiftly flying into the airspace above the rear garden.
With blood-red long hair scattered on his head and dressed in a magnificent purple robe, the man arrived above the rear garden. First, he politely greeted Dream Jia, then lowered the giant griffin he controlled to nod in greeting to Dao Lao, before excitedly turning his eyes, which shimmered with a halo of grass-green light, and twitching the muscles on his face, made of fibers resembling woven grass, and opened a mouth that didn't actually exist on his face, emitting a voice that seemed specifically designed to convey news of death, "Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is——"
"You're that damned lord of the Mastanians, right?" Dream Jia didn't have time for idle chatter, so she rudely interrupted before the strange man could finish speaking.
"My name is Destroyer Blackgate Nashet. I am the leader of the Mastanians. Of course, everyone prefers to call me the Grand Lord." Although Dream Jia's interruption disrupted the strange man's buildup of pretentiousness for quite a while, he still suppressed his anger, maintaining a smile as he finished his lines.
Since they had already guessed that this person was the Destroyer Blackgate, Haoyun and the others naturally didn't show too much surprise after he introduced himself. Of course, another reason Haoyun had furrowed his brows but wasn't surprised by the appearance of the Destroyer was that, according to the detection results provided by the three's Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System, the Mold Grade of this Destroyer Blackgate had already reached the level of five and a half stars.
This meant that the Destroyer Blackgate, who was trying to show extremely high cultivation but was actually emitting a deadly aura non-stop, already had combat power almost equivalent to that of Elina after she awakened, just by standing here. Haoyun and the others found it difficult to guarantee that the Destroyer wouldn't unleash even stronger combat power once the two sides really started fighting. Moreover, since the Destroyer only possessed combat power equivalent to a Mold Grade of five and a half stars, combined with the suppression suffered by Haoyun and the others, he would become a very tricky opponent for the three.
The Destroyer seemed unaware of Haoyun and the others' wariness towards him. Instead, after introducing his identity, he elegantly sniffed the scent on the three of them with his noseless face and said, "You seem... quite different. The power within me seems to be very wary of you. Could it be that... the three of you are the famous Mold Spirit Energy Tracking officials?"
"Hahaha! I didn't expect our infamous reputation to spread all the way here! We are truly ashamed! It's really too shameful!" Dao Lao stroked his white beard, pretending to be modest as he looked up and laughed loudly.
"How did you... know our identities?" Dream Jia asked, frowning.
"I have nothing to say." The Destroyer responded elegantly and somewhat arrogantly, twisting his neck in response.
Then, the Destroyer turned around and asked again, "Why don't I remember any figures like you three on the Everlong Star? I guess the three of you must be new guests who have come from afar, right?"
"I have nothing to say." Dao Lao shrugged and responded with the same answer.
At the same time, Haoyun and the others were puzzled by the Destroyer's knowledge of their identities. Because this black hole was formed during the Divine War period, these guys had been trapped in it since then. The Mold Spirit Energy Tracking officials were only established after the Divine War. Logically speaking, the Destroyer shouldn't have known they existed. Could it be that he learned about the Mold Spirit Energy Tracking officials from Elina?
"Forget it. Whatever your purpose is, your outcome will only be a dead end. Hmph! I want to see what abilities these Mold Spirit Energy Tracking officials really have! Haha, hahaha!" The Destroyer lightly wiped the position of his mouth with his vine-like claws and sneered contemptuously, then leaped down from the giant griffin and rushed towards Dao Lao.
"Fine. Whatever your purpose is, your fate is sealed either way. Hmph! I'd like to see what tricks these Mold Spirit Energy Tracking officials really have! Haha, hahaha!" The Destroyer lightly wiped the corner of his mouth with his claw-like withered vines, sneering contemptuously, then leapt from the giant griffin and rushed towards Dao Lao.
"Dream Jia!" Dao Lao, seeing the Destroyer attack him, quickly retreated to maintain distance while shouting up at Dream Jia hovering in the air.
"Here I come!" Dream Jia, upon hearing Dao Lao's call, immediately pulled the trigger and launched an attack from above.
It should be noted that Dao Lao did not immediately engage the Destroyer in direct combat this time, not because he feared the Destroyer's strength, but because he understood that his primary task was to rescue people. Therefore, fighting outnumbered and aiming for swift resolution was the correct choice now. If they delayed here any longer, the situation for the King's entourage would only become more dire.