Souta and the rest finally arrived in front of the Mountain of Demise. The central region was huge and it took them a day just to arrive at this place. They even passed through the territory of the Imperial Family. The only problem was that there were thousands of people blocking their path.
From the looks of it, these people were hostile to him. They weren't going to let Souta's group enter the Mountain of Demise. A battle was the expected outcome between these two sides.
"Everyone, prepare for battle," Souta said in a low voice but his words traveled through every member of Astros.
He observed the strength of the opposite side using his [Galaxy Eyes]. He found that there was no need to worry about the enemy except for their numbers. The enemy only had two Two Shackles and seven One Shackle experts. It was nothing compared to him.
Boom!!
Suddenly, the ground shook heavily. Souta and the rest looked at the sky and saw a pillar of crimson energy shooting toward outer space.
"What is this...?" Souta muttered as he tightly knitted his brows.
'The ritual has started. I didn't think that it was connected to a sub-world. A bridge has appeared and if you go to the top of the Mountain of Demise you will find it. It means that the sub-world is a sacrifice and will create a mirage so that the being sealed inside the mountain will be able to go out.' Saya explained.
"Then..." Souta looked down. Some of his equipment skills were still on cooldown. He couldn't use them yet but he had a way to defeat Draymond.
"Everyone!! Attack!!"
Souta shouted as his energy burst out of his body. He immediately summoned his doppelgangers.
Swoosh!!
Instantly, the two sides clashed fiercely on the foot of the Mountain of Demise.
The soldiers of Astros quickly used their parasitic transformation to boost their combat power. It was natural since they were fighting several people at a time. The numbers of the enemy were high so they had to use everything that they could.
Boom!!
Souta manipulated the blood that he gathered. The sea of blood charged through the top powerhouses of the enemy's side along with the doppelgangers. All the Shackled Realm experts would be handled by him.
Bang!
Souta moved his body as fast as he could. The One Shackle experts could only see a blur in the air. It was a speed that exceeded the perception of a One Shackle. It was too fast.
In an instant, Souta appeared in front of them as he brandished the sword on his waist. He was about to swing it down on their necks when the two Two Shackles experts appeared beside him. Both of them attacked Souta with all of their might.
Bang!!
Souta was blown dozens of meters in the sky. He then waved his hands as thousands of blood spears were fired in the blink of an eye. The two Two Shackles experts tried to block all the blood spears but then they realized something was wrong.
"It's too late..." Souta smirked.
The two Two Shackles experts widened their eyes as they swiftly turned around. They saw Souta's seven doppelgangers dashing through the blood spears as they attacked the One Shackles experts.
Bang! Bang!
At the same time, Souta kicked the air and propelled himself toward the Two Shackles experts. The blade in his hand glowed with crimson light.
Swoosh!
"Huh?"
The two Two Shackles experts were stunned. They slowly turned around and saw that Souta was standing behind them with his back facing them. Their visions slowly turned black as a red line appeared on their body.
Spurt!!
The next second, their bodies were split apart. Their blood sprayed in the air but it didn't fall on the ground. Instead, all the blood flowed in midair and joined the sea of blood.
Souta sheathed his sword and took a deep breath. He just defeated two Two Shackles Realm experts in just a matter of seconds. Normally, it would take at least a minute but this time he didn't have the time to play around.
In that split second when he swung his sword, Souta activated various skills along with [Possession] to catch them off guard. It worked since they didn't expect that Souta would suddenly grow stronger at that certain moment.
"It was short but that burst consumed some of my energy," Souta muttered as he tightly clenched his fist.
He stood up and slightly turned his head.
"Everyone, I'm going ahead. I've taken care of all Shackled Realm experts so you guys deal with the rest. I hope you can use this battle to improve yourself."
After he said those words, Souta took a stride toward the mountain.
Astros' name resounded throughout the entirety of central region. Their unbridled actions gathered a lot of attention as they marched through the Mountain of Demise. They annihilated all the people that get in their path. Not a single mercy was given to those people.
At this moment, a lot of organizations learned about the Astros arriving at the foot of the Mountain of Demise. Some bonded together to stop Astros while others hoped that Astros could stop the impending calamity.
Souta destroyed everything in his path. He arrived near the peak of the mountain and gazed at the pillar of crimson energy. He stopped moving as a figure appeared far away from him.
He was familiar with this figure. This man was none other than Draymond, the one he fought in the capital of Heiro Kingdom.
"So you're here?" Draymond said with a faint smile on his face. "Do you like my gifts?"
"Gifts..." Souta narrowed his eyes as he felt rage brewing in his heart.
He was duped by this man. Elder Guan had died along with the other experts of Astros and Kessa has been sealed once again. Souta didn't understand it at first but after seeing those scenes, he realized that everything was in the plan of this guy.
Souta didn't even know how to explain Elder Guan's death to Amanda. Elder Guan was the closest witch to Amanda. She would be devastated once she learned about his death.
"This time... I will kill you."
Souta said in a cold tone. His two energy cores were full of energy and he guessed that it would be fine to use it for now.
"Where did you get that confidence? Did you forget what happened last time?" Draymond asked with a mocking smile. "I almost thought that you would not come after me. I thought that you gave up since you haven't made a move in the past few days. Did you know that the ritual only lasted for two weeks? And right now it will be completed soon."
"It's not your problem," Souta answered. He didn't immediately head here because he had to make sure that he recovered to his peak and let some of his equipment skills finish their cooldown time. If not, he was sure that he wouldn't be able to fight this guy.
"It doesn't matter. No matter what you do today, the ritual is already fixed. Our emperor will return." Draymond said.
Souta took a deep breath as his aura rose sharply.
Draymond smiled and his aura burst out of his body too.
In an instant, the two figures collided in midair causing a violent shockwave to sweep out in every direction.
Boom!!
The soldiers of Astros looked up. They could feel the vibration in the air and they knew that their Lord was already fighting.
"Let's finish this!!"
They roared as they raised their weapons above their heads. Strings of flesh writhed as they covered their bodies like armor.
...
On Eztein and Torkez's side.
"You guys are here!" An old man said with a huge grin on his face. His clothes were filled with blood stains.
"Franklin!!" Eztein and Torkez exclaimed when they saw the old man's appearance.
"We haven't seen each other for a long time." Torkez said before he asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I followed Souta on the Bland City and chased after an unknown guy. That guy is tricky and managed to trap me. I was lucky that I survived and then, that mountain appeared all of a sudden." Franklin said as he pointed his finger at the Mountain of Demise. "I came here because I want to know more about this mountain. Do you perhaps know anything about it?"
"That's Heaven's Sealing Mountain also known as the Mountain of Demise," Eztein said as he slowly explained what was that huge mountain that almost reached outer space.
"What?! So you're telling me that we are confined in Hall Plains?! So our leader rallied our forces to stop it!" Franklin was surprised after he heard the explanation.
"Yeah, that's the gist of it. We have to go on another route." Torkez nodded. He then recalled something. "Are you traveling alone? Did you see Amanda?"
"Amanda? That little witch. No, I haven't seen her." Franklin shook his head. He then smiled and said, "More importantly, we should go there. I can feel it. The presence of strong people that will entertain me."
"Okay, let's go. Amanda is probably fine. Souta gave her a different task last time but... I wonder if she heard the news about Elder Guan." Eztein said.
