God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 185: Clash of Blood and Ice/Dog Eats Dog...(5)

Cain stared at the chaos around him with a serene expression. Despite the intensity of the fight increasing, he still didn't join the fight, instead opting to just sit back and watch.

Blaze, Manny, Stan, and Li had all found their opponents within the Followers of the Blood god's little army, while Rollo and Hunter duked it out in an intense battle a few meters away from the Ice Bridge.

'Although fighting is good, this can't go on forever...' Cain had only reacted rashly because he had wanted to see the battle progress of the opposing side. There was no way he would become infuriated by someone who couldn't do him any real harm. Instead, he was curious as to how they fought and the powers they used.

Now that he had seen that, there was no reason to let the fight go on. However, staring at the entire situation, just one thought traveled back and forth in his mind...

'Should I really?'

The problem here was although he had allowed the fight to progress, he wasn't interested in fighting anyone yet. With the power of {Seal}, he would be able to render anyone who even had a single thought of engaging him in battle, incapacitated.

However, now that the fight was at its climax, he couldn't just draw the curtains. Despite his intentions or desires, he didn't forget for one moment that he was planning to build a team. And one of the things he couldn't do when trying to do that was act selfishly.

While ending the fight would save them a lot of time, each individual's battle would serve as a means for them to grow and evolve their skills and power into higher realms. He wouldn't want his growth restricted if he was in their shoes.

By engaging in frequent battles, especially with other humans, Cain could see that their speed of evolution was much faster.

Therefore, his internal conflict tore him apart...

"Do you want to stop the fight now?" Jenny who stood not too far from Cain said as she also watched the battle increasing in intensity. Despite the tempo of the battle and the violent exchange of energies, the Ice Bridge still held, causing Cain to be a little surprised as he didn't expect it to be so strong and durable.

'Must be the power of that Celestial...' Cain couldn't deny that the power of celestial beings, even in death wasn't something he could stand up to despite his current strength.

Turning to Jenny who now stood within two feet of him, Cain felt his heart flutter as he gazed upon her features. Still slightly pale from the surprise attack from Rollo, her lashes flapped extremely quickly as her eyes followed the battles of Stan and Li. It was evident she was worried by how tightly she gripped the barrel of the rifle sling across her shoulder.

"Yes and no..." Cain said, turning away so he wouldn't be distracted by her beauty. He also made sure to move an extra foot away so as not to mistakenly come in contact with her. After all, he didn't know who would be the one to trigger his curse, so it was better he was careful.

"Don't stop the fight..." Jenny said, her hand still gripping her weapon hard.

"Are you sure? You seem worried for some reason." Cain said, his gaze drifting back to her.

"Fighting with humans in these times will be many times more dangerous than fighting against devils and mutant beasts. For some reason, the way devils, mutants, and humans fight differ." Jenny said, her dark brows squeezing into a frown.

"I see that as well," Cain said.

One of the reasons Cain wanted to observe the Followers of the Blood god fight was because he wanted to see how humans fought now that they had access to power beyond their natural capabilities.

A majority of them fought like cavemen who had just found out the right ways to use sticks and stones. Since they didn't rely on magic, they relied on physical attacks. They swung their weapons without technique and acted like savages as they tried their best to claim at least one person's life.

Despite their efforts, Cain wasn't too bothered about them as they were too weak to cause any damage. He was worried about those who were in their midst.

By relying on a strange technique that turned their bodies to blood mist and the mad charges of their comrades, those who posed a threat hid within the sea of bodies and attacked from within, making it difficult for Stan, Manny, Li, and Blaze to fight properly.

"But it is also important to do so. Power causes a lot of madness formerly hidden in this world to be revealed. If I'm not mistaken, their leader is going to be a madman whose dream is to conquer the world and rule it under his iron feet, or something stupid like that..." Jenny said, her gaze tightening into a glare.

Cain watched as the group of four struggled to guard properly against the sea of attacks. Despite it, they still did their best, trying hard not to kill anyone of those fighting them. But the mad attackers seemed oblivious to this as whenever they were knocked down, they would get right back up.

Be it a coma-inducing kick to the head, or a twist of the arm that completely dislocated it, like zombies crawling back from the dead, they would rise back up only a second later...

"Judging by how they behave, then we might have a lot more to worry about. To turn a bunch of people who have seen no violence from the day they were born into mad zombies that know nothing but to seek blood, you'd have to be a special kind of insane." Cain reasoned.

Since martial arts were made very available to the public before the apocalypse, the number of people who could efficiently use the power they gained was not little. And this doesn't even include those that are a part of the underworld...

"Sometimes, violence is the only answer. Let's beat them down now, then talk later." Jenny said. Despite her worry, she was still confident in Li and Stan.

"Alright..." Cain said, before turning his attention back to the battlefield, particularly the fight between Hunter and Rollo. Although he had once fought with Hunter, they both experienced enormous growth after the fight.

Currently, there were sixty-four different clones of Hunter standing on the water's surface, each with a flaming bow in their hands. Rollo and Hunter had long since separated themselves from the battlefield as despite how much they could try, just the shockwaves of their clashes were enough to send cracks running across the length of the ice bridge.

They ran on the water's surface as though it was ground, letting loose arrows of fire as they gradually closed the encirclement they had formed around Rollo.

On the other hand, Rollo calmly swung his blade, blocking each and every flaming arrow as he ran on the water's surface as well, cutting the clones down with every swing. This way, they both were at a stalemate for some time.

'He isn't dumb. He'll figure your intentions out soon enough.' Cain thought to himself. It was obvious that Hunter planned to use the clones to burn Rollo's energy up before he swooped in for the kill.

"Enough games, Hunter. Face me..." Rollo said calmly, still swinging his sword and destroying clones.

"No..." Hunter's reply was brief...

"Tch!" Rollo clicked his tongue in annoyance, the stress from having to defend against hundreds of arrows every second getting to him.

Dodging an arrow he couldn't destroy, his last straw was finally broken.

"If you won't come, I'll drag you here," Rollo said coldly as he stabbed his blade into the water's surface. Surprisingly, the blade didn't sink into the water but hovered with just its tip in the water.

Yellow runes burst out of the sword, lighting the waters beneath up.

"Mass Infinity..."

BOOM!

All the clones in a 100-meter radius of Rollo smashed against the water's surface and turned into motes of fiery light as they faded away, leaving Hunter, Cain, and everyone else watching speechless.

'What sort of magic was that?!' Hunter thought as he realized that he was instantly left with only two clones by his side that were lucky enough to be outside the area of the skill's effect.

Still linking the chained attack, Rollo spread his legs and pulled his sword out of the water. He pointed it in the direction of Hunter and his two clones.

The hand holding onto the blade suddenly began to mutate, turning into a ghastly devilish claw covered in purple markings and runes.

"Devil Claw: Grasping Devils..."

Hunter's eyes widened as he suddenly felt an irresistible force pulling upon his body. Before he was able to understand what was happening, his body was sent flying at Mach speed towards the pointy end of Rollo's blade.

"Fuck!" Hunter exclaimed loudly. He was caught by surprise, completely unable to react to the surprise factor of the attack.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between them was covered and Hunter was firmly impaled onto the blade.

He belched out a mouthful of blood, staring at Rollo with hatred in his eyes. Rollo's eyes were cold as steel. He twisted his blade in the wound, causing blood to spray out, dying the surrounding air crimson.

"If this is all you amount to, then you deserve to die here..." Rollo said, pulling his blade out slowly.

Cain watched with wide eyes as Hunter fell into the water. He couldn't believe Hunter was taken down so easily. His eyes immediately turned as dark as night as he summoned {Black Claw} and {White Claw} from his inventory.

Just when he was about to stop the fight, the arrival of a new presence prompted him to stop in his tracks.

Skidding across the ice with his back, Old Man Ling approached the fight with incredible speed. Seeing that he was about to crash into the opposing side from the back lines, Cain made a move...

Cain appeared behind the army of red and picked the old man up. Spinning around briefly, he canceled the old man's acceleration, then moved back to his original position in a single breath.

"Old Man, what's wrong?! Why are you here?!"

It took the old man a few seconds to get himself, but once he did, he yelled out, his voice filled with urgency...

"I-It's Dan! He's in danger! We were attacked by a man dressed in red. Dan held him back to buy time for me to call reinforcements!"

Cain's eyes narrowed coldly, "Stay here..."

"Cain, where are you going?!" Jenny called out to him.

"I'm reinforcement..." Cain said with a wink.

Once he called down, he was able to tell that Hunter hadn't taken too much damage from Rollo's attack, so he would be fine.

As if to prove him right, the water's surface split open, and a savagely grinning Hunter clashed with Rollo.

Like a bolt of lightning, Cain ran across the Ice Bridge, knocking all the weaker Followers of the Blood god into the cold waters. Like he knew what was on Cain's mind, Steve activated a spell, freezing the surface of the water, hence, trapping them within the ocean.

A layer of the ice beneath his feet melted due to the intense friction between his legs and the air surrounding them, producing a thick steam dragon that followed behind him as he raced to Dan's aid.