God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 379: I've come back from the Land of the Dead to kill you, Bastard! (2).

Heavy breaths escaped through his slightly parted lips as he absorbed as much Ki as possible.

'At this rate, it will only take me a few minutes to fully recover. This is amazing.'

This fact also filled Cain with dread,

'Just how frightening are True Devils?'

The system had mentioned True Devils to him countless times. Even the most fearsome Devils he had come across had longed to become True Devils. And although he had defeated them, their bodies had been truly incredible.

Forza for example, the giant {Flame Devil} he had faced all that time ago, had been defeated because he had only just recently awakened, so he was in his weakest state.

Cain had also used {Golden Body}. A skill that forcibly raised all his physical stats by four hundred percent. It would have been impossible for the Devil to fall if Cain didn't have all those advantages.

And yet, it wasn't even a True Devil. Just thinking about it made Cain want to burst out into tears and laughter simultaneously.

Breathing in and out, he calmed his mind. He couldn't afford to be distracted. He didn't know why, but for some reason, his senses seemed to be heightened.

And so, he did the only thing he could do in this situation...

Observed the battle between Stingè and the worm Aether beast.

Cain's brows shook when he saw the sight of the battle,

"My God..."

***

The site of the battle between Stingè and the worm-like Aether Beast was simply apocalyptic, straight out of one of the most deranged and horrifying pits.

As Cain observed, he realized that Stingè wasn't the only one involved in the fight. The {Blood Abominations} threw themselves at the gigantic creature with reckless abandon. However, they were all devoured in an instant.

Cain shivered. The {Blood Abominations} weren't easy opponents. Seeing them being devoured so easily shocked him greatly.

'Just what kind of beast is that?!'

Cain didn't know what to say. Sting attacked from a distance, coldly using his army as a shield while he attacked viciously from the back lines.

However, the creature simply healed up rather quickly. Every drop of blood that fell out of the creature was also corrosive, so the {Blood Abomonations} it fell on were put out of their misery excruciatingly slow.

"Tch! What an unsightly beast." Stingè said as he delivered seemingly uncountable {Idle Slashes}.

A deafening roar rang out from the worm. However, it was still being restrained. It seemed that despite being a bit stronger than Stingè was, the situation was still being managed by the latter.

'Is this a good thing?' Cain could only wonder.

When he had summoned this thing from the depths of the earth, he didn't know what its abilities and strengths were.

Now that he had an idea, he realized two things...

Stingè couldn't beat it without making sacrifices. And if Stingè did make those sacrifices, it would create the opportunity he needed to run away. Or kill the son of a bitch!

Still, he was patient. There was no need to rush things the way they were. It was best to see where things were going.

The situation changed after a few minutes...

Cain watched in shock as the worm-like Aether beast activated a skill that shook the foundations of the floating island.

He watched thousands of metallic piers shoot out from the ground and impale what was left of Stingè's army. A few metal piers shot at Stingè, but he managed to dodge most. Still, he was impaled by one of them.

'Powerful...'

As it would turn out, the creature also had metal elemental abilities. In the blink of an eye, the once-powerful army had been brutally crucified.

Cain also noticed that even after some time, the piers hadn't dematerialized. Thinking about the significance of that, he paled...

'My {Divine Essence of Metallurgy} hasn't even come close to that level yet!'

"Disgusting..." Stingè said flaccidly as he used the sharp blade of his long spear to cut off the tip of the metal pier that had pierced his stomach.

With a single pull, he dragged the rest of it out, causing a drop of blood to roll down his damaged armor. However, that was all that happened. The extremely sharp metal barely broke through his skin.

A grin appeared on his face as he charged at the creature once again...

Cain heard a loud bang as Atingè left multiple afterimages behind as he ran on the ground, his wings tucked in behind him. With a graceful flap, his running turned into an upward movement, sending him lunging at the creature.

With a roar, it dove down to meet him as well. Its mouth opened up, revealing does and rows of sharp teeth. A gurgling would come from its abyssal maw as a stream of acid flew out and shot at Stingè like an arrow.

His eyes widened, he dodged in the nick of time. His spear pointed forward, he thrust forward. Once...

Twice...

Three times...

"World Tearing Dragon Spear: Collapse!"

Violent Ki wrapped around the tip of the spear and smashed into the mouth of the creature an unknown number of times in just a split second.

Despite being incredibly agitated, the creature didn't seem out of it at all. In fact, it retained a frightening level of intelligence.

Due to its huge size, it couldn't avoid Stingè's attacks. Hence, it decided to take them all head-on and continued its own attack.

Hundreds of metal piers shot out of the ground and towards Stingè, forcing him to dodge rapidly.

Its numerous meaty legs began to move rather rapidly, chasing after Stingè with unbelievable speed. Even the Demon seemed caught off guard.

An ear-splitting shrill voice filled the air as the creature spun around and used its backside to heavily slam into Stingè.

If not for the gorge, Cain didn't doubt that the force of the impact would have thrown him off his feet and carried him away despite how far away he was.

The ground cracked, and the air, as well as the space around them, turned turbulent...

Stingè stood firm on the ground, the tip of his spear digging into the ground. Somehow, he had managed to hold his ground against such a devastating attack.

Spinning his spear around, Stingè thrust his spear forward, inflicting more wounds on the creature. Moving back to create some space, his eyes shone with a glint as he released more than a few {Idle Slashes}, dealing severe damage to the Aether beast.

Unfortunately, the presentation of the best was nothing to laugh at. It was even a bit scary. Not even a second after had Stingè I afflicted so much damage, the wounds had been completely healed up.

Clicking his tongue, Stingè continued his onslaught...

For the first time ever, Cain got to witness what a battle between two high-tier existences looked like.

And he was beyond shocked. There were many things to take note of. The first was the way Stingè and the worm-like Aether Beast fought. Cain had expected the battle to simply be a light show filled with explosions and wild magical and physical attacks.

He couldn't have been more wrong...

'Their control over their energy is so incredible!'

Energy Optimization was one of the traits high-tier existences possessed. Every strike, every attack contained boundless power. However, that power was not wasted and was put into use fully.

'Will I ever be able to reach this level?' Cain couldn't help but wonder.

He also noticed that Stingè alternated between using magical and Ki-powered attacks. His Ki was very overbearing, but it was not up to the level of the {Dragon's Gate Ki Plundering Technique}. Not even close...

Every time there was a clash, violent explosions would shake the fabric of reality around them.

Cain gritted his teeth, 'If I even get a single inch closer to that place, I'll be torn to shreds.'

Cain realized that he had been utterly played with by Stingè. If the bastard wanted to, he would have killed him a long time ago, alongside everyone else.

This realization got him thinking...

If that was the case, then the others who had escaped were not safe at all. As soon as Stingè defeated the worm-like Aether Beast, he would go after them. The best case scenario was that he would kill them all, the worst being that he would have them all captured and turned into the grotesque {Blood Abominations}.

His eyes turned cold, 'That cannot happen.'

As if to resonate with him, his new heart began beating rapidly...

The rate at which his Ki recovered increased even further...

'I can't run. Not now... Not until that bastard dies.'

Cain's eyes let out a predatory light as he continued to sit in the gorge, watching the fight progress and become more destructive.

Now wasn't the time to act. He couldn't afford to be rash. He only had one chance...

'He is on another level completely. Still, it isn't impossible. I can reach that level, even if it's for a brief second.'

This wasn't false bravado. Something about the heart in his chest and the tingling sensation all over his body told him so.

The changes that had fallen over him were just the start. If he had a mirror, he would have noticed that the black portion of his eyes had turned into slits, resembling that of a serpentine Beast.

The Scales of Antiquity on his chest were also emitting a dreamy glow. His left eye had also turned pure white, with hundreds of runes and sigils swimming in them. {Eye of Clairvoyance had activated without him knowing.

As he inhaled and exhaled, Ki and Devil Essence swirled behind him, forming the ethereal image of a coiling limbless dragon with alternating gold and black scales.