Chapter 1874: Chapter 1267: Stuffed Full (Ben Cat Rolls Over and Crashes Into Wall)
Varian’s intentions were of no concern to Duanmu Huai.
Because he had already passed through the portal and arrived in Silithus—the cursed wilderness.
Looking around, all of Silithus was devoid of green, the sky dim, and the earth just a ruinous soil with nausea-inducing corrosion marks. The cold wind hit him, as if even the soul was trembling amidst this rotten chill. This oppressive, madness-inducing atmosphere… Well, it’s quite nostalgic.
“Wow, it looks like this place is badly corrupted.”
Duanmu Huai folded his hands behind his back, scanning the surroundings. Since it was a special case, the mages from Stormwind teleported them to the Cenarion Hold in Silithus. It’s an elven-style fortress; calling it a fortress is generous, really just a pile of broken houses—well, Duanmu Huai didn’t plan on establishing good relations with those long-eared fellows anyway.
This time, Duanmu Huai came alone, having sent the others back for a simple reason. In the Tribunal, Mary was the most experienced in dealing with the Ancient Dominator and its offspring, given that her world is a world of Cthulhu. As for the others, they lacked experience against such entities, so to be safe, Duanmu Huai didn’t bring them along.
Before coming here, Duanmu Huai also curiously consulted the court mages about Silithus’s history. According to those mages, there once was a race called Qiraji that established their own civilization in Silithus. These Qiraji were fervent believers of the Old God C’Thun, and once tried to conquer the world under its call… Well, the old tale again.
In short, the Qiraji and their faith, the Ancient God, were eventually sealed behind Ahn’Qiraj’s Scarab Wall.
What Duanmu Huai had to do was quite simple.
“Aikute, give me the map scan of Silithus’s terrain.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
Upon hearing Duanmu Huai’s command, Aikute, stationed on the orbital warship, quickly sent the data, and soon, Duanmu Huai’s personal terminal displayed the terrain map of the entire Silithus area.
“Wow, these bugs sure know how to dig tunnels.”
Looking at the dense network of caves on the map, Duanmu Huai frowned slightly, though it wasn’t surprising. Bugs, what else could they do but dig tunnels?
Luckily, the Tribunal had long established procedures for dealing with them.
Leaving Cenarion Hold, Duanmu Huai went directly to the outside of the Scarab Wall. Due to the severe corruption in this area, apart from those annoying bugs, there were hardly any other foreign species. Duanmu Huai wasn’t worried about accidentally harming anything.
“Let’s do it, begin with a wave of Light Spears to clear the land, then use the main cannon to blast that thing hiding underground out!”
“Yes, Uncle!”
Living in Silithus was always a painful ordeal.
Even in Cenarion Hold, it was the same.
For the people of this fortress, it was just an ordinary day. Soldiers walked and patrolled routinely, checking the surroundings. No one noticed that in the animal pen of Cenarion Hold, the flight master Baristolth was solemnly gazing at the silhouette of Ahn’Qiraj ruins through the distant wind and sand.
Though outwardly just a flight master, Baristolth had another identity as the representative of the Bronze Dragonflight, one of the Great Dragonflights in charge of time. During the last War of the Sands, the Great Dragonflights joined with the Night Elves to seal the Qiraji and their faith, the Ancient God, behind the Scarab Wall.
Yet, that was a millennium ago. The seal was weakening, and Baristolth could sense the Qiraji stirring behind the Scarab Wall, attempting a comeback. This made him anxious, but he had no solution at the moment… Hmm?
While Baristolth was pondering his usual problem-solving strategies, suddenly, a bright light appeared in his eyes. Reflexively, Baristolth looked up at the sky, where under the dark canopy, dozens of dazzling beams of light descended, aimed at… Ahn’Qiraj ruins!?
“———————!!!”
Before Baristolth could react, the beams landed, followed by a burst of brilliant explosions from the distant horizon, illuminating Silithus like a sunrise!
“Boom boom boom boom boom!!!!”
The earth trembled incessantly; soldiers in Cenarion Hold screamed, trying to keep their balance, but many couldn’t evade in time and fell to the ground. Then a violent shockwave ensued, blowing the structures of Cenarion Hold and toppling the soldiers.
“What’s happening?”
Baristolth lay on the ground, wide-eyed in shock, and under his gaze, a thicker, massive green beam crashed onto Ahn’Qiraj ruins once again!!
Alright, it’s done.
Duanmu Huai folded his arms, gazing at the Ahn’Qiraj ruins before him—oh, there’s no ruins now. Only a charred, foul-smelling smoking pit left.
Oh, no, there’s still something left.
Duanmu Huai raised his head, looking forward, and saw in the center of the pit a sort of octopus-like creature, decaying and worn as if left for decades. Its body was covered in eyes, scattered even on its tentacles… Hmm?
This thing looks much like that—whatever it’s called—the Demon Pillar I eliminated in Chaldea?
What do you need so many eyes for?
Duanmu Huai internally mocked, extending his right hand. With his movement, the thick dark shadow at Duanmu Huai’s feet began to stretch forward, as if a spotlight behind him illuminated his shadow lengthening, until it touched the Thousand-Eyed Ancient God.
“Who are you…”
The moment the shadow touched it, Duanmu Huai instantly felt the power of the Ancient Dominator flowing from the shadows.
“Who dares to do such… Wait, this power, who are you?”
“I have no need to answer your question, scum.”
Duanmu Huai couldn’t be bothered to bicker with this battered Old God, sealed for a thousand years and wiped clean by Light Spear and BFG rounds. If not for Duanmu Huai wanting to keep it alive, it would have long turned to dust. Thus, without hesitation, Duanmu Huai directly used his Ancient Dominator power to begin corrupting and devouring the half-alive Old God before him.
“No, you cannot take my strength. It’s mine…!!”
At this moment, the unfortunate Old God seemed to realize what Duanmu Huai intended. It struggled desperately, trying to break free. However, Duanmu Huai’s shadow split into dozens of tentacles, binding it to the scorching earth like vines, then continued to devour the Old God’s strength and soul like a vampire.
Good, very good.
Watching his Ancient Dominator experience bar finally start to rise again after many days, Duanmu Huai breathed a sigh of relief.
Nowadays, it’s hard to level up Ancient Dominator and God of Joy experience; encountering such a chance, why not max it out?
“Stop! Intruder!”
Just then, a furious roar suddenly echoed from the sky. Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow, glancing in the direction of the voice, seeing several giant dragons rapidly flying towards him.
Duanmu Huai wasn’t aware that the Caverns of Time guarded by the Bronze Dragonflight were in the Tanaris Desert of Kalimdor, not far from Silithus. Duanmu Huai’s grand spectacle naturally drew the attention of the dragons from the Caverns of Time. Though dragons are prone to procrastination, it depends on the situation. Discovering the disturbance originated from Silithus, the Bronze Dragonflight immediately set out to investigate.
When the Bronze Dragons reached the ruins of Ahn’Qiraj, they were shocked to find the Qiraji and their temple structures reduced to ashes, and the Old God painstakingly sealed long ago now sprawled on the ground like a dead toad, while nearby, a towering oddity was absorbing its power!
This scene startled the Bronze Dragons immensely, hastily speaking to prevent further action. Though unclear who this was, could anyone casually ingest the Old God’s power?
But to Duanmu Huai…… I’ve barely leveled up, and you cause trouble here?
Seeing the Bronze Dragonflight flying toward him, Duanmu Huai’s expression darkened.
“Scram!”
With Duanmu Huai’s explosive shout, the Bronze Dragons felt as though thunder roared in their ears, immediately dizzy and weak, tumbling straight to the ground.
As for whether they’d perish from the fall, Duanmu Huai couldn’t care less. A mere group of big lizards, could they overturn the heavens?
If they anger him, he’d turn around and chop them up to make roasted dragon legs!
At this moment, the Old God already lost all resistance under Duanmu Huai’s incessant devouring, wailing and begging, even willing to become Duanmu Huai’s servant — but Duanmu Huai had no interest in having the submission of these Old Gods. To Duanmu Huai, these Old Gods were more valuable dead than alive.
Thus Duanmu Huai’s power penetrated and absorbed all the way, then….. Um?
Just as Duanmu Huai almost completely absorbed this Old God, he suddenly noticed something amiss. Duanmu Huai could sense that the Old God’s power seemed fused with a stronger life form. Yet this life form’s power wasn’t corrupt and evil like the Old God, but teeming with vibrant vitality… What is this thing?
Curious, Duanmu Huai followed the network of the thoroughly devoured Old God to probe, reaching out to knock.
“………..”
Hmm, no response.
How about tickling it?
“Hee hee hee.”
As Duanmu Huai acted, suddenly, he heard the life form’s soft laughter, followed by the ground quaking side to side momentarily, then returning to calm.
“……… Couldn’t this be the soul of the planet?”
Duanmu Huai frowned slightly; he’s experienced similar situations before. On Chaldea’s side, Gaia was a similar entity, but this felt less like Gaia’s self-aware consciousness, more like instinctual response, akin to a baby.
So the Old God survived by absorbing power this way?
Having roughly guessed the situation, Duanmu Huai knew what to do next. For Duanmu Huai, severing the connection with this Star Soul posed little difficulty. When he’s max level God of Destruction, is that supposed to be a joke?
Duanmu Huai directly used Destruction Magic to completely erase the Old God’s connection to the Star Soul, then devoured the remaining Old God power in one go. Instantly, Duanmu Huai’s Ancient bar surged wildly, accompanied by the delightful sound of level-up notifications.
“Hmm… Done.”
Duanmu Huai opened his eyes, patting his belly like he’d just finished a feast, then turned once again to the system progress bar before him.
An Old God at level one and a half… Wonder how much experience the remaining two Old Gods would provide him.
Oh well, he’ll deal with it when the time comes.
With this thought, Duanmu Huai withdrew his gaze, stretched lazily, and turned to leave.
As for those Bronze Dragons?
Couldn’t care less.