Chapter 536: Chaos of Demons

The terrain of the Black Water Swamp was rather troublesome even for gods and demigods like Donald. Although the muddy swamp posed no real obstacle to them—those beyond mortal limits could easily maintain their balance there—this swamp within the ruins of the divine tomb was different from the outside world. Under its own set of rules, it exerted an inevitable pull. Even they, if they didn’t move quickly, risked getting trapped in the bottomless mire.
That wouldn’t be fun at all!
Not to mention the foul, corrosive mud sticking to their bodies—it certainly wasn’t pleasant!
“Damn it, I hate swamps!”
Swinging his sword to slay a soft swamp creature that lurked in the mud like an earthworm, aiming to ambush passersby, Carlisle lifted his leg, half-covered in mud, and leaped upward against the pull. With a burst of sword energy, he shook off the mud, but it didn’t eliminate the sticky feeling and smell. He could only complain as he followed the others.
They had encountered countless such attacks since entering the swamp.
What was most unacceptable was that these swamp creatures were all low-level, worthless beings with extremely low intelligence. More than half an hour after entering this divine tomb ruin, not a single higher-tier monster had appeared.
Could those monsters really be that smart, knowing it was better not to provoke outsiders and staying hidden in their nests?
Donald doubted this. He believed some powerful monster must be manipulating things behind the scenes; otherwise, such strange occurrences wouldn’t happen.
Unfortunately, spatial teleportation or long-distance flight wasn’t possible in this divine tomb ruin. Rising to about thirty feet in height would be suppressed by the rules’ force. Forcing a breakthrough meant defying the entire world. Even Loki couldn’t resist the power of the ruins without his source of strength!
“When will this end? We don’t have much time left…”
Even with Sphinx as their leader, half a year was almost up by the time Donald and his group cleared the eleventh divine tomb they encountered!
Soon, the twisted rules of this once-prosperous and powerful divine kingdom would drive away all adventurers who entered!

Even the King of the North couldn’t help but complain about this waste of time. Everyone’s gaze fell on Donald; clearly, after this experience, he had become the de facto leader of the group.
“What do you think, Prince Loki?”
Donald didn’t express his own opinion right away but first asked Loki beside him.
Loki glanced at him and said, “Since they won’t come out, just fight them into coming out. You already know what to do—why ask me?”
Donald smiled and said, “Since Your Highness is the strongest, I naturally need to ask you first if you have any good ideas!”
With that, he turned to the two powerful spellcasters, Chikofield and Colin, and said, “It’s time for the two masters to act. Use any powerful spells you have—don’t hold back!”
The two archmages and mages nodded, stepped back, and began preparing to cast their powerful spells.
A rumbling sound, like the weather before a thunderstorm, echoed across the vast ruins of the sacred tomb.
Legendary Archmage Colin cast the ninth-level spell, Planar Collapse. Although it wasn’t a legendary spell, its power was likely comparable to some non-offensive legendary spells, which is why spellcasters always referred to it as a forbidden spell.
Amplified by the secondary artifact, Baney’s Spellbook, from the mighty Magic Empire, this ninth-level spell became even more powerful. It created an area of spatial collapse within the ruins, with the cracks of spatial force continuing to spread outward. If left unchecked, the resulting chain reaction could destroy at least one-tenth of the ruins’ space.
After all, the spatial rules of the sacred ruins were extremely stable, even imposing strict restrictions on powerful gods.
The same spell would likely only achieve one-tenth of its effectiveness in the space of the main world.
As for Archmage Chikofield, he cast the legendary arcane spell, Ultimate Annihilation Ball. This terrifying legendary spell was an upgraded version of the Annihilation Ball, infused with powerful rule-based forces. Even a true god wouldn’t dare confront it head-on. Though it operated on a small scale and didn’t have the grand scale of Planar Collapse, its single-round power was far more concentrated.
Chikofield didn’t target any living beings. Instead, he created an energy black sphere made of nothingness and threw it straight down into the swamp.

The void energy sphere, imbued with the effects of cleavage, instantly devoured the swamp as if it had never existed. Soon, a bottomless hole several feet wide appeared in its place. This hole led straight to the depths beneath the Continent of the Divine Tombs, seemingly intent on penetrating the earth’s crust. The Ultimate Destruction Ball didn’t just destroy the continent itself but also the rule structures hidden beneath the Divine Tombs. In no time, the several-foot-wide hole expanded into a black hole hundreds of feet wide, continuing to grow outward due to the cleavage effect!

“Roar…”

As the destruction caused by Chikofield and Colin’s powerful spells grew more severe, a terrifying roar came from deep within the swamp.

“It seems something can’t hold back any longer,” Donald said with a smile to the others.

This tactic of intimidating the enemy proved highly effective. The Continental of the Divine Tombs was the foundation of all existence within the tombs. If outsiders were allowed to destroy it at will, then the continent would no longer be the infamous dangerous place among the gods!

A dark cloud that covered the sky rose from the depths of the swamp and rapidly spread in the direction of Donald and the others. What kind of cloud was this? It was clearly an army of demons filled with dark energy. Their appearance made it clear they were no good people. Among the numerous ferocious demons, there was one that wasn’t the largest in size but was surrounded by all the other demons at the center—a powerful demon. This demon resembled a platypus, surrounded by layers of dark clouds. Two eerie red lights flickered on its head—its eyes.

“Intruders… kill, devour…”

These demons had clearly lost their minds, retaining only instinctive emotions: killing and devouring. To kill all living things and consume all flesh and souls—this was their purpose in existence.

Led by these demons like a tidal wave, they rushed downward toward Donald and the others.

“Prince Loki, it’s up to you!”

Faced with such a large number of demons, they were only twelve people. Naturally, they were no match. Only Loki, whose strength was at the level of a mid-tier god or higher, had the ability to stop these monsters from advancing in the confined space of the Continental of the Divine Tombs.

Loki naturally wouldn’t refuse. Now that he and Donald were allies on the same path, he was willing to take on even the most dangerous and difficult tasks!

Loki waved his magnificent staff, and a black flame erupted around him like a tornado. Then he swung his staff forward, sending waves of black flames spreading toward the swarm of demons approaching. On one side were the demons like a flood, and on the other side were the black flames like hellfire. They met in midair and collided. There was no loud explosion—only the terrifying screams of the demons. Any demon touched by the black flames quickly lost its form, burning into wisps of black smoke. This black flame, capable of igniting souls, was a deadly threat to these demons existing between the states of spirits and physical beings! Loki effortlessly resolved this fierce attack. Seeing the tragic fate of their peers ahead, the demons behind, though lacking intelligence, felt fear and turned to flee in another direction. But the black flames released by Loki seemed endless, forming a vast circle in the sky centered around them! No matter which direction the demons came from, they inevitably crashed into this massive ring of fire. Yet the leader of the demons forced all the demons, large and small, to keep charging at the black flames in an attempt to break through it. Thus, a spectacular scene akin to moths flying into flames unfolded in the sky. Countless demons screamed as they sacrificed themselves, turning into wisps of smoke and disappearing in the ruins of the sacred tomb. Meanwhile, Donald and the others below watched calmly, with Donald taking advantage of the situation to harvest much soul energy. Although Loki’s black flames could ignite souls, they first burned away other exotic energies within the demons before the soul energy was released. Donald seized this opportunity to collect the soul energy before it was completely consumed. With black flames filling the sky, most of the demons disappeared within just a few minutes. The ring of fire in the sky, continuously replenished by Loki, remained firmly above them. Seeing that most of his minions had been lost, the leading demon finally became impatient. With a fierce scream, the remaining demons stopped their suicidal attacks and circled above the fire ring, searching for an opening to break through. Along with the demon leader’s eerie cry, sounds of mud shifting began to emerge from the swamps around them.

It seems the monsters realized that relying solely on those illusory creatures in the sky was not enough to defeat their enemies, so they turned to the corpse monsters that lived in the swamps. These demonic swamp creatures came in a variety of bizarre forms, just as terrifying as those in the sky. Loki’s ring of black flames could only protect the area above the ground, not prevent the monsters from attacking from below. As countless monsters emerged from the mud beneath their feet, Donald smiled and plunged his spear into the ground. A greenish glow spread out from where the spear was, quickly covering hundreds of feet of swampland.