Chapter 298: Negative Zone

As the shadows wriggled into Holias’s corpse, his body began to change.

His eyes turned pale white, his figure turned entirely black, and even his armor and sword were swallowed into the darkness.

As the words “All of you… Shall live…” spread, a shiver ran down everyone’s spine. Every soldier on the field, no matter which side, felt the same thing: pure, suffocating dread.

Swords, spears, and axes fell out of the soldiers’ grasps as the air around them turned cold and the noon light dimmed around Holias.

The shadow soldiers’ greatest weakness no longer mattered against the new shadow commander.

“What’s going on…?” Bael mumbled as he stepped past the horrified soldiers and got closer to Holias.

’How is he stronger than before?’ Bael wondered upon sensing Holias’s power, which was rising with each passing moment, and the answer came the next moment.

The sun was finally over their heads. The bright sunlight was continuously killing the shadow soldiers, and from their remains, more shadows seeped out for Holias to consume.

His gaze shifted towards Melvin, and much to his disappointment, he was still fighting Tristram. Then he glanced at Lion and Harold, both of whom were still locked with Wade.

Harold had lost one of his arms, and Lion was injured, which, considering how easily Lion had defeated Holias, didn’t make sense. Normally, it shouldn’t be possible, but seeing the black marks all across Wade’s body, Bael understood that he was borrowing strength from the shadows.

’How is Clifford able to do such things?’ Bael wondered, and a soldier let out a guttural scream, “M-MONSTER!!”

The horror that had frozen them twisted into panic, and all of them let out cries and screams as they staggered back and ran away from Holias.

Holias stared at them with a tilted head that appeared puzzled, but his face had no features; it was impossible to learn whether he was actually confused or found their situation humorous.

As the soldiers ran, they slammed into Bael, making it hard for him to get closer to Holias.

Holias lifted his sword and lazily swept it sideways. Even though he had no mouth, he spoke: “Live… again…”

The soldiers slammed into one another, and tears streamed down their faces. The shadows under them rose upwards as spikes, killing over a hundred of them in a single sweep.

Whatever part the spikes touched, exploded, and pieces of flesh and bones flew everywhere as their remains fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

The soldiers who were lucky to survive looked at the ones who weren’t, and color drained from their faces. Their hearts forgot to beat, and their vision spun as fear — pure, unbridled fear filled them.

Bael felt the battlefield turn cold, and all of a sudden, the aura ring that kept the demonic energy trapped within his heart fell apart.

Confused, he looked down at his heart and mumbled, “What’s going on?”

As those words left his lips, a red screen appeared before him.

[Abysmal Flame is reacting to the negative emotions around you!]

[The demonic heart is being strengthened!]

[Exit the negative zone immediately, otherwise the pseudo-harmony would collapse!]

Pure demonic energy seeped out of his left half, and his gaze shifted towards Holias, who was still in some daze as though the creature itself was still figuring out what it had become.

Bael clenched his fist, and his gaze scanned the soldiers around him; none had noticed that his armor was melting and purple wisps were escaping him.

“So that’s how this play ends, huh…” he whispered.

In the distance, Holias lifted his sword above his head and brought it down, or at least tried to, because before he could, Bael appeared before him and slammed his golden fist into his abdomen.

The air itself exploded, and the fissures spread as Bael’s golden aura flames bloomed on impact, and Holias was sent flying towards the duke’s camp.

Many of the soldiers and knights fell unconscious from the exploding pressure, and all of the battles came to a stop.

Melvin and Tristram, who were locked in a careless battle, also stopped and turned their heads towards the source of the booming sound, and their gazes fell on a soldier shrouded in purple wisps.

“What is that thing?” Tristram questioned, and Bael turned his head towards him.

’Should I kill him…?’ he questioned. The only reason he had allowed him to live was that he wanted his people to release their hate, but the treacherous duke had managed to fall even lower… he had found the way to resurrect the dead to continue his fights.

’No. I can’t… I shouldn’t. But why?’ He wondered as his eyes turned colder.

’Why shouldn’t I? The war is no longer between humans and superhumans…. What’s the point in holding back?’ he thought, unaware that the demonic energy was restraining the warmth he had in him.

He looked at the sky and mumbled, “What have you done, Duke Clifford?”

He raised his hand towards Tristram and flicked with so much power that the ground caved in along the dagger’s path, which was covered with purple fog.

All of this happened within a moment of Tristram’s words, and in the next instant, his entire body exploded into bits.

The dagger continued to move forward and broke into dust as it couldn’t resist the power that had been poured into it.

Pieces of what used to be Tristram fell onto Melvin, and a tremor rose from the depths of his heart. “W-What?!”

At the same time, Harold moved, and his sword cut through Wade’s neck.

Bael glanced at them, and a rumble resounded from the duke’s side as Holias stormed towards him with shadows flowing behind him like black fabric.

He tore his gaze away and turned it toward him as he used Zone Relocation.

He appeared right before Holias and swung his fist towards the sky, crashing it at the bottom of his head.

A boom resounded from the impact, and Holias flew upwards.

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