The Era of Gods

Above the gateway between the two realms, the wind and clouds changed unpredictably, and an invisible force converged into a dazzling bolt of lightning. Striking the unsuspecting Nightmare Child Incarnation that was about to disperse at a large scale for the final time, it shattered the incarnation completely.

Following that, the gateway between the realms shook violently, and the wrath of the Child of Nightmare from the other side could be felt clearly despite the distance between the two Divine Territories.

By now, even attempting to stop the process was too late; the second Nightmare incarnation had already been summoned in the time it took for another to take shape.

The Child of Nightmare on the other side realized this as well, so it didn’t continue to condense a new incarnation.

The moment thirty thousand Rank 6 Super Large Water Elementals appeared, the entire Divine Territory’s water elemental energy began to converge towards this area. A sky full of blue light gathered like a tidal wave, soon alleviating the dry climate caused by the gathering of the Fire Elements.

The natural incompatibility of water and fire made Kurbert extremely displeased with these Water Elements, and if it weren’t for Lin Xiao’s watchful eyes, the two oppositely natured Elements would probably have fought each other first.

The thirty thousand Rank 6 Transcendent Super Large Water Elementals, though not as numerous as during the battle against Luo Shuang, made no significant difference. A vast area of water quickly formed, and under their influence, the water moved closer to the retreating frontline of the Small Fishmen and soon inundated them.

The Small Fishmen became incredibly agile in the water, like a fish back in its element, while most Nightmare Creatures were not adept in water. Except for a few that could swim, most were unstable in the water, especially since they couldn’t breathe, which proved to be fatal.

In less than thirty seconds, these Nightmare Creatures began to retreat towards the dry areas around them; limited by the environment, there was no other option.

The Water Elements advanced slowly without pursuing the fleeing enemies. It wasn’t necessary; they merely controlled the five to six-kilometer diameter body of water and moved it toward the gateway between the realms. The Nightmare Creatures escaping in other directions were eradicated by the Earth Dwarves and other Small Fishmen, along with a section of the Asura Nagas.

But at that moment, the Legendary Nightmare Beast guarding the entrance turned around and with a blow of its weapon, struck the breach between the realms. A surge of Nightmare Power gushed out, and along with it, a dense swarm of Nightmare Creatures emerged.

This second batch of Nightmare Creatures, each shrouded in a layer of gray light, crashed into the water without showing signs of suffocation. Moreover, they were quite agile in the water; though not as much as the Small Fishmen, their movements were no different than on land.

“Interesting!”

Lin Xiao waved his hand, and the remaining Asura Supreme Nagas made their move.

As a Transcendent creature, the Asura Supreme Nagas were even more agile in the water. Their large forms approached the frontlines, and as the multitude of Nightmare Creatures collided with the groups of Supreme Nagas, the latter swung their blades. In an instant, bloodshed ensued, dyeing the waters crimson.

As a species that was at least at Fifth Level, facing these Nightmare Creatures whose strengths ranged from First to Fifth Level, with most between Levels 1 and 3, it was a complete massacre. The Nagas hacked through the enemy, almost one with each stroke, and quickly advanced toward the gateway between the realms where they could see the towering Legendary Nightmare Beast from afar.

This Legendary Nightmare Beast, used by the Child of Nightmare to guard the gateway, couldn’t move too far from it. It could only watch helplessly as its fellow Nightmare Creatures suffered.

As the Supreme Nagas and the elite Water Elements approached the gateway, the Legendary Nightmare Beast raised its huge blade and struck down, sending a black blade of energy several hundred meters into the water, unexpectedly killing over a dozen Supreme Nagas and dozens of Small Fishmen.

In response, the sea boiled; controlled by the Gnome leader, five hundred Transcendent Water Elementals cast a spell together, summoning tens of thousands of water arrows as thick as fingers and nearly a meter long. The arrows rained down on the target.

The Legendary Nightmare Beast didn’t flinch; water arrows that hit it were dissolved by its protective aura of Nightmare Energy. However, the nearby Nightmare Creatures weren’t so lucky and fell in large numbers.

“Do it again!”

A second wave of over five hundred Super Large Water Elementals cast another spell, and another deluge of tens of thousands of arrows killed a swath of Nightmare Creatures.

With the power of Rank 6 Transcendent Water Elementals, low-level spells like water arrows could virtually be cast non-stop, wave after wave, pinning the enemy near the gateway between realms.

This situation continued for several cycles until no more Nightmare Creatures emerged from the gateway. At the gate between realms stood only a single Legendary Nightmare Beast, with nothing else but silence around it.

Seeing this, about a thousand or so Super Large Water Elementals gathered and attacked the gateway. Since the enemy would not come out, they would attack inside.

Just as the Transcendent Water Elementals neared the Legendary Nightmare Beast, a terrifying aura suddenly burst from within the realms’ gateway. A pitch-black pillar of light three to four meters in diameter roared out, striking the group of Transcendent Water Elementals and exploding with a boom. From the perspective of Lin Xiao’s God Country, a large section of the water sphere near the gateway between realms blasted open, creating a vast emptiness from which a dark beam of light soared into the sky.

With one strike, about half of the thousand or so Transcendent Water Elementals died, and the survivors were all injured.

Then, the breach of the gateway between realms burst open again, a tide of black aura more intense than before surged out, and a host of massive and powerful Nightmare Creatures emerged.

A large group of creatures, all at least at the Transcendent Sixth Level, with quite a few at the Seventh Rank, charged out from the Nightmare Realm. Among them included an Eight-Rank Legendary Winged-man, towering over ten meters tall with six wings on its back.

These formidable nightmare creatures were clearly dispatched to break the stalemate. As the legendary six-winged winged-man stretched its six wings, countless streaks of black light shot up into the sky. Seconds later, the vault of heaven dimmed, and massive bolts of black lightning descended from the sky, striking the water.

Taking advantage of the opportunity from the previous wave, they pressed forward under a barrage of arrows by sheer strength, creating a clearing at the gap between the two worlds, allowing a large number of lower-tier nightmare creatures to break through.

As this wave of nightmare creatures surged out, there was another heart-pounding wave, and a second, incredibly huge pillar of light blasted out.

Seeing that his subordinates were losing, the Child of Nightmare had already personally intervened.

Lin Xiao could do nothing about this; his accumulated Divine Power was insufficient for such actions, nor could he interfere at will. He could only rely on his forces to withstand the onslaught.

Fortunately, those standing in the forefront of the first wave were summoned water elementals, whose loss he did not lament.

Luckily for him, the adversaries were unaware of the specifics; otherwise, they could have just waited a few hours for his subordinates to reach the point of spiritual exhaustion from sustaining the summoning of these transcendent water elementals, which would then vanish on their own.

By intervening personally time and time again at great expense of strength, the nightmare creatures managed to push nearly thirty thousand rank 6 transcendent water elementals back into a counterattack.

However, this situation was not sustainable. The concern was not whether the power of the Nightmare Lord was sufficient, but rather, Lin Xiao realized that while this Nightmare Lord’s domain contained a vast number of nightmare creatures, it lacked powerful ones.

To be more exact, the opponent’s nightmare creatures above rank 6 were far fewer in number than Lin Xiao’s.

At present, Lin Xiao’s rank 6 Naga warriors numbered over three thousand. There were seventy-one rank 7 Naga warriors, along with more than three hundred rank 6 Grand Magicians and six rank 7 Grand Magicians. The Earth Dwarves had been developing slowly, with only forty to fifty rank 6 Earth Dwarves and one Dwarven King.

In total, there were over three thousand four hundred rank 6 experts, seventy-eight rank 7 powerhouses, and two legendary figures, namely Slarda and the Flame Lord Kurbert.

The Wise Goblins’ Leader Alemente, the Fishman Hero Tide Lord Akens, and Black Dragon Nejelanmu were all still at rank 7.

Though they all had the potential to ascend to the legendary rank 8, and it was almost certain they would, potential was one thing while actual advancement was another. Clearly, their current potential was not enough for them to reach the legendary rank 8.

Their foundation was insufficient, and even with his infusion of Divine Power, it was futile. Without meeting the most fundamental criteria, no amount of Divine Power could elevate them.

Even so, with such high-level combat strength, they could easily overpower their opponent, overpowering this Child of Nightmare whose true strength and clan numbers far exceeded Lin Xiao’s.

With such formidable overall strength, to have only five to six hundred high-level combatants above rank 6 was nowise comparable to the Divine Territory Players who had meticulously cultivated their clans.

Therefore, after half an hour of a relentless counter-offensive, more and more rank 6 and above nightmare creatures were being killed or injured, their combat effectiveness diminishing, and their offensive momentum gradually weakened. Even with continuous support from the Child of Nightmare, it was to no avail, as at this stage, the Child of Nightmare, despite its strength, did not possess the capacity to suppress so many transcendent creatures on its own.

As the nightmare creatures were progressively suppressed by the water elemental army, it wasn’t long before the battle line was pushed back near the inter-world passage. About half of the nightmare creatures that had attacked the Divine Realm were killed, while the rest fled back to the Nightmare Realm, including the legendary nightmare beast that guarded the gate, which too was forced to retreat under the watchful eyes of the powerhouses.

Having driven the opponent all the way back to the Nightmare Divine Realm in one breath, Lin Xiao ordered the Wise Goblin Mages to cancel the summoning of the transcendent water elementals. The fire elementals, who were prepared, began to cast various Fire Laws near the inter-world passage, turning the area into a vast Magma Sea to prevent enemy invasion, and then… a ceasefire.

Yes, a temporary ceasefire.

After gauging the enemy’s strength in the recent battle, Lin Xiao was already considering a counter-attack, set for the day after tomorrow.

Having repeatedly summoned the enhanced water elementals today, the Wise Goblins were nearly spent, and continuing the fight would result in the loss of combat effectiveness.

He had to wait for his subordinates to recuperate and recover their spirits before summoning a large number of super-large water elementals, aiming to launch an all-out offensive against the Nightmare Realm in one fell swoop.

By that time, Lin Xiao was quite confident that he could defeat this Nightmare Lord from the Nightmare World, but the premise was that he could not suffer major losses. It was foreseeable that if they didn’t leave that strange world, upon defeating this opponent, he would encounter other Children of Nightmare, and battles were inevitable. To last longer, he had to minimize the casualties among his forces.

After all, this was a full-scale connection with the Divine Realm — to die in this battle meant genuine death, with no possibility of revival.

This was also the main reason why he had dragged out the battle for so long — to reduce casualties.

The Magma Sea was an effective blockade. Over the two days, although the enemy occasionally probed attacks, their side maintained a tight defense. With tens of thousands of Fire Elementals under the leadership of a legendary Flame Lord, the enemies simply couldn’t break through.

Perhaps high-level nightmare creatures could make it through, but their numbers