CHAPTER 234: COLLECTIVE POINTS

With every second he approached the passage, stronger demons appeared before him, but this did not pose a problem for him. At this point, it would take seriously high-level demons to defeat Atlas, and as far as he could tell, that wasn’t possible right now. The passages were too weak for that. Either all 12 passages would break at once, allowing 12 high-level demons to emerge from within, or everything would continue as it was.

Atlas’s goal was clear; he had to advance towards the gate.

On the other side, in the area where the main battle had begun, strange things were happening.

"ON THE OTHER SIDE, ADVANCE!!!"

This voice was coming from Cassandra herself.

Each Sage and aura master was covered in blood, and though they were still energetic, the demon bodies around them showed how long they had been hunting demons.

While Atlas was trying to close the gates on the other side, they were busy fighting against the Ancient-Rank demons and tens of thousands of high-ranking demons here.

Cordelia and Cosmo were directly facing Beelzebub himself. Cassandra and Talon were facing Asmodeus and Belphegor. The others were trying to fight the remaining ancient demons.

Eva and a few aura masters by her side had begun hunting high-ranking demons directly. There was blood everywhere, literally. On the ground, within the barrier, there was a sea of blood that reached metres high.

Though no one in this life had ever imagined Cosmo and Cordelia working together, it had happened nonetheless, and the irony and tragedy were that both Cosmo and Cordelia were truly struggling against Beelzebub.

As the second-strongest demon after Lucifer, his power had multiplied after devouring everything he desired in the demon realm to strengthen himself.

The only thing holding him back was that Beelzebub was stronger in Atlas’s previous life, meaning that Beelzebub was not currently at full potential.

Everything was in a dangerous situation because, unlike demons, Sages would tire. Perhaps their mana would not run out, but eventually they would indeed tire.

If that happened and their combat potential decreased, everything would turn into a nightmare. There would be no chance of victory, and the demons would try to take over the world.

So... everyone thought that way.

Still, there was one thing each Sage had forgotten. They had completely forgotten about the existence of the pill Atlas had obtained from an important person long ago.

[A pill you can use when everyone is in danger, when everyone you love is being dragged to their deathbed.]

Lucifer’s words were similar to this, and the Sages had forgotten them.

Whatever happened, this would be their last line of defence, and Atlas was the only one who remembered it.

So if the Sages were captured or, worse, killed, there would be no reason for Atlas not to use this pill.

Only time would tell what would happen, but for now, the only thing to do was to continue the attack.

Cosmo had gathered a massive flame element in his throat and sent it towards Beelzebub, while Cordelia had supported this with her magic, instantly increasing the flames’ power by hundreds of times.

The duo were worried that they wouldn’t be able to kill Beelzebub, so they at least wanted to weaken him.

When Cassandra’s blood field covered the barrier, the exit from the inside to the outside was completely closed. Juliet and Bellatrix’s spells, cast one after the other, began to support each other. The glowing tree roots seemed to rise from the ground, from the now-rotted soil, and devoured the demons flying around like a Venus flytrap.

Talon’s earth spell had already trapped hundreds of high-ranking demons inside and continued to resist Belphegor and Asmodeus, whom he was fighting.

A mana mass of such immense power dominated the entire region. If they hadn’t sealed off the area with barriers, there was a high likelihood that the entire continent, and then the seas, and even other continents, could have been damaged by the mana itself.

Every piece of mana released into the outside world was based on destruction. There was no other thought or function; everything was in this sense. Every fire spell, water spell, earth or air spell, lightning and blood spell that appeared... everything appeared to kill something.

On the other side of the world, in Shorekeeper City, the westernmost part of the Epsilon Empire, things were interesting.

Atlas had managed to shatter six of the portals, which were hundreds of kilometres apart from each other.

He had used nearly 10% of the mana in his body and was considering using another 10% on the remaining four gates and the two newly opened ones.

The number of demons overrunning the city had significantly decreased, and the city’s inhabitants had been taken to safe areas where they could shelter thanks to the pure-blooded vampires.

Atlas was covered in blood. The demons’ blood, which was nearly boiling, was straining even Atlas’s Diamond Body ability.

He hadn’t expected such a thing to happen today; the opening of the gates was the last thing he had anticipated, but it revealed a deeper meaning:

[The demons were beginning to grow impatient. As if they had no other choice.]

Atlas was aware of this as well. The Sages, trying to kill the Ancient Demons and the aura masters hunting high-ranking demons on Earth, had truly made all the demons impatient.

Still, the demons’ information system was weak, very weak. The world was no longer as weak as it had been a few weeks ago. Every day, hundreds of people were being blessed, and even though these blessings were low-level or even mid-level for some, the powers sent by the gods and goddesses were exponentially increasing everyone’s strength.

This showed that the world was not what it used to be.

Even if the demons opened many gates, and even if these gates were so large that they could not be closed, the fact that dozens of empires and kingdoms within the forty-two continents of the world had a few people who could defend themselves changed the fate of everything.

Perhaps many kingdoms and even empires would fall again because hundreds of billions of demons from that false hell, the demon realm, were trying to invade the world against the billions of people on it.

This was the real danger.

The gods and goddesses were trying to find every person who showed certain acts of courage and had a good heart so that they could bestow blessings upon them. Of course, this also required a lengthy search, even for them, the gods and goddesses.

Still, there was one unchanging truth:

Epioles’ words had truly sparked a revolution. The actions of the Great Oneiroi would be written into world history in golden letters.

Atlas noticed that the demons passing through the gates were no longer low-level demons, but had begun to transform into mid-level demons.

These demons still did not pose a threat to Atlas. Even pure vampires could kill them as long as they stayed together, but the real problem was that hundreds of these demons were emerging from the gates every second.

When Atlas ran the last half kilometre and reached the seventh gate, he immediately began placing the Strike and Obliteration runes on the gate.

He had done this so many times that he had truly grown accustomed to it. His hands moved very quickly, and he could focus the mana flowing from his heart to his arm and then to his fingers even faster, allowing him to draw the runes much more swiftly.

In just a few seconds, he had managed to create a full set of twelve runes.

This was a set of twelve runes, six of which were Strike runes and the other six were Destruction runes.

When the Destruction rune closed over the gate, a Strike rune closed directly over the Destruction rune, causing the gate to crack.

Then the next one, then another, and within two minutes, the passage had shattered into pieces, fallen to the ground, and then vanished into dust.

Atlas didn’t wait even a second and carefully looked at the demons approaching him. Somehow, despite all of Atlas’s thoughts and knowledge, there was a High-Ranking demon among them.

Just one.

Atlas did not want to risk anything, so he gripped the Holy Sword Delusion in his hand more tightly and said, "Night’s Step."

His steps quickened, and he began to swing the Holy Sword Delusion as if his targets were already determined.

With each swing of the sword, he severed the head of another demon and ripped out the heart of another, separating it from its body.

When the High-Ranking demon began to approach Atlas at high speed, Atlas did not hesitate for a second and avoided the demon’s attack with simple movements.

Another demon managed to jump on Atlas without him noticing and tried to grab his arms.

When Atlas realised that the High-Ranking demon in front of him had started moving again and that his movements were restricted, he didn’t wait even a second and said, "Unbreakable Body."

Atlas’s eyes suddenly shone, his skin hardened incredibly, and his muscles became more defined.

This indicated that his Strength and Endurance stats had nearly doubled.