Ashen Dragon

Accompanied by a piercing roar, the rumble of the ground, and the sound of slime flowing, the "Black Mountain" moved slowly towards the Aphernas Allied Forces' front line, unstoppable.

A strong aura of chaos enveloped the entire battlefield, shrouding every soldier's heart, engulfing millions of souls in a terror that stemmed from the very essence of their being, a trembling fear.

This is the power of the Abyssal Lord, a terrifying entity born from the depths of the Abyss!

It is the instinct of living beings, a fear of the most terrifying unknown existence, almost unavoidable.

Even "soulless" players were affected by various negative effects such as fear, shock, and confusion.

And from afar, atop the Bronze Fortress, Cassius squinted towards the distant black hill, carefully sensing the chaotic power contained within its overwhelming pressure, and murmured, "A troublesome enemy, and... this thing is really ugly."

Piere also seemed solemn, instinctively gripping the Purgatory Longsword at his waist: "This is the Black Water Lord, a monster from an unknown Abyss, but unfortunately, aside from this name, I know almost nothing about it.

Many twisted beings are born from the Abyss, even the Lord of Nine Prisons cannot know them all — clearly, this guy is one of them."

"Maybe it's some deity's intestine, thrown into the Abyss thousands of years ago without anyone knowing," Cassius joked casually.

After all, Gush's blood and eyes could breed evil beings.

This demon that looks like intestines and oozes foul liquid might just match his guess.

"Boom!"

As they spoke, the Black Water Lord squirmed into the battlefield, its dark hill-like body exerting a tremendous sense of oppression.

"Damn, it really is an abomination from the Abyss, truly disgusting! Block it!" A devil officer waved his saber, roaring as he issued the command.

Hellfire balls, burning arrows, scarlet lightning... all sorts of things were thrown towards the massive demonic body.

But that pitch-black slime seemed capable of swallowing and dissolving everything; all arrows, bullets, cannonballs seemingly vanished, like mud cows into the sea, disappearing into the black water.

And various spells dissipated completely at a hundred meters from the Black Water Lord, deconstructed by the chaotic power into countless chaotic elemental particles.

"Sssss—"

Dark slime fell like raindrops, corroding the ground into pits, and even dissolving half of a devil soldier's body, the hell iron armor offering not the slightest bit of protection.

It swung its slime-covered tentacles, instantly absorbing thousands of players and devil soldiers into its massive body.

"No!"

"Help me!"

"Damn it, block that tentacle, don't let it come over!"

"Ahhh! So disgusting—"

In the instant they touched the black water, the sizzling sound began, their skin started to melt, followed by flesh and organs, until finally, even their bones were absorbed into the black water, becoming food for this demon.

The fly-like rotten harbingers buzzed towards the crowd, spitting out putrid slime.

"Damn, this boss is so disgusting, I can't deal any damage at all, and it has a bunch of disgusting minions."

"Are we going to lose this war mission?"

"It's a literal crap monster, no idea what's in the dog designer's brain to create something like this, looks like a joke."

"What setting do you all have your senses on? I feel so sick, I'm about to vomit!"

With the Black Water Lord's arrival, the battlefield's situation changed dramatically in an instant. In just a few minutes, players and devils suffered heavy casualties, with tens of thousands dead or wounded, and their front line teetered on the brink of collapse.

Watching the losing battle situation, Cassius looked at the Dreadful Devil next to him with a raised eyebrow: "Piere, can you deal with it?

If you need help, I can step in now, but... that will cost extra."

Piere frowned and asked, "If I let you handle that abomination, what do I need to give in return?"

Cassius smiled and said, "I'll give you a friendly price, just half of the Hell Authority, and a colony the size of a small country."

Piere sneered, taunting, "Well, a child of Tiamat indeed, as greedy as ever."

"So, are you planning to handle it yourself?"

"Of course."

The moss on the sewer arch glowed with eerie green under the dim phosphor lantern light, the murky sewage washing over the boot soles, each step stirring a viscous "gloop." Purple-black slime seeped from wall cracks, converging towards drains like veins — this was the unique neural corrosive matter of the Spirit Sucking Monster nest, inhalation by ordinary people causing auditory hallucinations, like countless tiny tendrils writhing in their ear canals. Suddenly, a fractured cast iron pipe behind them sounded with the "clack" of misaligned bones, as if something was twisting through a narrow space.

Three patrolling guards just raised their lanterns when the sewage erupted! Four Spirit Sucking Monsters leaped from beneath the water, their pallid humanoid bodies covered in detritus, tentacled, octopus-shaped heads releasing a high-frequency tremor, emitting visible purple mind shock wave patterns. The foremost guard's helmet caved in, his eyeballs bursting into a bloody mist amidst cranial pressure spikes; the second didn't even have time to scream before tentacles pierced his ear canal, spinal cord drawn from his shell like a marionette string; the last survivor staggered back, the gunfire from his firearm drowned out by the collective sub-frequency screeching of the Spirit Sucking Monsters.

These Spirit Sucking Monsters were clearly tactically trained. Two of them feigned attacks, slapping the water's surface with their tentacles, stirring up a corrosive mist to obscure vision; the third hung down from the ceiling, suction cups adhering to a guard's skull, tentacle tips precisely piercing the foramen magnum — not immediately lethal, but controlling the captive like a puppet, forcing him to turn with trembling hands to load firearms for his comrades. Meanwhile, the fourth Spirit Sucking Monster carved open the fallen guard's chest cavity with finger joint bone blades, extracting the warm liver to push into its mouth, pale yellow digestive juices dripped from its jaw, sizzling on the ground.

The parasitized victim had not yet fully died. The guard's mutilated body suddenly twitched back to life, a half-transparent Spirit Sucking Monster larval tendril emerged from the neck wound, pupils diffusing into cloudy white. He grabbed a dagger to stab at his former comrade, squeezing out a non-human synthesized voice from his throat: "Skull... for the Master Brain...". And the real horror had just revealed itself — far away, a sewage pool began boiling, more pallid figures emerging from the water, dragging ten or so captives cocooned in slime, those human faces contorting in soundless screams beneath the cocoons.

When the last gunfire dissipated, the sewer returned to dead silence. Only floating tattered uniforms and still pulsating neural corrosive fungus blankets proved the massacre's existence. The Spirit Sucking Monsters dragged their captives away into the depths of the drainage system, where the slime cocoons occasionally twitched, as if the "seeds" inside were about to break free. In the Master Brain's psychic network, the coordinates of these new bodies transformed into a string of cold purple light, converging towards the massive pulsating shadow deep beneath the Bod Gate.

The Upper City was relatively elevated, consisting of Castle District, Temple District, Manoburn District, and Wide Alley District, featuring numerous religious buildings, Miracle Hall, and Supreme Miracle House, all serving as centers for Gund, the God of Craft's church at Bod Gate. Miracle Hall displayed Gund's great inventions, while the Supreme Miracle House functioned as a workshop. Most Lower City buildings were stone houses, with six districts: Sea Tower District, Blonrich District, Steep District, Crowded Side District, East Road District, and Branpton District. The middle class typically resided in Blonrich District, adjacent to the Upper City's nobility, while closer to the Outer City linked by Stone Lizard Gate, East Road District was relatively more mixed with bars and budget inns. Sea Tower District housed the Flaming Fist Mercenary Group, proximal to the largest Rocky Offshore Island hosting the mercenary group's headquarters, Bodlan Sea Tower. Branpton District and Steep District comparatively were more dilapidated,