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The shattered remains of the demon race, once their magical power had dissipated, crumbled into gravel-like debris and merged with the land. However, the natural dissipation of magic took time—about a week. In the magic-deprived environment of the Abyss Battlefield, that was simply too long.
Although the battlefield had been cleared and all valuable ores and materials had been collected and packed away, the leftover scraps on the cannon-fodder corpses were like chicken ribs—tasteless but wasteful to discard.
Normally, unless the team was close to a fortress city and planning to return, no one would bother carrying the remains of low-ranking demon soldiers. Sure, you could trade them at a refinery for a small amount of goods, but it was far too cumbersome to be worth the trouble.
"You brat, why don't you ever use your brain?"
Uncle Tian, carrying a bamboo joint staff over his shoulder, dismounted from his steed and swaggered toward the exhausted group, jokingly saying, "Feels good to be eaten alive by ants, doesn't it?"
He glanced at the thousands of demon corpses near the squad and chuckled behind his mask.
"I'm an idiot."
Gasping for air, Harry stabbed his massive greatsword into the ground, removed his mask, and took deep breaths of the sulfur-tinged air. The sharp scent quickly cleared his head.
"If I wasn't such a damn idiot, I wouldn't have chosen to go head-to-head with those thick-headed bastards. I nearly worked myself to death."
At least three-quarters of the corpses around them were felled by Harry alone. He had swung that greatsword so much that it left afterimages. Slashing weapons were terribly inefficient against these enemies, yet Harry hadn't asked Nicholas Flamel to equip him with a blunt-weapon configuration. He had previously dismissed clubs as being too uncool. Now, though, all he wanted was to slap himself.
Can style fill your stomach? Maybe. But there are no rich women in the Abyss Battlefield feeding anyone for looking cool.
"Oh right, Uncle Tian—what do we do with all this rubble? There's so much of it, and it would take alchemical fire hours to burn it all away. Are we just going to leave it here?"
"Leave it? Of course not," Uncle Tian waved his hand. "Even if these are just cannon-fodder corpses, if we don't dispose of them properly, a demon centurion could respawn here after we leave. Give it a few days and this place could be swarming with another large roaming squad."
"See that flower field up ahead?" Uncle Tian pointed forward. "That's one of the rare living things that can survive in the Abyss Battlefield. It's also our main ingredient for alchemical fire—used to incinerate magical residue from demon corpses."
"You just watch."
At that moment, the panda cavalry—who had previously spread out—dragged a large pile of demon corpses toward them. The scattered remains were gathered into one spot. The 21 soldiers worked together, unleashing powerful psychic energy in a sudden burst. Hundreds of tons of corpses soared through the air and crashed into the strange, eerie flower field ahead.
Beneath the flower field wasn't soil or rock, but a pool of thick, oily liquid that gleamed with an unnatural sheen. A massive wave surged up without splashing, only erupting in towering crests that rippled outward. The entire flower field, spanning several kilometers, trembled and swelled. It took several minutes for the area to settle down again.
Now, the previously bizarre and gaudy flower field appeared even more vibrant. A kaleidoscope of dazzling colors unfolded as enormous, head-sized flowers bloomed. They resembled grotesque mouths filled with fangs, lazily belching after a full meal.
Orange-red pollen drifted into the air, the sulfurous stench growing so strong it became suffocating.
A strong gust of wind blew past. Uncle Tian held up a transparent glass vial, and the wind gathered the pollen into it, collecting a thin layer just a couple of centimeters thick at the bottom.
"Done. Let's wrap it up and find another spot to rest. In a while, a bunch of those stone-headed freaks will wander in and offer themselves up as fertilizer. Time for us to slip away."
Uncle Tian waved the group forward, leading them away from the flower field.
---
The cleanup of the remaining two roaming demon squads was much easier than the first. Some mistakes only need to be made once—repeating them in the Abyss Battlefield could be deadly.
With their exo-armor equipped, spellcasters were now faster than the demons' built-in charge systems. Back in the days before exo-armor, every mage on the battlefield had to master short-range phantom step techniques. Martial body cultivators, on the other hand, had explosive physical speed that was not only faster than most mages but also consumed less magical energy.
What's more, Uncle Tian's team were cavalry—riding Iron-Eating Beasts capable of terrifying bursts of speed exceeding 300 kilometers per hour.
The Abyss Battlefield covered an enormous area. This wasn't a magically expanded space, but rather an actual continent that had been relocated by Awakened Ones—beings with the power to move mountains and seas. This landmass became the foundation of the battlefield and was the first "contaminated zone" when the Abyss Legion invaded Earth. Its size was roughly one-fifth that of present-day Oceania, spanning about 1.6 million square kilometers.
Once the team had become proficient in guerrilla warfare, the demon tide that had nearly wiped out Harry's group was quickly segmented and exterminated. Although the fighting attracted a few others drawn by the scent of blood, the few hundred stragglers weren't enough to cause serious trouble.
As they advanced, they drew closer to the third boundary zone of the Abyss Battlefield—the frontmost and most dangerous line of the abyss.
This area was under the jurisdiction of the Abyss Inquisitor Corps, tasked with clearing it of threats. In Zone Three, demon lords and centurions would frequently appear. The ancient rift, which had been slowly healing for a thousand years, remained imperfectly sealed. Every second, remnants from the abyssal world would fall through the torn passageway—most of them "seeds" capable of spawning cannon-fodder demons. These seed-like entities, similar to spores, absorbed ambient magic and began gestating, eventually hatching an endless stream of abyssal creatures.
Besides seeds, other high-grade materials also rained down—chunks of demon corpses native to the Abyss. These ranged from basic grunts to powerful lords. The Abyss's invasion of Earth never ceased. Even though the passageway had been shattered and sealed, the Abyss World—utterly indifferent to the lives of its own kind—had been trying for millennia to pave a new road to Earth using the corpses of its own demons.
"Look up! Ahead—in the sky!"
After eliminating the last batch of demons, Uncle Tian led them to a low cliff. Though it stood only a hundred or so meters high, it was the tallest point within several kilometers, offering a wide, sweeping view.
Following Uncle Tian's pointing finger, the squad members saw a pitch-black rift half-hidden by swirling gray clouds.
At the edges of the crack, terrifying deep-blue magical lightning flickered and danced. Even though it appeared only for brief flashes—and even at a great distance—the ominous energy it radiated was easy to sense. Its dreadful power could be felt viscerally.
"They say that, back in the beginning, the sky had tons of those little rips. But now, most of them are gone. Just a few big ones are left, and they keep tossing junk down—stone-headed freaks, stone legs, you name it."
Uncle Tian smacked his lips and pulled down his mask, taking a small sip from a flask of water infused with a hint of liquor. Drinking on missions wasn't allowed, so he used this old family trick—carrying water in a traditional liquor flask to preserve the flavor. It was a standard move for seasoned panda-men with a taste for good spirits.
"These scraps keep dropping down. On a bad day, you can get several centurions spawning just from the fallout. If we don't clean them up quickly, once a demon tide hits, there's no way we'll be able to hold the line."
"About four hundred years ago, there was one time… a real bastard came through. That cursed turtle had two skill traits—one was 'Hide-and-Seek,' and the other was 'Everyone Plays Hide-and-Seek.' That's when things went to hell. It hid for over half a year and secretly raised more than forty centurions."
"That demon tide… it breached the outer wall of the fortress city. Over fifty thousand defenders held the inner city. In the end, only a little more than eight thousand survived."
Uncle Tian's voice grew solemn as he recounted the past. But before he could continue with more stories from the Abyss Battlefield, a brilliant golden flare exploded into the sky at the far edge of their field of view.
Uncle Tian's hand, still clutching his flask, suddenly froze. His eyes widened as he stared into the distance.
"A Level-Two distress beacon! At least thirty thousand demons—four demon centurions!"
"Mother of hell, which bastard is in charge of that defense sector?! I swear on his ancestor's grave!"
"You kids, get back to base! The rest of you, with me—we need to be there in under three minutes! Move it!"
Like his backside had caught fire, Uncle Tian shoved the flask away, yanked down his face mask, and leapt onto his mount.
"We can go too—"
Harry didn't even get to finish his sentence before Uncle Tian cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand.
"You'll die. I'm not joking."
Even through the faceplate, they could feel the seriousness in Uncle Tian's expression.
"If it comes to it, I can get people out. Even if we're surrounded, we'll escape."
Harry had already tested his phantom-shift ability during earlier skirmishes. Even when surrounded by demons, and when normal mages couldn't teleport out, he was still able to consistently open a stable escape path. The usual interference from non-Awakened magic barely affected him at all.
"For real?" Uncle Tian tugged the reins, and his giant bear mount reared up, letting out a deep, guttural roar.
"If you can keep up, come on. If you die, I'll burn you some money in your next life."
Twenty-one panda heavy cavalry leapt from the hundred-meter-high cliff. The ground thundered as they landed, and in an instant, they were sprinting at speeds approaching 300 kilometers per hour. Not even the fastest electric hypercar could match the sheer acceleration of those massive armored bears.
"Activate the Solar Core. Let's go."
The squad's bio-armor, powered by solarite cores, roared to life. Pure white light burst forth as steel-clad warriors unfolded massive wings—not angelic, but no less awe-inspiring. Blinding trails of radiant particles streaked across the sky, painting brilliant arcs through the air.
Harry, left behind for a moment, launched himself from the cliff's edge. Though he hadn't fully synchronized with the alchemic armor, it didn't hinder him from stretching mid-air into the first-stage Animagus hybrid form—a half-dragon being.
Thunderclouds coiled around him. Though not yet capable of full flight, the speed and agility inherited from the Thunderveil Dragon remained nearly untouched. And then there was the added strength—something even more terrifying than the original dragon's power.
'Wuld-Nah-Kest' — Whirlwind-Fury-Storm
The moment his feet touched the ground, the cyclone surrounding him surged forward, converting into raw propulsion. The wild winds screamed around his massive frame, shrouded in lightning and dust, as he shot across the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, he vanished a thousand meters ahead.
(End of Chapter)