Why should I? All that mattered is that I won. And then this poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d ceased to matter anymore. The same went for Xue Tu, which made me wonder why he even bothered to introduce his name in the first place. He was just another nameless antagonist who would fade away into obscurity after getting defeated, because readers would complain about him being an annoying c.o.c.kroach, condemn me for not finis.h.i.+ng him once and for all so that he could keep coming back, or something similar if he decided to show up again.

h.e.l.l, there was even an entire thread in the forums asking for "ruthless" main characters and complaining about "spineless" protagonists who avoided killing as much as possible. Some of the readers commenting on the forums were so disturbing that I was bleeding just from reading the edge in their words.

"f.u.c.ker!" Xue Tu howled when he saw how his senior, hyped up to be even more of a genius than he was, still got utterly destroyed in one move by the protagonist, just like in every cultivation story ever. "How is this possible?!"

"Well…let's get this straight." I scratched my head before ramming my knee into his face, breaking his nose and causing blood to spew out. "If he's more talented than you, and more of a genius, and has higher power levels, than why the h.e.l.l are you the sect leader and not him?"

"Uh…that's…well…I don't know…"

Xue Tu looked away sheepishly even as he clutched his broken nose. Then he flared up, launching a volley of blood spikes at me.

"Who cares about that?! Just die, you f.u.c.ker!"

With a sigh, I obliterated the crimson bombardment with Hei Yue and Bai Ri, scything through them. a few of them managed to sc.r.a.pe my flesh, leaving cuts and sc.r.a.pes on my cheek and arms before I shattered them into blood fragments, but other than minor injuries I escaped relatively unscathed. Ignoring the stinging pain, I advanced closer, unleas.h.i.+ng another twin waves of destructive mana that blasted through Xue Tu's hastily conjured s.h.i.+eld.

"Why aren't you using Limitless Seal of Death?!" Xue Tu demanded as he flipped backward, avoiding getting hurt by a direct hit from my spells.

"Because I'm not Mu Chen and this is not The Great Ruler!" I yelled, irritated. "Get that through your thick skull already!"

"Why should I?" Xue Tu sneered as he infused his Blood Golem with more of his mana. The huge hulk slowly forced Green Dragon's claws off its head and staggered to its feet. "Your dear author just watched all 12 episodes of The Great Ruler anime recently and he decided to copy…I mean make fun of it! Especially with how the director randomly decided to turn an originally insignificant character into a love rival out of nowhere!"

Could I just kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d already? I was aware that he was very powerful and I couldn't easily kill him, but at least I managed to get a stomp on him earlier. Never mind, I was going to continue attacking.

"Hydra."

Nine serpentine heads burst out of the ground as the legendary creature of Greek mythology emerged, hissing ferociously. Turning around, Xue Tu paled considerably. Even as his Blood Golem launched itself at my newly arrived Constellation spirit, Hydra smacked it aside and sent it flying across the site of the tomb.

"Huff…" Panting, Xue Tu continued to wipe the blood off his face even as his broken nose healed and realigned itself. He glared at me. "Don't think you have won yet!"

"I don't. Unlike most people, I don't underestimate my foes."

"Good for you!" Xue Tu cackled hysterically. "My army of blood, answer my call! Eradicate all the foes before me!"

"!!!"

Watching a red mist billow outward and expand around Xue Tu, I instinctively jumped back while simultaneously directing my Constellation spirits to retreat. There was something not right about that ominous blood mist. Perhaps it had corrosive properties – toxic was one thing, because I was immune to poisons, but I wasn't resistant to being burned by acids.

"Too bad…I managed to succeed in surviving long enough to complete my ultimate spell!"

Xue Tu crowed as he stepped out from the unfurling mist. Within the red-blood veil, I saw humongous shapes rearing up and coalescing, all feeding off from the blood mist that now settled over the area.

Each of them was immense, looking like little hills and almost nine meters high. Behind me, my Constellation spirits bristled and readied themselves. White Tiger growled, Green Dragon snarled, Black Tortoise stood firm, Leo and his pride of Leo Minor roared, while the nine heads of Hydra hissed incessantly. Even my non-sentient Constellation spirits were able to intuitively recognize a ma.s.sive threat.

Oh, by the way, if you were wondering what the majority of them had been doing this entire time, they had been busily wiping out the dredges of the Blood Slaughter Sect, a.s.sisting the normal mercenaries in fighting them off. However, having understood that I might now be facing the battle of my life, I had recalled them back to aid me.

Especially since I needed numbers now.

"It took me a while, but it's entirely worth it!" Xue Tu was still shouting happily. "You will all fall before the might of my Blood Army!"

Blood-red giants stomped out of the swirling mist, their featureless hulks splintering trees and flattening boulders as they advanced inexorably. There had to be dozens, if not over a hundred of them. Somehow I was reminded of the t.i.tans of old, gathering under a single banner to lay ruin to the realms of men before the first G.o.ds slew most of them and imprisoned the rest of them in Tartarus. There mere sight of such goliaths marching through the forest was imposing, and I felt a chill as I craned my neck to look up at them.

"This isn't good," I murmured.

The gigantic army of Blood Golems charged forward soundlessly, the only noise they made the thunder of their earthshaking footsteps.

*

A few more blood lances struck the earth, embedding themselves deeply into broken soil. Huffing, Redfield hopped a few steps backward, doing his best to avoid the stake-like projectiles, almost literally flying through the now crowded field of red.

The few blood spears that did succeed in hitting him merely dissipated harmlessly against the Armament Ba Qi that he wreathed around him. Weaving through the relentless bombardment of blood, Redfield streaked through the site and swung his flaming spear at Liu.

The elder dispa.s.sionately parried his strike with his spear, while several blood spikes erupted from the ground to impale Redfield. The mercenary dodged them, not wanting his Armament Ba Qi to slowly acc.u.mulate damage. If he left the attacks to continue a.s.saulting his Ba Qi unchecked, it would reach the point where it would shatter eventually.

Vaulting away, Redfield twisted his body in midair before las.h.i.+ng out with his blazing spear. Embers illuminated Liu's wizened face and dispelled the shadows that night cast upon his aged figure for a moment before the elder thrust his spear upward. Redfield twirled his spear to block not just the real spear but also the countless blood spikes that had burst out of the ground and now mercilessly thrust toward him to impale his body.

The two figures danced amidst the battlefield of blood and leaves, flashes of red and orange colliding to punctuate the darkness with flashes of flames. Spinning around with a fervor of a man half his age, Liu easily parried the constant slashes and strikes from Redfield. The two of them traded over hundreds of blows, each of their exchanges obliterating the stakes of blood that now stood as monuments to their furious duel. Trees fell, razed by the sheer shockwaves from their exchanges, their leaves and twigs fluttering upward as if caught in the embrace of a tornado.

Liu parried Redfield's strike, and sent another volley of blood spikes to impale him, but the red-haired mercenary wisely evaded and darted away. The elder stood very still, his experienced eyes scanning the battlefield, and he raised his spear, unruffled, to block a blow from Redfield that came from what appeared to be his blind spot. While he did so, Spartacus lumbered forward to pulverize the preoccupied Redfield from behind.

Boom!

Both Liu and Redfield split apart and dove in opposite directions to avoid getting crushed by the b.l.o.o.d.y Berserker's enlarged fist.

"He's attacking his own ally?!" Redfield murmured, shocked. He then twisted around to cut apart a storm of blood lances blowing toward him, and leaped forward to engage the far more dangerous Liu in close combat. The two of them swung their spears at each other, trading another couple of blows that shattered the blood stakes and splintered the trees around them.

"Why are you surprised?" Liu asked, amused. "Spartacus has lost his sanity. He is driven by the Red Thirst and forever imprisoned by his Black Rage. He can't distinguish between friend and foe. His only directive is to rampage until everything around him is destroyed. Once his job is done, I will sedate him and transport him to the next battlefield, but otherwise he will spend every waking moment in a murderous haze."

"You…!" Redfield growled, but Liu laughed.

"That is what it means to be a warrior of the Blood Slaughter Sect. Every now and then, we will have a pract.i.tioner who will succ.u.mb to the Red Thirst and become a near-immortal berserker. The price for such power is one's sanity, but it is a price that we are willing to pay."

Guffawing in manic glee, Spartacus raised both his arms high up his head to smash the positions of the two combatants. Redfield tensed, getting ready to evade, but Liu didn't make it easy for him. Instead, the elder grinned after he successfully lured Redfield into a trap.

Blood spikes suddenly appeared in a circle to imprison Redfield. At first, the red-haired mercenary tried to evade, only to realize that those thick spikes weren't aimed at him. He then realized Liu's motive.

He was trying to limit his movements and trap him inside a blood prison!

Cackling triumphantly, Liu dove away just as Spartacus smashed the blood prison into bits. Despite his best attempts to defend himself by maximizing his physical reinforcement spell and Armament Ba Qi, Redfield was hurled off his feet, blood dripping down his face. He hit the ground and rolled in an ungainly manner, finally coming to a stop against rubble.

"Ugh…!"

Heaving, Redfield tried to get up, but he wouldn't be able to rise in time to evade Spartacus. The goliath had arrived above him, and was stomping toward him to crush him into a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp before he could roll away. Even when he maximized his physical reinforcement spell, Redfield was aware that he wouldn't be able to escape tremendous damage…

"?!"

The b.l.o.o.d.y Berserker's foot never reached him. Instead, it was stopped by Brent, who had used his own foot to block Spartacus's leg from descending upon the p.r.o.ne Redfield.

"…tsk."

Brent sounded annoyed, looking at Redfield.

"Defeated even before you could show the results of your training. I know you were caught by surprise and double-teamed by two powerful foes, but even so…what a pitiful Lieutenant."

"You could be a lot nicer about it!" Redfield complained angrily, but Brent merely scoffed. Redfield saw red. "Besides, this whole situation is your fault to begin with! Isn't it your job to hold back that monster?!"

Said monster was slowly turning around to leer at Brent.

"So you've come to help? I was so sure I swatted you several kilometers away that last time. How did you get back here so fast?"

"You thought you could swat me so far away?" Brent scoffed as he met the b.l.o.o.d.y Berserker's gaze evenly. "Don't flatter yourself, fool. You overestimate your own strength."

"Wonderful!" Spartacus burst out laughing. "That's so wonderful! I was so bored and disappointed that you couldn't provide more of a challenge. I'm so glad you weren't so easily slain by a few of my attacks!"

"…stop laughing and start killing, Spartacus." Liu stepped forward, his voice low and dangerous. "You're wasting too much time. We have to get to the inner chamber of the tomb as quickly as possible."

"Don't worry." Stomping forward and carving a small crater into the earth, Brent drew his staff. "I didn't come here to f.u.c.k around."

Mana began swirling around his staff and it melted away, transforming into something fluid that flowed over his hands.

"Bankai."

…did he just rip off Bleach? Seriously?

"Tie Quan Duan Feng!"

The once fluid staff solidified into a silver armor that curled across the top part of his body, winding around his shoulders and coiling around his arms. His hands were now gloved in menacing gauntlets that had gleaming blades fused into their knuckles.

Spartacus leered at him.

"I guess I have no choice!"

Leaping up, the b.l.o.o.d.y Berserker kicked Brent with all of his might, sending the mercenary captain skidding through the site in a trail of destruction.

"Hmph." Liu made to move after the sliding duo, presumably to support Spartacus, but a burst of flames forced him to jump back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Redfield growled as he shakily rose to his feet, his spear ignited once more. "Your opponent is me."

"I see." A vicious, bloodthirsty aura of demonic red appeared to coalesce around the elder of the Blood Slaughter Sect. His spear glowed ominously as torrents of blood swirled around it, in response to Redfield's blazing spear. All around the old man, blood stakes began erupting uncontrollably. "If you really want to die that badly, I will gladly indulge you."