The blood mist dissipated.
An intense aura of corruption completely enveloped the surroundings at that moment, dyeing the fog a bloody black. The stench in the air grew even stronger.
The shield formed by the power of God-blood protected Yuxia, and it also protected Rozali.
The bespectacled girl hugged her head, trembling violently.
After realizing she seemed to be unharmed, she shakily opened her eyes.
Seeing that Yuxia had protected her too, she immediately spoke, overwhelmed with surprise. “M-Miss Yuxia!”
They were fortunate to have blocked the erupting corrosive power of the corpse in time.
Their teammates behind them weren’t so lucky.
“Ah… my leg!!!”
“My hand, what’s wrong with my hand?!”
Some among them failed to deploy defenses in time and were caught in the blast of flesh and blood, leaving parts of their bodies mangled and bloody.
But something even more terrifying was yet to come.
Their wounds rapidly worsened.
They swelled, necrotized, and festered at an alarming rate.
The corrosive power was taking root in the festering flesh, spreading wildly.
One person acted decisively, cutting off their injured limb before the corruption could spread.
Another was a step too late; the corruption had already reached their brain.
Their entire head began to swell, eyes bulging out, with tendrils of corrosive power, like blood vessels, growing from their eye sockets and ears.
They staggered to their feet, opening their mouth to bite at the surrounding people!
“Lubeite, wake up!!”
“Dammit… how can humans be infected like this too?!”
The group had descended into complete panic.
“Hum—”
At that moment, a spatial force instantly twisted the space around Lubeite.
In the next instant, Lubeite’s entire form exploded. The rotten flesh and the thick corrosive power were both swallowed up by the spatial turbulence.
“Lady Yuxia!”
Everyone turned and saw Yuxia, her eyes now completely cold.
“What are you standing around for?”
“Lubeite is already dead. He’s become just like those fully corrupted demons now. If you do nothing, are you waiting to be wiped out?”
Yuxia said coldly, “A bunch of useless small fry. Even grief has its proper time and place.”
A flicker of sorrow passed through her eyes.
But at a time like this, she couldn’t afford any hesitation.
The rain of flesh and blood continued.
Within the fog, more and more corrupted demons were gathering, converging on them from all directions like a tide.
Yuxia looked up and finally saw the rainclouds, a mixture of blood-red, black, and deep yellow.
The rainclouds were drifting in the direction behind them.
That was—the direction of the camp.
She quickly reached a conclusion.
This flesh and blood, these rotten demons… they didn’t look like they had been dead for long.
The corrosive power had accelerated the decay of their bodies, turning them into this state.
Humans had never killed this many demons in the core region.
So, how did these demons die…?
The answer was practically shouting itself.
“Have the demons gone mad? Killing so many of their own kind to create a corrosive corpse tide?”
Yuxia spoke coldly while crushing space, annihilating a row of demons before her.
Simultaneously, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of dread.
If she hadn’t undertaken this mission, and this corpse tide had simply reached the human camp and then all exploded…
The terrifying corrosive power would have been enough to engulf the entire camp in an instant.
The human side would have inevitably suffered heavy casualties.
“Rozali, use the communication crystal, notify Lady Rumina!” Yuxia ordered.
The bespectacled girl didn’t hesitate in the critical moment, quickly taking out a crystal to make contact.
But after several consecutive attempts, she froze in place, her expression grave.
“Even the communication crystal… it’s as if it’s been corrupted…” Rozali said dazedly.
“What’s wrong?” Yuxia’s heart sank.
“It failed… I can’t send any message…”
“Then run!” Yuxia said decisively. “Everyone, retreat while fighting! Prioritize safety, don’t get corrupted!”
“Whoosh—”
At that moment, a crimson shadow shot through the fog!
Yuxia’s pupils contracted. The power of the ley lines erupted instantly, blasting with full force toward the bloody shadow.
“Boom—!”
The fog shook, space hummed.
Yuxia’s figure was forced back several steps.
Her divine shield also developed a crack at that moment.
The crack was quickly repaired.
Yuxia looked up at the figure slowly approaching from ahead.
Without a doubt, it was a Demon Duke.
A woman.
She wore a blood-red gown, walking with elegant steps.
Behind her trailed a whip made of interlinked vertebrae.
On each segment of the spine, one could vaguely see squirming flesh.
“It seems some little bugs have accidentally wandered into my bloody performance.”
The woman chuckled softly.
“This performance is for the human base camp behind you, not for little bugs like you.”
“To prevent you from spoiling it, I’ll have to turn you into puppets as well.”
Her gaze fell on Yuxia.
“Especially you—”
Without exception, all Demon Dukes were at the Heavenly Dominion realm.
A terrifying pressure suddenly descended, completely locking onto Yuxia.
“Dammit!” Yuxia cursed under her breath.
She ignored the opponent and looked at Rozali. “Can you still run?”
“Miss Yuxia…” The bespectacled girl was clearly panicked.
“Can you run out of the range of the flesh rain and deliver the message?”
“I… I can only try my best…”
Before Rozali could finish, Yuxia grabbed her by the collar.
In the next moment, terrifying divine power flowed over her.
The divine power protected her while simultaneously constructing a complex array of divine runes around her.
“Ahhhhh—!”
With a fierce throw, Yuxia hurled Rozali into the depths of space as if launching a divine artifact!
Rozali’s figure instantly vanished, flying toward a far-off distance.
The Demon Duke was slightly taken aback.
She thought locking onto Yuxia would prevent any variables.
She didn’t expect the other party to pull such a move.
She immediately lashed out with her bone whip, trying to sever space and intercept Rozali.
But Yuxia was a step faster, forcefully deflecting the whip.
Even so, a portion of the corrosive power surged into the depths of space, landing on that distant figure.
The figure in the spatial depths trembled slightly but ultimately held on, rapidly moving away from the area.
“Using your companion as a weapon to throw into the depths of space… aren’t you afraid she can’t withstand that power and gets torn to pieces?” the woman sneered.
“That’s my business, none of yours,” Yuxia retorted coldly. “Old hag.”
“Old hag?!”
The woman’s voice hitched, then surged with anger.
“Compared to you, what I do is clean,” Yuxia said coldly. “Filthy, disgusting old hag.”
Corrosive power churned violently around her.
“Very well…” The woman’s voice turned icy. “Let’s see how long that mouth of yours stays tough.”
Yuxia gripped her divine artifact, her gaze cold. “Then by all means, try.”
***
Meanwhile, at the human camp.
Several patrol soldiers were making their rounds at the perimeter.
The fog was empty, the atmosphere unusually calm.
“Looks like another peaceful day.”
“Ever since their last large-scale offensive failed, the demons have been quiet for a long time.”
“Maybe they’re scared?”
The group chatted, even starting to brag.
“Don’t look down on me just because I’m only at the early Leyline stage. Once I use my secret technique, I can take down a peak Leyline cultivator!”
“I’m not weak either! If a demon noble were here, I’d spear its dog head in one strike!”
At that moment, an intense aura of corruption wafted over from the other side of the fog.
Their faces instantly changed.
“Who… who’s there?!”
One person mustered their courage, raising a spear and shouting sternly, though their legs wouldn’t stop trembling.
“It’s… me…”
A weak voice came through.
They finally saw the newcomer.
It was a bespectacled girl.
Rozali.
An intense aura of corruption emanated from her entire body.
She clutched her abdomen tightly, where flesh was rapidly festering, tendrils of corrosive power spreading like blood vessels.
She should have passed out long ago.
But some kind of willpower had forced her to hold on until now.
“Miss Rozali? Didn’t you just leave with Lady Yuxia? What happened?”
Someone hurried forward.
“Don’t come near!”
Rozali snapped her head up, shouting angrily to stop them.
The shout startled everyone.
When had the always gentle Rozali ever been so out of character?
What had she gone through?
Using the last of her strength, Rozali spoke:
“Tell… Lady Rumina…”
“Duke… corpse tide… flesh rain…”
“Corruption… defend…”
As her words fell, she could no longer hold on and collapsed.
The corrosive power began to spread wildly within her body.
“Miss Rozali!”
At that moment, a figure descended from the sky.
Sacred power erupted, directly suppressing the rampaging corrosive force.
The corruption was quickly forced back to Rozali’s abdomen.
The woman gently picked up the unconscious Rozali.
“Lady Valkyrie!!”
The soldiers immediately bowed respectfully.
The newcomer was Rumina.
“To think it was Rozali…” she murmured. “I sensed the abnormal corruption and came over.”
She looked at the soldiers. “What did she say just now?”
They hurriedly repeated Rozali’s last words.
Rumina pondered for a moment, her expression gradually turning grave.
“Could it be…?”
She suddenly looked up and ordered:
“You few, return immediately. Notify all city lords to deploy full defenses and protect the base camp!”
“Tell everyone—Code One Alert!”
“What about… you, Lady Valkyrie?”
“I need to go confirm the situation.”
As her words fell, Rumina’s figure vanished instantly, streaking toward the depths of the fog.
The soldiers realized the severity of the situation and immediately rushed back to camp.
Not long after, alarm bells rang throughout the camp.
A defensive barrier rose from the center of the camp, extending into the sky.
“What’s happening?”
People kept coming out, looking toward the rising barrier.
Lu Mo also looked up at that moment.
For some reason, a bad premonition suddenly arose in her heart.
“Is that… Miss Rozali? Lady Yuxia’s attendant?”
“Why is she being isolated?”
Lu Mo followed the crowd’s gaze.
Sure enough, she saw Rozali sealed within an isolation barrier, being urgently taken away for treatment.
Her abdomen was almost completely rotted.
A terrifying aura of corruption was constantly battering against the isolation barrier!
“Yuxia…”
Lu Mo’s eyes changed slightly.
“Look! It seems to be raining outside the camp!”
Suddenly, someone exclaimed.
Everyone looked.
Within the fog, rain was indeed falling.
But soon, that patch of fog began to rapidly turn blood-red.
That was… blood rain!
The aura of corruption also began to slowly spread toward the base camp at that moment.