In the Void Refinement battlefield, among the two humans and one beast, the Little Stone Spirit's situation was relatively easier. Because its physical body was peerless, ordinary demons couldn't even break its defense, especially in one-on-one encounters. It was impossible to deal lethal damage to it.
Moreover, the Little Stone Spirit wasn't just strong in defense! As a Military Conquest Stone Spirit, its greatest strength had never been defense, but offense! It was a beast that governed slaughter!
Every pattern on its body could erupt with world-shaking slaughter power. Its sword-shaped and blade-shaped patterns, in particular, each possessed the ultimate lethality of the Void Refinement Stage. While a single pattern might not match the former Demon-Blade Bai Liyun, the Little Stone Spirit—having devoured enough weapons—was not far behind. When the blades and swords struck together, few demons could withstand more than a few rounds.
Furthermore, it had more than one Void Refinement spirit tool by its side. Although most were ancient tools that had lost some of their power, they still possessed sixty to seventy percent of their original might under the stone spirit's nurturing. Most importantly, it could manipulate all the tools to strike at once. Its Void-grade body could fully sustain the consumption. Fighting it was like being ganged up on by a group.
After slaying six Void Refinement demons, it had only used its blade and sword patterns. The others weren't necessary yet. "Dual Wielding Peerless" and "Slaying Demons as They Come" were the best descriptions of its current state.
It wasn't alone, either; a Void Refinement Void-Aether Fish accompanied it, providing spatial turbulence, distortions, and assistance in escape, tracking, and pinpointing enemies. This perfectly compensated for the stone spirit's slight disadvantage in speed. With the fish's help, its combat power was unleashed to perfection!
The stone spirit's battlefield was the most "leisurely" opening of the entire campaign. As a Lord of Military Conquest built upon a mountain of high-grade ancient weapons, its performance did not disappoint. Its horrific power truly lived up to its name.
The reason its body had been damaged outside the city earlier was because it had taken nearly all the combined attacks from the Soul Transformation and Void Refinement demons. Such a massive concentrated fire would have normally killed any Void Refinement being, even with a formation's help. But on the stone spirit, it only caused some surface pitting. It was far from damaging its life core.
However, as the number of demons increased, the pressure rose. Two demons even forced it to reveal its tenth Military Conquest Pattern; otherwise, the blades and swords alone wouldn't have killed them! Such combat power was extreme; those two demons could have each defeated five or six ordinary late-stage Void Refinement humans from the Sky-Dragon Continent.
Those two had left horrific pits on the stone spirit's body, using bizarre forces to prevent healing. Even with all its might, it could only recover slowly. The attacks were exceptionally eerie. It even forced its Void-grade body to devour ores and weapons to recover. Yet, despite being so powerful, those foes still hadn't truly threatened its life. It looked wretched, but it was still sweeping through the field!
The stone spirit possessed dozens of patterns capable of Void Refinement-level power, and over a hundred at the Soul Transformation level! These abilities, derived from various weapons, gave it unimaginable strength. If it erupted with everything, it could even go head-to-head with a Body Integration expert!
Its only weakness was that if it exhausted all its patterns at once, the recovery time would be very long, and it couldn't sustain combat. That was why it only used blades and swords; it was its way of winning with the least consumption. There were simply too many demons! Until every demon in this field was dead and the node destroyed, it didn't dare waste its strength. It fought while devouring ores to recover.
As the battle neared its end, it finally encountered the enemy Qi Ping had warned it about: the Black Hole Demonic God! This was the only demon to break through Qi Ping's blockade during the initial melee. It possessed bizarre power, and Qi Ping had only barely repelled it with the Five-Colored Immortal Light.
Even more terrifyingly, there weren't just the Black Hole Demonic God standing before the stone spirit now—there were two other King-level demons whose auras were similar to the ones that forced out its tenth pattern. Additionally, there were three more demons... a total of six!
Looking at the six formidable demons, especially the mysterious one in the center, the stone spirit knew its hardest battle was about to begin. It felt immensely lucky to have the fish's help; without it, its killing efficiency wouldn't have been so high, and the two King-level demons it encountered earlier might have escaped. If they had, it would be facing even more than six demons now. In that case, no matter how many patterns it had, it might not work—because the opponent also possessed peak experts!
Even in a one-on-six situation, the danger was immense. If it wasn't careful, it might have to sacrifice itself and wait for Qi Ping to resurrect it. But it wouldn't allow that. In the Void Refinement tier, its win rate was currently the highest. If it failed, the entire tier might be wiped out. Such a failure would be an absolute disaster for the Star-Sea.
'Little Stone cannot fail. I cannot fail the Boss's expectations.'
Looking at the demons, especially the one shrouded in a black hole, a sense of dread rose in its heart. It was hard to imagine a Void Refinement demon causing such a threat. But this only firmed its resolve.
"Fishy..." it secretly called to the fish hidden in the void.
"Little Stone, I'm here. I'm ready to fight to the death!" the fish said firmly. The Void-Aether Fish would never shrink back.
"Not a fight to the death. Take me... and run!"
"What?" The fish was stunned, but it obeyed immediately, leading the stone spirit in a frantic flight. With a whoosh, the massive body vanished.
"Little Stone, why are we running?"
"The Boss told me to. He said if there are too many enemies and I'm not sure of winning, I should have you take me away. We shake off the slow ones first. You handle the travel, and I'll find a chance to kill the ones who catch up... I'll erupt with many patterns to kill one instantly, then devour materials to recover. The Boss called this 'defeating them one by one.'"
"What if they don't chase us?"
"The Boss said if they don't, we find other lone demons. Worst case, we just keep running until the Providential Creation descends. If they can't kill us, they can't find our node. We can just stall until the battlefield timer ends and settle for a draw."
"Alright! I'll leave the running to me then!" The fish might not be as good at fighting, but it was superb at running.
On the other side, the six demons, including Kelin (the Black Hole Demonic God), were stunned as they watched the stone spirit vanish. What the hell? They had been on high alert. The news of the stone spirit sweeping through the field with a blade and a sword had already spread; no demon had been able to stop its path. Such a reputation struck fear even into the cruel demons.
If not for Kelin being there, the others likely wouldn't have initiated a fight; they would have gathered more demons first. They had been ready to die in battle. Then, the guy with the legendary reputation just... bolted. The maneuver nearly threw them off balance. Was this right?
The other four demons looked at Kelin.
"Prince, shall we pursue?"
The simple question revealed the hierarchy. Even the two King-level demons had to address Kelin as "Prince." His status was so high that even they had to bow.
'Should I pursue?' Kelin was also conflicted. The reason it brought others was because it knew how troublesome the stone spirit was. Even with its bloodline, it wasn't ten-percent certain of winning alone; it needed support. It had formulated a plan, and based on the stone spirit's habit of sweeping through everything, the plan had a high success rate. But the guy just left without a word.
After a moment's hesitation, it made its decision. "Pursue! Don't let it escape!"
It wanted the stone spirit's body! If it could obtain it, its own foundation and potential would reach an unimaginable level. Once it broke through to Saint Demon, it would become an existence that could cow the entire Demon Realm, perhaps even catching up to its father! It couldn't afford to miss this.
Normally, it could gather more demons for an encirclement, but the fish was a variable—one that could cross barriers! If the stone spirit sensed danger and left this field, getting that body would involve even more variables. Even if this was a "defeat them one by one" ruse, it wouldn't give up. It had to have that body!
The other five demons thought of this too, but they had no choice but to obey the Prince. They didn't even dare to slack off; the consequences would be worse than death. They would rather die fighting the stone spirit than face the Prince's methods.
Shortly after the stone spirit left, they followed. As expected, the three non-King demons were soon left behind, unable to keep up even by burning their blood essence. But they weren't disappointed; they were relieved they wouldn't have to be the Prince's cannon fodder. They had proven their loyalty by burning essence.
Next, one of the King-level demons, who wasn't skilled in speed, gradually fell behind. It could only burn essence to trail from a distance. The other King-level demon, who was skilled in speed, was filled with despair. It wished it weren't so fast; then it wouldn't be the only cannon fodder left!
'Damn those bastards!' The demon actually felt an impulse to join the stone spirit in killing the Prince. It didn't hate the stone spirit; the demons were invaders, and the Star-Sea was just food. It could be greedy or afraid, but it wouldn't be resentful toward food. The one it hated was the "Prince" beside it!
If death was the only end, why not take a noble-blooded fellow with it? Dying like that was better than being used as a pathetic shield!