Chapter 139: Infiltrating The Great Fortress, Destroying The Barrier!

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After Label had infused the spiritual clones with a special chemical mixture, the moment they exploded those chemicals mixed together and created an even larger secondary blast. Thick white and purple smoke spread rapidly across the battlefield — a weakening and sense-dulling poison that expanded quickly as it absorbed ambient mana from the air.

Riven gave the signal and led the party as everyone ran straight into the spreading smoke. After having drunk his specially prepared antidote, the entire group was completely immune to the poisonous fog and could easily meld into it and hide within its cover.

In mere seconds Kagehisa and his ninjas were already dicing and bisecting both Yokai and soldiers alike with ruthless efficiency.

Masa and Mune moved in perfect coordination around Kagehisa as his powerful crimson spear unleashed rapid, deadly thrusts that blew clean through the enemy ranks with ease.

Hinata summoned her Flood Frog King once more and also called forth another Spirit — a three-legged crow that unleashed fierce gusts of black wind and crackling thunder, spreading chaos and disaster across dozens of foes at once.

Goki broke through the frontline using only his bare fists before leaping high over the soldiers’ heads. From midair he threw explosive shuriken and swung his pair of lightweight axes, unleashing spinning, blazing attacks that cut through armor and flesh alike.

Ren spread his nearly invisible threads as far as he could, taking silent control of large sections of the battlefield. Dozens of enemies suddenly stopped moving entirely, unable to understand what was happening to their own bodies.

"How is this possible...?!"

"Where are they coming from?!"

"Cough... this is poison! Aggghh!"

"Damn it, where are you— UUAAGGH!"

"No, wait— Nngaaahhh!"

The desperate cries of agony from both the soldiers and the Yokai echoed across the field. Most of these Yokai belonged to intelligent tribes such as the Oni, yet they died just as easily as the rest.

Riven, meanwhile, walked calmly past the chaos with Label by his side. He rapidly began to manifest his newest powers, combining his skills with the genetic mutations now living inside his body.

His entire form gained sleek black scales. A long powerful tail extended behind him, and a pair of long black horns grew from his forehead. His hair turned pure white and grew longer, waving freely in the wind as his claws extended to an enormous size that resembled living swords.

Dense bone armor stacked itself across his body at the same time. Above him a giant spectral black skeleton emerged, releasing a thick poisonous black fog that caused several nearby enemies to drop instantly — paralyzed and heavily poisoned.

"BASTARD!"

Some of the Yokai and soldiers who possessed resistance to poison managed to break through the toxic cloud and reach him. They attacked from every angle with both spiritual arts and powerful cursed weaponry.

Of course, none of this posed a real problem for Riven. He barely paid them any attention. He simply took one step forward and swung his massive claws in a series of precise motions — forward, down, up, left, and right — unleashing a cross-shaped wave of cutting cursed, spiritual, and ghostly energies.

Soul-Tearing Beast Claw Assault!

"Nngaaaahhhhhh!"

"W-Who is he— Ugh!"

"No, wait— AAACK!"

"Ryujin-sama! SAVE USSSSSS!"

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Dozens upon dozens of Yokai and soldiers perished instantly. Their bodies exploded into pieces without mercy as spiritual explosions filled with poison and dense miasma spread across the area, contaminating the ground and making it impossible for the remaining enemies to draw spirit energy from their surroundings.

"It must be here."

Riven stopped moving once he reached the barrier. Label stood by his side and allowed Chemy to carefully lick the surface of the magical shield so it could absorb and analyze its composition.

"I believe it can be broken with enough concentrated force. It has four Spiritual Cores buried underground, though," she reported. "Hmm... maybe we can even refine the barrier energy afterward."

"You handle that. I’ll break it," Riven said.

"Understood," Label nodded.

Riven began charging all of his available strength into his right arm. He stacked the power of the Titans, his new skeletal frame and mutations, the full force of Tyrant Embodiment, and the two Mizuchi-related Skills and Genes together. He carefully limited the synergy to only his arm in order to preserve the rest of his energy.

Then...

RUMBLE!

A gigantic arm, several times larger than his own body, erupted into existence. It shattered the air pressure around it and generated a powerful shockwave that sent any Yokai attempting to approach flying backward.

This was a technique Riven had given a simple name...

Black Dragon King’s Fist.

TRUUUM!

The sheer pressure of the attack broke the sound barrier. The colossal fist struck the magical shield and spread gigantic cracks across its entire surface. Enormous shards of glass-like barrier material flew in every direction as Riven’s fist continued pressing forward for only five full seconds.

BOOOOMMM!!!

The barrier shattered completely. Waves of spiritual and mana energy exploded outward in every direction. The shockwave alone was strong enough to clear the entire area of the remaining poisonous fog.

The surviving Yokai and soldiers stared in pure horror and awe at the power Riven had just unleashed. They then saw him smirk calmly in their direction just before the entire barrier collapsed and fell inward through the giant hole he had created.

CRAAASH!

"NOOOO!"

"YOU BASTARD!"

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

The few remaining soldiers and Yokai — around twenty in total — charged toward Riven in blind anger. They were greeted by a simple exhale from his lungs that released a wave of black frost in every direction, freezing their bodies solid in an instant. He then swung his left hand horizontally in a single clean motion.

SLAAASH!

He cut them all apart in just a millisecond. Their frozen bodies were diced and bisected before exploding into thousands of tiny fragments of black ice.

Riven and Label boldly entered the fortress. He kicked through the outer walls — which were made of hardened cursed stone — as if they were nothing more than paper. Inside they were immediately greeted by even more soldiers and Yokai.

This time there were nearly two hundred of them waiting.

"So this is where you were all hiding..."

"KILL HIM!!!"

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