Extraordinary pedigree

There seemed to be sounds of corruption and cracking in the air around him.

Lancelot's body was extremely huge, lying quietly in the ruins of the main hall, its vague humanoid outline shrouded in a suffocating and oppressive atmosphere.

The body is about 12.8 meters tall, like a collapsed mountain, and the surrounding air is distorted and fluctuated slightly by the constant heat it emits.

A torso similar to that of a human can be clearly seen on the corpse, but it is connected to six twisted legs, each leg digging into the ground like a swollen tree root.

Lancelot's six arms are even more terrifying. Each arm is severely swollen, with a brittle flesh texture on the surface, and rough metal buckles are connected to the ends of the arms.

Those buckles held thick iron chains that extended around the body, like some ancient ritual object used for restraint, but their ends had broken.

Even after death, this corpse still exudes a highly polluted atmosphere, mixed with the pungent hot and putrid stench.

The triple halo surrounding Xia Xiu's head made a harsh "hissing" overheating sound when he got close to the corpse. The closer he got, the stronger the pollution became.

A dense stream of information flashed across his retinas, and numbers jumped on the screen at high speed:

[Current Ethernet floating point computing efficiency: 7.87×10^10 (tens of billions)/second]

He frowned slightly. This number was far beyond the level of conventional calculations, and the pollution intensity was enough to cause an ordinary thaumaturgy to lose consciousness instantly or even explode on the spot.

The [Aether Floating Point Operation] efficiency of the [Torino Type I] on Xia Xiu in full mode is 1×10^12 (trillion/second), and the Lancelot in front of him is just a corpse, and he is already dead. There are corpses that have been buried for who knows how many centuries.

It actually still maintains tens of billions of floating-point calculation pollution per second, which is not far behind the [Volcano King] contained during the Battle of Iberia.

“The closer you get, the pollution efficiency increases significantly, with the highest pollution peak being 70 billion floating-point operations.

The pollution threshold has never been able to break through to the 100 billion level, and the radiation range is only within a kilometer in diameter, and every 100 meters, the pollution level drops exponentially.

This is good news, at least it is not as high as the pollution from the stars, and the radiation range is a thousand times, ten thousand times lower than that of the stars..."

Xia Xiu observed Lancelot and quickly completed a preliminary anomaly analysis report in his mind.

"Non-high-level thaumaturges can't observe this kind of thing at all. Moreover, the entire Sunset Palace is shrouded in this pollution. The original demon... When this thing was alive, its strength was estimated to be infinitely close to the stars.

According to Seth, there are three other people of the same class as this thing, and there is a high probability that they are still alive.

What’s even more troublesome is the powerful thaumaturgic origin entity that caused the birth of these four original demons. The whereabouts of those unknown entities called ‘blasphemy’ are also unknown...”

Xia Xiu carefully observed Lancelot's body, and after confirming that the other party was indeed in a state of death now and would be in this state for a long time in the future, he moved his eyes away from Lancelot's body.

Xia Xiu didn't have much interest in anomalies of this level. He had too many things to deal with right now, and he really didn't have much enthusiasm to write a few more thaumaturgy papers around Lancelot.

These troublesome things should be left to the people in the [Central Containment Room] to deal with later.

After briefly observing some details around the Palace of the Sunset, he turned his attention to the east of the Palace of the Sunset, which leads to a small town on the sea.

The members of the Kelasel family, as well as the two corrupted vassals, were hiding there.

He adjusted the brim of his hat slightly, took steps, and walked toward the east.

*

*

When Xia Xiu approached the small town east of the Palace of the Sunset, a burst of hot breath rushed towards him as he approached. It felt like standing on the edge of a volcanic crater, and the air was filled with a burning sensation.

The blond young man frowned slightly, but his steps did not stop at all.

【Vashak——】

A huge figure emerged from behind him. The darkness swallowed up his shadow, extending out an inverted triangle of his skull, and his purple eyes flashed with signs of a slowly rotating clock.

The moment [Vashak] appeared, he raised his hand and pointed his long index finger at a point in the void.

"Buzz——"

The air vibrated, and the space seemed to freeze.

The colors of the Palace of the Sunset faded instantly, turning into a gray and white movie quality, and time stood still at this moment.

Xia Xiu stood in this solid space, staring coldly at the source of heat in front of him.

He looked carefully at the attackers who were frozen in time.

1, 2, 3…

In front of him, fifty flaming humanoid creatures about two meters tall were maintaining a charging posture.

Their bodies were made entirely of flames, their outlines burning fiercely and violently, heat waves twisting the air in the still space.

The faces of each "Fire Man" are blurred. These should be the Balrogs mentioned by Seth.

"The people in the city are really warm and hospitable."

Xia Xiu muttered, and as soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling golden light flashed behind him.

The light quickly condensed into a huge incarnation - [Metatron].

Six pairs of huge light particle wings spread out behind him, like a golden sun burning brightly in this gray world.

[Metatron]'s arrival was filled with a sense of coercion. His face that was as perfect as a sculpture was indifferent, and he held a flaming giant sword in each hand.

Without any hesitation, the six-winged light angel slowly merged the two flaming giant swords in his hands to form a flaming giant sword with a length of forty meters.

The whole body of the sword is burning with pure flames, which is a power composed entirely of ether, blazing and sharp.

Xia Xiu turned slightly sideways and took a step back to make room for [Metatron].

[Remnant Fire Great Blade——]

[Metatron]'s wings trembled slightly, and he raised the flaming giant sword, pointing the tip of the sword directly at the Balrog in front of him.

The next moment, the flaming giant sword slashed down at an astonishing speed, and the sword edge cut through the gray air, bringing up a golden arc of light.

The entire time-stop world trembled for a moment with this slash.

"Qiang——"

The moment the sword light slashed through, the fifty bodies of the Balrog that were frozen in the charge were cut in half.

"Buzz——"

Along with the low vibration sound, time resumed its flow.

The Balrogs that originally rushed towards Xia Xiu at extremely fast speeds broke into two pieces the moment time resumed flowing.

However, such an attack did not cause substantial damage to the Balrog.

Those broken "flame bodies" scattered like angry beasts, and the broken upper part seemed to have independent consciousness, struggling to stand again.

The lower half is not completely still, but squirms in a strange way, as if it is trying to put itself back together.

Fifty Balrogs turned into a hundred in an instant.

The hot breath spread rapidly, the humidity in the surrounding air seemed to be drained out in an instant, and the temperature rose sharply.

Each new Balrog is slightly smaller in size, but its movements are faster, and the flames make a screaming-like explosion between the jumps.

Then, Xia Xiu heard these Balrogs using high-temperature, high-pressure air and the roar of flames to "talk."

"Hungry for fuel! Hungry for air!"

"Burning with desire! Burning with desire!"

"Burning with desire!!!"

Xia Xiu watched this scene calmly.

"I just know it's not that simple."

call out--

[Metatron] held two flaming swords shortened to normal size, and smashed a nearby Balrog into pieces.

Note that it is a real corpse cut into pieces.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Seraph's hands wielding the sword hilt turned into afterimages in the air, and the nearby Balrog was chopped into ten thousand parts.

At the same time, [Sisyphus] appeared again behind Xia Xiu. He controlled the surrounding vectors to form a Möbius strip of air wall with the [∞] symbol, blocking the Balrogs' attacks.

Inside the ring, Xia Xiu observed silently.

He observed that the flames of each Balrog did not weaken due to division, but became more and more full in the surrounding flame waves.

Whenever the Balrog is attacked by an external force, especially a fatal blow, it seems to trigger some strange splitting mechanism, individuating it into multiple new entities that are smaller but still have independent consciousness.

This split is not a simple physical phenomenon, but an abnormal reaction that seems to be driven by "thaumaturgy".

Moreover, not only will these Balrogs not be extinguished by division, but even after division, they will still try to strengthen themselves by burning everything around them.

Xia Xiu noticed that the nearby stones and dust in the air quickly turned a scorching red under the high temperature.

He was keenly aware that these Balrogs did not just rely on instinct - they readjusted their formation after splitting, showing a certain tendency to encircle them, as if they were gradually understanding his tactics.

"A sentient life composed of flames, with a split nature. The specific composition is still unknown. Its true structure should be invisible, and it is not in the form of flames as it appears on the surface."

Xia Xiu quickly summarized the abnormal characteristics of the Balrogs. His golden eyes narrowed slightly and he began to evaluate the real threat of these Balrogs.

He waved the [Lever of Heaven] in his hand and projected several tentative magic waves.

The fluctuations passed through the Balrogs, but could not weaken their flames, and even inspired some Balrogs to make sharp explosions.

"It is not a simple flame, but a special energy body with a 'self-sustaining' mechanism."

Xia Xiu quickly came to the conclusion that these Balrogs might not rely entirely on external fuel, but instead draw power from some internal abnormal source.

At the same time, he remembered Seth's description of these Balrogs: "They are the products left by the 'spark'."

"You can't simply kill them, otherwise they will continue to divide. Their core must be found or suppressed with some special means."

Xia Xiu's eyes scanned the surrounding area, and his golden pupils narrowed slightly.

His eyes fell on the Balrog fragments cut by [Metatron], and he carefully observed their changes.

The surrounding air was filled with the burning smell, and the strong charring smell was nauseating.

The broken balrogs scattered into countless tiny flames. They jumped and burned wantonly, competing with each other for all the combustibles around them.

"The oxygen levels around us are decreasing rapidly."

Xia Xiu's eyes were cold, he lightly tapped the [Lever of Heaven] in his hand, and then continued to observe.

While those flames are consuming the surrounding oxygen, they are also frantically competing for combustible resources.

Some larger flames quickly devour smaller flames, while those weaker flames gradually dim and extinguish due to lack of fuel, and eventually only a weak spark remains.

"really."

Xia Xiu murmured in a low voice and came to a conclusion:

"The demand for fuel is extremely high, and intelligence decreases as the amount of fuel decreases; when there is enough fuel, complex forms can be formed.

When the volume and fuel amount reach a certain threshold, it will split into multiple individuals.

If these individuals are short of fuel, they will become hostile to each other for fighting fuel - that is to say, the divided individuals can eventually be eliminated until only a single individual remains, and that single individual is the source of the anomaly. "

The blond young man raised his head and stared at the shrinking Balrog individuals.

The glimmer of light reflected in his golden pupils, like some kind of all-devouring abyss.

He thought for a moment, then a brilliant smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"In that case, we might as well speed up the process." His voice was soft and gentle, even a little warm, as if the upcoming trial was just a sunny conversation.

He slowly raised his right hand, the [Lever of Heaven] in his hand shook slightly, and a faint buzzing sound came from the air.

At the top of the wand, the familiar [∞] symbol gradually appeared, shining brightly with an irresistible power.

[Out-of-control world·Out-of-control factor mark——]

[Leverage of Heaven · Factors to Lever——]

In an instant, the entire space was compressed into a soundless silence.

The air seemed to have lost all fluidity, and a powerful attraction surged out of the wand, almost making everything around it tremble.

The remaining oxygen and combustible substances began to surge violently, being ripped away from the surrounding space as if being swallowed by invisible whirlpools.

Those tiny flames swayed and struggled, but could not prevent themselves from extinguishing.

The hot breath dissipated instantly, leaving only dry scorched earth around.

The Balrogs revealed some kind of self-awareness in their final burning, and they roared with sharp and weird sounds, which tore the eardrums like air currents under high pressure:

"Can't burn. No fuel."

"Grow. Need. Must grow."

"Don't like it. No fuel."

"No air. Hungry!!!"

With these distorted shouts, all the Balrogs in the field were quickly extinguished, leaving only a few remaining sparks, which turned into nothingness in the cold air.

Xia Xiu stood among the silent ruins, holding up his wand and calmly staring at the faint fire in the center of the field.

There was only a tiny flame, which seemed to be some kind of source-like existence. It was not completely extinguished, but was twisting violently, as if trying desperately to break free from some kind of restraint.

The flames exuded a sense of uneasiness that could not be ignored, as if they felt an unprecedented threat to their own existence.

Xia Xiu walked toward the flames step by step. His steps were steady, but with an irresistible pressure.

He stood in front of it, lowered his head slightly, and stared coldly at the small flame with his golden pupils.

"This is the source." Xia Xiu's voice was low and calm. "Sure enough, it has special abnormal properties and cannot be completely eliminated."

He raised his right hand slightly, and the light at the top of the wand flickered slightly.

The small flame seemed to be held by some invisible force and slowly floated up from the ground.

The flames twisted violently, as if protesting their fate, but could not break free from the invisible restraint.

Xia Xiu looked at it, raised a faint smile on his lips, and guided it to his shoulder.

The small flame finally fell reluctantly on his shoulder, like a creature forced to surrender.

Xia Xiu used the [Heaven's Lever] in his hand to pat the top of the small flame on his shoulder, like patting a dog's head.

"Little one, I would like to inform you that you are now officially accepted by the Kingdom of Heaven."

The flame was dented several times where it was struck by the [Heaven's Lever]. The flame twisted uneasily on the Dark Lord's shoulder. All the combustible conditions near it had been pried away by the lever in the Dark Lord's hand. The fuel Its shortcomings have resulted in its current IQ being in arrears.

Fortunately, it is now in arrears, otherwise it would probably explode immediately after hearing the next sentence.

"Yeah, good."

The blond young man said with a serious expression to Enma who was in a state of low IQ:

"Remember, you will be famous from now on, so be happy.

How about I give you a new name now, and call it the Joy of Fire.

What do you think? "

The little flame seemed to be mentally retarded, burning dully and crackling.

Now, because it is hungry, it cannot understand the evil meaning in the Dark Lord's words.