Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Laurent, who was placed on the ground by Am, felt a surge of blood rushing to his head and forced down the metallic taste in his throat.

At this moment, both the three immortal wizards and Black Goat Shub had a revolutionary understanding of Lin Yi's "support" ability.

Shub's eyes flickered violently behind the mist; she finally understood why Sphinx was willing to do anything to eliminate this guy first.

This ability introduces too many variables in battles of this level.

Azathoth shook his arm, which had been slashed by Gus and Su Xiao, and his three eyes locked onto his target once again.

But this time, its gaze, for the first time ever, lingered on Lin Yi, who was a little further away, for an extremely brief moment.

Although Azathoth was left with only its most primal instincts, its primordial will seemed to vaguely realize that the human whose aura was not strong, and even somewhat "weak," was the biggest obstacle preventing it from devouring all the "nutrients" before it.

Just as a program identifies redundant code that affects core operations, even if the underlying principles are not understood, the priority of its removal is quietly increased.

The next moment, the enormous figure of Dark Source Azathoth disappeared, and when it reappeared, it had already stepped into the ruined central area of ​​Eisenra City.

His giant hand, covered in jet-black scales, slowly rose and gently pressed down towards the densest part of the crowd.

There was no grand display of force, but along the trajectory of that giant hand's descent, space itself seemed to groan under its unbearable weight.

The air was compressed to an extreme degree, forming a ripple visible to the naked eye.

The gray wizards and rulebreakers who reacted a beat too slow were instantly crushed into clouds of blood mist as if they had been run over by a massive hydraulic press, their armor and weapons turning to dust.

The ground shook violently, and a palm print-like crater, more than ten meters in diameter, appeared on the spot, its edges as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been instantly erased by some force.

As dawn broke, a semi-transparent wall of light rose in front of the allied forces, attempting to block Azathoth's next attack.

Azathoth didn't even glance at the wall of light, but casually flicked another gust of wind towards the allied forces.

"Crack——!"

The crisp cracking sound was like ice breaking.

The light wall that the dawn had painstakingly constructed exploded into countless shimmering points of light under that seemingly casual finger gesture, quickly vanishing into the air.

Shuguang herself let out a muffled groan, her face turning slightly pale, clearly indicating that the forced breaking of the spell had caused her some backlash.

There is a despairing gap in the level of power between the two sides.

Just then, the central eye of Azathoth's inverted triangle began to spin violently.

He slowly raised the arm that had just unleashed the destructive palm strike, his hand loosely clenched, and a sphere that seemed capable of absorbing all light began to condense in his palm.

This thing was initially only the size of a fist, but it expanded rapidly, reaching a diameter of about two meters in the blink of an eye, like a miniature black hole floating in His palm.

The moment the Eye of Darkness appeared, a wave of energy spread outwards.

Lin Yi felt a stinging pain all over his body, as his life force was being forcibly drained from his body.

However, the abyssal power within Lin Yi began to surge violently, forcibly preventing this thing from absorbing Lin Yi's life force.

Finally, the Eye of Darkness stabilized, its size began to shrink, and it became a sphere about the size of a human head, composed entirely of darkness, which hovered in front of Azathoth's chest.

Looking out, all one can see is absolute nothingness, and ripples at the edge of that nothingness that are slightly distorted because space cannot contain them.

The moment the Eye of Darkness was formed, a force field centered on Azathoth instantly covered an area of ​​500 meters in radius.

All living things within this range felt a bone-chilling cold seep into their very marrow.

You are affected by 'Eye of Darkness', taking 50 points of true damage per second.

[Affected by 'Ultimate Aura' + 'Chain of Life', recovers 484 health points per second.]

Lin Yi's support skills once again played a crucial role.

The 484 points of regeneration per second completely negated the damage effect of the Dark Eye.

For Su Xiao, Laurent, Gus, and the others, they can still maintain their peak combat power.

For those Grey Wizards and ordinary violators who already had low health or were injured in previous battles, this was undoubtedly the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Although Lin Yi's "Chain of Life" is very effective, there is a limit to the number of people it can connect to provide healing, and its range is limited, only covering a certain area near Lin Yi, and cannot protect every corner of the battlefield.

Soon, screams of agony filled the battlefield.

Some of the allied members, who were already injured or weak, visibly withered away under the continuous erosion of the Dark Eye. Their skin lost its luster, their eyes quickly dimmed, and they eventually turned into emaciated corpses and fell to the ground.

This scene was not the end. Lin Yi sensed that the souls that had just passed away had not completely dissipated when they were forcibly drawn away by an invisible force, like iron filings attracted by a magnet, turning into barely perceptible gray streams of light, flowing towards Azathoth in the center of the battlefield like rivers flowing into the sea.

Below Azathoth's face, where only the breathing holes are visible, the two holes are slightly open, like greedy maws, devouring all these souls.

With each soul it devoured, the chaotic and dark aura emanating from its massive body intensified, burning even more fiercely like a campfire fueled with high-quality fuel.

The deep, bone-revealing wound that Su Xiao and Gus had left on its arm joint with all their might is now visibly writhing inside, with the black carapace and scales covering and healing it again. At this rate, the injury will be completely healed in less than a minute.

"trouble."

Shub, the mother of the black goat, clearly also noticed Azathoth's actions of restoring his power by devouring souls.

Almost at the same time she spoke, countless pale white tentacles sprouted from the corpses of the gray wizards and violators behind Lin Yi, who had not yet been affected by the Dark Eye but had died in the previous battle.

These tentacles, like bizarre straws with independent life, instantly pierced into the still-warm fresh corpses, and in a more domineering way, plundered all the remaining soul energy and life essence before Azathoth could completely capture them.

The drained corpse quickly turned into ashen dust, which vanished without a trace with a gust of wind.

The dark mist surrounding Shub seemed to be injected with new vitality, churning violently. The mist, which had been somewhat thin due to the continuous summoning of a large number of black goat cubs and the growth of tentacles that covered the battlefield, became thick again.

She was like a hunter who reaped the benefits without lifting a finger, using the deaths and injuries on both sides to strengthen herself.

Laurent, Dawn, and Gus, the three immortal wizards, witnessed this scene, and their expressions instantly turned extremely ugly.

Shub's behavior is no different from Azathoth's; both are blaspheming the dead and devouring the souls of their own kind to strengthen themselves.

The hatred accumulated over a thousand years intertwined with their actions at this moment, making their murderous intent towards Shub almost tangible.

However, reason tells them that the greatest threat at present is still Azathoth, who is recovering rapidly.

The reckoning with Shub must wait until after this monster is dealt with.

This is the only option.

Having received the replenishment of hundreds of soul energies, Shub's aura returned to its peak, even surpassing its former glory.

Her eyes, hidden behind the thick fog, now undisguisedly revealed their greed for Azathoth's divine body.

For her, who holds the power over the propagation of life and darkness, Azathoth's divine body, originating from the beginning of chaos, is the key to her path to a higher level, an incredibly tempting "nourishment."

She alone had no chance of defeating Azathoth in his prime, and even this unconscious shell before her was fraught with unknown dangers.

But now, with these "allies" holding us back, an opportunity has arisen.

"Expand, Black Goat's Nest of the Forest, which has given birth to countless offspring." Shub murmured in an ancient and obscure language, and the thick black mist around her spread rapidly in all directions like a black tide that had come to life, quickly covering an area of ​​nearly a thousand meters around her, almost enveloping half of the ruined city of Eisenla.

The dense darkness distorted the light, and a putrid stench filled the air.

Within this enhanced territory of the "Black Goat's Nest," the previously scattered, pale tentacles had grown thicker, like a neural network spreading across the earth, writhing on the surface and among the ruins, secreting parasitic slime. At the same time, low hoofbeats and eerie roars echoed from the depths of the black mist.

A group of enormous monsters, each about three or four meters tall, appeared.

These monsters have goat-like recurved hooves that support their explosively powerful lower limbs, while their upper bodies are covered with irregularly shaped holes of flesh, from which countless tentacles with suction cups extend and dance wildly in the air.

This is the young of the black goat, Shub's most typical family, symbolizing the most savage form of life's reproduction.

[Comparing intelligence attributes of both sides... Comparison complete. Our intelligence attribute is overwhelmingly superior. We have obtained 100% of the enemy's data (Reconnaissance Eye increased by 20%).]

【Name: Black Goat Cub (Black Goat's Nest Enhanced Type)】

[Category: Ancient God Derivatives]

【HP: 100%】

[Energy: None (Its actions consume the life force granted by the host body)]

[Strength: 121 (True)]

[Agility: 72]

Stamina: 119 (Actual)

【Intelligence: 15】

【Charm: 2】

[Skill 1: Lower-Rank Successor (Passive, Lv.40): As a direct descendant of Shub Nicholas, grants +5000 HP and high resistance to mind control and instant death effects. Gains the 'Rapid Regeneration' effect within the 'Black Goat's Nest' area.]

[Skill 2: Cluster Instinct (Passive, Lv.55): When there is more than one Black Goat cub nearby, for each additional cub, all cubs' damage reduction increases by 1% (maximum 15%), and their attack speed increases by 2% (maximum 30%).]

[Skill 3: Corrupting Spit (Active, Lv.52): Spits a viscous substance imbued with dark and life force at the target area, dealing moderate physical damage and inflicting the [Erosion] effect on hit units, continuously reducing the target's defense and providing a breeding ground for 'Pale Tentacles'. Cooldown: 25 seconds.]

[Skill 4: Weak Life Drain (Passive, Lv.50): Inherited from 'Life Drain - Womb'. All attacks from the Black Goat cub will additionally drain 0.5% of the target's maximum health when dealing damage, using this to restore its own health. 50% of the restored health will be transferred back to the Black Goat Mother through an unknown link.]

[Skill 5: Mad Whisper (Aura Passive, Lv.52): Emits an indescribable mental pollution, causing all non-Old God units within 500 yards to continuously suffer sanity erosion. Those who fail the Willpower check will fall into the states of 'Confusion,' 'Fear,' or 'Mania.']

[Skill 6: Unstable Split (Passive/Active, Lv.50): When the Black Goat cub's HP drops below 10%, there is a chance to trigger passively; or it can be actively triggered by Shub Nicholas. The cub will instantly self-destruct, dealing true damage (Dark attribute) equal to 40% of its maximum HP to surrounding enemies, and has a 50% chance to split into 1-3 'Pale Tentacles'. This skill cannot be interrupted by conventional means.]

Judging from their attributes alone, these cubs are only considered troublesome cannon fodder compared to Su Xiao, Laurent, and others.

But what's truly terrifying about them is their endless numbers and their utterly disgusting "self-destruct" ability.

Once surrounded by a large group of people at close range, even the strongest individual will find it extremely difficult to cope with the continuous stream of suicidal attacks that inflict real damage, and could be severely injured if they are not careful.

Azathoth's massive body also began to be entangled by the ubiquitous tentacles within Shub's domain.

These tentacles tried to burrow into the gaps in its carapace. Although most of the tentacles were annihilated into black smoke by the energy that naturally dissipated from Azathoth's body the moment they made contact, a few still managed to attach themselves and, like a persistent affliction, continued to cause interference and try to break down its defenses.

Azathoth's attention was finally focused on Shub.

Originally, based on its priority of devouring everything, Azathoth planned to deal with this "kind" that was of the same origin but had a very different aura after clearing out other interference.

But at this moment, Shub's proactive attack and attempt to "devour" it completely unleashed the ferocity of its bestial instincts.

Shub faced Azathoth's terrifying gaze, a cold smile playing on her lips hidden beneath the mist.

If she were facing the fully conscious Azathoth, she would never dare to act in this way; it would be tantamount to courting death.

But now, this empty shell, now only possessing the instinct to devour and destroy, while Azathoth's power remains terrifyingly powerful, has lost its most crucial ability to adapt, which gives her an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Shub raised an arm covered by a black robe and made a grasping motion toward an exceptionally strong black goat cub directly in front of Azathoth.

The almost tangible black mist wrapped around the cub's body like shackles.

"Roar--!"

The black goat cub let out a roar that was a mixture of pain and excitement, and its body swelled up wildly as it was inflated by the black mist!

The muscles bulged, tore, and then instantly healed and strengthened; the bones stretched violently with a teeth-grinding "crunch" sound; the body surface hardened into a keratinous layer of defense similar to obsidian; and the hooves became like giant pillars supporting a temple.

In just two or three seconds, its size expanded from more than three meters to a terrifying ten meters, and the energy fluctuations it emitted rose rapidly like a rocket, full of instability and destructiveness.

Lin Yi's reconnaissance skills immediately provided new data.

【Name: The Blessed Black Goat Behemoth (Temporary)】

[Strength: 139 (Black Goat's Nest +10%)]

[Agility: 105]

Stamina: 142 (Black Goat's Nest +10%)

【Intelligence: 20】

【Charm: 2】

[Note: This is a temporary enhancement performed by Shub, the Mother of the Black Goat, using her primal power. This unit has all its attributes greatly increased and is immune to pain and fear, but it will continuously burn its life force, and its existence is limited.]

Almost the instant the black goat behemoth took shape, Lin Yi's buff skill was applied to it.

Strength boost, defense enhancement, accelerated life recovery... layers of radiance flowed across the giant beast's body.

The black goat calf raised its head and let out a roar. Feeling the surging power within its body, its crazed eyes fixed on Azathoth in front of it. Then, it pawed the ground with its four hooves and, like a runaway chariot, charged fearlessly toward Azathoth.

boom!
The entire city of Eisenla seemed to tremble from the impact.

The black goat behemoth's head, comparable to a battering ram, slammed solidly into Azathoth's thick right arm as he crossed and parried.

Azathoth swayed slightly, and a cracking sound came from its scaled arm—not its own, but the sound of the Black Goat Beast's skull shattering.

But a barely perceptible fluctuation appeared in the indifference in Azathoth's eyes.

The force of the impact exceeded its expectations.

"Boom!!"

Azathoth straightened his bent left arm and threw a punch!
The punch landed squarely on the already cracked head of the black goat behemoth.

Like a watermelon struck by a heavy hammer, half of the giant beast's head instantly exploded, with red and white matter mixed with dark energy flying everywhere.

The immense impact caused the surrounding ground to collapse violently, and dozens of boulders, each the size of a house, were ripped from the ground, flying diagonally over Lin Yi and his companions with a whistling sound, before crashing into the distant ruins and causing a series of booming sounds.

The giant black goat, its head nearly half destroyed, lay convulsing on the ruins.

However, under the combined effect of Shub's continuous supply of dark essence and Lin Yi's almost heaven-defying recovery aura, the granulation tissue at the wound on its head writhed wildly like a living snake, and its bones, muscles, and skin were reconstructed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, the shattered head had mostly recovered, and it let out another muffled roar as it continued to charge at Azathoth.

Azathoth was not entirely unscathed either.

On its arm, which had taken the full force of the giant beast's ramming, fine cracks appeared on the dark scales. Although they were slowly healing, its aura was indeed disordered.

This proves that the monster created by Shub and Lin Yi has reached a level of attack powerful enough to threaten Azathoth. (End of Chapter)