Chapter 528

Chapter 528: The First Sacrifice of the Valaharl People!

The massive war machine of Valaharl had restarted once more.

Battle permeated their culture, ingrained deep within the souls of the Valaharl people; struggling to survive the Death World’s wastelands while facing relentless assaults from evil gods and demons, this tragic existence had persisted for a millennium before the Giant God’s arrival.

Thus, death was commonplace for the Valaharl people.

Never speak to them of fearlessness in the face of death—

To them, death was as natural as breathing.

Yet paradoxically, they held the clan’s continuity in utmost reverence.

This contradiction made the Valaharl people unafraid of death while never abandoning hope for survival.

Perhaps this explained their perpetual insecurity, lingering even after the Giant God’s coming; they even designed factory workshops to be packable into self-moving, deployable train-like structures.

Immigrants from other Bubble Worlds once mocked these gas-masked, solemn figures for their "unnecessary" anxiety.

But when the Crystal Walls shattered again and destruction loomed—when rows of heavy workshops packed themselves and evacuated, worming their way underground like colossal burrowers—these doubters realized how wrong they had been.

Valaharl’s heavy factories thus survived in great numbers.

Post-crisis statistics revealed under twenty percent industrial losses. Within days, massive production capacity was unleashed.

This time, the versatile heavy armories produced neither complex "void battleships" nor "ether battleships," but the simplest Giant God vehicle: "spider-like mechs."

"Yes!"

"Excellent."

"Maintain this momentum."

The Death Brigade’s war leader inspected troop assemblies at Valaharl’s edge before returning the production report.

Thousands of restructured heavy workshops and hundreds of armories operated day and night.

Hundreds of spider-like mechs were built within days.

Moreover, the Valaharl people deployed reserve stockpiles, amassing over a thousand spider-like mechs!

"Splendid. Our ultimate goal: one spider-like mech per ten Chosen Warriors!"

"The first batch—five thousand warriors across five great companies—already field five hundred spider-like mechs."

"Divide them into ten hunting squads per plan."

"Each squad shall be led by two ‘Chosen Giant Spider Warriors,’ authorized to hunt autonomously!"

These "Chosen Giant Spider Warriors" denoted spider-like mechs bathed in the Giant God’s sacred liquid. Piloted by battle-scarred honor veterans rich in combat and command experience, they served as each squad’s nerve center.

The "prey," naturally, were lesser evil gods.

With hundreds of mechs bathing in the Holy Lake, the sacred liquid’s potency had waned.

Though divine corpses continuously produced sacred liquid—streams feeding the Holy Lake—they proved unable to keep up with consumption.

This overharvesting could not continue.

"Warriors!"

After verifying Valaharl’s reconstruction and industrial recovery, the war leader personally piloted a spider-like mech, scaling a Giant God’s Tower at the settlement’s edge.

Although in Valaharl, the Giant God’s Towers were generally taller near the center and shorter at the edges, even the "short" towers stood proudly over the "flat domain" formed from Primal Mud.

The war leader could overlook the vast domain from this vantage.

Several dozen miles ahead lay what was once the Crystal Walls’ territory.

This area had formerly been shrouded in mist created by the Crystal Walls, leaving most Valaharl people—even Chosen Warriors—ignorant of the true world beyond.

Now they saw only barren desolation.

The "earth" of Primal Mud alternated with "oceans" of etheric liquid—a desolate expanse of mire.

Beyond stretched a hazy, sinister realm seemingly composed of Fantasy Trees of Subspace.

Their indistinct shadows loomed like devouring monsters, projecting Subspace’s characteristic greed and brutality onto the souls of Valaharl people.

"Magnificent."

"Yet ultimately…"

The war leader shook his head.

"It was nothing special!"

"With the power granted by the Giant God, the Crystal Walls resembled a prison confining us more than protective barriers."

"Now the shackles are broken!"

"Time for those self-righteous deities to learn how mortals hunt."

With this thought, he activated "Soul Communication Mode."

His low voice reverberated through the Soul Network:

"Brothers of the Death Brigade!"

"All Valaharl compatriots!"

"The Holy Lake—sacred, beautiful grace bestowed by the Giant God—grew unbearably thirsty!"

"It demands more sacrifices!"

"This too is the Giant God’s will!"

"Let us…"

"Blood sacrifice for the Giant God! Flesh offering to the Holy Lake!"

"Now advance! Seek…"

The war leader’s command faltered.

Unforeseen events unfolded.

"Hwoooosh——!"

In the distance, a mountainous gray pillar of dense cloud surged upward into the void!

From that emptiness, colossal black and ash-white "platforms" drifted downward.

Their irregular forms ranged from tens to hundreds of meters across.

As these structures passed near the war leader, he felt intense heat radiating from them.

However, this strange scene wasn’t the reason for the war leader’s silence.

In its view, actions like "searching" were no longer necessary.

“Whoosh…”

“Roar—!”

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

A group of chaos deities approached, swinging their bodies as they came.

“Buzz—!”

Perhaps these chaos deities were Secondary Gods, and one alone wouldn’t be much.

But several, even a dozen gathered together, was incredibly imposing.

Divine might came crashing down!

The most terrifying was the leader among them, who resembled a mythical giant dragon; besides his enormous dragon-like body, he truly had massive, foldable wings on either side!

Though he wasn’t flying, his appearance still delivered a tremendous shock to the Valaharl people.

“We’re running into them head-on!”

“No matter!”

“Screech—!”

The war leader controlled the “spider-like mech,” rubbing its forelimbs together to produce a loud metallic clash.

“Everyone…”

“Tight formation!”

“Go!”

—-

“What!?”

“Black etheric liquid!?”

“It’s surging toward us!?”

The Secondary Chaos Demon Gods, having just escaped the hellish burning, barely had time to catch their breath before seeing a vast expanse of gray-black “fluid” rushing toward them.

“Will of Chaos, I can’t handle more trouble!”

“I barely escaped, I won’t die here!”

“Run!”

Had the Secondary Chaos Demon Gods paused to look closer, they’d have seen the “gray” torrent was merely a massive crowd of countless mortals.

Each individual was weak.

But the Chaos Demon Gods, terrified by the all-destroying power, had lost their former boldness.

They only remembered companions roasted alive by the scorching void currents; recalled deities devoured, chewed into grotesque shapes, spewing dreadful smoke, before becoming charred, unspeakable heaps…

For these surviving secondary demon gods, escape was their only thought.

However, some refused to accept this and saw it all clearly.

“Hey!”

“Cough cough…”

“Come back!”

“Those… those are just… just mortals!”

The one climbing at the front was the Outer Predator.

As the leader of the first batch of "candidate Divine Cluster," he refused to let his mission fail so mysteriously.

“It’s like rushing to your doom!”

“This is your chance to serve Barbatos and achieve glory!”

“Don’t you think about a spot on the lower council!?”

But this small temptation meant nothing compared to staying alive.

“Let’s escape!”

“I’m sure this is the Giant God’s doing!”

“Yes, the Giant God once cast powerful forbidden spells near Valaharl, and even the Mountain Type Dragon God couldn’t withstand it!”

“With such a huge commotion now, it’s no surprise…”

The Giant God had already shown his power twice.

How could such a powerful deity risk his own spawn like this!?

This must be a trap!

The scared Secondary Gods ignored the Outer Predator and fled faster in all directions.

“Hey!”

The Outer Predator sighed with frustration and rage.

Now, it was too late for him to run!

“Sizzle…”

“Hiss…”

The terrifying tide of mortal mechs had surrounded him.

He sensed no fear in the mortals’ hearts.

Only fierce fighting spirit!

“Damn it!”

“Tiny pests! How dare you…”

“Ah—!”

Before he finished his proud words, the Outer Predator screamed in pain.

A spider-like mech leaped onto his head and struck hard.

Sharp pain shot down his spine, making him want to roll in agony.

Worse, that Bite had poison.

Soon, terrible weakness and internal pain from rotting tissues made him writhe in suffering.

Just as he gathered his Magic Power to heal and expel the invaders…

“Whoosh…”

“Whoosh…”

“Whoosh…”

Hundreds of spider-like mechs jumped onto his body, wrapping him in a black, dragon-like shape.

No matter how he rolled or cried out, he couldn’t escape the jumping, squirming spider-like mechs!

“Finally…”

“Boom—!”

His huge body crashed to the ground, motionless.

And the mortals, like a big swarm of hunting ants, slowly dragged him deep into Valaharl.