The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

More and more black Oddbats died as the battle progressed, resulting in the cultivators relaxing slightly. Although the situation was still quite grim, they were no longer under as much pressure as they were before.

The chubby, fat-faced youth named World God Ninehearts suddenly turned his head to stare off into the distance, his face turning pale. He immediately shouted mentally to everyone, “Watch out!”

Whoosh!

A blurry figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere next to a tall, skinny World God who was dressed in black armor. The World God was already engaged in battle, but he hurriedly chopped out with the waraxe in his hands.

Clank!

Crunch!

The illusory figure suddenly seemed to wrap itself around the World God’s head. Crunch! The head was bitten clean off. Only now did the other cultivators on the vessel see that the creature which had bit off the head of the World God was a golden Oddbat. The golden Oddbat’s wings were spread out and its terrifying aura had completely enveloped the entire vessel. It then swallowed down the rest of the World God’s body into its tummy.

“A golden Oddbat.” The faces of all the cultivators present turned ashen.

Golden Oddbats were unique, legendary creatures of the Sea of Darkness. They were the most terrifying creatures that could be found in the Sea! Silver Oddbats were comparable to transcendent World Gods, while golden Oddbats were comparable to Daolords of the First Step. Powerful Samsara Daolords were able to easily slaughter golden Oddbats, treating their body parts as valuable treasures, but World-level cultivators viewed the golden Oddbats as utter nightmares. How many World-level cultivators were able to battle against Daolords of the First Step?

Ninety-eight cultivators were still alive, but the death of that single cultivator resulted in the strength of the formation dropping by nearly 30%! If the ninety-eight cultivators worked together, they would be able to withstand that golden Oddbat. The problem was that there were nine silver Oddbats and thousands of black Oddbats attacking them as well. The cultivators present simply didn’t have any excess capacity to spare right now.

“Careful, everyone! Hold on for as long as you can. Brother Ninehearts, brother Loopwise, join me in fighting against that golden Oddbat. If we let it slaughter the others, all of us are going to die.” The master of the flying vessel, the bald silver-eyed World God Poisonfeather, sent a hurried mental message to the others.

World God Poisonfeather, World God Ninehearts, and World God Loopwise were the supreme World Gods on the vessel who were not tied down in combat against a silver Oddbat.

“Hurry up and go.”

“Leave the other Oddbats to us.”

“Be careful!”

The other cultivators all gritted their teeth as they fought, doing their best to hold on as long as they could.

The three supreme World Gods Poisonfeather, Ninehearts, and Loopwise all transformed into streaks of light as they flew strange towards that golden Oddbat.

The golden Oddbat watched coldly as those three powerful cultivators charged towards it. It was extremely confident in its own powers. It was capable of avoiding the three, but why would it even see the need to avoid the three?

They were merely World-level cultivators. In the golden Oddbat’s eyes, these cultivators were nothing more than tasty snacks!

“Puny cultivators…” The golden Oddbat spread wide its golden, bat-like wings as the three cultivators reached its side. Supported and empowered by the group formation, they could be considered to have just barely reached the transcendent World God level of power.

“Light.” World God Poisonfeather had a solemn look on his face. He stabbed forward with the pike in his hands, a spot of light appearing at its tip. The surrounding area was completely plunged into darkness, leaving behind only that single tip of light.

“Die.” World God Loopwise complete transformed a savage, roaring wave of blood. Flickers of saber-light could be seen flashing within this wave of blood as it surged towards the golden Oddbat.

“If you don’t die, who will?” The chubby, fat-faced youth World God Ninehearts struck out with his longspear, causing spacetime to distort and fold in on itself. It seemed as though there was no way for anyone to dodge this spear no matter what.

These three were amongst the most powerful cultivators on this vessel. Although the other cultivators were furiously defending against the onslaught of the other Oddbats, they were able to spare a little bit of attention to watch this battle. When they saw these three killer moves being unleashed, they couldn’t help but feel a hint of eagerness.

Rumble…

The golden Oddbat suddenly flapped its giant golden bat wings. As soon as its wings moved, all of the chaotic spatial waves around it suddenly turned still… and then, the golden Oddbat itself became the source of all of the spatial waves in this area. Its flapping wings began to kick up an enormous spatial tempest as the wings began to rapidly increase in size, to the point where the wings seemed large enough to cover the entire vessel.

Poisonfeather’s lance, Loopwise’s saber-light, Ninehearts’ longspear…

Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of explosions rang out.

All three World Gods were knocked flying backwards. They slammed hard into the deck of the ship, all three of them vomiting out blood.

“How can this be?”

“How can it be this powerful?”

“Three supreme World Gods, supported by our formation, aren’t even able to withstand a single strike from it?”

“How can…”

The ninety-plus cultivators instantly felt their hearts freeze and their hopes vanish. Apparently, those three supreme World Gods weren’t even close to being a match for the golden Oddbat. Most likely, all of the supreme World Gods on the vessel would have to join forces in order to have a chance! Alas, the vessel was being assaulted by nine silver Oddbats and the thousands of black Oddbats as well.

“We are finished.” Some of the cultivators began to feel despair. They couldn’t come up with any solutions for dealing with these foes.

“In terms of technique or their mastery of the Dao, those three are my equals.” Ning had watched carefully as those three had charged forward. He had actually followed right behind them, watching them test out the golden Oddbat in the hopes that he could get a sense of how powerful it truly was.

As soon as those enormous bat-wings had flapped, the three World Gods had been knocked flying backwards.

Ning frowned slightly upon seeing this. He was quickly able to come to a series of judgments. “So it really is true! Oddbats are all incredibly dumb creatures. Even golden Oddbats are only talented in the Dao of Space because of their incredible innate gifts in this Dao. Despite that, their insights are only comparable to the insights of ordinary World-level cultivators.”

Oddbats. The black Oddbats had the intelligence level of ordinary human infants, and they knew almost no combat techniques at all. They relied entirely on their innate gifts to battle.

Golden Oddbats were far more powerful, but their insights into the Dao were merely comparable to the insights of ordinary World-level cultivators. They weren’t even close to being a match for Ning and the others in this regard.

“Its insights into the Dao are quite ordinary! The problem is that it is incredibly fast and possesses overwhelming physical power.” Ning’s eyelids twitched slightly. “Its body is incredibly tough. No wonder everyone says that the corpse of a golden Oddbat is a priceless treasure. Its various parts can be used to forge Eternal weapons.”

The claws, fangs, and tail of a golden Oddbat were all comparable to Eternal weapons. Its other parts were slightly weaker but still formidable. For example, its wings were soft but resilient, while its skin was quite smooth. Its entire body was terrifyingly strong, granting it incredible speed and strength. When it had flapped its enormous wings just now, it actually hadn’t used any intricate techniques. It had relied on its overwhelming superiority in strength to send those three cultivators halfway to Hell!

“Cultivators are truly useless.” The golden Oddbat spread out its enormous wings once more as it stood there atop the flying vessel. It turned its cold, insidious gaze towards the other cultivators on the boat. All of the cultivators began to feel a sense of despair. What were they going to do? How were they supposed to stop it?

“How boring. All of you can go die now. Ahahaha…” The golden Oddbat let out an ear-piercing laugh as it suddenly pounced towards the nearest cultivator, who hurriedly beat a frantic retreat in terror.

Swish!

A blinding streak of sword-light suddenly pierced through the air towards the golden Oddbat, colliding directly against the golden Oddbat’s sharp claws.

Clang! The golden Oddbat was brought to a momentary halt.

As for Ning, he couldn’t help but stumble backwards by three steps, each step so heavy as to cause the entire vessel to tremble.

Ning’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the golden Oddbat. He was now supported by the azureflower mist energy; with its energy supporting him, the additional power granted by the formation was almost negligible. “What terrifying strength. It is far stronger than I am.”

The golden Oddbat stopped moving as it turned to stare at Ning, weighing him.

The entire vessel fell silent. All the cultivators turned to focus on this sight.

Ji Ning had manifested three heads and six arms and was wielding six swords. He and the golden Oddbat were staring at each other intently from afar.

The golden Oddbat continued to stare weighingly at Ning, then let out another one of those ear-piercing laughs. Its voice echoed throughout the surrounding void as it said, “I didn’t expect to find someone so powerful here. You should be the most powerful person on this vessel.”

“That’s brother Darknorth.”

“Fellow Daoist Darknorth!”

The other cultivators were overjoyed upon seeing this. They were stunned at the level of power which Ning had just unleashed, but they were also filled with a powerful urge and hope to stay alive!

“But it is useless. You will still die.” The golden Oddbat let out that bizarre laugh. “All the cultivators on this vessel will die!” As it laughed, it transformed into a blur as it pounced straight towards Ning.

“Kill!” Ning didn’t back down in the slightest, charging straight forward with six Violetjewels at the ready.

Ning was like a streak of light while the golden Oddbat was like an illusory blur. The two instantly collided against each other! Ning possessed astonishing speed and strength, but the golden Oddbat was superior to even Ning in these two aspects.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two instantly clashed dozens of times. No one dared to draw near the two of them.

BOOM! An enormous explosion rang out as the golden tail and the sword-light both struck the deck of the flying vessel at the same time, knocking it askew and flipping it over. All of the cultivators and Oddbats were sent flying out of the vessel. They all hurriedly moved to avoid Ji Ning and the golden Oddbat, who had now truly begun to fight.