Yama Rising

Cape May.

A violent storm was raging over the sea, and Kraken's tentacles were thrashing about violently, sweeping up waves with devastating destructive power. The seawater being flung up by its tentacles were like countless lethal bullets, and there were Yin soldiers perishing and falling out of the sky with each passing second.

However, even more Yin soldiers were rising up into the sky to replace their fallen comrades, and they were stubbornly avoiding direct battle. Instead, they were wielding bows and shooting arrows at Kraken from afar. These arrows had clearly been specially treated somehow, as evidenced by the fact that they were able to pierce through Kraken's incredibly thick and hard skin.

Kraken was becoming more and more agitated and furious by the second. These attacks were nowhere near lethal, but they were extremely annoying. It was like being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. Slapping them away was a futile and vexing endeavor, but they couldn't be ignored, either, as you would end up with mosquito bites all over your body.

In this instance, its enormous body was working to its detriment, and due to its lack of intelligence, its attention was completely drawn to the countless pesky Yin soldiers around it. Its tentacles were rising and falling over and over again, sending massive tsunamis surging in all directions, but not much substantial damage was being dealt.

Having said that, its massive body was a dual-edged sword. It was extremely slow and cumbersome, but at the same time, every attack it unleashed covered a massive area, making one feel as if the entire sky were falling upon them with each attack that they faced.

Even the slightest contact with one Kraken's hundreds of flailing tentacles would spell instant death for the victim. There were 20,000 to 30,000 Yin soldiers flying around Kraken like butterflies, but their numbers were rapidly diminishing.

Leoric gnashed his teeth together viciously, and his skeletal face was twisted with fury and urgency. The railing was pulverized by his death grip as he roared, "Where are the Dukes from the Freemasonry? Why haven't they stepped in yet?! Are they dead?!"

Inky-black Yin energy was seeping out from the gaps between his teeth, and the netherfire in his eyes had turned a fiery-red color. "Are they waiting for all of our soldiers to die before they make a move? I should've known that they would screw us over like this!"

"Calm down!" The blond skeleton beside him grabbed firmly onto his shoulder as she yelled, "Have you gone insane?! We have no choice but to rely on them, and they don't stand to gain anything by betraying us! On top of that, the Spear of Longinus takes at least half an hour to set up, so we can't expect them to act so quickly!"

Dead silence.

Several seconds later, Leoric swatted her hand in an impatient manner. "I know that..."

Countless falling Yin soldiers were being reflected in the netherfire in his eyes, and his heart throbbed with pain with each soldier that fell out of the sky. "But if things continue like this, even if we manage to attain godhood, we won't have any troops left to fight for us!"

Half an hour felt like an eternity to them, but all they could do was wait.

A massive price had to be expended in order to kill a god, and it was a sacrifice that had to be made, no matter how painful it was.

Right at this moment, Leoric's mouth suddenly gaped open as he abruptly turned his gaze back toward Cape May. He wasn't the only one, the three death gods of the Caribbean, Dalton, Erza, and Orel had all turned back in unison with astonished looks in their eyes.

Cape May wasn't a very large city, yet at this moment, an army of around 10,000 troops had silently appeared on the rooftops of all of the buildings in the city.

These were also Yin soldiers, but they definitely weren't here to help them!

Furthermore, all of these Yin soldiers were wielding bows and were aimed directly at the center of the sea!

"No..." Leoric looked at the army on the rooftops, then turned back to look at Kraken with a dazed expression. An indescribable sense of horror gripped his heart like a vice, and in the next instant, he frantically rushed out like a madman. "NO!!!"

That army is here on someone else's orders! But how could this be?!

He was met by a storm of countless arrows.

Leoric's Yin energy erupted in a frenzy, and his white hair rose up all around him as bright red marks appeared all over his deathly pale skin. His Marquess level Yin energy formed a dark cloud to oppose the arrows, and at the same time, he roared, "Akana, Zerens, hurry up and help me!!"

The other two death gods of the Caribbean had already risen up into the sky before Leoric had even called for assistance, and they frantically rushed over to Leoric before joining their Yin energy with his, forming a massive wall of dense Yin energy.

If they could succeed here, then they were going to become death gods, but death gods had to have territories, and territories had to be ruled over by troops.

If all of their troops were dead, then their titles as death gods would be completely pointless and hollow!

Theoretically speaking, there was no way that arrows shot by normal Yin soldiers should be able to pass through the collective Yin energy of three Marquesses, but in the instant that the arrows came into contact with their Yin energy, they managed to immediately pass through, punching countless holes into the wall of Yin energy before screeching through the air.

The three death gods faltered slightly upon seeing this, and half a second later, a string of anguished howls rang out behind them as they immediately swung around with horrified expressions.

They were greeted by the sight of... nothing!

There were tens of thousands of Yin soldiers around Kraken just a moment ago, yet they had been instantly cleared away, leaving only several hundred wounded Yin soldiers frantically flying away in retreat.

Prior to this, they were still able to evade Kraken's attacks fairly well, but there was no way for them to dodge the surprise attack from Cape May. As such, they were either felled by the arrows or swatted into oblivion by Kraken's tentacles while attempting to evade the arrows.

"Are those demons?!" The followers were completely immersed in this epic battle, and they all turned back with disbelief in their eyes, incredulous that someone would dare to attack the army of a death god!

The silence that had settled over the city of Cape May was so absolute that even a pin drop could be heard.

"How dare you?!" Leoric's mind was instantly overcome by fury. As a Marquess, he was capable of displaying extraordinarily fast bursts of explosive speed, and he instantly rushed over to the archers, thereby allowing him to catch a clear glimpse of the intruders.

This is the resistance army! Why are they here, and why are they trying to foil my plans?

After a brief stunned stupor, he lashed with burning fury.

He didn't care about their reasons or motives, they had to die for dealing such a heavy blow to his army!

Just as Leoric was stunned by this sudden turn of events, the other two Caribbean death gods were also caught completely off guard. In their mind, such heavy losses would only be acceptable once Kraken was dead, yet in this situation, the losses had already been suffered before the firing of the Spear of Longinus! From here onward, they were going to have to keep Kraken occupied for another half an hour, and they didn't even dare to imagine the losses that would be incurred during that time!

The attacks from the three Marquesses arrived virtually in complete unison, and they were so enraged that they weren't holding back in the slightest. In the face of their devastating power, the space before them was torn apart, following which a resounding boom that shook the entire city of Cape May rang out.

After unleashing that all-out attack, Leoric didn't even take another glance at the resistance army before turning to leave. However, he had only just turned around when he abruptly stiffened and turned back in a wooden manner to stare at the rooftops of Cape May in complete disbelief.

His expression was mirrored on the faces of Akana and Zerens. Their astonishment stemmed from the fact that the resistance army had survived! They were all panting heavily as they bunched together in a tight formation, but the fact of the matter was that they had withstood the attacks of the three Marquesses!

How was this possible?!

The three death gods of the Caribbean were at a complete loss, yet they didn't have time to think or react as in the next second, thousands of arrows had been aimed directly at them.

"Fire!!" Benson was standing at the forefront of the resistance army, and all of his Yin energy was churning violently. Never did he think that there would come a day when his army would be able to withstand the attacks of three Marquesses!

Was this the power of the Wumu Military Formation?

The arrows shot forth like a torrential storm, and the bodies of the three Marquesses flickered in a wraith-like manner as they evaded all of the arrows.

However, they were stunned by the fact that these arrows had caused them pain!

How had these arrows fired by normal Yin soldiers manage to cause them pain?!

"Is this... a top-tier military formation?!" Leoric took an involuntary step backward, and right at this moment, a burst of blue light suddenly erupted above their heads.

They reflexively disintegrated into Yin energy and scattered in retreat while the burst of blue light split the entirety of Cape May into two! The three death gods of the Caribbean drew a collective sharp breath upon seeing this, and they immediately turned their attention back to the sea.

As a result, they were greeted by an unforgettable sight that chilled them to the bone.

The giant figure in the sea had raised around a dozen tentacles, and the tips of those tentacles were glowing with blue light that was erupting forth in a frenzy. In the wake of the blue light, the sea was parted, and even the protective barriers around the fleets were groaning with strain.

Kraken didn't possess intelligence, but its instincts were enough to tell it who were its enemies and who were its allies.

The resistance army had created this opportunity, and it had grabbed this opportunity to turn the area in a radius of several dozen kilometers around it into a living hell!

Leoric was completely rooted to the spot, stunned by this abrupt turn of events, and he immediately realized the predicament that he was in.

If he wanted to keep Kraken occupied, then he would have to oppose it in person. He would be assisted by all of the remaining Yin soldiers from the joint fleet, so under normal circumstances, they would be able to stall Kraken for some time.

However, the presence of the resistance army changed everything. They were nothing more than measly maggots, but in this situation, they had become a thorn in his side!

If the Yin soldiers were to attack Kraken, they would be met by another barrage of arrows, and the most frustrating thing to him was that he couldn't wipe out these maggots in a short time!

He really was caught between a rock and a hard place.

If things were to continue like this, they wouldn't even be able to last half an hour!

How had things become like this? Where had this top-tier military formation come from?

Countless questions surfaced in his mind, and a sense of growing urgency and panic welled up in his heart as he turned to Akana before instructing in a trembling voice, "Call for reinforcements... Call for reinforcements from Philadelphia right away!! Tell Brando and Arlot that if they still want to complete the deal, then get their fucking asses over here to help us!!"

………………………………………………

In the underworld, Yin energy was revolving all around Qin Ye. He had already primed himself into the best condition and was ready to strike at any time.

He knew exactly what his role was here.

He was like a sheathed dagger, and he had to find the right opportunity to enter the fray. What his objective was now was to defeat the guardian of the Spear of Longinus.

If Benson held up his end of the deal and fought all-out with his troops, then the Cape May battlefield would descend into complete chaos, upon which Kraken would become a massive threat. Once the three death gods of the Caribbean found themselves in dire straits and requested reinforcements, an opportunity would open itself up for him to strike!

In the image that he was staring intently into, the Spear of Longinus was already glowing with dazzling golden light as true energy gushed into it from all directions.

The golden light was becoming brighter and brighter, and the blue Yin energy threads extending out of fingertips were stretched taut as sweat began to bead up on his forehead.

He didn't know how much longer it would take for the Spear of Longinus to be fired, nor did he know whether Benson had achieved the outcome that he wanted to see over at Cape May.

However, he was only going to wait five more minutes before striking, regardless of whether any of the Dukes left Philadelphia.

Right at this moment, he suddenly noticed Brando standing up in the Yin energy screen, and he was holding a messenger bird!