In Angela's view, this was not a good thing. By her standards, it violated her highest principle and did not conform to her sole purpose for existence.
So she stood in front of the cottage door and spoke softly.
Then a song flowed from her lips.
096: Please do not do this in public.
strength!
A surge of life and joy!
Blood, fury, and the power of the wild!
Thump, thump, thump!
All of this pulsed within Hayden like music, more stimulating than any potion, intoxicating and soul-stirring.
The giant white wolf completely suppressed the tengu ninja. The difference in strength was so great that even with the ninja's desperate struggles, he couldn't budge an inch.
Is the wolf about to violently twist its waist back and forth on the ninja?
Hayden's eyes were now bloodshot. If he were to close them now, he would surely feel much more relaxed, and would be able to drift into a pleasant dream, and it would be very comfortable.
In a hazy state, such thoughts had already surfaced in his brain, which was severely affected by the bestial transformation.
As if sinking into a swamp, he closed his eyes—
"Wake up."
However, a light, delicate voice shattered the red mist in his mind like lightning.
"Open your eyes, you lazybones! How long are you going to sleep?"
That's Angela singing.
The singing was as gentle as Angela's usual voice, without any hint of urgency, like a mother calling to her child in bed.
"Want to take a short nap? Or just a quick rest?"
But within that gentle singing voice lies an unshakeable, absolute power.
"I have removed the obstacles in my path, I have smashed the claws of jackals. Why are you asleep? My beloved, wake up!"
That was essentially a rebuke.
So for some reason, the sound was like a gentle breeze blowing from his head to his toes, instantly clearing Hayden's mind. A tension that could drive away all sleepiness coursed through his body, making every cell in Hayden's body tremble, and causing him to open his eyes, which were stained bright red.
Hayden could still feel the beastly divine power and life force lingering within him, but he could now discern it. The savage hunger from his wild nature, the intoxicating joy, and even the rage to avenge the new gods—these primal forces were not inherently evil.
Therefore, Hayden understood why a part of him loved these powers so much.
But he still released the female ninja's throat and stepped back. Angela's voice transformed into power, causing Hayden to pull out the katana stuck in his head and throw it as far away as possible. At the same time, he forcibly dispelled the beast-transformation spell, tore the dragon ball off his neck, and threw it into a sealed bag.
The white giant wolf's fur, muscles, claws, and teeth all rapidly disappeared.
The spell was broken. Hayden could feel his body becoming sluggish, heavy, and clumsy, at least much sluggisher than before. The pain he should have endured when he was in wolf form was now demanding its due, with interest, from his fragile human form. Hayden could almost feel hot tears welling up in his eyes.
Because he lost that joy, lost that primal power.
But it's all worth it.
Because Angela is still with Hayden.
"Although victory and defeat are common occurrences in war, my lord, it would be foolish to lift a weapon that is too heavy and injure yourself."
She frowned as she spoke, her tone surprisingly displeased, almost like a complaint, which was quite unusual.
Then she blew a breath toward Hayden. The breath of life immediately dispelled most of the pain in Hayden's body and made his mind clearer.
But this is the last thing Angela can do herself right now.
As the power of the Earth Beast God completely dissipated, the oppressive force of its divine might also vanished. The gazes of the great gods once again focused on the camp, and Angela was once again forced to proceed with extreme caution.
Moreover, as the suppression of divine power disappeared, the spatial teleportation spell also returned to normal.
"Wa ...
Before Hayden could pin her down with the [Dimensional Anchor] spell, the female ninja, whose body was almost completely stripped naked by Hayden except for the tengu mask, jumped up and teleported away crying!
Her escape was far too decisive. Hayden's head was still throbbing, making it impossible for him to cast a spell to stop her. By the time he picked up his bronze staff again, the Tengu ninja had already vanished without a trace.
Angela's next words were like rubbing salt into a wound: "Master, while I respect your independent judgment most of the time, choosing this person is far too inappropriate. Wouldn't it be better to choose someone else?"
What the hell are you talking about?
Honestly, Hayden really wanted to complain, but his head was still throbbing. Besides, the matter wasn't over yet.
"I'll deal with that later. The barrier is completely disabled!"
He picked up his phone and messaged Eric and the others outside the camp, telling them to come back immediately.
"Everyone retreat to the camp and defend!"
However, Eric's answer made his heart sink.
[A high-ranking demon! A high-ranking demon has just teleported here!]
Before the words were even finished, something came.
Taking advantage of the complete collapse of the camp's arcane barrier—even the barrier's core had been destroyed by Hayden—a green lightning bolt pierced down from the night sky, striking the flowerbed-like ground.
The little flower fairies, who were originally wondering "Is the battle over?", were particularly sensitive to magic and immediately hid back in the flowers, trembling.
The devil will, of course, know that the barrier has been broken.
So the battle is not over.
A towering demon had risen from where the lightning had struck.
It had a strong and tall body, like a giant, covered with dark brown fur and thick, well-developed muscles. It stood with its arms outstretched and its legs spread wide, neither human nor beast. The most unusual feature was the huge, forked antlers on its head, like those of a stag.
A single glance at it is enough to incite panic and madness in mortals.
This is a high-ranking demon.
(Animal fur...deer antlers...judging by this shape, it's probably a demon related to natural energy...)
Hayden struggled to keep his weary brain working, but inwardly he groaned.
(How many cards do I have left to play?)
He now has to at least find a way to fight this high-ranking demon to a standstill, but Hayden's mental fatigue hasn't even fully recovered yet—Angela's aura can heal life and invigorate the mind, but "invigorating" doesn't mean "no need for rest."
What cards does Hayden have left to play?
The barrier is no longer usable. Without the barrier core, Hayden has no way to gather these scattered natural energies. He has the Dragon Balls to replace the ley line core, but Hayden can't transform into a beast again. Forget Angela's willingness; he himself is afraid of losing his self-awareness.
Do you remember why Alastor is now trapped in the Dragon Balls? It's because his ego has become entangled with the spirit of the New Yatu Industrial Zone's veins.
The true self is lost; that is death!
At the same time, the high-ranking demon with the stag antlers also began to move. It first glanced at Hayden and Angela, seemingly deciding they were not worthy opponents, and then ignored them. Instead, it spread its arms, raised its head, and began to loudly chant an ancient incantation filled with negative power.
Its judgment might not be wrong. Angela wasn't emitting much energy and looked like just an ordinary military-grade cyborg. But Hayden? He looked like he was exhausted.
In the Deer Antler Demon's view, Hayden must have already fought a fierce battle with the Tengu Ninja, exhausting all his strength. There was absolutely no need for it to waste any more moves and time to kill him.
—Anyway, we just need to kill them all together.
So the antler-demon was chanting a spell. You could tell it was evil magic just from the sound: hatred, resentment, anger, contempt, mockery. It was a curse, like boiling all the world's negative emotions in a pot, capable of silencing the winds, drying up the waters, corrupting the earth, and extinguishing the flames.
And so came darkness.
Something as black as night spewed from the void, terrifying like the black smoke from a volcano. Thick, dark clouds covered the night sky, and a biting wind swept across the land. This small piece of land began to emit a dying wail, and the flower fairies, sensing the impending doom, screamed in terror.
Once the Deer Antler Demon finishes reading this message, this land, the little goblins on it, Hayden who is currently here, and the ten mercenaries who were cut down by the ninja and haven't regenerated yet (it takes at least several tens of minutes to an hour for their heads to regenerate after they explode) – in short, everyone will die.
The darkest forces will summon destruction to the earth. They will kill forests, collapse mountains, and wash away the blood of all life on this land.
All that's needed is for the antler demon to complete the spell.
(Damn it, I ruined this hand.)
Looking at the increasingly worse situation, Hayden felt more and more frustrated.
He used the energy of the barrier to defeat the first wave of mid-level invading demons and the infiltrating Tengu ninjas, which seemed clever, but now it has proven to be a major strategic blunder. What could have been a winning hand has now been completely ruined.
Hayden is now out of magic and exhausted... well, at least Angela healed his exhaustion. But his condition hasn't improved much.
Perhaps he can still escape. There are too many goblins here to rescue them all, and the same goes for the mercenaries lying on the ground. But Hayden still has some magic left; he should be able to carry Angela and fly away, escaping this place.
...Is he going to do that?
Is he going to just leave?
“Master, if you no longer wish to continue this battle, then retreat is perfectly acceptable.”
Only Angela could see through the chaotic thoughts in Hayden's mind at a glance.
“If you lack the willpower to continue this battle, then I can fight in your place. As long as I reduce my exertion and don’t use my aura, I should be able to disguise myself as an ordinary military golem.”
But how could an ordinary military golem possibly defeat a high-ranking demon? Either she'd lose her composure and reveal her true power, only to be discovered by the gods, or she'd keep pretending and eventually be defeated… No way. Hayden couldn't allow that to happen.
"forget it."
These thoughts and emotions intertwined in his mind, causing Hayden to sigh, then straighten his back and lift his chin.
"Even if I am destined to fall today, I will follow the example of the old wizards in those old stories and die in the battle against powerful evil."
He had to try to stop it. Dying to protect his clockwork wife and other friends was a good death in itself.
"Thank you for being by my side this past year. I bet you wouldn't run away even if I told you to, so let's try it together. You use the output of a regular military golem, and I'll see how much magic I can still conjure..."
So, just as Hayden got to this point, Angela finally couldn't hold back any longer:
“Master, I’m sorry to interrupt you at this time, but if you still have the willpower, you do have the ability to solve this problem.”
…………What?
"Well, willpower can't be directly converted into energy."
Hayden glanced at the antlered devil still reading a long note in the distance. It was quite a long note, but judging from the current situation, he estimated that it only had three to five minutes left at most.
"The most magic I have left is enough to throw a fireball at it. I don't even think that would do any real damage."
High-ranking demons possess astonishing physical and magical resistance. Their magical resistance, in particular, requires a sufficiently high level of magical pressure to penetrate—this is largely a metaphor, but spells cast with only half-baked magical power are mostly ineffective against high-ranking demons.
“You have such energy that you can borrow.”
However, Angela said something else entirely.
what?
Hayden couldn't understand what she meant at all.
“Your energy is too sensitive to use; the natural energy of the land has lost its arcane core and can't be gathered; you've already seen the result of using the Dragon Ball as the core. Even if we're going to die anyway, I don't really want to die that way.”
To die as something that doesn't even know who it is, whether it's a beast or a human, is simply too tragic. Hayden really couldn't accept it.
However, Angela shook her head: "Master, you do not need to rely on other relatively unfamiliar cores to gather energy. You may not even need to rely on my power. You have your own source of power that is closer to you, has a stronger connection with you, and can be openly seen by the gods."
???
What?
Aside from Angela, whom he can no longer rely on, where else does Hayden have a close source from whom he can draw more energy...
...In fact, Hayden realized it almost instantly.
A closer, stronger, and more intimate bond, which can also be openly seen by the gods.
If it weren't for certain conversations that took place in the basement of the Carmelite store a month ago, and the various chaotic scenes Angela created at that time, he might have taken even longer.
In fact, it was precisely because Angela said these things that Hayden was able to react instantly.
Indeed there is.
However, he still finds it hard to accept.
"Go, Master!"
Angela's expression right now is practically screaming that she's about to pull out a little flag and wave it.
"Please use the power of your friendship and love!"
Because this is absurd—what on earth is this artificial intelligence trying to do?!