Chapter Ninety: The Trap Devised by the Evil God

The slaying of several general-rank fiends had caused a notable surge in the divine power within Zhuang Xiaoyuan. Although she could wield her transformation ability to unleash combat strength akin to the descent of a deity, at her core, she remained a prayer-rank, the same as the general-rank fiends. Thus, the pure divine energy that dispersed from their deaths was highly beneficial to her. With each general-rank fiend she vanquished, her power swelled, bringing her ever closer to the mid-tier of prayer-rank.

Once she safely traversed the now-cleared route, Zhuang Xiaoyuan lowered the black longbow she had been holding before her, ceasing her projection of the Crimson Hounds. The few remaining soldier-rank fiends were swiftly dispatched by the armored warriors from the vanguard unit who arrived to assist, their cores shattered and their forms vanishing without her intervention.

Though the fiends had been purged, Zhuang Xiaoyuan, still transformed, did not revoke her godly descent form. Remaining in this state continually drained her divine energy, but these were extraordinary times—who knew when she might again be ambushed by the evil gods and fiends that had infiltrated the city?

If she were to relinquish her transformation, she would have to endure a six-hour cooldown before she could become Chloe again. In six hours, anything could happen. For the sake of caution, it was best to maintain her current form for as long as possible—perhaps the fiends would be driven back before then.

Besides, while transformed into Chloe, as long as she refrained from combat, her reserves of divine power would allow her to maintain this state for over a dozen hours. However, should battle erupt and she be forced to wield her powers, the resulting consumption of divine energy would be immense, and the duration unpredictable.

Huang Xiaoyan’s transformation card was still unusable, its cooldown extended from previous overexertion. Presently, Zhuang Xiaoyuan had only two combat-ready cards. For the fiends within the city, Chloe was her first choice. The other card she kept as her trump—should Chloe’s form falter and enter cooldown, she could switch to this alternate, buying time until Chloe was ready once more.

She calculated all this silently, knowing her own strength was still insufficient. She could only maximize her capabilities through such careful planning. With the fiends destroyed and transport within the city restored, Zhuang Xiaoyuan felt a brief respite and prepared to climb down from the truck roof to the passenger seat below.

But as she reached the edge of the rooftop, intending to descend, several dark shadows loomed overhead, blotting out the sun above her.

"Enemies," Chloe’s clairvoyant sense warned Zhuang Xiaoyuan of the rapidly approaching threat—there was no time for anything else. She twisted around, swinging her still-manifest black longbow hard at the attack descending from above.

A heavy impact, the screech of metal, and a resounding bang followed. Zhuang Xiaoyuan knew she had blocked the assault, though the cost was two deep dents in the roof beneath her feet, marking the spot where the force had landed.

She glanced up at her attackers, and the face that met her eyes was black as sludge, inhuman—a true evil god, and fully awakened at that. Summoning her strength, she shoved the evil god off with both hands, then released her left grip to swing the black longbow at her right. A clear metallic clang rang out to her side—she had thwarted a second evil god’s strike.

Pushing off the roof, she vaulted from the twin dents into the air, executing a backflip that brought her down atop the truck’s cargo hold, deftly evading an attack from behind as she landed. She glanced at her weapon, the black longbow now tainted—black sludge was creeping along it from the point where the weapons had clashed. Without hesitation, she tossed it from the truck, raising her gaze to meet the three evil gods now gathered on the roof.

"Fully awakened evil gods—two wielding black blades, and the shadow strike from before. So, an upper-rank evil god and two of middling rank. How unexpected—the upper-rank hasn’t summoned any war-chariot-class fiends, but has chosen to act personally." Her expression grave, Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s hands once more blazed with red projection light, conjuring a pair of strange short swords—one black, one white: the Spousal Blades, Ganjiang and Moye.

"Caw, caw, caw—no need for small talk, little girl. We know the city’s guardian isn’t here, that’s why we struck so suddenly. Besides, instead of wasting energy unleashing mindless black beasts, it’s more effective to destroy your command tower ourselves. Still, I’m surprised there was a survivor left behind." The evil god who had attacked from behind turned, its voice thick with malice and corruption, inhuman in every way.

Though the evil god’s skin was black as tar, its expression remained visible—a sneer of mingled surprise, smugness, and contempt twisted its face.

"So you know the guardians aren’t here… Was the fiend advancement a trap all along?" Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s brow furrowed deeply, her expression growing more severe. She could scarcely believe the intelligence on fiend advancement had been a deliberate ploy by the evil gods to lure the guardian squad away. This fiend tide was clearly unlike any before.

"A trap—yes, that’s the perfect word. All of this was devised by Lord Akasa. Humanity has already fallen for it. Don’t bother hoping the guardians will return to aid you. Surrender and become our feast." The upper-rank evil god looked down on Zhuang Xiaoyuan, its voice grating and loathsome, as if it already believed victory assured.

"I do appreciate your candor in revealing our current predicament, but your voice is truly unbearable. Would you kindly shut your mouth forever?" Noticing the commotion within the truck below, Zhuang Xiaoyuan understood that the evil god’s words had reached the wounded and her subordinates inside.

Their agitation was likely driven by panic—after all, the guardians’ movements were always secret, and none had expected them to be absent from the city now. The evil god’s claim that the guardians had been deliberately lured away was enough to sow chaos. Still, she thought, they should have more faith in the guardians.

With a kick, she sprang from the roof, diving straight at the upper-rank evil god. The twin blades, black and white, gleamed in her hands as she crossed them in a slashing arc.

A clash, the sound of steel and shattering; Ganjiang and Moye collided with the upper-rank’s shadow-empowered black blade, and both swords snapped. The shards continued their arc toward the evil god, red light flaring as new black and white blades materialized in Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s hands. She swept them at the evil god’s lower half, declaring, "There’s one thing you’re wrong about—our guardians are not so easily ensnared by the crude schemes of evil gods. For all you know, they are already on their way back, bearing the news of their victory over a burrower-rank fiend."