"Hahaha! I really didn't expect that kid Violet Thunder to even fool me!"
The Abyss Baptizer standing on the left laughed loudly.
"You lucky bastard!"
The other Abyss Baptizers all revealed looks of envy.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield below, as the Violet Thunder sphere slammed down, a huge section of the melee was instantly cleared out.
Countless Abyss Lectors and Abyss Mages died on the spot, turning into wisps of black mist that surged into the pitch-black sphere atop the tower.
"Well done, Violet Thunder!"
Abyss Flame shouted as flames flickered in his hands, bombarding the Abyss Lector opposite him without pause.
"Press the advantage and charge through!"
Frostfall roared as well, hacking his way toward the pool.
Violet Thunder surged around Jiang Yan, making him look like a true Lord of Thunder.
Countless lightning spears formed out of thin air, raining down like a dense storm as they blasted toward the surrounding Abyss Lectors.
Perhaps because he had grown accustomed to using large-scale techniques like the Great Buddha, Jiang Yan was especially fond of this kind of indiscriminate, saturation-style bombardment.
Either carpet-bomb the enemy—
Or punch them down in one hit.
Crackling with electricity, Jiang Yan then charged straight toward the pool.
"Arrogant!"
The surrounding Abyss Lectors naturally weren't about to let him pass.
After being beaten so badly, Jiang Yan had drawn an enormous amount of aggro.
And that was exactly what he wanted!
In an instant, the Abyss Lectors seemed to reach a tacit agreement.
Kill this Abyss Lector called Violet Thunder first!
Attacks flooded in from all directions.
Lightning danced around Jiang Yan as his hands moved continuously.
The surrounding energies were constantly being drawn and manipulated by him.
From the Abyss Lectors' perspective, it looked as though Jiang Yan was wielding thunder itself, effortlessly shattering all their attacks.
In reality, he was simply using Vector Manipulation to directly disperse the energy contained within the incoming assaults.
Then Jiang Yan rotated his hands, the surrounding energy spiraling rapidly between his palms.
"Ha!"
With a sharp shout, the compressed energy was released all at once.
BOOM!!!
The explosive force instantly transformed into a towering purple energy pillar that detonated in the midst of the Abyss Lectors.
Electric light surged around Jiang Yan as he prepared to rush straight into the crowd.
"Violet Thunder, what are you doing?!"
Seeing that Jiang Yan wasn't charging toward the pool but instead barreling straight into the densest cluster of Abyss Lectors, Abyss Flame panicked.
Damn it—didn't you know grabbing position was the most important thing right now?!
Jiang Yan knew exactly what he was doing.
He was gambling—betting that the Abyss Baptizers by the pool wouldn't just stand by and watch.
After all, the Abyss Lectors he was slaughtering were elite subordinates under Baptizers from other regions.
Every single loss was a painful one.
Sure enough, before Jiang Yan could plunge fully into the crowd, a veil of black light enveloped him.
"Violet Thunder, that's enough."
The Abyss Baptizer he had seen earlier in the palace—his direct superior—spoke calmly.
Seeing Jiang Yan charge straight into the crowd, he could no longer remain a spectator.
After all, the other Baptizers were all watching.
Jiang Yan didn't resist. He simply responded with a flat acknowledgment.
Tsk. These guys really can endure.
I'm slaughtering your subordinates right in front of you, and you still don't move?!
It was clear that every single one of these Baptizers was a seasoned old fox.
Jiang Yan's original plan had been to charge into the crowd, massacre the Abyss Lectors, force the Baptizers to step in—
And naturally drag his unlucky superior into the fray as well.
After all, when your subordinate is being bullied, you can't just sit by, right?
That would have ignited a massive free-for-all.
But who would've thought—
These Baptizers were really that cold-blooded.
Even at this point, they still refused to jump in.
Jiang Yan had clearly underestimated just how indifferent the Abyss was toward its own underlings.
Or rather—
The entire Abyss was like this.
Jiang Yan descended from the air and walked back over to Abyss Flame.
"Hey, hey, hey—since when did you become this strong, Violet Thunder?"
Abyss Flame asked in a low voice.
"Heh. Talent."
Jiang Yan chuckled lightly, instantly radiating a punchable smugness.
Abyss Flame fell silent.
This guy really did have the same infuriating personality as always.
After Jiang Yan ended his rampage, the surrounding battles among the Abyss Lectors quickly died down as well.
With the Abyss Baptizers intervening, no one dared to say anything further.
As for those who died?
Heh—just trash.
The Abyss was a place where the weak were preyed upon by the strong.
If you were killed, that only proved one thing—
You were weak.
Just as the chaos fully subsided, the sphere atop the tower emitted another wave.
Hummm—
Accompanied by a low droning sound, black ripples instantly washed over everyone.
Inside his armor, Jiang Yan cautiously wrapped himself in a layer of spatial shielding using the Space Stone.
He was too close to the front—he couldn't let the nearby Baptizers notice anything abnormal.
At the same time, he mimicked the blissful expressions of Abyss Flame and Frostfall, pretending to be enjoying some great boon.
Jiang Yan trusted the warnings from his cosmic perception and Observation Haki.
Out of caution, he had no intention of directly contacting the wave produced by the sphere.
No one could say what might happen if it fully affected him.
As the black ripples faded, all the Abyss Baptizers rose into the air.
Their hands formed strange gestures, and then they shouted in unison:
"Kneel!"
The sound pierced the ears like demonic chanting, as if someone were shrieking right beside one's head.
Jiang Yan's mind reeled.
The Mind Stone in his hand lit up instantly, while the Horse Talisman in his mind also began to glow.
Because the Infinity Stones had been directly granted to Jiang Yan by the system, they had automatically acknowledged him as their master.
Under normal circumstances, if Jiang Yan were suddenly attacked, the corresponding Stones would trigger automatic defensive mechanisms.
In an instant, his mind cleared completely.
He quickly glanced around, then followed Abyss Flame and the others—
And knelt down together with the crowd.
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