Chapter 740: King of Frost Giants
Mastiphal shouted ecstatically, "Red dragon! You'll be my finest prey! This is a destined encounter!"
The centaur demon leaned back, muscles bulging, veins popping on his arms.
He drew the bowstring with all his might, nocking a dragon-slaying arrow with a spiral tip onto his longbow, ready to fire.
Murderous intent surged in his deep eyes, a dark red glow coating the arrowhead—that was the essence of Death.
"RIP—"
The arrow tore through space, splitting the sky, flying straight at Cassius with terrifying force.
As the arrow shot out, a torrent of chaotic mist followed behind, surging toward the red dragon in the sky.
If that red dragon were hit, the Abyss's power would surge through the wound, corrupting his body and driving him into madness.
"Perfect!"
Cassius narrowed his eyes, sensing the intense death energy. He opened his mouth, flames rising from deep in his throat.
"BOOM—"
Silver flames poured out like a waterfall, lighting up half the sky, incinerating the dragon-slaying arrow to ash, and dispersing the endless chaotic fog.
Then, a sun slowly rose, casting countless rays of light that illuminated most of Avernus.
"So hot!"
"It's the sun! What a disgusting aura! How could this appear in Hell?!"
That radiant Order light was blinding, emanating divine energy. Just seeing it made Abyssal demons' eyes ignite. Even Bael cried out uncertainly, "The Lord of Eternal Radiance?"
Mastiphal instinctively lowered his head, cursing in venomous whispers, feeling nauseated—an instinct unique to demons.
Cassius seized this precious chance, flapping his wings and shattering the space ahead, closing the gap of thousands of meters in an instant to reach Mastiphal.
The red dragon was wreathed in Chaotic Flame, dispersing the Abyssal black mist around him, smashing through barriers to charge straight at Mastiphal.
Mastiphal raised his head, staring in horror at the red dragon. "You blocked my arrow... and broke through the Abyss—"
"Now—who's the prey?!" Cassius sneered and lunged forward, slashing with his claws that tore the air with explosive screeches.
"BOOM!"
Bones shattered, blood sprayed!
Mastiphal was knocked to the ground, skull dented, his terrifying face further twisted. His horse lower half kicked wildly in a frantic struggle.
Cassius had already seen through this centaur's true nature—he was a mechanic-type boss.
He was good at stomping weaklings, and could manage someone like Bael—a newly promoted, unstable Hell Lord who'd already been mauled by the red dragon.
But against someone on his level, he was outmatched.
And Cassius? A mix of stats boss and mechanic boss.
Cassius might not be immortal, but his body was at demi-Primordial level, infused with plundered divine powers—he had no fear of Mastiphal's Death power.
In melee combat, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
Though Mastiphal's body was larger than Cassius's, it was mostly puffed up by chaotic power. That Abyss-tainted centaur frame wasn't made for close-quarters combat.
Cassius, in strength and physique, vastly outclassed this centaur demon. His powerful demi-Primordial dragon body was a terrifying battle machine.
"ROAR—"
Cassius pressed the attack, slamming down hard on Mastiphal's body and sinking his fangs into the centaur's vulnerable neck.
Mastiphal coughed up filthy blood, straining to block Cassius's jaws with his bone bow, barely keeping them from his throat.
But Cassius's claws tore into the centaur's thick skin and dug into his massive chaotic body, shredding the organs inside. Black-red demon blood and twisted innards poured out like a flood.
"Damn reptile—" Mastiphal howled in pain. Though born from Death, it didn't mean he was unafraid of dying.
Soon, Bael also flew above Mastiphal.
The Hell Lord was battered and bloody, but his black eyes burned with hatred. He'd repay every ounce of pain the centaur had caused!
"Cassius, let me!"
Bael gripped his Infernal Greatsword tightly, roaring with fury.
Cassius glanced up and shifted aside, exposing Mastiphal's savagely torn-open chest to the air.
Bael didn't hesitate. Holding the hundred-meter-long Infernal Greatsword, he thrust it down with all his might.
"Die!"
The black greatsword pierced through Mastiphal's body with a sickening crack and drove deep into the ground, leaving a massive rift.
"BOOM!"
Magma erupted from beneath, engulfing Mastiphal's body. The centaur was cleaved in half, and his slimy innards spilled out in one gush.
But it wasn't over. As if venting all his hatred, Bael hacked away at the demon's body like a madman, reducing it to a grotesque mess.
"Long live Lord Bael!"
"Praise the mighty and wise Lord of Avernus!"
"That demon couldn't even stand before you! Look, he's trembling at your feet!"
"With Lord Bael, there's no fear of demons. Avernus is safe!"
Seeing the tide turn, the devils started flattering again, heaping all the credit on their lord.
Cassius too slashed apart the lower half of the Abyss-infected horse, reducing it to nauseating chunks.
"Wretched prey, you can't kill me!"
The mangled flesh and innards twitched as if alive, surging together to form a twisted creature.
It was Mastiphal again. Horse legs, human face, mismatched limbs awkwardly reassembled into a warped centaur. His eyes remained deep—and crazed.
"As expected, he's got the essence of immortality," Cassius said coldly.
Looking at the demon who had cost him his dignity and forced a contract, Bael gritted his teeth. "Can you kill him completely?"
"If the price is right, sure. But slaying an immortal godspawn is no simple task."
Bael scowled but said no more, cursing the red dragon's shameless greed inwardly.
"Just stall him for now. After all..." Cassius smirked, then looked north as if sensing something, and muttered, "The strongest Lord—is arriving."
"HUM—"
A resounding horn echoed from afar, shaking the sky. The frost giants of Tanarli banged their weapons and roared fiercely.
A dozen frost shamans raised their staves in devout prayer.
"He is the Polar Night, He is the Winter, He is the Eternal One, the new Lord leading the Frost Giants to glory. He comes from the Abyss, bringing his people a new home."
"Praise the King of Frost Giants! Praise Kostchtchie!"
The sky over Avernus turned pitch black, auroras swirling, and bitter winds howled. Massive glaciers rose from the ground with a rumble.
The region now resembled a frigid wasteland under eternal night, blanketed in deadly frost and snow.
In the blizzard, space twisted and trembled. The sky itself tore open like clawed by a demon, revealing a wound leaking Abyssal mist.
Then, a colossal figure appeared high above, radiating crushing pressure over hundreds of miles.
A two-hundred-meter-tall frost giant, brawny and muscular, clad in armor stitched from white dragon hides, with hundreds of skulls hanging from his belt, sat upon an iceberg-sized throne.
His eyes gleamed with cruelty and fury as he glared down at the world below.
He was the King of Frost Giants, Abyss's 23rd layer Lord, the infamous Lord of Rage—Kostchtchie!
Mastiphal staggered north, laughing madly: "Kostchtchie is here! That damn frost giant may be a bastard, but I admit—he's the strongest among us!
You're all doomed! The Abyss will claim this land. You're finished, prey!"
Bael's eyes filled with hate, but he didn't pursue. As a millennia-old devil, he knew all too well how terrifying Kostchtchie was.
"That's... divine power."
Cassius soared higher, locking eyes with the King of Frost Giants. A grave expression finally crossed the dragon's face.
"Such pressure... looks like that's really his true body."
This guy was a true demigod-level powerhouse—one of the Abyss's most notorious demon lords.
He had his own church and followers, conquered material planes, and swallowed the half-planes once carved by the ancient Giant Empire into the Abyss.
Kostchtchie had shone in the Blood War too, breaking into Avernus several times—until Zariel defeated him last time and stole his weapon with cunning tricks.
After hearing of Zariel's assassination, he wasted no time summoning the Abyssal legions to reignite the Blood War.
Cassius stared at the frost giant's true form, growing graver by the second.
A nearly two-hundred-meter giant, and not some chaos-stuffed monstrosity, but a real immortal-blooded body—already insane by Astral Plane standards.
Such a thing in the Material Plane would instantly be banished by the terrified planar will.
Kostchtchie's muscles bulged, every fiber and vessel packed with brute force. Even Cassius's demi-Primordial dragon body couldn't guarantee victory in melee.
Worse, Cassius sensed not just chaotic Abyssal aura, but immortal godforce like Solem's—power that could freeze all things.
"What a terrifying foe," Cassius muttered.
He had fought avatars of gods like Dumasong and Gruumsh before.
But those were empty shells stuffed with divinity, shackled by the laws of the multiverse, dragged down to Cassius's cheat-powered level.
Gods were still gods.
Entities wholly different from mortals.
If he encountered someone like Gruumsh in the Outer Planes, Cassius might get insta-killed without even a chance to fight.
But this time, it was his first direct battle with a godlike being—true body against true body.
From his icy throne, Kostchtchie grinned hideously: "Tch. Mastiphal and Ixinix—both useless trash, beaten by you.
Well, good. Saves me the trouble of cleaning them up after conquering Avernus."
Mastiphal flew into a rage and roared, "Kostchtchie! Bastard! You promised me a third of Avernus when the war ended!"
Kostchtchie replied coldly, "You think you're in any shape to bargain with me? The will of the Abyss never cared about promises."
He stared at Mastiphal with a chilling grin. "Besides—I've already sent troops to the 179th layer. It'll be mine soon."
"You—you bastard—" Mastiphal trembled violently and screamed, "I'll return to the Abyss! I'll hunt down every frost giant!"
But Kostchtchie said calmly, "You're not going back."
"What?!"
Mastiphal looked up in horror—right into Kostchtchie's eyes. A wave of unbearable cold struck, instantly freezing him into a block of ice.
The centaur's face still bore shock and fury, but the ice was so thick it seemed he'd been sealed for millennia.
Cassius and Bael gasped. Even a wounded Mastiphal was still an Abyssal Lord—and got frozen so easily!
Was this the power of the King of Frost Giants?
Only then did Kostchtchie look at the red dragon in the distance. His gaze burned with rage, and his voice howled like a blizzard: "Cassius, I said it—when my true form descends, your death begins!
Now, I'm here to fulfill that promise!"