Lu Jun took a deep breath. Killing a great monarch was indeed not easy—especially when that great monarch was a direct offspring of an emperor.
Under Euryale's command were numerous Monarchs. Although these dozen or so monarchs were mostly sub-monarchs and lesser monarchs, once their numbers stacked up, even Lu Jun had to temporarily avoid their edge.
Fortunately, he had been clever enough to bring Apas, a middle monarch, along. Otherwise, falling into this trap would have been a matter of life and death, he might even have been forced to forcibly activate the Armor to break out.
Lu Jun glanced at Apas beside him.
Boom!
Soon, the beautiful young girl stepped forward. Her pupils transformed into golden-pink vertical snake eyes, her skin turned pale cyan, serpent-shaped tattoos spread across her body, and a powerful, awe-inspiring force surged forth, stirring wind and clouds as the heavens darkened.
Apas shouted with authority, "All of you, withdraw!"
Crash!
At once, under the ravaging supreme aura of a Medusa monarch, the scorpion-snake army trembled. None dared to make a sound, and they all stepped back in unison.
The coastal wilderness fell into silence. Yet not a single demon dared to retreat freely, all remaining rooted in place.
Seeing that none of the monarchs had left, the harpy Medusa let out a smug, mocking laugh. "Hahahaha, little sister, no one is willing to heed your command. You're too weak."
Apas grew secretly annoyed. The corners of her mouth split open, a serpent tongue flicked out, hissing in threat as she shouted, "You dare disobey the command of a Medusa? Defying the rules decreed by Mother—do you wish to be flayed alive?"
Hiss—
At last, unrest spread through the scorpion-snake army. Among the monarchs, several began to waver, hesitating back and forth.
Seeing this, Euryale immediately shrieked, "All of you stop! Whoever dares leave will be defying my orders—I will repay it in the future!"
With those words, the turmoil among the monarchs intensified. The Young Scorpion Queen and the Crimson Mother Snake showed looks of hesitation and struggle.
Seizing the moment, Apas shouted repeatedly, her delicate melon-shaped face twisted. "Mother isn't dead yet! You're intervening in Medusa's war this early—do you have a death wish?"
"My conflict with my sister has nothing to do with you. Why must you wade into these muddy waters?"
As her words fell, the Crimson Mother Snake, the Young Scorpion Queen, and several other monarch demons finally came to their senses. They bent respectfully toward Euryale and Apas respectively, then slowly withdrew.
Before long, only four or five direct-line Medusa monarchs remained steadfastly in place. All the other monarchs had vanished without a trace.
"Damn it!" The harpy Medusa roared in fury. "You traitors! She's even allied with a human to deal with me!"
Yet no matter how Euryale raged, those scorpion-snake monarchs had already made up their minds not to participate.
As for the direct-line Medusas, there was no choice. They were the harpy Medusa's own core forces—having grown up together since youth, their fates were bound.
Apas actually had her own as well: those few young female Medusas, bearing monarch bloodlines, destined to become monarchs upon adulthood.
Unfortunately, they had yet to mature. She had started too late, and her faction was likewise slow to form, leaving her at an absolute disadvantage in the struggle for the throne.
At this moment, Apas let out a breath of relief and sneered at her nominal "sister." "Have you already grown so weak that you need your subordinates to protect you?"
"Hmph!" Seeing that reinforcements could not be recovered, Euryale stopped wasting effort and instead hurled curses. "Apas, you little slut—just to kill me, you'll stoop to anything, even kneeling beneath a human in servile submission."
"Hehehe, that man is an enemy who slaughtered the scorpion-snake race. If Mother finds out that you're actually helping an outsider, will she strip you of your Medusa origin and throw you into the Ten-Thousand-Snake Pit to be devoured alive?"
Hearing this, Apas showed not the slightest wavering, her expression icy. "If Mother awakens, the first ones she'll kill will be you and eldest sister Cessna."
She denounced them angrily, "While Mother slept, you eliminated dissent, purged Mother's offspring, even bathed the royal court in blood, slaughtering all of Mother's guards and replacing them with your own, seizing Mother's male consorts."
"Are you not afraid that when Mother awakens, she'll torture you to death?"
These words caused Lu Jun, who was watching from the side, to be slightly startled. The amount of information was enormous—translated into ancient Jiuzhou terms, it was purging the court, sidelining the emperor, and occupying the dragon bed: the full Dong Zhuo trilogy.
With her schemes exposed, Euryale trembled all over, whether from fear or rage unknown.
She said coldly, "Don't worry. Mother will never awaken again. No one can save you. Just wait to die! I'll skin both of you alive and preserve you forever—as a pair of ill-fated lovers."
Immediately after, at Euryale's command, four or five Medusa monarchs flashed ruthless gazes and surged forward, their massive bodies twisting as they charged. Meanwhile, the surrounding scorpion-snake army hesitated, not daring to follow into battle.
Lu Jun saw Euryale standing motionless in place. Through his spiritual perception, she was fully focused on eroding the curse power of the Nail-Head Spiked Seven Arrows.
He frowned and said to Apas, "We can't be held back by these small fry. Once Euryale recovers her peak state, we'll be the ones being hunted."
The Book of Life and Death · Nail-Head-Spiked Arrows was forged from seven Sin Stones. The first cursed target suffered the greatest power. It wasn't that it couldn't be used again afterward—only that it would no longer possess the amplification of the seven artifacts.
Apas nodded and said in a deep voice, "I'll hold off these five Medusas. You go interfere with Euryale."
Buzz buzz buzz!
As her words fell, she widened her golden-pink eyes. Terrifying curse-mind power burst forth from her body, descending across the void onto the five Medusas charging toward them.
In an instant, both sides were immobilized. One after another, they opened their eyes, and a layer of indistinct, dim aura spread between them. They were dragged into mutual illusions, attacking each other's souls, cursing one another.
Seeing this, Lu Jun knew Apas had done all she could, restraining five monarch-level combat forces for him.
Without the slightest hesitation, he grasped the star patterns and unleashed Death Magic and Summoning Magic, drawing forth every bit of summoning combat power he could muster.
Boom boom boom!
A massive, winding Nether Serpent with black scales stood tall; a towering, mysterious Scorpion Monarch Medusa; a white-clad, graceful yet imposing female ghost; and a black-robed, gloomy Black Specter.
Two Netherworld Monarchs charged at the front, followed closely by two Heaven and Earth Fiends. Behind them stood Lu Jun himself, his body surging with pitch-black watery aura, specks of starlight swirling around him, fused with the Mermaid Holy Spirit.
On the outskirts of these five monarch-level combat forces, more than twenty commander-level giant beasts appeared, clustering densely around them.
Most came from High-Tier Level Four Beast Tide Summoning—ferocious pseudo-dragons—while a smaller portion came from the Death Element, resurrected scorpion-snake commanders.
Lu Jun stood at the center of the summoning formation, a strong sense of security washing over him. Facing Euryale, whose strength lay between a Great Monarch and a Supreme Monarch, a single mistake could mean instant death—there was no way he dared to summon the Night Thunder Dream Beast.
Using summoned creatures to take the blows while he cast spells from the rear was undoubtedly the optimal battle strategy.
After all, they were merely undead and summoned beasts. Their deaths were inconsequential—indeed, death was not the end. Whether the two Netherworld Monarchs or the two fiends, even if they were shattered, after a period of recovery they could all be summoned again.
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