I! Cleaner!-Chapter 955 - 884: The End of the Line

Isn't he... has he gone insane?

Watching the overwhelming palm descending from above, the Overlords of the Dead Realm gathered for a "meeting" at the peak of Zhanhuai Mountain were momentarily dumbfounded, hardly believing their own eyes.

Didn't the Cleaning Bureau's archer director come over a few days ago saying they were preparing to negotiate at the Sage's Cemetery in a week? We were even planning on setting an ambush, but now the Food God from the Cleaning Bureau has directly come knocking?

"Attack!"

Snapping out of the shock from the sudden assault, the Enfleshed Hind locked onto by Leon was the first to react, raising a pair of forest-white antlers and bracing itself, thrusting upwards against the descending palm.

With its action, the three locations controlled by the Enfleshed Hind in the first half of the Realm of the Dead also reacted simultaneously.

First was [Burial Garment Mirror Lake], where the frigid waters soaking countless garments vanished in half an instant, crossing an immense distance to transform into a heavy mist enveloping the Enfleshed Hind, exploding into a massive wet fog atop Zhanhuai Mountain.

Next, in [Corpse Soil Black Forest], the sky-covering trees instantly withered, corpses hanging from blood-black branches all fell in unison, devoured and absorbed by the black soil below, surging out through the Enfleshed Hind's body, enlarging its originally petite form.

Lastly, stood [Baigu Palace], erected in the first half of No Return Path, mirroring [City of Regret] in the second half.

With the Enfleshed Hind's proactive counterattack, the gigantic palace, puce-white with decay, instantly lost its pallor, turning to stone, while the pair of antlers atop the Enfleshed Hind's head sprouted like budding twigs, surging forth against Leon's palm in a daunting fashion, only to...

Snap upon contact!

The Enfleshed Hind's grand headlong charge only slightly delayed the descending palm momentarily, then like a mantis raising a scythe against an elephant, its antlers snapped, neck fractured, and body dispersed into mist, it was obliterated in an instant!

Although controlling locations in the first half of No Return Path meant the collected souls were of lower quality, the Enfleshed Hind, managing three sites, was still far more powerful than the Wailing Puppet, possessing near pillar-god level power even outside its territory.

However, Leon, who had swept through [City of Regret] and trudged from [Ghostly Mire], possessed over twenty million souls in his grasp, ranking among the top within pillar-gods in sheer strength, both sides differing in pure might by a vast margin!

Surprise attack with premeditation, coupled with an enormous disparity in raw power, rendered the Enfleshed Hind's resistance utterly futile.

Under the crushing weight of Leon's unimaginably heavy palm, even after enlarging its form by hundreds of times, the Enfleshed Hind was still slain on the spot with a single "heavy palm," spreading like a rodent crushed by a steamroller across the peak of Zhanhuai Mountain in a gory sheet.

Although this strike was mere raw power suppression, without applying the erosive power, the Enfleshed Hind, whose flesh was destroyed, still suffered unfathomable damage, its bewildered soul heading directly towards the Cliff of the End...

"Come back!!!"

With the time bought by the Enfleshed Hind's delay, narrowly avoiding Leon's attack, the mountain-patrolling woman in charge of [Zhanhuai Mountain] roared forcefully, using [Zhanhuai Mountain]'s ability to bind the departed, forcefully grabbing hold of the Enfleshed Hind's soul, preventing it from following in the Wailing Puppet's footsteps.

Meanwhile, the Faceless Man, lacking facial features, caught his breath, frightened but promptly retaliated.

As the Overlord of the Dead Realm most adept at manipulating souls, a mere glance... conveyed the situation, realizing the source of Leon's immense strength wasn't the two weak authorities themselves, but the two million-plus "high-quality" departed he had amassed.

The souls of "lower quality" departed, merely needing to pass through [Black and White Bridge] or [Funeral Corridor], would shed all traces of their lives, dumbly leaving along No Return Path.

With Sage's Cemetery as the dividing line, those capable of crossing and continuing onwards, lingering at some site in the latter half for years, either bore unimaginable fervor or possessed inherently high soul quality.

The Food God, travelling from [City of Regret], probably drained "high-quality" departed accumulated over centuries at several sites in the latter half of No Return Path, rendering his current power insurmountable.

Excluding [First Deceased], who created No Return Path, and [Lantern Elder] temporarily overseeing the Cliff of the End, anyone confronting him directly in the Dead Realm faced certain death, the only solution being to first "wash" off the departed souls under his control!

"Don't confront him head-on!"

Shouting towards the mountain-patrolling woman and the Enfleshed Hind, who was recomposing its body, the Faceless Man's form dispersed in an instant, vanishing from Zhanhuai Mountain's peak, replaced by an ancient black and white stone bridge.

After relocating [Black and White Bridge] in its entirety, before Leon initiated the next attack, the Faceless Man dismantled the enormous black and white stone bridge, transforming it into countless black or white strips of stone, rolling down along Zhanhuai Mountain's ridge.

Each leap of these rolling strips of stone on the ridge expanded their size in a sudden surge, akin to immense horizontal logs, crashing towards the countless departed at the mountain's base.

Even before reaching their targets, the black or white gigantic strips acted like massive magnets, forcibly drawing all nearby departed towards them, and relying on the rules of the Black and White Bridge, stripped away all the departed's joyful or painful memories.

With memories forcibly extracted, the departed, their minds blank, lost the ability to yield fear. The agitated Heart Lake naturally calmed swiftly, breaking free from the dual extraction of [Heart Lake] insignia and [Nightmare Terror].

...

Quite a swift reaction.

Seeing the Overlords of the Dead Realm had pinpointed his weakness, launching an attack on his "source of strength," Leon couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Even with the synergy of the insignia and authority, granting him temporarily power surpassing the pillar gods, the Overlords of the Dead Realm weren't fool enough to allow him easy passage, undoubtedly devising means to weaken his strength.

For these Overlords, physical death wasn't true demise, only the erosion of authority could genuinely threaten their lives. In [City of Regret], controlling fifteen million departed, he had consumed the Wailing Puppet's avatar, which was the process of authority erosion.

Now, with three Death Overlords aiding one another, though he could certainly slay their physical forms multiple times, he lacked the opportunity to apply authority erosion, it seems this is as far as this attempt will go...

Hmm... perhaps not necessarily?