Chapter 73: The Terrifyingly Adorable Creature?
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Su Xiao coughed up several large mouthfuls of pond water. After stretching his limbs, he jumped back into the pool. As he had imagined, there was a very 'terrifying' creature inside—a giant octopus.
Contrary to his expectations, this extremely powerful octopus was not dangerous. Although Su Xiao had no idea why an octopus would be in a rainforest, he could confirm one thing: the thing underwater was not dangerous. On the contrary, it was very lonely. When Su Xiao entered the pool, the giant octopus immediately approached, clearly wanting to play with him.
Su Xiao leaped into the pool again, and the shadow below immediately came forward. For the sake of his own safety, Su Xiao didn't attack the shadow; he had already checked its information.
[Comparing intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Our intelligence attribute is ??? times the enemy's. Obtained 9% of enemy data.]
Data as follows:
Name: Jormungandr
Category: Void Creature · Overlord-level Creature!
Health: ???
Mana: ???
Strength: ??? (Has exceeded the world's maximum value)
Agility: ??? (Has exceeded the world's maximum value)
Endurance: ??? (Has exceeded the world's maximum value)
Intelligence: ??? (Has exceeded the world's maximum value)
Charm: 18
Skill 1, Water Overlord (Passive: Health +120,000 points (War World Overlord Creature bonus), Mana +75,000 points (War World Overlord Creature bonus), True Strength +30, True Endurance +40, True Intelligence +27, ??? (Further data undetectable).
Skill 2: ???
Skill 3: Origin (Passive, Lv.???)
Skill 4: ???
Skill 5: Void Creature (Passive, Lv.???)
Skill 6: ???
???
???
(Further abilities undetectable)
...
Basically, aside from a bunch of question marks, Su Xiao saw no other information, but that was enough. This thing was absolutely untouchable for him, at least with his current strength.
Su Xiao had heard the name 'Jormungandr' before, back in Alice's treasury.
Jormungandr: An endangered race in the Void. As for how they became endangered, they had only themselves to blame.
These giant octopuses were strict herbivores, eating only moss-like plants. If that were all, they wouldn't have reached the brink of extinction. In the end, Void races began consciously protecting them.
These creatures were extremely curious. When they saw something, their first instinct wasn't to attack but to gently wrap it in their tentacles, toss it into the air, catch it, and toss it again, playing endlessly—adorably foolish.
Until one day, a few overly curious Jormungandr brothers arrived at Arcane Eternal Star and jointly tossed the 'Secondary Elemental Superconductivity Tower' into the air.
Seeing the fireworks explode in the sky, the Jormungandr brothers clapped happily. This incident spread through the Jormungandr community, and these adorable fools developed a strong interest in the Spellcasters' 'Secondary Elemental Superconductivity Towers.'
The Spellcasters could tolerate it three or five times, but after dozens of incidents, they killed—killed them to extinction!
Through creative self-destruction, the Jormungandr race became endangered.
In the pool, a pair of pitch-black giant eyes stared at Su Xiao, looking puzzled, as if they had seen him somewhere before.
After a few seconds of eye contact, Jormungandr actually released Su Xiao and backed away slightly.
Su Xiao was surprised. He had already prepared to be thrown out and then cooperate with Bubu Wang to distract the creature.
A long, slender tentacle emerged from the water. Unlike an ugly octopus tentacle, it instantly wrapped around Bubu Wang on the shore.
With a whoosh, Bubu Wang was dragged into the pool. A pair of dark green eyes witnessed this scene—eyes filled with both delight and fear. It would never forget a certain bath in this pool that had made it question its existence as a cat for a long time.
In the pool, Jormungandr ignored Su Xiao and instead wrapped its tentacles around the terrified Bubu Wang.
"Urrrr..."
Bubbles streamed from Bubu Wang's mouth, its eyes clearly begging for help.
Su Xiao made a gesture, signaling Bubu Wang to hold on; he would be back soon.
Whoosh~
Bubu Wang was thrown out of the pool. Before it could catch its breath, several tentacles gently caught it. Bubu Wang was clearly stunned.
The Void was such a magical place, where you could find species and cultures beyond imagination.
Su Xiao quickly dived to the bottom of the pool. Soon, he saw a glow—a layer of cyan crystals formed from Jormungandr's metabolic waste. It was because of this that Void races protected the Jormungandr species.
These cyan crystals had strong blocking properties, making them the perfect material for setting up spatial arrays. It was because of these crystals that Reincarnation Paradise had set the World Core's placement point here.
The World Core in Su Xiao's arms floated out. The cyan crystals at the bottom shattered in large pieces, enveloping the World Core.
The spatial fluctuations made Su Xiao instinctively back away. After more than ten minutes, the spatial fluctuations at the bottom subsided. When he dived again, a crystal pillar as thick as a bucket came into view.
This crystal pillar was about a meter long, protected by an outer metal frame. Inside was a mass of solidified cyan crystals, with the World Core at the very center.
Thump, thump, thump...
The World Core pulsed like a heart, slowly beating. Each beat released a spatial pulse that any Contractor could sense, like a lighthouse in the night.
[Announcement: World Core successfully activated!]
[Announcement: World Coordinate Attribute: φ (Reincarnation Paradise).]
[Announcement: Time until World Coordinate fully forms: 239 hours, 59 minutes, 58 seconds.]
[Announcement: If Contractors from Sanctuary Paradise or Apocalypse Paradise hold the World Coordinate, the coordinate attribute will change after 30 minutes. World Coordinate formation time remains unchanged.]
[Announcement: When the World Coordinate has 5 hours left to form, the coordinate attribute can no longer be changed. The outer protective device must be destroyed, and the World Coordinate must be re-established to change its attribute.]
[Announcement: Time until the 'Devouring Annihilation Energy Layer' forms around the outer perimeter of the Hot Rainforest: 3 hours, 26 minutes.]
...
[Tip: Hunter has gained 100 Reincarnation Paradise Merits.]
A flood of announcement-type prompts appeared. The content was simple: the Contractor free-for-all was about to begin.
Unlike the defensive stance of the last World War, this time the World Coordinate could be moved. Whichever side obtained the World Coordinate would have its attribute change after half an hour. The final World Coordinate's attribute would determine the winner of the World War.
The World Coordinate required 239 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds to fully form—10 days. When only 5 hours remained, the side holding the World Coordinate would have to hold their ground, fending off all enemies until the coordinate was complete.
In short, the final five hours would be the most brutal, the life-and-death hours. Before that, it was a time for mutual destruction.
Su Xiao picked up the World Coordinate from the pool bottom. It couldn't be stored in his inventory. Defending the coordinate early on was pointless, and after the announcements ended, the Reincarnation Paradise war channel became lively.
Shuixiao (Rogue): "Brother Bai Ye, give the World Coordinate to Apocalypse Paradise!"
Gulu (Phantom Troupe): "Definitely give it to Apocalypse."
Qingyan (Arakawa Adventure Group Leader): "Calm down first, but... giving it to Apocalypse seems like a good choice..."
Ganju Mei (Rogue): "No need to think twice, of course give it to Apocalypse."