Chapter 45: You Can Do It
Su Xiao's foot pressed down on the black-armored guard's shoulder as he slowly pulled the Dragon-Slaying Flash from the enemy's skull.
With a scraping sound, droplets of black blood splattered, and the black-armored guard's corpse thudded to the ground.
Su Xiao dared to enter a sixth-rank area like Dead Silence City because he had enough confidence in the sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash and his blade technique. If it came down to a contest of attributes or active abilities, Su Xiao clearly couldn't even compare to the minor bosses of Dead Silence City. But if it was a contest of technique, he had no fear of the enemies here.
Su Xiao had once encountered a sixth-rank contractor named Yin Luo, who was no weakling within the sixth rank. Yet even a relatively strong sixth-rank contractor didn't necessarily master Grandmaster-level abilities, let alone having consumed dozens of Soul Crystals (Complete) to raise Blade Grandmaster to Lv.26.
Su Xiao's overall combat power didn't reach the sixth rank, but if it came to offensive capability, blade-type weapons definitely ranked among the top three among all weapon types. This was because blade techniques pursued the ultimate cutting power—abandoning defense, abandoning large-scale lethality, only pursuing the strongest slash. Su Xiao had once witnessed, while improving his blade technique, someone cutting their entire world to collapse and shatter with a single slash.
The cutting power derived from pure Blade Grandmaster wasn't terrifying, but when combined with various self-developed abilities, killing an enemy truly only required one opportunity.
[You have killed Black Armor·Wolin.]
[You have obtained an Epic Chest (50%).]
[You have obtained 1.2% of Dark Source.]
[Note: The Hunter has obtained Dark Source for the first time. This is an exclusive reward from Dead Silence City.]
[After the Hunter obtains more than 5% Dark Source, they can go to the 'Sacrificial Altar' to perform a ritual and enhance their current talent ability.]
[Note: The talent ability must have undergone one awakening before enhancement is possible. This enhancement will affect the strength of the talent's second awakening.]
...
Seeing the prompt about Dark Source, Su Xiao's heart gradually grew hot. Without a doubt, if he could enhance a talent, he would definitely enhance the auxiliary growth-type talent, Soul Devourer.
Clearly, Dark Source was a unique reward from Dead Silence City, or perhaps a unique type of energy. It could enhance a talent that had undergone one awakening, but it wasn't about a second awakening of the talent.
However, there was a prerequisite: obtaining at least 5% or more Dark Source, and reaching the 'Sacrificial Altar' in the central area of Dead Silence City to enhance the talent.
Aside from the Dark Source reward, the chest gains were also quite astonishing. Black Armor·Wolin was at most a minor boss with decent strength, yet such an enemy actually allowed Su Xiao to obtain an Epic Chest (50%) reward.
When he killed Akainu in the One Piece world, Su Xiao had only obtained an Epic Chest (47%), and that was with Akainu having multiple auras like Admiral stacked on him.
But Black Armor·Wolin was at most an elite unit within Dead Silence City. If he killed Prisoner·Hera or even stronger beings, the rewards would definitely be even more astonishing.
The benefits were certainly generous, but Su Xiao wasn't dazzled by them. If a Black Armor·Wolin was already this troublesome, then facing Prisoner·Hera would require him to go all out just for a slim chance of victory, with the probability of being killed within Dead Silence City exceeding eighty percent.
After briefly treating the wounds on his body, Su Xiao took out an Ancient Secret Medicine and drank it. The stinging pain in his shoulder gradually subsided.
Bubu Wang still led the way, and the team continued forward. This time, Veroni cooperated much more. This girl clearly understood that only by cooperating with Su Xiao did she have a chance to survive in Dead Silence City.
Passing through the stone sculpture plaza, Su Xiao entered another area of houses. This time, the surrounding houses were noticeably taller, though much sparser.
Every time Su Xiao walked a certain distance, he had to lean against a wall to rest for a moment. Black Armor·Wolin's hooked blade was very special; it not only slowed Su Xiao's speed but also greatly increased the rate at which his stamina drained. Even after Black Armor·Wolin died, this effect didn't disappear immediately and only showed signs of fading after nearly half an hour.
A vulture with gray-white feathers, twice the size of an ostrich, landed on a house. This was the most common animal in Dead Silence City, not very aggressive, but attracted to corpses.
Su Xiao hid inside a low stone house. The roof of the stone house had already collapsed, letting the wind through from all sides.
About a hundred meters in front of the stone house was a nearly five-meter-wide artificial river. The stone banks on either side were neat and orderly. This river separated the central area of Dead Silence City from the outer areas.
The river was filled with murky, stagnant water. On the other side of the river stood a row of tall buildings, and in front of these buildings stood a line of Tree Eroding.
That's right, a line. Just within Su Xiao's line of sight, there were over a hundred Tree Eroding.
After waiting about five minutes, Bubu Wang returned.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang let out a low bark. According to its observation, it was simply impossible for Su Xiao to sneak into the central area of Dead Silence City. That artificial river formed a ring, encircling the central area, and along the riverbank stood Tree Eroding, conservatively estimated at several thousand. Bubu Wang also spotted even stronger residents of Dead Silence City among them.
"Can't sneak in, then we'll force our way through."
Su Xiao pressed on the wound on his shoulder; it no longer hurt much. Penetrating wounds were one of the easier types of injuries to deal with.
"Woof?"
Bubu Wang looked at Su Xiao with confusion, as if to say: "Master, we need to stay calm. Forcing our way through will get us flattened into pancakes by the Tree Eroding."
An apple-sized, light-red gelatinous substance appeared in Su Xiao's hand. If he couldn't fight his way through, he'd blast his way through. But that required a bait.
Bubu Wang immediately understood Su Xiao's intention. Almost simultaneously, the man and the dog looked at Veroni.
"Uh... what are you..."
Veroni suddenly sensed something was wrong.
"There's a not-so-dangerous task for you to do."
Su Xiao tossed the Apollo in his hand. He always kept two Apollos on hand in his storage space.
"I'm very useless. I'll definitely mess it up. Yeah, that's right."
Ten minutes later, Veroni stood atop a building at least thirty meters high. A vulture landed near her, and finding she wasn't a corpse, it flew away in disappointment.
"You can do it, Veroni. Absolutely no problem."
Veroni took a deep breath, gathering her energy.
"Ah!!"
A female scream filled with fear and grievance echoed out. The scream was exceptionally piercing within Dead Silence City.
Rumble, rumble. A faint tremor ran through the ground. Veroni, standing on the roof, quickly jumped down. Following Bubu Wang's guidance, she rushed into a wooden house.
Inside the wooden house, a man with half his face weathered to bone raised his head. After just a glance at Veroni, he lowered his head again. This was a Holy Cultivator, a neutral resident, but he was somewhat poor and couldn't communicate.
Half a minute after the scream ended, several figures stood on the roof where Veroni had been. Some still retained human form, while others were entirely covered in tree bark.
Meanwhile, two kilometers away from the artificial river, Su Xiao activated the Apollo in his hand. A sense of terrifying crisis spread. The residents of Dead Silence City weren't completely mindless; some were very intelligent, possibly even old schemers. Given Apollo's activation speed, to bomb the Tree Eroding by the river, he could only activate it remotely and then throw it over.
The activation of Apollo didn't attract the attention of Dead Silence City's residents, because Veroni's loud shout from earlier had already drawn away the residents in this area. With such good results, Veroni had clearly put all her strength into that scream.