Chapter 44: Metal and Rust
The seawater was bone-chillingly cold, and the aura of Ancient Saint Yi had completely vanished. Su Xiao's health was rapidly declining.
While submerged in the azure sea, Su Xiao suffered 17 points of damage per second, even after various reductions.
At 17 points per second, that was 1,020 points per minute. In a prolonged battle, Su Xiao would undoubtedly lose.
If Su Xiao were currently at full power, he could easily teach Ancient Saint Yi a lesson. Compared to the lethality of Dead Silence Descent, her Azure Sea was nothing.
Unfortunately, Su Xiao had activated Dead Silence Descent when dealing with the Moon Goddess earlier. Dead Silence Descent had a 10-day cooldown and was still in its cooldown phase.
Blood Beast, Demon Blade, and Demon Hunting Hour were all on cooldown. It wasn't just Su Xiao; most contractors who came to the arena were in the same situation. Their ultimate moves had already been used in derivative worlds or primordial worlds.
A string of bubbles escaped from Su Xiao's mouth. With his physique, he could hold his breath underwater for a long time, but considering the energy expenditure of combat, that duration was greatly reduced.
Su Xiao raised his arm, and the long blade slowly cut through the water, creating a faint undercurrent that spread forward.
Unable to use his ultimate moves to teach Ancient Saint Yi a lesson, Su Xiao didn't give up. He had faced such predicaments countless times before. Complaining about how shameless an enemy's ability was, at this moment, was the stupidest behavior. Now, he needed to stay calm and think in the best possible state about how to break out of this predicament.
First, he had to break the Azure Sea. Su Xiao wasn't familiar with this ability, so he needed to take risks and experiment.
Second, he needed to determine Ancient Saint Yi's current state. Had she become energy, merged with the surrounding seawater, or hidden in an alternate space?
Once his thoughts were organized, Su Xiao stopped paying attention to his declining health. That was meaningless.
Blood energy spread around Su Xiao, and the surrounding seawater gradually turned a light red.
With a whoosh, the seawater around him seemed to boil as the blood energy spread.
When the blood energy reached its maximum range, Su Xiao closed his eyes to sense. Still, there was no aura.
After confirming his conjectures, Su Xiao activated the Devouring Core within him. Dark blue smoke gradually appeared on his body surface.
Soon, Su Xiao was completely enveloped in dark blue smoke. The smoke rose from all parts of his body like burning flames. Some of it detached from his body and gradually dissipated in the seawater.
The scene before Su Xiao's eyes changed dramatically, becoming black and white. All inanimate objects were black and white. Only biological energy showed vivid colors. Red meant inedible, blue meant absorbable, green was unique to plants, and colorless was absolutely pure. Su Xiao had never seen biological energy of that color.
Su Xiao's gaze swept around. The seawater had turned white, and within it were thousands of red specks of light.
Zheng~
A blade aura flashed, and Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged. A red speck of light the size of a grain of rice was devoured and annihilated.
Suddenly, all the red specks of light in the seawater stopped moving, and the next moment, they all fled from Su Xiao.
Su Xiao sheathed his long blade, holding the scabbard in his left hand and the hilt in his right. Dragon-Slaying Flash was drawn at an extremely slow speed.
'Blade Path Sword: Ten Thousand Ghosts.'
Dense blade auras shot out from the blade, spreading outward from Su Xiao as the center, leaving trails of blue electric arcs in their wake.
Each blade aura was imbued with Cyan Steel Shadow energy, which was a significant drain on Su Xiao. In an instant, it consumed nearly a third of his mana.
Large patches of white bubbles were cut out, and the seawater was filled with a pale blue light.
A muffled groan came through. Ancient Saint Yi appeared in the seawater, her face somewhat pale.
"Metal Realm."
Ancient Saint Yi extended her hands to both sides. Various marine creatures appeared around her, including sharks, small crabs, and a large octopus.
These marine creatures were very peculiar. The heads and upper bodies of the sharks were made of metal, not seeming like post-transformation, but as if their original bodies had been converted into a metallic structure.
The small crabs were carrying bottle caps on their backs, crawling rapidly along the seabed. The large octopus had metal tentacles and a biological head.
Three half-metal sharks shot out, meeting Su Xiao as he surged through the water.
A few white lines flashed, and the three half-metal sharks were sliced apart. Their blood was diluted by the seawater.
Su Xiao's forward momentum slowed. The three half-metal sharks he had cut were far too weak. Aside from being somewhat fast, they had no other merits.
Just as Su Xiao was about to continue his advance, an abnormal sensation came from his left leg. The joint felt like it was rusting, its movement becoming very stiff and losing most of its sensation.
Su Xiao tapped his left leg with the hilt of his blade. The feeling of metal collision transmitted to his hand. His left leg had become semi-metallic. There was no judgment, no prompt.
Ancient Saint Yi floated in the seawater, her gaze fixed on Su Xiao. From earlier on, she had been on guard against something. She was very worried about a certain event happening.
Su Xiao didn't continue charging forward. His combat instincts told him that rushing near Ancient Saint Yi now would definitely lead to defeat, most likely being instantly metalized.
Ancient Saint Yi's ability was, of course, not just as simple as Azure Sea. This ability was indeed troublesome, but it wasn't completely invincible.
Ancient Saint Yi's truly powerful ability was that within the Azure Sea, enemies couldn't attack or approach her, or they would be metalized.
"It's only a matter of time before you're completely metalized. Just how many worlds have you plowed through, getting S-rank evaluations until your hands are sore, to be this strong now?"
Ancient Saint Yi spoke. The semi-mechanical octopus behind her lunged, pouncing at Su Xiao.
Su Xiao floated in the seawater. He had paid the price of one leg being metalized to figure out how the enemy's ability worked.
The half-metal octopus pounced at Su Xiao, its dozen metal tentacles curling in. However, Su Xiao didn't attack, nor did he even dodge.
"Tch."
Ancient Saint Yi pursed her thin lips. She liked fighting old schemers because such battles were fun. Although she wasn't sure what had gone wrong, the enemy had most likely guessed the true nature of Azure Sea.
Su Xiao was entangled by the large octopus. Blue light flickered in his eyes.
Ancient Saint Yi's body suddenly shattered. Shard-form Banishment stabbed out from various parts of her body. The seawater in the arena began to recede at a visible rate.
In just an instant, only a thin layer of surging seawater remained on the arena floor. Ripples spread, and an arm reached out from within the ripples. It was Ancient Saint Yi.
"When did you figure it out? By normal logic, shouldn't you have tried to find my true body first? That second-place guy before was very persistent about that."
Water droplets dripped from the tips of Ancient Saint Yi's hair. There were no wounds on her body. Aside from her pale face, her condition was still decent.
The large octopus that had entangled Su Xiao turned into seawater and scattered. Su Xiao's legs were completely metalized, and the joints were covered in rust.
Shard-form Banishment flew back near Su Xiao. He swung the hilt of his blade, smashing it against his right leg. With a crack, rust flew from the joint. He tossed Dragon-Slashing Flash to his other hand and smashed it against his right leg again.
Shard-form Banishment attached itself to Su Xiao's leg. He used Banishment to control his legs and tried to slightly bend his left leg.
"I have legs now."
Su Xiao lowered his body, holding the long blade horizontally in front of him.
"..."
Ancient Saint Yi fell silent. Her expression turned serious. The enemy was still not giving up in that state, and she was in a better condition than him.
Zheng~
Blade auras clashed with crystalline rust. The booming sounds continued without pause.
36 minutes later.
Bang!
Ancient Saint Yi slammed into the metal wall. She tried several times to stand up but failed due to the sword wound on her chest and abdomen.
Crack, crack...
Su Xiao approached, holding his long blade. His rust-covered left hand reached toward his own side ribs, forcibly tearing off a large chunk of metalized flesh. If left untreated, this would cause his movements to become stiff.
As the saying goes, pulling one hair affects the whole body, especially the waist, a key area for power transmission. Over 60% of his body was metalized, making his movements very inconvenient.
"I'm out of strength, but don't expect me to surrender."
Ancient Saint Yi wiped the blood from her face. As a hunter of Reincarnation Paradise, she was naturally not normal. She would rather take a few more slashes than voluntarily concede.
Crack, crack...
Su Xiao stopped in front of Ancient Saint Yi. His face was already covered in rust. Aside from parts of his torso and head, most of his body had lost sensation.
Without hesitation, he swung his blade down. With a clang, golden light flashed. The blade stopped just before Ancient Saint Yi's neck.
[Prompt: The hunter has been promoted to the first place of the Fifth Rank Paradise Arena.]