Chapter 51: Black Tears
Based on Su Xiao’s judgment, the Gluttony Monarch was absolutely no match for Kuska. Although the Gluttony Monarch had devoured quite a few Diba Clan warriors and its aura had grown stronger, the gap between the two remained insurmountable.
The Gluttony Monarch gave off a feeling of twisted brutality, while Kuska was simply pure strength.
Kuska didn’t have a towering physique or an oppressive aura that suffocated others, but just standing there, he gave off an unconquerable presence.
Strength and defense went without saying. In terms of technique, his Unarmed Combat Grandmaster Lv.35 was no decoration. On top of that, he had incredible regenerative power. After activating his ultimate skill ‘Dual Coexistence,’ he recovered 10% of his health per second for 30 seconds, during which he couldn’t be knocked back.
As for mid-range combat, the Death Roar was terrifyingly powerful. It was a dual roar: Kuska’s main body’s roar dealt physical damage (780 points), while the Diba Sub-Body inside him dealt 590 points of true viral damage per second.
Even with Su Xiao’s physical resistance, he would take nearly a thousand points of damage per second. If Kuska roared for the full 12 seconds, the total damage would exceed ten thousand.
What made it even trickier was that both Kuska’s and the Diba Sub-Body’s roars carried control effects—six types in total. Getting hit by any one of them would leave you completely immobilized.
These were the abilities Su Xiao knew about. Kuska had seven more abilities that remained unknown, and who knew if there was something even stronger among them.
Su Xiao was hiding at the corner of the entrance corridor. Kuska and the Gluttony Monarch were inside the ‘Outer Greenhouse.’ To reach the location of the transcendent plant Diba, they needed to pass through the inner stone door. But before that, Kuska had to be dealt with.
Sunlight slanted down through the holes in the cave ceiling. Kuska and the Gluttony Monarch stared at each other. Perhaps a cloud drifted across the sky, dimming the light inside the greenhouse.
Boom!
Pebbles flew as the Gluttony Monarch’s feet exploded off the ground. A black blur shot forward, closing the distance to Kuska in an instant.
Buzz~
Gray particles spread outward from the Gluttony Monarch, surging toward Kuska. The moment they touched his skin, they crackled and popped.
“Oh? This one’s not bad.”
Kuska tilted his head slightly, dodging the Gluttony Monarch’s stabbing tail. His right hand slowly clenched into a fist, and several plant roots coiled around it.
With a bang, an air blast erupted. Kuska threw a punch. It wasn’t fast, but the angle was extremely tricky. The Gluttony Monarch had no room to dodge and could only bend its arms to block at its side.
Thud!
The Gluttony Monarch’s undead cells trembled throughout its body. The ground beneath its feet cracked in a wide web. Its arms bent backward at unnatural angles, completely unable to withstand Kuska’s casual punch.
Whoosh! The Gluttony Monarch broke through a layer of air, flying sideways before crashing heavily into the stone wall. Its entire body was embedded, leaving a hole surrounded by splattered black blood.
“Why bother coming to die?”
Kuska flicked the black blood off his hand. He stomped the ground, sending a pebble flying up. When it reached him, he caught it in his palm.
Hiss~
The surrounding sunlight began to converge into Kuska’s hand. His thumb pressed against the pebble, and his entire fist turned blazing red.
Bang!
Kuska flicked his thumb, and a line of fire shot out, blasting into the hole where the Gluttony Monarch was.
A roar followed, and a wave of flame surged out of the hole, accompanied by a pungent, burnt smell.
When the flames died down, the Gluttony Monarch stepped out of the hole. A bowl-sized hole now pierced its head, with sparks flickering around the wound.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to play dead in there? Mogro, this is fate. The things we once chose to bear—we weren’t qualified to carry them. Two young lads, how foolish were we? But… Veronica, she really was something. No wonder you were so obsessed with her back then. Heh, hahahaha…”
Kuska was clearly in a somewhat deranged and unclear state, but the mention of Veronica visibly triggered the Gluttony Monarch, Mogro.
“Rooar!!”
The Gluttony Monarch roared. Black liquid flowed from its eyes, making it look even more crazed.
“Sorry, did I hit a nerve? Veronica was thinking of you right before she died. Sorry, she just… died by accident. Isn’t that right, Veronica?”
Kuska tilted his head slightly. A plant burst out from his shoulder, forming the shape of a head.
“Ahh!”
A hoarse roar came from the Gluttony Monarch’s mouth. It dropped to all fours, muscles bulging rapidly in its arms and legs.
“Shut up. If you want to roar, do it like this.”
Kuska took a deep breath. Seeing this, Su Xiao grabbed Bubu Wang by the scruff of its neck and turned to rush toward the small pool behind him.
In the open space, Kuska leaned back slightly, completely ignoring the Gluttony Monarch charging at him.
“Rooar!!”
Kuska and the head on his shoulder roared simultaneously. The sound waves mixed with black-purple air currents, spreading outward.
The skin on the Gluttony Monarch’s body shattered instantly, but it still pushed forward with all its might. One claw reached through the air currents toward Kuska’s head.
Rip~
The flesh on the Gluttony Monarch’s arm was rapidly stripped away. The ground beneath it crumbled, and it could no longer hold its ground, flying backward.
The sound waves mixed with black-purple air currents continued to spread. Cracks quickly appeared on the surrounding stone walls.
After seven seconds, Kuska stopped roaring. The plant-formed head on his shoulder withered away.
The Gluttony Monarch lay in a pile of rubble. Its skeletal fingers twitched, and the next moment, it stood up.
Just as Kuska was about to finish off the Gluttony Monarch and sink back into his agonizing slumber, he suddenly sensed danger.
“Hm?”
Kuska looked toward the entrance of the greenhouse. He didn’t see anything, but he definitely felt a threat.
“Mogro, hold him off for 20 seconds.”
Su Xiao stepped out from behind the corner of the entrance, his right hand holding his blade, his left hand clutching an already activated Apollo. After a preliminary weighing of pros and cons, he decided to act. It was clearly impossible to just sit back and reap the benefits now. Against the Overlord-level creature Kuska, Mogro was getting utterly dominated.
Kuska squinted. He knocked his own head with his fist. The earlier ‘warm-up’ had cleared his mind a bit.
Undead cells surged. The bloodshot-eyed Gluttony Monarch, Mogro, stood up and charged toward Su Xiao.
“Have you lost your mind…”
Just as Su Xiao was about to toss the Apollo to Bubu Wang, the charging Mogro came to a sudden halt. It seemed to have regained some rationality and turned back to rush at Kuska.
Kuska didn’t even look at Mogro. His eyes were fixed on Su Xiao. The thing in the other man’s hand made him feel danger—extreme danger.