Chapter 22: Domination
The crystal layer shattered on Su Xiao's body surface. As soon as the old layer broke, a new crystal layer climbed onto his skin.
Boom!
After a dull thud, the scene before Su Xiao drastically changed. He was in a hall spanning over a thousand square meters, filled with stone pillars. At the innermost position stood a towering stone sculpture.
The sculpture was over ten meters tall. It wasn't in human form but consisted of spheres of various sizes connected together. On the base beneath the sculpture, a string of ancient text was carved.
'The world's guardian, we wish to bathe in your glory... Hughes Alexander (Divine Calendar Year 1157).'
Beside this string of ancient text, there was another line of small words written in blood.
'Mission is destiny.'
Next to this line of small words lay a skeleton. It was evident that this skeleton had been post-processed, looking like a collector's item.
Su Xiao's gaze swept around. Although he didn't see the Dominator, he already sensed its presence.
Space ripples spread like water patterns. A pitch-black, glossy monster appeared. It was generally humanoid, with an upper body resembling a human and a lower body formed by intertwined black tentacles. Some parts showed dark red, appearing tough and twisted.
Standing four meters tall, it exerted considerable pressure. However, the upper half of its head was slashed diagonally, and the severed half of its skull stuck to its shoulder. This was the Dominator.
"ROAR!!"
The Dominator roared in fury. Its gaping maw was filled with sharp teeth arranged in three rows, upper and lower. It understood human language but disdained to speak it—at least, that was the case with the Moon God.
Dark blue smoke enveloped Su Xiao. This was the most obvious characteristic when the Devouring Core was fully activated.
Aside from biological energy, the world appeared in black and white to Su Xiao's eyes. The Dominator showed a filthy black-red color, clearly inedible.
Su Xiao wasn't trying to determine if the Dominator could be devoured; he was confirming his current location. The special vision provided by the fully activated Devouring Core could penetrate space.
After observation, Su Xiao confirmed that he hadn't been teleported to another area but had been pulled into an alternate space. He spotted Amu and Baha nearby. As for Bubu Wang, since it had merged with the environment earlier without touching him, he couldn't see Bubu at all.
In a flash, Su Xiao disappeared from his spot. When he reappeared, a necklace was already wrapped around his hand. This consumption was somewhat extravagant. Since it was four against one, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't fight the Dominator alone.
Su Xiao's arms pierced into the space before him. With a tearing sound, he pulled Amu and Baha into the hall. To his surprise, Bubu Wang was lying on Amu's back.
They had been trying to track Su Xiao, which was why they stuck together. That was combat awareness.
Bang! The necklace wrapped around Su Xiao's hand exploded. The legendary-grade equipment [Space-Time Dominator] was destroyed. This piece of equipment with spatial properties had been forged by Lide.
Su Xiao was able to pull Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha in because of two reasons: first, the space-penetrating property of Dragon Shadow Flash, and second, he used the [Space-Time Dominator] equipment as a temporary coordinate.
Earlier, Su Xiao had felt that using Dragon Shadow Flash would kill him because he couldn't lock onto a penetration point. Forcibly penetrating space under such circumstances would only result in being crushed by multiple layers of space, ultimately leading to his death.
"Come on, one-on-one. Don't you like one-on-one fights? We three will take you on one at a time."
Baha, still a bit disoriented from the space penetration, started talking trash, intending to provoke the enemy into charging.
The Dominator didn't speak. Its hand gripped a twisted longsword embedded in the stone floor. This sword was two meters long with a thin, light blade. It was obvious at a glance that the sword was enchanted with properties like sharpness and speed.
The Apostle's Eye floated beside Su Xiao. When dealing with an enemy like the Dominator, he naturally wanted to gather as much intelligence as possible.
[Comparing both parties' intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Our intelligence attribute is 1.21 times that of the enemy. Due to being within the enemy's domain, only 72% of the enemy's data is obtained.]
Name: Dominator · Sothoth
Category: Ancient God
Health: 87% (Permanently reduced by 13%)
Divine Energy (Ancient): 36850/37520 points
Strength: 140 (True Attribute)
Agility: 152 (True Attribute)
Endurance: 139 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 105 (True Attribute)
Charm: 1
Skill 1, Lower Deity · Void (Passive, Lv.60): Health +9000 points. Immune to physical and mental control effects.
Skill 2, Domination (Passive, Lv.73): Dominator · Sothoth can freely traverse multiple spaces. When in combat, if energy fluctuations are intense, this ability's range is reduced.
Tip: If Dominator · Sothoth is within the Ancient God Temple, space traversal speed increases by 300% with no cost. When in combat, if energy fluctuations are intense, Dominator · Sothoth cannot traverse outside the Ancient God Temple.
Skill 3, Dark Birth (Active, Lv.60): Health +4500 points. Ignores spatial abilities, damage, etc.
Skill 4, Space-Slaying Slash (Passive, Lv.65): Each attack by Dominator · Sothoth deals 310 to 760 points of space-cutting damage. This damage ignores external armor.
Skill 5, Extremely Evil Deity (Passive, Lv.60): When Dominator · Sothoth wields "Twisted Malice," after a slash hits an enemy, it deals 16% of the enemy's maximum health + the slash damage + space-cutting damage.
???
Skill 7, Ancient God Combat Technique (Basic Technique-Type Ability, Lv.40): ???
???
Skill 10, Nameless Mist (Ultimate Ability): ???
Tip: This is an ability perfected by Dominator · Sothoth using humans as sacrifices.
...
After seeing Dominator · Sothoth's data, Su Xiao unhesitatingly took out [Holy Silver Dilution Solution] and poured the holy silver solution onto his longsword.
Dominator · Sothoth's physical attributes were only slightly stronger than the Moon God's, but if the two fought, Sothoth would definitely crush the Moon God. This guy's attack power was freakishly strong.
Unlimited high-speed spatial movement combined with formidable single-target attack power made Su Xiao suspect that he couldn't withstand three strikes from it.
"Amu, don't get one-shot by it. Bubu, find a chance to lay mines..."
Su Xiao spoke in a low voice. He was about to instruct Bubu Wang to act according to the situation when he noticed a trembling figure behind Amu.
"I-I-I-I, m-m-m-my dear friend, K-K-K-Kai..."
Kaisa, hiding behind Amu's leg, couldn't even speak properly. He had thought the danger was over and came out to check on Su Xiao's situation. But who knew the surrounding space would suddenly tremble? Panicking, Kaisa grabbed Amu's leg, and thus, tragedy struck.
"Kaisa, you're not lucky this time."
Su Xiao naturally didn't have the energy to take care of Kaisa. In fact, he was the Dominator · Sothoth's main target. The closer Kaisa was to him, the faster he would die.
Clang! Pfft~
Sparks flew. The stone slab under Su Xiao's feet cracked. At the same time, a terrifying wound was slashed on Amu's shoulder. Meanwhile, Dominator · Sothoth remained standing in its original spot.
In that instant, Dominator · Sothoth had suddenly appeared behind Su Xiao. At this critical moment, the Instinct ability played a decisive role. Su Xiao turned around to block Sothoth's sword. Sothoth immediately appeared behind Amu and struck directly.
"MOO!!"
Amu roared, shaking Kaisa, who staggered back with a grimace. Amu was furious.