Chapter 49: The Last Hope
At the front section of the passage, a group of heavily armored Aberrant Beasts were pursuing Amu. Amu was covered in blood. Su Xiao had set up a contingency earlier—when Amu couldn't hold on, Beini would rescue it and teleport it away for an hour.
While sprinting, Amu glanced at the communicator in its hand. Baha was in danger on its side too, so it couldn't let Beini assist it just yet.
Dong~
A wave of earthy yellow shockwave struck. The Black Iron Shock Bell on Amu shattered, having absorbed too much impact. This life-saving item could no longer hold out.
"Found another one."
A Fission Aberrant blocked Amu's path. This Fission Aberrant was thin and frail, half a meter shorter than the others, but in its hand, it held half a corpse—the body of Widow West.
Without a doubt, this was a Commander.
This Fission Aberrant was named Manso, the strongest among the Commanders. He was on a completely different tier from the others. If Crimson Tasha faced him, she would die within ten minutes.
Tap, tap, tap~
Footsteps sounded. A chubby young man in a biker outfit with a pineapple-shaped hairstyle walked over. His hands were in his pockets, his feet clad in spiked shoes, and a small metal scissors hung from his right ear.
A faint smile played on the chubby man's face. His narrowed eyes studied Commander Manso with interest. He hadn't come to reinforce Amu but to rescue Widow West—unfortunately, he was too late.
"Heh."
The chubby man stopped. Seeing him, the ease in Commander Manso's eyes vanished. This human—no, this might not be human—was, in any case, very difficult to deal with.
Under Commander Manso's gaze, the chubby man grabbed his own throat with one hand and tore it open. Blood splattered.
Black fluid surged from the chubby man's neck. That was how his Black Demon worked—either instant death on the spot, or a meteoric rise to power.
...
Inside the passage, spatial fluctuations came from behind. Baha was locked in combat with Crimson Tasha.
After advancing a dozen meters, Su Xiao stopped. A wall of mist blocked his path.
The mist wall churned. It had stopped countless strong beings who came to kill the Aberrant King. The Half-Beastman Teld had nearly fallen here. Before him, many human and orcish powerhouses had reached this place, only to be blocked by this mist wall.
Theoretically, given this world's rank, no one could break through this mist wall—including the Aberrant King himself. The moment he became King, he lost his freedom for the sake of his race. He was the King; he could not die. Until a new King emerged, his death would have severe consequences, potentially leading to the entire race's extinction.
Su Xiao had seen many kings before. A mortal ruler governing a transcendent empire. The Black King, willing to endure the erosion of Dead Silence Force for his people. A free-spirited, martial-obsessed king who single-handedly held off an invading army at the border, only to die in obscurity.
And now, behind this mist wall, was a king in captivity—one who had given up all pleasures, even freedom, for the continuation of his race. The Aberrant Beasts' strength was not without reason.
At the end of the day, it was just a difference in standpoint. Su Xiao never saw himself as someone saving the world. He was here to take something—the World Core.
Su Xiao took out a mass of flowing lifeform from his bosom. This was a Wandering Spirit, a small creature that only appeared on the Sith Star.
Sensing the mist wall, the Wandering Spirit in Su Xiao's hand became active, its water-like body undulating.
"White Night, sorry. We're blocked by two Aberrant Commanders. If we're not all killed, we'll come reinforce you."
The Dean's voice came through the wireless earpiece.
"I've arrived."
"Hahaha, you really are as strong as a monster. I'll come over—assuming I'm not dead."
Loni's voice came through the wireless earpiece.
"It's all up to you, White Night. To use you young people's words, you're the hope of the whole village now."
The Dean's side was chaotic. They had encountered two Commanders in the ancient hall. Things weren't looking good.
Su Xiao removed the wireless earpiece from his ear, dropped it to the ground, and crushed it underfoot. Then he tossed the Wandering Spirit in his hand toward the mist wall.
Plop~
The Wandering Spirit spread across the mist wall, beginning to erode the flowing mist.
Within seconds, the mist wall was corroded into a hole. Su Xiao walked into the thinning mist, Bubu Wang following close behind.
The mist gradually faded, and the scene before Su Xiao became clear. This was a room of about several hundred square meters, over twenty meters high. Flowing mist churned on the conical ceiling.
The stone floor was rough, heavily eroded by time. There were no ornate decorations here, giving it a somewhat empty feel.
At the innermost position stood a tall throne, formed from a reddish-brown biological tissue. Several arm-thick conduits were connected above it.
The other ends of the conduits were embedded into the back of a figure. It hung its head, its form similar to a human's, its body inlaid with gray-black armor plates. Its lower half was obscured by hanging conduits, each about finger-thick and covered in fine black armor scales.
This was the Aberrant King. Sensing Su Xiao's arrival, the Aberrant King slowly raised its head. Its golden-black radial pupils regained focus—calm, indifferent, yet powerful.
[Comparing intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Only 42% of enemy data obtained.]
Name: Aberrant King · ???
Category: Aberrant Beast
Health: 100%
Ancient Force: 73,500/73,500 points
Strength: 150 (True Attribute, breaking extreme limit)
Agility: 161 (True Attribute, extreme limit broken, half-sealed, can be unsealed)
Endurance: 149 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: ???
Charm: 1 (This attribute is sealed. Upon leaving life-support state, it will increase to 150 points.)
Skill 1, Power Inheritance (Passive, Lv.81): The Aberrant King's power can be inherited by the new King. 37 generations accumulated.
Note: Originally 283 generations of inheritance, interrupted during the Sith Star migration.
Note: This ability is pending activation. Upon activation, the True Agility attribute will be unsealed.
Activation Condition: ???
Skill 2, Mental Pressure (Passive, Lv.75): The Aberrant King can manipulate a small portion of existing matter through mental power.
Skill 3, Aberrant King (Passive, Lv.72): Health +83,000 points. Ignores all control effects of seventh rank or below. Immune to poison and fire damage.
Skill 4, Soul · Strangle (Active, Lv.68): Concentrates the consciousness of 37 generations of Aberrant Kings, dealing a fatal impact to the enemy's soul. Deals 30% of the enemy's maximum health as True Damage per second. Impact lasts 4 seconds.
Skill 5, Cohesion · Dispersion: ???
Skill 6, ???
Skill 7, ???
???
Skill 12, ???
Skill 13, ???
...
Su Xiao had expected the Aberrant King to be strong, but not to this extent. The power of the Aberrant Kings was passed down through generations, accumulating and growing stronger.
In other words, Su Xiao wasn't just fighting the current Aberrant King—the power of all previous Aberrant Kings was also within this one.
The Half-Beastman Teld had always believed that the mist wall was the only reason he couldn't kill the Aberrant King.
Now it was clear that wasn't the case at all. Without the mist wall, the Aberrant King could have sent Teld flying from "Worthington City" all the way back to the Sunlight Preaching Grounds. The two sides weren't even on the same level of combat power. Even if everyone from the Sunlight Preaching Grounds came, they'd just be feeding themselves to the enemy.
The Aberrant King's radial pupils fixed on Su Xiao. The six black conduits on its back detached. It slowly raised its arm, then pressed down.
Dong!!
A thunderous roar erupted. The ground around Su Xiao cracked and caved in with a series of pops. The Aberrant King said nothing—clearly the type that, once hostile, wasted no words.
The Aberrant King's hand clenched. With a boom, in an instant, rubble enveloped Su Xiao. Initially, the stone ball was ten meters in diameter, but within two seconds, it was compressed to the size of a marble, its entire surface taking on a black crystalline texture.
Su Xiao hung in midair, the Realm Severing Thread extending from his sleeve to the ceiling. If he had been caught by that attack, he would have been dead or severely wounded.