Chapter 44: Glutton's Persistence
Lightning flashed, and rain poured down in torrents.
The storm at sea was terrifying. The curtain of rain nearly connected heaven and earth, with raindrops as large as beans pouring down, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.
Su Xiao stood at the bow of the Doom Number. Through the rain curtain, he saw the enemy below on the sea surface. This enemy came from Sanctuary Paradise and was named Glutton.
The reason he had delayed dealing with Glutton until now was that Glutton was too dangerous. The danger level of the Demon Sea World was in the upper-middle range of the Eighth Rank, still a bit short of the upper-tier difficulty, let alone the top echelon.
The difficulty ceiling of the Demon Sea World was most likely at the end of the Demon Sea, inside the great whirlpool.
Unless absolutely necessary, Su Xiao wouldn't go there. That meant the danger level of the Demon Sea was around Lv.73 to Lv.75, at the middle-lower level of the Eighth Rank. Clashing with the Four Great Pirates and the Empire forces kept the overall danger within that range.
The enemy before him was likely at the top echelon of the Eighth Rank in combat power. The level of danger was self-evident.
Through their previous clash, Su Xiao had discovered that Glutton was somewhat single-minded. In most cases, this type of stubborn fool died before the Fifth Rank. Only a small portion survived, but that small portion was extremely troublesome. These stubborn fools had fought their way up through sheer force—lacking intelligence, they made up for it with combat power.
In Su Xiao's view, Glutton's danger level was far higher than the West Sea King's. Even though the guy didn't seem very smart, he still had to be handled cautiously. The frontal assault capabilities of this type of stubborn fool were mysteriously formidable.
Several hundred meters from the Doom Number, Glutton stood on a wooden plank, drifting with the waves.
"Why... are all the people who travel with me dead?"
Glutton, clad in full-body armor, lowered his head. His relationship with Firefly wasn't actually that close, but this was a teammate he had finally managed to find!
Glutton had no bad habits. Sometimes he was taciturn, occasionally he had a bit of humor. He was 26 years old, unmarried, male. From the First Rank to the Eighth Rank, he had gone through a total of 72 worlds. His journey could be summed up in eight words: "Life and death are nothing; if you disagree, fight."
It could be said that Glutton was a very good teammate, with formidable combat power. From the First Rank, he had been used to teaming up with others to go through worlds, usually in small groups of 2 to 3 people.
Even so, Glutton had lost a total of 102 teammates. He was very hard on teammates, with an average consumption rate of about 1.3 to 1.4 teammates per world.
Please don't laugh. Glutton had never betrayed a teammate. His reputation had spread throughout Sanctuary Paradise. Even fanatical divine sticks were unwilling to team up with him. When a large Eighth-Rank divine stick team faced Glutton's request to join, they ultimately refused in a tactful manner.
Before entering the Demon Sea, Glutton had started looking for teammates again. He was used to teaming up. He had known for a long time that he wasn't very smart and needed a smart teammate.
After searching for a long time, he finally met Firefly. From the first contact, Glutton had noticed that Firefly's motives weren't pure, but that didn't matter. He could kill Firefly in an instant. He only needed the other's relatively smart mind.
Things didn't go as planned. Firefly died. Counting Firefly, Glutton had lost 103 teammates. That was almost enough to form a medium-sized adventure group. This left Glutton both frustrated and stunned. How did his teammate die again?
Thinking about this, Glutton's mood was a bit low. He missed someone. That teammate had gone through three Fifth-Rank Primordial Worlds with him. The other called himself Shenfu. It had been a long time since they last met. He had heard that the other was still stuck at the Seventh Rank, which confused Glutton. He was already at the top echelon of the Eighth Rank, yet the other was still at the Seventh Rank. The specifics, Glutton didn't know, and he couldn't figure out why.
Glutton still remembered Shenfu's words before they parted: "Glutton, I'm already old. Go find someone else to travel with."
Glutton felt that Shenfu looked a bit haggard. He had tried to persuade him to stay for a long time, but Shenfu still left. For that, Glutton was depressed for a long time.
"Bai Ye of Reincarnation Paradise, you will pay for my teammate's life."
A scroll appeared in Glutton's hand. If anyone else had said this, it would have given off a vengeful, ruthless feeling. But coming from Glutton's mouth, it always felt a bit strange.
A black shadow rushed out from the sea surface and merged into Glutton's body. He didn't dodge or avoid it, letting the shadow-like cursed person invade his body.
The shadow had just entered Glutton's body when, in the next instant, it was sent flying back. The cursed person, mid-air, began to transform back into a physical form. Its entire body was covered in cracks, like shattered porcelain.
Glutton crushed the scroll in his hand. A cold mist spread out, and the chill extended across the sea surface. The surrounding two-kilometer-diameter sea area quickly froze. The ice surface was uneven, and the rolling waves were frozen into curved shapes.
The sea was sealed in ice. Entering the Demon Sea World, no matter how stubborn a fool Glutton was, he would prepare some items for sea combat. He was very self-aware of his combat ability in the water.
Glutton stood on the ice surface. His right arm raised, and a nearly 2.5-meter-long spike spear appeared, grasped in his hand. The structure of this spike spear was simple. The front half was like a cone, covered in spiral patterns. The back half, the handle, was iron-black.
With a clang, Glutton pointed the tip of his spike spear forward.
Glutton's visor opened. An Epic-level bracer appeared in his hand. He bit off a large chunk of it, like eating a cookie.
In at most five bites, Glutton had finished off the Holy Spirit-level bracer in his hand. From the look of it, he was clearly still craving more.
A domain with a diameter of 500 meters appeared. This domain only appeared for an instant before fading away. Judging from the fluctuations around Glutton, this unknown domain was still active.
Dozens of black shadows emerged from the surrounding ice surface. Nearly a hundred cursed people regained their physical forms. These cursed people held various weapons, their clothes tattered. Their eyes, completely black without any whites, sent chills down one's spine.
"Come."
Glutton's eyes under his helmet scanned the surroundings. His armor didn't look bulky; it was almost skin-tight. The chest area had rib-like decorations. The armor on his arms and shoulders consisted of precise armor plates that didn't affect the flexibility of his joints.
Behind Glutton, Ghost Shadow tried to enter a water-stealth state but found that it couldn't stealth in the water anymore.
It wasn't just Ghost Shadow. Amangsi was the same. The illusory gray flames that had been burning on his rapier disappeared after Glutton's domain enveloped them.
Many cursed people found that they couldn't use their respective signature abilities anymore.
"Boss, this stubborn fool is pretty fierce."
Baha, who had landed on the bow, spoke. It could no longer teleport through space. A certain fluctuation was suppressing its ability to use active-type skills.
[Tip: You have endured the suppression effect of the 'Silence Domain.' Within this domain, you cannot use combat-type active skills.]
[Judging...]
[Blood Qi Release (Active Skill) temporarily unavailable.]
[Azure Steel Shadow (Active Skill) usable. This is a high-rank exemption.]
[Azure Shadow King (Ultimate Skill) usable. This is a high-rank exemption.]
[No other combat-type active skills detected for the Hunter.]
[All active abilities attached to equipment below Immortal Rank are temporarily unusable.]
...
Su Xiao felt the changes in himself. It seemed... he wasn't affected much. Apart from the Blood Qi Release ability, none of his other abilities were affected. Currently, the level of the 'Blood Qi Release' ability was only Lv.16, so being suppressed was normal.
For most Eighth-Rank Contractors, fighting Glutton was a complete nightmare. A whole bunch of abilities were sealed off. If the inherited power or inherited profession wasn't high enough in rank, they could only toss around items and then engage in close combat with Glutton. Magic-type users had it the worst, having to charge at Glutton holding their staffs.
Judging from Glutton's full set of Immortal-rank armor and the nearly 2.5-meter-long spike spear in his hand, he was definitely a ruthless close-combat fighter. With extremely strong survivability, his attack power wouldn't be weak either. His only weakness was speed.
In reality, Glutton's abilities were simple: Silence Domain + Damage Reflection + the Shatter effect of weapon enhancement. This Shatter effect was the enhancement effect of the Technique-type ability: Heavy Spear.