Chapter 66: Brutal
The cave was spacious, enough to accommodate everyone for a decisive battle. The group stood at the edge of the cavern, which still felt somewhat empty. The fallen deity at the center filled that emptiness.
"ROAR!!"
The fallen deity let out a roar, fully awakened now. To say that the fallen deity was a completely mindless existence wasn't entirely accurate.
The malice accumulated over so many years had formed a relatively simple consciousness within this shell. At this moment, that consciousness had only one thought: to kill every living thing in sight.
Dragon Scale·Alex turned into a blur, breaking through layers of sonic booms as he charged toward the fallen deity, aiming straight for its chest.
With a thunderous crash, Alex's scaled claw struck the center of the fallen deity's chest, intending to pierce through the withered flesh encasing it, shatter the bones beneath, and destroy the heart core inside.
It was like a supersonic biological fighter jet slamming into the fallen deity's chest, but its body only leaned back slightly. It looked down at Alex, whose hand was still embedded in its chest.
With a cracking sound, the scales and fingers on Alex's right hand shattered. His hand was a bloody mess, revealing half-broken finger bones with blood vessels still visible.
The fallen deity's massive claw swept through the air, leaving a trail of fire, and grabbed Alex in one hand.
"Damn it."
Guang Mu, standing dozens of meters away, saw this happen. A curved white energy line connected her to Alex, one end in her palm, the other piercing into Alex's back.
This was the "Wild Growth" ability. Under normal circumstances, this ability would cause the target's life force to overflow. But not now. After enduring the subsequent attack, Alex would be lucky to survive—there was no way his life force would overflow.
Boom!
Orange-yellow flames exploded in the fallen deity's hand. Alex, clenched in its grip, gritted his teeth and didn't let out a single cry of pain. His health instantly dropped to 1.5%, triggering a life-saving item.
The next instant, Alex's health recovered at an insane rate of 35% per second. His charred body began to shed scales, regenerating new flesh and dragon scales.
Alex was somewhat stunned. From the first rank to the eighth, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation. The enemy wasn't just capable of instantly killing him—it could kill him, a strength-type contractor, several times over. Without that life-saving item, he would have already died.
In fact, without Guang Mu's follow-up treatment, even with the life-saving item, Alex would have died from the internal burning that followed.
During Alex's ordeal, the contractors' various attacks rained down on the fallen deity. They had some effect, but very little.
Abilities that could normally severely wound an eighth-rank enemy now only left marks on the fallen deity's surface.
Under the combined assault of over a hundred contractors, the fallen deity's health dropped by 5.72%, less than what it recovered in two seconds. It was utterly hopeless.
Guang Mu wanted to try using her poison-healing ability to kill the fallen deity, but considering that the fallen deity was completely invincible during that time, she gave up. While the enemy was being poisoned, it would be in a state of super armor + invincibility + explosive life recovery.
The fallen deity failed to kill Alex with one blow. Just as everyone thought Alex had narrowly escaped death, the fallen deity raised its arm and slammed Alex toward the ground.
'Blade Path Sword: Flow.'
Clang!
A graceful wind scar cut through, precisely striking the gap between the fallen deity's right arm bone and shoulder blade.
"Die!"
Tian Cheng, leaping high, punched down. Her small fist slammed into the fallen deity's shoulder. A loud boom and shockwave spread simultaneously, causing the fallen deity's body to tilt slightly. Alex, still in its claw, managed to break free.
"Heh."
Having saved a temporary teammate, Tian Cheng's small face showed a hint of pride. The next moment, a whistling sound came from in front of her. A massive claw, wreathed in flames, swung toward her.
Bang!
Tian Cheng vanished midair, embedded into the rock wall behind her, leaving only a human-shaped hole with traces of blood at its edges.
The initial exchange barely held, and then it turned into a siege.
"Chop this monster to pieces!"
"Don't be afraid! The captain is right beside us!"
Elite pirates shouted, belonging to Duke and Empress. Duke's height had now reached over three meters, his body covered in silver-gray fur, half-man, half-wolf.
Empress stood dozens of meters away, holding a long flintlock pistol made of bone, covered in blood-red patterns.
Not only the elite pirates but all the cursed people also charged forward, joining the fray.
The pirates and cursed people were mostly melee fighters, at most firing a shot while running to boost morale.
In an instant, the fallen deity was overwhelmed by a human wave. Since the cursed people's attacks all carried true damage, the fallen deity's health began to drop rapidly. The withered flesh on its legs was slashed into countless fine wounds and marks.
Attacks from all sides fell on the fallen deity without pause. A magic-type contractor held his staff, but the ray that could usually pierce through enemies instantly now felt like squirting water at the enemy with a water gun.
This magic-type contractor began to doubt his life. He checked his immortal-rank staff several times to make sure he hadn't grabbed the wrong weapon. It was the 1260-rated immortal-rank staff he had recently bought.
In the chaos, the fallen deity's endurance against attacks was astonishing. The heavy blows from Dragon Scale·Alex and Tian Cheng had only made its body sway slightly.
Now, facing attacks from the surrounding cursed people and pirates, the fallen deity still stood firm. Its massive claw slammed down, unleashing the "Earth Vein Flame Burst" ability.
Boom!
The rocky ground cracked extensively, and a shockwave spread, sending many pirates and cursed people flying.
The flames on the fallen deity's right arm vanished, all flowing into the ground through its palm. The cracks in the rock around its hand turned red-hot, and magma even seeped out of the spiderweb-like fissures.
The flames were injected into the earth vein. The fallen deity's right claw seemed stuck to the ground by the flames. It pulled its arm with full force, and the contact point between its palm and the ground made a popping sound, like a suction cup, pulling the flames out of the earth vein.
Whoosh!
A ring of fire spread outward. The scorching heat made everyone instinctively want to close their eyes to avoid burning their corneas.
As the fire ring expanded, nearly a hundred pirates nearby were burned to death. They screamed and rolled on the ground, while others turned into charred skeletons midair. Due to the intense impact, these skeletons quickly turned into gray ash.
The fallen deity's "Earth Vein Flame Burst" ability—no, this suction-cup fist technique—was terrifyingly powerful. But even more horrifying was yet to come.
The fallen deity gathered flames on both hands. It first slammed its right hand on the ground, then pulled back. The fire ring from the suction-cup technique spread, but due to the short charge time, it only expanded less than ten meters.
Don't think this attack was weak. Its massive left hand immediately slammed down, and the next instant, another fire ring spread.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
The fallen deity, in a crawling posture, continuously slammed its hands on the ground, advancing forward, unleashing a relentless series of suction-cup fist techniques.
"Is this... a nightmare?"
An elite pirate looked up at the approaching fallen deity and gave up. He felt this was punishment from the gods for all the evil he had done—the cries and pleas of innocent women in alleys, his own eerie laughter, or the commoners kneeling before him while he chopped off their children's heads.
Thinking of this, the pirate let go of his cutlass and fell to his knees with a thud. At that moment, he chose to repent.
Boom!
The fallen deity slammed its claw down, crushing the kneeling pirate into pieces, scattering black ash everywhere.
Compared to others, Alex was the most unfortunate. For some reason, the fallen deity had fixated on him, chasing him and continuously slamming down. The fire rings from the suction-cup technique kept expanding, making Alex feel like a small boat in a sea of flames, about to be swallowed at any moment.
"Why is it chasing ME?!"
Alex, acting as the tank, didn't know that his journey of suffering had only just begun. The fallen deity had three stages of forms, and this was only the first stage.