# Chapter 35: Self-Isolation +1
Inside the thick fog, Su Xiao pressed forward with one hand, and a door formed by mist appeared — this was the Dream Door.
The Dream Door opened, and Su Xiao stepped inside. Baha on his shoulder flew up; Baha couldn't leave the dream world yet, and everything afterward would be handled by him.
Entering the Dream Door, everything around became ethereal. When the mist dissipated, Su Xiao had returned to Snake Lady's wooden cabin. It was warm and dry here, making one feel extremely comfortable.
Su Xiao sat on a chair and removed his upper body clothing, revealing extensive burn wounds. Earlier, while in his Space Penetration state, a sudden surge of Solar Flame had burned through space, scorching most of his upper body.
This injury wasn't accidental. Su Xiao had long wanted to test whether, with multiple spatial penetrations, he could withstand the explosion range of Apollo. The result now showed it was completely impossible.
Su Xiao didn't choose to drink [Vitality Essence] — too wasteful. He took out a box of ointment and began applying it to his burn wounds.
After a moment, Su Xiao tossed the ointment to Yue Ling, indicating she should apply it to the burns on his back.
Yue Ling took the ointment, scooped some with her index finger, then put her finger in her mouth, looking very happy. Delicious! It had a minty taste, and a cool breeze went down her throat~
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Yue Ling. She shrank back and began helping Su Xiao apply the ointment.
In Yue Ling's understanding, every inch of the burn needed ointment. After coating her finger, she used that slender, jade-like finger to poke into the cracked burns on Su Xiao's back, trying to reach every inch inside the cracks.
After a moment, Yue Ling stood in the corner facing the wall as punishment, a large bump on her forehead. Snake Lady was behind Su Xiao, gently applying the ointment.
Su Xiao took out a projection device and cast the image onto the wall — this was real-time footage relayed from Baha.
The projected image showed a high-altitude perspective. Below, a circular flame zone could be seen. The Solar Flame had extinguished, leaving magma and sparks everywhere.
After throwing the first Apollo, they needed to let the Great Sage and those beast tribes settle down. Estimated time before releasing the Devourer: 20 minutes.
"Where is this? Looks familiar."
Snake Lady looked at the projection on the wall. Soon, she recognized it — wasn't this the dream world!
"You people... are truly ruthless."
Snake Lady's heart was stirred with waves. She leaned toward the lawful camp, and more importantly, she recognized many of the beast tribes in the dream world. What made her empathize even more was that she was also a member of the "beasts."
After waiting about twenty minutes, Su Xiao took out a communicator. Static crackled from it — the signal wasn't great.
"Release the Devourer."
"Understood."
Baha's relayed perspective quickly dove down.
In the dream world, on the second floor of a pointed building, a beast tribe member sat in the corner. This was by the Great Sage's order — all beast tribes were to scatter, lest the enemy drop another "sun" and cause massive casualties.
This beast tribe member named Shuo Wu had sobered up somewhat. He both hated and feared the Great Sage. That line from before — "Do you want to obtain eternal life?" — had successfully attracted Shuo Wu. But after arriving in the dream world, he discovered the price of immortality was steep.
Just as Shuo Wu fantasized about how to replace the Great Sage, become the Dream King, and do wonderful things with female tribe members, a mass of black-green semi-fluid spread to his vicinity, silently touching his clothing. Characteristic one of the Devourer: before entering the growth stage, it has stealth capabilities.
Beast tribe member Shuo Wu tapped his head with his finger. When bored, one needed to find something to do, lest they "deep dive" into the dreamscape — that spiritual/soul world, dark, cold, cramped, where dream monsters were encountered. Those were unkillable monsters that could endlessly resurrect, eventually devouring the consciousness that entered there.
Beast tribe member Shuo Wu tapped his head again with his finger. He found that his fingertip and head were actually stretching apart. He looked at his finger — a section was missing.
"Huh? Did I deep dive?"
Beast tribe member Shuo Wu looked around. He held his breath. After a moment, a slight suffocating sensation appeared — this meant he hadn't "deep dived."
Confirming this, Shuo Wu stood up. If not "deep diving," then it was an enemy attack.
"Enem—"
Shuo Wu had barely shouted one word when black tendrils surged into his mouth, wrapping his entire head, not exposing a single hair or patch of skin.
Shuo Wu began struggling in pain. He pulled the black tendrils from his head, trying to shout again, but no sound came out. After 10 seconds, he fell with a thud. Surging black tendrils wrapped his entire body.
After a few minutes, the black tendrils on Shuo Wu's surface all receded. He stood up from the ground in a very strange posture — his waist bent, his face almost touching the ground as he sniffed something.
As if finding a target, Shuo Wu — no, the Devourer — came to the window, fell headfirst, and landed mid-air. His head split apart, becoming legs, while his legs merged together, becoming a head.
The Devourer had no fixed form. It could transform into almost any creature it devoured, but one thing remained unchanged — its aura.
The Devourer moved forward, its body swaying widely left and right. Its gait looked utterly infuriating.
"Lord Sage has ordered: no moving about."
Several beast tribe members emerged from the building ahead. The Devourer smiled, its mouth splitting all the way to its neck.
"Enemy."
The beast tribe member who spoke vanished from his spot, appearing before the Devourer. A side punch smashed the Devourer to pieces.
1 minute later, the Devourer crouched on the ground. Those several beast tribe members had vanished, not even a drop of blood left behind.
5 minutes later, the Devourer stood at the neck of a building, black tendrils hanging from its entire body.
12 minutes later, the Devourer hid in the darkness. The black tendrils all over its body were detaching, sinking into the ground. These tendrils went hunting for prey.
One by one, beast tribe members with dazed expressions walked over from the surroundings. Their steps were eerie, their eyes pitch black, with dark green centers in their pupils.
These beast tribe members came near the Devourer, their bodies turning into black semi-fluid, merging into the Devourer's body. Using this newly obtained life force, the Devourer produced more black tendrils to hunt in its place.
The Devourer's hunting wasn't actually very covert, but earlier, the Great Sage had ordered all beast tribes in the dream world to scatter, lest they be bombed by Apollo again.
This facilitated the Devourer's hunting. Its characteristic was: if killed initially, nothing happened. But if it couldn't be killed, trouble ensued.
After the Devourer hunted a certain amount of life force, black tendrils would split from its main body. Each black tendril was a perception-shielding hunting tool. If an enemy touched these black tendrils, there was a high probability of being assimilated, becoming a Devourer sub-body.
The sub-body would immediately return near the main body, be absorbed by the Devourer's main body. With life force, the main body could split more black tendrils for wider hunting, snowballing.
Time passed minute by minute. Half an hour later, beast tribe members walked the streets with strange steps, heading toward the Devourer's location. Any beast tribe member who discovered these sub-bodies, before they could shout, black tendrils swarmed from nearby, wrapping, assimilating, and joining the main force.
First use Apollo to scatter the enemy, giving the Devourer a chance to grow. Then release the Devourer. Once it formed into a giant creature and rampaged, the enemy could only surround and attack. Fewer numbers meant letting the Devourer continue growing.
Once a large number of enemies surrounded the Devourer, there was a surprise — throwing Hades to burn.
Although the Nether Flame's power wasn't as strong as Apollo, once it spread, its area was much larger than Apollo's. With the Devourer as cover, extinguishing Hades in its initial state was nearly impossible.
Compared to researching Apollo, Su Xiao had invested much less in Hades. But his current alchemy level was far beyond before.
Apollo + Devourer + Hades — this was the team annihilation package.
More and more Devourer sub-bodies filled the streets, eventually discovered by the beast tribes. A hoarse roar rang out.
"Enemy attack!"
One loud roar broke the silence of the dream world. And it was this roar that made the Devourer show its ferocious side.
Black semi-fluid converged toward the Devourer. It transformed into a pitch-black monster over 30 meters tall, somewhat similar in form to the beast tribes.
"ROAR!!"
The Devourer roared, layers of sound waves spreading, shattering buildings within half a kilometer. Eyes appeared all over its upper body, continuously emitting black lasers from these eyes.
Zzzzz!
The beast tribes charging from nearby, before understanding what was happening, were hit by the black lasers. Parts of their bodies dissolved into black semi-fluid, surging toward the Devourer.
The Devourer leaped up, its hand piercing the central clock tower, swinging on it, flying toward the Grand Cathedral.
The Great Sage, who had just received the bad news, was still at the Grand Cathedral's entrance. Looking at the distant Devourer, the hand holding the wooden staff trembled slightly — from anger. The beast tribes it had accumulated in the dream world had inexplicably lost nearly half.
"Lord Sage, please give orders."
Four beast tribe members of varying forms knelt on one knee before the Great Sage. These four were no ordinary beast tribe members — they were the capable subordinates the Great Sage had selected.
The Great Sage watched the rapidly approaching Devourer and finally ordered the beast tribes to split into multiple groups, continuously attacking in waves. They couldn't all rush together, lest they be bombed by the sun.
After this order was conveyed, the Great Sage was "delighted" to discover that attacking the Devourer in waves had no effect. Instead, it allowed the enemy to devour many beast tribe members, making it stronger.
The Great Sage had a headache. Attacking in waves didn't work, surrounding didn't work either. Even sending all four capable subordinates forward couldn't stop that black mud monster — unless it personally intervened.
The Great Sage pondered for a long time and decided not to act. Its special ability had been accumulating for 319 years, prepared for the Ancient God. After one strike, all previous accumulation would be consumed. This was the Great Sage — either hide until the end of time, or strike with heaven-shaking, earth-shattering force.
Unfortunately, the Devourer was too ferocious. Helpless, the Great Sage ordered all beast tribes who had stayed in the dream world for over a hundred years to surround and attack the Devourer.
Within the battle group.
Boom!
The Devourer's giant claw slammed the ground. Black earth spikes appeared all around, piercing many beast tribe members. They wailed endlessly. This wasn't the end — the Devourer's massive body exploded, black semi-fluid splattering everywhere.
"Ah!"
A beast tribe member clawed at their own body. A few seconds later, they collapsed, their body rapidly turning into semi-fluid.
The Devourer, which had just exploded, gathered together again. Its body was a size larger. It roared to the sky. Now it had only one spiritual fluctuation — endless hunger.
Compared to the surrounding beast tribes, the Devourer had stronger hostility toward Baha above. After all, Baha had once stuffed the Devourer into a centrifuge and spun it for a long time.
The siege below continued for nearly two hours without any sign of subsiding. Because no more sun fell from the sky, the beast tribes' attacks grew bolder, barely suppressing the Devourer.
How many casualties? Only the Great Sage knew. From before until now, roughly estimated, the beast tribes had lost a total of 32,600 members. One could only say the Great Sage was truly stable and truly able to endure.
"Almost done. Little Black is reaching its limit."
Baha looked down from above. It decided not to provoke another Devourer — this thing held grudges.
Baha dropped a glass column as thick as an arm. The Devourer below leaped high, swallowing the glass column in one gulp. The surface of this thing was coated with a high-concentration life-characteristic solution, strongly attractive to the Devourer.
The Devourer landed. Its body began to expand. The Devourer was so strong for a reason — relatively harsh growth conditions, plus its indiscriminate nature, and a maximum existence time of 3 hours. These sacrifices exchanged for the Devourer's power.
The Devourer's body grew wildly. In the distance, seeing this scene, the Great Sage felt a sense of foreboding.
Bang!
The Devourer exploded. Dark green Nether Flame splattered everywhere. With the Devourer as fuel, [Nether Flame: Hades] actually began to detonate.
The Nether Flame spread at a terrifying speed. Buildings, earth, flesh, even steel — all were fuel.
Burning, endless burning. A few minutes later, most of the dream world was burning with Nether Flame.
Back in the wooden cabin, Snake Lady watched the projection on the wall. The sounds of burning and screams entered her ears. Even without being in the dream world, she seemed to smell the burnt odor.
Snake Lady shifted her gaze, looking at Su Xiao's back as he sat on the wooden chair. At this moment, she felt Su Xiao was more terrifying than the Ancient Gods.
The burning in the dream world continued for a long time before subsiding. Su Xiao picked up the communicator.
"Baha, drop another Apollo."
"Boss, seems unnecessary."
The image Baha relayed began to shift. At some point, the Great Sage at the church entrance had disappeared. The remaining area was also silent.
Seeing this, Su Xiao felt somewhat surprised. The dream world was very important to the Great Sage. Most of the beast tribes there couldn't leave — this was the Great Sage's cage imprisoning the beast tribes. The Great Sage hiding here was clearly accumulating something or waiting for something.
When beast tribes returned to the outside world, the accelerated time wasn't simply "stay 20 years inside, age 20 years outside." The 20-year time lapse appearing instantly would bring many malignant consequences.
In Su Xiao's estimation, the Great Sage would likely fight to the death here.
But the expected situation didn't occur. The Great Sage was beaten away, not even wanting its old nest. Following the Kodo School, the Great Sage was also beaten into self-isolation by Su Xiao.
PS: (Updated late. This chapter is a 4000-word chapter. Don't laugh — I'm a slow writer. 4000 words really is a big chapter for me.)