Chapter 88: Death Blossom
On the central rock platform of Mount Athos, the venue over 1,000 meters in diameter appeared spacious, but the surroundings were densely packed with numerous withered trees, each over 30 meters tall. Their dried branches intertwined into an impenetrable thicket.
Viewed from above, these trees formed a ring-shaped, solid wooden wall around the rock platform, making the area no longer feel empty. At this moment, this was the battleground for the decisive battle.
Boom.
Blood energy clashed with gold-black aura, each occupying half the venue, eroding each other and pressing against the surrounding ring-shaped tree wall, causing cracking sounds.
A golden lightning bolt struck down, hitting a withered branch at the top of the tree wall. It was unclear what kind of tree this was, but even after withering, it was immune to the golden lightning. Additionally, since wood is non-conductive, the golden lightning lingered on it before dissipating over time.
Su Xiao stood within the blood energy. The clash of auras made him constantly feel as if a barrier was pressing toward him from the front. If his aura retreated even slightly, he would be suppressed by the enemy's aura, losing the initiative and being dominated throughout the entire battle.
A hundred meters away, Kingsley stood before the pillar of blazing sun. His slicked-back hairstyle remained intact, but the spark in his eyes had faded. In his pupils, golden threadworms swam in circular patterns.
With a tearing sound, the fabric on Kingsley's back shoulders split, and black tendrils as thick as little fingers emerged. These tendrils had slender tips, each over 5 meters long, covered in fine black scales. They writhed with obvious power.
Notably, tendrils and tentacles are fundamentally different. The former often appear on insects or exotic beasts, while the latter are mostly found on marine creatures. As for black tentacles, they were highly iconic, likely related to an Ancient God.
After a mass of tendrils burst from Kingsley's back shoulders, these 5-meter-long tendrils began to coil around him, wrapping his head, torso, legs, and even his fingers.
In an instant, Kingsley was tightly bound. His transformation continued. Between the gaps of these densely coiled tendrils, dark red flesh buds grew wildly. Moreover, a simple yet naturally formed skeleton rapidly took shape.
The dark red flesh buds climbed and grew along the skeleton. By now, Kingsley was nowhere to be seen; he was encased at the very center.
"Roar."
A humanoid monster about 4 meters tall appeared. On its left arm, there were sparse, withered yet flowing "hairs." Upon closer inspection, these were actually disguised threadworms.
The monster Su Xiao now faced was the battle form of the Supreme Insect. The Supreme Insect's style seemed similar to the Demon Insect Race, but it was fundamentally different—they were not of the same system.
Everything the Demon Insect Race did was for the sake of the entire race, whereas the Supreme Insect aimed for its own evolution. Splitting off offspring was more like using a tool or weapon. Its ultimate goal was to strengthen itself and evolve to the highest level.
This also meant one thing: the Supreme Insect itself was very powerful. Otherwise, it wouldn't have had the qualifications to fight head-on with the Moon Wolf back then.
More crucially, the Supreme Insect was highly adept at combat. It had devoured many worlds entirely. In that process, the various strong beings of those worlds naturally sought it out, trying to defeat and kill it.
Crack!
Another golden lightning bolt struck, hitting the stone disc a hundred meters above Su Xiao and the Supreme Insect. The disc shattered on impact, and debris scattered like blossoms in all directions.
The Supreme Insect merely glanced up and then ignored it. It couldn't control that golden lightning, but it was certain that the lightning would never strike it.
Bang!
The weapon in the Supreme Insect's hand struck the ground. This weapon had a peculiar shape. At first glance, it looked like an oversized chicken leg, about 3 meters in total length. Upon closer inspection, it was composed of biological tissue, metal, and threadworms. The exterior was covered in fresh red flesh with bumps all over, while the outer edge featured a ring of blade edges, both thick and sharp.
In short, being struck by this weapon, which resembled a heavy recurve blade, would not only cause severe slashing damage but also blunt force trauma due to its weight, along with a knockback effect.
Thinking that was all? Of course not. This weapon, named "Hatred," had threadworms parasitizing inside. If wounded by "Hatred," the threadworms would invade the enemy's body, causing massive internal damage in a short time.
The humanoid monster with pale white skin stood there, holding "Hatred" in its right hand. This was the Supreme Insect's combat form. On its forehead were three interlocking ring marks. Paired with its golden-red eyes, it looked extremely cold—a kind of arrogant coldness.
Even from a hundred meters away, Su Xiao felt the oppressive force bearing down on him. It was stronger than when he fought the Moon Wolf. Back then, the Moon Wolf was already dead and corroded by Abyss power.
Now, the Supreme Insect had severely declined in strength due to its deadly battle with the Moon Wolf. However, after parasitizing Kingsley and devouring a large number of S-class dangerous objects, it had recovered some of its power.
If it were a one-on-one fight, Su Xiao's chances of winning were very low. The Supreme Insect itself was difficult to deal with, and on top of that, it had parasitized Kingsley, gaining most of his abilities. Who knew what abilities Kingsley had acquired over the years through the World Child? The golden lightning was probably just one of them.
The current situation was favorable for Su Xiao. Not only were Amu, Bubu Wang, and Baha present, but Tide Hunter was also there.
This time, Amu had a new task. It didn't need to rush in and get beaten to create opportunities for Su Xiao. Its job was to protect Tide Hunter.
Tide Hunter was practically a boss killer. Otherwise, Su Xiao wouldn't have summoned her. After all, Su Xiao had wiped out all the Tianba warriors in the Heavenly Palace. Even if he hadn't exterminated the entire Tianba clan, in Tide Hunter's perception, Su Xiao was still an enemy.
Tide Hunter had tried to resist, but after having her intelligence toyed with, she became docile. Additionally, she had been killed by Su Xiao before, and there was the [Source] in her heart.
Tide Hunter cared deeply about the Tianba clan in the Divine Kingdom. The Tianba warriors existed to protect the clan and the [Source].
Generations of Tide Hunter's ancestors had guarded the [Source]. But now, the [Source] was in her heart. Moreover, Tide Hunter had learned that besides this water-attribute [Source], the fire-attribute [Source] had also emerged. The Source Guardian, Aideri Dewen, was dead. Now, the Giant King and a girl named Liu were guarding the fire-attribute [Source].
Tide Hunter naturally knew the Giant King. In her perception, the Giant King was the strongest in her world, a tier above the Source Guardian Aideri Dewen. As for the Source Girl Liu, Tide Hunter had never heard of her, but she assumed Liu was not weak.
Tide Hunter chose to stay docile, enduring humiliation and acting as a "female secretary" for so many days. This was because she wanted to protect the [Source] in her heart and was also worried that if her sneak attack on Su Xiao failed, he might go to the Divine Kingdom and slaughter her clan to the last person.
Based on her observations of Su Xiao, Tide Hunter felt that the more successful her plan was, the more brutal the retaliation would be—unless she could kill this person. This man never delayed revenge. Killing someone wasn't just about uprooting the problem; he would even scrape the ground clean.
Tide Hunter weighed the situation in her mind. Su Xiao had indeed killed all the Tianba warriors, but he probably hadn't gone to massacre the Tianba clan. If she sought revenge now and failed, her death would be a minor matter. The Tianba clan she had once protected would face total annihilation. At that point, the Tianba would truly cease to exist.
Thinking of this, Tide Hunter tightened her grip on her bow. She glanced at Amu beside her, knowing full well that this was both to protect her and to prevent her from slacking off or suddenly rebelling.
Tide Hunter drew a long arrow, nocked it, and aimed at the monster over 4 meters tall in the distance. Its oppressive aura was so strong it terrified her. She estimated that if the monster got close, she would die.
This made Tide Hunter determined to find a way to kill this monster. If Su Xiao won, her fate was uncertain. But if this monster won, she would suffer a terrible end—devoured beyond recognition until nothing was left. Thinking of this, the Tianba clan's number one beauty, Tide Hunter, who valued her appearance greatly, grew furious.
[Eye of the Divine] floated behind Su Xiao. This was his usual tactic: gather enemy data before a desperate fight. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
[Comparing both parties' intelligence attributes... Your true intelligence attribute is 0.995 times that of the enemy. 59.5% of the enemy's data has been detected.]
Name: Supreme Insect
Category: Void Dangerous Creature (Due to the mass extermination by Law Destroyers and Spellcasters, such creatures are now extremely rare. Although the Supreme Insect belongs to this category, it is unique with no kin.)
Health: 100%
Abyss Power: 63,000/63,000 points (Reduced due to body damage)
World Power: 21,350/27,000 points (This body's energy comes from Kingsley)
Strength: 235 (True Attribute)
Agility: 232 (True Attribute)
Stamina: 240 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 220 (True Attribute)
Charm: -8
Skill 1, Life·Devour (Abyss Passive, Lv.80): Health +67,000 points, Body Defense +42 points. For every 1 point of Abyss Power consumed, recover 5 points of health (maximum single recovery of 5,000 health).
Skill 2, Supreme Insect (Passive, X): Health +72,000 points, Body Defense +47 points. Ignores all control effects.
Skill 3, Evolution·Fission Life (Passive, Lv.81): The Supreme Insect possesses a "Life Source" within its body, storing a massive amount of life energy. It can use this life energy for continuous self-recovery.
Tip: The Supreme Insect can recover 5% of its maximum health per second. This recovery effect has priority!
Skill 4: ???
Skill 5: ???
Skill 6, Evolution·Battle Form (Passive, Lv.72): This is the Supreme Insect's current form. Health +43,700 points. Reduces 25% of physical damage and 30% of energy damage.
Skill 7: ???
Skill 8, Evolution·Battle Lust (Exclusive Passive, Lv.61): This is the Supreme Insect's unique combat style, perfectly matching its weapon "Deformed Blade·Hatred." The weapon's attack power increases by 467%, and the damage tier caused by the weapon is +2 (slashing damage, blunt damage, knockback damage, etc., all receive this bonus).
???
Skill 12, Deformed Blade·Hatred (Ultimate Passive, Lv.53): When "Deformed Blade·Hatred" hits an enemy, it deals dual damage of slashing and blunt force, releasing 3 threadworms from the blade's muscle to inflict internal damage equal to 7% of the enemy's maximum health + 3,700 points (ignoring defense). Over the next 10 seconds, the enemy suffers 104 points of true bleeding damage per second.
???
Skill 15, Evolution·Life Calamity (Ultimate Ability, Lv.39): The Supreme Insect launches its "Life Worm" through its fingers at nearly unavoidable speed, piercing into the enemy's body. The enemy has a 15% chance of instant death. If not killed instantly, they suffer penetrating damage equal to 75% of their maximum health + 107 points of insect erosion damage. After being eroded, they become extremely weak, with body defense reduced by over 85%.
Tip: This skill is guaranteed to hit, or the "Life Worm" must be eliminated during its tracking.
Skill 16, Evolution·Death Blossom (Ultimate Ability, Lv.45): The Supreme Insect consumes all current Abyss Power within its body (requires at least 15,000 points remaining). Within a diameter of 800 meters, it rapidly generates threadworms equal to the amount of Abyss Power consumed, forming a "Worm Domain." Within this domain, enemies take 10% of their maximum health + 2,800 points of defense-ignoring damage every 0.5 seconds.
Tip: Within the Worm Domain, if an enemy's health falls below 70%, they enter an unavoidable body paralysis state lasting 1.5 to 9 seconds.
Tip: Within the Worm Domain, if an enemy's health falls below 50%, their body will be gnawed to pieces by threadworms, causing a vulnerability state where they take 35% more damage.
Tip: Within the Worm Domain, if an enemy's health falls below 30%, they undergo an instant death judgment every second. If they fail, they die.
Tip: All the above effects can stack with each other.
...
PS: (Today, I wrote 12,000 words, the equivalent of six chapters. However, I plan to split it into three chapters for better reading flow. Sorry for the late update. I promised to update at noon, but I wanted to finish this decisive battle, so I wrote until now. I'm really afraid of being killed by you, dear readers, for cutting off a battle chapter.)