# Chapter 47: Abyss Hole
Inside the sacrificial ground that seemed made of bones and rocks, large patches of mottled, moist black marks were distributed across the ground, making the Abyss aura here exceptionally dense. For anyone with Abyss resistance below a certain level to enter this place, just resisting the invasion of the Abyss aura alone would be extremely difficult, let alone fighting.
That was the nature of the Abyss. Only with sufficient resistance could one qualify to enter areas where the Abyss had spread. Without it, no matter one's strength, it was all for nothing.
Inside the sacrificial ground, ethereal murmuring seemed to come from an unknown source. The Archbishop of the Abyss, Sirvis, sat on a metal throne, staring at the Abyss Hole before him. His completely pitch-black eyes were calm and indifferent.
The Archbishop of the Abyss rose from the metal throne. The Abyss Hole that had been in front of him suddenly shifted position, floating directly above him.
This confirmed something for Su Xiao: the so-called Abyss Hole was not actually a small hole in this world leading to the Abyss. If it were, the surging Abyss energy would instantly expand it into an Abyss Passage. The Abyss Hole was more like a coordinate, a special point that could occasionally connect to the Abyss.
A nearly tangible pressure came from ahead. Su Xiao pressed one hand on his sword hilt, staring at the Archbishop of the Abyss, Sirvis, dozens of meters away. This formidable enemy stood over 2.8 meters tall, wearing a black mist robe with an imposing presence. His eyes were completely black, with no distinction between pupil and sclera. His skin was gray-white but tough. His hair, like countless tentacles, moved without wind. Combined with those pitch-black eyes, the pressure was explosively intense.
The sleeves of the black mist robe were exceptionally loose. Occasionally, eyes would open on the Archbishop of the Abyss's arms. These eyes had blood-red vertical pupils. Meeting their gaze gave one the feeling that even their soul began to slow and dull.
After just one glance, Su Xiao activated [Silver Moon Blade] and [Spiritual Blade], preparing to go all out. Ultimate moves like Dead Silence Annihilation, Blood Soul, Azure Shadow King, and Demon Blade would all be used without reservation in this battle. As for the subsequent fight against the traitor, he couldn't worry about that now. Su Xiao was certain that if he held back even a little in this fight against the Archbishop of the Abyss, he would die. The only good news was that the insurance he had prepared earlier was 100% perfectly suited for this situation.
The Apostle's Eye floated behind Su Xiao, beginning its detection.
[Comparing both parties' Intelligence attributes... Due to the enemy's state, you can detect up to 45% of the enemy's information.]
Name: Archbishop of the Abyss·Sirvis
Category: Abyss Strong/Abyss Spawn
Health: 100%
Abyss Power: ???
Strength: 297 points (True Attribute).
Agility: 295 points (True Attribute).
Endurance: 300 points (True Attribute, World Maximum).
Intelligence: 300 points (True Attribute, World Maximum).
Charm: 1 point (Caused by Abyss debuff).
Skill 1, Abyss Will (Abyss·Passive, X): Health +95,000 points, Physical Defense +85 points, ignores all control effects except [Forced Physical type], exempts all mental damage, exempts 96% Dark-type damage, exempts 90% Fire-type damage.
Skill 2, Life Drain (Abyss·Passive, X): ???
Skill 3, Dark Mark (Abyss·Passive, X): The Archbishop of the Abyss's attacks will attach Dark Marks. Dark Marks last 10 minutes (duration doubles when stacked), and each layer of Dark Mark causes 10% Dark-type slow effect on the target (maximum 45% slow).
Tip: When Dark Marks reach 3 layers, they will self-detonate, causing 20% of maximum health as Dark-type damage and reducing the enemy's health cap by 20%. This debuff lasts 1~900 hours (depending on Abyss resistance).
???
Skill 5: ???
Skill 6, Dark Ring (Active, Lv.90): The Archbishop of the Abyss creates a Dark impact ring within 30 meters, forcibly knocking back all enemies within range, causing 12% of the enemy's maximum health as Dark-type True Damage + 5,700 points of impact damage, with a 50% chance of causing knocked-back enemies to enter Stun, Paralysis, or Shock states.
Tip: This ability has a 5-second cooldown and applies 1 layer of [Dark Mark] to the target.
???
???
Skill 14, Servant Grant (Ultimate·Passive, Lv.50): The Archbishop of the Abyss grants Dark power to his summoned creatures, allowing their attacks to also carry [Dark Mark].
Skill 15, Abyss Hole (Ultimate·Passive, X): Every 30 seconds, the Archbishop of the Abyss can summon Dark or Abyss-natured creatures from the Abyss Hole.
Summoning probability: Each summon has 86% chance to summon Dark creatures, 12% chance to summon Abyss Spawn, 2% chance to summon Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn.
Summon Dark creatures: If the Dark creature is Elite level, 10~30 are summoned. If the Dark creature is Leader level, 3~5 are summoned (The Archbishop of the Abyss can control up to 900,000~1,200,000 Dark creatures).
Summon Abyss Spawn: 1~2 can be summoned at a time (The Archbishop of the Abyss can control up to 5 Abyss Spawn).
Summon Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn: 1 can be summoned at a time (The Archbishop of the Abyss can control up to 1 Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn, and while this Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn exists, the Archbishop of the Abyss cannot activate the Abyss Hole for summoning).
...
Seeing the Archbishop of the Abyss's information, a foreboding feeling arose in Su Xiao's heart. Among the strong enemies he had fought, there really hadn't been any summoners. Even more so, this summoner Archbishop of the Abyss had Strength and Agility attributes close to 300 points, with Endurance and Intelligence reaching 300 points. This didn't look like a summoner at all.
The good news was that Su Xiao's current body attributes weren't inferior to the Archbishop. His current body attributes were:
Strength: 300 points.
Agility: 286 points.
Endurance: 300 points.
Intelligence: 286 points.
The reason for such body attributes was twofold. First, he had consumed all the [Golden Secret Medicine] earlier, bringing his True Strength and True Endurance to 291 points. Second, the temporary boost from killing the Church Knights earlier with the Soul Severing Shadow's "Blade Spirit·Soul Core" had contributed.
"Blade Spirit·Soul Core (Passive Trait): When you are surrounded by enemies, you will trigger the 'Blade Spirit Frenzy' state. In this state, your Blade Grandmaster ability will be overloaded. For each same-rank enemy you kill, your main attributes will be temporarily increased by 1 point. This state lasts 30 minutes. Each time this effect stacks, the duration refreshes.
Tip: True Strength attribute can be temporarily increased by up to 10 points.
Tip: True Agility attribute can be temporarily increased by up to 10 points.
Tip: True Endurance attribute can be temporarily increased by up to 10 points.
Tip: True Intelligence attribute can be temporarily increased by up to 10 points.
Tip: This trait can boost True Body Attributes above 300 points."
Although this ability could boost True Body Attributes above 300 points, at this stage, Su Xiao's body attributes couldn't reach that level, both because of the world's maximum and because he hadn't passed the "Iron Trial."
Baha on Su Xiao's shoulder spread his wings and flew up. He habitually wanted to say a few words before battle, but thinking about how he would need to attract the Archbishop of the Abyss's summoned creatures later, provoking the Archbishop's hatred now would be a fancy way to die.
Bubu Wang was already hiding in a corner of the ceiling, standing on one leg with his hind paw on a protruding rock. Although this posture was quite tiring, this was the safest place in the sacrificial ground, at least for now.
At the center of the ceiling, a withered, yellowed skull was embedded. Liquid gathered around the eye sockets of the skull, eventually condensing into a droplet that fell.
As the water droplet fell, it slowly deformed. Just as it was one meter from the ground, it suddenly froze.
Boom!
Darkness and blood collided, causing the water droplet in mid-air to evaporate. The next moment, both auras ceased abruptly. The Archbishop of the Abyss still stood in place, his black smoke robe slowly billowing, but Su Xiao had disappeared.
Zheng~
A sharp blade sound. The vanished Su Xiao had already appeared in front of the Archbishop of the Abyss, his long sword slashing fiercely toward the Archbishop.
Thump!
A ring-shaped Dark impact spread outward from the Archbishop of the Abyss. Su Xiao only felt his vision go black. When his sight returned, he was already flying backward several meters, surrounded by fine Dark matter. The impact force sent him flying another ten-plus meters before he landed in a half-crouch.
Blood dripped from Su Xiao's sleeve, flowing down the Dragon-Slaying Flash. Su Xiao felt that after taking this hit, not only were his internal organs impacted, but his entire skeleton felt like it was about to fall apart. Pain came from his left arm, where a Dark Mark had already formed.
In Su Xiao's view, the situation in this battle was simple. If he could get into melee range, he would quickly win. But if he couldn't break through, he would definitely lose. In summary, Su Xiao had the strength to one-shot the Archbishop of the Abyss in close combat, while the Archbishop of the Abyss also had the means to suppress Su Xiao to death. Who would win depended on how they performed in battle.
The problem was that the Dark Ring, usable every 5 seconds, was truly troublesome. It wasn't just a simple knockback ability. The "Dark Ring" attached after the knockback also had a slow effect. More importantly, the ability's power was very strong, "causing 12% of the enemy's maximum health as Dark-type True Damage + 5,700 points of impact damage." Even Su Xiao couldn't withstand being hit several times.
Su Xiao rose from his half-crouch, his body slightly lowered. The next second, he made a charging stance. The Archbishop of the Abyss, who had been staring at him, immediately raised his hand. Translucent black Solar Flame appeared around him, seemingly about to burst outward. Clearly, besides the "Dark Ring," the Archbishop of the Abyss had another knockback-type ability.
However, Su Xiao only made a feint to charge. He didn't actually rush forward. His left hand, wearing the Black King Bracer, pointed at the Archbishop of the Abyss.
'Blood Smoke Cannon!'
Bang!
The blood energy compressed to its limit at his fingertip shot out as a blood-colored ray, slamming into an invisible barrier. Upon closer inspection, the barrier's surface had fine scale patterns.
Two powerful knockback abilities, plus a defensive barrier that could block the Blood Smoke Cannon—this showed how difficult it was to charge at the Archbishop of the Abyss. Not to mention that all of the enemy's attacks carried [Dark Mark], each layer of [Dark Mark] came with a 10% non-exemptible slow effect, and even more absurdly, the Archbishop of the Abyss could summon Dark creatures or Abyss Spawn, making it even harder to break through. This guy was truly a melee fighter's nightmare.
With a bang, a spatial rift appeared behind the Archbishop of the Abyss. This wasn't activating the Abyss Hole but opening an alternate space. Inside this alternate space were packed all kinds of Dark creatures—Dark creatures the Archbishop of the Abyss had summoned in advance, waiting to be released during battle.
The moment this spatial rift appeared, Baha's smile was exceptionally unrestrained. He was certain that the Archbishop of the Abyss hadn't managed to absorb the Platinum Apostle's memories, otherwise he would never have stored his summoned Dark creatures in an alternate space.
As a space-type, if Baha were to rate his spatial abilities on a scale of 1 to 10, it would be:
Spatial Teleportation: 8 points.
Spatial Sealing: 10++++++ points.
Alternate Space Opening/Sealing: 10 points.
Spatial Damage: 2 points.
Long-distance Teleportation: -1 point (doesn't know it at all).
Every time Baha encountered a fellow space-type user, their evaluation of him was always the same. They would grit their teeth and say, "Are you a dog? Developing spatial sealing strength to such a perverted degree. How afraid are you that enemies will use spatial abilities or spatial items to escape?"
Now, seeing the Archbishop of the Abyss open an alternate space, Baha's eagle eyes were exceptionally sharp. He spread his wings, and the alternate space closed. Then the interior of that alternate space began to distort, and all the Dark creatures inside were crushed into paste.
Sensing this, the Archbishop of the Abyss, whose black smoke robe slowly billowed, turned his gaze toward Baha. Baha immediately flew backward.
Boom! Boom! Boom...
One black light pillar after another burst from the ground, forcing Su Xiao to continuously backflip. Although he could withstand the impact of these black light pillars, the [Dark Mark] that appeared after being hit was truly unbearable. After being severely slowed, even using Dragon Shadow Flash to charge forward would be useless. Moreover, in this battle, Dragon Shadow Flash couldn't be used lightly. If the enemy detected this ability, they would certainly be on guard.
Against enemies like this who feared being charged at, Dragon Shadow Flash was more important than ultimate moves. It had to be saved for a sufficiently good opportunity and used only for offense, not for dodging attacks.
Puchi!
Black spikes as thick as fingers, appearing out of nowhere, pierced through Baha. Baha's health bar was immediately on the verge of being emptied. This caused his vision to blur and his sight to gradually narrow.
Bang!
Baha was slammed against the wall by an invisible giant hand. His aura rapidly weakened until it completely disappeared. All of this happened too fast, in just an instant.
A black light pillar as thick as a bucket came crashing head-on. Su Xiao blocked it with one hand. The crystal layer wrapped around his hand shattered, and he was sent flying backward more than ten meters.
Just as Su Xiao landed, Baha also fell to the ground by the wall. Baha's eyes had gone dim and lifeless. Sensing him, one would find no trace of life aura. Was Baha dead? Of course not. This was Amu's unique feigning death and drinking potion technique, a secret skill developed by Amu through dozens of battles against strong enemies and lying on the ground pretending to be dead, forgetting how many beatings he had endured.
This technique was not only mastered by its developer Amu but also by Bubu Wang, Baha, and Beini. As for why Su Xiao couldn't use it, the reason was that he couldn't. If he pretended to be dead, the enemy's most likely response would be to ruthlessly finish him off a few more times.
The Archbishop of the Abyss glanced at Baha, who was no longer moving by the wall and had no life aura, then ignored him, keeping his perception locked on Su Xiao.
Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled as dark light pillars rained down one after another, forcing Su Xiao to either dodge or slash them apart with his sword. The impact caused the walls and ceiling of the sacrificial ground to crack layer by layer.
'Blade Path Sword: Blood Shadow.'
Su Xiao vanished from his spot. A straight blood-colored flash streaked by. With a crackling sound, the barrier with scale patterns was shattered. The blade slashed toward the Archbishop of the Abyss's head.
The Archbishop of the Abyss's aura changed slightly. Darkness spread outward from him.
Thump!
The Dark Ring surged outward. Su Xiao, only a few meters from the Archbishop of the Abyss, immediately lowered his body. His left hand, wrapped in crystal layer forming a crystal claw, stabbed into the ground. The backward impact caused the crystal claw to plow through the ground, sending rubble flying in all directions.
With a rumble, the walls and ceiling of the sacrificial ground, unable to bear the strain, shattered open. But instead of collapsing, the area revealed an even larger space.
This was a grand hall at least tens of thousands of square meters in area, with a height of at least a hundred meters from floor to ceiling. At the far end of this grand hall was a huge sun stone disk, only half of which remained.
Su Xiao and the Archbishop of the Abyss were on a circular altar. The flat surface of this altar was about a hundred meters in diameter, surrounded by ring-shaped steps descending layer by layer.
Su Xiao looked around, confirming that the battlefield had only expanded and there were no traps, then locked his perception back on the Archbishop of the Abyss.
The Archbishop of the Abyss was now floating a few meters above the altar. He looked down at Su Xiao and made a single-handed upward gesture.
With a bang, the entire surface of the altar beneath Su Xiao's feet began to lift. The immense pulling force caused the hundred-meter-diameter huge stone slab to crack. On the opposite side, the Archbishop of the Abyss, floating in mid-air, made a grasping motion with one hand, causing the huge stone slab to immediately shatter. All the rubble converged toward Su Xiao.
'Blade Path Sword: Blood Blade.'
Su Xiao turned into a blood line shooting straight upward, dodging the rubble encasement around him. He felt an impact force from below and looked down to see that the rubble had gathered into a black ball the size of a marble. If he had been caught in that, he would surely have been reduced to bones and ashes. This wasn't even a matter of defense; this technique clearly used the squeezing force when the Abyss Hole closed.
The Abyss Hole wouldn't close for no reason. It must have been that the Archbishop of the Abyss activated the Abyss Hole to summon an Abyss creature, which subsequently caused the Abyss Hole to close.
Su Xiao descended rapidly. The moment he landed, he sensed a malicious wind coming head-on. Nearly 30 black flying insects with four wings on their backs flew toward him at ultra-high speed. The mouthparts of these insects were exceptionally ferocious and full of malice.
A [Blood Soul] sank into Su Xiao's back, enhancing his blood-energy-based abilities once.
'Blade Path Sword: Slay!'
Su Xiao slashed diagonally. With a whoosh, a blood-colored chain of light shot out. With the support of Blood Soul, the "Slay" slash produced a blood-colored chain that appeared dark red, dotted with tiny sparks.
The slashing chain of "Slay" enveloped all the black flying insects. After a series of sharp screams, most of the black flying insects were slashed to pieces. The remaining few, with blood flames burning on their bodies, lunged at Su Xiao.
Zheng!
The long sword slashed through, cutting 4 of the remaining 5 black flying insects in one stroke. Only one, exceptionally tenacious, continued to attack Su Xiao.
Just as Su Xiao was about to slash this black flying insect in two, a faint spatial fluctuation appeared. This thing actually had spatial properties.
At the critical moment, Su Xiao leaned to the right. His neck, which was about to be attacked, narrowly escaped. His left arm went numb as the black flying insect attached itself to it.
Su Xiao's left arm withered at a visible rate. After sucking blood, the black flying insect actually self-detonated, causing Su Xiao to stagger two steps sideways.
Blood conveying life force flowed into his left arm. The withered left arm quickly recovered due to Su Xiao's powerful physique.
This injury confirmed one thing for Su Xiao: the elite Dark creatures summoned by the Archbishop of the Abyss were definitely not small fry. Even the weakest elite Dark creature was this difficult to deal with. If he summoned an Abyss Spawn or an Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn, there would be no way to fight.
'Blade Path Sword: Flow.'
An ethereal wind scar slashed through, cutting open layers of invisible barriers. When the wind scar reached in front of the Archbishop of the Abyss—
'Dark Ring.'
The Archbishop of the Abyss raised his hand. Thump! The wind scar was dispersed. This Dark Ring ability could not only knock back enemies but also scatter slashing scars.
The Archbishop of the Abyss descended from mid-air. The moment he stepped on the ground, tentacle-like black spikes emerged from the ground. These sharp-tipped tentacles extended in length, enveloping the Archbishop of the Abyss from behind. Under his control, these thousands of tentacles suddenly elongated and shot toward Su Xiao.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Su Xiao slashed through several tentacles in succession. The slashing feel was like cutting metal. He charged forward at full speed. One tentacle after another chased after him, stabbing into the ground where he passed, creating a large row of holes with booming sounds.
Clang!
The long sword, surging with blue electric arcs, was blocked by dozens of overlapping black tentacles. Su Xiao was now less than two meters from the Archbishop of the Abyss. But at this critical moment, the tentacles blocking the Dragon-Slaying Flash changed from hard to soft, entangling the blade. Almost simultaneously, tentacles stabbed out from the ground behind Su Xiao, arcing toward his back and the back of his head.
At this critical juncture, Su Xiao still didn't use Dragon Shadow Flash. Instead, he delivered a straight kick. As the saying goes, one force breaks all techniques.
His right foot and calf, wrapped in crystal layer, broke through the black tentacles in front of the Archbishop of the Abyss with irresistible force. Facing this straight kick, these black tentacles shattered like glass.
Thump!!!
The Archbishop of the Abyss, clad in his black smoke robe, was sent flying backward, even smashing through the wall of black tentacles behind him, leaving tiny black bloodstains along the way.
With a boom, the Archbishop of the Abyss crashed into the half-remaining huge sun stone disk, then fell with the rubble, landing on a large flat open space in front of the sun stone disk.
"Cough, cough~"
The Archbishop of the Abyss covered his mouth and coughed dryly, black blood seeping through his fingers. The power of this kick was astonishing. Although it somewhat stunned him, it also woke him up. The question was, whose will was the Archbishop of the Abyss? The Platinum Apostle? Hatred? Actually, neither. It was the Abyss Lord·Sirvis, fused with the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn.
What had awakened now was the Abyss Lord·Sirvis. Or rather, it was more appropriate to call him the Archbishop of the Abyss now.
"I have finally... succeeded."
The Archbishop of the Abyss rose from the ground. He made a grasping motion with one hand, and a scepter with a blade on its upper half appeared in his hand, meeting the slashing long sword.
With a clang, the wind pressure from the slash scattered in all directions. Darkness surged on the Archbishop of the Abyss's body.
'Dark Ring!'
Thump!
The Dark Ring impact spread. Caught in the impact, Su Xiao could only follow the force and retreat. The moment he landed, he immediately sidestepped. A huge black hand slapped the spot where he had just been, leaving a deep handprint on the ground.
'Blade Path Sword: Azure Demon.'
While sidestepping, Su Xiao slashed out an Azure Demon. A blue-green slashing light flew out.
With a crackling sound, the Azure Demon was smashed by the Archbishop of the Abyss's scepter. This stunned him for a moment, as if sensing a trap, so he didn't choose to attack actively but instead formed several layers of barriers in front of him.
Su Xiao slashed several times in succession during his charge. All the invisible barriers shattered. He took a deep breath of air mixed with Abyss and blood aura, then slashed at the Archbishop of the Abyss's head.
The sword slashed through, and the Archbishop of the Abyss exploded with a bang. This caused Su Xiao's pupils to rapidly contract. A deadly crisis sense hit him.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
The impact of Time spread outward from Su Xiao. The scattered black liquid, falling rubble, and air ripples caused by the shattered invisible barriers all slowed down, as if everything within a dozen meters was being played in slow motion.
In this slow motion, Su Xiao leaned backward with all his might. The large patch of black liquid in front of him gradually formed a half-human, half-beast enemy, opening its mouth wide with sharp teeth made of black liquid, lunging to bite him.
The ground shook. The monster made of black liquid crashed onto the ground, creating a huge rock crater. Su Xiao leaped backward with all his strength, dodging this pouncing attack. However, although he avoided the pounce and bite, the black liquid monster's claws scratched his shoulder. Some black liquid entered his body through the wound.
The moment Su Xiao landed, Spirit Shadow Threads appeared in his hand. These Spirit Shadow Threads stabbed into his chest. 1.5 seconds later, he pulled hard, yanking them out. At the ends of these Spirit Shadow Threads were entwined several black leeches. These black leeches writhed wildly, clearly deadly things that had nearly drilled into Su Xiao's heart.
Flicking away the black leeches, Su Xiao looked ahead. The black liquid surged, first forming a human shape, then gradually transforming into the Archbishop of the Abyss.
A black vortex appeared behind the Archbishop of the Abyss. A figure nearly 5 meters tall fell from within. This was an overall humanoid creature that looked like a small giant. Its head was wrapped in blackened, hardened cloth strips. Its skin was black with a hint of blue. Its arms were thick and powerful. In one hand, it held a blood-red battle axe. Its back was covered with hanging black tentacles. This was an Abyss Spawn: Insect-Attached Warrior.
The Insect-Attached Warrior had two parts: the external shell and the internal main body. The internal main body was a type of insect-shaped Abyss Spawn, while the external shell came from a race with powerful physical bodies. What exactly it was, no one could say for sure.
"Roar!!"
The Insect-Attached Warrior let out a roar. It was about to chop the Archbishop of the Abyss in front of it with its axe when it received the Archbishop's mark command. This made it turn its gaze toward Su Xiao and charge at him with heavy steps, causing the ground to tremble.
"Damn it!"
Baha, who had been preparing to play dead and wait for an opportunity to strike the Archbishop of the Abyss, quickly flew up from the ground. After a spatial fluctuation, he appeared behind the Insect-Attached Warrior. His eagle claws stabbed into the back of the Insect-Attached Warrior's neck. Using the Insect-Attached Warrior's running momentum, Baha threw this enemy, which was much larger than him, flying like a sack.
Seeing this, the Archbishop of the Abyss raised his hand and pressed it toward Baha. This made Baha's heart feel uneasy. Just now, the enemy had pressed toward him from a distance, and he had almost died.
Zheng!
An Azure Demon slashed through. The Archbishop of the Abyss's arm, which was pressing toward Baha from a distance, was severed from the forearm. No blood splattered. The severed forearm turned into black liquid and flowed back toward the fracture of the Archbishop of the Abyss's arm.
Seeing this, Baha spread his wings and faced the Insect-Attached Warrior. His subsequent task was simple: just hold off this Insect-Attached Warrior.
Drip, drip~
Blood dripped from Su Xiao's chin. He could feel that his condition was worsening. Each time he charged at the enemy, he paid a relatively heavy price, especially every time he endured the Dark Ring impact. Plus, the [Dark Mark] on his body had already exploded twice!
A type of Dark energy mixed into Su Xiao's life force. Although Cyan Steel Shadow energy could remove it, this was a delicate task. Not to mention during battle, even doing this while walking could easily cause problems.
[Dark Mark: When Dark Marks reach 3 layers, they will self-detonate, causing 20% of maximum health as Dark-type damage and reducing the enemy's health cap by 20%. This debuff lasts 1~900 hours (depending on Abyss resistance).]
The most troublesome aspect of this ability wasn't the damage intensity but the reduction of 20% health cap. This meant that Su Xiao's current health cap was only 60%. This greatly reduced the effectiveness of recovery-type abilities and recovery potions. More critically, he now had two layers of Dark Marks on him. Once this thing reached three layers, it would explode, with no way to prevent it.
Whoosh! A black tentacle flew past, nearly grazing Su Xiao's cheek. The wind sound came head-on. It was the Archbishop of the Abyss charging in. Clearly, this formidable enemy had discovered that Su Xiao had already exploded two Dark Marks.
'Dark... Torrent.'
The smoke robe on the Archbishop of the Abyss's body rustled loudly. A Dark tide spread outward from him. Just looking at the skill information, the Archbishop of the Abyss gave the impression of a summoner. But when actually fighting, that wasn't the case. His core ability was [Dark Mark], which combined damage, life force suppression, and slow effects. Paired with large-scale abilities, it was very strong.
The Dark tide continued to spread outward. Although Su Xiao had retreated at full speed, due to the slow state on his body, he couldn't avoid being affected. This so-called Dark Torrent ability had average power, but it was a multi-hit impact-type ability, meaning it would continuously trigger [Dark Mark].
Snap, snap! The clothes on Su Xiao's back shoulder and side waist bulged, indicating that the Dark Marks attached to these two spots had both exploded. Blood flowed down the hem of his leather windbreaker. After these two Dark Marks exploded, Su Xiao's health cap was reduced to only 20%. This time, recovery potions were completely useless.
Thump!
The Dark impact came head-on. Su Xiao was sent flying, crashing into the wall behind him. His health dropped a chunk. If an ordinary ninth-rank melee fighter had their health cap reduced to 20%, taking this hit would most likely put them in a near-death state.
But with Su Xiao's survivability, even with his health cap reduced to 20%, he still had over 140,000 health. However, there was a problem: if two more layers of Dark Mark stacked, he would be killed by this ability. Yes, Dark Mark could kill enemies.
"As expected of a Law Destroyer's vitality."
As the Archbishop of the Abyss spoke, he controlled a Dark light pillar, smashing it down toward Su Xiao.
Thump!
The ground where Su Xiao was located formed a cylindrical depression. He knelt on one knee, one hand supporting the ground. Blood splattered across the surrounding ground.
"Farewell, Law Destroyer."
The Archbishop of the Abyss again controlled a Dark light pillar to smash down. But Su Xiao inexplicably sidestepped. Just one more hit on Su Xiao would have killed him on the spot.
Su Xiao made several leaps between broken stone pillars, arriving at the flat open space below the sun stone disk.
Seeing this, the Archbishop of the Abyss's eyes narrowed slightly. He thought of a possibility: this Law Destroyer had deliberately injured himself to this extent, waiting for him to be impatient to kill the enemy and thus choose to recklessly approach.
Thinking of this possibility, the Archbishop of the Abyss was completely unhurried. He would wait for the fluctuation of the Abyss Hole to calm down, then summon Dark creatures, using the most stable method to kill this Law Destroyer.
Blood gradually stained the stone ground beneath Su Xiao's feet. An item appeared in his hand: [Drifting Bait], a life-saving tool "gifted" by Molei.
A peculiar spatial fluctuation appeared. Sensing this fluctuation, the Archbishop of the Abyss had a brief moment of surprise in his eyes. He hadn't expected Su Xiao to actually run.
Of course, he had to run. He simply couldn't beat the Archbishop of the Abyss right now. It was too difficult to get close, plus the extremely troublesome [Dark Mark]. If he didn't withdraw now, was he waiting to die? As for Bubu Wang and Baha, Baha was a space-type himself, making retreat very convenient. Bubu Wang had been blending into the environment the entire time, especially after the sacrificial ground was shattered, revealing the grand hall. Bubu Wang had already lurked at the entrance, ready to slip away at any time.
Seeing Su Xiao about to retreat, the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn inside the Archbishop of the Abyss immediately became enraged.
"Don't even think about it."
The Archbishop of the Abyss's tentacle-like hair flew. The ground beneath his feet cracked as he approached Su Xiao. As long as he got within a certain distance, his Dark Ring could disperse the spatial fluctuation of that peculiar item. Even if it couldn't prevent its activation, it could at least slow it down.
Sensing the Archbishop of the Abyss rapidly approaching him, Su Xiao, holding [Drifting Bait], was momentarily stunned. Then he realized that after Sirvis had fully fused with the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn, his judgment was probably sometimes strong and sometimes weak. Just now, the enemy had been very vigilant, but now, stimulated, the ferocity of the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn had burst out.
For Su Xiao, this was an enormous stroke of luck. This formidable enemy was indeed a melee fighter's nightmare, but a melee fighter's nightmare shouldn't be arrogant enough to actively approach a three-technique Grandmaster. This would come at a price, an extremely heavy price.
[Silver Moon Blade·Moon Oath (Active): Use this blade to cut across your palm. If equipment requirements are met, no substantial damage will be taken. For the subsequent 30 minutes, the weapon you hold will be imbued with the 'Moon Blade' effect.
Moon Blade (Passive): Within 30 minutes, increase weapon sharpness by 120 points, increase weapon attack power by 30 points.
Moon Blade (Active): During the Moon Blade duration, you can activate this ability again. After activation, the weapon sharpness and weapon attack power increased by this ability will double (increasing weapon sharpness by 240 points and weapon attack power by 60 points). For the subsequent 30 seconds, your movement speed, attack speed, and reaction speed all increase by 35%, and weapon attacks will additionally deal your True Agility attribute × 3.2 as defense-ignoring damage.]
Moonlight power flowed through the hilt of the Dragon-Slaying Flash into Su Xiao's body. This caused his pupils, which had turned blue from switching to the "Swift·Soul Core," to develop silver-blue ring circles around the edges.
Puchi!
Blood sprayed as the long sword pierced through a chest. Not the enemy's chest, but Su Xiao using the Dragon-Slaying Flash to pierce his own chest. This immediately put him into a "Near-Death State," but due to the Black King Bracer's exemption, he didn't suffer any debuffs from the near-death state.
[Blood Spear Grandmaster·Lv.40 Ultimate Ability: Death and Rebirth (Passive): When your health drops to a near-death state, your soul power will be fully activated. During this time, all your melee attack damage increases by 65%.]
Su Xiao had entered his third phase. The Archbishop of the Abyss, still in his first phase, suddenly stopped in place. Even if he moved forward a few more meters, he could bring Su Xiao within the impact range of the Dark Ring and kill him. But it was these few meters that made him feel the approach of death.
Whoosh~
Like a gentle breeze passing by, Su Xiao vanished from his spot. The Dragon Shadow Flash ability allowed him to appear behind the Archbishop of the Abyss in the next instant.
Sensing the spatial fluctuation behind him, a hint of smile appeared in the Archbishop of the Abyss's eyes. The enemy had taken the bait.
Thump~!
The Dark Ring's impact spread outward from the Archbishop of the Abyss, passing through Su Xiao but having no effect on him. The reason was that he had already entered the Spatial Penetration state again.
[Dragon Shadow Flash Trait: If Dragon Shadow Flash (Active) is on cooldown, it can be forcibly used. After use, Dragon Shadow Flash's cooldown is temporarily increased to 5 minutes. If forcibly used again, it will place a huge burden on the body, and the cooldown is temporarily increased to 20 minutes.]
Su Xiao appeared in front of the Archbishop of the Abyss. This caused the Archbishop of the Abyss's aura to stagnate. He subconsciously raised his hand.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
The impact of Time drastically reduced the Archbishop of the Abyss's speed.
Zheng~
The long sword slashed through. The Archbishop of the Abyss's left arm was severed. As this arm turned into black liquid, Su Xiao activated his Blade Domain ability. Besides other enhancements, being within the Blade Domain increased his slashing damage by another 20%.
'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.'
The long sword traced a black scar through the air, a sign that space was being cut open. The sword slashed diagonally across the Archbishop of the Abyss's chest. As the final boss, the Archbishop of the Abyss, his health plummeted by a large chunk, nearly a third. This showed how terrifying Su Xiao's slashing power was under multiple attack enhancements.
The Archbishop of the Abyss only felt that after this slash, both his body and soul were as if cut by countless blade lights. His body immediately went numb. Black blood uncontrollably surged from his mouth and nose.
"Roar!!"
Due to the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn inside him, the Archbishop of the Abyss let out a roar. But Su Xiao again penetrated space. Although he hadn't moved from his spot, he dodged the Dark Mark effect attached to this roar.
The moment Su Xiao emerged from Spatial Penetration, a Blood Soul sank into his body.
'Super·Blood Smoke Cannon.'
Boom! The upper third of the Archbishop of the Abyss's head was blown off. This caused him to stagger backward. Su Xiao stepped forward and delivered a straight kick with penetrating force.
The Archbishop of the Abyss wasn't sent flying. The force penetration effect caused the black smoke robe on his back to burst open, revealing tattered flesh. After taking this kick, his entire body went numb, and he knelt on one knee.
The long sword slashed repeatedly. Five shallow blue slashing lights, several meters long and intersecting each other, cut into the Archbishop of the Abyss's body. These slashing lights then exploded, sending the Archbishop of the Abyss, who had just been able to move, flying backward.
'Blade Path Sword...'
Su Xiao's Blade Path Sword didn't come out. He tilted his head to dodge a finger-thick black ray. He couldn't afford to be hit even once right now. The Dark Mark would bury him here.
Su Xiao vanished as a blood shadow, appearing behind the Archbishop of the Abyss. The surrounding environment silently turned into black and white. Only the blood line that slashed through the Archbishop of the Abyss was a striking red. Then this slashing attack exploded, sending the Archbishop of the Abyss staggering backward.
Although the Archbishop of the Abyss retreated, the slashing scar on his chest healed quickly. But at this moment, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and spat out a large mouthful of black blood.
This puzzled the Archbishop of the Abyss. Actually, the problem wasn't from this battle. It was from the Hatred he had fused with. Hatred had previously been locked in the third floor of the madhouse dungeon. Su Xiao had deliberately allowed the Dark God Cult to rescue him, using this to determine the Dark God Cult's true purpose.
Would Su Xiao leave no means against the culprit in the third floor of the dungeon, just letting them be rescued? Of course not. Especially Hatred. Su Xiao had long suspected whether this thing was actually an Abyss Spawn, but it only felt like one through perception. When detecting it, there was no trace at all. But that faint, almost imperceptible Abyss aura made Su Xiao naturally treat the symptoms accordingly. He had arranged three types of alchemical potent toxins, one of which was a potent toxin he had developed specifically for targeting Abyss creatures.
At the start of this battle, Su Xiao had Bubu Wang release a catalytic mist to activate the potent toxin targeting Abyss creatures. His expectation was that when this potent toxin took effect, he would use that as an opportunity to charge forward and then continuously attack to suppress the Archbishop of the Abyss. But who would have thought that this potent toxin would take effect so slowly, so slowly that Su Xiao almost got beaten to death by the Archbishop of the Abyss.
With a wa sound, the Archbishop of the Abyss spat out another large mouthful of black blood. His mouth full of sharp teeth ground together with cracking sounds. His right arm had become exceptionally thick and had grown claws. He turned into an afterimage, leaped up, and swiped his claws at Su Xiao.
Dead Silence Annihilation appeared in Su Xiao's hand. He aimed the gun at the Archbishop of the Abyss and fired five consecutive shots, emptying the Annihilation bullets.
The Archbishop of the Abyss fell, his chest severely lignified. Many positions had rotted into fine debris that fell. His recovery ability was temporarily suppressed by Dead Silence.
A blood energy phantom appeared above Su Xiao. A soul great bow was drawn. A crystal spear formed by Azure Shadow King shot out, piercing through the Archbishop of the Abyss's chest and pinning him to the ground.
Su Xiao rushed forward several steps. Dark blue smoke clung to the Dragon-Slaying Flash. The Demon Blade ability activated.
With a crack, the Archbishop of the Abyss shattered the crystal spear's restraint. His severely mutated right arm moved at extreme speed, his claws swiping at Su Xiao.
At this moment, stimulated by the perception of death, Su Xiao became exceptionally focused. He leaned backward. For every degree he leaned back, a crystal statue that hadn't yet solidified appeared in his original position. It looked like he was leaning back with afterimages, making his backward leaning speed at least 20% faster than the limit state.
The claws nearly grazed the tip of Su Xiao's nose. This was definitely the closest he had ever been to death.
The moment he completed this dodge, Su Xiao entered the Spatial Penetration state.
Thump, thump, thump~
Continuous Dark Ring impacts spread outward from the Archbishop of the Abyss. Using the Dark Ring so recklessly caused cracks to appear all over the Archbishop of the Abyss's body. But to kill Su Xiao, the Archbishop of the Abyss no longer cared about these things.
Several consecutive Dark Rings were all dodged by Su Xiao in the Spatial Penetration state. He emerged from the Spatial Penetration state. On the opposite side, the Archbishop of the Abyss retracted his right arm and then backhandedly swiped his claws at Su Xiao.
Zheng~!
A light but lightning-fast slash cut through the Archbishop of the Abyss's neck. His movements abruptly stopped. This was a slash carrying the Demon Blade, enough to kill him when his health was only 21.9%.
After this slash, the world seemed to fall silent. The dust particles and energy debris floating around seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
The hand claws frozen in front of Su Xiao instinctively closed slightly, then the arm lost all strength and drooped.
Su Xiao, with a body that was about to give out, stepped forward and stabbed his sword into the Archbishop of the Abyss's chest. Dark blue smoke still emanated from the long sword. As he withdrew the sword, a jet-black energy was stripped from the Archbishop of the Abyss's body along with the sword's withdrawal. This was the origin energy of the Indestructible-nature·Abyss Spawn, now all devoured by the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
This maniac creature from the Abyss was sealed by the Dragon-Slaying Flash and would later be devoured, completely eliminated.
Su Xiao's final two slashes in this battle: one to kill the enemy, one to seal the demon!
With a thud, the Archbishop of the Abyss fell beneath the half-remaining sun stone disk. The darkness on his body quickly dissipated, and his form returned to its previous size.
Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash, which still emitted dark blue smoke. The Archbishop of the Abyss had been slain.