Chapter 3: As the Lord of the Fierce Winter Fief, Su Xiao needed to accomplish several things capable of changing the current world's structure. Going to fight the Wolf God this time could be considered one of them, but it was not enough.
From this, it was evident just how difficult it was to achieve an S-rank evaluation for a fief, and why there were so many derivative benefits once the fief evaluation reached S-rank. The most crucial point was that, once achieved, the reward for this mission would reach an astonishingly high level.
Seeing that it was almost the agreed-upon time, Su Xiao arrived at a semi-abandoned dock in White Hoof Port. A wooden boat was moored at the dilapidated wooden pier, and a boatman dressed in a black robe with a strong wraith aura stood at the bow.
Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang and Baha, boarded the wooden boat. The boat could hold about seven to eight people, was pitch black overall, and the outer gunwales were covered in scratch marks and red streaks. It felt as if it frequently crossed the Nether Sea; these marks were all left by the hands and claws of the undead or vengeful spirits reaching out from the Nether Sea.
With a whoosh, the ferry accelerated. The surrounding sea gradually darkened and became hazy with mist. When the ferry stopped, they had arrived at a sea area belonging to the Tribe faction. The shore was desolate. Shenfu, dressed in clerical attire, holding a heretical scripture, and wearing a gentle smile, was waiting quietly on the shore.
After Shenfu boarded the boat, he spoke with a smile, "Bai Ye, it seems we'll have to temporarily forget our previous unpleasantness."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. Shenfu continued, "Bai Ye, tell me, who do you think released the Wolf God?"
Shenfu's smile was exceptionally kind and benevolent. Seeing this, Su Xiao took out a bottle of Elemental Brew and tossed it over. Without any hesitation, Shenfu took out two clean glasses, poured a glass for each, and as the ferry drifted in the dim, eerie sea, both of them drank leisurely with calm expressions.
"Ten percent chance it's the Beast Clan, ninety percent it's Arcane Eternal Star."
From the very beginning, Su Xiao felt this didn't seem like something the Dark God Cult would do. The reason was that while the Dark God Cult was indeed a malignant tumor, releasing the Wolf God was simply a fancy way of courting death.
In this matter, the high-ranking members of the Dark God Cult gained nothing. On the contrary, the Dark God Cult would become the enemy of all forces in this world because of it.
Looking at the other side, after the Wolf God broke its seal, Arcane Eternal Star was the first to benefit. To get Sefeiliya to join the strong team, the Sea Clan paid a heavy price.
What was even more intriguing was that Sefeiliya was the most skilled among the known powerhouses at dealing with Abyss Holes and Abyss Passages. In this regard, even the Supreme Strong were inferior to her. Coupled with her high Abyss Resistance, she was destined to be an indispensable magic core output in the strong team.
With her powerful strength, expertise in closing Abyss Passages, undiminished combat effectiveness in high-concentration Abyss energy environments, and rich experience in dealing with Abyss invasions, these factors combined inevitably led to one outcome: the Sea Clan had to request Sefeiliya's joining the strong team with a very humble attitude. And after the Wolf God broke its seal, that's exactly how things developed.
Even more interesting was that a Law Destroyer capable of killing an Indestructible Abyss Spawn had just arrived in this world not long ago, and then the Wolf God was released.
Although based solely on the above factors, it couldn't be definitively concluded that Arcane Eternal Star was behind this, considering it from another perspective, the Dark God Cult was indeed a malignant tumor, but what force would seek its own destruction? The current situation was that regardless of whether the strong team succeeded in killing the Wolf God, the Dark God Cult was definitely in for big trouble.
They wouldn't be completely wiped out, because the Dark God Cult had been repeatedly annihilated by various forces over the years, and its resistance to total annihilation was certainly the highest in this world. After all, it was a force that rose to prominence in this world during the same era as the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan.
From the perspective of who benefited, this matter was most likely the work of Arcane Eternal Star, and it might even be a conspiracy between Arcane Eternal Star and the Beast Clan.
On the surface, the two forces were hostile, but the Beast Clan and Arcane Eternal Star didn't have a mortal enmity. Once their interests aligned, a temporary secret cooperation was very possible.
In fact, both the Beast Clan and the Sea Clan knew that the Wolf God's seal breaking was only a matter of time. However, the Sea Clan was even more unwilling to face it, as Floating Light Island was their territory.
The Beast Clan's thinking was that since there happened to be a Spellcaster with rich experience in dealing with the Abyss and a Law Destroyer capable of killing Indestructible entities, this was the perfect opportunity. Let the Wolf God rest in eternal slumber quickly, because once the seal failed, there would truly be no one left to deal with the Wolf God.
Arcane Eternal Star's situation was that recently, the Sea Clan had been very unwilling to hand over more Elemental Artifacts. Since that was the case, they would use other methods to empty the Sea Clan's stockpile of Elemental Artifacts in one go. As for what method, wasn't the Wolf God breaking its seal dangerous enough?
This was also why, when the Sea Clan earlier pretended to be ready to go down with Arcane Eternal Star, they were directly slapped hard by Arcane Eternal Star. In the end, they could only pitifully hand over all the Elemental Artifacts in their stockpile to Sefeiliya. Consequently, Sefeiliya signed the contract temporarily forbidding mutual harm and scheming with the Law Destroyer.
This move by the Spellcasters and the Beast King had completely played the Sea Clan, and also made the Dark God Cult take the blame.
The Dark God Cult, which had been beaten up by Su Xiao earlier, was already bruised and swollen. They symbolically expressed, "Law Destroyer, wait until my wounds heal," and then went into hiding. That was actually an implicit way of saying, "Brother, we were wrong. We won't cause trouble on your turf anymore."
Perhaps the Dark God Cult never expected that just as they were showing some submission, a huge pot would be slammed down on them. And this black pot was both vicious and absolute. No matter how the Dark God Cult explained now that they didn't release the Wolf God, no one would believe them.
As for the Beast Clan, who cooperated with Arcane Eternal Star, their attitude this time was also very interesting. They only wanted to resolve the danger posed by the Wolf God, meaning the old Beast King wanted to do one last great thing for this world.
The Beast King sending the Knight Commander had many implications. It was both to ensure the combat strength of the strong team and to subtly tell Su Xiao that since he had even sent his successor, the Beast Clan would have no other intentions during this trip to Floating Light Island besides dealing with the Wolf God.
Shenfu, that old schemer, naturally guessed quite a bit of the hidden details. The old fellow's meaning was to temporarily set aside the matter of them stabbing each other earlier and look out for each other once they reached Floating Light Island.
This made Su Xiao puzzled. Shenfu showing such sincerity either meant he had ulterior motives or there was another hidden reason.
"Do you have an old grudge with Arcane Eternal Star?"
Su Xiao spoke. Hearing this, Shenfu smiled kindly and said, "It's not exactly an old grudge. Once, those Spellcasters sold a batch of Divine Blood Source to Doom Star at a high price. Unfortunately, it was lost carelessly, and I happened to 'find' it. I tried to explain to those Spellcasters, but they were very stubborn. Because I was terrified, I inadvertently led them to the Rotting Ground, and they all died there."
After hearing this, Baha exclaimed, "Good heavens!" This grudge was certainly not small.
"Later, due to various misunderstandings, the cooperation between Arcane Eternal Star and the Underworld God was terminated, which made those Spellcasters hate me even more."
Shenfu said it simply, but after Baha's own translation, it basically became: Shenfu and a group of Ancient God System members sowed discord, causing the already strained relationship between Arcane Eternal Star and the Underworld God to completely break down.
"So, those Spellcasters hate you quite a bit too?"
Baha's smile became increasingly mischievous. Shenfu sighed.
"They sent people to kill me a few times, but after that, they stopped coming for me."
There was no need to think about it; Arcane Eternal Star also felt that Shenfu was difficult to kill and simply ignored him. Of course, this was predicated on Shenfu not provoking Arcane Eternal Star again in the future.
The ferry slowed down and stopped. A figure clad in battle armor, with a gun case slung over one shoulder, emerged from the darkness. He was over three meters tall. Although the gaze under his helmet was calm, it carried an inexplicable intimidation. This heavy armored warrior of the strong team was the Knight Commander.
The Knight Commander nodded to Su Xiao in greeting. After he boarded, the ferry noticeably sank a bit. The wraith boatman steered the boat and continued sailing. Soon, Heizhao, wearing light armor with two rows of short knives inserted at his lower back, also boarded. He was dark and sharp.
When the ferry stopped again, Mage Sage Sefeiliya stepped out of a space passage. She was dressed in a gold-white mage robe, and with her golden pupils under her hood, she was both powerful and aesthetically pleasing. Because the hood covered her face, only the lower half was visible, making one wonder what kind of stunning beauty lay hidden beneath that hood.
In terms of appearance, Sefeiliya indeed had few rivals. Otherwise, a certain female Law Destroyer wouldn't have disguised herself to get close to her back then.
After Sefeiliya boarded, the ferry began to sail at high speed. The surroundings became even dimmer. Since the ferry was small, everyone sat in order. Su Xiao was at the bow, with Bubu Wang and Baha on his left and right. Behind him was Shenfu, then the Knight Commander, then Heizhao, and Sefeiliya was at the stern.
Although everyone deliberately separated the Law Destroyer and the Spellcaster, being at the bow and stern meant they were facing each other. Su Xiao looked at Sefeiliya with a kind smile, while Sefeiliya looked at Su Xiao with a smile in her eyes. Shenfu, the Knight Commander, and Heizhao, sitting in between, all remained silent.
Heizhao was starting to sweat a little on his back. Even when he was promoted to Absolute Strong, the atmosphere wasn't as tense as it was now. To be precise, the current atmosphere was both eerie and tense.
The Knight Commander closed his eyes and entered a meditative state. He was also a meditation enthusiast. Shenfu had a half-smile on his face, clearly ready to enjoy the exciting confrontation between the two opposing sides.
Baha's smile grew increasingly arrogant. This was its home turf.
"Tsk tsk tsk~, Green Gillian, you really know how to play, Sefeiliya. Killing your own old lover with your own hands, then using his cells to cultivate a new one. But it's only normal, after all, you're someone who has lived for over a thousand years. Your level of sophistication is beyond what someone of my age can compare to."
Baha spoke with a full, cheeky grin. Hearing this, the Knight Commander snapped out of his meditation and sensed that things were not good.
"But speaking of which, both I and my boss fully recognize your strength. You are a dangerous yet reliable teammate."
Baha's tone took a sharp turn, and it actually started praising Sefeiliya. This caught Sefeiliya, who was on the "opposing side," off guard, and she held back the retort she was about to make. After all, it's hard to hit a smiling face, especially when it's recognition from the enemy.
Seeing this, Baha smiled even more brightly and said, "Speaking of which, although my boss inherited the Law Destruction legacy, he wasn't initially planning to be hostile towards Arcane Eternal Star. After all, it was an old grudge. It was you who came to provoke us. Thinking about it this way, if you hadn't come to provoke us, your Arcane Eternal Star's resource star wouldn't have been blown up."
Baha continued to mess with the other side's mentality. Although they would cooperate fully in battle without holding back, messing with their mentality was a separate matter; the two didn't conflict.
"But from what I've learned, after my boss arrived at Arcane Eternal Star under the identity of Holy Flame Alchemist, you almost saw through his disguise several times. Good eyesight."
Baha started praising again. This guy really understood the "opposing side" dynamic. It was a classic tactic: first, insult the enemy to deal high psychological damage, then interrupt the enemy's casting animation by praising them, and disrupt their train of thought, thus achieving a risk-free trade.
Just then, Sefeiliya took out a pair of earplugs. This made Baha's expression turn serious, its eyes practically saying, "Are you not playing fair?"
Earplugs were practically a specialized artifact against Baha. No matter how much it could chatter, once the other party blocked their ears with earplugs, the world became quiet for them.
At some point, the wraith boatman at the bow quietly disappeared, leaving only a soul lamp emitting white light hanging at the bow, allowing the ferry to sail safely on the Dark Mist Sea. As the spatial fluctuations gradually subsided, the surrounding scene changed, from dim to dusky. The originally windless environment was replaced by a cold, salty sea breeze. They had arrived in the coastal waters of Floating Light Island.
The seawater was pitch black from Abyss energy invasion. Beneath the ferry, malicious water shadows swam past. Seeing this, Su Xiao stood up and took out a large piece of meat with a strange fragrance. This hundred-jin piece of meat was covered in hair-thin red worms. Just looking at it was enough to make one's scalp tingle, but it was one of the favorite baits for dark creatures.
Su Xiao threw the bait a kilometer away. As the bait hit the water, the water shadows under the ferry were lured away, and the boat successfully docked.
When the last person stepped off the ferry, the boat turned into smoke and disappeared. Seeing this, Heizhao clasped his hands together, his eyes turning pitch black. Black mist appeared around him and attached itself to Su Xiao and the others.
The Knight Commander took the lead and walked into the black mist that permeated Floating Light Island. The black mist seemed to contain the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves, as well as murmuring whispers. Embers of ghostly green soul fire drifted about.
When Su Xiao walked into the black mist, he found that the dark creatures inside were more numerous than expected. Fortunately, the black mist ability from Heizhao that they were covered in caused the dark creatures and wraiths passing by to mistake them for their own kind, so they were completely ignored.
They advanced all the way. As the black mist grew thicker, a cold, dark feeling from the Abyss washed over them. This meant they were very close to the Seal Hall. Noticing this change, Su Xiao signaled Bubu Wang and Baha to act according to the situation.
Su Xiao didn't plan to let Bubu Wang and Baha enter the Seal Hall. It was too dangerous. Although Baha had a high Abyss Resistance of 19 points and Bubu Wang had 17 points, they had other things to do.
Baha quietly retreated outside the black mist and shed Heizhao's black mist disguise. It spread its wings and flew up, soaring under the dim sky, ready to respond to any changes, such as someone quietly surrounding Floating Light Island. As soon as it sensed something wrong, it would first send a message in the team channel and then immediately retreat using its spatial ability.
As for Bubu Wang, as soon as it entered the black mist, it shed Heizhao's black mist disguise and blended into the environment. Bubu Wang's task this time was to penetrate deep into the innermost part of Floating Light Island and see what was happening there.
In the black mist, Su Xiao followed the Knight Commander ahead. Before coming this time, he had already prepared a way to retreat. He didn't need to worry about Bubu Wang and Baha; their survivability was stronger than each other's, and besides, they didn't have to fight the Wolf God. As for Su Xiao, once he entered the Seal Hall, as soon as he received Baha's warning message, he would immediately use the life-saving item [Drifting Bait], generously sponsored by Molei, to escape from this place.
As the cold, dark feeling from ahead grew stronger, Su Xiao saw the open doors of the Seal Hall in the black mist. One of the ancient, double-leafed metal giant doors was open, and strands of cold mist surged out from inside.
The Knight Commander ahead stopped, silently opened his gun case, and pulled out a two-section spike spear. He joined them together. The spike spear was about three meters long. Compared to the Knight Commander's height and build, this weapon was very suitable. From the emblem on the spike spear, it was actually forged by a Demon Blacksmith.
This weapon was called [Thunder End]. Along with the war sword [Abyss Fall], it was one of the three final weapons of the void. Compared to the darkness of [Abyss Fall], [Thunder End] was like a thunderbolt weighing ten thousand jun. From the golden arc of electricity that flashed across it, one of the Knight Commander's abilities should be World Thunder.
Thinking about it this way, there was another way to deal with the Wolf God: summoning World Thunder. However, according to the contract that forbids harming teammates, Su Xiao could only summon World Thunder when the situation was critical and some dangerous measures had to be taken to turn the tide.
The friendly Knight Commander had World Thunder ability, so he would definitely be fine if Su Xiao summoned World Thunder. Even if Shenfu died from it, he could come back to life. As for Heizhao, dark-type beings were generally good at avoiding such fast and powerful attacks. And Mage Sage Sefeiliya, as a Spellcaster, should have high lightning resistance.
Before stepping through the door of the Seal Hall, Su Xiao spoke, "Sefeiliya, I'll be using lightning abilities later. How's your lightning resistance? If it affects you and hampers your combat effectiveness, then I won't..."
Before Su Xiao could finish, Sefeiliya said, "What are you, saying?"
As she spoke, a few strands of silver lightning appeared on her earrings. Combined with her smiling eyes, it seemed to say, "With the intensity of your lightning ability's fluctuations, affect me?"
In fact, Sefeiliya's judgment was correct. Due to his high lightning resistance, Su Xiao could slightly control lightning abilities on his own. However, he didn't gather lightning himself; he directly drew it from nature.
The Knight Commander took the lead, and the group entered the Seal Hall. Su Xiao, walking at the back, took out a crystal fragment and pressed it against the inside of the door. Then, the sealing formation inside the hall was temporarily repaired, lasting about two to three hours. The hall door slammed shut.
It was because of this sealing formation that Su Xiao had the idea of using his elemental affinity to summon World Thunder in the Transcendent Primordial World. After the World Thunder struck down, it would first have to shatter the seal on the ceiling before it could fall into the hall. Of course, this was a last resort when they were about to lose to the Wolf God. If they could win normally, Su Xiao wouldn't summon the thunder.
Strands of cold mist drifted inside the hall. At the far end of this ancient hall, a large sword was thrust into the ground. Behind it was the half-human, half-wolf Wolf God. The Wolf God was over four meters tall, with white fur tinged with black. One of its eyes was cloudy, the other a cyan vertical pupil. Black gas rose from its fur.
On a high stone throne, the Wolf God sat with its head bowed. Black liquid dripped from the claws on its fingertips. The dark fluid surging from the scar on its chest indicated that it had completely merged with the Indestructible Abyss Spawn. More accurately, the Wolf God had devoured and absorbed this Abyss Spawn.
Drip~
A black droplet hit the ground. The Wolf God's claws moved slightly. But the next instant.
Clang!!
The tainted Moonlight Greatsword, no, it should be called the Dark Moon Greatsword, was pulled from its stone base and held in its hand. This was how the Moon Wolves fought; during battle, they were full of power and defeated their opponents in an upright manner.
At this moment, seeing the Moon Wolf holding the Dark Moon Greatsword, an invisible pressure hit them. Their shoulders felt heavy and sore from the pressure. Just facing this being seemed to make their souls shiver.
The Mysterious Eye floated up behind Su Xiao and began to scan the Wolf God's information.
[Comparing intelligence attributes... Due to the environment, 15% of the enemy's data has been successfully detected.]
Name: Wolf God·Xien
Health: 100%
Moonlight Power: 28650/92000 points
Abyss Power: 150000/150000 points
Strength: ???
Agility: ???
Stamina: ???
Intelligence: ???
Charm: 298 (True Attribute, heavily reduced due to death)
Skill 1, Element Devourer (Abyss·Passive, X): Can devour four natural elements... ???
Skill 2, Wolf Blood·War Song (Passive, Lv.89): Health +156000, ignores all control effects, Willpower +150 points.
Skill 3, Moonlight (Passive, Lv.89): Health +72000 points, Body Defense +280 points, Physical Damage Reduction 24%, Energy Damage Reduction 27%.
Skill 4, Element·Attachment (Passive, X): Elemental Affinity +920 points.
???
???
Skill 8, Sword Grandmaster (Technique·Passive, Lv.89): ???
Skill 9, Wild Concealment (Passive, Lv.86): When maintaining a calm aura, can hide one's own combat strength and aura intensity, causing the enemy to misjudge.
???
Skill 17, Wolf Sword·Radiance Moon (Ultimate·Passive, X): Attacks deal Moonlight Damage equal to 8.5% of the enemy's maximum health + 6700 points, and cause the enemy to lose 10 points of Body Defense per second for 5 seconds.
Note: Defense reduction will persist for 1 to 3 hours, depending on constitution.
Skill 18, Wolf Sword·Moon Shadow King (Ultimate·Passive, X): Sword weapon damage rank +8, 30% of damage dealt is True Damage.
Skill 19, Wolf Sword·Indomitable Will (Ultimate·Passive, X): When the Wolf God's health drops to 45%, its Body Defense will be "massively" increased based on its True Strength, True Agility, True Stamina, and True Intelligence attributes (Increase amount: True Strength + True Agility + True Stamina + True Intelligence, total × 0.45).
...
Seeing this information, Su Xiao gained a new understanding of the strength of an Absolute Strong. But soon, he discovered a very serious problem: the Knight Commander and Sefeiliya's expressions as they looked at the Wolf God also seemed to indicate they had a new understanding of the strength of an Absolute Strong, or rather, a new understanding of the upper limit of an Absolute Strong's strength.
Everyone's gaze turned to Heizhao. He was the one who had come here to scout earlier and reported that the Wolf God's strength was between the upper echelon and the top tier of Absolute Strong. In fact, Heizhao was also wronged. When the Wolf God was still sitting there, its aura intensity was indeed between the upper echelon and the top tier of Absolute Strong.
At this moment, Heizhao, a newly promoted Absolute Strong, looked as if he couldn't believe it. If it weren't for the team's morale, he might have already asked, "Can an Absolute Strong really be this ridiculously powerful?"