Chapter 28: Monster
On the fifth floor of the Scarlet Castle, within an open space.
Due to the blessing of Scarlet Energy, the walls and floor here were exceptionally sturdy. Additionally, having chosen this location to confront the Ancestor, Su Xiao had reinforced the area with formations beforehand.
The two metal doors behind him were tightly shut, sealed from the outside, signifying that Su Xiao had left no retreat. If he couldn't defeat the Ancestor—already heavily poisoned and trapped—then there was no chance of dealing with the other four giants.
The Mysterious Eye floated up behind Su Xiao, beginning to scan the Ancestor's data.
[Comparing both parties' true stamina attributes (this enemy-ally attribute determination is random, selecting from five attributes: Strength, Agility, Stamina, Charisma, Intelligence).]
[Comparison complete. This scan will obtain 70% of the enemy's data.]
Name: Ancestor.
Category: World-Destroying Existence (due to this world's constraints, ability cap is sealed).
Health: 320%.
Blood Soul: Uncondensed state (due to insufficient source blood, the Ancestor cannot condense Blood Souls; the Ancestor can condense up to 960 Blood Souls).
Corruption Power: 125,920/130,000 points (ability cap sealed, this trait is reduced).
Strength: ???
Agility: ???
Stamina: ???
Intelligence: ???
Charisma: 0 points.
World Debuff, Super-World-Level Sealing Formation (Passive): While in this world, the upper limit of comprehensive abilities can only reach Absolute Strength·Extreme Value.
Skill 1, Devouring Evil (World-Destroying·Passive, x): Under normal balance of Abyss and Elemental forces, can plunder all life in the world, even the World Force, until the world withers and perishes.
Skill 2, Evil Proliferation (World-Destroying·Passive, x): Ignores the influence of World Consciousness, and blocks all rejection, causal expulsion, etc., from the world.
Skill 3, Undying·Evil Stubborn Body (World-Destroying·Passive, x): Health +220%, all damage reduction 95%.
Skill 4, Evil Blood Nourishment (Passive): Health +270,000 points, body defense +195 points, attacks have life-steal effect, restoring lost health.
???
Skill 6, Filth Insect·Eruption (Active, lv.85): The Ancestor immediately consumes 3,000 Corruption Power, enters a Super Armor state, and erupts a large number of Corrupted Filth Insects from itself, dealing high bite and erosion damage to enemies while moderately accumulating "Corruption Value."
Warning: This ability has no cooldown and can be used consecutively.
Skill 7, Filth Insect·Parasite Cannon (Active, lv.83): The Ancestor immediately consumes 2,500 Corruption Power, enters a Super Armor state, and fires 10 to 50 needle-like Filth Insects from its palm. If the insects pierce an enemy's body, they absorb life force to grow rapidly, then explode inside the enemy, dealing internal damage while greatly accumulating "Corruption Value."
Warning: This ability has no cooldown and can be used consecutively. Charging can increase the number and speed of insect eruption.
???
Skill 9, Filth Insect Metamorphosis (Passive, x): Three-form weapon, attached Corruption, Parasitism, and Frenzy damage. During attacks, moderately accumulates "Corruption Value."
???
Skill 11, Filthy Revenge (Passive, x): When health drops to 150%, the Ancestor enters Bloodthirsty state, changing combat style. When health drops to 50%, the Ancestor enters Mad Blood state, further enhancing combat style.
???
???
Skill 14, Filth Insect·Corrosive Gnawing (Ultimate Ability·Passive, x): Each attack by a Filth Insect reduces body defense by 5 points for 10 seconds. This effect can stack continuously until body defense is reduced by -300 points, at which point stacking stops, but duration continues to increase.
Skill 15, Death Corrosion (Ultimate Ability·Passive, x): When Corruption Value reaches maximum, instant death occurs immediately.
Warning: This ability can be triggered continuously and rapidly. If two instant death effects are suffered within ten seconds, even if the instant death judgment is avoided through immunity, the target will be immediately "executed."
Skill 16, Corrosion Spread (Ultimate Ability·Passive, x): All hostile targets within 10,000 meters will suffer 0.25% to 40% of max health as true corrosion damage per second due to Corruption Power, and will accumulate "Corruption Value" from small to large amounts.
Tip: This ability's damage intensity is determined by the enemy's Willpower and Soul Strength, dealing more damage to targets with low traits.
Skill 17, Filthy·Corrosion Domain (Ultimate Ability·Passive, x): Instantly releases a massive amount of "Filth Insects" and "Filthy Proliferation," covering a ten-kilometer radius. Enemies within take 17,000 points + 20% of max health as true corrosion damage per second, and accumulate "Corruption Value" at an extreme rate. This domain lasts 30 minutes per use, with a 10-minute cooldown before it can be reactivated.
Skill 18: ???
Skill 19, Sudden Death Eye (Supreme·Passive, ???): This ability has been sealed by this world.
Skill 20, Descent·Calamity of All Beings (Supreme·Passive, ???): This ability has been sealed by this world.
...
The Ancestor's data was simply absurd. Not to mention the various extremely dangerous abilities, just the "all damage reduction 95%" alone was enough to make any opponent despair.
Generally, enemies with such nearly invincible defense had low total health, but the Ancestor didn't follow this rule. Its health cap was as high as 320%, and its estimated health was definitely over a million points.
Enemies with high health caps were difficult to deal with. For example, "Extreme Blade·World" could instantly deal 25% of max health as true slashing damage. For an ordinary enemy, that was a quarter of their health lost, but for the Ancestor, it was less than a tenth.
The good news was that Su Xiao was not afraid of the Ancestor's "all damage reduction 95%." His Dragon-Slaying Flash had broken through the Origin-level enhancement limit, reaching Enhancement +16, granting a bonus called "Transcendent Blade."
[Enhancement +16 Additional Effect: Transcendent Blade (Passive): Damage dealt through this weapon ignores all damage immunity and reduction effects.]
The Ancestor's abilities were terrifying, and this was while it was bound by this world. This gave an idea of how horrifying the Ancestor would be at full power, and why it had drained so many worlds dry and still survived to this day. This was the top tier of World-Destroying existences.
Su Xiao drew his long blade from its sheath, having already switched his Soul Core to the Soul-Slaying Soul Core. Enemies like this were most vulnerable to soul-slaying and true damage, both of which he excelled at.
"Moo!"
Two streams of freezing air shot from Amu's nostrils. Having been enhanced by the Watcher's Tower, he was now completely transformed. With their long-standing tacit understanding, Amu didn't need Su Xiao to speak before he charged fiercely at the Ancestor.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With each step Amu took, ice rapidly spread around him. When he was about ten meters from the Ancestor, he leaped into the air, gripping the handle of the Dragonheart Axe with both hands. The axe blade whistled through the air as it swung down, aiming straight for the Ancestor's head, intent on cleaving the three-meter-tall Ancestor in two.
Clang!
Amu's Dragonheart Axe struck a transparent hard shell, and the attack came to an abrupt halt. Before he could react, the Ancestor's right arm shot out like a venomous snake, instantly grabbing Amu by the neck and lifting him off the ground.
"Moo..."
Amu's roar started out deafening but then faded like a deflating balloon. Not only that, but his life force was rapidly absorbed by the Ancestor's arm, causing Amu to visibly wither and shrink until his head lolled to the side, motionless.
Sensing that the enemy was dead and no more life force could be absorbed, the Ancestor tossed Amu aside like trash.
Amu landed with a thud against the wall of the hall. This big guy, of course, wasn't dead, but he couldn't get up to continue fighting either. A subtle spatial mark appeared in Amu's palm, left there earlier by Baha. At that moment, Baha was outside the Scarlet Castle, quietly using spatial abilities through this mark to teleport Amu over there. For the sake of secrecy, this would take a few minutes.
Su Xiao slashed out, and as the blue blade light flew forth, he shot forward at the same speed, instantly arriving in front of the Ancestor and delivering a powerful downward slash.
Clang!!
The Ancestor blocked the blade with its bare hand. A bone-like substance had climbed up its arm. The pressure of the slash caused the surrounding space to shatter like a cracked mirror, letting out a crisp cracking sound. The scene was both spectacular and aesthetically stunning.
Feeling the surging Cyan Steel Shadow energy on the blade, the Ancestor slowly grinned. Even at the corners of its mouth, two small eyes appeared, making its smile even more insane.
Although the Ancestor had seemed cunning and sly before, this monster, imprisoned in a narrow seal for a hundred thousand years, had long gone mad. It could still pretend normally, but once in battle, its completely insane nature was fully revealed.
The sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash, combined with the slashing power of "Blade Weapon Damage Rank +56" and "Blade Weapon Slashing Judgment Rank +56," allowed the blade to cut through the Ancestor's exoskeleton, severing its left forearm and slashing diagonally across its head.
"Ah!"
The Ancestor let out a miserable howl, flailing its arms wildly and staggering backward. But after a few steps, it froze in a pose with one hand covering its face and its upper body leaning back. Then, its body began to tremble.
"Hehehehe... Hahaha!"
Boom!!
A turbid, gray-white aura erupted violently. A cloak-like, semi-transparent membrane fluttered behind the Ancestor. Dozens of pea-sized eyes opened on its face. Its arms lengthened slightly, and thumb-sized holes appeared all over its torso.
A frenzied aura surged forward, even creating a powerful pushing force. Su Xiao blocked with his left arm, wrapped in the Black King Bracer, and through the gaps between his fingers, he stared intently at the Ancestor. But the Ancestor in front of him suddenly vanished.
Su Xiao pierced through space, turning his body while teleporting forward.
Bang! Bang!
Two half-meter-long bone spikes embedded themselves where he had just been. Sensing this, he immediately raised his blade to block.
With a loud clang, the impact and cutting resistance came from the blade. It was the Ancestor, swinging its twisted arm, covered in Filth Insects, down at Su Xiao.
The Filth Insects were about 8 centimeters long. The front half was dark red like a centipede, with a mouth full of sharp fangs. Their bodies were covered in black barbs, making them hard to pull out once they burrowed into flesh and easy to hang onto the target. The gray-white rear half was covered in mucus, carrying the power of corruption.
These Filth Insects attached themselves to the Ancestor's right arm, then coiled and bit into each other, forming this five-meter-long giant arm.
As this giant arm swung down, Su Xiao blocked it with his blade, but a third of the Filth Insects splashed toward him.
Blood Qi erupted, blasting away over 90% of the Filth Insects. The remaining ten percent bit into his shoulder and arm. His health and body defense rapidly decreased, and the "Corruption Value" rose at a not-so-slow pace, filling up by a fifth in an instant. If the "Corruption Value" maxed out, an instant death effect would immediately trigger.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged across Su Xiao's body surface. The Filth Insects on him all screeched and shattered. But at that moment, the giant arm swung down again.
'Blade Path Sword: Extreme.'
Clang!
After a crisp slashing sound, the Ancestor's giant arm was severed. But as soon as this arm, composed of Filth Insects, broke, it exploded violently.
The shockwave hit. Su Xiao slid backward, his feet plowing the ground, before crouching to stabilize himself. Besides the impact, the explosion also carried a filthy energy fluctuation that churned his blood and Qi.
A dozen meters away, the Ancestor let out a deafening, insane roar. Filth Insects erupted from it with a loud bang, their shells clashing and rubbing together, producing a crisp, clattering sound that was especially creepy.
Filth Insects scattered everywhere. After slashing away a large swarm, Su Xiao quickly tilted his head to dodge. Several needle-like, tautly stretched threadworms flew past his ear, hitting the metal door behind him with a dull thud.
A foul wind came head-on. Su Xiao slashed forward.
Pfft!
The long blade cut halfway into the Ancestor's head before getting stuck in its tough body. The Ancestor sprouted several more arms, firmly binding Dragon-Slaying Flash. Not done yet, a large number of Filth Insects surged from its body, about to engulf Su Xiao.
'Blade Path Sword: Blood Explosion.'
A layer of bright red, high-concentration Blood Qi, climbed onto the blade of Dragon-Slaying Flash in Su Xiao's hand.
A loud bang spread out. The Ancestor and the surrounding Filth Insects were all blown to pieces. But this didn't reduce the number of Filth Insects; instead, their numbers skyrocketed. Moreover, they all grew three pairs of wings and flew around.
For a moment, the entire hall was devoid of Filth Insects only within a three-meter radius around Su Xiao. Everywhere else was occupied by Filth Insects, their wings vibrating and shells clashing, producing a crisp, clattering sound that made one's scalp tingle.
Su Xiao looked around, then suddenly slashed to the side. Dark red blood appeared. The Ancestor appeared and retreated instantly.
Just then, everything around him slowed down. Su Xiao "saw" a large number of needle-like threadworms flying from the side, so fast it was unbelievable. There wasn't even time to swap places with the Demon Spirit. These threadworms pierced his left arm and left side of his torso, then exploded, causing him to lose nearly half his torso.
This scene shattered like a bubble. Su Xiao suddenly sidestepped and slashed forward. A gust of wind pressure swept past. Thousands of threadworms flew by around him, and the dozens heading his way were all shattered by his single slash.
A squeezing sound came from the surrounding air. Then, the Filth Insects around him seemed to go berserk. A black-red hole appeared above, and countless Filth Insects and filthy proliferations poured down. This terrifying number would engulf Su Xiao in the next instant.
'Extreme Blade·World.'
A sharp, metallic slashing sound appeared. The rapidly multiplying Filth Insects around him were instantly cleared. "Extreme Blade·World" had broken the "Filthy·Corrosion Domain." Being enveloped by this domain, not to mention the terrifying damage per second, the instant maxing out of "Corruption Value" alone was fatal.
As soon as the domain around him was broken, Su Xiao felt the whole world spin. Then, he seemed to sink into water, falling deeper and deeper.
!
The darkness around Su Xiao shattered. Just 0.5 seconds ago, he had been dragged into an instant unknown domain. Fortunately, his Willpower was strong enough.
Pain came from all over his body. He was now surrounded by Filth Insects, their shells clashing, producing crisp, clattering sounds, and this time, the terrible sound of gnawing flesh was added.
Boom!
Blood Qi erupted with Su Xiao at the center. The Filth Insects around him melted and evaporated like grease under high heat.
Su Xiao felt an unprecedented weakness wash over him. His health had now dropped to 45%. Even with his 1.1 million health, he couldn't withstand the damage from so many Filth Insects. However, compared to this damage, the reduction in body defense caused by the Filth Insects was actually more troublesome.
Logically, when health drops below 50%, Su Xiao's "Immortal Constitution" ability should trigger, putting him into the second stage.
[Immortal Constitution (Passive): When your health drops to 50%, your body defense will be "massively" increased based on your true Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intelligence attributes (increase amount = Strength + Agility + Stamina + Intelligence, total × 0.5).]
With Su Xiao's current body attributes, this was a boost of up to 792 points of body defense. The increase was terrifying. Combined with his million-level health, only the top tier of Absolute Strength could still deal threatening damage to him.
But now, under the Filth Insects' defense reduction, his body defense was only 30 points. Please don't misunderstand; this wasn't 30 points remaining. Considering the extent of the Filth Insects' defense reduction, his body defense should currently be -260 points. This would mean that subsequent damage from the Ancestor would be equivalent to true damage, and would also come with high additional damage.
The reason Su Xiao still had this level of body defense was due to the usually inconspicuous "Adaptive Force," which provided absolute defense.
[Adaptive Force (Passive): Increases 25 to 30 points of irreducible true resistance based on enemy characteristics!]
So-called true resistance meant that, no matter what, Su Xiao's body defense, body anomaly resistance, etc., could not be reduced below this level.
The recovery potion he had taken before the battle was now taking effect. Su Xiao's health quickly recovered, soon reaching over 90%. The numbness from his wounds faded, indicating that the Cyan Steel Shadow energy had devoured the invading Corruption Power.
The hall was covered in insect corpses. The blood of these Filth Insects was especially bright red. Coupled with the fact that the previous "Extreme Blade·World" had killed so many Filth Insects, and each one bled far more than its size suggested, the ground was covered in a layer of blood nearly 10 centimeters deep, presenting a scene of blood flowing like a river.
Standing in this blood, which was like a shallow puddle, Su Xiao held his long blade diagonally pointing at the ground. The tip of the blade lightly touched the blood, sending out a faint ripple.
On the opposite side, the Ancestor, covered in slash marks and with only half its head remaining, was rapidly recovering. It seemed that soul-slaying was ineffective against it, but the drop in its health bar indicated that it had realized the threat Dragon-Slaying Flash posed to it, especially since it had no Blood Core. This blade could truly kill it.
"Law Destroyer!"
Filth Insects continuously emerged from the holes in the Ancestor's body. It controlled these insects to pounce at Su Xiao. Taking this opportunity, it opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, bit its own arm, then raised the wounded arm. The dark red blood flowing from the wound quickly proliferated into dark red biological tissue.
A humanoid figure gradually took shape. It seemed to be a beast clan member, over seven meters tall, with a face full of pain. This had once been a powerful being who had nearly killed the Ancestor but ultimately died at its hands.
As soon as this beast clan member proliferated, it fell to the ground with a thud. The Ancestor's hand pierced the back of the beast clan member's neck, pulling out the entire spine. Then, the beast clan member, composed of proliferated tissue, collapsed and dissolved.
Bang!
The Ancestor swung the spine in its hand. It was like a chain blade, covered in blades and barbs. Moreover, due to the Ancestor's ability, Filth Insects constantly emerged from it, scattering everywhere.
This wasn't the end. The Ancestor's left arm rapidly proliferated, eventually forming a grotesque giant arm. The end of this arm resembled a beast's head. This had once been the mount of a World Child, the last hope of all living beings in a world. Unfortunately, that World Child had ultimately been defeated and died.
"Hahahaha!"
The Ancestor laughed madly as it raised its grotesque left arm. The beast head spewed blood flames, mixed with Filth Insects.
"Law Destroyer! When you die by my hand, I will... save a place for you."
After saying this, one of the Ancestor's newly grown arms tore off the dark gold bandages on its upper body. On its torso were countless faces with tightly shut eyes.
There was no doubt about it. This was a complete and utter monster, with incredibly terrifying abilities. But Su Xiao was certain that the monsters he would have to deal with in the future were definitely not limited to the few in this world. He felt no fear in his heart.
Blood flames ignited the pool of blood on the ground. Though they had no temperature, they rapidly reduced one's sanity.
In the empty hall, Filth Insects flew everywhere. The pool of blood on the ground was ignited by blood flames. The walls were splattered with bloodstains on the reliefs. And opposite him, the powerful monster laughed madly, its appearance horrifying.
Standing in the blood flames, Su Xiao faced the Ancestor, which had revealed its true form. The battle had only just begun.