Chapter 13: Thunder and Lightning
The devouring of the Ancient God system, combined with the corrosion of the Weird system, and finally the erosion of alchemical poison—the stacking of these three effects made even the physically formidable Beast God begin to falter. A muffled thunderclap came from above. Elukulu floated in midair, the blue-purple soul thunder in the sky summoned by her. Although Elukulu was a spellcaster, due to her origins and later experiences, she lacked the arrogance of some spellcasters. Additionally, she had always been self-aware, knowing that facing the Beast God alone was unwise. At the very least, before this battle ended, she absolutely would not stab anyone in the back. So she called out loudly:
"Bai Ye, fall back. The soul thunder is coming."
Su Xiao paid no attention to the shout from behind. He flexed his slightly numb right arm. The bone shield he had just slashed away had numbed his entire arm from the force it carried. Dozens of meters away, the Beast God roared in fury. Its claws raked across its chest, leaving several deep bloody gashes. But realizing this did nothing to alleviate the searing pain throughout its body, it turned its attention to Su Xiao, gripping its five-meter-long giant hammer until it creaked. The Beast God's ability system was simple yet powerful. Each time it devoured a sufficiently strong enemy, it consumed their flesh and blood while also absorbing one of their abilities. Combined with its core ability, this formed its power. The more skills the Beast God had, the stronger its physical strength became through the conversion of its core ability.
Now, Su Xiao had also discovered the Beast God's second core ability. After being injured, as its health dropped, its attack power would continuously increase. Based on this judgment, when the Beast God's health fell below 60%, it would be fully capable of one-shotting Su Xiao, who had 2.15 million health points.
No, Su Xiao could withstand two hits. The first would trigger the Blood Spear Grandmaster's "Blood Controller" effect, and the second would kill him on the spot.
His two good teammates also noticed this, so they both chose to erode the Beast God at all costs. The benefit of this approach was that they played a crucial role in the battle without being instantly killed. Compared to the two good teammates, Elukulu, floating dozens of meters behind Su Xiao, was under immense psychological pressure. She had endured countless hardships to reach her current strength. She wasn't particularly afraid of death, but she was indeed terrified of being one-shot by the Beast God—such a death would be too abrupt and frustrating.
A strange scene unfolded. As a spellcaster, Elukulu desperately hoped that Su Xiao, a Law Destroyer, would not die. If Su Xiao died, no one would stand between Elukulu and the Beast God. Truly, the twists of fate and causality were wonderfully ironic.
"Blade Path Sword: Flow."
Clang! A sharp wind scar slashed through. The Beast God, which usually tanked attacks head-on, actually chose to dodge by tilting its head—a preemptive dodge at that. Even so, many of the horns on the left side of its head were severed, with dark red divine blood gushing from the broken stumps.
"Roar!!!" The Beast God let out a roar, and layers of black sound waves spread outward, impacting the surroundings. Su Xiao felt a buzzing in his ears, and the world before him seemed to twist and distort. The sensation of death rushed toward him, but both his body and soul were simultaneously shaken, making it impossible for him to dodge.
The moment his external perception recovered, Su Xiao sensed the Beast God opposite him gripping the long handle of its giant hammer with both hands, raising the pale weapon above its head and smashing it down toward him. During this, blood burst profusely from the Beast God's body—Zuiyasi was fully devouring and destroying the internal structure of the Beast God's divine body. The Beast God ignored this entirely, determined to flatten Su Xiao.
Having just used his demon spirit ability, Su Xiao couldn't use "Substitution." He took a deep breath, and everything around him slowed down—a deep application of his "Time: Dominator" ability. The falling hammer slowed slightly. Su Xiao didn't choose to dodge. As a triple Technique Grandmaster, he knew how dangerous this heavy hammer strike was. If he dodged, the Beast God's subsequent four-hit combo of death would be a true nightmare. Under that attack, he would be instantly killed.
Everything around him slowed. The wind pressure from above made the hem of Su Xiao's long leather coat flutter. At the center of his pupils, a faint blue gleam of Cyan Steel Shadow energy appeared.
"Perfect Block."
Su Xiao held his blade with one hand, meeting the Beast God's heavy hammer. Dozens of meters behind him, Elukulu witnessed this scene, and her eyes unconsciously widened slightly. It wasn't shock, but rather a desire to clearly see what would happen next. She felt that what was about to occur might be the most stunning and unforgettable technique-type battle she had ever witnessed.
Clang!! The explosive sound of metal clashing spread. With Su Xiao at the center, the surrounding debris, earth, and everything else were instantly cleared. Within a diameter of hundreds of kilometers, the ground became flat and clean, compacted as hard as stone slabs.
Crack, crack, crack~!
The blade of Su Xiao's Dragon-Slaying Flash scraped against the hammer, making a grinding sound. Although Su Xiao felt like his bones were about to fall apart, he still lowered his stance slightly, pushing against the Beast God's immense strength as his long blade slashed forward.
"Perfect Counter."
With this slash, Su Xiao actually sent the Beast God tumbling backward, finally crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
Seeing this, Elukulu, a top-tier Absolute Strength powerhouse, twitched her eyes almost imperceptibly. Though she didn't want to admit it psychologically, having experienced countless battles, she was genuinely shocked by this parry and counter-slash. She had faced the Beast God herself and knew how terrifyingly powerful this enemy was. Blocking its attack at the same rank was already unbelievable, let alone counter-slashing this monstrous force to the ground.
The reason Su Xiao could parry and counter-slash the Beast God, a formidable enemy like this, was not only due to his physical attributes but also because of the Moon Wolves' signature ability, "Perfect Block."
"Perfect Block (Core, Passive): Your parry with a melee weapon will be considered a perfect block. Each level of technique-type ability you possess increases the block correction by 1 point. Current block correction: 277 points (Activating this ability requires protective energy from technique abilities)."
"Perfect Counter (Passive): In melee combat, if you successfully parry or block an enemy's attack and your strength attribute difference with the enemy is less than 20 points, you will be immune to knockback effects. The shock damage you take is reduced by 83%, and a force rebound is formed..."
Logically, with Su Xiao's 652 points of true strength attribute, he couldn't possibly counter the Beast God, which had maxed out its strength at the Absolute Strength level. The key point was that the judgment of "Perfect Counter" was based on the derived judgment following "Perfect Block." Thus, within 2 to 3 seconds after Su Xiao performed "Perfect Block," his strength judgment reached an astonishing 929 points, naturally allowing him to activate "Perfect Counter." As for why he didn't leap forward and stab through the Beast God's head after successfully countering it, it was because he felt like his waist was about to break.
Su Xiao didn't move. Behind him, Elukulu didn't miss this opportunity. Her golden hair fluttered as she floated in midair, both hands raised upward. The ground within hundreds of kilometers cracked open with a loud pop. The area where the Beast God was located lifted up, carrying it upward into the sky.
Under the force of gravity, the lifted hard earth continuously converged toward the Beast God. The opening move of this technique was very similar to the Planetary Devastation, but the range was enormous, covering the entire Exile Land.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
In the sky, substances like soil, rocks, tree roots, and bone fragments gathered and wrapped around the Beast God, undergoing high-intensity compression. Even with the Beast God's strength, it struggled to break free for a time. Finally, a giant stone sphere tens of thousands of meters in diameter came to a halt in the sky. Elukulu's loosely held hands drew closer together. With a thunderous roar, the tens-of-thousands-of-meter-wide sphere instantly compressed to a diameter of a hundred meters, turning into an iron-black, metallic-looking ball.
"Blazing Sun!"
Elukulu's hair turned fiery red, and golden flames seemed to burn on the floating strands. Almost simultaneously, the giant sphere in the sky turned blazing red, its terrifying temperature making it shine like a sun.
"Banishment."
Elukulu raised one hand, and this artificial mini-sun floated upward into the sky. If it couldn't break free, it would truly be banished into the Star Realm.
Crack, crack, crack~!
Cracks appeared on the artificial mini-sun, and the Beast God broke free.
"Scorch."
Elukulu's pupils turned blazing red, and the entire sky began to burn. A whistling sound came as meteors trailing flames crashed down, tracking the Beast God's position. They slammed into it one after another, driving it into the ground.
Spellcasters were never weak. In fact, at the same rank, spellcasters were always among the top in combat power. This was only natural; otherwise, the spellcaster faction couldn't have become the overlords of the void. As for fighting against Law Destroyers... cough, let's not mention that matter that made spellcasters gnash their teeth in hatred.
The entire Exile Land turned into a lava lake. The Beast God crashed heavily into it. Elukulu descended from her floating state, her hair turning ice-blue, her skin as pale as ice crystals. Then she lay back on the lava lake.
Crack, crack, crack~!
Ice spread instantly. What had been a lava lake moments ago turned into an icefield. The Beast God, just climbing out of the magma, was frozen solid.
The ability of an Absolute Strength-level spellcaster to alter terrain and environment was fully demonstrated in elemental-type spellcasters. More importantly, over 90% of defensive abilities were as thin as paper in the face of magical elemental damage.
Crack, crack~! The ice shattered. Elukulu broke free from the extreme cold. Her face slightly pale, she said to Su Xiao, "My magical energy is somewhat depleted. The next part is up to you. If it weren't for the range of the summoned thunder, I actually have better ways to injure the enemy."
Elukulu spoke while exhaling cold air. Hearing this, Su Xiao tapped the tip of his long blade on the ice surface, shattering the ice on the blade.
"Summon thunder."
"Are you sure?"
Su Xiao didn't reply. Seeing this, Elukulu narrowed her eyes slightly. Her hair turned blue-white, and blue-white electric arcs danced among the floating strands.
"Roar!"
The Beast God broke through the ice. It leaped high, then, with its thick right arm gripping the giant hammer, smashed down as it fell.
Boom!!
The ice surface surged like ocean waves, but it didn't break. This was actually the most terrifying part—the physical force was so strong that it had changed the material behavior of the ice.
A force swept beneath the ice, then split in two, erupting beneath Su Xiao and Elukulu.
Boom! Boom! As ice fragments flew, Su Xiao sidestepped away, while Elukulu was blasted upward. Although Elukulu's attacks often spanned hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, combat wasn't about who had the larger destruction range. As a technique-type fighter, Su Xiao might not excel at altering terrain and environment, but within a reachable range, he could cut through worlds, even slicing open an Abyss passage.
A sonic boom sounded. The Beast God erupted with astonishing speed. This enemy not only had higher attack power when injured but also increased speed as its wounds deepened.
The Beast God suddenly appeared in front of Su Xiao, its charged heavy fist smashing toward him. A crystal layer formed by Cyan Steel Shadow energy spread over Su Xiao's body, but the next moment, he vanished from his spot.
After 0.5 seconds of calm, an explosion sounded where Su Xiao had been. The surrounding space and the ice below burst apart, and an afterimage disappeared into the distance.
Two seconds later, at the outer wall of the inner city of Twilight City.
Boom! The loud sound of the Twilight City's external barrier being breached startled the city guards on the wall. Then, a wind-breaking sound came. The wall was blasted through with a large hole. The afterimage that had pierced the wall crashed into the inner city, smashing the water tank of the South District's Great Water Tower, sending a torrent of water gushing out.
The city guards on the wall were stunned for a second or two before their captain roared, "Enemy attack!!"
By the time the city guards and the Gendarmerie surrounded the Great Water Tower area, a hand wearing a metal arm guard that covered the palm and forearm pressed against the edge of the damaged, curled tank wall. A figure walked out of the mist.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
The newcomer coughed dryly several times, blood seeping through the fingers covering his mouth. The spreading blood aura made the city guards and Gendarmerie members swallow hard.
Su Xiao looked around. Seeing the insignia on the city guards' armor, he realized he had been punched all the way to the inner city of Twilight City. He checked his health, which had recovered to over 90% thanks to the rare team passive ability "Vitality Awakening," but his ultimate survival ability "Blood Controller" had entered cooldown.
"..."
Su Xiao tossed a special silver coin to the captain of the inner city Gendarmerie. The captain caught the coin and, without a word, ordered everyone to disperse. This was only natural. Old Noble Augustus was a leader-level figure in the old noble faction. This special silver coin, in a sense, represented the old noble faction.
A crystal layer spread under Su Xiao's feet, activating the "Law-Destroying Teleportation Array." The spatial teleportation sensation had just ended when he heard a loud crash. Countless black tentacle fragments flew everywhere. Zuiyasi was directly tanking the Beast God. Black tentacles surged from the void, only to be smashed apart by the giant hammer. Meteors fell, also smashed down by the Beast God's hammer.
Around Zuiyasi were scattered his severed limbs and broken arms. Conservatively estimated, during the time Su Xiao was blasted away, Zuiyasi must have died over a dozen times. Truly, a good teammate was reliable at critical moments.
However, even with Zuiyasi's reliability and Elukulu's cover, the pressure of facing the Beast God directly was too great. His aura surged, and spiral tentacles pierced through the Beast God's chest, but this couldn't stop the massive hand reaching for him.
With a loud crash, Zuiyasi was flattened. Perhaps annoyed by this undying Ancient God system, the Beast God used its giant hammer to smash the ground where Zuiyasi was distributed, sending it flying out of sight in an instant.
The wind pressure rushed toward Su Xiao. The bone shield came at him again. The muscles on his right arm bulged slightly. With a clang, he slashed the incoming shield away. It seemed like a contest of pure strength, but it was actually precise force control, using the shield's own momentum to send it flying.
Taking this opening, the Beast God roared. Divine blood surged within it, actually blasting Wood, who was in black mist form, out. Wood, who had been eroding it, was high on the Beast God's hate list. With a simple upward kick, Wood, in black mist form, along with the divine blood enveloping him, disappeared into the sky.
The Beast God performed a pressure-filled frog leap, pouncing on Elukulu. It completely ignored all elemental attacks. Rolling on the ice surface, it swiped a claw at Elukulu.
In a critical moment, Elukulu raised her right hand. Surging elemental power formed an eggshell-like shield. With a deafening crash, although the Beast God didn't shatter the elemental shield, Elukulu's raised right arm inside the shield exploded into a mist of blood. Cracks spread from her rear shoulder down her spine.
In a terrifying gravity field that could crush mid-to-lower Absolute Strength powerhouses, the Beast God was completely unaffected. It raised its right claw again. If this claw came down, Elukulu would surely die. As for survival measures, after losing Su Xiao, the technique-type frontline, Elukulu had already used up a round of them.
"Blade Path Sword: Flow."
A wind scar slashed through, cutting open a small part of the Beast God's right arm. This made it change its downward-swinging right claw to a sideways sweep. Among the enemies present, it dared not ignore Su Xiao's slashes.
Clang! Perfectly blocking this claw, Su Xiao slid backward dozens of meters across the ice in a half-crouch. The next instant, the Beast God's claw came swiping. Through the gaps between the fingers of this large claw, Su Xiao successfully locked eyes with the Beast God. He immediately used "Malicious Gaze" to trigger the "Time: Dominator" effect, slowing everything around him.
"Dual Blade: Extreme."
This was using the demon spirit ability to apply the "Dual Blade" effect to "Blade Path Sword: Extreme." As the demon spirit clung to Su Xiao's back, he slashed out a double "Blade Path Sword: Extreme" effect.
Pfft!
The Beast God's index finger was severed. The claw originally aimed at Su Xiao missed due to the missing finger.
"Blade Path Sword: Flow."
A wind scar slashed across the Beast God's throat, spilling large amounts of blood. After this significant power boost and initial real combat, Su Xiao found that the current "Blade Path Sword: Flow" was incredibly useful.
Just then, a muffled thunderclap sounded in the sky. Elukulu, lying in a pool of blood, raised her left hand. A pillar of soul thunder, dozens of kilometers thick, descended. Earlier, she had given up on using soul thunder, but when she mentioned this, Su Xiao told her to bring down the thunder. Elukulu didn't think a powerful technique-type teammate would be reckless, so this temporary teammate must have lightning immunity. With this judgment, using her remaining magical energy, she summoned this astonishing soul thunder with natural elements.
The soul thunder pillar fell, enveloping the area where Su Xiao and the Beast God were. If Wood in the sky could speak, he would have thanked Elukulu profusely. Wood, who had been blasted into the sky, had barely withstood one of the Beast God's attacks, then nearly got taken out by the soul thunder Elukulu had gathered.
Boom! Within the soul thunder domain, the Beast God's speed drastically decreased. The surging lightning caused its health to continuously drop, occasionally paralyzing it for an instant. In contrast, Su Xiao seemed completely unaffected. He vanished among the blue-purple soul thunder, reappearing beside the Beast God's head. He delivered a side kick.
The deafening roar was somewhat muffled by the soul thunder. Taking this side kick from Su Xiao, even the Beast God couldn't handle it. It crashed down, horn fragments flying everywhere.
"Extreme Blade: World!"
Dense slashes appeared on the Beast God's body. Divine blood splattered everywhere, slowing its attempt to get up.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Five Extinction Bullets all hit the Beast God's head, shattering nearly half of it. The power of death caused the damaged area of its head to crumble like rotten wood.
As an undead, the Beast God wouldn't die from this. Its claw came swiping down, but Su Xiao didn't dodge.
"Blade Path Sword: Extreme."
Clang! A slash resounded across the sky. The Beast God's right arm was severed. Su Xiao vanished again, reappearing in front of the Beast God's head. The surrounding soul thunder domain, due to his "Heaven's Wrath: Thunderclap Slash" ability, all converged onto his long blade. Additionally, a crystal layer coated Dragon-Slaying Flash, increasing the blade's length by over half.
The thunder blade pierced upward through the Beast God's head. It wasn't heavily injured by this. Instead, it raised its left claw, about to smash down on Su Xiao. The next moment, black tentacles appeared on this arm, causing it to explode.
Not only that, but large amounts of black mist surged from the Beast God's body, instantly weakening it significantly. Its strength, agility, and endurance attributes all dropped by over a hundred points.
After a long absence, both good teammates' abilities had improved greatly. Combined with this critical backup, it fit their style perfectly.
This window was brief, but enough for Su Xiao to use his ability. A red gleam appeared at the center of his pupils.
"Blade Path Sword: Blood Explosion."
Boom! A loud sound erupted inside the Beast God's head, dropping its aura to its weakest. The world domain of the Boundary Circle opened. This domain provided no buffs, but within it, undead became killable. Note: not killable through conventional means, but only by execution-type abilities.
Within the domain, the Beast God used its newly regenerated right claw to support itself on the ice, about to stand up.
A light, yet exceptionally sharp slash passed through. The long blade, emitting black-blue smoke, cut across the Beast God's throat, freezing its movement completely.
Su Xiao flicked the black-blue smoke off his blade and sheathed it. Almost simultaneously, the Beast God exploded into ashes. Seconds later, only a polluted "Divine Soul" floated in midair, along with a "Sun Source Stone" shimmering with golden light.
"Hunter Title Effect 2: Grip of Judgment (Passive): When you grasp a heavily polluted 'Divine Soul,' you have the right to crush it, allowing the divine soul's divine characteristics to return to the Star Realm. Over time, a new 'Divine Soul' of that system will form, appearing at a random location in some world. Note: Each time you crush a heavily polluted 'Divine Soul,' your maximum luck cap increases by 2 (originally increased by 10, but due to the vast scale of your Law Destroyer luck, it can only increase by 2. This is the maximum increase possible after certification by Reincarnation Paradise)."
Su Xiao grasped the heavily polluted "Divine Soul" with one hand. With a muffled boom and a burst of black mist spreading, he crushed the "Divine Soul."
The Beast God had been slain.