Chapter 52: Banishment
The Eternal Night Empress, dozens of meters ahead, gradually faded into the darkness. Abilities like [Strangulation] could not be used consecutively without intervals. More precisely, after simultaneously locking onto five targets, it could not be used continuously; each use had an interval of roughly 3 to 5 minutes.
This was why one could not face the Eternal Night Empress one-on-one. In that case, her two uses of [Strangulation] would only be 0.01 seconds apart. Even if the opponent possessed strong immortality, they would be continuously strangled. Moreover, any immortality ability had a theoretical limit; once that limit was reached, death would follow.
As the surrounding darkness faded slightly, Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, Wude, Shenfu, the Platinum Apostle, and Heimo all charged forward simultaneously. At this moment, the Eternal Night Empress's [Strangulation] was in its cooldown phase, so there was no fear of her suddenly appearing behind them. Even if she did, it wouldn't be her true body.
Zuiyasi had only taken two steps when a figure with long hair, composed of black mist, appeared behind him. One hand pressed toward Zuiyasi's back. This motion seemed slow, yet even with Zuiyasi slowing time, he couldn't evade this press.
The moment the Eternal Night Empress's phantom hand pressed against Zuiyasi's back, his entire body began to twist. This time, it wasn't a straight twisting like a hemp rope, but rather a spiral vortex starting from the center of his body, tearing Zuiyasi apart.
Seeing this, the others not only didn't stop but moved even faster. The next second after Zuiyasi was torn apart, the Eternal Night Empress's phantom appeared behind Su Xiao.
At that instant, Su Xiao felt a chilling darkness creeping up from behind, like black liquid seeping into every pore. This sensation, though not freezing cold, was so eerily chill that it stiffened his joints, slowing his movements, rapidly enveloping him.
A black dot appeared on his back, quickly transforming into a spiral vortex, preparing to tear him apart from that center.
With a crack, crystal fragments scattered. Su Xiao wasn't torn apart; what shattered was a crystal sculpture identical to him. The next moment, the Eternal Night Empress's phantom appeared behind Wude.
Though they had to deal with this black mist phantom, the six of them didn't slow their forward pace by even half a step. A few minutes later, a surge of darkness descended from above, and the Eternal Night Empress appeared in the darkness ahead.
Thump!
With a dull sound, Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, Shenfu, and the other six all stopped simultaneously. Waves of strangulation force struck them. During the previous wave of [Dark Strangulation], Su Xiao wasn't present, so he had evaded that attack. But now, he was right in the middle of the [Dark Strangulation] domain.
With a snap, an invisible shell shattered on Su Xiao's surface. Su Xiao, who had originally planned to use the [Blood Moon Queen] necklace's ability to endure, felt puzzled but didn't slow his longsword's speed by even a fraction.
‘Blade Path Sword: Flow.’
Clang!
An elegant wind scar slashed through the front, and blood-like black liquid splattered. After a brief silence, an angry shriek came from the darkness.
When the Eternal Night Empress used [Dark Strangulation], she wasn't without weaknesses. Every time she used this ability, she had to emerge from her dark void state. Once she was in the same spatial dimension as Su Xiao and the others, Su Xiao, Wude, and Shenfu could all attack her. The reason was that the Blade Grandmaster's soul-slashing ignored energy forms, Wude's attacks had invasive properties, and Shenfu's attacks leaned more toward curses and the darkness of ancient gods.
The moment Su Xiao's slash hit the Eternal Night Empress, a storm of memories invaded him. He saw:
"Don't continue. Falling into the abyss won't give you more power. Besides, I can help you take revenge, can't I? I've already started tracking the Star Devourer's trail."
"Who said I crave power and that's why I fell into the abyss? I just... prefer the stillness of the darkness."
"Oh, this... the script is wrong. What kind of crappy comforting words did Waltz come up with? They don't fit at all."
After saying this, Green Gillian saw the Eternal Night Empress about to lie back into the abyssal vortex. Without thinking, she urgently shouted, "Think about your family!"
Hearing this, the Eternal Night Empress paused. Recalling that the world where her loved ones lived had been devoured by the Star Devourer, causing all her family to die, she lay back even more resolutely.
Green Gillian, suppressing the urge to slap herself hard, urgently said, "Think about it, you still have me."
Hearing this, the Eternal Night Empress paused her backward motion again. She looked at Green Gillian, pondered for two seconds about what this heartbreaker had done, then lay back into the great abyssal vortex, swallowed by the liquid-like dense darkness.
"Damn it!!"
In the darkness, the Eternal Night Empress heard Green Gillian's shout from outside. She could sense the anger and unwillingness in the other's tone—the unwillingness of failing to save her. Having someone care about her at the final moment brought a faint smile to the Eternal Night Empress's ice-cold face.
The Eternal Night Empress's consciousness sank into dark stillness. Then, everything she did became unrelated to her. After sinking into the abyss's darkness, her consciousness split in two: one half was her original consciousness, and the other half was the abyssal consciousness that emerged from her fall into the abyss.
If a miracle occurred and the Eternal Night Empress's original consciousness overcame the abyssal consciousness, she could, to some extent, control the abyss's power and use it without cost.
Unfortunately, no miracles happened when falling into the abyss. The Eternal Night Empress's original consciousness lost. Now, she was a complete Abyss Descendant.
The memory images before him faded. Zuiyasi, Shenfu, and the others near Su Xiao were still enduring [Dark Strangulation]. As for why he could evade this [Dark Strangulation], if he wasn't mistaken, he could evade it six times, corresponding to the six Original Sin Objects he had sealed. It wasn't that the Original Sin Objects were helping him, but rather a phenomenon resulting from successfully sealing six Original Sin Objects.
More precisely, this was a passive ability of the [Book of Original Sin] after successfully sealing six Big Daddy-level Original Sin Objects. It was like a special shield, but this special shield only triggered in very rare situations, such as when enduring [Dark Strangulation].
For this reason, after the group entered the Eternal Night Empress's domain, she chose to teleport Su Xiao the farthest away, because she needed to perform a full seven [Dark Strangulations] to kill this Law Destroyer.
Su Xiao felt that this passive trait of the [Book of Original Sin] would definitely become a major asset in dealing with Abyss Descendants in the future, perhaps even the core ability when facing them.
The surrounding area buzzed with noise from the invisible strangulation. Su Xiao didn't step forward. He was certain that if he took one step forward, he would be strangled again. The [Book of Original Sin]'s passive shield only had six layers, each extremely precious. Moreover, he didn't know how long it took for each layer to recover.
When the surrounding [Dark Strangulation] stopped, Zuiyasi and Heimo were sitting and lying on the ground respectively. Zuiyasi raised his hand, waved it, and said, "I can't go on. My soul has been twisted apart several times. If this continues, I'll die here."
Hearing this, Su Xiao extended a crystal layer under his feet. When it reached Zuiyasi, it instantly formed a [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array]. This made the half-dead Zuiyasi's eyes widen slightly as he urgently said, "You treacherous dog, wait..."
Thump!
The 'good teammate' was safely sent outside the lightless zone. Not many teleportation arrays could activate in a place like the lightless zone, but the [Law-Destroying Teleportation Array] was certainly among them.
When Su Xiao looked at Heimo, he found that Heimo had already merged into the darkness. Since he didn't need to send him, Su Xiao canceled the control, and the crystal array pattern on the ground shattered and dissipated.
The group continued forward. Surprisingly, after advancing for over ten minutes, the Eternal Night Empress didn't attack again, as if Su Xiao's slash had severely wounded her.
Just as they reached the deepest southern part of the lightless zone, a pale red mist spread here. The moment Su Xiao approached this red mist, his health dropped like flowing water. In just 0.2 seconds, 75% of his 2.73 million health cap was drained—2,047,500 health points—absorbed in an instant.
This was only because Su Xiao, as a three-technique grandmaster, had keen perception. Otherwise, if he had walked into this seemingly harmless red mist, he would have died instantly.
Su Xiao, Wude, Shenfu, and the Platinum Apostle all stopped. The Platinum Apostle reached one hand into the red mist. In less than a second, his appearance flickered through a hundred faces like a phantom. His left hand, like a blade, cut off his right arm, and he retreated three big steps before escaping the mist's absorption.
"265 times."
The Platinum Apostle meant that in less than one second, he had died 265 times.
"Confirm whether it's life devouring or life absorption."
Su Xiao spoke. He made this distinction to ensure the subsequent plan wouldn't fail. If the Eternal Night Empress's red mist domain was [Life Devouring], it meant the domain purely absorbed and devoured life force without further continuation.
Conversely, if it was [Life Absorption], it meant the life force absorbed by this red mist domain would later be used by the Eternal Night Empress, possibly absorbed by her to further enhance its strangeness.
"I'll die once, but I need a mark."
The Platinum Apostle spoke. He had now transformed into a golden-haired noblewoman with ice-blue radial pupils.
"Wait a moment."
Wude raised one hand in front of himself. His pupil flame gradually expanded. This was him deceiving himself. After a few seconds, Wude's eerie green pupil flame turned gray-white. A strong curse aura appeared. He had temporarily frauded himself into a curse master.
"Curse... can... mark."
Wude's voice was deep and ethereal. He raised one hand, and translucent tentacles grew on the Platinum Apostle, making it difficult for him to move. He stepped into the red mist ahead.
Sizzle~
The spirit shadow thread tightened, making it easier for the Platinum Apostle to exit the red mist domain. Wude remained expressionless throughout until the curse mark he had established shattered. Then, he returned to his original state, shedding the curse master persona.
"The curse mark existed this long, so it can only be [Life Devouring]. If the Eternal Night Empress wanted to use or absorb this life force, she wouldn't have allowed the curse mark to exist this long."
After Wude confirmed this, Su Xiao had a way to deal with the red mist domain. As long as it was confirmed that the life force absorbed by this red mist domain wasn't used by the Eternal Night Empress, the rest was simple.
Crack, crack~
The sound of space splitting came. When the space behind Su Xiao reached a critical point,
Boom!
A large area of space shattered, and a towering insect race void gate emerged. Inside this tall gate were dark purple glows and surging biological structures. This kilometer-high insect race void gate wasn't in its complete form, but this scale was sufficient.
[War Lord Title Effect 1: Lord's Authority (Active): Can open a void gate connecting to the Eternal Light World Insect Race Base Camp, summoning a large number of Demon Insect Race.
Hint: The size and scale of the void gate will be determined by the sum of your Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Stamina attributes.
Hint: The maximum number of insect race that can be summoned will be determined by your Soul Strength (currently up to 2.63 million combat-type Demon Insect Race).
Hint: The maximum stay time of summoned Demon Insect Race in the current world will be determined by your Elemental Affinity.
Warning: If in a mission world, this ability can be activated at most once per world progress. If a second activation is attempted, you will face strong rejection from the current world until you are expelled from it.]
Countless insect race units—Worker Scorpions—rushed out of the void gate. Their numbers were so vast that they filled the void gate, surging out like a tide.
Su Xiao didn't summon the powerful Demon Beasts for combat, nor the strongest insect race unit, the Demon Flame Dragon. Instead, he summoned the most basic insect race unit of the Demon Insect Race: the Worker Scorpion. They didn't even have combat abilities, mainly responsible for construction, repair, maintenance, short-distance transport, and storage management.
Why summon so many Worker Scorpions? The reason was that combat units like Demon Beasts, Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Beasts absorbed bio-energy and consumed bio-energy during movement.
In contrast, Worker Scorpions absorbed bio-energy but consumed life force. Bio-energy was a product of compressing biological life force into liquid and undergoing qualitative change, unique to the insect race. If other organisms absorbed bio-energy, they would die on the spot, let alone use it as movement energy, unless they had strong adaptability.
Worker Scorpions directly consuming bio-energy would waste the mother nest's existing resources. So, Worker Scorpions evolved corresponding organs that could convert 1 unit of bio-energy into 180 to 190 units of regular living creature life force—the lowest level of life force. Life force had at least 60 tiers. At the Absolute Strength level, it was mostly high-tier life force, just with different characteristics.
Su Xiao opened the insect race void gate this time to summon endless Worker Scorpions. The War Lord's trait allowed summoning up to 2.63 million combat-type Demon Insect Race at once. But what about non-combat units? And on top of that, the most basic insect race units? Then, the number Su Xiao could summon at once would increase by over a hundred times.
Another point was that cultivating one Demon Beast required 8 units of bio-energy, while cultivating one Worker Scorpion required 0.0005 units of bio-energy. That meant 1 Demon Beast equaled 16,000 Worker Scorpions.
For an existence like the Eternal Night Empress, whose abilities were so bizarre as to be unsolvable to a certain extent, there must be some weakness. Whether it was [Dark Distortion] or [Dark Incarnation], both abilities highlighted a subtle weakness: a limit. Once that limit was exceeded, not only would these powerful abilities be interrupted, but the Eternal Night Empress herself would suffer backlash.
The blood mist domain the Eternal Night Empress deployed was very powerful, capable of draining Su Xiao's life force in one second. But it could absorb thousands or tens of thousands of lives from the Platinum Apostle in one second. Yet, this ability also had its limit.
What would happen if 1 million Worker Scorpions all rushed into this domain and had their life force drained? The answer was: no change. What about 5 million? Still no change.
But after endless Worker Scorpions charged into the red mist domain for over three hours, the red mist ahead exploded with a loud bang and scattered.
Things with weaknesses could be defeated. Moreover, what the Eternal Night Empress faced now was such a monstrous lineup. There were six people in total, each looking more human than the last, yet only one was human. And that blood-soaked human seemed even more unsettling than the ancient god and demon race beside him.
After all the red mist dissipated, the group continued forward. At the southernmost part of the lightless zone, a wall made of darkness, resembling a crystal substance, appeared ahead. On this wall, which was so high its top was invisible, there was a door a few meters tall. This door was entirely dark silver, as if cast from metal. The door was seamless, clearly not openable from the outside.
Su Xiao looked at Shenfu. Shenfu pondered for a moment and replied, "At most 1.5 seconds."
Getting this answer, Su Xiao took out a sealing medium that looked like a roll of black bandages. He removed his Wild Hunt Night long leather coat, tore off the inner clothing on his right arm, and wrapped this black bandage-like sealing medium around his right hand and forearm. After wrapping the sealing medium, he pulled out a metal wire from it. With his will, this metal wire formed a circular spell pattern, with coordinates representing an unknown place in the abyss.
With the coordinates set, the sealing medium on Su Xiao's right arm activated, melting and imprinting onto his right arm. This caused his forearm and right hand to emit black mist, and in his palm, there was a spiral pale ring mark.
Seeing Su Xiao ready, the Platinum Apostle came to the dark silver metal door. He would be the first to rush in and die. As for how to open the door, Wude stepped forward. His hand, blurry between 2D and 3D states, pressed against the door. After doing this, he stepped back step by step, clasping his hands together. From now on, everyone waited for Wude's signal.
"Open."
Wude's eerie green pupil flame blazed. This dark silver metal door was indestructible? No matter. After being 2D-ized, it was just a bunch of lines with no actual blocking effect.
The moment the sealed door opened, the Platinum Apostle, who had transformed into a four-meter-tall bald giant, charged in with a boom. The moment he rushed into the dark domain, his flesh rapidly withered and turned to ashes.
Shenfu held the [Book of Mercy] in one hand and pressed the other hand on it, saying:
"Lost, lamb."
As soon as he spoke, the Eternal Night Empress inside the dark domain was covered in gray-white, dead-skin-like petrified crystalline matter, causing her to be frozen.
With a booming sound of air being torn, Su Xiao had already charged forward. Just as he was about to press his hand toward the Eternal Night Empress's face, the gray-white frozen matter on her right eye burst open. Almost simultaneously, the right half of Shenfu's body shattered, showing that he had indeed done his best.
The moment he was stared at by the Eternal Night Empress, Su Xiao felt his soul swallowed by darkness. This was another ability of the Eternal Night Empress, as powerful as [Dark Strangulation], called [Dark Drowning]. It could swallow the soul of the one who met her gaze into darkness and drown it to death. However, compared to [Dark Strangulation], [Dark Drowning] had a longer interval between uses, up to several natural days.
A dark mouth that appeared out of nowhere swallowed Su Xiao, but immediately spat him out. Or rather, it spat out the Blade Demon Spirit. The moment he was about to endure [Dark Drowning], Su Xiao swapped positions with the Blade Demon Spirit.
It was worth noting that the [Substitution] ability derived from the Blade Demon Spirit wasn't just about swapping positions. It instantly swapped Su Xiao's position, situation, and the abilities and curses he was about to suffer. The nearly fatal [Dark Drowning] was completely ineffective against the Blade Demon Spirit. Darkness couldn't invade the Blade Demon Spirit.
Opportunities were fleeting. Su Xiao certainly wouldn't miss this. He had already appeared in front of the Eternal Night Empress. His right hand, bearing the abyssal banishment spell pattern, pressed toward her. When his hand was only a few centimeters from her face,
‘Roar!!’
An invisible shriek spread. This invisible shriek caused the banishment spell pattern on Su Xiao's right hand to shatter and dissolve. He pressed his bare hand onto the Eternal Night Empress's face. Between his fingers, one of the Eternal Night Empress's eyes looked at him with some amusement, because... the Eternal Night Empress had won.
The Eternal Night Empress, having narrowly won in this situation, felt joy flooding like a tide. The corners of her mouth uncontrollably curled up. She had forgotten how long it had been since a living being brought her such pleasure in the hunt.
But in the next second, the joyful smile on the Eternal Night Empress's face froze. Because, in Su Xiao's left hand now was the [Book of Original Sin], already opened to the eighth page. He had indeed planned to banish the Eternal Night Empress to the abyss, but that was only Plan 1. Against such a bizarre existence as the Eternal Night Empress, not preparing three or four backup plans would be too reckless.
Dark golden root-like tentacles burst out from the [Book of Original Sin]. Su Xiao sealing Big Daddy-level Original Sin Objects into the [Book of Original Sin] had already given the [Collector] unprecedented satisfaction. Now, sealing an Abyss Descendant, the [Collector] was also very active.
The Eternal Night Empress only had time to shriek once before being dragged into the [Book of Original Sin]. The moment Su Xiao snapped the [Book of Original Sin] shut, without any prior communication, Wude outside the dark domain clasped his hands together, 2D-izing Su Xiao for an instant.
Boom!!
A massive amount of black ancient god tentacles burst from Su Xiao's surface. Thanks to Wude's help in 2D-izing him for an instant, this dangerous ambush by Shenfu was successfully evaded. This was the tacit understanding of 'good teammates.'
Su Xiao held the [Book of Original Sin] in one hand and pressed the other hand to the ground. Instantly, the crystal array pattern that had been attached to the ground emerged and activated.
The Platinum Apostle, now an assassin, stabbed a blade into Su Xiao's back. This short blade was so vicious that Su Xiao immediately triggered the [Blood Master] life-saving ability. Given the similar strength tiers between Su Xiao and the Platinum Apostle, relying solely on damage stacking couldn't achieve this level. The other's life was definitely one specialized in killing contractors, even hunters. Coupled with the scarlet weapon in hand, specialized for contractor vs. contractor combat, and its attached abilities, the damage Su Xiao received was all calculated based on the percentage of his maximum health.
In simpler terms, fighting a boss-level enemy was PVE combat, focusing on comprehensive abilities. Fighting a violator was PVP combat. The Platinum Apostle's stab was a one-shot kill built from a pure PVP character + PVP ability system + PVP weapon + PVP title, etc. However, with Su Xiao's solid strength, he naturally wouldn't be killed by one backstab.
Dealing with violators of Shenfu and the Platinum Apostle's level was different from fighting boss-level enemies. Fighting boss-level enemies was about pure strength. Dealing with Shenfu and the others required extreme caution and precise timing.
Heimo, who had been lying in ambush, pounced out from the darkness, transforming into a dark rage beast with a mouth full of fangs.
Su Xiao didn't counterattack. He just pressed one hand to the ground, fully activating the array pattern under his feet. Seeing the general shape of this array, Shenfu's strongest assassination weapon, [Spit], extending from his sleeve, suddenly stabbed into his own jaw and then pierced through his head. Only the dead wouldn't be banished.
The banishment vortex appeared with a roar. Both the Platinum Apostle and Heimo were swept into it. The Platinum Apostle seemed to realize something and was about to escape by self-destructing when he was already swallowed by the banishment vortex.
Where did the Platinum Apostle and Heimo go? 'Welcome to the Eternal Light World.'
After everything calmed down, Su Xiao, whose health was gradually recovering, let out a long sigh. He controlled the Blade Demon Spirit to pull out the short knife stuck in his back, piercing through his chest, and threw this gradually decaying weapon into the darkness.
Leaving the dark domain, Su Xiao walked along the black sealed wall. After walking about a kilometer, a hole appeared. However, this hole was strongly sealed by darkness, clearly a powerful seal formed by abyssal energy.
Logically, this abyssal sealed door was also a ring of the main mission, and a very significant one among several rings. But Su Xiao had other ways to deal with it.
Therefore, his current [Main Mission: Seventh Ring: Lightless Darkness] was equivalent to combining two particularly significant rings of the main mission, resulting in the absurd mission difficulty of Lv.95++++++. Opening this abyssal seal accounted for two-thirds of this mission difficulty.
Su Xiao took out [Dark Crawl] and held it with both hands.
[Dark Crawl]
Origin: Previous Lord of the Abyss.
Quality: Abyss Level.
Category: Dangerous Object.
Effect 1: By maintaining contact with this item, you can understand dark knowledge from the abyss during this period.
Effect 2: By holding this item with both hands, you can use it to open any level of abyssal seal or abyssal energy coverage.
Warning: Each time you use this item, you need to pay sufficient darkness. If the paid darkness is insufficient, you will be devoured.
Currently payable darkness: [Dark Devourer (Immortal Rank Special Equipment)], [Bloodstained Cloth of the Immortal Old Man].
Rating: -- (This item will not be certified with a rating).
Description: This is part of the brain fluid of the previous Lord of the Abyss, containing a metal fragment, but it has been corroded black by the brain fluid, unrecognizable in its original form.
Price: After acquisition, cannot be traded, transferred, abandoned, etc. Can only be submitted to Reincarnation Paradise to increase authority level.
The abyssal seal ahead gradually opened, revealing a stone door. Su Xiao took out the [Altar Lock Plate] he had obtained earlier and embedded it in the center of the stone door. As the lock plate turned, the stone door, covered in spell patterns, opened.
Entering inside, he found this was an independent space. The space wasn't large, about 300 square meters. An ancient altar stood ahead, very similar to the altar seen in the Dark Moon Nightmare, but more ancient. It was the [Moon Altar].
There was a groove in the center of the stone altar, matching the shape of the [Moonfall Core] he had obtained. Su Xiao took out the [Moonfall Core] and pressed it into the groove.
Hum~
A dark purple glow appeared on the [Moon Altar]. The last legacy left by the Dark Moon faction was activated. The effect was temporarily unknown.
[Dark Moon Nightmare: Moon Altar Branch Node 5 (Activated).]
[Lightless Zone: Moon Altar Central Hub (Activated).]
[The Dark Moon Ritual will commence in 3 natural days!]
[You have completed Main Mission: Seventh Ring: Lightless Darkness.]
[You have obtained Exclusive Team Skill Card Chest ×2.]
[You have completed the Chain Mission: Dark Moon Ritual (Final Stage).]
[You have obtained Abyss Chest (★★★★★).]
[Hint: This is the highest rank Abyss Chest.]