Chapter 78: No Chance Whatsoever
On the fourth floor of the Twilight Palace.
The entire fourth floor had transformed into a fiery inferno. The layer of rock on the ground had been melted by the extreme heat, turning into a pool of magma.
Drip, drip…
Crimson-red liquid dripped from the ceiling of the fourth floor, which was also beginning to melt into magma.
The air itself seemed distorted, as if burned through by the 6,000 points of True Damage caused by the Solar Flame. The blinding, dark red light all around forced people to squint involuntarily. Here, every breath was a form of torture.
Three hundred and seven contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise had perished here. The only evidence of their existence was the dust particles floating in the air.
If one were to measure the temperature of the fourth floor at this moment, it would be at least over 2,000 degrees Celsius. And this was after the Solar Flame of Apollo had already dissipated.
Su Xiao stood on the staircase leading from the fourth floor to the fifth. The intense heat from the fourth floor scorched his exposed skin. Even with the protection of his Counter Shield, he could still feel the searing heat.
Su Xiao glanced at the notification from the Reincarnation Paradise. After Apollo's explosion, he had gained a total of 1,084 Paradise Merits. Without a doubt, this was a massive fortune.
Of course, Su Xiao couldn't keep all of this fortune for himself. Apollo's successful kills were also due to the contributions of others, such as the golden scroll contributed by Yan Chen, the cover provided by Xiao Chou, and so on.
The matter of dividing the spoils would be postponed for now. However, as the leader of this operation, Su Xiao would take the largest share of the benefits, while Yan Chen's portion was also considerable.
Su Xiao stepped back a few paces, frowning. The fourth floor was now too dangerous for him to enter.
The lethal threat on the fourth floor was no longer just the high temperature. Not only was the temperature over 2,000 degrees, but the magma on the ground and dripping from above was enough to take the lives of most creatures. Furthermore, the flames consumed a large amount of oxygen, leaving the fourth floor in an oxygen-deprived state. Standing at the stairwell, Su Xiao could even feel the airflow being drawn from behind him into the fourth floor.
Oxygen deprivation + high temperature + magma + various toxic and harmful gases produced by the deflagration + the flame radiation from Apollo's explosion, which resulted in a subsequent 2,000 points of flame burn damage.
Yan Chen blocked the staircase from the fourth floor to the third, while Su Xiao blocked the staircase from the fourth floor to the fifth. According to their plan, Xi was supposed to die nine times in this fiery hell on the fourth floor!
However, neither of them knew that Xi could no longer die nine times. She only had four resurrection attempts left. After dying five times, she would be declared completely dead.
Su Xiao stared at the phantom of a cat floating within the fourth floor. He had seen this cat before.
Xi had already been burned to death once, meaning she had four lives left. She didn't resurrect immediately but instead forcefully suppressed her resurrection ability, knowing full well that resurrecting now would be akin to suicide.
Yet, Xi couldn't fully control this resurrection ability. The floating cat phantom formed a sphere and began to resurrect Xi.
The sounds of battle came from the third floor, where Yan Chen was leading his forces against the contractors of the Apocalypse Paradise.
Su Xiao fixed his gaze on the white sphere a dozen meters away. It looked like an energy cocoon, containing an extremely powerful life force.
If Xi wanted to leave the fourth floor, her only route was the staircase blocked by Su Xiao. The staircase behind her, leading from the fourth floor to the third, was far too distant—at least 700 meters away. Since Xi was only a dozen meters from Su Xiao, breaking through in his direction was the obvious choice.
Crack…
The energy cocoon shattered, and Xi appeared. Crystals rapidly formed beneath her feet, encasing the ground.
Flames surged. Xi's clothes were incinerated by the intense heat in the air. She paused, instinctively raising her arm to cover her chest as a thin layer of blue crystal armor formed on her body. Holding her breath, Xi crouched and leaped toward Su Xiao.
Su Xiao naturally intended to block her. He drew his black and white dual pistols, but just as he was about to fire, he sensed something wrong and immediately leaped backward, retreating to the upper floor.
Crack, crack, crack…
Large fissures appeared in the blue crystal armor on Xi's body. The temperature on the fourth floor was simply too high. With a shattering sound, the blue crystal armor broke apart. The usually aloof Xi was now "exposed," though fortunately, no one witnessed it.
Xi could no longer care about being exposed. Her skin was rapidly being scorched. She would die soon.
[Warning: You are in an oxygen-deprived environment.]
[Warning: You are in a high-temperature environment. You are taking 500 points of burn damage per second. Effect lasts for 4 seconds. If you do not leave the high-temperature environment within 4 seconds, you will take 260 points of burn damage per second until you leave the high-temperature environment.]
[Warning: You are in a toxic gas environment. If you breathe this air, you will take 210 points of burn damage + 170 points of poison damage per second.]
[Warning: Your skill 'Crystal Energy Control (Class Passive) Lv.39' is suppressed by the high-temperature environment. Effect -70%, Crystal Energy consumption +300%.]
[Warning: Your skill 'Crystal Encircling (Class Passive) Lv.32' is suppressed by the high-temperature environment. It has been disabled.]
A series of warnings appeared. Xi glanced at these blood-red notifications and immediately realized the severity of the situation.
"Maximum survival time: 2 seconds."
As Xi murmured this, her body stiffened and rapidly crystallized. Crystallization meant death.
With a tinkling sound, the crystallized Xi fell to the ground. Moments later, the crystallized Xi shattered, sending crystal shards flying dozens of meters. Everything the shards touched—whether the ground or the magma—began to crystallize. Xi's resurrection attempts were now down to three.
The cat phantom reappeared. Within a few dozen meters of the phantom, a large area of translucent crystals had formed. The threat of the magma had been neutralized by Xi using one of her resurrection attempts.
Xi, temporarily merged with the cat phantom, looked around. When she saw that Su Xiao was not on the fourth floor, she immediately prepared to resurrect. However, a black shadow flashed, and Su Xiao appeared at the staircase between the fourth and fifth floors.
Su Xiao looked at the cat phantom, holding an object in his hand.
"It seems you really want to fight me. But you won't get that chance."
As he spoke, Su Xiao tossed the object in his hand. It was the Apollo that had been activated and then stopped. The once-activated Apollo was now somewhat unstable, and Su Xiao didn't want to carry it around.
The Apollo, covered in cracks, rolled to the base of the cat phantom. Seeing this crimson sphere, Xi began to feel a sense of despair. The enemy had left her no chance at all.
Realizing this, Xi's gaze turned resolute. She manipulated the phantom to resurrect quickly.
Breaking out of the cocoon, the first thing Xi sensed was a terrifying threat beneath her feet. It felt like being stripped naked and thrown into a frozen wasteland, with bone-chilling cold.
"Crystal Soul."
Xi's finger touched the scorching air. A vast network of crystals spread, surging toward the passage between the fourth and fifth floors.
The surrounding high temperature rapidly blurred Xi's vision. A stinging pain from the burning spread across her body.
"These… lunatics."
Xi's body crystallized once more. Her resurrection attempts were now down to just two.
The Apollo on the ground rapidly expanded, transforming in an instant into a fireball a hundred meters in diameter. It was as if someone had forcibly stuffed the sun into the fourth floor of the Twilight Palace.
The fireball expanded rapidly.
Thump!
A deafening, muffled roar echoed. The sound of Apollo's explosion was unlike any bomb—it was a low, deep, and powerful sound.
Boom!
The Solar Flame rapidly spread outward. Flames erupted from both stairwells on the fourth floor, one leading to the third and the other to the fifth. The fourth floor had become a furnace, containing nothing but flames.
The Twilight Palace was sturdy enough; otherwise, it would have long since melted into a pile of slag.
The second Apollo exploded on the fourth floor. If this place was a fiery hell before, it was now a forbidden zone for all living beings.
Within this 'Forbidden Zone for the Living,' an energy cocoon cracked open. Through the gaps, the crystallized Xi could be seen. She hadn't even resurrected before being killed again by the explosion. The temperature at the moment of Apollo's detonation was far too high, and it dealt True Damage. Xi's resurrection attempts were now down to just one.
The temperature on the fourth floor rose from over 2,000 degrees to over 3,000 degrees. The energy within the Twilight Palace was suppressed by the overwhelming force. The floor and walls of the fourth floor turned into massive streams of magma, flowing down to the third floor.
A series of shouts came from the third floor, followed by the clatter of hurried footsteps and Yan Chen's angry curses. Among them, keywords like 'Bai Ye' and 'your sister' could be faintly heard.