Chapter 40: Sword, Come!
No further words were needed.
Helas's body was shrouded in black mist, and countless colorful spores and swarming insects rushed into it like moths to a flame, where they were assimilated, making his life force even more vigorous.
Over the past few decades, Helas had been using his own life force to infuse this small world with the power needed to maintain its ecological balance. Now, the fully formed ecosystem was reciprocating, providing him with an endless stream of support.
"You might just be the key to my breakthrough."
A voice, calm to the point of indifference, traveled through the mist. Helas's entire form was swallowed by the black fog, and in the next instant, the fog, along with the High Priest within it, completely dissipated, merging into the heavens and earth. Only a faint voice remained.
"Become the fertilizer for my world, Joshua."
With that, the world fell silent, save for the mournful howling of the wind.
Then, heaven and earth trembled.
The originally dim, sluggishly flowing black mist suddenly began to churn violently. The entire small world created by Helas started to shake madly—and in the next instant, a sudden change erupted!
Boom!
On the ground, to the warrior's right, a huge mound suddenly rose from the earth-nest covered in mold and moss. Accompanied by a sharp screech, a colossal monster, as massive as a fortress, tore through the soil and rock, crawling out from a fissure in the crust. This insect demon, nearly two hundred meters long, resembling a rhinoceros beetle but far more ferocious and brutal, swung its head, its horn tearing through the air and creating a sonic boom, charging straight at Joshua.
But the warrior didn't even glance at it. He simply raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched.
A fist, carrying a force that could shatter mountains, struck the horn of the charging insect demon. In an instant, the horn, tougher than any alloy, shattered inch by inch. The immense force continued unabated, penetrating the demon's entire body, causing its flesh and blood to explode from within, turning it into a rain of blood and gore.
And at that moment, the black mist in the sky had already reformed into Helas's figure. He looked down at the warrior below, his expression somewhat peculiar.
"Is this your full strength?"
His face was unreadable, but Joshua could detect a hint of disappointment: "In pure close combat, I might not be your match, but even so, you can't keep this up for long."
But Helas's words only drew a sneer from the warrior.
"Full strength?"
Joshua seemed to find it amusing: "Are you saying that last strike was my full power?"
"Is it not?"
Helas raised an eyebrow slightly, a puzzled tone in his voice: "That last strike of yours mobilized eighty-seven percent of your life energy. The sheer force even tore through the spatial barrier of my small world. If I hadn't used several times your life force to stabilize my body, I would have been turned into a pulp by that single punch."
But the warrior couldn't be bothered to answer him. Joshua looked up, gazing at the black sky of the Plague World.
The warrior was not a monk; fighting bare-handed was a hobby. But that didn't mean it was Joshua's full strength.
At that moment, two dazzling lights flared up around his wrists. The bones of his right and left wrists seemed to become two brilliant novas, radiating silver and black-gold light.
Joshua raised his hands, aiming them at the sky. And above the sky of Helas's small world, as if in response, two points of silver and black-gold light flickered into existence!
A low, wild voice echoed throughout the entire world—
"Sword, come!"