Free Web NovelChapter 403: Chapter 395: "You’re Worthy of Calling Yourself a ’God’?
The Nirvana hovered in the air, about 800 meters above sea level.
BOOM!
The "god" had barely finished speaking when the challenger made his entrance in a bizarre fashion!
A blast of extreme cold emanated from high above. A three-hundred-meter-long greatsword, carrying an unknowable amount of accumulated momentum, slammed without warning into the Nirvana. Infused with over 3,000 of Shi Ming’s standard Attack Power, it punched a massive hole straight through the beyond-King-rank drifter ship.
The arrogantly floating Nirvana,
the Nirvana upon which a god stood,
plummeted straight from the sky.
The Ice Sword then exploded within its hull, shattering into countless bone-chilling ice crystals that unleashed a surging, arctic tempest.
At the same time, the instant the Nirvana hit the water, countless sinister tendrils erupted from the depths. They clung to the ship, growing frenziedly and slithering through the gaping hole into its hull. Like a kraken welcoming fresh, delectable flesh, they invaded, twisted, and tore through its insides with abandon.
A leviathan’s cry rang out.
Powerful Spiritual Power simultaneously enveloped the entire ship.
Shi Ming hovered in mid-air without any assistance. The three-hundred-meter sword had already exploded; what he now held was the three-meter Magma Giant Sword Burns the Abyss. Having undergone an infinite upgrade, this greatsword’s power had also been immensely enhanced.
The target vanished.
In the blink of an eye, his Spiritual Power locked onto the young man once more.
’He’s definitely Nirvana-rank.’
’And an experienced one at that.’
’If I hadn’t killed Quintetra, or if I had conservatively chosen Plan A back then, the outcome of this battle would have been grim. There’d have been no suspense.’
When fighting an equal, probing attacks come first.
Shi Ming wasn’t one to use ultimate moves as basic attacks from the get-go. Within seconds, he had already unleashed three skills while simultaneously activating his Eye of Destiny to get intel on his enemy immediately.
’Know your enemy and know yourself, and you’ll never be caught off guard.’
"Eye of Destiny, acquire intelligence."
[BEEP~ BEEP~]
[Organizing intelligence...]
[Searching. Confirming detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intelligence... Intelligence report generated:]
[Dark Star Race - Rui Liang]
[A being from the Dark Star Race who possesses the Nirvana skill "Sorrow." He has wandered the Star Sea and officially reached the Nirvana-rank 7 years ago. He is now proficient in the use of Nirvana-rank powers and skills and possesses many trump cards and treasures from the Star Sea.]
[The culprit behind the activation of the "Unceasing Water."]
[Skill: Sorrow]
[Clasp hands together to bring down a cross-shaped blade of light, instantly slicing the target to inflict horrific damage. Where the blade cuts, Sorrow energy adheres, preventing healing and forming an eternal wound. This eternal wound is contagious; even if the afflicted body part is cut off and discarded, the effect will follow, like maggots clinging to bone.]
[Treasures: The Net, Shuttle Ship, Star Sea Specimen, Wanderer’s Atlas.]
[...]
...
A tremendous roar echoed.
The "Angels" of [Divine Comedy] saw Shi Ming appear and their bodies, tense to the breaking point, finally relaxed. The Rong Bing of [Kunwu] were astonished by the manner of Shi Ming’s appearance but also grew more worried. Quert of [Constantinople] saw a familiar figure and forcibly halted the fourth tear of his "Invincible War God," suffering only three more wounds in the process...
Then, they all heard a voice from an unknown source.
"Very good. Quite powerful."
"Is this the first challenger?"
"After I defeat you, I will make you into a specimen."
Rui Liang of the Dark Star Race reappeared from the Dark Cosmos.
He had already confirmed that this was Earth’s current number one expert.
Shi Ming.
He was a thorn in the side,
and the backbone supporting the unrealistic fantasies of others.
’A man who must be killed.’
Rui Liang didn’t have an Eye of Destiny. Based on the power of that last strike and intelligence from the celestial network, he could only judge Shi Ming to be at the mid or high rank of the Holy Hall. As for Nirvana-rank, the thought didn’t even cross his mind. Compared to Shi Ming himself, he was more interested in that imposing greatsword, which had to be a treasure on par with "The Net."
A native with the strength of the Holy Hall, and he even had a treasure.
’Truly extraordinary.’
He’d seen plenty of extraordinary people, but not all of them were tough nuts to crack.
The former Grand Commander of the [Black Gold], Beyoncé—a woman whose looks were perfectly to his aesthetic, beautiful but cunning—was also an extraordinary person. And wasn’t she obediently dismembered, now lying in his ship as a part of his collection, a mere plaything?
The spineless ones were a wonderful delight to control.
And the sound of the hard-headed ones breaking was also quite exquisite.
...
It all happened in an instant.
The moment Rui Liang appeared, he ignored the slowly sinking starship and shot across the sea. In a single blink, he was before Shi Ming and his three-meter greatsword, directly unleashing his own Nirvana skill.
A Cross Light Blade shot out from between his crossed arms.
Its name was "Sorrow"!
He wanted to see if this tough nut could block this attack!
When a skill reached Nirvana-rank, it connected to the "principles" of the universe. At that point, its name became an external manifestation of its power. Simply put, the fewer syllables in the name, the rarer and more powerful the skill.
"Sorrow" had only two syllables.
In the infinite cosmos, this was extremely rare.
It was the source of Rui Liang’s confidence.
As for one-syllable skills, they could be called numbered skills. Quintetra’s [Bore] was the newly born Numbered Skill 39. This meant that across the long river of time, within the boundless cosmos, across the dual dimensions of time and space, only 38 numbered skills had ever been born before it!
Sorrow was far inferior to Bore.
At this moment, Shi Ming’s gaze was as cold as frost.
Through the Eye of Destiny, he already had a complete grasp of the young man’s intelligence.
’What kind of joke calls himself a god?’
’A three-minute challenge? And if you don’t die, you’ll be enslaved through gentler means?’
’As if you’re worthy!’
Shi Ming’s pupils became two unfathomable Wormholes. Within them, countless borers wriggled about. As light scattered from his gaze, he easily found all the flaws in "Sorrow" and in the young man from the Dark Star Race.
’Full of openings!’
He hovered in the air, making no move to dodge the Cross Light Blade. With a casual sweep of his eyes, he unleashed both forms of [Bore] simultaneously. He sent a powerful, illusory Spiritual Power to bore into "Sorrow," gnawing at the skill itself, while also sending a powerful physical Attack Power to bore into Rui Liang’s body, gnawing at the enemy himself. Here, with Shi Ming, the Nirvana-rank skill [Bore] had found its first opponent worthy of being devoured.
And the skill’s actual performance was far stronger than he had imagined.
With just one bite,
the Cross Light Blade dissipated into nothingness.
Rui Liang found the energy between his hands had vanished into thin air. Almost instantly, he got a close-up, direct look at Shi Ming’s eyes, which had reverted from Wormholes back to normal.
Those eyes were clear and cold, seeming to span infinite dimensions.
Apathetic, yet cruel.
The Earthling before him seemed to have transformed into a terrifying Humanoid Fierce Beast. Rui Liang had never felt such close-range pressure since he began wandering the Star Sea.
’It’s like staring directly at a god...’
Before Rui Liang could process it, he felt terrifying pain vibrating from within his body. The sudden, severe injury made his body seize up. Before he could react, a second, third, and fourth bite followed in quick succession.
He realized in horror, ’His power is far beyond my own?’
’No, this can’t be!’
’Wait, that’s right!’
’This human is an Earthling, too!’
’The Net!’
’The Net can help me!’
At the last moment, his consciousness reached for "The Net." With no time to search for specific people or numbers, he directly issued the command [Terminate all end-user members], only to discover that this strange artifact had already been bitten and was nearly destroyed.
He issued the command, unwilling to give up.
"The Net" gave no response.
Not only Shi Ming before him...
but not a single one of the ants watching from below—the ones watching the show, the ones who deserved death even more—had died from it!
...
He was filled with regret.
He wanted to beg for mercy, but he couldn’t speak. He wanted to proclaim his contributions to humanity from 30 years ago, but he couldn’t make a sound. In the face of death, he wanted to be spineless, to be a slave and a servant like Beyoncé, but he was given no chance at all.
’How... did it turn out... like this?’
’This... native planet, this low-level civilization... how could it possibly... give birth to... such a powerful being...’
Rui Liang had no strength left to resist. Even the thought of using his other treasures, the will to escape, the instinct to dodge—all were gnawed away and corroded.
His floating body was pierced by more than 4,000 sinister tendrils,
his consciousness was stripped away by a giant blue Kun,
and the life in his eyes crumbled, turning to stardust...
