Free Web NovelChapter 361: Chapter 179: The Third Stage (3)
"To use puppets as armor... How did he even come up with that?"
After Yin Liulan’s confirmation, Dongfang Zhen’s mind went completely blank.
That fifteen-meter-tall monster, radiating an overwhelming aura and capable of sending a Lord-level creature flying with a single punch...
’That thing is *really* Lin Ye?!’
「A short time earlier.」
Of course, Lin Ye hadn’t rashly leaped to his death.
While he was locked in combat with Balan, his Molten Demon Race puppets had used their innate ability to swim in magma, carving out a tunnel from every corner of the volcano that led directly to this core Magma Lake.
The moment he leaped into the magma was the signal.
The next instant, the puppet army that had long been lying in wait surged upward like a tidal wave.
Countless puppets—from the Molten Demon Race, the Eight-armed Race, and the Stone Ghost Race—swarmed him, heedless of their own destruction.
The moment their flesh and blood touched Lin Ye’s skin, the intense heat scorched them, producing a SIZZLING sound.
But even more black fungal filaments spread from their bodies, forcibly plastering the melting flesh onto Lin Ye.
One layer, ten layers, a hundred layers...
Within seconds, Lin Ye’s body was encased in a thick suit of armor forged from countless corpses and fungal filaments.
He was enveloped at the very core of this colossal body, shielded from the lethal heat of the outside world.
In this state, he no longer even needed the Flame Resistance from his [Shadow Scale] to survive.
This meant he could unleash the full power of his [Crystalization] ability without holding anything back!
The seed of this idea had been planted long ago, back when he encountered the Fungal Descendant Corpse King in the Black Silk Forest.
’If the Fungal Descendant could control countless puppets to cover itself and form a more powerful composite being...’
’Then why couldn’t he do the same?’
Feeling the explosive power coursing through this enormous body, a thought surfaced in his mind.
’This... this is the true form of the [Silk Puppet] skill!’
...
「Back to the present.」
Lin Ye controlled the colossal body, taking another step forward.
Then, he reached out with a giant hand and seized Balan’s thick, long tail.
The next moment, under the dumbfounded gazes of the distant onlookers, Lin Ye hoisted Balan’s enormous body and, as if swinging a piece of straw, brutally slammed it into the ground on his left!
BOOM—!
The ground shattered as dust and smoke billowed into the air.
Before the dust could even settle, Lin Ye put his strength into it again, swinging Balan to the right!
Once to the left, once to the right.
The once-invincible Molten Demon Lord was now like a rag doll in Lin Ye’s hands, repeatedly savaged and slammed with no way to fight back.
The solid rock ground was smashed into one massive crater after another. The molten glow on Balan’s body dimmed at a visible rate, and he couldn’t even manage a cry of pain.
When Lin Ye felt Balan go completely limp in his grasp, like a pile of sludge with only a final breath remaining, he stopped.
He released his grip, letting Balan’s body slump to the ground.
Then, he controlled the colossus of corpses, pulling back its right arm. A brilliant golden light and a deep purple glow ignited simultaneously on the giant fist forged from countless bodies, each reflecting the other.
Ultimate Gang Sha and ultimate Crystalization fused perfectly in that moment.
He aimed for Balan’s ruined head below, and for the fading Furnace Core in its chest, then brought his fist crashing down!
It was a punch that seemed powerful enough to blast a hole through the very earth.
Before the fist even landed, the sheer force of its descent caused the ground below to crack and splinter.
After a deafening CRASH, Lin Ye’s fist landed squarely on Balan’s chest.
The outcome was never in doubt.
Faced with such destructive power, Balan’s Furnace Core, along with its entire upper body, was instantly obliterated into a spray of molten fragments that filled the air.
The aftershock of Lin Ye’s punch tore straight through the already ravaged ground below.
A massive crater, over a hundred meters in diameter, caved in around the point of impact.
The intricate network of magma tunnels and subterranean caverns below was completely exposed to the open air.
The Lord-level Molten Demon was as dead as dead could be.
Finally, a system notification sounded in Lin Ye’s mind.
[Ding! Special Stage Quest: Heart of Molten Fire has been completed!]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked Stage Three!]
