Free Web NovelChapter 510: Chapter 497: Stopping Killing with Killing (Part 1)
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The ground across all of Monkey Mountain now shook as if in the throes of a massive earthquake. Ahead lay a dark, oppressive sight: an ocean-like tide of rats surging forward with the force of a tsunami.
In a scene like this, it was impossible to make out any individual Rat Beast; they had long since merged into a single, unified entity.
It was a terrifying and utterly shocking sight.
Tu Xiao’an stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Despite his invincible aura, even he was shaken by the rat tide about to sweep over him. When you truly face such a tide, you can’t help but feel your own insignificance.
The moment this feeling of insignificance surfaced, Tu Xiao’an immediately shook his head. His gaze hardened, his entire being transforming into that of a Bloodthirsty Asura returned from Hell.
’Kill... The only way to stop the killing is with more killing.’
Electric light began to flow across Tu Xiao’an’s body, making him glow brightly. The Thunder Attribute Power within him surged forth wildly. Instantly, dark clouds gathered overhead, fierce winds swept across the land, and the roar of thunder echoed without end.
As the dark clouds pressed down, Tu Xiao’an softly commanded, "Thunderclap."
CRACK... CRACK... CRACK...!
An earth-shattering, sky-rending sound erupted from above. One after another, sharp swords of lightning tore through the sky, striking down into the rat tide with blinding speed.
The power of the dazzling lightning was immense. A single bolt blasted open a crater at least a hundred square meters wide, killing a minimum of tens of thousands of Rat Beasts.
The bolts of lightning grew fiercer, raining down like a torrential storm. But even so, the relentless advance of the rat tide seemed utterly unaffected.
As astonishing bolts of lightning continued to rain down from above, Tu Xiao’an saw the rat tide was now less than a hundred meters away, about to reach him in an instant. A deep blue aura flared to life around him, and the temperature of the air plummeted, becoming bitingly cold.
Tu Xiao’an dropped to one knee and pressed a hand to the ground, his bewitching, demonic eyes glinting with a cold light.
"Ice Age."
CRACKLE...!
A thick layer of blue ice, hundreds of degrees below zero, spread out before him like a vast carpet.
The charging Rat Beasts at the forefront of the tide were instantly sealed in ice. In just 0.01 seconds, tens of thousands were frozen solid at once—a testament to their sheer numbers.
The ice Tu Xiao’an unleashed couldn’t spread properly upon contact with the rat tide. There were simply too many Rat Beasts. For every one he sealed in ice, ten more were already surging forward to take its place.
In the blink of an eye, the thick wall of ice at the front grew ever higher, a mass of frozen Rat Beasts. Countless others tried to scramble over their sealed comrades, only to be sealed in ice as well. In this way, a massive Ice Mountain began to form.
"Thunder God’s Fury."
Behind the Ice Mountain, the rat tide’s advance had momentarily stalled, causing them to pack together in a dense, blocked mass. At that moment, a waterfall of pure lightning cascaded down from the sky.
BOOM...!
Instantly, hundreds of thousands of Rat Beasts perished. The air filled with the stench of blood. The entire world seemed to tremble as if the mountains were collapsing and the earth was splitting apart. In that moment, countless living beings were annihilated.
’They really fucking don’t fear death.’
If Tu Xiao’an had become a thorough butcher, then the ocean-like rat tide was a veritable suicide squad.
They regarded their own lives as worthless, showing no fear of death. As one wave fell, the next surged to replace it. A single cast of Thunder God’s Fury had vaporized a pocket of several hundred thousand Rat Beasts, but before a single breath could be taken, the gap was completely filled from behind.
CRACK... CRACK... CRACK...!
The dark clouds hung low as bolts of lightning-like swords plunged ceaselessly into the rat tide. In truth, the attack was terrifying, but against the sheer scale of the ocean-like tide, its impact seemed almost illusory.
Tu Xiao’an continuously unleashed his Ice Frost Power. The Ice Mountain a hundred meters in front of him grew taller and taller, but soon, he could no longer seal them in ice fast enough.
Many Rat Beasts began to leap high into the air, clearing the Ice Mountain. With a great RUSH, they blotted out the sun.
"River of fire, fill the sky and burn!"
A Sea of Fire, stretching like a new horizon, suddenly formed above Tu Xiao’an’s head. The Rat Beasts leaping over the Ice Mountain fell into the flowing river of Flame and were instantly vaporized, turning to ash.
The air was no longer filled with just the stench of blood, but also the thick smell of roasting flesh—a pungent, unbearable odor.
One minute!
Against an enemy of this scale, Tu Xiao’an had managed to hold back the rat tide’s advance for a full minute.
But in that single minute, Tu Xiao’an had been pushed to his absolute limit.
He was finally beginning to understand the true terror of a rat tide. It was simply not something that could be stopped by the power of a single individual.
’If I didn’t have these four Elemental Attribute Abilities, how could I possibly stop this? Besides me, who else could do it?’
With bolts of Thunder, freezing Frost, and incinerating Flame, Tu Xiao’an slaughtered them madly. With each passing minute, up to a million Rat Beasts were erased from the world.
He himself was growing numb to it. This large-scale slaughter was even more terrifying than the arena of Asuras. The Elemental Attribute Power within his body was being consumed at an alarming rate.
Even with the vast reserves of Elemental Energy he’d gained after his recent breakthrough, he couldn’t sustain such frantic consumption.
But Tu Xiao’an had more than enough to be proud of. Ten minutes. He had single-handedly held off a rat tide that numbered in the hundreds of millions.
He hadn’t allowed the tide to advance a single step.
Behind him, the two Monkey Kings watched on, their entire worldview shattering.
The Crimson Sun Giant Ape was completely stunned, as if struck dumb and numb. With a dazed expression, he muttered to himself, "Big brother, I finally understand why you agreed to become this Snake’s Battle Companion."
"He’s a freak of nature... A monster born for slaughter."
The Ape King watched the slender, solitary figure in the distance holding back the tide, his posture one of arrogant disdain for the world. The great Monkey King’s golden eyes were now filled with reverence. "Little brother, I told you before: because of him, our Monkey Race will either face annihilation, or he will lead us to become the Peak of our kind."
"Big brother, perhaps you’re right. But we won’t know for sure until this rat tide is over."
The fate of the Monkey Race still hung by a thread. Holding the line for ten minutes meant very little in the grand scheme of things.
Killing more Rat Beasts, no matter how many, wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem.
Only an aerial assault from the Snake Race could possibly resolve this crisis.
’Almost time. It’s almost time,’
Tu Xiao’an thought, his voice growing hoarse with exhaustion. He could faintly sense the vast, gathering Qi of the Snake Race on the outskirts of Monkey Mountain growing ever more intense.
’Just a few more minutes. Then, it will be doomsday for the rat tide.’
As Tu Xiao’an was thinking this, he remained on one knee with a hand pressed to the ground, unleashing a torrent of Ice Frost Power. But at that moment, he felt a powerful force erupt from deep within the earth.
BANG...!
Instantly, Tu Xiao’an was thrown into the air by an immense force. He looked down to see a giant, golden rat bursting from the ground. Its Demon Qi billowed out, and a single glance at its powerful aura confirmed it was at the Rank Three Demon Spirit Level.
[Ding... Rat Race Rank Three Demon Spirit detected: Mutated Gold Eating Rat, Level 32.]
"Snake Demon! Do you really think you can stop this tide? Die!"
The giant golden rat had a pair of enormous, protruding incisors, as sharp as swords and glinting with a chilling light. It lunged toward Tu Xiao’an at extreme speed, jaws snapping.
"Whether this Snake King lives or dies isn’t for you to decide," Tu Xiao’an retorted. "But your death is certain."
Tu Xiao’an controlled his ascent, halting himself in mid-air. A brilliant light flashed in his bewitching, serpentine eyes, solidifying into a tangible beam—a terrifying gaze that shot forward instantly.
"What?"
The giant golden rat was lunging toward Tu Xiao’an when the beam of light struck. It had no time to dodge.
BOOM...!
In that instant, the giant golden rat exploded where it stood, sending flesh and blood flying. A glittering, grape-sized Golden Core floated out from the carnage.
