Free Web NovelChapter 310: Chapter 230: Fireflies Filling the Sky, Night Nether City (2)
The way Abyss Beastmasters divide the small tiers of a Soul Beast’s power differs from the panel’s classification.
They divide a single Level into three smaller tiers: Lower, Middle, and Upper.
The panel, on the other hand, was more precise, dividing a Level into I-IV and even showing the Cultivation Progress. Han Ning liked to call IV the "limit" of a Level.
The Upper tier was roughly equivalent to somewhere between III and IV.
To avoid provoking an attack from the Abyssal Demon Tree, they made a wide detour.
Ah Yu kept blinking her crimson eyes, watching their surroundings and correcting Han Ning’s direction.
After generations of evolution, the eyes of the Hexagon People had adapted to the environment of the Abyss. It was as if they could see through the dark world flawlessly, making their sight even more effective than piercing it with Spiritual Power.
Ah Yu’s nose twitched. She reached out and caught an unremarkable purple firefly. Staring at the faint purple halo flickering from its abdomen, she suddenly said, "Lord Han Ning, we’re about to enter the airspace of Night Nether City. Please lower our altitude and proceed on foot. If we keep flying, we’ll be attacked by the city’s peripheral Nether Fire."
Hearing this, Han Ning immediately had his Soul Beasts switch to running on the ground.
The ground here had become exceptionally flat.
They continued running forward for about another 20 kilometers.
Gradually, a bizarre yet magnificent spectacle unfolded before Han Ning’s eyes.
A faint light illuminated his cheeks.
Ahead, on the flat plains, a stream of purple flame flowed silently, slowly spiraling upward.
Wisps of ethereal, flickering light flowed together, forming an immense spiral of flame that covered an unknown area and shot straight into the sky.
Upon closer inspection, the burning light was revealed to be minuscule fireflies. They gathered in swarms, dancing and circling in a specific pattern up ahead. Their glowing abdomens constantly spewed tiny sparks of light.
The densely packed sparks merged, forming a colossal, sky-high wall of flame that seemed like something from a dream.
"The Alataku People bury the creatures they kill beneath Night Nether City. They wait for the bodies to rot and merge with the aura emanating from the Netherworld, forming a unique kind of Death Energy."
Ah Yu reached out and caught another purple firefly. A look of fear crossed her face as her Spiritual Power wavered.
"This creature is called a Nether Fire. It feeds by clinging to rotting corpses and vegetation to absorb that special Death Energy. They can spit a type of flame that has no temperature and no destructive power. We call it—Nether Fire."
"Nether Fire has only one function, and that is to drain the spirit of living beings."
"So... any living being who wants to enter Night Nether City cannot penetrate this outer Wall of Fireflies. Anyone who enters will have their spirit completely drained by the Nether Fire and become a mindless walking corpse."
Just as Ah Yu finished speaking, the ground in front of them trembled slightly.
Countless ghastly white bone spikes covered in bizarre patterns erupted from the ground. Accompanied by terrifying sonic booms, they shot viciously toward them.
The ground beneath Qingyao and Egg Pancake bulged, and a sharp, stalagmite-like bone spike thrust upward at the two dragons with lightning speed.
"CLANG!"
Just as the bone spike was about to impale them, Qingyao acted a split second faster than Egg Pancake, lightly tapping the spike with its four claws.
POP~
A distorted ripple spread out. The bone spikes shooting from all directions instantly froze and were blasted into fine powder by a mysterious force.
This was clearly just a probing attack.
"Grrr~"
A low roar echoed from the void.
The ground began to tremble violently.
A glint flashed in Egg Pancake’s eyes. It stomped its thick limbs heavily on the ground, trying to use its mastery over the Earth Element to stop the tremors.
But the ground continued to tremble violently.
A black worm of astonishing size, its exterior covered in hard bone plates, rushed to the surface from a crack in the ground.
It lay before Han Ning like a great mountain. Even Egg Pancake, who was nearly 200 meters tall when standing upright, only reached below its waist. Its length extended down into the earth, its full size unknown.
[
Race: Gorging Worm
Gender: /
Talent: C+
Level: ???
Talent: Gorging
Mastered Elements: Dark, Undead
Introduction: A servant of the Gulping Great Demon, one of the Guardians of the Netherworld.
...
]
"So this is the Gorging Worm... Night Nether City’s Guardian Soul Beast. Its size is immense." Han Ning stared at the monster, which was taller than a skyscraper, and couldn’t help but mutter to himself.
"Gorging..." The moment she saw the Gorging Worm, Ah Yu’s already pale cheeks turned deathly white. The sheer pressure it radiated made her tremble all over, and she subconsciously took a step back.
The Gorging Worm was entirely covered in ghastly white bone plates. Its face had no eyes, only a terrifyingly large mouth that opened and closed slightly, revealing dense rows of unsettling teeth.
Although it had no eyes, it could clearly perceive the location of its enemies.
"HUUFF~"
It suddenly let out a low roar, and a shockwave visible to the naked eye radiated outwards.
The ground fractured, sending huge chunks of earth flying. The Gorging Worm’s body suddenly split into a swarm of smaller black worms, each ranging from a few to several dozen meters long and covered in bony plates. They all surged toward Qingyao and Egg Pancake.
"CLANG~"
Qingyao gently tapped Egg Pancake with its long dragon whiskers, signaling for it to retreat. Qingyao then took a step forward, positioning itself in front of Egg Pancake.
When the swarm of gorging worms flew to within a few dozen meters of Qingyao, they were blocked by an invisible force, unable to advance another inch.
But the swarm of gorging worms paid no heed. They continued to multiply, ramming themselves against Qingyao.
Gradually, the worms piled up until they completely enveloped the dragon, forming a massive, writhing ball of cyan and black.
CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH~
The unsettling sound of gnawing echoed in the darkness.
"CLANG!"
Suddenly, a dragon’s cry emanated from within the ball of flesh.
A sacred Dragon Language could be faintly heard in the air.
Qingyao, inside the ball of flesh, was chanting obscure syllables in the language of the Dragon Race.
Chains of light burning with a clear, cyan flame were rapidly sketched into existence in the void.
The surface of the light chains was covered in profound dragon markings, and the void around the chains distorted slightly.
The next second, a faint humming sound rang out in the air.
The chains crossing the void suddenly shattered, transforming into myriad smaller links that bored into the ball of flesh.
The swarm of worms clinging to Qingyao suddenly froze, as if they were bearing an immense weight. They all fell at once, tumbling into the mud.
Han Ning blinked and looked closer. He discovered that a faint cyan chain had appeared on each worm, locking their bodies tightly and rendering them immobile.
"HRRNGH, HRRNGH~"
The hundreds of worms writhed madly, trying to merge back together, but they were sealed by the flashing chains on their bodies and couldn’t move an inch.
They tried to turn their bodies ethereal like the Undead, but the chains still held them fast, preventing them from doing so.
Having immobilized the swarm, Qingyao raised its right claw. Facing the direction of each worm, it gave its claw a gentle flick.
"Kla’ath z’orr n’gha!"
Ancient, unknown words floated from the dragon’s mouth.
Ahead, cubes of flowing cyan light appeared one by one.
Inside the cyan cubes, the smaller gorging worms of all sizes continuously slammed against the translucent cyan walls, trying to break free.
Simultaneously, unending streams of cyan Flame shot from the eight corners of each cube, lancing diagonally through the interior.
The worms trapped inside were left with no part of their bodies unscathed. They were riddled with tiny holes bored by the cyan light.
Moreover, these cubes were shrinking at a slow but steady pace.
"AGGGHH!!"
The worms, so menacing just moments before, let out agonized howls from within the cubes. As the cubes shrank, their bodies were compressed. Their bony plates began to splinter, and an incessant CRACKLING and SQUEALING filled the air.
’Amazing... It didn’t even use any high-damage Soul Techniques, yet it controlled the powerful Gorging Worms so effortlessly...’
Han Ning watched Qingyao, whose Dragon Eyes swirled with a cyan radiance, its expression devoid of emotion, like a deity, and praised it in his heart.
