Free Web NovelChapter 196: Chapter 192: A Forceful Kill
He leaned back slightly, as if he were going to take the claw head-on.
But just as Blood Slaughter’s claw was about to touch his chest, his figure blurred uncannily.
Mimicry activated!
Blood Slaughter’s surefire claw strike hit nothing but air!
Ian’s real body appeared three meters to his left.
He extended his right index finger. A purple-white glint of impossibly compressed cold shone at its tip as he gently pointed it toward the spot beneath Blood Slaughter’s ribs.
An enhanced Frost Ash Beam—a combination of extreme cold and searing Annihilation!
Blood Slaughter was an incredibly experienced fighter; though startled, he didn’t panic.
He swept his left arm back to block while redirecting his right claw, aiming to tear out Ian’s heart.
But Ian’s attack was merely a feint.
The true killing blow was beneath his feet.
He silently stomped his right foot on the ground.
It wasn’t an attack, but an... activation.
The ancient defense Runes on the ground, which he had just temporarily suppressed with a Neutralizer, were now guided by his clever manipulation of Spiritual Power and instantly detonated!
BOOM!
A blinding white light erupted from the ground. While not the full attack of the Defense Array,
the close-range Energy blast still made Blood Slaughter falter, his Protective Blood Qi fluctuating violently.
In that brief moment of hesitation,
a transparent, walnut-sized Crystal Ball, within which a tri-colored Energy slowly swirled, slid out from Ian’s sleeve.
A Black Hole Potion.
He flicked it with his finger.
The Crystal Ball traced an arc and landed by Blood Slaughter’s feet.
Although Blood Slaughter didn’t know what it was, he instinctively sensed a fatal threat. With a roar, he tried to retreat.
But the Frost Ash Beam Ian had aimed earlier only now truly erupted!
An intensely cold, blue-white frost instantly spread across Blood Slaughter’s legs.
While it couldn’t freeze him solid, it slowed his movements just a fraction.
Just a fraction.
The Crystal Ball hit the ground.
CRACK.
With a soft sound, a fine crack appeared on the sphere’s surface.
Blood Slaughter’s pupils contracted violently.
The next second,
there was no sound.
Only darkness.
An absolute darkness that devoured all light burst forth from the crack.
It instantly expanded into a perfectly black sphere two meters in diameter.
Blood Slaughter only had time to let out a short cry filled with shocked rage and terror.
His lower body was completely swallowed by the darkness!
The black sphere lasted for a couple of seconds before abruptly collapsing in on itself and vanishing.
Where it had been, everything below Blood Slaughter’s waist was completely gone.
The cross-section was smooth. There was no blood, as his flesh and bone had been instantly reduced to their most basic particles by the Annihilation.
His upper body crashed to the ground, his face a mask of savage disbelief and terror, his eyes bulging as if they would burst.
"Im...pos...sible..."
A gurgle sounded in his throat as his Life Force drained away with his gushing blood.
Ian walked over and looked down at him.
His gaze was as calm as if he were looking at a Stone.
Blood Slaughter’s lips moved, as if to utter a Curse or a plea for mercy.
But Ian gave him no such chance.
He lifted his foot and stomped.
CRUNCH.
The sound of his skull shattering was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent hall.
Blood Slaughter’s body twitched twice, then went still.
Meanwhile, the Witch saw Blood Slaughter’s gruesome death and was scared out of her wits. She turned to flee.
But Gaga was already waiting for her.
It used Shadow Shuttling, appearing like a phantom in her escape path.
Omen Eye, at full power!
The Witch shrieked as illusions flooded her vision, and she staggered.
Gaga’s beak struck viciously at the back of her neck, punching through her spine.
The Witch collapsed limply.
The battle was over.
From start to finish, the three of them were eliminated in under a minute.
Ian caught his breath, his chest rising and falling gently.
Continuously using Crystal Silk Thread, detonating the Runes, and using Gravity Collapse Ball had taken a significant toll on his Spiritual Power and Energy.
But he had no time to rest.
The energy fluctuation from the Black Hole Potion’s Annihilation effect, as well as the aura of his own Abyssal Attribute, had surely leaked out during the explosion.
Who knew what sort of monstrosities slumbered in the depths of this Underground Palace.
"Gaga, clean up the battlefield! Quickly!"
He hurried over to Blood Slaughter’s corpse and began to search it.
From a hidden compartment in Blood Slaughter’s Inner Armor, he pulled out a dark red Metal Token that was warm to the touch.
It was engraved with a burning crown and carried the characteristic bloody stench of the Deep Red.
He then pulled a Dimensional Ring from the corpse’s finger and brutally shattered its Restriction with his Spiritual Power.
A quick glance inside revealed some Magic Stone Materials and a Recording Crystal. With no time for a closer look, he shoved it and the Token into his clothes.
He did the same with the Witch’s and the Warlock’s Dimension Bags, taking everything of value and piling the bodies together.
Ian flicked out a wisp of residual fire from his Frost Ash Beam, setting the three corpses ablaze.
Then he turned and dashed into the passage.
Gaga shrank down and flew back to his shoulder. Its feathers were a bit ruffled, but its eyes were bright.
"All taken care of, ga!"
"Right. Let’s go!"
Ian pushed his speed to its limit, sprinting back the way he came.
But just as he burst out of the passage and back onto the main path of the Illusion Corridor,
the entire corridor began to tremble violently!
It wasn’t an aftershock from the battle, but a tremor originating from deep underground.
It was a deep, muffled rumble, like a great beast awakening.
The twisted, dark purple sky overhead began to flicker erratically.
The reliefs on the walls—those twisted human faces—all opened their eyes at once.
Countless ancient, malevolent gazes fell upon Ian.
An indescribable Will—tyrannical and hungry—surged from the depths of the corridor like a tidal wave.
It locked onto Ian.
It locked onto... the newly acquired Void Anchor Stones in his Dimension Ring.
Ian’s scalp tingled, and his heart felt as if it had been seized by an icy hand.
’Run!’
He no longer cared about direction, sprinting madly toward the area where he sensed the weakest, most "stable" Rule Fluctuation!
The rumbling behind him grew louder, interspersed with the grating shriek of tearing Rock and twisting Metal.
And... a wet, sticky squelching, like the sound of countless writhing suction cups.
It sounded as if some colossal creature was crawling out from beneath the ground, giving chase.
The passage began to deform. The walls pressed inward, and the ground buckled and cracked.
Gritting his teeth, Ian pulled another vial from his Dimension Ring—a Spirit Cat Potion—uncorked it, and poured it down his throat.
As the potion took effect, his reaction speed and agility instantly soared.
He became like a Shadow, weaving frantically through the twisting, deforming corridor.
Gaga clung tightly to his shoulder, its small eyes filled with anxiety.
"Ian... that thing... it’s so fast, ga!"
Ian didn’t need to look back to feel it.
Hundreds of meters behind him, that suffocating presence was closing the distance at a terrifying speed!
In its wake, the walls and floor of the corridor were being covered in a layer of dark red, viscous, living tendrils.
’I can’t stop!’
A grim light flashed in his eyes as he pulled a Black Hole Potion from his coat.
He had made three in total. After using one earlier, he had two left.
He clutched it tightly in his hand.
The path beneath his feet continuously collapsed under the Erosion of the tide of tendrils behind him.
The corridor ahead still showed no end.
There was only endless distortion and the ever-approaching, hungry roar of an ancient being.
