The mutant beast did not launch an attack immediately.
It stood silently atop the shattered remains of the throne, its four scythe-like bony toes deeply embedded in the stone.
On its face, which bore an uncanny resemblance to a human woman, its golden eyes rotated slowly, sweeping over every member of the Blade squad.
That gaze was far too human; it wasn't the look of a predator sizing up its prey, but the scrutinizing, arrogant stare of a superior being looking down upon intruders.
Song Zhiyi’s shield was already held at chest height, his blade resting across its rim. He was like a spring coiled to its absolute limit.
His breathing was steady—so steady that Luo Yang could hear the rhythm of his heartbeat being deliberately slowed.
This was the mark of a veteran; in the face of true danger, the body enters a combat state before the brain even reacts.
“Old Zhou, left wing. Xiao Chen, right wing. The rest, free engagement.”
The order was as sharp as a blade. Within a single second, the Blade squad’s formation deployed, their positions forming a loose crescent that instantly placed Yan Zhi and Luo Yang behind them.
Their movements were so fast that their breathing could barely keep up—a level of coordination carved into their very bones through countless battles fought side by side.
Zhou Yan’s arms had completely undergone a rock-like transformation, with a layer of faint golden patterns floating atop the surface of his grayish-white, stony skin.
He lowered his center of gravity into a firm stance, looking like a rooted stone tower as he met the beast's first step.
That step was very light.
Yet the floor of the entire hall trembled.
Dark gold scales shimmered with a lava-like luster around its body. With every step it took, the orange-red glow at the edges of its scales grew brighter.
The corners of the human woman’s mouth curved downward slightly, as if she were lamenting something that was about to happen.
Zhou Yan’s axe collided with the beast’s foretoe.
The thunderous roar of metal on metal exploded, and the resulting sound wave shook the remaining rubble of the dome, causing it to rain down.
Zhou Yan’s feet plowed two six-inch-deep furrows into the ground. Blood seeped from his palms and dripped down the axe handle, creating tiny pits as it hit the floor.
Under that single blow, his Rock Body was covered in fine, dense cracks, like granite that had been struck by a heavy sledgehammer.
But he held his ground.
A Level 4 mutant beast had been blocked head-on by Zhou Yan, a ninth-level Core Consolidation user.
It wasn't because he was strong enough, but because the beast hadn't exerted any strength at all.
Its gaze hadn't even landed on Zhou Yan. Those golden eyes looked over his shoulder, past the Blade squad’s defensive line, past Luo Yang, and finally came to rest on Yan Zhi’s face.
Then, a faint, almost sorrowful smile appeared on that human woman’s face.
“Not good—”
Before Song Zhiyi’s voice could even land, the beast’s second strike arrived.
This time, it was a real attack.
Its right foretoe rose, and the bony prongs carved four dark gold afterimages through the air. The speed was so fast that even Core Consolidation-level dynamic vision could not capture it.
Zhou Yan only had time to bring the face of his axe across his chest before he was struck as if by an ancient giant whale. He was sent flying, crashing into a stone pillar twenty meters away.
The pillar snapped in half. Zhou Yan was embedded in the pile of rubble, the cracks on his Rock Body spreading from his arms to his chest. The rock-like transformation on his right arm began to peel away, revealing the mangled, bloody skin beneath.
The Blade squad’s firepower poured out at that moment—specially-made bullets, energy beams, and thrown weapons infused with blood energy slammed into the beast like a torrential rain. They struck its scales, sending up a dense spray of sparks and leaving behind shallow white marks before being completely deflected.
Ineffective. All of it was ineffective.
The aura around Song Zhiyi grew heavy to the extreme.
His blade slashed into the beast’s shoulder blade, carving out a wound half a finger deep.
Dark gold blood seeped from the wound, but in just a few seconds, the injury healed right before everyone's eyes. The scales closed back up, leaving not even a trace behind.
“Dammit!”
A flash of white sword light erupted at that moment.
Qiu Shubai made her move.
The white light on Bloodfall was pure and blinding. The tip of the sword traced an arc in the air, precisely cutting into the gaps between the scales at the beast's forelimb joint.
The timing of this strike was impeccable, piercing in at the exact moment Song Zhiyi’s blade had cut open the scales and reaching the deeper tissues before the wound could heal.
Dark gold blood gushed out.
The beast let out a short hiss. For the first time, that human woman’s face turned toward Qiu Shubai, a hint of surprise flashing in its golden eyes.
But it still wasn't angry.
It simply raised its other foretoe and swiped at Qiu Shubai.
The movement wasn't fast—it could even be called slow—but the simple trajectory gave rise to an absurd premonition that no matter where one dodged, they would be hit.
Qiu Shubai’s sword hadn't been withdrawn from the joint yet. She had no choice but to abandon the blade and retreat, her toes tapping repeatedly against the shattered stone slabs as her figure blurred backward.
The moment she let go, Bloodfall dissipated into white light, only to reform in her palm.
But that bony toe still caught up to her.
The tip grazed her left shoulder, silently tearing a hole in her clothes. Before the blood could even well up, the massive force sent her flying.
She forcibly twisted her body in mid-air, landing on one knee. Her left hand pressed against her right shoulder as blood seeped through her fingers and dripped down the sword handle, staining the white light of Bloodfall a faint red.
Within the wound, the beast's power surged constantly, its tyrannical energy beginning to clash with the blood energy inside her body.
Even her mental state began to gradually grow chaotic, as a desire for destruction and slaughter rose from the depths of her heart.
Qiu Shubai immediately realized something was wrong.
This power forced her to abandon all other actions to resist it; even her ability to channel blood energy was being restricted.
“You monster...!” she hissed through gritted teeth.
Just then, Song Zhiyi’s second strike arrived.
He abandoned all defense, gripping his blade with both hands. Infused with blood energy, an azure light-flame ignited on the blade as it slashed into the beast’s flank.
This strike cut through three scales, the blade sinking six inches into the flesh. Dark gold blood gushed out along the blade's blood groove, burning smoking pits into the ground as it landed.
The beast finally let out its first true roar.
The sound came from its human mouth, yet it felt like it was being squeezed out from deep within the earth's crust. The entire hall shook, and the remaining stones of the dome fell like rain.
Its body spun violently, and Song Zhiyi was thrown back, blade and all. He slammed hard into a stone pillar, coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Zhou Yan had just climbed out from the rubble. Seeing this, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
“Captain!”
As the battle grew more intense, no one noticed that Luo Yang’s fingers were constantly moving.
From the moment the fight began, his right hand had remained at his side, his five fingers continuously flexing and extending with extremely subtle movements.
With every movement, a weapon slid silently out of his space ring, moving stealthily along the ground, the rock walls, and the shadows of the dome.
Those longswords did not attack immediately.
They were waiting.
“A-Zhi,” Luo Yang suddenly said.
Yan Zhi was looking up at the mutant beast, her black eyes reflecting the dark gold light flowing around it.
Hearing Luo Yang call her name, she tilted her head slightly. In those eyes that lacked any distinction between pupil and iris, there was still that same child-like curiosity.
“Do you know it?”
“I don't,” A-Zhi replied quickly. “But it knows this place. It knows this throne, and it knows those who died.”
She paused, tilting her head as if searching through the depths of her memory.
“It died with them, a long time ago. But it came back to life, though I don't know why.”
“But it is different from them. It has always wanted to say something to me. But I couldn't understand most of it, so eventually, it gave up.”
Luo Yang didn't press further.
Died together, then came back to life.
He didn't fully understand, but he could sense a significant secret behind those words.
Luo Yang took a deep breath, and his right hand suddenly clenched into a fist.
Rate on N.U.
