novelraw Chapter 85: Heaven-Defying Comeback! Demon God Materials! Thrones Descend!
Chapter 85: Heaven-Defying Comeback! Demon God Materials! Thrones Descend!
“What is this thing!?”
Lu Yu almost threw a punch, but thankfully, he held back in time. His first reaction was to run, but then he saw the eye slowly starting to focus.
It felt like waking up after pulling an all-nighter, only getting a short nap before being jolted awake, your brain still in a momentary state of stiffness.
But it would only take a moment to fully wake up.
Which meant…
The thing inside wasn't awake yet, but it was about to be!
Was his plan to raid its home and steal top-tier materials going to fail?
Lu Yu was suddenly alarmed. Seeing the "97%" progress bar, his eyes turned red, and he made a decision that would betray his ancestors.
“Little Spider, give it medicine… Pfft, feed it a sleep curse!”
If you want to wake up, I'll make you go back to sleep!Until I'm done extracting the materials, not even the Jade Emperor himself can stop me!
“Ying!”
After spending this time together, Little Spider and Lu Yu were already psychically linked. A single look was all she needed to understand.
She immediately manipulated dozens of illusory Spirit Puppet Curse Threads, piercing them into the embryo and injecting waves of illusory, twisted, milky-white sleep runes.
A large, satisfying dose!
The dark-gold vertical pupil returned to its dazed state, and the eternal white light continued its erosion.
The progress bar jumped again.
“98%… 98.
5%… 98.6%…”
Holy crap, there are decimals!
Lu Yu nearly couldn't stop himself from cursing, but he remained calm, watching the progress bar while keeping a death grip on the dark-gold giant eye with his peripheral vision, holding his breath nervously.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
At this moment, he could even clearly hear the sound of his own heartbeat in his chest, pounding like a great drum.
A bead of sweat rolled from his forehead to the tip of his nose, bringing a slight itch, but he didn't dare get distracted.
“99.5%… Just a little more…”
Lu Yu's eyes lit up with excitement.
The cold sweat on his back had soaked his clothes. Little Spider was still frantically injecting the sleep curse, and the intense drowsiness made the giant eye struggle between clarity and confusion.
Suddenly, it smelled a strange fragrance wafting from Lu Yu, like the whisper of an ancient demon. Its hazy consciousness suddenly regained a sliver of clarity, but due to its muddled state, it didn't resist immediately.
Instead, it chaotically unleashed a malicious mental assault:
“Accept me… obtain an immortal body and eternal life… ascend to the throne of the Old Gods…”
The voice contained a bizarre, bewitching power that forcibly eroded the mind and twisted the will, enough to turn a mortal into its loyal hound.
At that moment, Lu Yu's eyes became vacant, as if his reason had been tampered with.
His expression turned numb as he walked to the edge of the Giant Embryo and reached out a hand to touch it.
Crack!
A fissure also split open in the embryo.
Flesh and blood surged to the sides like a tide, revealing countless sharp fangs that slowly approached Lu Yu.
“Come… merge with me…”
The embryo was like a giant abyssal mouth, waiting for its prey to walk in.
It slowly closed its teeth and bit down on something hard. Just as it was about to crush and swallow it, it suddenly realized Lu Yu was standing a meter away.
The latter said with an excited expression:
“Finally… one hundred percent!”
It froze for a moment!
What was one hundred percent?
Also, if that guy was over there, then what was it biting?
And Lu Yu's voice followed right after:
“Vermilion Bird No. 7 Flame Burst Grenade, its power is equivalent to a full-strength strike from a Peak Elite.
Just happened to pick it up today while clearing out the Stitched Demons. The pin's already been pulled, you're welcome!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the embryo subconsciously wanted to spit it out.
However, a tearing, excruciating pain from its very source washed over it like a Tsunami, causing it immense agony and plunging it into a brief state of rigidity.
Bang!
He who hesitates is lost.
A scorching light condensed into a single point and instantly erupted. High-temperature flames swept out, blazing fiercely and engulfing the entire embryo, faintly taking the form of a Vermilion Bird.
The searing heat caused a painful wail to echo from within the embryo:
“Ahhh…”
“I really am a good person, bringing warmth to others!”
Lu Yu looked at the embryo, which the Eye of Truth displayed with a 【Weak to Fire】 tag, and remarked with feeling.
This was a spoil of war he had obtained while clearing out the Stitched Demons today.
Some unlucky Beast Tamer probably got ambushed and killed before they could even use it.
And after all that, it ended up in his hands.
When Lu Yu saw the embryo waking up, he knew that damn 【Taboo Cursed Seal】 was causing trouble again.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind as he frantically considered how to stall for time to extract the material.
He never expected the other party to court death on its own, trying to pull a mental erosion stunt.
Mental Pollution was his specialty!
After being exposed to a bunch of top-tier existences like the Taboo Sun and the Beast, this bit of mental erosion didn't even count as an itch.
If this guy hadn't been talking nonstop, Lu Yu would have been tempted to ask:
“Are you in yet?”
The result was obvious. Lu Yu's Material Library had already obtained a new material, and its information appeared.
【Heart Core of the Thousand-Faced Great Demon (1/2): A creature born from the ancient Formless Abyss, possessing the power of ever-changing flesh-and-blood transformation. It can devour a target's flesh and blood to transform into them, or graft limbs to master different powers.
】
【Evaluation: Four-star Top-tier】
Because the opponent woke up, a portion couldn't be extracted.
But even half of it was a four-star top-tier material!
If he managed to collect the whole thing, wouldn't that be a five-star rank material!
The only five-star rank material Lu Yu currently had was the Ghost Tree, a descendant of one of the seven Imperial Trees.
Don't be fooled by its current half-dead state. If it hadn't been plucked just after taking root, it was a terrifying existence capable of easily destroying a small world.
And to obtain the complete five-star rank material, he had to get his hands on the remaining half.
Lu Yu didn't expect to kill it with a single flame burst grenade.
He continued to command:
“Thread Technique—Sonic Spear!”
Little Spider raised her hand. A large amount of spider silk gathered in the air, forming ten long spears that instantly shot forward.
It was an upgraded version of the Sonic Thread Blade, with even greater power.
The spears pierced through the air.
However, just as they were about to impale their target, the flames were suddenly shattered, scattering into countless sparks. Dozens of blood-colored ribbons struck out, colliding with the spider silk spears.
Bang!
The spider silk spears instantly disintegrated. Amidst the countless drifting white threads, the figure within the embryo walked out, revealing its true form.
It was a monster that resembled a Desolate Strength Ant, but its entire outer skin and carapace had been stripped away, leaving a body covered in tendon-like blood-red flesh. It was also covered in these bizarre blood-colored ribbons, which coiled around its body like venomous snakes, though they were marked with numerous burn scars.
Its face was a hollow void, caved in. A several-meter-long blood-colored ribbon extended from it, connected to an ant-like face with a single horn, which floated in the air like a kite, looking down on Lu Yu.
Its pitch-black eyes were filled with intense malice.
Any normal person would feel a chill in their heart upon seeing this bizarre scene.
However, as Lu Yu looked at the strange blood-red ant before him, he greeted it as if seeing an old acquaintance:
“Should I call you Desolate Strength Ant, or…”
“Stitched Demon Leader!”
As his voice fell, a brief, dead silence descended upon the cavern.
Rustle!
The blood-colored ribbon connected to its neck suddenly tightened, pulling the floating face back and fitting it onto its head.
Tap, tap!
It extended an insectoid leg and gently tapped its cheek, as if to secure it more firmly. Then it looked at Lu Yu with a puzzled expression and asked:
“How did you know?”
Lu Yu spread his hands.
“Just a wild guess. It's not like I'd lose anything.”
In reality, the Eye of Truth had displayed a new tag: 【Stitched Demon】. Anyone who wasn't a fool would know it had to be the Stitched Demon Leader.
After all, the other Stitched Demons weren't qualified to be reborn here.
“Hahahaha, interesting, so very interesting…”
The Stitched Demon Leader was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
The sound made the cavern tremble, causing fine sand to trickle down. He then said:
“It's been a long time since I've seen a young man as interesting as you!”
“It's also my first time meeting an ambitious schemer like you, using the Thousand-Faced Great Demon's ability to split yourself into two—one creating sacrifices above, and the other undergoing rebirth below…” Lu Yu looked at the Stitched Demon Leader before him and said slowly, “By the way, which one of you is the real one? The one above doesn't seem fake either.
If you're both… aren't you afraid of being replaced by the fake?”
Lu Yu was shocked. He had initially guessed that the other party was trying to use the Heart Core to rebirth and nurture a new Thousand-Faced Great Demon, which it would then control.
His final step was to extract the embryo of the Thousand-Faced Great Demon as a material, directly destroying the core of the ritual—in other words, raiding its home base.
However, he had never imagined that the Stitched Demon Leader before him was far more insane than he had thought.
It had directly severed its own soul and merged it with the Heart Core.
Putting aside the danger of severing one's soul, just distinguishing between the primary and secondary self was a huge problem.
One careless mistake, and it could easily suffer a Backlash!
But because it had consciousness, it chose to be born immediately upon sensing danger.
“You certainly know a lot, you even know about the Thousand-Faced Great Demon.
But that's right, you just used some method to forcibly steal half of the Heart Core from me…” The Desolate Strength Ant-shaped Stitched Demon Leader was surprised for a moment, but quickly calmed down and said, “As for real or fake, why bother distinguishing? The strong one is the real one. If I'm replaced, it just means he is the better me!”
His words were calm, yet they carried an indescribable confidence.
He would become the real one!
He was actually being one-upped by a villain!
Lu Yu had to admit, the fellow before him possessed the true spirit of a powerhouse.
Unyieldingly carrying out his own Belief.
Unfortunately, he was an enemy!
Thankfully, because he had interfered with several steps, the sacrifices were insufficient. Coupled with the theft of half the Heart Core, the fellow before him had been severely wounded by the grenade and now only had the strength of a high-tier Elite.
Not unbeatable!
Lu Yu asked his final question: “Why not just reincarnate as the Thousand-Faced Great Demon directly, instead of going to the trouble of becoming a Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant?”
“Although I know you're stalling for time, it's been a long time since I've had someone I can talk to as an equal, so I don't mind telling you…”
The Stitched Demon Leader, or rather, the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant, suddenly threw a punch backward without even turning its head. The immense force shook the air, creating a sonic boom that directly crushed the sneak-attacking swarm of spider silk spears.
Seeing this, Lu Yu's pupils constricted.
Such powerful perception!
It calmly retracted its hand, not admonishing Lu Yu for his sneak attack, and slowly began to speak:
“The Thousand-Faced Great Demon can change into a thousand forms.
That is its greatest advantage, and also its weakness. It has no fixed form; the power it gains is ultimately an imitation, a step below the real thing.
And that gap could very well be the key to defeat.
“Compared to that, I prefer the Limb Grafting ability—stitching together the bodies of many powerful life forms to evolve into a truly Perfect Life.
However, they lack a fixed form and cannot bear the full power of these bodies…”
However, before Lu Yu could ask about the human body, the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant answered first. A look of regret appeared on its ant-like face, and it sighed:
“Humans have their limits!”
“After giving up the greatest gift of the Beast Taming Space, the human body became a restraint for me, a prison of flesh and blood.
No matter how I modified my body, I would eventually feel weak. I clearly possessed great power, yet I couldn't use it to its full extent.
I had to hold back for fear of injuring myself. It even became an obstacle to my advancement to the Overlord Rank.
“For over a decade, I've been thinking about what to do, until I learned of the Desolate Strength Ant's existence.
“The reason it can use the Strength Ring skill to amplify fifty tons of force twenty-fold, reaching a thousand tons, yet remain completely unharmed, is due to its special body structure.
It is the perfect vessel I've dreamed of.
“So I used the Heart Core of the Thousand-Faced Great Demon, the causality contained within the hearts of hundreds of Beast Tamers, and a complete Desolate Strength Ant husk as the price to perform a demon-descending ritual for rebirth, a special sublimation.
“This way, I can continuously grow, using this special structure to graft more powerful Transcendent Creatures, Ancient Dragons, and even… the limbs of ancient existences, forging the body of a demon god. Therefore…”
“I reject my humanity!”
As it spoke these insane, ambitious words, the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant wasn't hysterical.
There was only a wordless calm.
But one could feel the madness contained within, a madness that not even the abyss could fill!
Boom!
As it spoke, the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant burst into action.
With a flash, the ground beneath its feet shattered, and it appeared before Lu Yu in an instant. The sheer speed kicked up a fierce gust of wind.
It could see the astonishment on Lu Yu's face up close, as well as the Spider Silk Shield that was beginning to form. It said faintly:
“Too slow!”
Gurgle, gurgle!
On both sides of its skinless ribcage, which was only flesh and tendon, a pair of Storm Giant arms suddenly began to squirm and grow.
However, compared to its other self, these arms were covered in tiny, steel-like blue scales.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The moment they appeared, the surrounding air currents began to accelerate, swirling around its body and forming accompanying wind blades.
It kicked up a howling gale and arrived directly in front of Lu Yu. The Storm Giant's arms were raised high, and a dragon's roar that could shake the soul could be faintly heard as it threw a punch!
Roar—
A dragon's shadow shot straight down, wrapped in hundreds of wind scythes.
It descended upon Lu Yu's terrified gaze, instantly slicing through the Spider Silk Shield. Everything was cut, and the ground sank, turning into countless rubble, which was then instantly cut into Fine Powder.
In an instant, Dust to dust, earth to earth!
“You were stalling for time, but wasn't I also grafting this half-dragonified Storm Giant arm to prevent your escape…”
The Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant looked at the large pit and the tattered scraps of clothing, murmuring to itself:
“I wonder if my other self has gathered enough sacrifices for the Egg of Causality. Although those guys are sneaky, the ritual and the Egg of Causality are indeed powerful.
With enough causality and Spirituality, I can perfectly condense the Existence Power of the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant, achieving a perfect union of body and soul.
“To be interrupted by a little brat.
I'll have to re-condense the Filth-Blood Demon-Descending Embryo later and gather enough causality before my two selves can undergo the final fusion and advance to Overlord…”
After speaking, it closed its eyes, preparing to sense the other half of its Heart Core and retrieve it. However, its expression quickly turned to shock.
Because that half of the Heart Core seemed to have vanished from the world, without a single trace of its aura to be sensed.
“How is that possible!?”
The Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant was stunned for a moment.
Just as it was about to raise its hand to search, it suddenly felt a pulling sensation. It looked down and saw that its hands and feet were entangled in a large amount of spider silk.
Before it could react, Lu Yu's voice came from behind:
“Void Death Thorn Shield!”
Even before he spoke, small Void Fissures had already torn open. Countless spider silk needles exploded around the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant, instantly piercing its flesh and membranes, its blood dyeing the rocks.
As his voice fell, the skill ended.
Lu Yu, who had used Little Spider's Blink to get behind the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant, adhered to the principle of "hit him while he's down," and had no intention of wasting words.
He continued to have Little Spider pulverize him, to scatter his very ashes.
I'll scatter your ashes to the wind!
Swish, swish, swish!
Countless spider silks pierced through, covering it from all directions like a punishment of impalement, constantly running through its body and drawing out endless blood, dyeing the snow-white silk a crimson red.
During the minute-long continuous barrage of silk threads, the void behind Little Spider tore open, and six Void Eyes appeared. They combined, and Void Energy charged and converged, forming a single Void Dissolving Cannon!
Preparing to deliver the final blow!
However, the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant, impaled by countless threads, suddenly raised its head, snapping numerous strands.
It opened its ferocious mouthparts and roared:
“Eye of the Storm!”
It extended its two giant arms, quickly forming an ancient and obscure cursed seal. Then it reached out, and its palm suddenly split open, revealing a dark-gold vertical pupil.
The moment it appeared, the surrounding air currents accelerated. Despite being underground, a terrifying hurricane began to blow, as if the Lord of Storms himself had descended.
The wind howled, fiercer than a beast's roar, kicking up countless碎石, shattering the Void Dissolving Cannon. At the same time, it continued to expand, attempting to cover the entire cavern.
“What a strong wind, ahhh…”
Little Mouse, at the entrance of the cave, was almost blown away by the gale. It quickly used its hands and feet to cling to a rock, but the Life Bubbles were blown away.
“Oh no!”
Little Mouse's expression tightened. It quickly used its shadow tentacles to grab them, but because the wind was too strong, it only managed to reel one back.
“Damn it!”
It gritted its teeth, with difficulty reached out and popped the bubble, absorbing it. Then, it exerted all its strength to expand its Shadow Power to the maximum, concealing all the energy fluctuations that were trying to leak out.
“Little Mouse never gives up!”
Hearing Little Mouse's shout from outside, Lu Yu's expression turned grim. Looking at this small-scale storm that swept through everything, he knew he couldn't retreat.
If he did, this whole area might be shattered.
At that point, Little Mouse's shielding ability would fail, and he would no longer be facing just the creature in front of him, but the Stitched Demon Leader with Transformed Spirituality from above!
He absolutely could not let it succeed!
Thinking of this, Lu Yu looked at Little Spider, who understood her Master's meaning.
Rustle…
Facing the menacing hurricane, Little Spider stood firm in the void. She reached up and removed her Blindfold.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Pop, pop, pop!
At this moment, countless pieces of rubble, swept up and thrown by the hurricane, were shattered into Fine Powder before they could even get close.
The moment her stunningly beautiful eyes opened, space itself distorted, and the storm froze.
Rending Demon Eye, activated!
Little Spider wore the Blindfold not only to stabilize her own Spirituality but also because the power of the Rending Demon Eye grew continuously as her strength advanced.
Therefore, she needed to keep her eyes tightly shut at all times.
Otherwise, it would tear apart everything she saw.
And at this moment, her amethyst-like eyes looked at the hurricane. The latter seemed to be forcefully grabbed at both ends by an invisible force and then violently pulled apart!
Crack!
The hurricane sweeping through the cavern was instantly torn apart by the Demon Eye.
The Life Energy within Little Spider was rapidly consumed, yet she did not stop. Instead, she turned her gaze to the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant!
Crack!
The invisible tearing force split it in two.
A huge crack even appeared on the stone wall behind it. The two halves of the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant fell, its flesh and organs spilling all over the ground.
“Ying…”
After doing all this, Little Spider's face was pale. She quickly closed her eyes, and the black Blindfold automatically wrapped around them, stabilizing her Spirituality.
She began to pant, recovering her nearly depleted Spirituality and Life Energy.
Only after eating three Life Force Bubbles in a row, plus the buff from 【Spirit Brimming】, did she avoid any lasting side effects.
Although the cost of using the 【Rending Demon Eye】 was high, its power was absurdly great.
It had instantly killed the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant!
Just as Lu Yu was about to press his advantage and extract the material, the coiled blood-colored root tendrils suddenly erupted.
Swish, swish, swish!
They plunged into the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant's body like tubes, injecting a large amount of black, filthy blood. The blood-colored ribbons at the wounds of the two severed halves squirmed and connected, actually putting the body back together again!
“What!?”
Lu Yu's pupils shrank.
Little Spider beside him condensed a giant spider silk axe and swung it down, cleaving it in half again, but ribbons still extended from the flesh, reconnected, and reassembled it.
“Don't waste your energy.”
The Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant's voice sounded. Its obsidian-like insect eyes looked at Lu Yu and chuckled lightly:
“You are indeed a top-tier genius Beast Tamer, and your mind and strategy are impressive.
If you hadn't taken that half of the Heart Core, after my rebirth as a Desolate Strength Ant, I would have had the weaknesses of a creature of flesh and blood, and I might be dead by now.
“However, because of your early interruption, I have retained the characteristics of the Thousand-Faced Great Demon.
My form is no longer fixed, so I have no true fatal weakness. Coupled with the continuous energy supplement from the deep red filth-blood rebirth ritual, I can constantly regenerate.
“You don't have the ability to grind my bones to dust, and I can't kill you either. But as long as I stall for time, once this Shadow Barrier ends, what happened here will get out.
You'll be easily crushed to death by my other self, hahahaha…”
Lu Yu's face darkened. He hadn't expected that by a strange twist of fate, he had instead given this guy a form of semi-immortality.
He had to admit, it was a truly wicked joke from fate.
However, Lu Yu said nothing more, nor did he give up.
He continued to have Little Spider tear its body apart!
Whether it was cut, cleaved, or pounded into meat paste, it could reshape itself using the filth-blood-infused tendrils. Even if it was annihilated, more tendrils would simply emerge from the ground.
As long as the ritual was still in progress, it could maintain this pseudo-immortal body.
Lu Yu killed it again and again, while the Thousand-Faced Desolate Strength Ant relentlessly taunted him, trying to break his will, even extending an olive branch:
“I appreciate smart people.
Hand over your half of the Heart Core and submit to me. I can take you to see a wider world…”
However, before it could finish speaking, Lu Yu cut it in two.
This time, it completely lost its patience. Just as it was about to revive and fight, it suddenly found that the amount of filth-blood had decreased.
The ritual…
Something had gone wrong!
Lu Yu saw its shock. Spider silk pierced it once again, and he revealed a mouthful of pearly white teeth, smiling:
“I'm waiting for my teammate.
What are you waiting for…”
“To die?”
……………………
A few minutes ago, in the Desolate Ant Mound Mystic Realm.
Qi Wei was as tired as a dog, squatting on the ground, looking at Yu Xiyan who stood on a cliff, gazing at the great battle in the distance.
The evening wind lifted the hem of her skirt, her black hair dancing, her beauty unparalleled.
Too bad she's a black-bellied, evil woman!
Qi Wei grumbled inwardly.
He was already developing PTSD towards women. He was a man who only wanted to become a Beast King!
Hearing the sound, Yu Xiyan spoke without turning her head:
“Are the things placed?”
“They're all in place, but the fighting is too intense near a few of the positions by the altar, so I couldn't get close.”
Qi Wei nodded. Watching the great battle in the distance also made his blood boil.
The power of top-tier demonic beasts and Beast Tamers far exceeded his imagination.
He hoped that one day, he could also become such a powerhouse, dominating the battlefield.
But what he didn't understand was, why did his cousin make him run all over half the desert, yet still not join the battle, only placing feathers under hidden stone pillars?
How could that possibly disrupt the ritual?
She was clearly just looking for an excuse to torment him!
As for that guy Lu Yu, he was famous in school for his caution. Seeing a battle of this level, he probably ran away long ago…
While still lost in his wild thoughts, Qi Wei suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck, and his vision went black.
He couldn't help but fall to the ground. His last thought was:
'It's over, that woman can even hear me cursing her in my mind.
I'm so dead this time…'
He fell stiffly to the ground, unconscious.
After settling Qi Wei, Yu Xiyan gazed at the distant altar.
With that Egg of Causality present, simply destroying the ritual nodes was no longer enough to affect the sacrificial ceremony.
“It's about time…”
Yu Xiyan murmured softly.
Deep within her aquamarine eyes, several intertwined mysterious rune circles overlapped. A seven-layered circular magic array manifested behind her.
Unfortunately, something was wrong with her pet beast, so she couldn't use it for now. But it didn't matter, she had other means.
Yu Xiyan took out an octahedral crystal, which floated before her. She clasped her hands into an inverted cross and whispered softly:
“Crawling within the River of Fate, overseeing the destiny of all things, please heed my prayer and descend…”
“Throne Angel!”
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The power levels won't get out of control, please keep reading. There are two more chapters to post! Also, recommending a friend's book.