Chapter 186
Chapter 186
At the same time, in the Dragon Domain.
“Whoosh!”
After laboriously completing the quest assigned by the Dragon Domain’s guardian, Submit and Perish received a generous reward.
“Finally!”
His trademark smug smile appeared. “I’ve finally caught up!”
Level 89!
He had only reached this new height by staying up night after night to grind monsters and complete quests. He was now tied with Rule by Inaction in second place, and only one or two levels behind Zhouyou Shijie, who spent every day doing heaven knew what.
He had never been so close to first place on the level rankings!
“Submit and Perish, quick!”
Just then, Bawang, who was also in the Dragon Domain, called out urgently. “Check the level rankings!”
“What is it?”
Submit and Perish arched an eyebrow at him, looking arrogant. “Are you shocked by how efficiently I’ve been leveling lately?”
“I’m shocked, all right!” Bawang shook his head with a bitter smile. “I was wondering why Zhouyou Shijie’s level hadn’t moved lately. Turns out he was setting up something huge!”
“…”
Something huge?
Feeling both bewildered and uneasy, Submit and Perish opened the level rankings.
His eyes instantly widened, and he cried out, “He’s cheating! That bastard is definitely cheating!”
1. Flame Venerable · Zhouyou Shijie, Level: 124
…
City of Darkness.
Flames raged as the sea of fire boiled.
Once the Forbidden Spell fully erupted, system chimes rang without pause, far too many for Zhou Ming to examine.
One thing, however, was certain: Forbidden · Flames of Eternal Calamity had helped him kill countless monsters.
The sea of fire had become a forbidden zone where only those with sufficient strength could survive.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…”
Golden light streaked about for a time.
Zhou Ming’s level rose like a rocket.
In the blink of an eye, he reached Level 124 and pulled far ahead of everyone else on the level rankings.
In other words, one earth-shattering Forbidden Spell had raised him by more than thirty levels in a single breath, allowing him to meet the requirements for his third class advancement!
At present, however, Zhou Ming had no attention to spare for any of that. His goal was to use the Forbidden Spell to “clear the screen with one click,” then hold back the god-tier powerhouses and buy time for his duplicate to extract the Core of Darkness.
45%… 50%…
The Core of Darkness was being separated at a respectable pace.
Whenever a powerful demon tried to approach, Qianying and Yun Wuyou stopped it. Qianying in particular was a top god-tier powerhouse, so protecting the duplicate while fighting was well within her capabilities.
“You’re still not dead?”
The god-tier demon flew into a rage when it saw Zhou Ming revive and attacked alongside several Demigod-tier powerhouses.
Facing a formidable enemy, Zhou Ming took a deep breath and decided to unleash the ultimate trump card he had been saving.
“Riiip…”
The might of Heavenrend’s greatsword gathered along Ask the Heavens’s edge. Then fire elemental energy ran wild, freezing the air with its chilling sword intent before Zhou Ming had even attacked.
Ding!
[System Notification: You have used the exclusive ability [Heaven’s Wrath], consuming 99.99% of your current HP to gain +2,999.99% damage and range. As a cost, Level -2!]
Ding!
[System Notification: You have used [Astral God Art]. Next attack damage +800%, Critical Hit Rate +50%, Critical Damage +80%, with an extremely high chance of inflicting Knockback and Launch. Duration: 5 seconds!]
Ding!
[System Notification: You have used [Heavenly Meridian Sword Art]. The next sword-related skill you use will increase by 1 rank upon activation!]
Ding!
[System Notification: Your skill [Heavenrend] has advanced into an Exclusive SSSS-Rank skill!]
…
“Drip!”
Before Zhou Ming could even attack, a wound split open across his sword arm and blood began to flow.
The enhancements were simply too extreme. They had already surpassed the limit of what his current body could endure!
Forbidden · Shadow Demon Execution!
The god-tier demon’s heart lurched. Unable to hide its alarm, it hurriedly activated a powerful skill and fought with all its might.
To be honest, it could not understand what was happening!
Had that Forbidden Spell just now not been the enemy’s strongest move?
“Chirp! Chirp!”
Xiaoyou deliberately rammed into the demon. Unaware of its status, the god-tier powerhouse counterattacked, causing its Resistances and overall strength to plummet.
“Take this!”
As one side weakened and the other grew stronger, Zhou Ming gritted his teeth and swung his sword, colliding head-on with the demon’s broadsword.
Ding!
[System Notification: You have used [Heavenrend] (Exclusive SSSS Rank), dealing 6,500% damage based on 280% of your Attack to an enemy unit. This attack is guaranteed to critically hit and inflict Suppression, while reducing the enemy’s Movement Speed by 150% for 5 seconds!]
“Boom!!”
Flames intertwined with sword intent as Heavenrend’s power erupted and clashed violently against the dark element, creating an invisible domain that even Demigod-tier powerhouses dared not approach carelessly.
After the two sides remained deadlocked for several seconds, the broadsword in the god-tier powerhouse’s hand shattered permanently and lost all its power.
Clearly, the opponent’s weapon had not reached god tier. The disparity between their ranks exceeded an entire tier, triggering Ask the Heavens’s [Peerless] trait.
“???”
The god-tier demon stared in horror at the bare hilt left in its hand.
After shattering the broadsword, Heavenrend’s remaining force struck the demon, blasting it backward and carving a bloody wound across the demon’s chest.
-125,049,784! (Critical Damage)
An astonishing damage number appeared.
It was a number beyond the reach of any player.
Zhou Ming had been very lucky. Or rather, after killing Xuanniao, his opponent had become extremely unlucky. That was why its weapon had shattered, allowing most of Heavenrend’s power to be fully unleashed.
Of course, even after calculating it by force, damage exceeding one hundred million had still been within Zhou Ming’s expectations.
Based on what he currently knew, the upper and lower limits of god-tier powerhouses varied enormously. Their Attack generally ranged from 1.5 to 3 million, while their Defense ranged from 600,000 to 1.5 million.
His Attack had just exceeded 300,000. After ignoring 85% of his opponent’s Defense and applying every other bonus, it would have been strange if an attack dealing more than one hundred times his normal damage had failed to break one hundred million.
“Holy shit!”
Not far away, Yun Wuyou stared with his mouth hanging open. “What a monster!”
Even if this was Zhouyou Shijie’s ultimate move with everything he had poured into it, how could it possibly be this outrageous?
He had actually wounded a god-tier powerhouse and knocked it back!
At that moment, attacks from numerous Demigod-tier powerhouses were about to strike Zhou Ming. Ignoring every obstruction, Qianying used the advantage of her spatial skill to appear beside him and take him away, narrowly avoiding every attack.
Ding!
[System Notification: You have entered [Light Domain] – [Wind Gorge]!]
The scene shifted, and Zhou Ming returned to the Light Domain at a place Qianying had marked during their earlier journey.
A gentle breeze blew, rustling the trees.
“We’ve done more than enough. We can leave the rest to Senior Yun,” Qianying said.
“All right!”
Zhou Ming saw nothing wrong with that.
He had bought a great deal of time and nearly filled the progress bar for separating the Core of Darkness from the Dark Magic Array. Yun Wuyou should be able to seize it immediately and escape.
Whether Yun Wuyou brought it back hardly mattered. Without the Dark Magic Array’s enhancement, the threat Reeves posed would remain within manageable limits.
Once the crisis was resolved, they would naturally reunite.
Ding!
[System Notification: Due to an unknown cause, the difficulty of the large-scale event [Siege of the City of Darkness] has decreased to S Rank!]
The system chime suddenly rang in Zhou Ming’s ear.
They had this in the bag!
Zhou Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that the Core of Darkness had been taken, all that awaited him was the massive shower of rewards so common in games.
…