Chapter 101: The Insidious Bug
The elves, led by Vaelar, Aeliana, and Nyxaris, took down the Dwarven Riders by staying in a strategic location.
The warriors stood at the front and the archers at the back, secured by a tight formation from all directions.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Their arrows pierced the dwarves’ thick armor like butter in mid-air.
With their riders defeated and pulled outside the Gourd, the reinforced boars ran like there was no tomorrow.
The scene was extremely funny until the Dwarven Commander Thorden entered the fray, wielding a heavy hammer left and right, pummeling the elven warriors like wet paper.
Despite being four feet tall, his hulking physique gave him the explosive strength needed to dominate hundreds of elven warriors single-handedly.
Still, Neo did not interfere. He knew metals needed to molden over and over to make strong weapons.
Besides, he placed his full trust in the three generals.
As expected, Vaelar, the epitome of courage and valor, stepped forward.
He had his greatsword and a silver shield as his signature weapons.
As the bearer of the Shield Hero Unique class, he did not have a shred of fear in his eyes. Just a ruthless determination to protect his subordinates.
Thorden roared like a wounded beast, his hulking muscles bulging as he swung his massive war hammer in a brutal, horizontal arc.
Whoosh!
The heavy weapon crackled with dense, yellow earth magic, carrying enough explosive momentum to shatter a boulder into dust.
Vaelar did not even blink. He planted his boots firmly into the bloody soil, lowering his center of gravity, and raised his glowing silver shield.
[ Unique Class Skill Activated: Absolute Aegis ]
BOOM!
The heavy dwarven hammer collided dead center with the silver shield.
As a result of this collision, a massive, eardrum-bursting shockwave rippled across the battlefield, kicking up a thick cloud of dirt and debris.
The surrounding elven warriors were violently pushed back by the sheer kinetic force, but Vaelar stood his ground perfectly.
His boots sank two inches into the earth, but his posture remained absolutely unbroken.
The silver shield hummed, effortlessly absorbing the kinetic impact.
"Is that all the physical strength a dwarven commander possesses?" Vaelar asked coldly.
"Arrogant tree-hugger!" Thorden bellowed, spitting a glob of saliva. He forcefully yanked his hammer back for another devastating overhead strike, channeling every ounce of his Type 7 physical strength.
But Vaelar was far faster.
Taking advantage of the dwarf’s wide swing, Vaelar seamlessly transitioned from flawless defense to ruthless offense. He violently thrust his silver shield forward, executing a brutal shield bash directly into Thorden’s reinforced chest plate.
CRACK!
The dwarven commander groaned painfully as the wind was forcefully knocked out of his lungs.
He stumbled backward clumsily. His runic armour was dented.
Vaelar did not give him a single second to rest.
Releasing his one-handed grip, Vaelar gripped his greatsword with both hands. The massive silver blade began to glow with concentrated cosmic force of a beyonder.
He unleashed several relentless flurry of heavy slashes.
CLANG! CLANG! SLASH!
Thorden desperately tried to raise his heavy hammer to block, but the elven general’s strikes were far too fast and incredibly precise.
Vaelar’s greatsword perfectly parried the cumbersome hammer aside, creating a massive blind spot in the dwarf’s defense.
With a final, ruthless pivot, Vaelar brought the flat side of his glowing greatsword crashing heavily against the side of Thorden’s steel helmet.
GONG!
The terrifying impact rang out like a massive church bell.
Thorden’s eyes instantly rolled to the back of his head, and his hulking four-foot frame swayed for a brief second before collapsing heavily onto the muddy ground.
He was completely knocked unconscious.
Immediately after, the same pillar of radiant white light descended from the sky, completely enveloping the defeated dwarven commander.
In the blink of an eye, Thorden vanished, pulled outside the Gourd and completely eliminated from the trial.
At least, that was what everyone thought.
But the reality was far more insidious.
Under a massive cliff where sunlight barely entered, stood Neo, smirking as he gazed down at the pummeled body of the Dwarven Commander.
Seeing Neo’s face, the commander got a scare.
"Who... are... you? Where is... my King? I need to respawn. I... I will defeat that ugly tree-hugger," he said through pained groans.
"You are going nowhere, little dwarf. You are going to have the privilege of becoming a part of me," Neo said with a smile.
But the dwarf felt nothing but a chill from head to toe.
"What... nonsense... are you talking about, foolish human? I..." He tried to stand, but every bone screamed in agony.
So he decided to bite down hard on his own teeth to trigger the safety mechanism. He did not like the way the human was looking at him.
But Neo was already prepared.
"Well, let us hope it succeeds! I am doing this for the first time with a living being," he said as he raised his hand, activating his Supreme Talent: [Universal Synthesis].
[ Ding! Target selected: Elite Dwarf (Type 7) ]
[ Compatibility rate: 71% (expect to receive some backlash) ]
"Hmm, let us proceed."
Flash!
The radiant light intensified. The dwarf let out a horrific, distorted growl as the Synthesis energy broke his body down to the essence level, turning him into a yellowish liquid.
Next up was Neo.
His body also got consumed by the Synthesis energy, turning into a spiraling dark liquid.
These two beings then began to combine at a subatomic level.
It was the mastercraft work of Deep Synthesis.
The dwarf’s very life essence was being assimilated into Neo’s essence, enriching his genetic properties at a rapid rate.
Still, not everything went as smoothly.
He felt the resistance from the dwarf’s soul.
In the previous synthesis, the targets were dead, so he did not face so much resistance. But this time, he was fusing with a living dwarf.
So this little backlash was to be expected.
Still, this little backlash was nothing compared to all the harsh life experiences he had gone through.
The undercliff had gone quiet. No one could see what true evil was going on inside.
But the world would soon learn a bug had developed within the system.
End of Chapter
