Chapter 154: Facing the Underworld King of the End

Early the next morning, Lingyun and his group had already gathered together, appearing before the passage leading to the Ruby Palace.

"Master, are we setting off now?" Luo Yexi asked Lingyun beside her.

Lingyun closed the character panel in front of him and nodded: "Argo just sent me a message; the Clearers are already assembling, and they should be here soon. We need to move quickly!"

When the group walked to the front of the Ruby Palace gate, Kirito suddenly asked: "Lingyun, this isn't right. The Clearers have already set off, and it won't take them long to get here. Can we kill the BOSS in that amount of time?"

"As for that..." Lingyun pondered for a moment, "Of course not!"

"Not possible, then why did you want to set off at this time?" Asuna asked, feeling somewhat strange.

"Kirito, do you remember when we went to the Labyrinth Area to support you and the Moonlit Black Cats?" Lingyun suddenly asked Kirito beside him.

"I remember. If you hadn't arrived in time, we probably would have been wiped out there!" Kirito said with a hint of nostalgia, but then Kirito's expression changed. "Wait, that's not right. Lingyun, how did you enter the sealed Labyrinth Area back then?"

"Of course, by smashing the door open!" Lingyun said with a smile. "Alright, let's go in first!"

After the group entered the Ruby Palace, Lingyun pushed the heavy gate shut.

"Lingyun, is this useful? People outside can still push the door open!" Suguha asked, feeling somewhat strange.

"Then just watch!" Lingyun chuckled, then his expression turned stern. "Ruoxi, it's up to you!"

Following Lingyun's words, a burst of golden light suddenly surged from the long sword in his hand. Lingyun swung the long sword, striking heavily against the two pillars behind the door. Countless cracks instantly appeared on the pillars, and then, to the shock of Kirito and the others, they collapsed, blocking the entrance. Asuna looked at the pillars lying on the ground and tried attacking them with the long sword in her hand, but was told they were indestructible objects.

"This counts as a little special privilege of mine!" Lingyun shrugged. "If we block the door from the inside, the Clearers won't be able to get in, and we'll have enough time to deal with the Underworld King of the End!"

"Where would the Underworld King of the End be?" After resolving the issue of the Clearers interfering, Kirito's gaze swept across the surroundings, beginning to search for the figure of the Underworld King of the End.

"It should be in the deepest part of the Palace!" Asuna said.

"Let's go, let's take a look!"

The group hadn't walked long in the Ruby Palace before they entered a great hall. At the deepest part of the hall was a luxurious throne, and sitting on the throne was a tall figure.

"That person, is that the Underworld King of the End?" Suguha looked at the person sitting on the throne, feeling somewhat incredulous.

The person sitting on the throne had short, grayish-white hair and a face that could be called perfect, as if carved from marble. He was draped in a suit of grayish-white armor, and a long sword was stuck into the ground beside the throne. If this weren't inside the Ruby Palace, anyone who ran into him would nine times out of ten think he was the protagonist of some anime.

Seeming to sense that someone had entered the hall, the person on the throne slowly opened his eyes. The moment he opened his eyes, a terrifying aura centered on him swept through the entire hall. Everyone present, except for Lingyun, felt their breathing hitch, as if a stone had been pressed onto their hearts.

Lingyun raised an eyebrow; it was clear he hadn't expected that although this Underworld King of the End was only formed from a small portion of the Underworld King of the End's power, it still possessed a portion of the Underworld King of the End's rank-based oppression. This type of oppression did not stem from strength, but from the oppression of life levels. After all, as one of the powerhouses who traversed the Chaos World, the Underworld King of the End's life level was naturally not something Luo Yexi and the others could compare to. Moreover, because the life rank was too high, wanting to kill him was an extremely difficult task. It could be said that if Lingyun weren't here, even if the strength of Luo Yexi and the others were superior to the Underworld King of the End, they would be unable to thoroughly kill him.

Just as Lingyun intended to release his own power to help Luo Yexi and the others resist the aura of the Underworld King of the End, another powerful aura appeared in the hall, forcibly scattering the aura of the Underworld King of the End.

"Moqi, we are still here; I will not allow you to be so presumptuous!" A female voice came from the Void.

I saw the Void ripple, and nine consecutive female figures appeared in the hall, looking coldly at the Underworld King of the End—or Moqi, as they called him.

"Hahahaha, you group of World Consciousnesses, do you think that with your current situation you can kill me? You are truly too naive!" Moqi looked at the nine World Consciousness Projections that had appeared before him and laughed wantonly.

"Master!" Kirito looked at one of the nine women and called out happily.

"Little Kirito, it seems you have inherited the Dual Blades I passed on to you very well!" Sensing the aura on Kirito, that woman said with a smile.

"Asuna, it seems you are also using the sword I gave you quite well!" Another woman also looked at Asuna with a smile.

Seeing her master's appearance, Asuna also nodded with a look of joy.

"Young man, have we met somewhere before?" One of the nine women, dressed in Daoist robes, suddenly appeared before him and stared at him, asking.

"No, how could I have met a big shot like you?" Lingyun shook his head.

"Hmm, this tone—it seems you know our identities! Looking at you, you don't seem to be people of this world either. Could it be that you are transmigrators? That's not quite right either; transmigrators definitely wouldn't have your special temperament. Moreover, there are definitely not many transmigrators who have seen us, and it's a pity you aren't one of them. Interesting, truly too interesting! If the time and place weren't wrong, I would really like to investigate your identity!" The woman in Daoist robes stared at Lingyun, scanning him up and down, and revealed a smile of unclear meaning.

Lingyun's face remained expressionless, but his heart was extremely astonished. Just what kind of heaven-defying, earth-shattering things had this Underworld King of the End done? The nine women who appeared here were all from the sequence of the most powerful World Consciousnesses. Their simultaneous appearance here meant they had all taken action against the Underworld King of the End. Thinking of the Underworld King of the End being ganged up on by this group of World Consciousnesses whose strength exceeded the specifications, Lingyun silently sympathized with it in his heart.

"You bastards, are you ignoring my existence?" Moqi, who had been cast aside, was completely enraged. With a roar, a powerful aura erupted from his body, pressing down toward Lingyun and the others.

"Noisy!" Before Moqi's aura could spread to Lingyun and the others, the nine World Consciousness Projections simultaneously waved their hands impatiently, striking out a beam of light.

Nine completely different powers merged together, yet they did not experience any repulsion; instead, they transformed into a palm print that struck heavily against Moqi. Moqi let out a miserable shriek, his body flying backward and crashing heavily into the wall of the Ruby Palace.

After sliding down from the wall, Moqi's face still carried a trace of disdain: "I already said, you cannot kill me. So-called World Consciousnesses are nothing more than this! Hahahaha!"

"This guy is really annoying!" Kirito, who was talking to her master, puffed out her cheeks.

"He is very annoying! Little Kirito, do you want me to lend my power to you, and then you go and eliminate this guy?" The woman asked with a smile.

"Will that work?" Kirito asked.

"It must work. Don't forget, you are my disciple!" The woman smiled and patted Kirito's head, while at the same time, powerful energy continuously poured from her hand into Kirito's body.

"Let's begin as well!" The other World Consciousnesses also took action one after another, passing their power to Lingyun and the others. If they took action in this world, the restrictions were too great, but Lingyun and the others didn't have this concern!

Moqi watched the actions of the various World Consciousnesses, and a bad premonition flashed through his heart; he hurriedly wanted to get up to stop their behavior. But at this moment, the palm print imprinted on his body suddenly shone brightly, transforming into a colorful rope that bound him, leaving him unable to move.

At this time, outside the Ruby Palace, the Clearers had already arrived before the gate.

"Is this the place where the final BOSS is located?" Heathcliff looked at the magnificent Ruby Palace before him and spoke with a sigh. This place was originally supposed to be where he would give the various players a surprise. Now, having come to this place again, the master inside was no longer him, but another unknown existence. He, too, very much wanted to see who had snatched his territory!

"Commander, this door won't open!" One of the members of the Blood Oath Knights pushed the door hard, but the door didn't budge.

"What is the situation? Even if there are people inside, this shouldn't be happening, right?" Heathcliff walked to the door and pushed it hard. He didn't remember that when he designed this door, there was any such strange setting.

"Hmm, that's not right. What is this?" When Heathcliff pushed the door hard, it finally revealed a sliver of a gap. When he saw the situation inside the door through the gap, he couldn't help but be speechless. Two stone pillars had fallen behind the door, exactly blocking the direction the door would open. He tried attacking the stone pillars, but they were displayed as indestructible objects.

"Commander, what do we do now?" One of them asked.

"Wait. These stone pillars didn't collapse naturally. As long as we wait for the refresh time to arrive, these two stone pillars will naturally disappear!" Heathcliff said.