Chapter 2961

Everyone around the cave had prepared, the outer area was empty of others, and watching the spectacle now meant opposing everyone.

"Come on, do you really want to keep watching here? Waiting for that corpse inside to die of old age?"

Black Rose's words weren't pleasant to hear, but the fact was exactly as she said.

"The cave is filled with crystalline roots—do you have a way to deal with them?"

Sweet Orange clearly still wasn't convinced, but for some reason, she found she couldn't meet a certain person's gaze; once she did, her body began to tremble, and a strange sensation arose.

"Little tablet, if I could deal with those crystalline roots?"

Black Rose pulled her hands from her clothing pocket, her gaze fixed on Sweet Orange.

"If you can, I'll immediately, right away, call you mother."

"Call me what?"

"Mother."

"Ah, Mom loves you."

"?"

Sweet Orange paused for a moment; the feeling of blood deficiency surged in her chest, and not far away, Alec's mouth twitched imperceptibly twice, making it hard for him to maintain his tough demeanor.

"You said you could deal with those crystalline roots."

"What nonsense are you spouting? If I could deal with them, I'd still be here wasting words with you?"

"Ah! Don't stop me—I want to kill her."

"Think it through—someone like you, I could take on three at once."

Black Rose's aura gradually shifted, a dangerous sensation that stung perception spreading outward.

"You, I..."

Sweet Orange withdrew into herself; life's greatest tragedy wasn't being unable to spray, but being unable to spray and still unable to win.

"Let... go."

A figure wrapped head to toe in black bandages stepped forward, stopping behind Black Rose; Black Rose made way, then nodded at the newcomer.

"Friend, be careful—those crystalline roots have strong parasitic properties."

"Know... understood...."

The mummy-like bandaged figure walked toward the cave interior; seeing this, Su Xiao stepped forward into the adjacent cave.

Seeing Su Xiao's movement, the Duke and Empress also led their people into a series of caves; the contractors also mobilized, and within minutes, no contractors remained near the cave perimeter—besieging the ultimate **oss basic principle: those who watch the spectacle die first, beaten to death by the crowd.

Su Xiao walked through the dark cave; a fresh scent entered his nostrils, his breathing seemed smoother, and after walking ten or so meters, light appeared ahead.

Su Xiao stopped at the end of the passage; the full view of the cave unfolded before his eyes—large and small holes dotted the ceiling rock, sunlight streamed through them, casting large patches of light on the ground, raising the temperature by several degrees, like a natural greenhouse.

The cave's total area was roughly 1800–1900 square meters, with a pool at the center; at the pool's center stood a stone cup, beneath which a crack ran, and milky primordial water slowly gathered at the fissure into a droplet, then fell into the pool.

Beside the pool sat a corpse, head bowed, lips long rotted and clean, revealing yellowed teeth; in his hand he held a pocket watch, open, with a round photograph set into the inner lid, its content faded by time.

Translucent crystalline roots clung to the cave walls, leaving only gaps of various sizes, while in the side-rock doorways, the Duke, Empress, Alec, and others each occupied a doorway.

The bandaged figure was also in a doorway, his behavior highly abnormal; Su Xiao sensed he was an ally contractor, but the opponent's aura resembled a monster covered in eyes, evoking curiosity laced with dread—this person... no, this thing shared some nature with Black Demon.

Upon seeing this thing arrive, Su Xiao furrowed his brow; the scene was already lively enough—adding this might cause an explosion.

"I'll take... the worm, then leave."

The bandaged figure raised his hand; under the horrified gazes of many contractors, he seized the crystalline roots.

At the moment the bandaged figure touched the crystalline roots, hundreds of white tiny beetles appeared on his hand, gnawing at his black bandages and flesh.

The bandaged figure remained calm; he stepped forward, using his body to snap countless crystalline roots, countless white tiny beetles enveloping him, the sound of their crawling and gnawing making listeners' scalps tingle.

"Still... not enough."

The bandaged figure's body transformed into dark red threads of flesh and sinew, touching all crystalline roots; instantly, tens of millions of white beetles filled the cave, nearly overflowing it.

Like a whale sucking in water, all the white tiny beetles surged toward the bandaged figure, pouring into his body riddled with holes—this felt like the bandaged figure had devoured these white beetles.

Black bandages spontaneously wound around the bandaged figure; his steps faltered as he walked toward the cave exit, clearly having achieved his goal—he had waited until now to tell others he wanted these little worms, no need to besiege him beforehand.

The bandaged figure departed; many contractors exhaled in relief, yet thinking of future world domination struggles where they might encounter this thing, they felt another wave of headache.

The cave interior became empty, leaving only the pool and the corpse, with no one stepping forward.

"Captain, I'm coming."

The hangman strode forward, this guy holding a wooden staff, stopping before the corpse, then brought the staff down.

With a bang, the corpse was struck and jerked its head sideways, then nothing followed—it remained seated, unmoving.

"Captain, there's no danger."

The hangman set down the large wooden barrel on his back, about to draw water from the pool, when the corpse suddenly turned its head—attacking it now was meaningless, as it had not yet assumed its true form.

The hangman appeared dull-witted but was actually quite sharp; he flung the wooden barrel from his hands at the corpse, turned, and fled—the pool was key, for once someone tried to draw water, it would awaken this corpse.

Crack, crack.

The corpse rose to its feet; almost simultaneously, the water level in the pool behind it dropped rapidly, this primordial water rushing into the corpse's body—completely unlike imagination, for it was not water-based, but instead flames ignited on its body.

This corpse had once been one who longed for and drank the primordial water, having merged with the entire demon sea, his consciousness already annihilated, an undefeatable husk left here.

The one who defeated his consciousness was the third captain of the Misfortune Ship, that chaotic-evil-aligned savior.

This corpse had once lain within the great vortex; the third captain of the Misfortune Ship destroyed its consciousness, brought the husk here, and let the primordial water seep into his body to suppress the greedy fire within the husk—this greed was too vast and terrifying, the greed that sought to devour the whole world, thus it burned into flame.

It was this corpse that caused the disaster history of the demon sea; it is the embodiment of this world's greed and sin.

At this moment, all primordial water in the cave had seeped into the corpse's heart-core; outsiders' shock had caused the primordial water to lose its ability to continue suppressing this corpse.

The corpse's body began to swell violently; in an instant, it transformed into a monster over ten meters tall, its entire body covered in long, sparse grayish-white fur, twisted horns sprouting from its head like severely split and burned antlers, its skeletal outline clearly visible beneath a layer of desiccated flesh, flames burning outward from within its body.

This monster vaguely resembled a human, slightly hunched, and in the fire's blaze, its long, sparse fur stirred without wind, embers drifting around it.

"Roar!!!"

A bellow shattered the heavens—this monster, the embodiment of sin's beginning, had been enraged.

The high temperature instantly baked the moisture out of the air, and no one among the surrounding crowd stepped forward—the aura of this ultimate **oss was too terrifying; merely looking at it made one feel an oppressive force bearing down, as if their soul were ignited and killed after enduring the flames' sear.

The Black Rose stared at the ultimate **oss ahead, adopting a "let's try" attitude to scan it, then detected a pile of question marks, not even a name—her Saint Spirit–level detection gear might as well have been fake.

"The boss is awake, charge!"

A tank wielding a large shield shouted, and an awkward scene unfolded—no one moved to attack; instead, everyone retreated. The tank yelled for others to go first, which was somewhat embarrassing, but understandable, for what he faced at this moment was truly too strong.

Flames surged wildly, and the humanoid monster within lunged out. Though its body was enormous, its speed was extreme—with just a sweep of its skeletal, desiccated-flesh claw, it had already seized a bystander, no, the eighth-rank tank who had just urged everyone to advance, gripping him in its hand.

With a whoosh, orange-yellow flame erupted in the humanoid monster's palm. The eighth-rank tank it clutched let out not even a grunt before turning into a pile of charred bones, which scattered from its grasp. The Saint Spirit–level +14 large shield, inlaid with three Saint Spirit–level gems, clanged to the ground, already riddled with dense cracks from the burning.

"I, I damn."

Bahah stared dazedly at this scene, feeling that the previous formidable foe, Gluttony, upon facing this ultimate **oss, could at most hold out for a dozen seconds—no more.