Chapter 3914: Banishment

Several dozen meters ahead, the Empress of the Eternal Night gradually faded into the darkness. Abilities like "Strangulation" could not be used in continuous succession; more precisely, after locking onto five targets simultaneously, she could not use it again for roughly 3 to 5 minutes.

This was why one could not fight the Empress of the Eternal Night one-on-one. In such a scenario, her two "Strangulations" would be separated by only 0.01 seconds. Even if the opponent possessed strong immortality, they would be continuously strangled. Furthermore, all immortality has a theoretical limit; once that limit is reached, death follows.

As the surrounding darkness thinned slightly, Su Xiao, Zuiyas, Wood, the Priest, the Platinum Apostle, and the Black Demon all charged forward simultaneously. At this moment, the Empress of the Eternal Night's "Strangulation" was on cooldown, so there was no fear of her suddenly appearing behind them. Even if she did, it would not be her true body.

Zuiyas had only taken two steps when a figure with long hair made of black mist appeared behind him, pressing a single hand against his spine. The movement seemed slow, but even with Zuiyas slowing down time, he could not evade the touch.

The instant the Empress of the Eternal Night's phantom hand pressed against Zuiyas's spine, his entire body began to twist. This time, it wasn't a straight wringing, but a spiral vortex starting from the center of his body, shredding him to pieces.

Seeing this, the others didn't stop; instead, they moved even faster. The second after Zuiyas was shredded, the Empress of the Eternal Night's phantom appeared behind Su Xiao.

In that instant, Su Xiao felt a chilling darkness invade his back, like pitch-black liquid seeping into every pore. This feeling, while not freezing, was so chilling that his joints began to stiffen, causing his movements to slow as it enveloped him.

A black dot appeared on his spine, which instantly transformed into a spiral vortex, preparing to shred him from that center point.

*Crack! * Crystal fragments splattered everywhere. Su Xiao was not shredded; what shattered was a crystal sculpture identical to him. The next moment, the Empress of the Eternal Night's phantom appeared behind Wood.

Although they had to deal with this black mist phantom, the six of them didn't slow their pace forward by even half a step. A few minutes later, a wave of darkness suddenly descended from above, and the Empress of the Eternal Night appeared in the darkness ahead.

*Boom—! *

With a muffled thud, Su Xiao, Zuiyas, the Priest, and the others stopped simultaneously. Waves of strangulation force assaulted the six of them. Su Xiao hadn't been present for the previous wave of "Dark Strangulation," so he had avoided that attack, but now, he was within the domain of the "Dark Strangulation."

*Snap! * An invisible shell shattered on Su Xiao's body. Although Su Xiao, who had intended to tank the attack with the 【Queen of the Blood Moon】 pendant's ability, felt puzzled, his long blade's speed did not slow by even half a beat.

"Blade Dao Blade · Flow."

*Zheng! *

An elegant wind trace slashed across the front, and blood-like black liquid splattered. After a brief silence, an angry shriek erupted from the darkness.

The Empress of the Eternal Night was not without weaknesses when using "Dark Strangulation." Every time she used this ability, she had to detach from her dark, void-like state. Once she was in the same spatial dimension as Su Xiao and the others, Su Xiao, Wood, and the Priest could all attack her. The reason was that Su Xiao's Blade Technique Master soul-slashing + energy-negation, Wood's invasive characteristic abilities, and the Priest's attacks, which leaned more toward curses and Ancient God darkness, were effective.

The moment Su Xiao's slash hit the Empress of the Eternal Night, a memory storm assaulted him. He saw:

"Don't continue. Falling into the Abyss won't grant you more power. Besides, I can help you take revenge, can't I? I've already started tracking the Astral Devourer."

"Who said I fell into the Abyss because I craved power? I just prefer... the tranquility of the darkness."

"Ah, this script is wrong. What kind of bullshit comfort tactic did Waltz make up? It's completely mismatched."

Having said that, seeing the Empress of the Eternal Night about to lean back into the Abyss vortex, Gillian, without thinking, shouted urgently: "Think of your family!"

Hearing this, the Empress of the Eternal Night's movements paused. Recalling that the world where her loved ones resided had already been devoured by the Astral Devourer, leading to all their deaths, her backward-leaning movement became even more resolute.

Gillian suppressed the urge to slap herself and shouted urgently: "Think about it, you still have me."

Hearing this, the Empress of the Eternal Night's backward-leaning movement paused again. She looked at Gillian, pondered the actions of this fickle flirt for two seconds, then leaned back into the great Abyss vortex. She was swallowed by the liquid-like, dense darkness.

"Damn it!!"

In the darkness, the Empress of the Eternal Night heard Gillian's shout from outside. She could hear the annoyance and unwillingness in the other's tone—the unwillingness of not being able to save her. Being cared for at the final moment brought a faint smile to the Empress of the Eternal Night's cold, ice-like face.

The Empress of the Eternal Night's consciousness sank into dark tranquility. Immediately after, everything she did began to have nothing to do with her. After sinking into the Abyss darkness, the Empress of the Eternal Night's consciousness split in two: one half was her original consciousness, and the other was the Abyss consciousness born from her fall into the Abyss.

If a miracle were to occur and the Empress of the Eternal Night's original consciousness defeated the Abyss-born consciousness, she would be able to control Abyss power to a certain extent and use it without cost.

Unfortunately, there are no miracles in the Abyss. The Empress of the Eternal Night's original consciousness failed; now, she was a thorough Abyss descendant.

The memory scene before his eyes faded. Zuiyas, the Priest, and the others near Su Xiao were still enduring the "Dark Strangulation." As for why he could exempt himself from this "Dark Strangulation," if he guessed correctly, he could exempt himself six times in total, corresponding to the six Sin Objects he had sealed. It wasn't the Sin Objects helping him, but the corresponding phenomenon generated after sealing the six Sin Objects.

More precisely, this was a passive ability that appeared in the "Book of Sin" after successfully sealing six "Big Daddy" level Sin Objects. It was like a special shield, only this special shield would trigger in very few situations, such as when enduring "Dark Strangulation."

Because of this, after the group entered the Empress of the Eternal Night's domain, she chose to teleport Su Xiao to the furthest point, because she would need to perform seven "Dark Strangulations" to kill this Law-Breaker.

Su Xiao felt that this passive characteristic of the "Book of Sin" would definitely be a major pillar for him in dealing with Abyss descendants in the future, perhaps even the most core ability when facing them.

The surroundings emitted a buzzing noise due to the invisible strangulation. Su Xiao didn't step forward. He was certain that if he took one step forward, he would be strangled again. The "Book of Sin"'s passive shield only had six layers, and each layer was exceptionally precious, not to mention he didn't know how long it would take for them to recover layer by layer.

When the surrounding "Dark Strangulation" stopped, Zuiyas and the Black Demon were sitting on the ground and lying on the ground, respectively. Zuiyas raised his hand and waved it, saying: "No more. My soul has been twisted and exploded several times. If this continues, I'm going to die here."

Hearing this, a crystal layer spread under Su Xiao's feet. Once it reached Zuiyas's feet, it instantly formed a "Law-Breaker Teleportation Array." This made the half-dead Zuiyas's eyes widen, and he shouted urgently: "You dog thief, wait..."

*Boom—! *

The 'good teammate' was safely sent outside the Lightless Zone. Come to think of it, there weren't many teleportation arrays that could be activated in a place like the Lightless Zone; the "Law-Breaker Teleportation Array" was certainly among them.

When Su Xiao looked at the Black Demon, he found that the Black Demon had already merged into the darkness. Since he didn't need his help, he interrupted the control, and the crystal array on the ground shattered and evaporated.

The group continued forward. Surprisingly, they traveled for more than ten minutes, and the Empress of the Eternal Night didn't attack again, as if Su Xiao's previous slash had severely wounded her.

Just as the group reached the deepest part of the south side of the Lightless Zone, light red mist diffused there. As soon as Su Xiao reached the vicinity of this red mist, his HP plummeted like flowing water. In just 0.2 seconds, 75% of his 2.73 million HP cap—that is, 20.475 million HP—was drained in that instant.

This was still with Su Xiao being a Triple Technique Master with keen perception. If not, had he walked into this seemingly harmless red mist, he would have died instantly.

Su Xiao, Wood, the Priest, and the Platinum Apostle all stopped. The Platinum Apostle reached a single hand into the red mist, and in less than a second, his face switched through a hundred visages like a residual image. His left hand, like a blade, severed his own right arm, and he retreated three large steps before escaping the red mist's drain.

"265 times."

The Platinum Apostle meant that in the less than one second just now, he had died 265 times.

"Determine whether it is life-devouring or life-draining."

Su Xiao spoke. The reason he distinguished this was to ensure the subsequent plan didn't fail. If the Empress of the Eternal Night's red mist domain was "life-devouring," it meant the domain was merely a pure absorption and devouring of life force, with no further continuation.

Conversely, if it was "life-draining," it meant the life force absorbed by this red mist domain would be used by the Empress of the Eternal Night later, or even absorbed by her to further strengthen her eeriness.

"I'll die once, but I need a mark."

The Platinum Apostle spoke. She had now transformed into a blonde noblewoman with ice-blue radial pupils.

"Wait a moment."

Wood blocked his face with one hand, his pupil flames gradually diffusing. This was him deceiving himself. A few seconds later, Wood's ghostly green pupil flames turned grayish-white, and a strong curse aura appeared. He had temporarily deceived himself into becoming a Curse Master.

"Curse, can, mark."

Wood's voice was deep and ethereal. He raised one hand, and translucent tentacles grew on the Platinum Apostle, making it difficult for her to move. She stepped into the red mist ahead.

*Zzz—*

The Spirit Shadow Thread tightened, allowing the Platinum Apostle to exit the red mist domain more easily. Wood remained expressionless throughout, and only when the curse mark he had set shattered did he return to his original appearance, exiting the Curse Master persona.

"The curse mark existed for so long; it can only be 'life-devouring.' If the Empress of the Eternal Night wanted to utilize or absorb this life force, she wouldn't allow a curse mark to exist for so long."

After Wood confirmed this, Su Xiao had a way to solve this red mist domain. As long as it was confirmed that the life force absorbed by this red mist domain wasn't used by the Empress of the Eternal Night, the subsequent matters would be simple.

*Crack, crack—*

The sound of space cracking came. After the space behind Su Xiao reached a critical point.

*Boom! *

A large area of space shattered, and a towering Zerg Void Gate emerged. Inside this tall gate, there was dark purple ghostly light and surging biological structures. This thousand-meter-tall Zerg Void Gate was not in its complete state, but this specification was already enough.

"War Lord Title Effect 1: Lord's Authority (Active): Can open a Void Gate connecting to the Eternal Light World Zerg Base Camp, summoning a large number of Demon Zergs."

"Hint: The size and specification of the Void Gate will be determined by the sum of your Strength, Agility, Intelligence, and Stamina attributes."

"Hint: The upper limit of the number of Zergs that can be summoned will be determined by your Soul Strength (currently can summon up to 2.63 million combat-type Demon Zergs)."

"Hint: The upper limit of the summoned Demon Zergs' stay in the current world will be determined by your Elemental Affinity."

"Warning: If you are within a mission world, this ability can be activated at most once per world progress. If you attempt a second activation, you will be strongly repelled by the current world until you are expelled from it."

Countless Zerg units—Worker Scorpions—rushed out from the Void Gate. Their numbers were so great that they filled the Void Gate, surging out like a tide.

What Su Xiao summoned were neither the powerful Demon Beasts nor the strongest Zerg unit—the Demon Flame Dragon—but the most basic Zerg unit: the Worker Scorpion. They didn't even have combat capabilities, mainly responsible for construction, maintenance, upkeep, short-range transport, storage management, and other work.

Why summon so many Worker Scorpions? The reason was that combat units like Demon Beasts, Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Beasts absorbed biological energy, and they also consumed biological energy during their actions.

Conversely, Worker Scorpions absorbed biological energy but consumed life force. So-called biological energy was a product of biological life force compressed into liquid and qualitatively changed, unique to the Zerg. After other creatures absorbed biological energy, let alone using it as action energy, not dying on the spot was already a sign of strong adaptability.

Worker Scorpions directly consumed biological energy, which was a waste of the Mother Nest's existing resources. Therefore, Worker Scorpions evolved corresponding organs that could convert 1 unit of biological energy into 180–190 units of conventional living creature life force—that is, the lowest-level life force. Come to think of it, life force had at least 60 tiers. By the time one reached the Absolute Strong level, it was basically very high-tier life force, just with different characteristics.

Su Xiao's purpose in opening the Zerg Void Gate this time was to summon endless Worker Scorpions. The War Lord characteristic was that it could summon up to 2.63 million combat-type Demon Zergs at once, but what if they were non-combat units? And on the basis of non-combat units, adding the most basic Zerg units, then the number Su Xiao could summon at once would increase by more than a hundredfold.

Another point was that cultivating one Demon Beast required 8 units of biological energy, whereas cultivating one Worker Scorpion required 0.0005 units of biological energy. That is, 1 Demon Beast = 16,000 Worker Scorpions.

An existence like the Empress of the Eternal Night, whose abilities were so eerie that they were unsolvable to a certain extent, must have some weakness. Whether it was "Dark Distortion" or "Dark Avatar," both abilities highlighted an obscure weakness: the limit. Once that limit was exceeded, not only would these powerful abilities be interrupted, but the Empress of the Eternal Night herself would suffer backlash.

The blood mist domain deployed by the Empress of the Eternal Night was powerful, capable of draining Su Xiao's life force in 1 second. It could absorb thousands or tens of thousands of lives like the Platinum Apostle's in 1 second, but this ability also had its limits.

Ask yourself, what would happen if 1 million Worker Scorpions all rushed into this domain and had their life force drained? The answer was no change. But what about 5 million? The answer was still no change.

But after endless Worker Scorpions rushed into this red mist domain for more than three hours, the red mist ahead exploded with a loud bang.

Things with weaknesses could be defeated, let alone that what the Empress of the Eternal Night was facing at this moment was a lineup of such monsters and ghosts. There were six people in total, each looking more like a person than the last, yet among the six, there was only one human, and this blood-soaked human looked even more daunting than the Ancient Gods and Devil races beside him.

After all the red mist dissipated, the group continued forward, reaching the southernmost side of the Lightless Zone. A sealing wall composed of darkness, similar to crystal texture, appeared ahead. On this sealing wall, which was so high it seemed endless, there was a door a few meters high. This door was dark silver, as if cast from metal. The door was seamless, obviously not openable from the outside.

Su Xiao looked at the Priest. The Priest pondered for a moment and replied: "1.5 seconds at most."

Having received this answer, Su Xiao took out a sealing medium that looked like a roll of black bandages. He removed the "Wild Hunt Night" long leather coat, tore off the inner lining of his right arm, and wrapped the black bandage-like sealing medium around his right hand and forearm. After wrapping the sealing medium, he pulled a metal wire from within. Following his intent, the metal wire formed a circular spell, with the coordinates representing an unknown place in the Abyss.

With the coordinates, the sealing medium wrapped on Su Xiao's right arm activated, melting and imprinting onto his right arm, causing his forearm and right hand to emit black mist. In the palm of his hand, there was a spiral-shaped pale ring mark.

Seeing Su Xiao was prepared, the Platinum Apostle came to the dark silver metal door. After a while, he would be the first to rush in and die. As for how to open the door, Wood stepped forward, his hand, blurred between two-dimensional and three-dimensional states, pressed against the door. After doing this, he stepped back step by step, hands clasped together. From now on, everyone was waiting for Wood's signal.

"Open."

The ghostly green pupil flames in Wood's eyes were vigorous. Was this dark silver metal door indestructible? It didn't matter. After turning it two-dimensional, it was nothing more than lines, with no actual blocking effect.

The instant the sealing door opened, the Platinum Apostle, who had transformed into a four-meter-tall bald giant, rushed in with a *boom*. The moment he rushed into the dark domain, his flesh and blood withered rapidly, turning into ash.

The Priest held the "Book of Mercy" in one hand and pressed the other hand on it, saying:

"Lost, lamb."

As soon as the words fell, grayish-white, rock-like crystallization appeared all over the Empress of the Eternal Night, who was located in the dark domain inside, causing her to be frozen.

With a muffled sound of breaking through the air, Su Xiao had already raided forward. Just as he was about to press his hand against the Empress of the Eternal Night's face, the frozen material on the Empress of the Eternal Night's right eye shattered. Almost simultaneously, the Priest's right half of his body shattered. It could be seen that the Priest had indeed tried his best.

The moment he was stared at by the Empress of the Eternal Night, Su Xiao felt his soul being swallowed by darkness. This was another powerful ability of the Empress of the Eternal Night besides "Dark Strangulation," called "Dark Immersion," which could swallow the soul of the person making eye contact into the darkness to drown and die. However, compared to "Dark Strangulation," "Dark Immersion" had a longer interval between uses, lasting several natural days.

A giant dark mouth appeared out of thin air and swallowed Su Xiao, but immediately spat him out—or rather, it spat out the Blade Spirit. The instant he was about to suffer "Dark Immersion," Su Xiao swapped positions with the Blade Spirit.

One must know that the "Substitution" ability derived from the Blade Spirit was not as simple as swapping positions. It was an instant swap of Su Xiao's position, current situation, and the ability and curse he was about to suffer. The "Dark Immersion," which could be called certain death, was completely ineffective against the Blade Spirit. Darkness could not invade the Blade Spirit.

Opportunities are fleeting. Su Xiao certainly wouldn't miss it. He had already appeared in front of the Empress of the Eternal Night, his right hand, bearing the Abyss Banishment spell, pressing toward the Empress of the Eternal Night. When his palm was only a few centimeters away from the Empress of the Eternal Night's face.

*Howl!! *

An invisible shriek spread. This invisible shriek caused the Banishment spell on Su Xiao's right hand to shatter and dissolve. He pressed his bare hand onto the Empress of the Eternal Night's face. Between his fingers, one of the Empress of the Eternal Night's eyes looked at him with a hint of playfulness, because... the Empress of the Eternal Night had won.

The Empress of the Eternal Night, who had narrowly won in such a situation, felt joy overflowing like a flooding tide. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up. She had forgotten how long it had been since a living creature had brought her such joy of hunting.

But the very next second, the joyful smile on the Empress of the Eternal Night's face froze, because at this moment, in Su Xiao's left hand was the "Book of Sin," which had already been opened to the eighth page. He did indeed intend to banish the Empress of the Eternal Night to the Abyss, but that was only Plan 1. To deal with an eerie existence like the Empress of the Eternal Night, it would be too reckless not to prepare three or four backup plans.

Dark golden root-like tentacles erupted from the "Book of Sin." Su Xiao sealing "Big Daddy" level Sin Objects into the "Book of Sin" had already satisfied the "Collector's" collecting obsession like never before. Now, with this sealing of an Abyss descendant, the "Collector" was also very active.

The Empress of the Eternal Night only had time to shriek once before being dragged into the "Book of Sin." The moment Su Xiao *slapped* the "Book of Sin" shut, without any prior communication, Wood outside the dark domain clasped his hands together, turning Su Xiao two-dimensional for an instant.

*Boom!! *

Massive black Ancient God tentacles erupted on Su Xiao's body surface. Because Wood helped turn him two-dimensional for an instant, the Priest's dangerous ambush was successfully avoided. It could be said that this was the tacit understanding between 'good teammates.'

Su Xiao held the "Book of Sin" in one hand and pressed the other hand to the ground. In an instant, the crystal array that had been prepared on the ground appeared and activated. Seeing the general appearance of this array, the strongest assassination weapon "Disdain" that had spread from the Priest's sleeve suddenly stabbed toward his own chin, then pierced through his skull. Only a dead person would not be banished.

The Banishment vortex appeared with a *boom*. Both the Platinum Apostle and the Black Demon were swept into it. The Platinum Apostle seemed to have thought of something and was just about to escape through self-termination when he was already swallowed by the Banishment vortex.

Where did the Platinum Apostle and the Black Demon go? One could only say: 'Welcome to the Eternal Light World.'

After everything calmed down, Su Xiao, whose HP was gradually recovering, let out a long breath. He controlled the Blade Spirit to pull out the short blade that had pierced his back and chest, and threw the gradually decaying weapon into the darkness.

Leaving the dark domain, Su Xiao walked along the pitch-black sealing wall. After walking about a kilometer, a hole appeared. However, this hole was sealed by intense darkness—it was a strong seal composed of Abyss energy.

Logically speaking, this Abyss sealing door was also a link in the main quest, and a very heavy one among the several links of the main quest. However, Su Xiao had other ways to deal with it.

Therefore, the "Main Quest: Seventh Link: Lightless Darkness" he was currently performing was equivalent to two particularly heavy main quest links combined, which was why such an outrageous difficulty of Lv. 95++++++ appeared. In this mission difficulty, opening this Abyss seal accounted for two-thirds of the difficulty.

Su Xiao took out 【Dark Wriggling】 and held it up with both hands.

【Dark Wriggling】

Origin: Previous Abyss Lord.

Quality: Abyss-level.

Category: Dangerous Object.

Effect 1: By keeping contact with this object, you can understand dark knowledge from the Abyss during this period.

Effect 2: By holding this object with both hands, you can use it to open any level of Abyss seal or Abyss energy coverage.

Warning: Every time you use this item, you need to pay enough darkness. If the paid darkness is insufficient, you will be devoured.

Currently payable darkness: 【Dark Devour (Immortal-level Special Equipment)】, 【Rag stained with the source blood of the Undying Old Man】.

Score: -- (This item will not be notarized for scoring).

Introduction: This is part of the brain fluid of the previous Abyss Lord, inside which is wrapped a metal fragment, but it has been eroded pitch-black by this brain fluid, making it impossible to identify its original appearance.

Price: After acquisition, it cannot be traded, transferred, abandoned, etc. It can only be submitted to the Reincarnation Paradise to increase the permission level.

The Abyss seal ahead gradually opened, and a stone door appeared. Su Xiao took out the "Altar Lock Plate" he had obtained earlier and embedded it in the center of the stone door. As the lock plate turned, the stone door, full of spells, opened.

Walking inside, he found that this was an independent space. The range of this space was not large, about 300 square meters. An ancient altar was located in front. This altar was very similar to the altar he had seen in the Dark Moon Nightmare, only more ancient—it was the "Moon Altar."

There was a groove in the center of the stone altar, which matched the shape of the "Moon Meteor Core" he had obtained earlier. Su Xiao took out the "Moon Meteor Core" and pressed it into the groove.

*Hum—*

Dark purple faint light appeared on the "Moon Altar." This last legacy left by the Dark Moon faction was activated, and the effect was temporarily unknown.

【Dark Moon Nightmare · Moon Altar · Branch Node 5 (Activated).】

【Lightless Zone · Moon Altar · Hub (Activated).】

【The Dark Moon Ritual will start in 3 natural days!】

【You have completed Main Quest · Seventh Link: Lightless Darkness.】

【You have obtained Exclusive Team Skill Card Treasure Chest × 2.】

【You have completed Chain Quest · Dark Moon Ritual (Final Link).】

【You have obtained Abyss Treasure Chest (★★★★★).】

【Hint: This is the highest-tier Abyss Treasure Chest.】

... ===== CHAPTER 3915 =====

【You have obtained Exclusive Team Skill Card Chest ×2.】

【You have completed the chain quest: Dark Moon Ritual (Final Stage).】

【You have obtained Abyssal Chest (★★★★★).】

【Note: This is the highest-tier Abyssal Chest.】

……