Chapter 352: The Weak General

Above the black‑and‑white Hawkins Town, a silver dragon roamed the sky like a massive whale, passing through layers of fine rain and endless curtains. Wherever the colossal beast went, the flames poured down from the abyssal maw ravaged and burned the ground. Naimi Xisi rushed toward the direction where black vines gathered, annihilating everything he saw.

"Wooo—"

The once quiet, pitch‑black Reverse World now glowed, highlighted by the soaring flames, and the burning earth faintly emitted a mournful wail like that of a creature.

Naimi Xisi did this not to avenge the Steward's injury to him, but to clear the black vines that covered the whole town. With the destruction of the Shadow Storm, all the town's monsters fell into oblivion along with their creator's demise, yet the black vines continued to grow stubbornly.

They sprouted from an unknown source, parasitic‑like, growing upon the earth and absorbing shadow elements.

This nicely explains why the shadow‑element concentration of the entire Reverse World is so low.

Naimi Xisi guessed that these vines are Reverse Eye's method of siphoning this world's power; Ya Se Lie Ke told him that when the simulation last entered this world, the incarnation of Reverse Eye had manifested in the real world under a sacrifice controlled by the Steward.

His simulation was instantly destroyed by the other side.

Wei Ke Na paid a huge price, using Eleven to destroy the incarnation of Reverse Eye; the severely wounded Reverse Eye will not recover so easily.

It is drawing power to repair itself.

Thus, Naimi Xisi, while hurrying on, vigorously cleared the whole town of weeds, resolutely leaving no chance for Reverse Eye to retain any spatial advantage.

The spot where the vines gathered was easy to locate; after annihilating the entire Hawkins Town, Naimi Xisi arrived above an abandoned villa in the outskirts.

The villa's exterior was almost entirely entwined by vines, with only a few medieval‑style stained‑glass windows and a dilapidated main gate exposed.

Naimi Xisi did not bother to explore inside, but silently unleashed a Solar Flare Burst.

Even without divine spell augmentation, the Solar Flare Burst sparked a grand fireworks display. The soaring square light pillar, like a holy sword, triggered a terrifying explosion the instant it touched the abandoned villa.

"Boom————"

A pure white pillar, half a kilometer in diameter, pierced heaven and earth, its blazing white light illuminating the entire Reverse World. The terrifying mushroom cloud rose skyward, radiating a tearing shockwave three kilometers outward; the forest surrounding the abandoned villa was devastated, and centuries‑old towering trees snapped like weeds torn by a gale.

Naimi Xisi admired the 'scenery' before him; I must say the Plastic Energy fireworks show is the most captivating among the Eight Major Factions, which is why Plastic Energy mages pour out their Spell Slots whenever they face a problem.

Even Naimi Xisi, after acquiring the Solar Flare Burst, has used the spell so frequently that its usage ranks first among his nearly a thousand rare spells across the Eight Major Factions.

The Solar Flare Burst is essentially the all‑round invincible upgraded version of the Fireball Technique.

As the brilliance faded and the smoke cleared, the spot where the abandoned villa once stood was left with a massive pit a hundred meters deep.

"Eh?"

Naimi Xisi stared and discovered that at the bottom of the pit a survivor remained, untouched by the Solar Flare Burst's light.

It was a humanoid monster, its body seemingly skinless, entwined by vine‑like tentacles that formed a sort of tentacle armor.

It looked rather pitiful, half its body charred like a desiccated corpse, presumably from the Solar Flare Burst's blast. Yet despite that, the severely wounded creature remained asleep.

Naimi Xisi couldn't help but become curious; the Solar Flare Burst is not a mere oversized Fireball, but a grand sanction forged from luminous energy and fire elements, akin to a priest's Flame Strike. This is why its explosion emits pure white light rather than ordinary flame colors.

All shadow creatures of the Underworld, when confronted with positive energy, react like ordinary people exposed to intense nuclear radiation; yet this monster did not die when faced with Naimi Xisi's Solar Flare Burst.

Naimi Xisi wondered if the opponent might be Reverse Eye, but immediately dismissed the thought, as its aura was far too weak.

Just as Juan Ce Long prepared to casually unleash another luminous‑energy spell to annihilate it, the humanoid monster seemed to sense danger, slowly opening its eyes and gazing bewilderedly around.

"Hmm?"

"How am I in this deep pit? Where is my huge home?"

"And what is that massive monster in the sky watching me with a tiger's gaze?"

One's temple broke into a thin bead of cold sweat.

Some time ago, he ventured into Eleven's consciousness to hunt the target, initiating a mental duel. As predicted, Eleven's power had diminished considerably compared to before the loss of memory.

One had already held the advantage and could have quickly devoured Eleven's consciousness to kill him, but at the crucial moment a mysterious bronze broken palm appeared in Eleven's mind, causing him to lose the mental duel.

Severely mentally wounded, One had to retreat to his old lair to hibernate.

Who could have guessed that upon waking, his old home had become a deep pit, half his body searing as if immersed in concentrated sulfuric acid, and a colossal beast covering the sky loomed overhead, staring at him.

One felt on the verge of tears, yet could not cry.

"I am the Lord of Madness, the True Red—servant beneath the Crown of the Red Death Demon, General of the land of Anka! Beast, withdraw at once!" One shouted fiercely.

Anka — in the ancient Ying Ying Ming Jie tongue means 'abandon'; One calls the Reverse World "Anka", i. e., 'the abandoned land'.

A hint of mockery flashed in Naimi Xisi's eyes; even a god driven mad possesses a title that can intimidate.

The titles Lord of Madness, True Red, and Red Death Demon are merely aliases of Reverse Eye.

"You are His servant?" Naimi Xisi seemed to confirm, "Then that's correct."

Juan Ce Long's sturdy, powerful right claw, wielding a hurricane‑like force, swung at One, who, terrified, hastily activated telekinesis to block the overwhelming strike.

Unfortunately, although One's telekinesis was strong enough to tear an entire villa apart, it was absurdly futile against the dragon's near‑Legendary Physical Strength.

Naimi Xisi only felt a moderate resistance ahead of his right claw; a slight press shattered it, and One, spitting blood, was pinched in the claw's palm.

He glanced disdainfully at the person in the claw; although both were servants of Reverse Eye like the Shadow Storm, this so‑called general was so weak that Naimi Xisi could not bear to watch.

In fact, Naimi Xisi had misunderstood; One was favored because of his unique superpower—Mental Duel.

Relying on this rare talent, One can, across the Rift, pull people from the real world into consciousness, using them as conduits to expand the Rift.

He never relied on combat to win.

(End of Chapter)