Chapter 381: Sowing!

"Your opponent is me!"

Gui Naifen suddenly arrived at the last moment; she somehow circled to the flank, her whole body awash in golden‑red aura once more, the Flame Spear merging with Dragon Shadow to become a roaring fire tornado that struck the intercepting crystal scythe dead‑on!

"Clang——!!!!"

A deafening roar!

The fire tornado and the crystal scythe shattered simultaneously!

Gui Naifen was thrown back by the recoil, flipped deftly in the air and landed, the spear skidding several meters before stopping, its tip cracked, yet she grinned excitedly: "Hey! Blocked it!"

It was this precious interception that created a perfect chance for Artoria.

"Ex——"

The sword's brilliance tore the night, illuminating Huan Long's illusory visage.

"calibur!!!"

A golden torrent, like a pillar of judgment, thundered down!

The Light Cannon hammered solidly at the junction of Huan Long's illusion and the Insect Body!

Golden light streams clashed fiercely with the purple‑black corrupt energy; wherever the light reached, the Insect Body's shell melted like snow on boiling oil, revealing frantic, regenerating yet continuously purified flesh beneath.

Huan Long's illusion emitted a piercing wail to the extreme, its entire upper body twisting violently and becoming increasingly translucent.

"Did it work?!" Weber, hiding behind a distant cover, clenched his fist.

"No... not yet!"

Ailisi Feier clasped her hands; she could feel that although Huan Long's true form was weakened, its core had not dissipated, and under the agony it grew even more ferocious.

Sure enough, at the instant the Excalibur Light Cannon's momentum waned, a mutation surged!

The severely damaged junction of Huan Long did not fully break; instead it suddenly contracted inward and collapsed!

Immediately thereafter, like a supernova, countless purple‑black tendrils, hair‑thin yet exuding intense Destruction aura, erupted from the collapse point in a spherical burst outward!

Each tendril seemed to possess its own life and will, flexibly winding and piercing!

The attack's range was enormous and indiscriminate!

Artoria, at the forefront, narrowed her gaze, instantly halted the Light Cannon, held her sword before her, contracted her defense fully, and retreated swiftly!

Even so, several tendrils pierced the defense's edge, leaving charred scorch marks on her silvery armguard and delivering needle‑sharp agony.

Gui Naifen kept a slight distance, but the sheer number of tendrils forced her to whirl the spear into an impenetrable vortex of flame, incinerating most nearby tendrils; one sly tendril slipped past the spear's shadow, grazing her side waist, leaving a spray of blood blossoms and a burning Corrosion pain.

"Sss—! So painful!"

Black Tower had already risen, instantly deploying a seven‑layer prism light shield ahead; the tendrils struck the shield, generating dense ripples, the outermost two shields shattered with a sound, but the subsequent layers held firm.

She didn't even furrow her brow, instead analyzing: "Convert the wounded area into a one‑time area attack… indeed, the Destruction‑fated way of acting."

San Yue Qi, positioned slightly behind, continuously fired Ice Arrows to freeze tendrils in the area where she and A Xing were, forming a temporary ice wall, but the tendrils were too many and the wall shattered quickly.

"Too many! Xing! Watch the left!"

A Xing silently swung a bat; her movements seemed simple yet always managed to shatter or deflect incoming tendrils with minimal motion, and when unavoidable she braced with her body—her seemingly ordinary garment (Blessing of Joy) appeared to have good anti‑magic properties, merely rippling when struck, not pierced.

But the Mecha insects around her were not so fortunate; countless tendrils pinned dozens of Mecha insects to the ground, turning them into pools of burning debris.

Even the JiAssassin circling in the distant sky, tasked with handling stragglers and long‑range support, was tangled by several unusually thick tendrils, forced into high‑speed evasive maneuvers, temporarily unable to support the ground effectively.

Huan Long seized the breathing room bought by that desperate strike; the massive wound on its Insect Body scorched by Excalibur began to heal at a visibly rapid pace, slower than before, with plenty of foul blood and broken tissue shedding, yet it was indeed recovering!

Meanwhile, the surrounding insect swarm's assault grew wilder, even spawning suicidal individuals that tried to force through the JiAssassin's insect defenses.

"We must not give it a chance to recover!" Artoria suppressed the numbness in her arm, her emerald eyes burning with greater resolve.

"Then give it another ruthless blow!"

Gui Naifen wiped the blood from her waist, reignited the Flame Spear; though its aura wavered slightly, her fighting spirit remained high.

Black Tower turned toward the JiAssassin, swiftly transmitting information through some invisible link.

The JiAssassin immediately abandoned the entanglement with the tracking tendrils, thrusting its rear Thruster to full, diving down to strike Huan Long's true form!

It seemed utterly indifferent to its own injuries, concentrating all power into its chest core and arms.

"Want to melee? Foolish!"

Huan Long's illusion sneered, manipulating several insect limbs whose tips resembled drill bits, strangling the diving Mecha from multiple angles.

However, at the moment the insect limbs were about to close—

"Now!"

Black Tower let out a clear shout; the hundreds of small prisms hovering beside her suddenly rearranged, forming a strange guiding array.

The JiAssassin's chest core flared as if overloaded, but instead of firing a beam it hurled that raging energy together with part of its own biomass, like a "seed," forcefully—spraying it toward Huan Long's healing wound!

That was not an attack, but… sowing!

The violet‑red energy sphere, imbued with highly concentrated "Breeding" power, instantly seeped into Huan Long's wound like a virus!

Huan Long's illusion showed a shocked expression for the first time.

The next second, the flesh at its wound began to swell uncontrollably and violently!

But this proliferation produced not the purple‑black insect tissue it controlled, but metallic‑sheened, violet‑red‑veined tumors!

These tumors grew wildly, competing with Huan Long's own tissue for nutrients and space, even beginning to reverse‑corrode surrounding healthy Insect Bodies, emitting a tooth‑aching "zzzz" corrosion sound!

"Ugh—!!!"

Huan Long let out a howl more painful than before; its entire Insect Body convulsed violently from the sudden "internal turmoil," the healing process forcibly halted, with the injury even worsening!

The insect limbs that were strangling the JiAssassin also distorted and slowed due to the body's disorder.

Seizing the chance, the JiAssassin slipped through the gaps of the insect limbs by a hair's breadth; though its left leg was grazed and its armor shattered, it escaped the encirclement and created distance.

"Well done!" Gui Naifen couldn't help cheering.

"Using its own method against it."

Black Tower gave a casual remark, its hand never stopping, a new Spell Array forming, "It seems the Authority of Breeding is not yours alone."

Huan Long's illusory shadow twisted with fury; it suddenly lowered its head, gazing at the obstructive purplish‑red tumors in its wound, and a harsh glint flashed in its hollow eyes.

It raised a sound forelimb without hesitation—forcefully stabbing its own wound, then tearing outward with a fierce rip!

"Stab—!!"

Together with the large chunk of tainted flesh and the burgeoning tumor, it ripped them away by its own hand!

The polluted blood sprayed like a waterfall; Huan Long's Insect Body visibly shrank a notch, its aura waned considerably, yet it temporarily cleared the internal mutation.

So ruthless even toward itself!

"Futile struggle."

Huan Long's voice grew hoarse and icy, filled with searing resentment, "You know nothing of Destruction…!"

It no longer tried to recover quickly, but poured its power madly into the surrounding Insect Swarm and itself.

The Insect Swarm's numbers surged again, its forms becoming even more grotesque, abandoning defense entirely to pursue ultimate self‑destruction.

Although Huan Long's true form has shrunk, its carapace grew darker and its aura became even more perilous.