Chapter 185: Solo Kill!

The wall of light Zheng Ruiyuan created with her Chaos Authority was like a wall of sighs, blocking every attack from the players in full.

Whether physical or energy-based, no attack could shake the wall of light; the skills filling the sky couldn't even leave a single crack on its surface.

Not only could the players' attacks not harm the wall of light, every time an attack struck it, a ripple of Chaos Authority would burst outward.

The ripples from the attacks layered with the radiance emanating from the heart phantom behind Zheng Ruiyuan, condensing halos of chaos onto the players' bodies once more—and far faster than before.

In less than half a minute, some players already felt their reason beginning to blur, struggling to control their own actions.

Zheng Ruiyuan felt the players' feeble counterattacks and a mocking smile spread across her face.

Beneath the might of a god, mortals were like ants, utterly powerless to fight back.

The more they resisted, the more they struggled, the more they would realize their defiance only hastened their own destruction.

If just a sliver of authority granted by a god let her so easily dominate the lives of these Transcendents, what would it be like if she activated the God Kingdom on the ground, awakened the Eye of the God, and grafted it onto herself, merging the two into one?

Thinking of this, Zheng Ruiyuan couldn't help but let out a soft hum.

The players outside the wall of light felt death closing in and each brought out their trump cards for a desperate last stand.

Inside the wall of light, things weren't peaceful either.

As the mastermind behind the Xinyuzhou Sect, the Zheng family—Zheng Taimin and Zheng Ruiyuan—were the true Pontiffs of the sect.

The child Zheng Ruiyuan had been clever from a young age, a born antisocial personality; while the other kids in kindergarten were playing house and hide-and-seek, she was already obsessed with all manner of black magic and sorcery, sewing her classmates' souls into cloth dolls.

Afterward she even paid a personal visit to the classmate who had become a vegetable, and set the doll containing the child's soul beside the bed.

She did all of this simply because she enjoyed the feeling of holding others' lives and deaths in her hands.

To her, humans were like trash; if they could bring her pleasure and offer themselves to the great Lord, that was already the greatest meaning trash could achieve.

Park Changmin had Zheng Ruiyuan stay in the innermost room on the fourth floor not only to conceal her existence, but also to keep her under control.

When this woman went mad, she couldn't tell friend from foe!

Zheng Ruiyuan was an antisocial personality who took pleasure in killing to begin with; combined with her almost twisted loyalty to Leiman, she believed that as a servant of the god, restraining the god's power was a sacrilege against the god.

So when she used Chaos Authority, she didn't distinguish between friend and foe, but carried out indiscriminate attacks.

It was just that the believers of the Xinyuzhou Sect had prepared defensive measures in advance, so they suffered less damage than ordinary players.

The believers' advance preparations didn't mean they could fully resist—just as accidents still happen even with protective measures in place.

The believers affected by the chaos were too busy with themselves to notice that the Fisherman had already stealthed behind Zheng Ruiyuan.

Zheng Ruiyuan, who was absorbed in admiring the players' expressions of agony, sensed danger approaching; she tried to turn and defend, but it was already too late.

A horn-shaped brass dagger pierced through the energy barrier she had hastily gathered on her body's surface and stabbed into her heart.

The heart that housed the divine power of the evil god Leiman.

"You…"

Looking at the familiar-faced spy before her, Zheng Ruiyuan's eyes went wide, her expression full of hatred.

The Fisherman's movements were extremely decisive; without waiting for Zheng Ruiyuan's next move, he directly grabbed her and self-detonated.

His body exploded into a ball of meat paste that splattered in all directions; where the meat paste landed on the wall of light, it quickly corroded large holes in the wall, and where it landed on Zheng Ruiyuan, it was like splashing a large basin of sulfuric acid over her, causing large-area corrosive wounds on her flesh.

The hidden mines Ma Jia had planted detonated at that moment.

As the Fisherman's remote controller, Ma Jia stopped pretending at this point; he immediately snapped back to normal from his playing-dead state—clutching his head and baring his teeth under the influence of Chaos Authority—and was about to pass through the corroded holes in the wall of light to deliver the final strike to Zheng Ruiyuan and claim the spoils.

But he hadn't expected someone to move even faster than him.

From the very moment the wall of light appeared, Wu Chang had kept his attention on the Fisherman, wanting to see what Ma Jia could pull off.

And Ma Jia really did pull off something big—the dagger in the Fisherman's hand was clearly special; it could easily pierce through Leiman's Authority and wound Zheng Ruiyuan.

He had originally worried that a one-on-one with Zheng Ruiyuan might not be enough to take her down, but now that Zheng Ruiyuan was heavily weakened, it was his turn to perform.

What, you say I'm kill-stealing?

He's the boss of a three-party alliance—when the boss does something, how can you call it stealing?

This is him looking out for his subordinates: Ma Jia has already given enough; the dirty, bloody work that requires getting one's hands stained, and the consequences of angering Leiman, should be borne by him, the boss!

He sprinted to Zheng Ruiyuan's side and said quickly:

"Lady Zheng, I accept your invitation. I'm willing to join you and merge with you."

Hearing Wu Chang's answer, Zheng Ruiyuan—suffering from large-area burns and rapidly recovering—was overjoyed; with one hand covering the dagger lodged in her left chest, she grabbed Wu Chang with the other and said through her half-melted face:

"Quick, give me the eye!"

Wu Chang smiled and said, "Let's find somewhere else to talk."

The moment he agreed to Zheng Ruiyuan's invitation and was seen by her as a companion, his skill lit up.

"Skill Name: Long-Range Teleportation."

"Skill Description: You have begun to grasp the essence of space magic, able to teleport yourself and some teammates to any area within your line of sight, or to perform ultra-long-range teleportation through pre-set long-range teleportation arrays. Skill Cooldown: one hour. Maximum number of people carried and maximum teleportation distance are affected by the user's energy and will."

"Current maximum number of people carried: 10. Current maximum teleportation distance: 10 kilometers."

The next moment, he activated Long-Range Teleportation, directly teleporting himself and Zheng Ruiyuan into the lightning-wreathed dark clouds above the Star Leap.

The sudden change of surroundings made Zheng Ruiyuan instinctively freeze for an instant; before she could react, Wu Chang first punched the hand she had over her chest, driving the horn-shaped dagger deeper into her heart, and while she screamed, he took the opportunity to pry open the hand covering her chest and pulled the dagger out.

When the brief hang-time from Long-Range Teleportation ended and he felt his body begin to fall, he activated the skill just before leaving the cloud layer.

Thousand Thunder Summons!

The upgrade of Thunder Art Remnant Scroll from C-rank to B-rank didn't directly increase attributes; it only transformed the Thunder Art Remnant Scroll from a skill state into a true art mastered by Wu Chang.

But the boost brought by this change was far greater than a simple attribute increase.

Now, immersed in the thundercloud, Wu Chang genuinely felt the vast thunder-attribute spiritual energy surging around him, and the might of heaven and earth permeating it.

Previously, using Thousand Thunder Summons with the help of the thundercloud weather had only increased the power of the heavenly thunder and summoned some atmospheric props.

After Thunder Art truly became a proper art, activating Thousand Thunder Summons again, he felt the thunder spiritual energy within him disperse, carrying his inspiration and will, and merge into the thundercloud.

The entire thundercloud seemed to become an extension of his body.

His current realm still couldn't let him wield these natural thunderbolts as weapons as directly as he wielded his own energy, but he could rapidly absorb these thunderbolts to replenish himself, and fuse the might of heaven and earth within the natural thunderbolts into the heavenly thunder he created.

Driven by the remnant scroll of thunder law, bolts of heavenly thunder, bearing the might of heaven and earth and the power to break evil, struck down upon Zheng Ruiyuan one after another.

Originally, summoning a thousand thunderbolts and unleashing three bolts of heavenly thunder was enough to drain Wu Chang dry; the fourth bolt could only be endured by burning through the upper limit of his willpower.

But now, with the upgraded technique and the thundercloud replenishing him, not only had the interval between the descending bolts been greatly reduced, he could also unleash five bolts of heavenly thunder in one breath without strain. After those five bolts, the energy within his body still remained close to sixty percent. Judging by the consumption rate of the thunder law, with the thundercloud as his support, his current limit was nine bolts of heavenly thunder.

Though compared to the name "Thousand Thunder Summon," he still fell far short, one had to remember that the damage of the heavenly thunder from Thousand Thunder Summon would continuously stack; even just nine bolts were enough to deal with most beings in the Wasteland Realm.

At the very least, the gravely wounded Zheng Ruiyuan before him only endured five bolts of heavenly thunder before falling completely still.

Wu Chang held the charred remains of Zheng Ruiyuan in his hand. The two of them fell from the air and plunged straight into the water.

He activated his Sea Serpent transformation, carrying Zheng Ruiyuan's corpse as he dove down. Once he reached a depth invisible from above, he stored Zheng Ruiyuan's corpse into his portable space.

After Zheng Ruiyuan's corpse entered the portable space, a ray of light burrowed out from the wound on her left chest and sank into an item stored in a corner of the portable space.

Wu Chang shifted his consciousness into the portable space and discovered that what was absorbing the power of authority within Zheng Ruiyuan was the Mortal-Poison, which was just about to finish charging.

Originally, the Eye of Leiman embedded in the Mortal-Poison had already opened halfway. Now it was nearly fully open, its increasingly lively eyeball trembling slightly, seemingly wanting to observe its surroundings. But constrained by the spikes on the Mortal-Poison, the Eye of Leiman was fixed in place, unable to turn even a fraction.

Before surfacing, he took out the dagger the fisherman had used to attack Zheng Ruiyuan and examined it.

"Item Name: Valor"

"Item Type: Instance Item"

!

"Item Grade: A"

"Item Skill: Valor"

"Skill Description: Lock onto a single target. When the skill is activated, the defense of both yourself and the target drops to zero, and all defense-type items and skills lose their effect. Cooldown: 24 hours."

"Item Skill: Anthem"

"Skill Description: When the locked target bears divinity, during the lock period, healing and recovery effects received are reduced by 70%, and no ability may be used to evade damage from the other party."

"Note: Courage is humanity's anthem. The true god, moved by human courage, grants the brave the possibility—even when facing a deity—to cast aside everything and fight with all their might."

Staring at the Valor dagger in his hand, Wu Chang was at a loss for words. No wonder the true fisherman's grudge held the Revelation Cult to be mad dogs; he could now understand that feeling.

The deity worshipped by the Revelation Cult, whether an evil god or a true god, had actually bestowed upon its followers a weapon specifically designed to deal with deities, and there were no restrictions on it whatsoever.

Look at the Church of Serenity's Leiman, and other deities—they had always told their followers that only gods could fight gods, and mortals were like ants before deities.

But the one worshipped by Revelation was different: not only did it not uphold the intimidation of the gods, it even handed such an anti-deity item to humanity.

Was it not afraid that the Valor dagger would fall into the hands of an opposing cult and be used to cut down the avatar it had descended?

Truly "I hack at myself when I go mad." If the other deities found out about this, wouldn't they shout that there was a traitor among the gods?

Faced with such a reckless opponent, no wonder the extreme players who worshipped evil gods all considered Revelation too extreme.

While Wu Chang was underwater examining the Valor dagger, the battle on the ship had reached its final stage.

Although the players had not seen the battle within the clouds, everyone had clearly witnessed Wu Chang slamming Zheng Ruiyuan into the seabed.

Judging from Zheng Ruiyuan's thoroughly overcooked appearance, the victor should be Wu Chang.

The strongest boss of the Xinyuzhou Sect had been soloed by the leader of their allied force; the remaining battles naturally held no suspense.

The players on the Xinyuzhou Sect side either surrendered or fled. As the few players still in a state of chaos were subdued, tonight's battle came to an end with Wu Chang's faction claiming a sweeping victory.

Wu Chang did not appear before the people directly. Instead, with Social Phobia and Elite Stealth active, he snuck onto the ship from the stern and reunited with True Self, who was likewise concealed.

Then he took out Zheng Ruiyuan's corpse and let True Self absorb the vitality from it.

Zheng Ruiyuan's combat power, setting aside the authority Leiman had granted her, was already at the level of a minor boss.

Absorbing her vitality directly granted True Self 35 points of Strength, bringing True Self's Strength to 159.

A number that—even for max-level players—could produce attribute suppression and bring a sense of security.

After absorbing the vitality, Wu Chang took one last look at Zheng Ruiyuan's corpse.

He was always a man of his word. He had promised to merge with Zheng Ruiyuan, and he would absolutely keep that promise. Although who merged into whom differed somewhat from what Zheng Ruiyuan had imagined, well—did they merge or not?

After absorbing the Strength attribute, True Self snuck back to the deck. Wu Chang's main body, meanwhile, jumped back into the sea, swam to the front of the ship's deck, and, before everyone's eyes, emerged from beneath the surface.

"It's the boss! Quick, throw a rope!"

Sword Star, relying on his Sword Heart skill, was the first to spot Wu Chang's figure and hurriedly urged.

Shadow and the others quickly found a rope, tossed it over to Wu Chang, and hauled him aboard.

Back on the ship, facing the gazes of the crowd, he said in a flat tone:

"Just as you've all seen, the witch Zheng Ruiyuan of the Xinyuzhou Sect has been eliminated by me."

As he spoke these words, his gaze swept across the faces of the players. Every player whose eyes met his instinctively lowered their head.

Everyone had assumed that Zheng Ruiyuan, as a native of the instance, was already outrageously strong. They hadn't expected that this rich second-generation heir who had been wandering in front of them all along was actually even stronger than Zheng Ruiyuan.

Many max-level players, for once, felt a suffocating pressure from an NPC on their own side.

A faint smile appeared on Wu Chang's face as he continued:

"The battle with the Xinyuzhou Sect is over. We've eliminated the biggest source of instability on the ship. Next…"

While Wu Chang was speaking, in a corner no one noticed, Blood Wolf stared at Wu Chang with blood-red eyes, baring his sharp fangs in a savage snarl.

Blood Wolf had been affected by the voice from the deep sea. Even though, under Ma Jia's treatment, he had recovered his condition within a day and was able to join the battle and hold off the Ritualist, his damaged willpower had not recovered.

To hold off the Ritualist, he had taken a massive amount of damage. His already fragile willpower was struck once again, causing his Inspiration to slip somewhat out of control.

In a daze, he heard the call from the deep sea again. This time, the call did not only speak his name—it also urged him to drag Wu Chang down into the sea with him.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind as much as possible, but the moment he raised his head, he saw a patch of deep crimson before his eyes.

It was the red of flesh and blood.

He suddenly clutched his head. Flashes of Ma Jia's treatment process flickered through his mind. Damn it—that bastard seemed to have planted something inside his brain.

The searing pain battered his willpower, becoming the final mudslide that crushed the camel.

If one were to cut open Blood Wolf's head at this moment, one would see countless tiny fragments of flesh and blood evenly distributed across his brain. These fragments, like worms, kept tearing his brain open and burrowing inward.

Direct control through flesh and blood was likewise the bane of a regeneration-type player like Blood Wolf.

Pain from deep within the brain, maddening, combined with the deep-sea call echoing ceaselessly in his ears, caused Blood Wolf's reason to begin fracturing, sliding toward losing control.

In his mind, very quickly only two voices remained.

One was to kill Li Zaishi and seize first place in the faction.

The other was to drag Li Zaishi into the deep sea, returning to the deep sea's embrace.

(End of chapter)