Chapter 121: Near-death dormancy? This is practically infinite resurrection!

【Hellspawn】

Effect: All hellspawn, after their core parts are destroyed, do not die immediately but enter a near-death dormant state.

After passing through the Hell Gate and returning to Hell, the damaged core parts and bodily injuries will automatically recover; once the core parts are fully repaired, the hellspawn will revive.

Or, by placing the near-death dormant hellspawn into the hellspawn construct device and adding the corresponding flesh and hellspawn adhesive, the damaged core can be repaired more quickly, as can the missing body parts.

……

"This damn thing, isn't it basically having an immortal body?"

After looking at the details of the Violent Demon Ox's talent, Su Hao couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Back when Su Hao was still a flesh controller, if his heart, this core part, was damaged, he was done for.

But the Violent Demon Ox, even if its core part is damaged, will not die; instead it will enter a near-death dormant state.

As long as one returns to Hell through the Hell Gate, the core part can be repaired and bodily injuries healed.

Su Hao didn't know what the Hell Gate was, but throwing the Violent Demon Ox into the hellspawn construct device and re-refining it gave the same result, only faster.

The only hassle is that the dormant Violent Demon Ox must be brought back to the territory for repair.

But compared to rebirth and resurrection, this is a tiny matter! "If the Violent Demon Ox had only a single hoof left, I don't know if it could be revived by this method."

Su Hao stroked his chin, showing a thoughtful expression.

If it really is as he thought, any remaining body part could, through re-smelting, repair the damaged core and achieve the goal of revival.

Then in the future, no matter how the Violent Demon Ox dies, there will be no loss of numbers.

"Just try it and you'll know!"

Practice is always the best way to test truth; immediately Su Hao took out the Gravity Rock Axe and walked slowly forward.

"Little Ox, you've worked hard."

Su Hao smiled, lifted the Gravity Rock Axe in his hand, and swung it at the Violent Demon Ox before him.

Even Su Hao himself didn't notice that after becoming a Crimson Bone Demon, he became more indifferent to life.

Before his advancement, although he was used to injuries, he would never, like shortly before, cut off his own arm without psychological pressure, scrape off the fascia, and use it as a refining material.

Likewise, he would not now, without any hesitation, deal a lethal blow to his own summoned beast.

As Su Hao's axe fell, the Violent Demon Ox's entire body was split in two by that blow.

Even the black flame within its brain was split into fragments, scattering around the skull and gradually extinguishing.

As the black flame extinguished, the Violent Demon Ox's gaze grew dim and lifeless; it lay on the ground motionless, as if dead.

"It seems this black flame is the core of the Violent Demon Ox."

Su Hao nodded slightly, continued to lift the Gravity Rock Axe, intending to chop the Violent Demon Ox's corpse into smaller pieces.

But before Su Hao could act, after the black flame completely extinguished, the Violent Demon Ox's corpse suddenly began to melt, losing its original shape.

Soon after, the corpse of the Violent Demon Ox, split in two by Su Hao's axe, completely turned into a pool of dark red flesh paste.

Immediately after.

Under Su Hao's gaze, that pool of dark red flesh paste began to writhe on its own, eventually becoming a giant meatball about two meters in diameter, made of viscous liquid.

"Is this really the near-death state?"

Su Hao shouldered the viscous meatball and placed it into the material slot of the hellspawn construct device.

Next, he had the bloodsucking demon vine deliver 1500 kilograms of infected flesh and 500 milliliters of adhesive, which were placed together into the material slot, and the device was restarted.

About an hour later, as the energy conversion device stopped running, a piece of dark red flesh on the surface of the hellspawn construct device rapidly expanded to about five meters, detached from the device, and crashed heavily to the ground.

The next moment.

The lump of meat that fell to the ground exploded with a "pfft", and a Violent Demon Giant Ox about 2.5 meters tall emerged unscathed from within.

At the same time.

The material slot of the hellspawn construct device automatically opened, ejecting about 1000 kilograms of infected flesh and about 450 milliliters of hellspawn adhesive.

"Is that all the material needed to revive it?"

Su Hao raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

Hellspawn, after suffering a lethal attack, can enter a dormant state and be revived via the hellspawn construct device—this is already somewhat absurd.

As it turns out, the materials and time needed for revival are just this little—this is no longer merely somewhat absurd……

However, Hao did not stop testing; he again lifted the Gravity Rock Axe and shattered the black flame inside the Violent Demon Ox's skull.

Immediately after.

The Violent Demon Ox's corpse once again turned into a viscous meatball.

This time, however, Su Hao did not simply toss the meatball into the material slot; instead, he lifted the Gravity Rock Axe and split the meatball in half.

He burned one half with the Blood Flame Technique into a wisp of green smoke, then took the remaining half, together with contaminated flesh and adhesive, and dumped them into the material slot of the hellspawn construct device, restarting it.

This time the Violent Demon Ox's revival took longer—about two hours—before the device stopped running.

The material consumption was also greater—approximately 1000 kilograms of contaminated flesh and 100 milliliters of adhesive.

Thereafter, Su Hao followed the same procedure, killing the revived Violent Demon Ox again, cutting off one-third of the meatball, and placing it into the material slot of the hellspawn construct device.

However, this time an accident occurred.

The hellspawn construct device had barely started when it suddenly stopped; immediately, the material slot opened and ejected one-third of the meatball, along with the contaminated flesh and adhesive.

"Thus it seems the materials and time needed for revival depend on the meatball's degree of loss; once the loss is too severe, revival by re-refining becomes impossible."

Su Hao nodded slightly, gaining a certain understanding of the Violent Demon Ox's revival mechanism.

According to these experiments, at least one-third of the meatball must remain, and ultimately about half is needed for the Violent Demon Ox to be revived via re-smelting.

However, he did not feel regret about this; instead, he was quite satisfied.

With this hellspawn talent, the Violent Demon Ox's battle loss rate can be greatly reduced.

The only shortcoming is that the meatball cannot be stored in a storage bag, making its retrieval for revival somewhat troublesome.

"Wait a minute! Wrong, it's not the Blazing Hell Ox!"

Just then, Su Hao realized he had overlooked something very important.

【Hellfire Creature】 The first line of this talent reads as follows——'All Hellfire Creatures, after their core parts are destroyed, do not die on the spot but instead enter a near-death dormant state.'

Here it says all Hellfire Creatures, not the Violent Hell Ox, which is a Hellfire Creature.

Isn't this saying that any Hellfire Creature refined through the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device possesses this talent, having the near-death dormancy ability?!

"If that's really the case, that's a bit terrifying!"

Thinking of this, Su Hao's heartbeat involuntarily quickened a bit.

For Su Hao, a second-rank Hell Ox refined from first-rank materials, even if it died, would not be a great loss.

But if he later refines fifth- or sixth-rank Hellfire Creatures, and they die, Su Hao would feel sorry for a while.

If all Hellfire Creatures could have the near-death rebirth trait, then there would be no need to worry about this problem! 'Just refine another Hellfire Creature and we'll know!'

Su Hao didn't think much, took out Old Andrew's experimental notebook, compared it with the materials on him, and quickly found a recipe called Fire Dog Stitching Monster.

【Fire Dog Stitching Monster's Refining Recipe】

Supernatural Grade: First Rank

Main materials: one fallen evil dog's heart (or corpse) + one fire worm's heat storage sac (or corpse) + 200 meters of suturing thread

Auxiliary materials: 500 kg of fresh flesh; if all main materials are corpses, fresh flesh can be reduced to 200 kg.

... In the previous transaction, Su Hao obtained about ten fallen evil dog hearts and fire worm heat storage sacs from Ling Xue'er's hands.

Through several days of infected cell replication, these two materials have increased to over thirty copies each—enough not just for a single experiment, but even for mass-producing a squad, which poses no problem.

"Perfect for testing the effects of batch refining."

Then Su Hao had the Bloodsucking Devil Vine bring down ten thousand kilograms of contaminated flesh, cut off five thousand kilograms, plus five strips of his own fascia, placed them in the meat pot, and began refining Hellfire Creature adhesive.

After about an hour of refining, he obtained 5000 milliliters of Hellfire Creature adhesive.

"The refining time didn't differ much, but energy consumption increased fivefold; it seems no matter how much material is in the meat pot, each refining takes the same time, only energy consumption varies."

Su Hao was quite pleased with this result; thus, the time spent refining the adhesive would be much less.

Moreover, the Hellfire Creature adhesive manufacturing device does not require the Stitching Monster skill; from now on, Su Hao just needs to chop off more hands and he won't have to worry about the adhesive.

Then Su Hao cut 2500 kilograms of infected flesh, added 2500 milliliters of Hellfire Creature adhesive, plus the fallen evil dog's heart and fire worm's heat storage sac, and placed them all into the material trough.

After all preparations were complete, Su Hao slightly moved his thoughts, through the depths of his soul, created the Stitching Monster skill rune, and activated the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device.

"Refine!"

The next moment.

The energy conversion device began to run at high speed.

Between expansion and contraction, the infected flesh and energy crystals in the energy box transformed into a mixed blood-and-energy flow, which traveled along the energy conduits into the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device.

With this special mixed energy added, the dark red flesh on the surface of the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device also began to expand and contract rhythmically.

Large amounts of dark red smoke spewed out as the flesh contracted, soon engulfing Su Hao in a haze where visibility was less than one meter.

After this continued for six hours, as the energy conversion device stopped transmitting energy, the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device also fell silent.

Immediately after.

A chunk of dark red flesh on the surface of the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device suddenly swelled violently, becoming a lump about a meter in size, which detached from above and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Su Hao:??? Is this a Teddy? Five dogs and it's only this big? Before Su Hao could think further, he heard a 'pfft' sound, and that dark red lump exploded.

Five palm-sized Hellfire Creatures flew out from that flesh and came before Su Hao.

These Hellfire Creatures were entirely black, shaped like pumpkin heads, with dark red flames burning inside their heads.

Su Hao: ……

What the hell? My 2500 kilograms of contaminated flesh turned into just these five tiny things? Even if you add them up, they're not even five kilograms……

And how did the fallen evil dog's heart plus the fire worm's heat storage sac turn into this pumpkin head? Is the mutation really this huge……

Looking at these five palm-sized black pumpkin heads, Su Hao was somewhat speechless.

Generally speaking, the smaller the species, the relatively weaker its physique.

Fortunately, size is not the sole measure of strength; the actual strength of these pumpkin heads still needs to be judged by their skills, talents, and combat ability.

Boom boom boom boom——! Before Su Hao could open the black pumpkin head's info panel, four more lumps of flesh on the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device rapidly swelled to about a meter, detached from above, and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Immediately after.

These lumps all went 'pfft' and exploded; each dark red lump contained another five black pumpkin heads of the same appearance and size, which flew out and joined the previous five, forming a group that came before Su Hao.

"Ah? Five materials refined into twenty-five pumpkin heads? This is damn awesome!"

Seeing the twenty-five black pumpkin heads before him, Su Hao first blinked in surprise, then broke into an ecstatic expression.

Just moments ago he thought the 2500 kg of infected flesh had yielded only five palm-sized black pumpkin heads, a loss of over 2000 kg of infected flesh.

Now he sees that one batch of Fire Dog Stitching Monster material actually produced twenty-five black pumpkin heads—damn, that's a profit! At that moment, the material trough of the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device automatically opened, ejecting about 2000 milliliters of adhesive.

"Hmm... twenty-five pumpkin heads need only 500 milliliters of adhesive... even more cost-effective!"

Su Hao grinned, stopped thinking further, slightly moved his thoughts, and opened the info panel of these black pumpkin heads.

【Hellfire Creature——Blazing Flame Pumpkin Head】

Supernatural Grade: Second Rank

Talent: Hellfire Creature

Skills: Blazing Flame Self-Destruct, Stealth

……

"Nice, indeed it also has the Hellfire Creature talent!"

Su Hao lightly waved his arm, indicating that the 【Hellfire Creature】 talent is a racial talent shared by all Hellfire Creatures.

In other words, any Hellfire Creature refined by Su Hao using the Hellfire Creature Constructing Device will possess this racial talent.

In this way, the attrition rate of hellish demons in future battles can be greatly reduced.

Moreover, Su Hao has proliferating flesh masses, infected blood and flesh, and infected cells at his disposal, allowing him to continuously replicate refining materials,

The attrition rate drops significantly, and he can continuously refine new hellish demons, as long as there are enough energy crystals.

Estimates suggest that with just one or two months, Su Hao could command an army composed of several thousand, even up to ten thousand hellish demons.

By then, not to mention sweeping through the dark forest, at least clearing all monsters around the territory will be no problem! 'If we really have such an army, I won't need to personally explore low-danger areas in the future.'

Su Hao took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, set the matter aside, and opened the two skill panels of the Hellflame Pumpkin Head.

Among them, the Stealth skill is not a combat skill; rather, it restrains one's aura, allowing better blending into the surroundings, and can be used for reconnaissance and ambush missions.

The remaining skill, Self-Destruct, is an extremely powerful attack skill.

【Hellflame Self-Destruct】

Effect: Draw all the energy of the body into the hellflame in the head, producing a violent explosion.

After the self-destruct ends, there is a certain probability of retaining the core part, falling into a near-death state.

……

'Being able to fall into a near-death state is somewhat absurd.'

Others die outright after self-destructing, whereas the Hellflame Pumpkin Head still has a certain chance to retain its core after self-destructing.

Thanks to the hellish demons' racial talent, as long as half of the body remains, the Hellflame Pumpkin Head can revive.

After these two rounds of refining and numerous experiments on the Violent Demon Ox, Su Hao also gained a rough understanding of hellish demons.

Immediately, he took stock of the materials on him, kept a portion as a sample, and used it for the infected cells to replicate.

The remaining materials were all used to refine the Violent Demon Ox and the Hellflame Pumpkin Head.

Once Su Hao finished refining all these materials, it was noon of the second day; he had 24 Violent Demon Oxen beside him, and the number of Hellflame Pumpkin Heads had reached 160! Afterwards, Su Hao instructed the Bloodsucking Vines to refine some hellish demon adhesive when idle, then took these Violent Demon Oxen and Hellflame Pumpkin Heads back to the sanctuary.

'Strange, why hasn't the clueless Da Xiong Mao returned yet?'

At this moment, Su Hao unexpectedly discovered that Da Xiong Mao still hadn't returned.

Da Xiong Mao's current speed is even a bit faster than a helicopter's; even if moving Pu Wenyao's home took extra time, he should have been back by now.

Logically speaking, Da Xiong Mao, carrying the sanctuary all the way, running back from near the monastery, should have arrived by now.

'He probably went off to play somewhere; forget it, let's first build the greenhouse.'

Su Hao shook his head, not overly worrying about Da Xiong Mao's safety.

Now Da Xiong Mao's physique has reached the Third Tier, and with four hearts and super-regeneration, even against a Third Tier superhuman he'd have a fighting chance; even if he couldn't win, fleeing would still be no problem.

Even if we concede that running could become a problem, couldn't he just open the communicator bracelet and tell Su Hao to bring Xue Nv over for support?

In short, Da Xiong Mao not having returned surely means he's been delayed by something; in any case, his safety is not an issue.

Afterward, Su Hao went to the second floor and began synthesizing the building materials for the greenhouse.

(End of chapter)