Chapter 256

Su Hao walked out of the dim cave, and what came into view was a towering Bone Dragon, descending from the sky, bringing a strong gust of wind that stirred up the surrounding dust.

Roar——!

The Bone Dragon let out a silent low roar, then took out a heavy stone slab from its hand and handed it to Su Hao.

This stone slab itself had nothing special about it; it was just an ordinary stone slab, not even a supernatural item.

The only thing that looked somewhat special was the crude, strange pattern drawn on it; viewed overall, it resembled some kind of insect nest.

However, this insect nest was a massive structure made of intertwining, winding blood vessels, which seemed alive, twisting and coiling to form a complex network.

At the center of the nest, an irregular core of flesh and blood could be faintly seen, like the nest's heart, beating continuously and providing power to this organism of blood vessels and flesh.

Although the drawing was very rough, Su Hao could still discern what the pale Bone Dragon meant to express, guessing the general shape of the insect nest.

At the same time, he had already guessed that this insect nest was likely the powerful monster hidden in the blood lake.

Thereafter, through communication with the pale Bone Dragon, his guess was confirmed—the insect nest pattern indeed depicted the monster in the blood lake.

This creature was huge and ancient; one could even say the entire blood lake was created by it.

The pale skeleton warriors and pale skeleton warhorses discovered this huge monster at the bottom of the blood lake.

At first, the monster seemed still asleep, merely instinctively inhaling and devouring blood.

It dissipated some energy, consuming the blood that was about to spoil, while spewing out fresh blood imbued with strong energy, seemingly maintaining the ecological balance of the entire blood lake.

The waters of the blood lake were dim and profound, almost no light could penetrate the surface; even a powerful undead army would struggle to discern its full extent.

However, through their observation and perception, it could be certain that this insect nest monster was not only huge, occupying the entire lake bottom, but also possessed strong vitality, as if fused with the blood lake.

However, shortly after the pale skeleton warriors and warhorses approached that insect nest monster, the originally sleeping creature suddenly awakened.

This monster's strength surpassed that of the bloody octopus; it stirred up blood waves hundreds of meters high, causing the whole blood lake to churn.

Those pale skeleton warriors and warhorses that were exploring were, in an instant, swept by those blood waves into the lake bottom.

Even the Bone Dragon in the sky could not escape; it stirred up blood waves hundreds of meters high, engulfing them, devouring them, and dragging them down to the lake bottom.

Although the Bone Dragon struggled desperately, it still could not withstand the tremendous force of the blood waves.

However, these undead creatures all possessed Third-Tier Supernatural Grade strength; even the weakest pale skeleton warrior had Third-Tier Supernatural Grade.

After withstanding the explosive force of the blood waves, over a thousand undead creatures broke free, successfully escaped the lake surface, fled to the surroundings of the blood lake, and awaited Su Hao's further orders.

Moreover, all these undead creatures were Su Hao's summoned beasts; as long as they remained within a certain range, he could sense their life or death.

During this period, he indeed sensed that the life force of some undead creatures in the blood lake had vanished.

But these were merely scattered deaths, with no large-scale die-off, and certainly not a massive loss of over three thousand.

From this, it can be seen that although the insect-nest-shaped monster displayed great power, it might merely have imprisoned his undead creatures at the lake bottom rather than slaughtering them all.

Perhaps the monster's strength was insufficient to wipe out so many undead creatures in one fell swoop.

As for the insect nest monster at the bottom of the blood lake, that is all the information the undead creatures could gather.

Furthermore, it can be certain that aside from this monster, no other region of the blood lake showed any abnormality.

It seems this monster's Supernatural Grade has not yet reached Fifth Tier.

Su Hao nodded thoughtfully, drew that conclusion, and gained a rough understanding of the insect-nest-like monster.

However, to be prudent, and because Su Hao was very curious about the synthesis result of a Fifth-Tier Supernatural Grade item, he did not rush to personally venture deep into the blood lake for exploration.

In his view, the pale undead creatures were nothing more than consumables that could be summoned at any time.

Using these undead armies with almost no summoning cost as a vanguard to explore the blood lake and learn more about the insect nest monster, while also greatly increasing his own safety.

No matter how you look at it, this is an extremely profitable deal.

Thereafter, while waiting for the synthesis to complete, Su Hao continuously summoned the pale undead creatures.

According to his estimate, with his current mental power, after today's two syntheses finish, he expects to be able to summon another one or two thousand pale skeleton warriors and warhorses.

As for the pale Bone Dragon, he currently has no plan to summon it.

What he needs are undead creatures capable of underwater exploration, whereas the Bone Dragon is clearly unsuitable for underwater activity.

The pale Bone Dragon already at hand is sufficient to carry out aerial observation tasks; there is no need to add more.

What needs to be done next is to increase the intensity of blood lake exploration, further ascertain the situation of the insect nest monster; naturally, priority should be given to summoning skeleton warriors and warhorses.

About three hours later, the golden light sphere containing the Blast-Flame Heavy Hammer and Divine Light Heavy Axe suddenly burst forth with brilliant golden light, completing this synthesis.

As the light gradually faded, a striking-looking long-handled great axe fell to the ground, appearing before Su Hao's eyes.

This great axe was entirely dark red, as if forged by special flames, exuding a wild and mysterious beauty.

The axe handle was about one meter long, thick and sturdy; one could imagine the grip was absolutely excellent, while the axe head measured half a meter in length, heavy and solid.

Both the axe head and handle were engraved with mysterious runes and domineering flame patterns; whether runes or patterns, they emitted a ferocious aura.

The axe head itself radiated high temperature; even just its natural energy release could raise the temperature inside the cave to nearly a hundred degrees.

Its weight was even more astonishing; simply placing it steadily on the ground caused the surface to visibly sink, showing that the land here could hardly bear such terrifying weight.

Moreover, the newly synthesized weapon retained the shape of an axe and did not turn into a hammer, which made Su Hao even more satisfied.

Although he could quickly adapt to a large hammer, after these days of battle he had grown especially fond of the axe.

Feeling the surrounding scorching heat and the ferocious aura emanating from the great axe, he was delighted in his heart, knowing this synthesis had been extremely successful.

Immediately, Su Hao slightly moved his thought and applied the Item Appraisal Technique to it.

【Blast-Heavy Axe】

Supernatural Grade: Fifth Tier

Effect 1——Holy Gravity Field: By means of mental power and blood qi, a holy gravity field is constructed around the user.

The user can freely control the gravity of all objects within the gravity field.

It can instantly increase the gravity of a given object by a thousandfold, or instantly reduce the gravity of a given object by a thousandfold.

Moreover, all enemies within the field will constantly suffer divine light damage; if the attack target is undead or evil creatures, additional damage is inflicted. The stronger the user's mental power, the larger the gravity field's range, the greater the increase and decrease in gravity, and the greater the divine light effect damage.

When the user's mental power and physique reach the level of initial Fifth Tier, the basic effects are exerted.

Effect 2 – Explosive Flame Heavy Strike: When the Explosive Heavy Axe hits an enemy, the user can consume qi and blood to inflict additional physical damage on the enemy; the more qi and blood consumed, the greater the added damage.

Moreover, after the Explosive Heavy Axe hits an enemy, if the user consumes more than half of their qi and blood, they can unleash a tremendous fire-elemental damage, dealing a devastating blow to the enemy.

Introduction: The first person to inscribe this rune into the Explosive Heavy Axe (see picture) gains the exclusive right to wield it.

……

"Nice! I've reached Supernatural Fifth Rank!"

Looking at the appraisal results displayed, Su Hao excitedly waved his arms.

With his current mental power just entering Supernatural Fourth Rank and his physique at the upper level of Supernatural Fourth Rank, he indeed still finds it difficult to fully wield this Supernatural Fifth Rank Explosive Heavy Axe.

Even so, he can still exert part of the weapon's power; it is certain that even merely exerting part of its power will absolutely surpass the full-force strike of a Supernatural Fourth Rank weapon.

Furthermore, judging from the appraisal display, the power of the Explosive Heavy Axe is clearly not comparable to that of an ordinary Supernatural Fifth Rank weapon; at the very least it reaches the lower tier of Fifth Rank, and possibly even the middle tier.

What pleases him even more is that, after synthesis, the Explosive Heavy Axe not only retains its original gravity field and divine light effects, but these two effects have also achieved perfect fusion and enhancement.

Now, he can, in battle, construct an even stronger and broader Sacred Gravity Field through his mental power and qi and blood.

Within this field, he can freely control the gravity of objects, and the divine light can continuously inflict damage on enemies; for the undead and evil creatures, this divine light is especially lethal.

Furthermore, the Explosive Heavy Axe has gained a new ability: when he swings the great axe and hits an enemy, he can consume qi and blood to inflict additional physical damage on the enemy.

If he consumes more than half of his qi and blood at once, he can further unleash even stronger fire damage.

Su Hao did not rush to test the power of the Explosive Heavy Axe; instead, he took out a piece of Fifth Tier Eternal Alloy from his Storage Bag.

He intends to use this metal, which possesses an indestructible characteristic, to perform another synthesis with the Explosive Heavy Axe.

If, after synthesis, the Explosive Heavy Axe can inherit the indestructible characteristic of the Eternal Alloy,

then in the future he will no longer need to worry about wear and tear on the Explosive Heavy Axe, and it will also be able to withstand higher multiples of gravity, further increasing its power.

Subsequently, Su Hao began a new round of synthesis, with golden light enveloping the Explosive Heavy Axe and the Eternal Alloy.

Since this synthesis involves two Supernatural Fifth Rank items, the required time will be longer.

During this period, Su Hao did not choose to idle; he continued to incessantly summon pale undead creatures for further exploration of the Blood Lake later on.

About five hours later, Su Hao's communication bracelet suddenly vibrated; he checked it and found a message from Ling Xue'er.

【Ling Xue'er: Boss Su Hao, I've received three clues about Third Tier Stitching Gathered Monsters, but the locations are scattered and far apart; for now I can't verify their authenticity—what should we do?】

"Hard to tell true from false?"

Su Hao gave a cold smile, a glint of chill flashing in his eyes; nowadays it's not a law-abiding society—if anyone really dares to court death by provoking him, they'd better prepare to pay the price.

He then quickly tapped on the communication bracelet, sending Ling Xue'er a clear order.

【Su Hao: Have Ling'er design and manufacture some intelligent robots; they need not possess great combat strength, but must have high intelligence and judgment.】

【Then, organize three undead squads, each identically composed of 300 pale skeleton warriors, 100 pale skeleton mages, two pale bone dragons, one dark bone dragon, and six hundred ordinary undead creatures.】By having these intelligent robots serve as squad leaders, let them board mechanical transport warships to head to the locations provided.

【If the information proves true, give them the corresponding reward; if anyone dares to harbor ulterior motives, show no mercy and eliminate them directly!】

After sending this message, Su Hao no longer distracted himself with this matter.

In this lawless new world, with his current strength, it is enough to make over ninety percent of those who offend him pay a painful price.

At the same time, he also wanted to use this affair to reveal part of his strength, telling the other forces of this world: don't provoke me, otherwise——

Death! After another three-plus hours, the golden synthesis light sphere suddenly burst forth with brilliant golden light, completing this synthesis.

After synthesis, the Explosive Heavy Axe appears outwardly unchanged, save for a few added silver-white patterns.

【Explosive Heavy Axe】

Supernatural Grade: Fifth Rank

Effect 1—Sacred Gravity Field: (omitted)

Effect 2—Explosive Flame Heavy Strike: (omitted)

Effect 3—Absolute Stability: The Explosive Heavy Axe contains Eternal Alloy; any attack below Sixth Rank cannot leave any trace on it.

……

"Can't leave any trace below Sixth Rank? Doesn't that mean even Sixth Rank is hard to destroy?"

Su Hao raised his eyebrows, equally very satisfied with the result of this synthesis; for a long time to come, he no longer needs to worry about wear and tear.

Subsequently, he picked up the Explosive Heavy Axe and found its weight several times greater than before, even a bit heavier than the Explosive Flame Hammer.

Even with his physique at the upper level of Supernatural Fourth Rank, he actually felt somewhat strained.

Next, he extended the Sacred Gravity Field using his mental power and qi and blood as a guide, instantly constructing a vast gravity field whose coverage actually expanded to several kilometers outward.

Within this field, he can freely alter the gravity of objects, and within this range, all living beings that Su Hao has marked as enemies will be struck by pillars of light descending from the sky.

When the divine light strikes a Third Tier pale skeleton warrior, that warrior is instantly killed, with no chance to retaliate.

Even the pale bone dragon could not last long, gradually collapsing under the sustained assault of the divine light.

Although the divine light's power is strong, its consumption of mental power is likewise considerable.

What also surprised Su Hao the most was the Explosive Flame Heavy Strike.

When he wielded the Explosive Heavy Axe and consumed half of his qi and blood, the axe head suddenly burst forth with powerful flames, blasting the ground into a huge pit a kilometer in diameter and deep.

Such terrifying power is enough to instantly kill an ordinary Supernatural Fourth Rank! After completing a series of tests, Su Hao gained a clearer understanding of his own strength; subsequently, he took all the pale undead creatures and set out again toward the Blood Lake.

It's time to settle the Blood Lake issue, of course, provided we first confirm that the opposing side lacks Supernatural Fifth Rank combat power.

(End of Chapter)