Chapter 301: Shattering Illusion, Reaching the Second Layer

Inside the church.

Su Hao's forehead dripped two beads of sweat; he hastily ordered his three-tailed molten elder dragon clones to go find the passage to the next layer.

Although his spiritual power had reached the fifth rank of supermundane, using the gravity domain was much stronger than before.

But all the buildings of the entire city were crashing down onto the gravity domain, and the immense pressure from so many buildings was more than he could currently withstand.

Su Hao wasn't saying he feared being crushed to death by those buildings; even if he did nothing and let all the city's buildings fall on him, he would still be in no mortal danger.

He merely feared that if the church were damaged, he couldn't enter the next layer nor discern its secrets, hence his urgency.

The three-tailed molten elder dragon and six-armed one-eyed giant, being Su Hao's clones, naturally understood his intent; they hastily took the demonic-flame pumpkin heads and brutal demon ox soldiers, split into two groups, and conducted a detailed exploration of the church.

This church likewise followed the giants' style, with a considerable area; all its furniture was ridiculously large, undoubtedly adding to the difficulty of exploration.

Time passed second by second, and the buildings crashing down from that direction grew ever more numerous.

If viewed from afar looking down, one would see the buildings forming a huge hemisphere centered on the church.

Su Hao's pressure also grew accordingly; even some buildings in the sky had begun to slowly descend toward the ground.

It was estimated that in just a few minutes, the first batch of buildings would strike the church's roof.

If the church were smashed, everything would likely come to naught.

"Hurry up!"

Sweat poured more and more from Su Hao's forehead as he urged the two clones on.

The three-tailed molten elder dragon and six-armed one-eyed giant also felt Su Hao's ever-increasing pressure; they dared not delay in the slightest.

But the problem was that the church was only this size; they had already searched it thoroughly in this time, yet found nothing leading to the next layer, which made them quite anxious.

At this critical moment, Su Hao suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

According to the message given by the Goddess of Night and Death, as long as Su Hao entered this church, he could discover the way to the next layer.

In other words, the thing that would let him reach the next layer should be placed in a conspicuous spot inside this church, where he could see it as soon as he entered.

Then only two places seemed to meet that requirement.

One of them, naturally, was the giant statue wielding a huge axe.

As Su Hao's thoughts turned, the nearest three-tailed molten elder dragon clone returned to the giant statue's side for a detailed inspection.

Unfortunately, the result was the same as before: no abnormalities were found.

In a church, divine statues are usually the most conspicuous objects, so the three-tailed molten elder dragon clone examined this statue upon entering, but found nothing special.

Both examinations were the same, indicating that the statue had no abnormality and was not the key to entering the next layer.

Then, after ruling out this statue, only one possibility remained.

Su Hao turned his head and looked toward the door behind him.

After entering from outside, one does not go straight into the church but first arrives at a small side room containing a row of cabinets, like a storage area.

At that time, Su Hao's attention was wholly captured by the church beyond that area.

Thinking that the Goddess of Night and Death had said the exit lay inside the church, he should go to the rear church to seek the hidden object marking the exit.

Upon further reflection, he seemed to have forgotten the most conspicuous place.

Immediately, he directed the six-armed one-eyed giant, accompanied by the hell demons, to return to the small room at the junction for a meticulous inspection.

Soon, the six-armed one-eyed giant discovered a secret passage hidden beneath a cabinet, a staircase that seemed to stretch endlessly, its destination unknown.

Not long ago, when this church was being assembled into the architectural giant, it had risen straight up from the ground.

Su Hao clearly remembered that after the church flew up from the ground, the building's base was left with only a thin layer, obviously incapable of accommodating such a long staircase.

If nothing unexpected occurs, this should be the entrance to the next layer.

"Go!"

Su Hao nodded; as the flying buildings grew ever more numerous, he could barely hold on—if this wasn't the passage to the next layer, he'd likely have to retreat and abandon exploring this place.

Under his command, the three-tailed molten elder dragon bore him on its back and headed toward that secret passage.

Boom—! After Su Hao entered the secret passage, the surrounding building complex erupted in violent rumbling, like unwilling fury.

Without the gravity domain's support, the sky's building wreckage mercilessly crashed down, pulverizing the church completely.

But unfortunately, there was no one left inside the church—or rather, the space had reverted to nothing but buildings, devoid of any living beings; Su Hao had already successfully left this place.

Meanwhile,

As Su Hao entered the secret passage, he found himself in a special space: pitch-black all around, with only a staircase that seemed to stretch endlessly, unknown how far one must walk to reach the exit.

But he felt no anxiety; instead, he let out a great sigh of relief.

After entering the secret passage, he shut off the gravity domain, letting the buildings in the sky crash down.

Yet he heard no impact sounds, which meant this was indeed the exit from that layer of space.

Since he was no longer in that space, he naturally heard no collisions of falling buildings.

Having already left that space, there was nothing to rush about; per the Goddess of Night and Death's words, as long as he walked down these stairs, he would eventually reach the bottom and arrive at the next space.

All around was darkness, with no reference points; Su Hao also didn't know how long he had walked—if it were an ordinary person, staring at that endless staircase would likely cause their mindset to gradually collapse, doubting they could ever reach the end.

But Su Hao appeared much calmer; when bored, he could take ordinary materials from his storage bag to synthesize, and thus not feel bored.

If it weren't for the three-tailed molten elder dragons being too large and needing to walk, he would even have liked to play a few rounds of Fight the Landlord.

No one knew how long had passed—perhaps only a few hours, maybe three to five days, or even one or two months.

That day, in the unchanging darkness, a sudden light appeared.

A hint of joy appeared on Su Hao's face; he lightly patted the three-tailed molten elder dragon clone's head.

Although his mood was good, staying in such an environment was truly unpleasant; as the saying goes, "chasing a mountain tires the horse"—that speck of light looked close, but in reality it was not.

Given the three-tailed molten elder dragon clone's size and speed, it took several hours to finally reach that point of light.

As a white light flashed, Su Hao felt his vision blur and vanished from the passage.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a massive altar, with a hellgate a thousand meters high behind him.

There is no doubt that this place is exactly where he arrived after entering the Gate of Hell; all the buildings below remain exactly as they were, with no difference in size or distribution, as if everything had returned to the starting point.

But Su Hao knew the fact could not be otherwise; he had already arrived at the second layer of space, because…

This time, the buildings housed a large number of giants.

Their height generally exceeded a hundred meters; they wore simple beast pelts, and on the exposed skin were distributed black patterns that formed various, yet all unusually strange, markings.

The moment Su Hao approached the altar, these giants all ceased their actions.

As if controlled by the same person, they in unison turned their heads to gaze toward the altar, and some giants even twisted their heads a full 180 degrees in an eerie manner.

Their gazes were indifferent, without the slightest emotional fluctuation, simply staring at Su Hao in silence—neither driving him away nor welcoming his arrival.

But Su Hao knew that as soon as he thought of heading to the church, these giants would change completely, just like the buildings in the previous layer, and launch the most violent attack against him.

Indeed, that was exactly the case—when he turned his gaze toward the church at the town's center and prepared to set off for that place.

All the giants in the town instantly shifted their eyes from indifferent to ferocious, turned back to their rooms, grabbed their most suitable weapons, and marched toward the altar's direction.

Their speed was not fast, even slow, yet it gave an intense sense of oppression, making one's heart tremble.

Even the shortest of these giants stood over a hundred meters tall; with such massive bodies, the power they contained is easy to imagine—even a Supernatural Fourth Rank entering this layer would face a certain death.

But Su Hao remained especially calm, completely unaware of the impending encirclement; he slowly took the Omniscient Magic Book from his Storage Bag and used its recording function on one of the larger giants.

【Hell Giant (Nulta)】

Supernatural Grade: Fourth Rank

Skills: Heavy Stomp, Crushing Blow… Bloodline Burst

Introduction: Originally a member of the Titan giants, they underwent an unknown mutation that gave them the bloodline of hellish monsters, becoming giants that can exist only in Hell.

……

【Hell Giant (Sarola)】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

……

【Hell Giant (Jars)】

Supernatural Grade: Fourth Rank

……

After recording information on ten giants in succession, Su Hao discovered that the lowest Supernatural Grade among them was still Third Tier.

Moreover, their enormous size meant that, compared to other Third Tier supernaturals, the combat power they could exert was obviously greater.

In this town alone there were at least three to five hundred giants, and the Third Tier giants made up only about half; the rest possessed Supernatural Fourth Rank combat power.

In a one‑on‑one fight, whether against a Three‑Tail Molten Wing Dragon or a Six‑Armed One‑Eyed Giant's doppelganger, he would have a sure victory, but facing such a horde of giants, unless he unleashed the Dark Dragon Avatar, he would only be taking hits.

However, the Dark Dragon Avatar is Su Hao's strongest attack at present, and since they are still only in the second layer, he did not want to waste his trump card; after some thought, he came up with a new idea.

Since you wish to win by numbers, let us compare and see who has more people.

Su Hao gave a faint smile, then tossed all the pallid bone beads from his body and used the Undead Creature Summoning technique on them.

The next moment.

Above the altar a huge magic circle appeared, with strands of black mist drifting from its center, wrapping all the pallid bone beads inside and forming a hemispherical gas.

At the same time.

Su Hao turned his gaze to the nearby hellish creatures, pouring his mental power frenetically into the mutant avatar skill rune in his mind, applying the effect of mutant suturing on them.

As the skill took effect, whether it was the small‑sized Demonflame Pumpkin Head or the larger Tyrant Demon Bull, their eyes grew dazed, and under Su Hao's control they split into thirty‑five groups of equal number.

Their bodies seemed to melt, turning into lumps of flesh‑mud and losing all combat ability.

If others saw this, they might think Su Hao had gone mad—even though these hellish creatures were not as strong as the giants, they were still a respectable force; why would he destroy them so? Actually, this was only the beginning.

Immediately after.

The thirty‑five lumps of flesh‑mud began to wriggle according to Su Hao's will, gradually taking the shape of a being nearly a hundred meters tall, with a human upper body and four legs like a centaur's lower half.

As Su Hao's refinement neared completion, those seven masses of flesh turned entirely black, with the lower body of a giant bull and the upper body of a humanoid bovine creature.

They possessed two thick arms and two large horns, and on the backs of both the bovine and human bodies hung individual pumpkin heads.

Originally these hellish creatures already had strength not inferior to Third Tier; now, after being spliced together in such numbers, their Supernatural Grade is undeniably Fourth Rank or even stronger than many worldly supernaturals.

Meanwhile, the pallid undead creatures on the other side had also finished being summoned.

However, this time it was not merely a simple summoning of pallid undead creatures; they too underwent mutant suturing, turning them into even more powerful undead beings.

The undead creatures Su Hao summoned this time were all the strongest individuals—pallid bone dragons.

In their original state, their strength lay in the upper‑middle tier among Third Tier supernaturals.

After Su Hao's mutant suturing, these pallid bone dragons became even larger, with wingspans exceeding two hundred meters, and each possessed five heads, able to simultaneously exhale death breath in five directions.

Once the black smoke cleared, thirty‑five half‑bull warriors appeared on the carpet, along with over a hundred five‑headed bone dragons.

(End of Chapter)