Ch. 124 - The Distance to Death

Chapter 124: The Distance to Death

Ahead was Han Shu’s figure moving swiftly.

In his ears, a cacophony of roars, screams, and explosions created chaotic noises.

Tianyang was running on a stone bridge, navigating through a complex three-dimensional network formed by multiple stone bridges spanning the abyss.

This allowed him and Han Shu to approach the enormous black entity above.

The creature had numerous tentacles, enabling it to move easily between the stone bridges. If not for its massive size, hitting it with elemental hearts and firearms would be much more difficult.

A loud roar came from above. Tianyang looked up to see a figure leaping out from a stone bridge to the left.

The Ascender being had silver Star Essence emanating from his right arm and was wielding a sword high above his head, aiming to strike one of the creature’s tentacles.

Just as he was about to land the blow, another tentacle suddenly reached out horizontally. The end of the tentacle, resembling a giant human hand, slapped the Ascender, like swatting a fly.

The tentacle's force drove the Ascender into a cliffside with a thud, sending a cloud of dust and lime into the air. The tentacle then retracted, leaving the Ascender half-embedded in the cliff.

Fortunately, he was still alive; his war god-tier physique and defensive armor barely kept him alive.

But before he could free himself, a fist suddenly struck him, nearly popping his eyes out and causing him to vomit blood.

The heavy blow blurred his consciousness. Through his fading vision, he saw a silver-haired youth shouting something at him from below.

The next moment, his field of vision was covered by a massive shadow.

“Run!”

As soon as Tianyang’s words finished, a second fist struck the Ascender’s face. The monster then swung several tentacles, with the fist at the end of each tentacle hitting the cliffside in rapid, machine-gun-like strikes.

The cliffside echoed with the sound of heavy impacts, and spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards. Then, large chunks of rock began to peel off the mountain and fall into the abyss.

After a few seconds, the monster withdrew its tentacles, leaving only a blurred smear of blood and flesh on the cliff.

The Ascender’s head was nearly embedded in the rock, his features deformed, his chin broken and twisted, blood and flesh in a pitiful state.

Tianyang gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and felt a surge of unnamed anger.

“Let’s go,” Han Shu’s voice came from ahead, followed by the sound of footsteps as the Raven Squad leader ran towards another stone bridge leading upwards.

Tianyang took a step back, trying to imprint the scene of his comrade’s tragic end into his mind, then turned and sprinted forward.

The battle continued.

The monster moved between the stone bridges, its agile tentacles able to attack from nearly any angle, forcing the humans fighting on the bridges to be extremely cautious.

Despite this, people were still occasionally struck by the monster’s blows or swept off the stone bridges into the abyss.

As Tianyang leapt onto another stone bridge, he suddenly heard cheering. A tentacle had smashed onto the bridge in front of him.

That tentacle was neatly severed with a smooth cut. It continued to thrash on the bridge before finally sliding off and falling into the abyss.

Tianyang looked up and saw a figure sprinting on another diagonal stone bridge. The person was not wearing the Night Walker uniform but had defensive armor identical to Tianyang’s.

His black hair fluttered in the wind like a dark flame.

Wearing a fierce demon mask but with calm eyes visible beneath the mask's eye sockets, he wielded a long, slightly curved blade, distinct from other swords.

The figure leapt over a tentacle sweeping across the bridge, continued his sprint, and suddenly stopped. He jumped towards a stone bridge on the left, avoiding another tentacle that was hammering down from above, and slashed forward with both hands.

In the cold, sharp light of the blade, the tentacle was cut with a huge gash, and black sludge-like blood gushed out.

Cheers erupted on the surrounding bridges.

It seemed that the figure’s strikes had provoked the monster’s fury. From the dimming light above, a strange howl began to echo.

A dark shadow roared downward.

The masked man decisively sheathed his blade and retreated, landing on the edge of the stone bridge before leaping into Tianyang’s view.

He continued without pause, taking two steps to gain momentum before leaping to another stone bridge.

“Get down!”

Han Shu’s warning suddenly rang in Tianyang’s ears. Without hesitation, the young man threw himself forward, crashing onto the bridge.

A strong gust of wind swept overhead, and Tianyang saw a shadow pass over the bridge. Looking up, he saw a hand sweeping across the bridge. If he had not ducked, he would have been swept off or grabbed by that hand.

This hand was different from the tentacles; it had distinct muscle groups and bones like a human arm.

On the outer side of the arm, there was even a seven-shaped bone blade with dense serrations. Being scraped by it would be unpleasant.

Behind that arm, Tianyang saw a face.

The moment he locked eyes with it, the young man’s mind went blank. The face was indescribably terrifying, resembling a goat or bison.

A pale bone armor covered the surface of the face, with red and white muscle tissue between the bone plates, lacking any skin.

On either side of the forehead were thick, curved horns, and a ring of black mane hung down from the neck, making the face partially obscured behind the black hair.

Under the bone armor’s eye sockets, two yellow vertical pupils reflected Tianyang’s figure.

Then, the monster hanging from several stone bridges, its body swinging like a pendulum, quickly moved upwards again.

At that moment, Tianyang saw at the bottom of the creature, deep within its numerous tentacles, a human woman's face. Her eyes and mouth were tightly closed, but now they began to open. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened wide, emitting tiny points of red light. Tianyang didn't have time to think and couldn't afford to stand up. He rolled forcefully off the stone bridge. As he tumbled, the boy glimpsed red spikes suddenly shooting out from the woman's eyes and mouth at the bottom of the monster. They crisscrossed, covering the area of two nearby stone bridges. The spikes looked incredibly sharp, even piercing through the bridge's surface, with the ends stabbing out from beneath the bridge. Tianyang fell off the stone bridge, nearly falling into the void below, but fortunately, he managed to grab the edge just in time. Breaking into a cold sweat, he climbed back up onto the bridge, only to see the spikes retract. A body was lifted into the air and then dropped, landing right on the stone bridge at Tianyang's feet, less than a meter away. It was a soldier, his face inside the helmet filled with disbelief as if he couldn't comprehend how he had died. His body was riddled with holes, and even though he was already dead, blood continued to pour out. Tianyang's chest heaved, and his heart raced. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough just now, he might have ended up like that corpse, riddled with countless holes. The slaughter continued. Gunfire became more sporadic, and the explosions caused by the Elemental Hearts were no longer as intense as before. Although the monster had been injured, with some of its tentacles even chopped off by the War God class warriors, there was still a significant distance to go before it could be taken down. Tianyang kept moving upward, running while keeping an eye on the monster, but his vision showed no sign of fading, and he couldn't sense the monster's weak point. As his anxiety grew, Han Shu's voice came from above, saying that the Raven Captain had already approached the monster. After surrounding himself with a star energy shield and donning the Indestructible Armor, he activated the Vortex Field. A spear condensed from star energy appeared, its surface wrapped in spiraling waves. Han Shu raised the spear and stabbed at one of the tentacles. That tentacle immediately erupted with flesh and blood, torn apart by the Vortex Field on the spear, raining down black blood. The monster, in pain, raised its arm, which bore a seven-shaped bone blade, and clenched its fist to smash down. Suddenly, a bit of frost quietly appeared on its face and began to spread rapidly. The monster still swung its arm down, but as the frost frozen its arm, its speed slowed more and more, finally stopping just above Han Shu's head. Han Shu looked up, seeing that the spreading frost had frozen one of the monster's arms, half of its shoulder, and part of its head. "You're not young anymore, yet you still act so recklessly. Han, do you think you're still a kid?" Lida's voice came from a stone bridge above. Han Shu grinned and suddenly reversed his grip on the spear. With a loud roar, he exerted all his strength. Like throwing a javelin, he hurled the star energy spear with the Vortex Field! The spear shot through the air, passing through the frozen arm and striking the half-frozen part of the monster's head. The spiral waves on the spear spun like a drill, breaking through the ice and piercing through the monster's head in an instant. The left side of the monster's head, along with its eye socket and part of its skull, was blown away, with liquid splattering everywhere. Yet it still didn't die, only howling in pain. The other Ascenders, along with the soldiers, wisely focused their fire on the monster's frozen arm. The concentrated attacks soon shattered the arm, along with the ice. The monster, still taking damage, had flames of fury blazing in its remaining eye. It looked at Han Shu and opened its mouth wide—so wide that its jaw split to both sides, held together only by strands of red and white muscle. As it opened its mouth, Tianyang suddenly sensed something and looked into the monster's mouth. The creature's body gradually faded from Tianyang's view, and finally, a blood-red sphere appeared in his sight. That perfect sphere was connected to numerous nerve-like or vein-like structures, facing toward the creature's mouth. A small circular hole suddenly appeared on its surface. The next moment, a beam of light shot out from that hole! As the monster opened its mouth, Han Shu already realized the danger and turned to flee. The next second, the light beam shot out, and seemingly due to recoil, the monster's head tilted upward, causing the beam to sweep across several stone bridges before vanishing into the distance. After the beam disappeared, the surface of the stone bridge where Han Shu had been standing suddenly experienced an invisible shockwave! The bridge exploded, with fragments, dust, and airflow all spewing in the direction where the beam had gone! A series of booming sounds echoed, and no one knew how many stone bridges had been blown apart. Even the distant, mist-shrouded unknown region was likely severely damaged...

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