Chapter 260: Abyssal Gate Fusion
Hu Tao channeled her Pyro energy, infusing it with the esoteric arts of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. With a flick of her wrist, she sent her spectral companion flying forward.
The adorable little ghost, seemingly made of elastic ectoplasm, stretched impossibly long. It transformed into a flaming, spectral flail that cut through the air with a piercing shriek as Hu Tao swung it in a wide, fiery arc around her.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The monsters caught in its path—be they roaring Hilichurls or shield-lugging Mitachurls—froze in place. Wisps of tormented, ethereal light were violently torn from their forms, the very essence of their souls, twisted and corrupted by the Abyss.
Immediately after, the monstrous husks, deprived of the spiritual energy that sustained them, rapidly disintegrated into plumes of black smoke, vanishing like ash scattered on the wind.
Even a hulking Mitachurl, having just lumbered out of an abyssal gate, was caught by the very edge of the spectral whip. Its massive body shuddered violently. The crimson glow beneath its rock-like armor instantly dimmed, and it let out a pained, guttural roar. Its movements turned sluggish and clumsy, a clear sign of the deep spiritual damage it had sustained.
With a single, elegant strike, a large clearing had been carved out around Hu Tao.
The battlefield presented a stunning contrast. On one side was the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, her spear techniques as elusive as a phantom, dancing amidst flames and spirits. On the other was a girl from Natlan, wreathed in lightning, who charged head-on into the fray, her combat style a display of raw, powerful aesthetics.
One was agile, the other was fierce. One controlled the field from a distance, the other dominated in close quarters. Together, they formed a wondrous and devastating cooperation.
Hu Tao's flames and soul-pacifying arts excelled at clearing out the lesser mobs and inflicting area-of-effect spiritual damage. Varesa, meanwhile, focused her terrifying physical strength on shattering the defenses of tough elite monsters or interrupting the incantations of Abyss Mages.
Protected by the indestructible Jade Shield provided by Zhongli, neither of them needed to spare a thought for defense, allowing them to unleash their full offensive might. The front line, under their combined assault, began to steadily push back toward the abyssal gates that continuously disgorged more monsters.
The distorted purple vortexes seemed to sense their impending doom. They stopped indiscriminately spewing out hordes of common Hilichurls and Mitachurls, as if acknowledging that such low-level cannon fodder could no longer halt the advance of these two 'humanoid weapons.' The rhythm of the gates' pulsations shifted, and the dark purple glow within them deepened, growing more ominous.
The next moment, what emerged from the largest of the gates was no longer mere fodder. Agile Rifthounds burst forth, their fur shimmering with a ghostly light, their claws sharp enough to tear through the fabric of space itself. They were followed by Eremites, their carapaces etched with dark purple patterns, their forms varied and their presence exuding a powerful sense of oppression.
The appearance of these elite monsters clearly consumed more of the gates' energy, and the frequency at which they produced new enemies noticeably decreased.
However, the Abyss's calculations were once again foiled.
The ferocious Rifthounds, whose proud claws and corrosive bites could erode energy shields and even ignore certain physical defenses, slammed into the Jade Shield as if crashing against ancient bedrock. Aside from stirring a more dazzling golden ripple across the shield's surface, they couldn't budge it an inch, let alone harm Hu Tao and Varesa protected within. The Eremites' charges and elemental breaths were equally useless against this absolute defense.
"Haha! It's useless! The consultant's shield is the hardest in the world… no, the hardest across all worlds!" Hu Tao declared, feeling even more emboldened. Her phantom butterflies and spectral flail danced with renewed fervor.
Varesa, too, could feel the unshakable power of the shield. Her heart filled with a mix of admiration and curiosity for this 'consultant' who had yet to even make a move. She fought with even greater abandon, her lightning-infused punches falling like a thunderstorm. She slammed a flying Eremite serpent that was attempting to spit venom directly into the ground, cratering the earth beneath it.
Seeing that even elite monsters couldn't stop their advance, and with several of the smaller abyssal gates already flickering and becoming unstable under Hu Tao's fiery explosions and Varesa's thunderous strikes, the gates initiated an even more extreme measure.
Throughout the entire Woluo State, the Abyssal energy permeating the air and seeping into the earth seemed to answer an invisible summons. It began to converge frantically toward the valley. A dense Abyssal aura, visible to the naked eye as a black tide, surged from all directions, pouring into the dozen or so gates that remained.
Receiving this massive infusion of power, the gates suddenly swelled in size, emitting heart-stopping fluctuations. Their speed of spawning elite monsters accelerated once more; there were even instances of two or three Rifthounds or Eremites squeezing out of a single gate simultaneously.
For a moment, the number of monsters in the valley increased instead of decreasing, and the pressure on the two fighters rose sharply.
But this was not the end.
As Hu Tao and Varesa intensified their attack rhythm, attempting to destroy more gates before they could spawn reinforcements, they successfully annihilated six more. Just as they did, the remaining dozen or so gates seemed to reach a silent consensus. They ceased fighting individually and began to draw toward one another, pulled by an unseen force.
"Oh no! They're trying to merge!" Hu Tao keenly sensed the anomaly and shouted a warning to Varesa.
Both immediately unleashed their full power. Hu Tao's spear became a storm of fiery afterimages, while Varesa's lightning-charged heavy punches could split mountains and shatter rock. They desperately attacked the moving portals, trying to halt their convergence.
Another gate disintegrated under a direct hit from one of Hu Tao's soul-pacifying techniques. A second one cracked heavily under one of Varesa's super-heavy punches, only to be detonated by Hu Tao's follow-up spear thrust.
Ultimately, however, their efforts were a step too late.
At the cost of several of their number being destroyed, the remaining ten-plus abyssal gates finally collided, squeezing and fusing into one another.
A blinding, dark purple light erupted, intense enough to scorch an ordinary person's retinas. It was accompanied by a grating, twisting sound, the noise of space itself being forcibly torn and kneaded together.
An unprecedentedly colossal, materialized Abyssal Gate, its edges studded with dark purple energy crystals, suddenly appeared in the very center of the valley—an ugly and terrifying scar upon the world.
This newly formed gate no longer pulsed. It presented a solidified texture akin to black crystal, yet the Abyssal energy contained within it was several times more terrifying than all the previous gates combined. A suffocating pressure rolled outwards like a physical tide.
It no longer spewed out fodder or elite monsters. Instead, it began to frantically absorb the dense Abyssal energy converging around it, and the entire structure emitted a low, resonant hum. The dark purple light at the gate's center rapidly contracted and condensed. An unmatched silhouette was quickly taking shape within.
When the light reached its absolute peak, it suddenly collapsed inward.
A figure stepped out of the Abyssal Gate.
The monster stood about four meters tall, not particularly massive compared to a Mitachurl or some of the larger Eremites. Its entire body was covered in a deep, obsidian-like carapace. Through the gaps and joints of its armor, an ominous dark purple energy glowed like molten rock flowing in darkness.
Its form was roughly humanoid, but its upper limbs were abnormally thick and developed. Its heavily muscled arms, ending in massive, calloused fists like battering rams, almost reached its knees. Its head was relatively small, with no distinct facial features—only two points of deep purple light that burned like the very eyes of the Abyss, peering directly into one's soul.
Its legs were short, thick, and powerful, planted firmly on the ground as if it were rooted to the entire corrupted valley.
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