Peak Super

No one knew the exact course or details of the battle inside Mount Erebus. Yet at the very least, Wen Jifei's assessment just now had been correct: this was Han Qingyu fighting like a cornered beast, a battlefield he had actively chosen from a position of absolute disadvantage. He had completely integrated General Ivan's magma trait. When wading through the lava field earlier, he had felt no discomfort whatsoever and required zero resistance or defense. Even the return of his Yanxiu had manifested in the form of a magma dragon. Under such circumstances, even though he still could not be certain whether he could hold out once fully inside the volcano, he had no choice but to gamble. In this game of life and death, it was his final winning chip. As for Daie, although its high-grade iron armor and formidable strength made it appear impervious to the lava on the surface, Han Qingyu reasoned that since it needed to actively defend itself, the toll of being submerged in it definitely existed. With so much blazing lava, even if it could not kill Daie, it could at least hinder it slightly and disperse its source energy expenditure. As the heat of the magma rose to its peak and the fight dragged on, Han Qingyu fought desperately to inflict as many wounds on it as possible... Yet he still failed to kill Daie. In a standoff of mutual destruction, given humanity's natural disadvantages in physical constitution and vitality, the final outcome would most likely have ended with Han Qingyu's death. Fortunately, when forced away from the tractor field, thinking that he still held the value of being eaten in the end, he had brought someone along—or more precisely, a scavenging beast. The preceding half-minute had actually been fraught with peril. If Han Qingyu had remained unconscious for even ten seconds longer after crashing to the ground, he would likely be gone right now—devoured. At that thought, Han Qingyu felt a lingering dread, and his gaze turned toward He Tangtang with an involuntary flicker of panic... *Oho, this bastard actually seems a little scared of me!* Swelling with smug satisfaction and wanting to laugh, He Tangtang snapped back to his senses. Sniffling, he raised a hand and wiped away his tears. Were it not for the fact that they were at the crater of a volcano and it looked too unsightly, this abrupt shift in emotion probably would have driven him to wail at the top of his lungs. Tangtang had been brainwashed earlier, or rather, misled into a mental bottleneck. Because Qingzi hadn't finished explaining before leaping into the crater, He Tangtang had spent the entire waiting period agonized and torn over a single question: whether to devour Qingzi. In the end, he had decided to do as Qingzi said. And when Han Qingyu crashed down after emerging, he had indeed looked just as he had described: on the brink of death, in a state that called to be eaten. Under those conditions, He Tangtang couldn't afford to be sentimental or indecisive, because once a person truly died, consuming them was useless. Whether it was Han Qingyu of the Dome or the Great Spike Daie, once they died and their Yanxiu and life source energy dissipated, the power they had possessed in life would become completely meaningless. Just like dead Red Shoulders, they would lose all nutritional value. *Right! There were two big chunks of meat tossed into the pot earlier. Since they're both about done cooking, why shouldn't I eat Daie?!* His thoughts finally cleared. He Tangtang lowered the arm he had used to wipe his tears and stared at Han Qingyu. Though tears were still rolling down his cheeks, a grin split his face: "In that case, can't I just eat both?" Han Qingyu: "..." "Think about it—how strong would I become?!" "No, Tangtang, you'd probably stuff yourself to bursting, I think," Han Qingyu said earnestly. "Absorbing such massive energy in a short time could give you indigestion and blow you to pieces." "Really?... Fine then. You nurse yourself first." He Tangtang chuckled, then his gaze hardened, and he gritted his teeth. A scavenger's hunt was certainly not without danger; a dying prey's desperate counterattack could be just as terrifying. In fact, as they spoke, the magma beneath the crater had been churning all along—a churn clearly carrying the aura of life. A creature was struggling. Daie was coming up. ... *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* Two explosive bursts sounded almost simultaneously. The first was Daie's dying burst, leaping out from beneath the crater with molten rock cascading from its body. The second was He Tangtang, who, before his words could fade, burst forward, spun, and pounced. A tableau frozen for an instant: Daie's colossal, heavily scarred body hung suspended midair with its back turned, red and yellow magma dripping endlessly from its frame. A hand thrust into its body from behind, sinking into the neck. A human dangled there in midair. The scene looked remarkably like a ferocious scavenging beast sinking its fangs into the nape of a dying prey's neck, clamping down relentlessly. *So hot!* He Tangtang hissed in agony internally. Naturally, he did not let go. If necessary, he would have even bitten down with his actual teeth. Devouring Daie was far more difficult and drawn out than a Red Shoulder. Fortunately, it could no longer resist. Its life slipping away... Daie slowly turned its head. It had come up to deliver the final killing blow to Han Qingyu, certain it knew his state and that he could no longer retaliate. Who would have thought he still had a card like this up his sleeve... "Huh? Wh-who are you?!" The moment Daie saw He Tangtang, it visibly froze. Over the past year and more, Daie had studied every human in this world who posed or had the potential to pose a threat to it. Among them, while Pink-hair was an anomaly, at least Daie knew of him. But this... what on earth was this creature?! Daie let out a pained rasp from its throat, seemingly unable to accept this, and asked, "A genius?" It had once declared that the weak deserved to be slaughtered, yet in this moment, an uncontrollable sense of indignation and bewilderment welled up within it anyway. What it likely meant to convey was: *Yet another new human genius popping out of nowhere?! Why them?!* "No." He Tangtang had never considered himself a genius. He had once wanted to believe he was, only to be ruthlessly defeated by reality. "I think you'd better treat me as a coffin instead." Daie looked at him, its gaze appearing somewhat dazed. "Yeah, a coffin." In a rare display of solemnity, the corner of He Tangtang's mouth curled into a cold, confident smirk. "I'm swallowing you whole!" *Boom!* A colossal explosion erupted in an instant, surging through the source energy field. Daie's shriveled body disintegrated into powder midair. The magma at the crater receded, slammed back down as if struck by a massive hammer. Even around the crater's rim, every trace of lava was blown away at that moment, exposing the scorched bedrock beneath. Normally, the moment of advancing into super combat power produced no outward manifestations; only the warrior themselves could feel the surging changes of the source energy surge and the brimming life source energy within. He Tangtang, however, was different. He had broken through by absorbing an overwhelming excess of energy right at his critical threshold in a single instant. And having just entered the ranks of super, he stood directly at the peak. This meant He Tangtang could now rank at least in the top ten of the Dome Leaderboard. Although no one knew his exact level yet due to a lack of actual combat performance and benchmarks, top ten was a certainty. Han Qingyu knew this full well... Because he had just been blown away. Tossed about in a gale of churning source energy and flying embers, Han Qingyu gritted his teeth and cursed, "Fuck you, He Tangtang!" "Huh? Holy shit!" By the time He Tangtang turned around, Han Qingyu had already flown nearly a kilometer away. *Whoosh!* Without even touching the ground, He Tangtang burst straight through the air like a bolt of lightning, swooping in to catch Han Qingyu midair. Landing, He Tangtang noticed Han Qingyu staring right at him. "What's wrong?" He Tangtang asked. He actually really wanted to ask Qingzi what level he had reached, but now was clearly not the time. "Where's your communicator?" Han Qingyu asked. "Fried by the heat," He Tangtang said. Han Qingyu's communicator was broken too; it had broken early on when his battle with Daie began. "We're going back," he said a second later. "You, I..." He Tangtang wanted to say, *Why don't I go instead? You shouldn't go back in your condition,* but after a thought, he nodded. "Right!" With that, he wrapped an arm around Han Qingyu's waist, tucking him horizontally under his arm. *Ch-long!* A figure blurred into an afterimage across the ice field. Once an ordinary private of Azure's Huaxia Front, later the weakest combatant of Stream Vanguard's core team, and now a peak super of mankind—He Tangtang raced toward the Pole battlefield, carrying the piece of food he intended to nurse back to health before eating.