The crystal golem swung its backhand, sweeping out a jet of spiritus like a blade to deflect the thrust of the greatsword once again.
Immediately after, its massive frame abruptly collapsed, dispersing into an eerie white mist!
Since it was formed of spiritus crystal, it naturally could shift freely between substance and formlessness. Material snares and blockades couldn't hold it back at all!
Ji Jue's blade slashed down, striking empty air!
Completely useless.
More than that, the mist formed from that immense sea of spiritus squirmed like a living creature. Scorching heat and thunder flickered within it as it pounced toward Ji Jue like a storm of ruin!
It couldn't be helped. The simulation data and records collected by the Tower of Myriad Transformations were too comprehensive; even if it was just a mirror image, its operation was no different from Young Master Lou himself.
Its adaptability and tactics were flawless.
Unfortunately, a mirror image was, in the end, still just a mirror image—and differed from the actual person.
For example, after learning of Ji Jue's sinister tricks... Lou Feng would absolutely never have had the guts to pull this move right in front of that bastard Ji Jue!
"Too green," Ji Jue sighed softly.
*Boom!*
Behind Ji Jue, an abomination arm reached out once more, gripping an anchor assault rifle.
He pulled the trigger!
Amid the booming report, an alloy spike shot from the flames, piercing empty air and sinking directly into the formless mist of spiritus. Spiritus circuits surfaced across the spike, radiating outward. A dim gleam rippled through the void, causing the dense mist to abruptly scatter, and the crystal golem went flying backward!
A gaping hole had been blasted through the golem's chest.
Lightning and sparks burst from the breach.
It was impossible to close.
Shifting into pure spiritus right in front of Solid Alchemy?
How was that any different from stripping naked and climbing onto Ji Jue's material processing bench of its own accord?!
Well, at least the latter would have passed away more peacefully...
A split second's mistake had wrought an irreversible blunder.
A devastating blow!
The emergency repair sequence activated. The crystal golem decisively tore off a section of its own arm and stuffed it into the fissure in its chest, using its own body as material to mend the breach.
At such a critical moment, Ji Jue wasn't able to press forward for the finishing blow.
Instead, he shot backward like a lightning bolt.
—[Threat Warning]!
Right after, a shocking dent and fissure opened up on the ground where he had just stood.
It was as though an invisible ten-thousand-ton hammer had dropped from thin air...
Telekinesis?
Or something else?!
In his hasty retreat, Ji Jue felt a sudden weight bear down on him, suffocating him as though bound by an unseen force.
Gravity.
The gravity had intensified...
Tianyuan!
At that moment, the ceiling above him violently shattered. A torrential flood of earth and stone spewed forth as a colossal statue cast from shadow descended from the sky.
Defying gravity, it hovered midair.
In less than half a minute, it had breached the workshop.
Because it hadn't used any corridors at all; relying solely on its own mass and gravity manipulation, it had bored a hole straight down from the surface and dropped from above!
As the shadows shifted, the bizarre statue revealed its true form.
It looked like a figure seated upon a majestic throne, scepter in hand, resembling the center of the earth and the ruler of all things.
Regrettably, its facial features remained indistinct, leaving only a pair of blazing, luminous pupils locked dead onto the enemy before it.
Just having those eyes fall upon him made Ji Jue feel his own weight skyrocketing.
His body could scarcely support itself.
It was as though he bore the weight of rivers and mountains upon his back...
This was before the imperial presence, beneath the shadow of the throne!
"Quite the pretentious posture," Ji Jue sneered, asking through labored breaths, "Nice chair. Mind leaving it behind so I can take a seat?"
No one answered.
Wordless, the statue abruptly raised its arm, pointing the scepter across the empty air straight at Ji Jue.
The instant it lifted its arm, Ji Jue's heart leaped into his throat.
Overclocking his engine thrusters, he forcibly displaced himself. In less than half a second, the ground where he had stood was pulverized and shattered by gravity.
It was easy to imagine that this had to be the core and central control unit from some candidate's workshop. Even stripped of its supporting equipment, it still posed a terrifying threat.
The violent gravity clung to his heels like a shadow before abruptly cutting off.
With a crash of shattered walls, an artillery shell burst out from nowhere. Having pierced through several meters of solid earth, a kinetic armor-piercing shell fired from the other side had friction-heated to a glowing red, hurtling straight for the forehead of the Shadow of the Throne.
Breaching the perimeter.
The statue's head twisted a full hundred and eighty degrees in an instant, its gaze locking on, intervening with gravity!
The shell hurtling through the air lost its balance out of nowhere, tumbling and spinning before slamming into the ground, embedding itself in the floor.
Immediately after, it detonated into countless fragments.
Pale gray filled the air.
Under Ji Jue's activation, the massive amount of quicksilver packed inside the shell boiled and expanded, forming a scorching metallic fog that blotted out everything. And amid that fog and cacophony of white noise, a grotesque silhouette surfaced behind the Shadow of the Throne. A crimson greatsword swept down, hacking toward that seemingly noble head!
*Boom!*
Even with a timely turn of its head, it was still a beat too late.
Before Ji Jue used a burst from the repulsion field to launch himself out of the gravity-crushing zone, a corner of the crown atop the Shadow of the Throne cracked, and nearly half of its skull broke away and flew into the air.
Behind him, a sudden chill struck.
A spear of spiritus was hurled from the hand of the crystal golem, streaking through the air toward the airborne Ji Jue. The rear segments of the shaft detonated one after another mid-flight, accelerating it to the absolute limit like a falling meteor.
The armor-piercing runes on the spearhead flashed with blazing light, punching straight through the spine of the greatsword raised like a shield to aim for his head. Before it could strike home, the greatsword twisted, leaving the spear only enough room to gouge a deep scratch across his faceplate.
Only then did Ji Jue crash onto the ground, using an abomination arm to stabilize his balance.
Yet the moment he found his footing, the thunderous clatter of hooves charged in.
Valhalla!
Like a rushing storm, frost spread everywhere it passed.
Amid a resonance akin to blowing horn calls, the intruders known as Valhalla materialized out of thin air like specters right before his eyes, lunging forward with blood-wreathed lances!
There wasn't even time to trigger repulsion.
Forged from an unknown material, the bizarre lance punched cleanly through the hardened bone steel as if it weren't even there.
In an instant, it sank into the armor and burst out the other side...
Blood erupted!
Having fought through the workshop's defenses and firepower, the original sixteen Soul-Hunting Knights had dwindled to seven.
Yet as the other units were destroyed and 'fallen,' the spiritus fluctuations radiating from the remaining Valhalla constructs grew increasingly high-pitched.
Formed primarily of runes and soulstones, infused with the ferocity and ravenous souls of numerous mutant aberrations, these Soul-Hunting Knights were essentially tools crafted to defend workshops and protect artisans.
Aside from the soulstones beneath their armor, they possessed no vitals.
Even if damaged beyond repair, they could be merged and swallowed by the surviving Soul-Hunting Knights.
The more of them died, the more savage and frenzied they became.
Except...
Savage?
Could you bastards possibly be more savage than me?!
Ji Jue cast a cold glance back.
And so, a screech like an anguished wail erupted!
Directly behind him, the layered plates of armor abruptly peeled open like a gaping maw, revealing the living, pulsating flesh structures underneath.
A torrent of bloody quicksilver surged forth like a waterfall, engulfing both Valhalla rider and steed within.
Layer upon layer of grinding, chewing sounds rang out.
Beneath the squirming crimson mass, shattered blades and twisted iron plates were spit out like chewed-up bone fragments, crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces.
In the distance, another spear hurled by the crystal golem was cleaved apart by an abomination arm wielding a sword, and the anchor assault rifle resumed its uninterrupted suppressive fire.
The vortex around the Shadow of the Throne expanded.
As its scepter pointed forward, a long-gathering torrent of gravity came surging forth.
Besieged by the Valhalla knights, Ji Jue didn't even bother looking back. An abomination arm reached out casually, ripping an iron box-like apparatus from his armor.
With a thunderous roar through the air, he hurled it!
Colliding head-on with the invisible turbulence of gravity, the iron box shriveled and contracted in an instant. That was... a spiritus battery that Ji Jue had nearly squeezed dry!
At that moment, it received its final command—
—[Self-Destruct]!
Viscous crimson spewed from the collapsing battery, followed by soul crystals of corruption that had nearly solidified. A storm of black-and-red shockwaves swept through in violent fury.
Charging out from the eroding contamination, the armor lunged forward, catching a fresh battery pack tossed by the hand of quicksilver. Reloaded; power restored.
In the process, he grabbed another Valhalla knight charging at the forefront and slammed it into the ground.
Then, he lifted his foot...
And stomped down!
Metal groaned and twisted, iron plates buckling and collapsing. Beneath the heavy layers of protection, the rune-carved soulstone was crushed to dust without resistance.
Fierce spiritus spilled out like a tide of blood. Before the other Valhalla knights could absorb it, the hungry armor devoured every last drop.
"Whew! Now that hits the spot..."
In the brief hush that followed, Ji Jue looked around at the reconstituted crystal golem, the hovering Shadow of the Throne, and the Soul-Hunting Knights encircling him completely.
Unable to hold it back any longer, he let out a chuckle.
Feeling the long-absent pain, an indescribable delight and exhilaration began to rise in his chest!
"Excuse me, is everyone here?"
He asked softly, though no one answered.
After the brief hesitation brought on by the corruptive pollution, the crystal golem, the Shadow of the Throne, and the frenzied Valhalla knights surged forward in an all-out assault once more without hesitation.
If anything, with even greater ferocity than before...
Well, seems everyone is quite enthusiastic.
A pity there was no time for a warm and cheerful opening speech to welcome guests from afar.
No matter.
Since everyone was here, then get ready...
—Let the feast begin!
Ji Jue raised his hand, curling his fingers tight.
He released the final shackle.
*Boom!*
In that instant, at Ji Jue's command, the ceilings of the corridors, the hall, and the entire floor shattered on cue, and all light extinguished.
Raining down from above was an endless torrent of crimson pouring from thick pipelines!
A deluge of blood sheeted down, covering everything, swallowing all!
Chapter 270