Instakill

When they caught sight of that gigantic striped tiger, the Saints present looked blank at first, failing to realize in that split second what manner of being this beast was. After all, Jumang was already dead. Only after freezing for a few seconds did their expressions change drastically. The only one capable of transforming into a ferocious beast and possessing such a terrifying aura was the level-six Beast King, Jumang. But wasn't he dead? The Saints of both factions looked in unison toward the corpse shrouded in the curtain of night. The looks in their eyes were starkly different: the Saints of the orthodox faction brimmed with excitement and anticipation, while the Saints of the evil faction turned solemn in both face and gaze. The corpse was still there. Doubt and confusion crept onto the faces of both sides. The Dark Night Rose Stargazer narrowed his eyes and channeled his vision, piercing through the nocturnal veil blanketing the corpse. He watched as a human skin thin as a cicada's wing slowly separated from Jumang's body. As the skin peeled away, Jumang's appearance shifted, revealing a yin corpse swirling with yin energy. A yin corpse? A yin corpse! The Stargazer's pupils dilated abruptly. Right at that moment, the gigantic striped tiger threw its head back and let out a resounding roar, treading the wind as it charged forward. Its golden-shaded fur danced in the gale as it lunged straight toward Cocktail with unmistakable purpose. Clouds follow the dragon; wind follows the tiger! Treading upon the wind, the massive striped tiger bore down on them in awe-inspiring majesty. "The one who died was a yin corpse! Jumang isn't dead! He still has a Dominator-grade item!" the Stargazer roared. It really was Jumang?! The orthodox Saints felt an instant surge of spirit, akin to the surreal sensation of being on the brink of bankruptcy only for their elderly father to suddenly announce, "Actually, I'm the richest man in the world." The few Saints who had intended to flee ground to a halt and turned back toward the battlefield, hovering in the distance to wait for an opportunity. Emily patted her chest, exhaling in relief, a joyous smile blossoming on her face. Watching the massive striped tiger charge with ferocious momentum, Cocktail showed no panic. Taking a step back, he exploited a loophole in the rules and reappeared over a dozen meters away, shouting: "Jumang's final item is called the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade! As long as you aren't soul-bound or locked onto, it poses no threat! We still have other means—everyone assist Typhoeus in killing Jumang!" He didn't flinch in the least, acting remarkably composed and full of confidence, which greatly reassured the Saints from the Second District. Typhoeus retrieved a vial of potion from his inventory. Flicking off the wooden cork with his thumb, he threw his head back and gulped it down. Before everyone's eyes, a sickening series of snaps and cracks sounded from within his bones. His dark red skin squirmed, and his stature swelled to three meters tall. The membranous wings on his back ignited with blue flames, and the ram horns atop his head took on a dull golden sheen. Plumes of black smoke rose from his body, hissing corrosively as they touched the shipping containers and the concrete ground. The aberration continued, as twisted, ostentatious black demonic patterns surfaced across his dark red skin. Seeming to sense the threat, the massive striped tiger did not pursue Cocktail, turning its gaze toward Typhoeus instead. Was that potion just now the demon seed's bathwater? In his Beast King tiger form, Zhang Yuanqing possessed an ultra-sharp sense of smell and caught the scent of the demon seed. Clearly, Typhoeus was trying to elevate his aberration abilities by consuming the demon seed's bathwater—the power of that deity—in order to attain combat power that could crush everyone on the field. Then I'll kill you first! Kicking up a gust of bloody wind, Zhang Yuanqing pounced toward the three-meter-tall Typhoeus. "Hold him off! Buy time for Typhoeus!" Cocktail shouted at the top of his lungs. Even without his reminder, anyone could sense Typhoeus's steadily surging aura. It seemed to have broken through the Saint stage, edging toward the rank of a Dominator. Yet the gap between a Saint and a Dominator was vast as heaven and earth; breaking past the Saint realm did not mean one could simply reach the Dominator stage. More likely, one would stall halfway. Those who stalled midway were commonly referred to as "weak Dominators." The power of a weak Dominator depended on whether they had covered fifty paces or a hundred paces; the closer they were to the Dominator stage, the stronger they were. The Dark Night Rose Stargazer struck first, exhaling a gust of yin energy. Wraiths swarmed toward the striped tiger like a plague of locusts. Boom! Boom! The two Thunder Mages of the orthodox faction acted immediately, summoning arcs of branching lightning that tore through the wraiths. The yin energy was instantly annihilated. The wraiths dissolved into black smoke amid heart-wrenching shrieks, leaving only a few of exceptional quality alive, though they could no longer pose a threat to the massive tiger. No sooner had the army of wraiths been scattered than the six-armed Divine General of Envy, brandishing a black spiked club, charged forward with thunderous footsteps. Even if Jumang had assumed a beast form, and even if Jumang wielded a Dominator-grade item, as a Mist Lord, the Divine General of Envy still had the confidence to tangle with him. He already had a general understanding of the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade's functions. Would a Bewitching Demon fear a melee weapon? No matter how formidable a blade was, if it couldn't land a hit, how was it any different from an ornament? A figure vaulted onto a shipping container, raised a longsword, and spoke in a deep voice: "Outnumbering the few violates the spirit of the duel! In the name of a Knight, I sentence you to death!" A brilliant brass-colored light erupted around him, as though he were possessed by a god, granting him an astonishing boost. The shipping container caved in with a dull thud as Knight Chazo raised his longsword high and delivered a leaping downward slash toward the Divine General of Envy. Judges had two core abilities: Decrees and Judgments. The two skills complemented each other, but if a Decree could not be enacted, a Judgment could still be executed alone simply by finding any excuse. However, doing so drastically reduced the potency of the Judgment. Chazo had no choice. With the Disorderly Cocktail present, any Decree—any rule—he proclaimed would be exploited for loopholes. The Divine General of Envy raised his spiked club horizontally to block upward. Clang! Amid the piercing clang of clashing metal, Chazo was hurled backward, while the Divine General of Envy stumbled back step after step, each footstep cracking the harbor's concrete pavement. Boom! A wave crashed against the dock, and the splashing seawater coalesced into a colossal palm that swept over the Divine General of Envy's head and slammed down toward the massive striped tiger. Yet before the hand could reach the tiger's head, it collapsed back into seawater. It was the Sea God Church Saint hiding behind the containers who had forcefully dispersed the palm. While a Siren's water control was inferior to that of a Water Ghost, disrupting an opponent's spell was a simple matter. The Water Ghost among the black-robed figures abandoned controlling the seawater, instead silently spreading plagues and activating moisture deprivation to weaken the giant tiger as much as possible. The Saints of both factions commenced a new round of supernatural clashes—one side buying time for Typhoeus, the other clearing obstacles for Jumang. The aftershocks and havoc wrought by nearly ten peak Saints caused shipping containers around the harbor to shatter and burst one after another. The evil faction successfully stalled the striped tiger for five seconds. "Roar!" With the demonic patterns fully traced and covering his upper body, Typhoeus snapped his head up and released a deep, resonant roar toward the night sky, his two sharp fangs particularly prominent. Intense black smoke erupted from his body, and his membranous wings blazed with searing blue flames. Every breath he exhaled carried a thick stench of sulfur. At this moment, he completed a peculiar transformation, his life form crossing into a brand-new realm. The overwhelming aura expanded across heaven and earth, causing the hearts of the Saints at the harbor to clench, an instinctive dread welling up inside them. Power infinitely close to the Dominator rank. "A Chromie demon!" Chazo's stern face grew increasingly grave and heavy. In the canonical scriptures of the Biological Alchemy Society, the source of aberration was the Progenitor of Ten Thousand Demons—the terminator of order, the deity who brought about world-destroying catastrophe. And this god had ten children, each representing a portion of the deity's power. Chromie was one of these demon scions. Scriptures aside, upon reaching the Dominator stage, a Lethal Alchemist could transform into ten kinds of demonic monstrosities, and Chromie was one of them. Of course, the Chromie demonic form Typhoeus displayed was imperfect, as the demonic patterns covered only his upper body rather than his entire frame. "What tantalizing power!" Typhoeus uttered a raspy, chilly sigh from his throat. "My constitution can only aberrate to this extent; the Dominator stage remains an insurmountable threshold." Yet it was already enough. He turned his head to look at the massive striped tiger five meters away. The moment Typhoeus's aberration succeeded, the tiger had stopped. By now, the Saints of both factions had ceased their struggle as well. Chazo, Emily, and the others felt their hearts leap into their throats once more, nervous and even apprehensive. Even though Jumang possessed a Dominator-grade item, his opponent was Typhoeus, who was infinitely close to a Dominator. No matter how potent an item's attack was, if its functions were singular, it suffered from far too many limitations. Furthermore, Jumang himself was not a Dominator, making him vulnerable to being decapitated before he could fully utilize it. And although Typhoeus had not become a true Dominator, this aberration offered an all-around enhancement, making him a genuine weak Dominator. "This is your trump card?" The massive striped tiger spoke in human tongue. "Absorbing the power of a higher-order existence to temporarily boost your combat strength. You aren't even a Dominator, yet you dare claim you can hunt me down?" Acclimating to his new body, Typhoeus chuckled raspily: "Among the ten demons, Chromie has the most well-balanced combat power. It can cast spells, fight in melee, and take flight to hunt prey down. You couldn't escape even if you wanted to." The striped tiger gave an "Oh?" and lunged violently toward Typhoeus, whipping up howling gusts. He wasn't using the Dominator-grade item? Not only Typhoeus, but even the many Saints watching the battle froze at this sight. No matter how strong Jumang's beast form was, it was still at the Saint realm. How dared he engage Typhoeus in close-quarters combat? He shouldn't be this reckless—did he have some tactic up his sleeve? Typhoeus's crimson vertical slits fired two pale beams of petrification, striking the massive striped tiger squarely and splashing grayish-white patches across its body. The patches vanished almost instantaneously. What? The petrification beam didn't work? Typhoeus had no time for shock. Flapping his membranous wings, he unleashed a torrential barrage of blue fireballs at his foe. The giant tiger's paws moved like lightning. Riding the wind, it carved out a V-shaped path, deftly evading the carpet-bombing fireballs as it continued closing in on Typhoeus. The latter spewed a thick plume of intensely corrosive poisonous smoke while chanting a bizarre, inhuman incantation. An aberration incantation. An Aberrant could cause a target to undergo aberration through blood or incantations. The Saints watching from afar immediately felt the cells in their bodies begin to stir, dividing abnormally as if a third eye or a third leg was about to sprout. They hastily covered their ears and retreated in terror. The Wind Mage, who had originally intended to help disperse the poisonous smoke, frantically rode the wind upward to escape the incantation's influence. Just as the Saints of both factions fell back, a roar whistled through the dense black smoke. The massive striped tiger burst out from the violently churning smoke and tackled the three-meter-tall Typhoeus to the ground. Opening its bloodthirsty maw, the tiger lunged to bite down on its enemy's neck. Typhoeus seized the tiger's upper and lower jaws and pried them apart with all his might. Crack! The striped tiger's head was torn clean in two. In the next second, a sharp pain shot through Typhoeus's chest. Startled, he looked down to see a gleaming white dagger plunged straight into his breast. The tiger's corpse dissolved into specks of light, revealing Jumang's true form. He knelt atop the three-meter-tall demon's chest, gripping the hilt with both hands, his gaze icy and mocking. Typhoeus shrieked in agony as his body shriveled at terrifying speed. His vital blood and soul surged like flowing water into the dagger. In under a second, his screams cut off abruptly, leaving behind nothing but a corpse. Even in death, he couldn't comprehend why the poisonous smoke, aberration incantation, and petrification that Aberrants relied on in battle had all proven completely useless. Zhang Yuanqing pulled out the dagger, his gaze sweeping across the petrified Saints of the evil faction: "Not a single one of you leaves tonight." *** With the establishment of the rule, the lightning-attribute spiritual power in the secret chamber seemed to lose its vitality, no longer a power that could be summoned at will. Channing Lu turned around in shock, staring at the man who had suddenly appeared in the secret chamber. The newcomer wore a black mink coat, possessed handsome features, stood tall and straight, and wore a mocking smirk that looked intensely punchable. "How can you be here? How can you be here?!" Unable to accept this, Channing roared, "Weren't you hiding in the maze? Why did you dare come out?!" If there were any Dominators in New York County who were not under the surveillance of the Covenant of Freedom, they were only Old Berendt in the maze villa and Zhai Cai before him. "Why wouldn't I dare come out?" Zhai Cai chuckled dismissively. "Stepping out for some fresh air while you lot are having a brawl—is there a problem with that?" Winnie Berendt did not let down her defense, offering a cold smile: "Channing, since I dared to willingly accept the cost of the Eye of the Sky, how could I not arrange a helper for myself?" She urged: "Cut the chatter and kill him. According to our agreement, I'll tell you the correct routes through the first and second layers of the maze."