Chapter 100

The 9th Platoon was standing in one of the towers, on their side was the large white tiger. It wasn’t alone though as there were many smaller feline type beasts moving in front of it. The giant monster strolled while yawning like it was bored that it had to even leave its nesting place to take care of the bug-like cultivators.

“Great ancestors, in what realm is that beast?”

Zhang Jie looked at the far away monster with her looking glass, the spiritual energy coming from the large tiger beast was immense. This kind of aura belonged to someone at the top of core formation, but she wasn’t sure if it was in the late stage or in the great circle.

“This doesn’t look good… everyone get ready, fire when they are in range!”

The junior members were ready, they had been doing this for a month already some of them were injured from the previous battle. Zhang Peng had a really large canon and was holding it against his shoulder, making it look like he was carrying a rocket launcher. Zhang Hong was to the side, he looked a lot slimmer now than previously, mostly his upper body that turned all that fat into muscle. Still, his battle robe was protruding at the belly part.

Zhang Teng and Bao were to the side, gathering ammunition in the corner making sure that they had enough before they had to return to get some more for their brothers and sisters. Zhang Yuu and Mii weren’t here with them as they went to the barracks to help out with the injured, their healing arts having progressed quite a bit during this hard month of battling.

Zhang Ai and Xue were holding crossbows that had a part that you could load bolts into, they were just making sure that everything was in place before placing the weapons against the small windows in the tower they were in and taking aim. Zhang Tai and Liu were sitting in something that looked like a cockpit, they had something that helped them aim the cannon that they were operating as these cost a lot fewer points than the ones that were automatic.

Soon you could hear cannon fire, the monsters exploding into gorry bits as they were hit by the metallic shells. The whole place looked like a more futuristic fortress, with spotlights shining and heavy artillery getting fired from it by the cultivators inside. You could see gyaru girls running around with boxes in their hands, quickly restocking the used up self-working ballistas.

Explosions filled the entire place, the monster wave didn’t stop as for every beast that exploded during the charge two more came from behind it and like a tsunami they got closer and closer finally arriving close to the walls. But before the creatures could start climbing and devouring the people inside an energy barrier appeared to block their path. The monsters scratched it with their claws, bit into it and just charged at it in a fit of rage, the energy bubble wouldn’t be able to stop them forever.

The biggest problem were the flying enemies, the largest of them looked like a phoenix made from fire. It was circling above the large fortress casting a shadow over it, while the people inside tried shooting it down with their spiritual cannons, to no avail as it was out of range. They had to leave it alone for now as the smaller flying beasts started slamming into the transparent energy field. They turned into hedgehogs due to the many crossbow bolts that the defending cultivators fired into them.

It looked like they were in a standstill for now, but that was only due to the boss monsters not really moving in. The monsters stopped and watched as their minions attacked the castle in an angry rush, the only huge beast that was constantly moving was the turtle that was almost as big as the whole fortress that the cultivators were defending.

Time ticked down and minutes turned into hours, the monsters still kept coming. The people inside recognized a lot of those beasts from the previous waves but due to the increased firepower and defensive structures, they went down a lot faster than before. Soon enough the monsters from the previous wave made their appearance, prompting the elder members from the clan to head out into battle.

The battle looked bleak as the first defensive barrier got breached and the cultivators had to flee into the inner fortress. The automatic weapons were quickly destroyed or they run out of ammunition as the beast burst forward. It looked like it would be a repeat of what happened on the previous wave, the Zhang Clan members were already in their serpent formation firing off their breathing attack to bring down one of the core formation beasts that made its way past the barricade.

Everyone was desperately fighting for their lives, but the most powerful monsters were still just sitting outside the first wall and waiting. Only after the beasts moved into the inner sanctum and were defeated once more the ones outside moved. The tiger roared out loudly prompting the remaining feline beasts to part ways for it, the same happened on all sides.

“Damn, there is no place to run and those beasts are still coming…”

Zhang Zhi propped himself upwards, the last attack that he performed along with his clan members having drained his reserves. The last wave was bad enough, but even though they defeated the monsters the path was open. All the walls were breached, just a couple of cannons remained with some leftover cultivators still reloading and firing them off at the enemies.

“Was it impossible to win from the start?… I have failed you, Patriarch”

Huo Tao lamented while blood was running down his face, the man having a hard time keeping conscious after taking a serious blow from an angry-looking beast.

Feng Daiyu was to the side just sighing, they put up a noble fight but this looked like it was it for them. The monsters outside just needed to move in, to dish out the killing blow. Their strength was immense and even if they had the power of the fortress behind them, she thought that they had a slim chance of coming out on top.

A bit outside the inner sanctum in one of the partially destroyed towers the 9th platoon was still fighting. Monsters started flooding inside and they were battling them with the help of their weapons.

Zhang Xue and Liu combined their lightning attacks to send one of the leopard looking beast tumbling back, letting Zhang Peng smash his fist into its spine taking it out in the process. They all looked injured, sweat running down their foreheads and dripping to the floor along with their blood.

Zhang Jie was to the side, holding onto her belly a monster had pierced it with its sharp claws before she could take it out. She was getting nursed by one of the girls, Xue and Liu quickly ran up to her worry in their eyes.

“Mother!”

“Leave me… I’ll hold them off, you must reach the inner fortress with the rest of the clan members.”

They got separated from their clan members when the beasts burst through the walls, so they were sitting ducks for the incoming monster cats. The thumping of the largest one getting louder and louder as it approached them at an increased pace.

“No we can’t, we will survive this together.”

Zhang Xue replied with tears in her eyes, her mother glancing up at her children that she held dear to her heart. They were her pride and joy and she only came here with them to keep watch, but this would be the end for her. She would stay behind in the hopes of a miracle, even if she could just buy them a second of more time it would be enough.

“Silence, this is an order. Get back to the inner sanctuary!”

She glanced at the other platoon members with a stern face, which prompted them to grasp the crying girl pulling her back from her mother. Zhang Jie nodded as the others started evacuating, her eyes meeting with her Son’s on the way as he hesitated as well.

“Take care of your sister.”

The youth didn’t reply and just made a small bow and then turned around leaving, a small tear running down his cheek as he lamented. The woman stood up going further up onto the tower, her wound was just patched up but it was enough for her to last a few moments. She saw beast charging her way, their teeth sharp and their claws long. She was holding on to a chipped sword and plunged it into the beast’s eye as it tried pouncing at her. The weapon snapped in half as she tumbled to the side, her battle wound opening up.

The monster slummed after its brain got pierced by the weapon, turning into bubbles of energy soon after. The woman leaned about a cracked battlement looking back seeing that her children were running back they would probably make it to the other clan members. She smiled but was startled as she heard a startling deep growl.

She turned to see a large feline eye just staring at her, the white tiger had made its way to the tower she was in. The beast was immense and wouldn’t have trouble in gulping her down in one quick bite. The woman coughed up some blood and looked up into the sky, eyes soon closing and a smile appearing on her face.

“I’ll be joining you soon dear, Jie’er did her best…”

She was tired, tired from all the fighting, tired from all the bloodshed. The moment she accepted her impending death her legs gave out under her and she slumped on the ground. The beast just gave out a snort that made the woman slide backward and hit the wall, more blood coming out of her mouth in the process.

The beast looked at the small bug in front of it, why wasn’t the little human trembling like it was supposed to? The proud tiger didn’t understand while the bug was smiling and just waiting there. But it wouldn’t refuse free food, the woman was of a higher cultivation level and looked quite yummy. Its giant maw opened up wide, the teeth being almost as large as the human that they were going towards. The beasts warm breath hit Zhang Jie’s skin and some saliva dripped on her body, soon the mouth would close devouring her whole.

“KRRACCKKK!”

The monster felt something slam into its head shattering its giant teeth in the process. Its immense body flew backward slamming into the destroyed wall and bouncing further and further. It kept rolling and bouncing in a comedic fashion soon leaving the premise of the outer fortress walls that it came through, its mind dazed as the hit rattled its brain, stunning it momentarily.

Zhang Jie felt the wind hit her face, pushing her further back into the wall she was leaning but nothing besides that. The pain didn’t come and she didn’t feel the monster’s breath upon her anymore, which prompted her to open up her eyes. What she saw was a giant blue fist in the spot that the monster tiger’s face was previously in, lightning energy crackling from it.

“P-Patriarch?”

She said in a daze while staring at the avatar form that she knew that her clan Patriarch used before. It was a bit bigger than the one he used when he saved the clan from the impending doom before, but it was clearly him.

“Sorry for being late, leave him to me. Take this and go back to the rest of the clan.”

A recovery pill dropped on her head, right between her eyes which she quickly gobbled up a relaxing feeling washing over her body and her cracked bones and wounds quickly recovering. She looked as the lightning giant moved towards the equally large white tiger. With each step the giant took lightning energy shoot out, incinerating the lesser monster in its path.

“It’s the Patriarch!”

Zhang Dong’s appearance and overbearing aura was hard to miss, the Zhang Clan members cheered out loud as they saw their leader sock the beast tiger in the face sending it flying backward. Matt was the first one to arrive but soon enough the tired foundation establishment and qi condensation cultivators could see other core formation experts appearing, each one of them attacking the four beasts that were in similar stages as them.

Feng Liena and Feng Maling headed towards the flying monster, everyone had recovered the usage of their storage rings so they could finally use their flying swords once more. Huo Qiang and his bodyguard went towards the dragon while the remaining two decided to stall the slow-moving turtle monster, they didn’t think they would be able to crack its shell but they could buy some time till Zhang Dong and the rest took care of the other beasts.

“It’s the young master!”

“The Matriarch and the elder are still alive!”

“We are saved!”

Everyone cheered out loud as they saw their seniors arriving in the nick of time. Some of them were still missing but this was a massive confidence boost to all of the cultivators.

While Matt was running towards the tiger Zhang Jie quickly returned to her own clan members, Xue clinging to her arm and crying her eyes out once more.

“Xue’er you need to stop being such a crybaby, Mother is fine thanks to the Patriarch.”

She replied while looking into the distance, the white tiger was in a chokehold thrashing around and trying to bite at the large lightning construct that was holding onto it tightly.

“Master is finally back!”

Zhang Liu had stars in his eyes and a grin plastered on his face, the faith that he had in Zhang Dong was slowly going into overdrive. The rest of the Zhang Clan members weren’t far behind as they looked at the kaiju battle happening in the background, the white tiger suffering a slam that made the whole secret ground tremble.

“Everyone gather up, assume the formation we are going to support the Seniors!”

Zhang Zhi stumbled forward, still fatigued from the previous battle but reinvigorated by his leader’s appearance. Everyone shouted out in unison as they assumed their position, soon the water serpent was formed. Zhi realized by the battle that the Patriarch didn’t need any more help, so instead, they headed for the firebird, their water elemental serpent being just the thing to counter its fire attacks.

There were still smaller beasts around, so the cultivators barricaded themselves in the innermost wall of the fortress. Using the remaining ranged weapons as well as engaging the monster in hand to hand combat. The monsters were finally getting pushed back, the sounds of battle filled the surroundings.

Matt rammed his fist into the tiger, sending his sharp chompers flying into the air. He could tell what the theme of these beasts was from one look and from which directions they were coming from.

‘The four guardian beasts huh, not a bad choice I guess…’

He thought to himself nonchalantly while delivering another full power punch to the beast’s side, sending it tumbling to the side. The beast didn’t look like it would be putting up much of a fight against this overpowered Patriarch but he couldn’t play with it for too long as the others weren’t as strong as him.

He started getting smaller and smaller, the tiger was on the ground shaking its head while recovering, he had enough time to deliver a finisher. He pulled out his sword, the weapon radiating with spiritual energy as it expanded into the heavens. He held his longsword with both hands, eyes closed and right at the time when he opened them he brought the sword downwards in a slash.

“Sever the Heaven!”

He shouted out, while the energy beam traveled downward. The monster could only look on in shock as the sword strike descended from the sky before it could evade to the side it was bisected the ground forming a chasm the moment the sword energy hit it. Lots of dirt and dust got flung into the air as the first monster got slain.

Matt rubbed his nose a bit, blushing slightly due to shouting out the attack name before preforming it.

‘Hope nobody heard that… embarrassing.’

The first beast fell, its two sides splitting and falling opposite each other. The peculiar thing was that the monster didn’t turn into energy bubbles like the rest of them, but Matt was sure that it was dead. It was cleanly sliced in two parts, there should be no way of it to recovering its previous form. Also, there was the system prompt, and he even earned a good amount of points.

‘I should go help the others…’

He thought while hearing a rumbling shout, he looked into the distance and saw Huo Qiang standing in a karate like stance. His bodyguard was keeping the monster dragon busy, it looked like it had already suffered some damage but so did the two other cultivators. The red-haired brother was gathering all of his spiritual energy into his fist strike, clearly taking his time while his clan member distracted the beast.

“This new technique… I only managed to cultivate it to a minor achievement but it should be enough…Take this beast!”

“Flame Emperor’s Pure Yang Destruction Fist.”

Matt stumbled forward after hearing the long name of the attack that Huo Qiang threw at the monster. The moment the man punched out you could see some kind of flame giant show himself behind him, it looked like a transparent hologram and he was taking the same stance and had the same facial expression as the cultivator in front.

The mutton chop elder fled to the side as he almost got hit by his young master’s attack, he tumbled to the side. The flame fist cleanly landed on the dragon’s head promptly turning it ton mincemeat and filling the whole area with fire energy. There was a huge explosion that made everyone look in the direction.

“Heh… not bad.”

Matt smiled as he saw Huo Qiang passing out after throwing that fist attack at the monster. His new friends were a lot stronger than expected, the two women battled the giant bird slicing its wings with their wind attacks, the water serpent spewing beams out of its maw interrupting the firebird when it tried to counter-attack.

The turtle, on the other hand, was getting its face slapped around by a big Buddha statue. Bankei had gathered his remaining sect buddies and went into a formation of their own. The statue looked golden and had six arms, it was hovering above ground while in a sitting position delivering strikes to the monster’s head that tried snapping at it.

Matt decided to go for the Turtle now as it looked a lot sturdier than the bird that was getting its feathers plucked by his clan members and the Feng Clan ladies.

It didn’t take long for the cultivators to successfully eradicate every remaining monster in the area. The hardest one to kill was indeed the turtle as even though its attacks were weak, it was really hard to get through that shell. After the phoenix look-alike fell, everyone gathered up and started blasting the thing from all sides, soon enough the shell broke and the beast fell.

“We did it!”

“Wooo… I’m alive!!!”

“It’s over right? This is it? I want to go home…”

People shouted out, cheering loudly their wounds didn’t hurt as much now when they had victory on their minds. Everyone was tired, most of the fortress was in shambles wall chunks were everywhere. Just as Matt was ready to shout out to his clan members the robotic voice resounded around the area once more.

“Congratulations on completing the 100th wave… The bonus stage will start now.”

“Bonus stage?”

Matt blinked wondering what this was about, but then he felt that something was happening to the giant monster bodies.They started glowing and condensing into small balls. The four spheres then shot out into the air gathering in one spot and fusing with each other. There was a giant shockwave that kicked up storm like winds and the cultivators felt a massive surge in spiritual energy in that area.

“No… this is?”

“I-it can’t be…”

The energy was far greater than what a core formation cultivator could have, so everyone gulped as the area where the orbs fused together started showing an outline. Soon enough a large shout resounded through the destroyed testing grounds.

“Buahahah, I told you that we would meet again, didn’t I, oh prideful one?”

The man was the previously fought Sin of Pride, but he looked a bit different. His body, as well as his face, was all red, his hands looked more like claws and his horns that were previously meager were quite large now. He looked like a textbook demon, sharp teeth white as pearls and an armor of red covering his whole body he even had large bat-like wings growing out of his back while hovering up in the air. But that wasn’t the problem though.

“N-nascent soul? How could this be…”

“I must thank you for setting me free, I don’t get many opportunities to stretch my wings~”

The demon smirked while filling the area with its overbearing demonic aura.

“Set you free?”

Matt asked while looking up at the monster, he was feeling the brunt of that force that was making even him tremble.

“Oh, did you forget about the little game that we had? I hope the rewards were worth it~”

Matt groaned, the reason that the bonus stage started was probably that he blundered and accepted the pride monsters offer. How could he know that even when winning it, it would bring doom upon him and the clan later on?

“Well, not like I made the rules, hope you can entertain me for a bit~”

The demon shrugged while grinning and charging out, he was so fast that he vanished from Matt’s field of vision and appeared behind him in a fraction of a second. Demonic wings kicking up massive winds that sent everyone close in the area backward, everyone was sent flying in various directions while the demonic being looked at Zhang Dong. The attack was clearly aimed at the cultivators beside Matt as he was mostly unaffected but everyone else was tossed aside.

Matt took on a fighting stance, the demon in front was in the nascent soul realm, could he even damage him? The grinning demon crossed his muscular arms over one another and just waited there, his head turned to the side as if he was beckoning him to strike his cheek just like when they had the punching contest.

Matt clenched his fist if the monster was willing to let him deliver a strike he would put everything into it. He gathered all of his spiritual energy into his right arm activating all skills that would let him enhance this hook. His forearm bulged out, veins protruding from it. His whole arm started crackling with lightning energy, the Qi getting pushed forward as the glow on his fist got brighter. He jumped forward ready to strike, the monster unmoving as if it didn’t care about the puny attack that this human was preparing.

The ground trembled under Zhang Dong’s might, he charged forward each step leaving a large hole behind, the other cultivators only seeing a white blur flying towards the demonic being.

‘BOOOOMMM!”

The whole place shook as the strike connected, hurricane winds blasting everything to the side, people looking on in awe. Nothing should be able to survive a hit like that, this strike was extremely close to the nascent soul level even a master like that shouldn’t come out unscathed, or so they thought.

“Hmm… is that all?”

A demonic voice could be heard which made everyone shiver, after the dust cloud subsided everyone could see what actually happened. Zhang Dong was kneeling down on the ground, holding his right hand with his left. The right fist in question looked mangled up, the skin was torn and some fingers were broken.

“Argh…”

Matt screamed out while grasping his hand, did he punch an iron wall or something. His hand was broken and bleeding, he looked up at the demonic being the man in question looking quite smug. He didn’t have time to recover as a swift kick sent him flying back, the demon finally attacking.

“Ehh, I had high hopes for you, but you are this weak?”

Matt bounced a couple of times before managing to regain his balance, his good hand digging into the hard bedrock as he slid backward and finally came to a stop. He got kicked in the chest and felt that his ribs broke in a couple of places, he spat blood onto the ground and looked in horror in the direction of the monster that was flying towards him.

He grasped his sword, pushing all the energy that he could muster into it. When the demon got into his domain he released a barrage of sword strikes applying the same technique he used to slice up the Cthulhu like creature. The demon just walked forward, looking relaxed as the sword energy collided with his body. Matt expected to see blood but instead of slicing the demon apart, his sword broke into tiny fragments after it got smacked by the red monster’s large hand.

“Pathetic.”

Another kick landed to his side, he tried blocking it with his good arm but it got folded in half along with his body as he got blasted to the side. He screamed out in pain, blood spurting out of his side as he tumbled along.

‘F***, it hurts.’

He couldn’t move his other arm at all, it was just dangling like a wet noodle while he gathered himself up. The monster was just toying with him now, he had no way of retaliating. He was flung around the area like a punching bag, his legs soon broken while the demon grinned from seeing the previously prideful cultivator finally having a look of despair.

“That’s it! Those eyes, that’s how you are supposed to look! Despair more and grovel!”

He held Matt up with one hand, delivering some backhand and forehand slaps to his face before tossing him to the side and stomping on his legs some more. The man below just a broken mess now, tears, snot, and blood coming out of his orifices while he squirmed.

“Quickly, support the Patriarch!”

Some cultivators charged out from the side, but with a small gesture from the monster’s wings, they tumbled backward like paper planes in hurricane winds. Their low cultivation levels not being able to resist the overpowered monster in the slightest.

“Hah, little worms…”

“L-leave them alone!”

Matt shouted while coughing, he pushed his broken stump of an arm into the ground as he was trying to stand up but the only thing that greeted him was the monsters swift kick that sent him flying once more, his chest denting inside as most of his ribs got broken. He ended up somewhere on his back, he had no strength to move at all, his vision was blurry and the pain was getting unbearable.

“You care about those insects so much? Bahaha, then watch them die!”

The demon grinned even more and strode towards the other cultivators, leaving Matt down on the ground so that he could watch as he killed those pesky humans.

“Haven’t had so much fun in thousands of years, I must thank you, my friend. I’ll be sure to kill them slowly~”

The monster laughed out loud while eyeing some of the cultivators that were further away. Matt’s vision was fading as he was close to passing out, he had no way of saving anyone his body was beaten and battered.

‘Is this it?… Am I going to die?… why was I even brought to this place?… I don’t want to die… I still haven’t done anything…’

His mind was filled with thoughts of failure, he lamented his incompetence if he wasn’t so stupid and didn’t take the monster’s offer. Why did he always fail in everything, his life started flashing through his mind, a life of loneliness and mediocrity. Even with this system, he was unable to change his destiny. He started laughing, more blood coming out of his mouth as he chuckled at his inability.

“I’m sorry everyone…”

He wanted to apologize to the people that put their faith in him, he truly felt like he let everyone down. Everyone would die and he felt that he was to blame, maybe if he was a little smarter, listened to the wise words of the senior members or if he tried a bit harder, it wouldn’t have ended up like this.

But suddenly in this moment of weakness, he noticed something to the side. It was the cube that he received after the seventh trial, it must have bounced to the side after he got smacked by one of the demon’s attacks. It was slightly cracked, its outer shell filled with spiderweb-like fissures.

‘W…what…’

The cube was giving off some kind of strange aura from all those small cracks, it was faint but it was still there. Like a man grasping for glass while falling from a building, he inched his broken body forward. He got closer and closer, not really sure why he was even bothering but something was pushing him forward, telling him not to give up.

He moved his arm upwards, his bones were broken in several places and he felt excruciating pain, but he needed to tap that yes prompt.

He saw his status window that was a bit blurry, the points were shooting up by an unexpected amount.

‘893291….1263145… 4678231…8523135…’

He didn’t just twiddle his thumbs though after the absorption process started he felt that his body started getting healed. He didn’t know why it was happening but he was going to make it count, he quickly brought up his up cultivation window spending the required points on the golden lightning option.

His body started crackling as lightning energy got summoned, this wasn’t all though he started dumping all the remaining points into his cultivation base just as fast as those points increased they diminished. He was nothing but a glowing light in the distance, the energies filled the area as this body began changing.

In the distance the Demon was holding onto a certain young man, this young man had peculiar salt and pepper hairstyle. The demon was interested a bit as he and a younger girl had charged at him with murder in their eyes.

“Ah, you are his disciples… wonder what face he will make if I kill you in front of him…”

The monster grinned but then felt something strange, he quickly tossed the brat to the side not caring if he was dead or alive and took flight.

“What is this…”

He saw an energy sphere floating in the air, golden lightning was shooting out and randomly destroying the surrounding areas. The demon got closer but then quickly retreated the moment he felt something being off.

“Holy element!?”

He wasn’t stupid, he knew that it had to be the puny man that he had trashed a moment ago. Was he breaking through? If so he had to be stopped. The demon’s eyes started glowing purple as he took in a deep breath, his chest expanding. He opened up his mouth, a beam of purple light shooting out and aimed at the cultivator inside the energy sphere.

At least that was the plan, but just before firing off his ranged attack he felt various spiritual energy attacks coming his way. They were coming from the various half dead cultivators from the area, trying to use the moment that the demon wasn’t alert as a last-ditch effort attack.

“YOU DARE!?”

The demon shouted in anger as his beam whizzed past Zhang Dong by a hair, the cultivators in the area slumping down tired. He was about to lash out at them but then turned around, Zhang Dong was hovering up in the air, looking different than before. The demon could feel that disgusting holy aura coming off of him, golden light and lightning bolts were randomly shooting off his body and the golden aura that he was now producing made his white hair seem yellow.

“Nascent soul?… no…not quite?”

Matt had no more points to spend, he poured them all into his cultivation and body rising both of them to 100%. But this left him with absolutely no more to spend so he couldn’t further upgrade his cultivation into the nascent soul realm.

‘This will have to do… not it will do!’

The demon looked relieved that even though the man in front of him got stronger, he still was only at half step into the nascent soul. Matt was done playing though, he would go 100% from the get-go, not leaving the monster any chance as he had a way to temporarily bridge that gap.

He clenched his fists shouting out while quickly activating his avatar technique as well as his condensation art, his body turning slightly larger and making him look like a man made from pure golden energy. The demon looked bewildered at the sudden increase of power and before he could react he felt a strong smack to his face, the hit-making him burrow into the ground a kilometer from the spot that he was previously in.

He quickly burst out from the ground, rage on his face as he scanned the area for his opponent. He was greeted by a swift kick to his face as he was turning around, tumbling backward his nose bent in an awkward position.

“YOU WORM!”

He shouted while glaring at the golden human that was charging towards him once more, he punched out trying to catch the enemy unprepared but got caught in a clean counter punch instead which sent him back into some rubble. The creature found his opponent to be faster than him, he started getting forced into a defensive stance as Zhang Dong’s kicks and punches rained down on him. The addition of the holy element in the attacks was weakening the monster even further.

Black blood rained down on the ground, sizzling and burning everything in its path as the monster coughed up copious amounts of it, just like Zhang Dong did when he got previously thrashed. Matt was in a hurry, he knew that he had precious moments before he would suffer the backlash of the skill he was using, he could already feel his veins bulging and his internal organs ready to burst from the stress.

He bit down on his lower lip, shouting out loudly as he delivered a massive hit to the monster managing to blast its shoulder to bits. The demon flew backward grasping his side, his arm along with the shoulder got blasted to the side and the holy energy was preventing him from regenerating.

“YOU DAMN INSECT!”

The monster’s eyes glowed purple once more, he was preparing to fire off another of those ranged attack. He was taking his time in gathering the spiritual energy into his lungs but Matt wasn’t being idle either. He grasped his right wrist with his left hand, his index finger on his right hand pointing upwards as he gathered copious amounts of energy into it. This would be it, this would be the last attack that he was going to put all of his soul into.

Everyone looked on in shock as they saw the two face each other, they knew that something big was coming. Everyone scattered, hiding behind walls or using all of their defensive trinkets hoping for the best. Soon Zhang Dong pointed his finger at the monster and he in response breathed out, a giant wide beam of purple light was heading at the golden cultivator.

In response a beam attack was released from Zhang Dong’s finger it was the finger art that he leaned back in one of the levels of that library. This was the strongest attack he could muster up in this situation. His once muscular body started getting thinner and thinner as the beam slammed into the wider one and started pushing against it.

“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE, YOU DAMN WORM”

The monster shouted as he as well was withering from using up all of his energy in this attack. Matt was sweating profusely but he couldn’t give in, he would kill this monster even if he had to die. He mustered up everything he had, all of his life force was pushed to bring all of those skills that he was using to a new height. His finger beam expanded in girth as it penetrated through the purple light and slammed into the monster’s chest penetrating right through him in one fell swoop.

“I—IMPOSSIBLE…. I… I AM… IMMORTAL…”

The beam burrowed through him, the holy energies invading the monster’s body and incinerating him from the inside turning him into dust soon after the attack passed. The monster was slain and the beam hit something in the distance. The generated explosion looked like a small atomic one as it produced a giant shockwave.

“I… I… I d-d…did it…”

Matt managed to mutter some words before the backlash came, all of his blood vessels burst open making him look like a ripe tomato. He couldn’t move a muscle and started to fall down from the sky like a deflated balloon. He crashed into the hard rubble down below his vision getting blurry. He could hear people running towards him, shouting some words but he wasn’t sure what as his hearing was giving out.

The Zhang clan members that ran up were looking at their fallen Patriarch, he looked kind of peaceful a small smile on his face. Which was a stark contrast to the state of his body was in, he looked like a starved beggar. His disciples gathered around him, trying to hold his hand that was losing its warmth.

They gathered around him, forming the strongest healing formation they could muster up anyone that was adept at healing was trying to help. But to no avail, the man’s life was fading and they could not do anything about it.

‘Hah…’

‘I hope everyone is safe…’

‘I’m so tired… I’m just going to sleep for a bit…yeah… sleep…’

Soon he couldn’t feel any pain, all of his senses shut down leaving him only with his thoughts which were slowly fading away. He was a bit sad that he couldn’t do more, but this was fine those guys should be safe now he was sure that the people from the other clans would help them out in the future, he could rest easy.

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‘Critical error detected, host body in critical condition trying to restore bodily functions….’

‘Host beyond saving, switching to transfer protocol, transferring remaining resources to origin point’

‘Error…error…program is getting overwritten resource transfer aborted…’

‘Anomaly in system detected… error…’

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‘….overwriting original programming…’

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‘Transfering all remaining resources to life saving protocols… prioritizing host survival…’

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‘Insufficient resources… removing ‘Devouring seed protocol’ from the system…’

‘…Altering system… please wait… removing redundant subsystems…’Cash shop protocol’ removed….’

‘System rebooting’

‘Activating life saving protocol…’

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……..thump…

….thump….thump

….thump….thump….thump….thump

…’ Heart rate restored… host stabilizing…’

The Zhang Clan members were kneeling around their Patriarch, crying their eyes out while something strange happened. They were sure the man had died a couple of minutes ago, his heart had stopped and they couldn’t feel any spiritual energy from his dried up core. But suddenly they felt something, the tinies spark igniting deep within his depleted core, he was coming back to them.