Chapter 982 - The Ancient God Descends
“Exquisite. Absolutely stunning. You’re a masterpiece. I almost can’t bear to eat you!” Hennibal exclaimed. He faced an agonizing choice, torn between eating Han Wu or turning him into a specimen to admire.
Han Wu scoffed. “We don’t know who’ll eat whom yet.”
With that, he triggered the Demon King Transformation’s special trait. Gaping maws materialized at his command and lunged at Hennibal, snapping hungrily as they went. Each maw was connected to the Dark Locust’s stomach, whose digestive power could break down virtually anything.
Hennibal struck with his many limbs, smashing the gaping maws apart one after another. Some of his limbs were bitten off and swallowed. Dark Locust’s stomach digested them and fed the energy back to Han Wu.
Hennibal was losing ground, and he knew it. Switching gears, he closed the distance and hit Han Wu with close-range attacks.
Han Wu grinned. Close combat was his specialty, after all.
Brandishing four massive swords with his Swordwind arms and igniting his dragon claws with crimson dragon fire, he leaped forward.
The two behemoths collided. Flesh and bone flew in every direction. The gaping maws devoured any bits that fell and converted them into recovery energy.
After several bouts, Hennibal had lost large portions of his grafted limbs. Some dangled in broken halves from his body, making him look ghastly and wretched. Once it finally dawned that he was outmatched, he immediately turned to run.
Han Wu wasn’t about to let him escape. Hennibal was a walking loot box, and Han Wu was betting on the rewards! His four Swordwind arms merged their power into a single Hurricane Greatsword and brought it crashing down.
“Steelcutter!”
The colossal blade cleaved through Hennibal’s defenses, obliterating all traces of life within him.
Before the corpse could dissolve, Han Wu switched to the Crystal Lich King and cast Summon Skeletons. A special skeleton with countless mismatched limbs rose from Hennibal’s remains. Bizarre appearance aside, its power reached the Eighth Form, making it a true Elite skeleton.
The Fire Worship Cult leader had been recovering nearby, watching as the mighty Hennibal was cut down with ease. Terror swelled within him. Hennibal had been a dominant force in the White Soul Civilization for years. Even Esquiem’s mother had been helpless against him, yet this unknown kid had hacked him to pieces.
As Han Wu closed in, the cult leader activated his strongest Form, the Ninth Form Fire Fiend. His body transformed into a special, towering flame. Being in his strongest Form restored a sliver of confidence.
“I’ll overlook the fact that you killed the Corpse Fiend. Today is our Fire Worship Ceremony, so I’d rather not fight. Leave now, and I guarantee that no harm will come to you,” the cult leader said magnanimously.
In truth, he dared not pursue even if he wanted to. Han Wu was just that powerful. Only a fool would chase death. The best move was to get rid of Han Wu while minimizing losses.
Unfortunately for him, Han Wu wasn’t interested in talking. His Merged Form manifested eight Jackal Deathsworn materialized from bone sand. The eight and the Elite skeleton[1] all charged the cult leader’s Fire Fiend form.
Thirteen Shadow Blades slashed at him simultaneously. The cult leader retaliated with a wall of special flames that blazed over everything, hardening the Jackal Deathsworn’s bone sand bodies and rendering them unable to move.
Whenever that happened, Han Wu would manually reconstitute them to keep them fighting. Any fire that touched Han Wu himself was simply absorbed and converted into more bone sand to form more Jackal Deathsworn.
A fierce and baffling battle ensued, particularly for the cult leader. He had started against eight Jackal Deathsworn, but not a single one fell throughout the battle. Worse still, their numbers had conversely grown to sixteen, and Han Wu himself hadn’t taken a scratch.
Understanding of the situation dawned with painful clarity. Han Wu was a hard counter to everything he had. His only option was to run.
He tried to flee as a stream of fire, only to discover that his feet wouldn’t leave the ground. It was as if he had been nailed in place.
Han Wu had used his thirteen Shadow Blades to pin the cult leader’s shadow to the ground during the fight. Unable to fight or flee, the cult leader fell into complete despair.
“If you won’t let me live, then we’ll die together!” he suddenly shouted, forming a hand seal. Extreme heat erupted from his body. Buildings across the compound caught fire. Even the ground turned molten.
Han Wu assumed it was some powerful final attack. After all, he had the Conversion Jurisdiction. Whatever elemental energy the cult leader threw at him, he could simply absorb and redirect. Han Wu had won the moment he had gotten the Divine Stone.
Then the Desolation Manifestation warned urgently, “An entity that could threaten a God is descending on this location. Preliminary analysis points to the White Soul Civilization’s Ancient Fire God. Run!”
Without hesitation, Han Wu shifted Forms and used Shadow Meld to flee at top speed. He had gone to great lengths to avoid confronting the Ancient Fire God, only for the cult leader to sacrifice himself to summon them. Han Wu hadn’t unlocked his full power and knew he definitely couldn’t defeat the powerful Ancient Fire God.
Unfortunately, he was too late. The Ancient Fire God descended into the cult leader’s body.
“My glorious God, please help your faithful servant!” the cult leader pleaded. “Burn this sinner to ashes! I offer my life as payment!”
Then, to Han Wu, the cult leader screamed, “Even if I can’t kill you, I can at least make sure you die together with me in the flames of the Ancient Fire God!”
With that, his body crumbled to ash in the blaze.
The Ancient Fire God absorbed the cult leader’s offered energy and faith, then turned their gaze on Han Wu.
Han Wu’s body instantly burst into flames.
1. Here’s the weird part, not sure if they meant Elite as in the rank, or elite as in more powerful skeleton ☜