Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 379 - 352 VS Ming Zhuo 3

Chapter 379: 352 VS Ming Zhuo 3

Incalculable flames gathered overhead, transforming into a massive fireball akin to a constant star.

The density of power surged dramatically.

"Compression" is the simplest and most brutal method to enhance the density of power, and it is also the only thing I can do at the moment. In fact, I am well aware that merely physically compressing power tightly together, though indeed it can increase density, is not the same as the density demonstrated by Ming Zhuo.

What Ming Zhuo exhibited was not just physical density, but also spiritual density, and even many abstract, metaphysical forms of density. It is not so easy to enhance all of these at once.

Speaking just of "spiritual density," it is not actually my first encounter with this concept. Back at the secret base of the Human Bureau, a young researcher with no spellcasting ability became immune to the Instant Hypnosis Skill of the young girl Lu Chan with his high-density spirit. To raise one’s spiritual density requires an indomitable, relentless will of iron.

I, too, consider myself to possess a steadfast will in pursuit of my dreams; however, Ming Zhuo has lived through an unimaginably long saga, his will likely honed through the immense passage of time, so fundamentally, I cannot compare to him. And this is just one aspect of increasing density.

Although I am often called a genius, every Impermanence exhibits talent to the extent that only myth can describe them. The pursuit of density they’ve accumulated over countless years on this path cannot be surpassed by my flashy tricks.

I can only do what I can do now to the utmost extent.

After the flames converged to a certain extent, gravity emerged.

These flames could even burn spacetime. When concentrated enough, even without intending to burn spacetime, spacetime started to melt and dent on its own. Dust and debris went against Earth’s gravity, rising from the scorched ground, converging towards the fireball’s location. Even the star-like fireball began to appear twisted and dim.

This twist and dimming were not signs of reduced power of the fireball. On the contrary, it was precisely because the fireball’s power was too strong that the melted and burned-through space caused extreme deflection of some light rays, and some could not escape at all.

The color of the fireball began to shift toward the black that devoured light, turning into a black sun like during a total solar eclipse.

And Ming Zhuo launched another attack.

"—— Is it right there!"

He vigorously condensed a black-red beam of light again and struck towards me, who lost both body and spirit.

At the moment, my existence in the material spacetime is nonexistent: normal means can’t interfere with me, let alone observe my location. What remains is merely my "consciousness itself," an enigmatic existence. However, to ordinary demon hunters, that’s the case, but to an Impermanence, there are deities on Earth that can turn the impossible into the possible, attacking an "enigmatic existence" effortlessly for Ming Zhuo.

Compared to the black sun in the sky, the power scale released by Ming Zhuo absolutely couldn’t be considered large. To the uninformed, Ming Zhuo might even seem insignificant, but the real person in peril here is me.

Because the power of an Impermanence isn’t so easily comparable. With will, any Impermanence can manipulate energy equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs, but doing so might not pose the same threat as Ming Zhuo’s current actions.

Famous historical earthquakes possess a total energy scale that far exceeds that of so-called nuclear weapons, yet not just Impermanences, even a Residence Level demon hunter would not perish from an earthquake like ordinary people because the energy of an earthquake is relatively diffused. And even an Impermanence couldn’t concentrate that super-scale energy altogether, at best only densely consolidating a part of it.

To put it in perspective, a strong adult man can briefly lift a hundred-kilogram object, push an anchored vehicle with great effort on flat ground, and the world weightlifting champion can lift more than two hundred kilograms, and there are even strongmen rumored to pull airplanes with rope hooks... However, on the battlefield where weapons are wielded, a five-kilogram weapon is already a very heavy weapon, and real-life greatswords might not even weigh five kilograms.

My current behavior is like trying to pick up a stone of over a hundred pounds to smash the opponent’s head. In the split-second combat, making such a motion that would expose such a huge flaw naturally gives the opponent the opportunity to draw a sword and strangle.

However, he still failed to catch up and stop me. Because the Fire Sea I unfolded served two purposes, one of which was to significantly accelerate my Charging Speed.

The flames converging from all directions could ignore spatial distances just like my own body, and in the blink of an eye, the formidable flames completed the convergence at an unbelievable speed. As Ming Zhuo launched his attack, the black sun also shot towards Ming Zhuo’s direction.

The next moment, I felt an assault on my consciousness as if there was a violent explosion above while I was underwater, the shock from above sending me into disarray, but I clamped down on my non-existent teeth, trying my best to keep my consciousness from collapsing. Facing the black sun’s impact, Ming Zhuo retreated without a second thought, clearly trying to evade.

His step back wasn’t to the back of the material spacetime but deeper into the world, even deeper than the realm of causality and concepts that I perceived. Normally, even I couldn’t immediately lock onto his location, and this powerful move seemed about to miss.

Fortunately, there was fire within Ming Zhuo’s body, and sensing heat and flames is one of the strengths of my superpower. Following this sensory connection, the black sun locked onto the direction, charging into that space as well, and immediately an earth-shattering explosion occurred.

In the material world, one could see a pillar of flames hundreds of meters thick rising from the ground, shooting into the sky, while the land below was burnt through, forming a vast, unknowable deep pit. Outside the unfathomable pit, a boundless Fire Sea was still burning incessantly.

To further reinforce my consciousness, I reformed my body, and the figure of Ming Zhuo also emerged above the great hole.

His shroud was extensively torn, his body was bleeding profusely from various places, his face bore evident burn injuries, and his breathing became somewhat labored.

But... he didn’t die.

Even without a severe injury.

The strike just now had only caused him a light injury.

On the physical level, the wound was nowhere near fatal, while on the soul level, it was merely akin to a superficial cut by a knife. Moreover, my attack was not only aimed at his body and soul, but also burnt through the time on his body.

I am certain that at least thirty years of his life had been evaporated by me just now. And according to my intelligence, he should have less than ten years left in his lifespan. However, not only did he not exhaust his lifespan, he didn’t even show panic or anger on his face, as if what I just did was not enough to affect his most valued lifespan.

"Good... I didn’t expect you to truly be able to hurt me, to leave scars on my body..."

Ming Zhuo took a deep breath, and it was unclear what power he used, but I saw his wounds, along with the injuries to his soul, rapidly heal, and even the lifespan clothing on his body automatically mended itself.

"But so what?" he said expressionlessly, "If that was your full strength just now, with that kind of thing... how do you plan to kill me?"

Without any hesitation, I responded: "If not once, then ten times; if ten times isn’t enough, then a hundred times."

At the same time as I spoke, I pointed upward again, and countless flames began to converge into a black sun.

Seeing this, Ming Zhuo’s expression darkened.

The Fire Sea I deployed indeed augmented my power, but this increase was neither in attack nor defense strength. Apart from "Charging Speed," the other enhancement the Fire Sea provided me with was "Endurance."

This black sun could be released by me even without the support of the Fire Sea. However, not to mention that the charging speed could not be so swift, after releasing it once, I would definitely become exhausted. But with this Fire Sea, I could release this Killing Move an unlimited number of times.

To put it in gaming terms, I am now equivalent to having an infinite mana bar, with the release speed of my Killing Move greatly increased, and no cooldown periods.

What matters is not how much damage is inflicted, but whether damage can be dealt. Since I can penetrate Ming Zhuo’s defenses, this battle was no longer one-sided.

Of course, this Fire Sea was not truly inexhaustible. The black sun just now had already drained too much energy from the Fire Sea, but that’s okay, just like I can recover by absorbing the Fire Sea, the Fire Sea can recover by burning the land.

As long as the Earth has not been completely burned by me, I can keep burning indefinitely.

Ming Zhuo seemed to have realized this logic as well, his eyes suddenly became very dangerous, and then he said: "I underestimated you... Fine, I acknowledge you, rookie. You’re worthy to be my opponent...

"But what of it? You would have to try ten or a hundred times to have a chance at killing me, while I only need to strike two or three times to take your life.

"Not to mention, even if you could truly take one of my lives, I would not perish—

"No one can truly kill me!"

He charged towards me again, and I hurled the black sun at him.

"—’Eclipse’."

I also casually named it.

Seeing that I deliberately chanted the name of the move, his expression became more serious. Could it be that in Luo Mountain there is a culture where any named move is particularly powerful?

However, this Killing Move was no longer novel to him, so he was not as guarded as he was at the beginning. Black-red mana fluctuations coiled around his arms, and with a fierce swing, he directly tore the black sun like a fragile balloon, and then he rushed up to me in one breath, condensing black-red light in his hand, ready to launch an attack at close range.

I too launched my real attack.

The black sun was a feint; my real objective was still the Xuanming Fire. The first black sun attack not only breached his defenses but also affected the seal of the Xuanming Fire within his body, ripping a small gap. Ming Zhuo was rapidly repairing this gap, which was about to disappear, and this level of damage would not hinder Ming Zhuo’s movements.

But in front of me, a Flame Ability User, even a small gap was enough to make the isolation between the Xuanming Fire inside and myself ineffective.

I didn’t know if my feint was effective, or perhaps Ming Zhuo had noticed his flaw and was thus rapidly repairing the seal, rushing over now to impede me from manipulating the Xuanming Fire... If that was the case, then he still underestimated my speed at usurping external flames.

The moment the black-red light was about to hit me, I spread my right hand with open fingers, then violently clenched it.

A burst of terrifying flames erupted from within Ming Zhuo’s body all at once.