Chapter 562 - 203: Slaying Shi Dang! The Nemesis of Chaos! The Road Ahead
"That place is your stronghold, and it will also be your tomb."
He turned and strode toward the bridge.
"Full speed ahead, target Planet K412!"
...
The scene shifted.
Planet K412, surface.
This was a planet that reeked of rust and gunpowder.
The dark red earth was littered with abandoned mining facilities and massive craters.
At this moment, within the ruins of an abandoned smelting plant, an exceptionally brutal battle was raging.
Dozens of Martial Artists in Standard Power Armor had formed a defensive perimeter, fending off an assault by a force of frenzied Blood God Followers several times their number.
These followers, their bodies slathered in strange, blood-red runes and wielding a variety of crude yet lethal Chainsaw Axes and blast-guns, fearlessly launched charge after charge.
The battle had reached a fever pitch.
On the Martial Artists’ side, nearly everyone was wounded.
Their power armor was covered in jagged scratches and bullet holes. Several squad members had even lost limbs, able only to put up a final resistance under the cover of their comrades.
"Captain! We can’t hold on much longer! These guys are just a pack of mad dogs!"
A Martial Artist roared, the barrel of his blast-gun glowing red-hot.
At the head of the formation, an agile Female Martial Artist wielded a Long Saber shimmering with a Spiritual Light Flame, cleaving the charging Chaos Believers in two, one after another.
Her power armor was the finest in the squad, but now it too was heavily battered.
Her helmet’s visor was splattered with the foul blood of her enemies.
"Abandon the mission."
The Female Martial Artist’s voice reached every squad member’s ears through the comms.
"I’ll buy you time. Activate the ’Spiritual Field Stabilizer’ immediately! Hurry and teleport back to the Martial Hall!"
If Qin Feng were here now, he would have surely recognized this Female Martial Artist—the one trying to trade her life for her comrades’ survival even in this desperate situation—as Zhou Yu, the very first opponent he had faced in the Imperial Arena many years ago, hailed as the "number one scrub of the Thunder Martial Arts Hall."
Time had long since honed her youthful immaturity into the toughness and resolve she possessed today.
Just as Zhou Yu and her team had steeled themselves to retreat and were preparing to carry out the plan,
A piercing engine roar tore through the distant sky.
A sinister-looking pirate warship, brimming with chaotic design, tore through the planet’s murky, yellow atmosphere and slowly approached.
At the sight of the warship, the Blood God Followers, who had been attacking with abandon, seemed to have been injected with a shot of pure fanaticism. They ceased their assault, raised their weapons high, and let out a heaven-shaking roar filled with worship and zeal!
"My Lord has returned!"
"Boss!!"
"For the Skull Throne!!!"
Instantly, their bloodlust, far from diminishing, surged anew. They launched an even more ferocious charge at the defensive line of Zhou Yu and her squad!
"It’s over..."
A young Martial Artist stared at the ominous warship in the sky, his voice laced with despair. "Their leader... is back."
"The intel was dead wrong! This isn’t some ordinary camp of Evil God’s Followers!"
A bitter feeling welled up in Zhou Yu’s heart.
This time, she feared, they were truly doomed.
Everyone gritted their teeth and held their ground, continuing their desperate struggle.
The pirate warship then came to a swift halt, hovering over the battlefield.
A burly figure radiating an oppressive aura leaped from the hatch.
It was Shi Dang!
But he didn’t even spare a glance for the battlefield below.
His face was a mask of extreme anxiety. The moment he landed, he became a blur, madly dashing toward the deepest part of the followers’ encampment.
"Where’s my stuff?! Where’s my goddamn treasure chest?!"
He let out a beast-like roar.
"Boss! Over here! Over here!"
A follower chieftain came scrambling out of a hidden bunker, presenting a box carved from a single block of Void Stone and etched with complex sealing runes.
"Give it to me!"
Shi Dang snatched the box and tore it open.
CLICK—
The moment the lid opened, an overpowering stench of blood, so thick it felt tangible, billowed out.
Inside the box lay a fist-sized, blood-red crystal fragment, pulsing slowly like a heart.
Its form and aura bore a striking resemblance to a Primordial Acupoint!
An unprecedented ecstasy and greed erupted in Shi Dang’s eyes.
Without a trace of hesitation, he seized the blood-red fragment and, as everyone watched, savagely forced it into the cranial plate of his power armor helmet!
SZZZZLE—
Along with a sickening sizzle of burning flesh, the fragment fused directly into his skull!
AAAAAHHH—!
Shi Dang let out a scream of utter agony, but his aura began to skyrocket at an inconceivable rate!
His body began to expand rapidly, his gnarled muscles ripping through the inner lining of his power armor.
Crimson, magma-like veins writhed wildly beneath his skin.
The pair of demonic horns on his head grew even more massive and sinister, as if they would pierce the very heavens!
HAHAHA...!!!!
After the endless pain came ultimate ecstasy!
Sensing the unprecedented, terrifying power within him—a power on the verge of shattering all restraints—Shi Dang let out a demented laugh!