ALL NOVEL Chapter 405: Shining Darkness
"I am going to lose this," Master Green thought grimly. The battle against the dark beast Behemoth was not going well at all.
The dark beast possessed wisdom, an unimaginably strong physique, and the ability to cast dark spells. Master Green's strategy was to summon a light beast of equal rank; theoretically, light should have an advantage over darkness. Yet in practice, the two were evenly matched. As time passed, the dark beast began to recover its power by absorbing the corpses strewn across the battlefield, while the light Behemoth lacked any means to replenish its strength.
Master Green had already expended nearly all his energy casting the projection spell. If he tried to extract any more from his soul nucleus, his rank would drop from peak to late stage. He was already struggling at his current level; if he fell further, he would stand no chance at all.
Worse still, Her Highness the Queen had severed the space around Wide Forest City from the rest of the world. Escape was impossible.
"My great Queen, what are your orders?" Master Green communicated telepathically.
"What do you mean?" Her voice was disturbingly cheerful, almost intoxicated. "I'm enjoying the beautiful scenes!"
"My Queen, at this rate, I will lose to the dark beast. My life may be in danger," he reminded her.
"So what? Okay, here's my order: fight the dark beast with all your might. If you win, I'll promote you to the Perfection Realm!" the Queen replied nonchalantly.
"My Queen, I cannot defeat it in the current situation!" he implored once more.
Down on the ground, the battle seemed favorable; human cultivators had nearly wiped out the lower-ranking dark beasts. But against the rank 15 beasts, the Martial God practitioners and Soul-Body cultivators were powerless. In other words, the skirmishes between the lower ranks were meaningless; the outcome hinged solely on the duel between Master Green and the dark beast Behemoth.
"It's no problem!" Lana laughed. "I would be happy if the fight is exciting. Don't worry; I won't be upset even if you die during the battle!"
"That is... reassuring," Master Green said, swallowing his apprehension. He had been worried that his death might displease the Queen, but it seemed she wouldn't care.
As a devoted follower, Master Green cared only for her happiness and comfort. If his death could bring her joy, so be it; he would die without hesitation.
Resolved, he decided to give his all to defeat the dark beast. Without a moment's hesitation, he shattered his own soul nucleus. The pain was excruciating, but he endured it for the sake of his Queen.
A torrent of energy gushed forth from the broken nucleus, so much that his soul nearly exploded.
"I hope you enjoy this," Master Green smiled, genuinely pleased that his sacrifice might entertain her.
He channeled all the unleashed energy into the light beast, causing it to grow larger and stronger.
His cultivation realm began to plummet—from peak Soul Nucleus to late stage, then to middle, early, and finally, he fell entirely out of the Soul Nucleus realm into the Soul-Body realm. In the process, the soul nucleus released an astonishing amount of energy, enough to defend against a casual attack from a newly promoted Perfection Realm cultivator.
The consequences of breaking the soul nucleus were fatal. His soul became extremely unstable; he was, for all intents and purposes, a dead man.
"Body Takeover: Light Beast Summon," he incanted. This spell allowed him to take over the body of a lower-level beast. The light beast was not a lower-level creature, but as his own creation, it was far easier to possess than a wild beast.
Master Green's soul body vanished. When it reappeared, it was inside the light beast. Normally, taking over a rank 15 beast with an unstable soul at the Soul-Body realm would be impossible, but since the light beast was his creation, there was no resistance. He fully merged with it without hindrance.
The spell that created the light beast was temporary; it would have disappeared after a few weeks. Now that Master Green had merged with it, even if his unstable soul was stabilized, he would cease to exist when the beast faded. But he didn't care; he only wanted to give the Queen a fight worth watching.
Gazing down, he saw the dark beast struggling. With the infusion of energy, the light beast had grown ten kilometers taller, its arms and body more robust.
However, among beasts of the same rank, power levels were generally equivalent. The light beast's overall power remained roughly the same; it merely had more energy to expend and recover. Only by advancing in rank could a beast truly suppress others. This was unlike human cultivators, where an early-stage practitioner was insignificant compared to someone at the peak of the same realm.
Wielding thousands of arms, Master Green launched a relentless assault on the dark beast, abandoning all defense in favor of an all-out attack.
The dark beast, with far fewer arms, was taken aback and somewhat fearful. It had only recently been granted intelligence by the Queen and lacked the unwavering loyalty of Master Green. Desiring to preserve its life, it hesitated to go all out.
Defending against thousands of arms with only around 500 was nearly impossible. The dark Behemoth had its own trump cards, but using them would deplete its power, possibly causing it to fall in realm or even die. It was extremely reluctant to resort to such measures.
But against the invigorated light Behemoth, there was no other option but to use its strongest trump card. Its energy recovery from the corpses on the battlefield was too slow; even consuming all of them wouldn't bridge the gap.
"My Queen, help me!" the dark beast pleaded desperately.
"Silence! Fight bravely like your opponent!" Lana snapped, irritated. "Don't worry, your death wouldn't make me sad!"
"My Queen, I don't want to die!" the dark beast cried as one of the light beast's arms pierced its left main eye.
"I said don't worry; I wouldn't care," the Queen repeated dismissively.
"Please, save me!" the dark Behemoth begged as its other eye was pierced.
"Wow, he's really showing you up! His fighting technique is far superior to yours," she remarked with twisted delight. "Oh, he just cut off a few dozen of your arms! So intense!"
"Aaaah! It hurts! Please, my Queen, I would do anything!" the dark beast screamed.
Bang!
With a powerful strike, the dark beast was sent hurtling several kilometers away. Most of its arms were severed, its eyes blinded, its legs gone; the once 50-kilometer-tall beast was now reduced to less than 30 kilometers.
"Hey, dark beast, use your trump card already! I wouldn't like it if you died without using everything!" Lana called out mockingly.
The light beast leaped, closing in for a final blow with over 500 arms poised to strike.
With no other choice, the dark beast unleashed its ultimate trump card.
An intense pressure erupted around it, blowing the light beast backward. The ground dissolved into dark clouds, merging with the dark beast as it began to grow at an alarming rate—surpassing 100 kilometers in mere seconds, then 200, stabilizing around 300 kilometers. All its injuries healed, its aura surged from rank 15 to rank 16.
This was its most powerful technique: "Shining Darkness." It could temporarily elevate it to the power of a rank 16 beast.
The consequences were dire. When the duration ended, it would be fortunate to only drop to rank 14. Moreover, casting this spell caused irreparable damage, destroying any chance of ever returning to rank 15.
Only intelligent dark beasts could master this last resort; wild, unintelligent ones were unqualified. Few dark beasts ever gained intelligence, making this spell exceedingly rare.
One reason intelligent dark beasts were so feared was this very trump card—they could drag their enemies to the grave with them.
Master Green watched helplessly. He had no idea dark beasts possessed such an ability; he had slain countless before, but none had demonstrated this.
"I must do my best to give the Queen a good fight," he resolved, charging toward the 300-kilometer titan.
The dark beast, now indifferent, swung one of its 10,000 arms down.
Master Green raised his own 1,000s arms to defend against the colossal strike. But as the dark beast's arm descended, it met no resistance. It crushed all of the light beast's arms, slammed into its head, and obliterated it entirely.
The impact was so immense that the entire southern continent shook. A crater over 50 kilometers wide formed at the point of impact. The shockwave unleashed a tsunami of soil and stone, creating mountains and burying countless mortals who had survived thus far. Even many Martial God practitioners and Soul-Body cultivators were killed by the sheer force alone.
With a single slap, the rank 16 dark beast had annihilated Master Green and most of the humans in what was once Wide Forest City.