Chapter 125: The Undead and the Void (Part I)

"Run?" Jiang Liuying’s scale-covered face pulled into a slight arc at the corners of her mouth. It was a faint smile, neither intense nor ferocious, yet it dripped with lethal intent. Even the monster's main body, which could not see her expression, felt a chill crawl from the soles of its feet straight up its spinal nerves!

It wouldn't be able to escape! That thought flashed through its mind the moment the chill took hold. Even as it controlled nearly thirty invisible replicas to scatter in different directions to create a diversion, it knew with absolute clarity: there was no escaping.

The exit was less than twenty meters away—a distance that, under normal circumstances, would take less than a second to cover. Yet now, it felt impossibly far, an unreachable horizon. Moreover, logically speaking, given the explosive speed the creature had witnessed—a speed its own eyes couldn't even track—wouldn't fleeing into the open plaza just result in a more gruesome death?

The open plaza? A light sparked in its eyes at the thought. It continued to command the other replicas to flee while it lunged toward a ventilation duct in the corner.

The vent was less than two meters away, but even at such close range, the remaining replicas failed to buy it any time.

After shattering the last of the decoys, Jiang Liuying watched the cockroach-monster desperately fleeing, a mocking smile tugging at her lips. She didn't act immediately, watching with a hint of curiosity—the ventilation shaft was so narrow, how would a creature of its size fit?

Sensing her gaze on its back, the monster went rigid. With a desperate snarl, it scrambled toward the opening. The next moment, a bizarre sight unfolded: its nearly two-meter-tall body contorted and slipped into the vent with unnatural fluidity, leaving the sneering Jiang Liuying momentarily stunned.

"It actually fit..." she chuckled, a hint of amusement in her voice. "What a bug, indeed..." She strolled slowly toward the vent, placing a hand against the ornate, tiled wall, and sneered, "Truly the nature of a cockroach, isn't it? When hunted by a human, you simply seek out whatever obstacle you perceive as a safe haven?"

As she spoke, the crimson scales covering her body began to emit a radiant glow. Black-red runes, arcane and mysterious, appeared on the surface of the wall beneath her palm. The very space where the runes manifested seemed to warp visually, a testament to the immense power of the energy at play.

"Inverse Art: Decomposition!"

Ye Zhiqiu and the others, who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Tyrant in the plaza, froze. The scene was simply too shocking—a nearly hundred-story skyscraper had vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed!

It hadn't collapsed, nor had it been destroyed; it had simply ceased to be. Could you believe it? Ye Zhiqiu and the Tyrant stood in stunned silence. The scene felt like something out of a low-budget soap opera, where some deity in costume points at an empty lot and says, "Appear!" and a house materializes, then points elsewhere and says, "Disappear!" and the buildings vanish. It looked completely fake.

But when such a thing happens in reality, the impact on one's worldview is nothing short of violent.

After the building disappeared, the cleared space revealed Jiang Liuying, cloaked in red scales, standing over the cockroach-monster like a queen. The creature lay curled on the ground like a dried shrimp, shivering violently, not even daring to look up at her. It was easy to imagine the depth of its terror.

"Bug... nowhere left to crawl?" Jiang Liuying looked down at it coldly.

"Pl-please, don't... don't kill... me..." The creature trembled, its plea for mercy barely coherent.

"Ha, that line!" Jiang Liuying tilted her head and brought her foot down. From a distance, Ye Zhiqiu witnessed an incredibly surreal sight: the two-meter-tall monster was crushed into a bloody pulp by Jiang Liuying's high heel!

Though transformed, Jiang Liuying’s stature remained largely the same as before. How could a slender, delicate foot crush something that large into paste? The perspective defied logic, yet it had happened with chilling naturalness.

"Damn it... mages are this violent? Online games are nothing but lies!" Ye Zhiqiu muttered, speechless. He had chosen the Beast Warrior class and avoided the 'Mage' path because he was misled by games into thinking they were just idiots in pointy hats who only threw fireballs. Seeing such power, he suddenly felt a pang of regret.

On the other side, Jiang Liuying looked down at the pulp on the ground, expressionless. "Being stepped into mud—I think that’s a fitting end for a bug like you."

As she finished, her body suddenly swayed. Her emotionless face flickered with a cold, grim look. "Tch... did I burn through the energy too quickly?" The scales on her body vanished, revealing her once-delicate, fair skin. Fatigue washed over her features, but a closer look revealed that the gemstone on her hand was slowly returning to a purple hue.

Suddenly, crystal-like matter began to sprout across her skin, growing at an alarming speed. Within seconds, Jiang Liuying was encased in purple crystal, resembling a specimen preserved in amber. She slept peacefully within, her delicate face and sweet temperament making it impossible to believe she was the same ferocious monster from moments ago.

"ROAR!" Seeing this, the Tyrant let out a sudden, thunderous bellow and lunged toward Jiang Liuying. That woman was dangerous; it had to kill her while she was vulnerable!

"Hey, don't look down on people!" Ye Zhiqiu’s cold, sharp voice sounded in the Tyrant's ear mid-charge. The next instant, the creature felt its neck clamped by a powerful grip and was slammed violently into the ground!

It struggled to break free, but found it impossible. The opponent’s strength was on par with its own, and from a combat perspective, once locked in such a hold, escaping a foe of equal strength was impossible.

But the next moment, the weight on its back vanished. The pressure on its neck was gone. Its pupils constricted as it slowly stood up, fixing its gaze on Ye Zhiqiu.

"Don't get cocky, big guy!" Ye Zhiqiu stared at it icily. "Exposing your back to me like that—how much do you despise me? The only reason you're not dead is because I'm a warrior, and warriors don't kill their dueling opponents from behind." Ye Zhiqiu flashed a grim, toothy grin, revealing unnaturally white teeth, and beckoned with his finger. "Come, I'll beat you head-on until you're just like your cockroach teammate!"

"Wu..." The creature’s eyes glowed red. It clenched its fists, veins bulging on its arms, before they suddenly burst open. The sight caught Ye Zhiqiu off guard. "What are you doing?"

But he understood immediately as two scythe-like appendages sprouted from the mangled flesh of its arms, gleaming with a metallic luster under the blazing sun. They looked lethally sharp.

"Oh, bringing out weapons?" Ye Zhiqiu grinned in excitement, drawing a long, pitch-black blade from his spatial pack. It caught the harsh sunlight with a chilling, dark sheen. His smile widened. "This is exactly what I wanted!"

***

Meanwhile, Cang Mingyue stepped leisurely out of the portal. The moment she emerged, she was greeted by a sky filled with swarming white, soft-bodied monsters—a vast, overwhelming number that nearly blanketed the entire building.

Cang Mingyue surveyed the scene, tilted her head, and said expressionlessly, "You certainly know how to breed."