Chapter 117 VS Monster Maker 4
The creator of this monster is more powerful than all my past opponents combined.
Agent Kong, the immortal monster, the shadow-changing monster, and even Zhu Shi, Ma Zao, and Lu Youxun... Ignoring special abilities, purely from the perspective of strength, even if all six of them were combined, they probably wouldn't be a match for the monster creator in front of them.
Even considering special abilities, the six individuals mentioned above could only manage a narrow escape. For example, Ma could teleport, and the Shadow-Switch Monster could switch places with its clones. The other four probably couldn't even escape. Shadow teleportation wouldn't be feasible, as it requires a stealth movement into the shadows, which would only result in being intercepted by the high-speed monster creator.
That makes sense now. If he possessed this level of combat power, even if those inherently cruel monsters rebelled collectively, suppressing them would be a piece of cake for him.
Even such a freakish creator is utterly helpless in my hands.
My right arm, transformed into a fiery dragon, grabbed the monster creator, who was a full hundred meters away from me. He was incredibly fast, and likely possessed the mental processing speed to control such physical speed. Yet, catching him was as easy as catching an earthworm.
I then burned the entire body below its head to ashes again.
This time, however, my "feel" was different from the previous three times.
It looked like I had captured one person, but my "feel" was like I had captured "a group of people." It was unbelievable. Then he immediately revived, and this time the form of revival was different. Before, he was expelled again by black mist, but this time he flashed directly into the air dozens of meters away.
"...As expected, that level of attack was useless against you." He gave me a deep look.
Is he referring to the invisible impact just now? I don't know why he said that; it's obvious that physical attacks are ineffective against me. Could it be that he mixed some other type of attack into that impact?
Without waiting for him to make a new move, I grabbed him again and burned him to ashes.
It felt much the same as before. Even though he was only holding onto one person, it felt like he was holding onto a group of people. To be specific, it felt like he was holding onto a dozen or so. The only difference was that this time "one person was missing."
He resurrected nearby, and I continued my previous killing spree, while a realization dawned on me.
If I'm not mistaken, his fusion with the other versions of himself just now not only multiplied his power but also increased his "life count." It's like a player character in a game with multiple lives; each time he dies, his body disappears, and he returns to the game.
Honestly, have I encountered these "unkillable" enemies far too often? Although I seem to be that type myself.
But it doesn't matter. I've dealt with this type of enemy many times, and I've gained experience. No matter what kind of immortality it is, it can't resurrect indefinitely. Even the immortal monsters and shadow-changing monsters of the past, as long as they keep killing, will eventually run out of resources. The same goes for monster creators.
However, I still don't know if he's the original or a clone, and even if he is the original, I don't know when he will truly die, making it impossible to get Zhu Shi to cooperate. I can only exhaust him first, and then see if I can use his head as material to let Ma Zao investigate the authenticity and obtain more information.
With this in mind, I had a better idea. Even if I couldn't see through more of her secrets, so what? Although I couldn't cooperate with her, it didn't stop me from talking to her now.
Through the thermal energy marks left in her body, I saw what was happening there.
She and Asaha are escaping the inferno and moving towards me and the monster maker. Asaha could teleport directly to me, but I guess she didn't dare to do so because she realized she couldn't get involved.
There were still people on the street engulfed in flames. Although it was originally a deserted street, it was still located in a city, so it was impossible for it to be completely deserted. The black mist that had previously shrouded the street had caused some people outdoors to lose consciousness, but after the flames replaced the black mist, they were all awakened and left bewildered in the inferno.
Some people who were originally indoors were not affected by the black fog, but they were shocked by the overwhelming force of the outside world and fell into great panic.
As long as I didn't mean it that way, the flames wouldn't damage the buildings on this street, much less kill anyone. But this incident will definitely make headlines in the newspapers and on television afterwards. The seemingly all-consuming fire and the continuous explosions made it seem like an unseen monster was invading the city.
Compared to the monster creator who merely spreads black mist, it seems I'm the villain now. I don't know if what I'm doing is really okay, but being on the battlefield, I can't care about that; everything is about the objective.
I noticed that black mist was also appearing around Zhu Shi and Ma Zao, seemingly about to unleash new monster creators to attack them. Before the changes could continue, I manipulated the sea of fire to destroy the black mist. The reason I didn't immediately remove the sea of fire was also to prevent the black mist from continuing to wreak havoc there.
Black mist also appeared from other directions, but it didn't seem to be spitting out the monster creators; instead, it was devouring the heads of enemies that had fallen to the ground. Furthermore, the black mist appeared to be recycling the ashes of the corpses left after the enemies had been burned to ashes.
Meanwhile, I've reduced the Monster Creator's life force to half. The black mist in the distance spews out new entities, which transform into black flashes of light and merge into the Monster Creator's body. This is likely restoring the Monster Creator's life force.
At first, I thought the clones were all prepared in advance and then transferred here by the black mist. However, considering the movements on the other side, could the black mist possibly use the debris to reassemble clones inside itself?
It seems that the real problem is not the creator of the monster, but the black mist that is reminiscent of the gray fog of a dreamlike mist.
At the same time, during the continuous killing, my inexplicable sense of touch became more and more obvious, and I even felt that I had vaguely touched on the metaphysical level, just like when I last encountered the Shadow Man.
At this level, something like a string seems to hang down, manipulating the creator of the monster before them like a puppet.
But all of this is like looking at flowers through a fog.
I summoned a fireball beside Zhu Shi and released my voice from within it: "Zhu Shi."
"Zhuang Cheng?" She immediately looked at the fireball.
“It’s me,” I said. “What are the abilities of the monster creator? Can you tell?”
"...I see through it." She gritted her teeth and said, "Zhuang Cheng, you just removed the mask of the monster creator, didn't you? Is Lu Chan underneath that mask?"
"No," I said, "it's someone I don't know."
She paused for a moment, then said, "But the ability he displayed was clearly the magic that Lu Chan was most skilled at in the past."
Is the Monster Creator using Lu Youxun's abilities? Could it be because Lu Youxun was studied by the Humanity Division and the Monster Creator in the past, and his abilities were reproduced by the other party in some way?
Tell me the details.
“Lu Chan’s most proficient spell in the past was ‘Possibility Clone’,” Zhu Shi quickly explained. “He could summon his other possibilities as clone spirits. If he hadn’t become Wuchang in the past, he might have become a wandering swordsman, a scholar, or an ordinary person… Even if he had become Wuchang, he might have chosen a different combat system. He could summon those ‘selves who have taken different paths in life’ and have them act as his clones.”
"Of course, there are strict limitations, making it difficult to use as easily as it sounds, but even as a regular clone, it is powerful enough. The skill that the monster creator used to fuse his clone into his body was also a spell from Lu Chan's past, which multiplied his combat power and increased his lifespan."
"The current monster creator has superhuman strength and can be seen as a replica of Lu Chan at his peak."
"But those clones don't look like so-called 'spirits' to me." Actually, I don't know what spirits are, but those clones look like flesh and blood.
"The creator of the monster must have combined his spirit with his clone. The spirit that has taken on flesh is not easily countered by spells that expel spirits," Zhu Shi explained.
"Then, what about the real body?" I asked. "How do I locate the monster creator's real body?"
"...You can't lock onto his true form," Zhu Shi said in a deep voice. "Although I used the term 'clone' just now, different possibilities of oneself are still the same true self. After Lu Chan summoned his possible clones, a consciousness network would appear between him and his clones."
"Within this network of consciousness, every individual that appears before you is its own entity. If one had to point out which one is the true entity, it would be this network of consciousness itself."
"To destroy the consciousness network, all the individuals beneath it must be destroyed."
I never imagined Lu Youxun could have such a foul-breaking ability; I really underestimated him.
“But this doesn’t make sense. Even if the Humanitarian Department has a way to analyze Lu Chan’s power, it’s impossible to completely replicate it.” Zhu Shi was still concerned. “The ‘Possibility Clone’ is not only a product of Lu Chan’s cultivation, but also a manifestation of his personal talent. Even if someone else were to learn his magic, they wouldn’t be able to achieve the exact same effect.”
"...Could it be that the reason Lu Chan lost his power in the past was not because his body was ravaged by experiments, but because his power itself was completely taken away?"
She was still speculating. I accepted the information she provided and began to explore further.
Although she said that to destroy the consciousness network, all individuals beneath the network must be destroyed, what if I had a way to access the consciousness network itself?
Each time the monster creator revived, black mist would appear around him, emitting black light to replenish his life force. Later, seemingly worried that the black light would be intercepted by my flames, the black mist simply appeared directly inside his body, replenishing his life force at point-blank range. All of this was clearly visible to my thermal senses.
I no longer cared whether his lifespan was large or small. Having obtained precise information about his abilities, my consciousness seemed to have found its direction. By continuously burning his body, I perceived more clearly the threads that existed on a metaphysical level.
It seemed to be more than just a single line; it was a network of countless lines forming a blurry, indistinct network.
It's not clear enough yet. There's one last step before I can actually access this network.
The creator of the monster, meanwhile, wore a confident expression amidst the flames.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com