Chapter 139: Deadly Creature, Dead End Massacre

"Although the situation looks dire, there is at least one stroke of luck for now."

Avia clung to Wang Yu’s back, her gaze scanning the surroundings as the void energy in her hands meticulously and cautiously shaped ammunition, stockpiling for the continuous combat that lay ahead.

"To shatter the inner annihilation barrier, we need destructive power far beyond our current capabilities. Fortunately, one of the energy release ports of the Mountain Forge is located near the center of the academy."

"The interior is a repository for the heat and waste fuel leaked by the Mountain Forge. Releasing this non-magical energy will be enough to create a momentary burst of power."

"Good news. The plan is sound; we will succeed." Wang Yu sprinted toward the academy’s center with Avia on his back.

Without looking back, he gave a thumbs-up to the visibly tense Avia. The plan was reckless, the situation was abysmal, but there was nothing to do but push forward. Fear was unnecessary.

"Mm." Avia nodded, loading the ammunition into the barrel of her weapon.

In this space marked by void energy, Wang Yu’s ripples could not propagate far. Sight and hearing once again became his primary means of observation.

The surrounding environment revealed nothing that could be called a threat, yet the sixth sense unique to the knight profession told him clearly that something in this space was watching him—the gazes were erratic, and they came from more than one direction.

"Avia, is there any disturbance in the surrounding void? Is it possible Elfin is observing us through it?"

Though he was certain Elfin had the ability to track their movements, the state of not knowing where the enemy was or from where an attack might come was deeply unsettling.

"It is nearly impossible. With the space saturated by such high-purity void energy, the surrounding void tends toward a 'stability' relative to itself. Even Elfin is much like us; it is difficult for Him to manipulate void energy that does not belong to Him."

Avia’s answer dismissed Wang Yu’s suspicion. Her understanding of the void was far deeper than his, and her grasp of the current situation was clearer. Elfin was not much different from them now—unable to use magic, and highly likely unable to use the power of the void.

Perhaps, as Elfin himself had claimed, he was now using non-transcendent power—the power derived from life, or from the biological form itself. Yet, even so, Avia could not feel any sense of security or relief.

Her gaze shifted from the roadside vegetation to the sky, where several birds were circling. Those birds did not seem to be looking their way; their eyes did not turn toward Wang Yu and Avia, but instead, they flew on, indifferent.

Even so, Wang Yu’s intuition told him these birds were one of the sources of those gazes.

Intuition itself stems from the body’s instinctive observation and reconnaissance. Wang Yu ultimately chose to trust his gut.

"That bird over there—take a shot." Wang Yu pointed at the birds circling in the air.

"Bang!" The bullet tore through the sky, its sharp tip piercing the air and whistling as it penetrated the body of one of the birds.

"Caw!" A sharp, piercing scream erupted from its throat. The bird’s body plummeted, trailing blood and visceral fragments. Throughout the descent, Wang Yu’s gaze never left the stricken creature.

"Just as I thought... the creatures here are all Elfin’s eyes and ears." Wang Yu withdrew his gaze. His keen eyesight had captured a third eyeball hidden among the feathers of the falling carcass. This hyperplastic tissue was the organ these birds used to observe them.

"Avoid these creatures as much as possible... no, it’s meaningless. Let’s just charge through. A single-body hive mind? Truly one of the final directions of biological evolution."

Wang Yu had instinctively tried to avoid these eyes, but he quickly dismissed the option based on his earlier sensations.

It was pointless. Not just these birds, but anything that could be called a living thing might be Elfin’s spy—the grass, the trees, the insects. Their path had likely never been hidden at all.

No longer attempting to hide from Elfin’s ubiquitous eyes, Wang Yu’s pace quickened, his expression hardening. Their route was already predicted; he had to move faster to minimize the time Elfin had to set his traps.

"Careful, they’re coming." Maintaining a single Wizard’s Eye at minimal consumption, Avia detected the shift in the situation before Wang Yu. Whether it was because their eyes had been discovered or not, Elfin had begun a full-scale interception.

"Click-clack..." On the ground ahead of Wang Yu’s path, several inconspicuous mounds of earth emitted a faint sound.

"Mm." Nodding in response, Wang Yu chose to swerve, his feet kicking off the ground to arc his path, attempting to bypass these ominous things.

"Boom!" They had no intention of letting Wang Yu and Avia pass easily. Before they could reach them, spiked creatures burst from the mounds.

It was hard to describe their exact form; though small, they possessed a chaotic mix of biological traits, manufactured purely for a specific purpose.

Their specialized four-legged structure was exceptionally rational, born solely for sprinting. With no need to consider reproduction or lifespan, these life forms could dump all their potential into physical strength.

Not a single organ was redundant, and not one was designed for longevity or progeny. This design, which madly defied all biological instinct, was chilling.

These creatures, the size of house cats, were terrifyingly fast. Their limbs churned the ground with such speed that they gave the illusion of hovering just above the surface. The sharp needles growing along their backs shimmered with a dangerous light.

"Da-da-da..." The dense, light patter of footsteps followed. These numerous, bizarre beasts were closing in. Wang Yu’s official knight physique, bolstered by battle aura, could only just match their speed.

Unable to waste his aura indefinitely, Wang Yu abandoned the idea of shaking them off. These creatures, which had discarded everything unnecessary for the sake of function, gave him a glimpse into the terrifying depths of Elfin’s capabilities.

In a sense, their "perfect" structure had actually surpassed him—a transcendent—without the need for battle aura, which Wang Yu viewed as a higher-level energy spontaneously born of life. This power derived from life itself was truly terrifying.

"Boom!" Avia’s muzzle flashed with fire. The ammunition, propelled by a booster, streaked toward a predicted point—the exact spot where one of the beasts would land next.

"Snap!" The bullet struck the ground, missing the target. The beast had leaped into the air the moment before she fired, its muscles, far stronger than they appeared, granting it astonishing jumping ability.

"Their perspectives are linked. A hive mind. Single-point fire will be extremely ineffective." Wang Yu had been monitoring the situation behind him with his ripples; after seeing the beasts easily dodge Avia’s shot, he reached his conclusion.

The beasts’ gazes were fixed on them at every moment, and Avia’s finger movements were within their field of observation.

As long as any one of them noticed the slight twitch of her finger, they could all execute a swift, preemptive dodge, rendering single-target fire nearly useless.

"Understood." Avia quickly grasped the situation and switched ammunition types. If single-point fire was useless, she would have to adopt area-of-effect suppression to prevent their evasion.

But the beasts’ attack came faster than her next shot. They dug their limbs into the earth, their muscles driving them to accelerate to a degree that would cause devastating damage to their own bodies.

It didn't matter. These creatures, devoid of self-awareness, ignored the damage caused by such reckless exertion. Torn muscle fibers and internal organs failing from the violent movement and heat buildup were all disregarded.

Their already extreme speed surged once more. A large number of beasts overtook Wang Yu, while others deliberately stayed at his flanks and rear to initiate a pincer attack from all sides.

They leaped. Their attack method was simple yet lethal: not by using claws or teeth, which were hard to maneuver in mid-air, but by simply slamming the spikes on their backs into the sprinting Wang Yu.

Surrounded by beasts leaping from every direction, Wang Yu saw the hateful creatures closing in, their back spikes bristling, secreting a strange, viscous liquid.

He ducked, dodging the beasts flying toward his head and chest, then switched his sword from his right hand to his left, his aura-driven blade flashing in a second strike that cleaved the beasts on his flanks in two.

His ripples granted him a 360-degree view with no blind spots, allowing him to judge the sequence of their attacks.

By planning his defense in advance, even if their speed surpassed his in some respects, they were not impossible to dodge.

He stomped hard, his body leaving the ground to evade the last few beasts lunging at his ankles. Wang Yu had successfully dodged every attack... or had he?

His pupils constricted. In the ripple-view, two beasts that had missed their mark overlapped in mid-air; one had planted its limbs onto the back of the other.

The sharp spikes on the back easily pierced the limbs of the one stepping on it, leaving it riddled with holes. But these creatures, indifferent to death, felt no pain. As its limbs were shredded, the beast achieved its goal: leverage.

"Pfft!" As the stepped-on beast plummeted, the one that had used it as a springboard slammed into Wang Yu at high speed. Since they were moving in opposite directions, their relative velocity was terrifying.

"Too late to dodge." The conclusion flashed through Wang Yu’s mind. He instinctively channeled void energy, his body preparing to cast *Wizard’s Barrier*, a defensive spell he knew by heart.

"No. If these small beasts can make me look this pathetic, what follows will surely be even more terrifying and troublesome. I must change my combat style."

"Discard the old habits. Against creatures born purely for slaughter, the tactics used against humans are useless... stop trying to minimize losses."

Thoughts flashed like lightning. Realizing he was no longer facing enemies who possessed wisdom, who would play games, who would retreat from injury or hesitate due to a gap in strength, he shifted his mindset.

These purely specialized life forms would not play games with him. Only a more violent combat style would carve a bloody path through the harder battles to come.

"Squelch!" Instead of attempting to block with *Wizard’s Barrier*, he allowed the razor-sharp spikes to pierce his body.

As the spikes tore through him, Wang Yu drove his dagger into the beast’s head, turning its brain—which lacked any defensive organs—into a pulpy mess.

The beast’s carcass hit the ground. Wang Yu’s body, riddled with bloody holes, did not shed a single drop of blood; the *Blood-Soaked Gale Knight* secret technique had severed any possibility of blood loss.

The *Banner of Triumph* activated the moment the beast died. A surge of abundant vitality poured from the void into his body, working with his blood’s inherent regenerative properties to rapidly seal and mend the wounds.

The spikes carried more than just physical damage; the greater threat came from the substance secreted within them—a potent "toxin" composed of highly lethal, microscopic organisms.

Wang Yu didn't know how terrifying they were, but as they entered his body with the spikes, his ripples detected his own cells near the wounds dying off in droves.

Under the stimulation of the "toxin," Wang Yu’s blood became exceptionally active. The *Blood-Soaked Gale Knight* technique contained the poison within a specific range, while his blood—which possessed its own "life" characteristics—began to swarm and devour the aggressive microorganisms.

Kill, consume, trigger *Banner of Triumph*. Vitality was generated from thin air, replenishing his reserves. In less than ten seconds, the "toxin" the beasts had sacrificed their lives to inject was completely purged.

"An interesting physique. Your body does possess a unique strength. Why not choose to join me? I will show you the possibilities of life taken a step further." The abrupt voice came from above. Wang Yu, having dealt with the interceptors, did not stop his sprint, nor did he offer a reply.

"Boom! Pfft!" The answer to Elfin’s words was a shot from Avia. The shotgun shell transformed into a cloud of rapidly flying, irregular metal shards, turning the mutating bird in the sky into a shredded mess.

"A pity. Why not choose to merge with me, like the teacher of the woman behind you? You would attain immortality within my body. Your memories would be preserved forever, and you would see the possibilities of life’s constant evolution."

The shrieking mutant bird was struck down, yet from the fissures splitting the bark of the roadside trees, mouths sprouted to whisper their siren songs once more.

Wang Yu offered no reply to Elfin’s entreaties, head bowed, charging forward with relentless momentum.

"Very well, you are always so arrogant, utterly incapable of grasping the magnificent power inherent in life itself; I shall guide you to the righteous path..."

Perhaps realizing that Wang Yu would never respond to his "invitations," Elfin ceased his cajoling and fell into a heavy silence.

Yet, as Elfin’s voice faded, the life he had sown throughout the academy began to boil; creatures whose every biological structure had been warped into "living weapons" converged upon the path ahead.

Canine-like beasts armored in thick exoskeletons, flying horrors beating leathery bat-wings, muscles bulging grotesquely from their frames, and gargantuan worms covered in spines, leaking corrosive fluids from every segment—all of Elfin’s creations crawled from beneath the earth and out of the crumbling architecture.

These creatures, devoid of supernatural power, gathered before Wang Yu and Avia; in a sense, they were not truly powerful, their overall capabilities falling short of an extraordinary knight who specialized in physical prowess.

But these beings, having discarded all "useless" organs and defied the natural laws of biology to push specific traits to the extreme, were lethal; they possessed the capacity to inflict wounds capable of ending Wang Yu’s life.

Their sheer numbers would drag him down, their specialized attacks would shatter his frame, and their specialized defenses might render his strikes meaningless...

This was the first time Wang Yu had to face such a vast swarm capable of dealing him fatal damage; the situation was dire, and thus, he had to cast aside his former combat habits.

If these creatures were mad, he would be madder still; like a beast that draws strength from the carnage, he would carve his way through, tearing them asunder!

"Protect yourself," Wang Yu warned Avia, his voice grim.

"Boom!" A roar of gunfire served as the girl’s response, as a spread of explosive rounds blasted open the mass of creatures blocking their path.

Wang Yu snatched three vials with his left hand, downing them without hesitation, while his right hand flung his longsword—now of little use—into the chaotic dance of monsters ahead.

The Banner of Triumph flared, channeling the life force of the slain into Wang Yu’s veins, beginning to mend the body now suffering under the strain of the long-dormant "Baiping Boiling Blood Art."

Wang Yu, now in a state of berserk frenzy, tore into the mutated swarm; wounds appeared constantly, only to be mended in an instant by the potency of the potions, the regenerative power of his blood, and the life force harvested by the banner from every kill.

In this moment, Wang Yu was more feral than these emotionless beasts, living toward death, his own survival fueled by the demise of his enemies!

(It’s burning bright!)