Chapter 313: Abyssal Creatures, Alchemical Mechanical Legion

"Bang!"

Having long sensed the Abyss Mage's attack, Wang Yu would not simply stand there to be crushed. With his blood surging, he kicked off the ground and darted away, his crimson-armored figure erupting from the narrow alleyway onto the main road, where he could unleash his full speed and strength.

"Boom-crack!"

The massive tentacle slammed into the spot where Wang Yu had just stood, sending masonry flying. The sharp barbs on the octopus-like limb embedded themselves into the earth, carving deep furrows into the ground as the giant creature dragged it back.

He glanced at the streetlamp Astartes had briefly controlled; it had been pulverized by the Abyss Mage's assault. Since Astartes was clearly not that thing, he was surely unharmed, though now there was no one left to explain exactly what an Abyss Mage was.

"I thought the Abyss was purged after the Morning Star was detonated. How could a profession as archaic as an Abyss Mage still exist?"

Beneath his blood-red visor, his eyes watched vigilantly as the gray-purple tentacles retreated into the breach in the building. Wang Yu pondered this, having never heard of such a thing.

"I know you are likely confused. To put it briefly, some Abyssal creatures were indeed preserved. Abyss Mages are sorcerers who bind these powerful entities and release their strength when needed. You only need to hold on for a moment; the alchemical golems will arrive shortly."

Astartes' voice reached Wang Yu again, this time emanating from a nearby bench. By providing these details, it seemed that, just as Wang Yu had suspected, the entire Sky Mechanical City was filled with Astartes' eyes and ears.

"A pure soul... will make an excellent vessel."

In the breach of the building, an old man appeared, his robes tattered to reveal a gaunt, withered frame. He stared at Wang Yu, muttering to himself—it was the Abyss Mage.

"..."

Clearly, he was the "pure soul" the man referred to. Wang Yu had no interest in the meaning of the term; the target was already within his striking range.

"Click...!"

The blood-armor rippled and deformed, ejecting an item from Wang Yu's kit into his hand: a vial the size of a quarter-fist, filled with a clear, bright yellow liquid.

Without hesitation, Wang Yu hurled the vial at the Abyss Mage.

The sturdy glass withstood the force of his throw, shattering only upon impact with the wall of the old man's building. The bright yellow liquid transformed into a yellow mist, engulfing the elder and everything surrounding him.

Corrosive Breath Potion, crafted from the venom of a three-headed serpent from the Dark Swamps, possessed extreme toxicity and acidic properties. Though its potency waned slightly when atomized, it remained viciously lethal.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."

Everything within the mist began to erode. The surface of the wall blackened and peeled away upon contact, and the internal metal framework, unable to withstand the potion's power, softened and snapped.

The old man's tattered robes disintegrated instantly, exposing a body no one would ever wish to see. Embedded within his flesh were numerous mechanical parts, with artificial veins and transmission devices replacing muscle, whirring incessantly.

Most peculiar was the tumor-like growth on his abdomen, revealed as the robes fell away. The gray-purple mass of flesh struggled to integrate with the human body, aided by mechanical supports, while metal needles and transparent tubes pierced it, seemingly to suppress its activity.

The growth was currently over-expanding, stretching the surrounding skin to the point of rupture. Dense tentacles sprouting from the mass had turned inward, burrowing into the Abyss Mage’s own withered body, churning and writhing within.

"Snap."

Unable to bear the erosion of the Corrosive Breath, the building beneath the old man collapsed. He plummeted from the second floor, crashing onto the street.

The already unstable structure shed massive amounts of masonry, and the entire wall gave way, burying the Abyss Mage under a heap of debris and heavy metal wreckage.

Wang Yu narrowed his eyes. He could see viscous liquid spurting from the gaps in the rubble—the blood of the old man, whose body had been crushed.

Yet, when the man was first enveloped by the potion, he had shown no signs of corrosion, suggesting his physical constitution was far more formidable than his appearance implied.

"Crack, crash!"

As expected, a violent change erupted from beneath the rubble. Thick tentacles, far too large for the old man's frame, burst through the debris and lashed out at Wang Yu. Behind them, the massive main body of the Abyssal creature tore through the surrounding buildings, revealing itself.

"Well, well..."

Wang Yu whispered. His hands moved with blurring speed; he smeared a blood-red grease ejected from his armor onto his Shattered Meteorite Blade. With a snap of his fingers, he ignited his own blood within the grease, and crimson flames erupted along the edge.

Gripping the blade with both hands, he swung at the tentacle that was piercing the air toward him.

"Clang, hiss!"

Sparks showered as metal ground against metal. The outer shell of the Abyssal tentacle was terrifyingly hard; the flaming blade failed to cleave through it, merely deflecting the limb under the sheer force of Wang Yu's strike.

The crimson flames did, however, begin to scorch and corrode the point of contact, though it would take time to penetrate the centimeters-thick hide.

"Boom!"

The tentacle, forced aside by Wang Yu's strength, lost none of its momentum as it slammed into a neighboring building, obliterating the wall and windows and destroying half the house—a testament to its immense power.

Had Wang Yu not anchored himself to the ground with the Force of the Chariot, his own weight would have sent him flying, regardless of his strength.

"Gurgle..."

A strange sound emanated from the creature's main body. It resembled a giant, purple-gray armored starfish, towering several stories above the street, with five pairs of limbs, each connected to a tentacle like the one that had attacked him.

"Boom, boom, crack!"

The creature aimed what appeared to be its face at Wang Yu. Sharp teeth ground against one another, then detached from its body, firing toward him in a dense swarm.

Wang Yu raised his hand and clenched his fist, extending the Force of the Chariot. The high-velocity teeth slowed rapidly in mid-air until they halted, then were flung back at the creature with even greater speed.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft!"

The sound of sharp objects piercing flesh followed. The creature's own teeth were devastatingly effective, easily punching through its own armor.

However, these rebounding projectiles did not strike the creature's main body as Wang Yu intended; they hit the three tentacles that were charging toward him.

"Boom."

The three tentacles, which had been smashing through everything in their path, did not slow down even as the teeth pierced them, colliding head-on with the armored Wang Yu.

A visible shockwave rippled from the point of impact, shattering the glass windows of nearby buildings.

The ground fractured, and Wang Yu was sent flying backward. His armor was covered in cracks from the collision; the combined force of the three tentacles was staggering, and even with the Force of the Chariot anchoring him, the earth itself had given way.

After reaching the Great Knight stage, Wang Yu's physical strength was already absurdly high. Though he was sent reeling and his armor was shattered, the Abyssal creature fared no better.

The three tentacles were knocked aside, smashing into more buildings. The thick, sturdy armor had cracked under the pure blunt force, revealing the tough, slick muscle beneath that allowed for such tentacle flexibility.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Wang Yu smashed through several buildings, finally crashing into what appeared to be a wizard's alchemical shop.

The blood-armor rippled, autonomously sealing the numerous cracks from the collision, soon returning to its original state—even thickening slightly. Wang Yu snapped his displaced bones back into place, and his ruptured internal organs were mended by his blood within seconds.

"Where did all the wizards go? With so many here, there should be at least a few Great Wizards. Even if they wouldn't help me, they shouldn't just watch this thing wreck their own shops."

Climbing from the debris, Wang Yu looked around. It was illogical that not a single wizard had appeared in this gathering place. Cowardice didn't explain such total absence.

He stopped pondering the pointless. Looking out through the breach in the building, the massive creature was still bulldozing through structures toward him. The battle was far from over.

"My apologies, but I won't be paying for the damages."

Wang Yu’s destructive power couldn't compare to Aivya’s; his fists simply couldn't match the output of a mage. Thus, he would have to borrow some external force.

He kicked through the wall of the shop—whose owner was nowhere to be found—and entered the room where the alchemical workshop was located.

Grabbing the alchemical furnace connected to a web of metal pipes, Wang Yu tore it from its moorings with a teeth-grinding screech of twisting metal and hoisted it onto his shoulder. Alchemical fuel sprayed from the ruptured pipes.

Carrying the heavy load, Wang Yu stepped out through the breach, leaving craters with every stride. He aimed at the creature, some tens of meters away, and gathered his strength. With his Battle Qi and physical power fully unleashed, combined with the Force of the Chariot, he hurled the massive furnace.

The furnace traced a parabolic arc, slamming into the creature's body with such weight that it toppled the beast. Then, a crimson arc of flame tore through the air, striking the furnace dead-center—Wang Yu had launched his flaming blade.

"Boom!"

The alchemical furnace detonated in an instant, a searing plume of crimson flame and jagged metal shards erupting toward the heavens, the shockwave collapsing a nearby cluster of buildings in its wake.

Amidst the inferno and the skeletal ruins, the abyssal creature remained unslain; though tossed aside by the blast, its carapace shattered and two tentacles severed, it rose with relentless malice to charge once more at Wang Yu.

Yet, the beast was no longer Wang Yu’s concern, for a volley of missiles trailing plumes of fire streaked from the horizon, plummeting vertically upon the creature to shroud the burning abyss in a fresh storm of destruction.

A vast legion of alchemical golems descended from the firmament, the most formidable force of the Celestial Mechanized City, arriving in barely ninety seconds.