Chapter 539: Mutual Destruction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 539: Mutual Destruction
The moment that god-slaying strike was unleashed, a violent conflict erupted across the land. The heatwave that should have followed the shockwave was instantly replaced; as the blast reached the distance, it showered the world in frost.
The world above seemed utterly razed by fire and explosions, yet the earth and its foundations were encased in ice, forming cruel, jagged half-sculptures.
Xia Li held an ice-crystal crown, pressing it against the tip of the God-Slayer Armor’s spear.
The crown seemed frozen in space itself, halting the enemy’s weapon in its tracks.
As the dust and debris settled, the floating smoke transformed into ice granules that drifted down from the sky like a fine, dense hail.
An absolute low temperature spread toward both ends. Under the shroud of frost, the once-glowing spear tip lost its physical structure, peeling away bit by bit in square, pixelated fragments.
On the other side, Xia Li’s right hand was also encased in ice, rendered unnaturally hard.
The final trace of the restriction bound to the crown was completely shattered by the impact. The terrifying cold dyed everyone behind Xia Li in a layer of white rime.
That space-freezing cold had shielded everyone behind the strike.
While the others were still paralyzed with fear, Xia Li decisively severed her own right arm, preventing the freezing from spreading through her limb to the rest of her body. She immediately swept the crown and her severed limb into her storage equipment.
In this world of white frost, Xia Li’s bloody right stump was instantly frozen over. The stark crimson was exceptionally jarring, serving as a grim reminder of the life-and-death moment they had just survived.
"Move!" Xia Li shouted, her voice finally snapping the dazed group back to reality. With her remaining left hand, she grabbed Tan Han and turned to flee.
Now was the best time to leave. Although the crown’s absolute zero had completely frozen and killed her right arm, given her life level as an Undying, it wasn't a fatal wound. She was, after all, a graduate student; her personal foundation was formidable.
The enemy fared much worse. With a single exchange, their main battle weapon was completely destroyed. She admitted their strength was impressive, but she could see that it was entirely dependent on that suit of armor. Without it, she could suppress them through the sheer pressure of her life level alone.
However, the Crown of Absolute Zero did not distinguish between friend and foe. Though no one appeared to have sustained heavy injuries yet, the cold and the aftershocks were continuously ravaging their bodies.
Retreating was the only sensible option. Even if she hadn't used such a self-destructive method to defend, she feared a prolonged fight—especially with that Birdman behind her, who might stab her in the back at any moment.
Furthermore, she had revealed the crown, a carrier of [Transcendent Knowledge]. There was no guarantee those people wouldn't be tempted.
More importantly, Tan Han was here. She felt she couldn't drag Tan Han into this battle; Tan Han’s survivability was nowhere near her own.
Xia Li’s combat style was largely built upon her immortality. In fact, most senior graduates of the Witch Academy preferred to fight this way. It made their combat appear frenzied, creating a gap in style and philosophy that junior students often found impossible to comprehend.
"Shopkeeper... you..." Tan Han’s mind was in a state of total chaos.
Not long ago, she had received a call from the Shopkeeper saying she was coming to find her and give her something. She never expected their reunion to be so dramatic.
Too much had happened in those few short moments, leaving her at a loss for words.
What was the Shopkeeper trying to give her? What was that object that blocked the strike? And the Shopkeeper’s arm... she couldn't understand why everything had turned out like this.
More importantly, her own body... it felt as though it were experiencing a final surge of vitality. The fear of death forced her to exert everything just to stay alive.
"I'll explain later..." Xia Li spoke through the searing pain. She had wanted to use a teleportation spell to leave, but her current condition was poor. Even ignoring her physical injuries, if the casting were interrupted, the spell backlash would leave her in a truly desperate situation.
To be safe, they had to run first. She could even use a flying broom to carry them once they reached a safer distance. Regardless, they had to get out of here.
As for the ruined city... that was beyond their control now. Such terrifying enemies... how could they possibly be just "transcendent terrorists" like the news said?
This looked more like an alien invasion.
Xia Li instinctively glanced back. Those people hadn't pursued them!
Whatever the reason, it was a good thing.
She had possessed the crown for some time and had studied it herself, though she hadn't discovered much. The initial restriction had been placed by her mentor to prevent the crown’s absolute zero power from harming her.
This was only the second time she had used the crown this way. The first time was when she had just acquired it; the frostbite she suffered then had brought her to the brink of death.
This time, in order to block that strike, she hadn't expected the crown to unleash such terrifying power. While it had repelled the enemy's attack and even dealt massive reflective damage, they were also suffering immensely.
* * *
Meanwhile, among the players.
The player operating the "God-Slayer" armor was receiving frantic system warnings.
The previous god-slaying strike had been a high-output attack, but by no means the armor's strongest. Yet, the target he hit had delivered a counter-shock that was nearly unbearable.
He could see the armor on his body becoming blurred—a sign of unstable Transcendent Pixels, a precursor to the armor’s collapse!
The extreme cold of absolute zero pierced through the armor and into his marrow. Currently, he was supporting his entire weight with a normal human body; he could feel his life slipping away.
He immediately prepared to log out, cutting off his pain synchronization.
However, the ones truly excited were the high-level Game Architects who were monitoring the entire event.
A single reflective shock had destroyed a God-Slayer combat armor constructed from Transcendent Pixels. That had to be a manifestation of the Tech Core's power!
Before that strike, they had worried the attack might damage the Tech Core. They never expected the opponent to be so decisive, using it in a "mutual destruction" gambit.
Thinking back... they had been too impatient. But they had confirmed one thing: the Tech Core really was in her possession!
As long as they knew it existed, it wasn't like the last world they had abandoned. In that world, they had confirmed the interference of a similar power level through the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, but they never even saw the Tech Core's physical form.
Now they had seen it. They had its carrier form and partial test data!
As long as they completely conquered this world and turned it upside down, finding it would only be a matter of time!
Furthermore, this was only a probe by the Vanguard Players. Although the "water" of this world's transcendents seemed a bit deep, they still had human wave tactics!
And the foundation of human wave tactics was a massive supply of game qualifications.
They had also discovered the person who held a large number of game qualifications—the girl who had been taken away by the one holding the Tech Core!
They hadn't expected the good news to come one after another. Although they hadn't gained any immediate benefits from this first contact and had even lost a descent qualification, the future was long. Probing always came with losses; as long as they were the winners in the end, it didn't matter.
For now, they needed to be more cautious. Until they secured a dominant number of game qualifications, they couldn't afford to lose them recklessly.
After all, before they held a majority of the total qualifications, the qualifications of players who died after descending into this world were non-recoverable.
In other words, when that person died, they had no way to reclaim that qualification.
Because of this, dissenting voices appeared among the high-level Game Architects. Some criticized the operation as too reckless, while others felt the intelligence gained from the probe was vital and the current sacrifices were acceptable. But this was merely a minor dispute.
The Game Architects present were all high-level figures who dictated the development of entire worlds; they wouldn't truly fall out over something like this.
* * *
At that moment.
Xia Li had already led Tan Han away from the epicenter of the explosion, hiding in a high-rise building that hadn't completely collapsed.
Along the way, they saw too many ordinary people caught in the crossfire. Some had left only a trace of their lives on the ground before their tragic lives ended abruptly; others were clinging to their last breaths. The further they ran toward the outskirts, the more survivors they saw. Wails and laments had become the dominant theme of the moment.
But Tan Han and Xia Li had no capacity to save them. In fact... as long as they left quickly, that would be the greatest help they could provide.
"Shopkeeper... what exactly is going on?" Now that they had finally stopped, Tan Han couldn't help but ask.
As she spoke, Tan Han realized she was exhaling clouds of frost. Once her tensed body relaxed, the chill made her shiver violently, and even her consciousness began to slow.
"Tan Han, are you okay?" Seeing Tan Han look as if she were about to collapse after speaking, Xia Li hurried to support her. But her right arm was gone; her immortality had only allowed her to recover part of her upper arm by overtaxing her body.
She wanted to use a potion, but the items in her storage equipment had surely been destroyed by the absolute zero. Even now, her storage gear was radiating a biting chill.
"I'm... cough cough..." Tan Han tried to speak, but her body no longer obeyed her will. A fit of violent coughing made Xia Li feel even worse.
Reflecting on the source of all this, it seemed to stem from her desire to give the item to Tan Han. But it was too late for regrets.
Now, she only wanted to get Tan Han back to the Witch Academy. No matter how crazy those people were, they wouldn't be able to cause trouble there.
The fastest way back was teleportation. As a Prospective Witch with so much accumulated foundation, she had many spellbooks in her private stash. Naturally, she carried a spellbook for spatial teleportation for the sake of convenience.
However, teleportation spells had a threshold. In her current state, she didn't know if she could succeed. Moreover, she usually preferred riding a flying broom and wasn't particularly practiced with teleportation...
But she had to go back quickly to save Tan Han—and herself. She also needed to report this to the Witch Academy. The strength of those people was far too terrifying; it was nothing like the minor skirmishes shown on TV.
Just as Xia Li was thinking this urgently, the space tearing open before her suddenly spiraled out of control. Backlashing mana flooded from the spellbook into her body. The mental backlash gave Xia Li a splitting headache...
"Sss... ugh..."
It was a case of misfortune never coming alone. The very thing she feared most had happened.
Tan Han, having recovered slightly, saw the Shopkeeper in this state.
"Shopkeeper..."
"Don't worry about me. Contact... contact the Witch Academy mentors... have them take us back..." Xia Li forced the words out through the pain of the backlash.
Tan Han quickly understood the situation. But when she forced herself through the pain of her frostbitten body to pull out her phone, she found it was bone-chillingly cold. It wouldn't turn on, and when she gripped it too hard, the screen shattered—the low temperature had made the glass incredibly brittle.
"The phone is broken... Shopkeeper... the phone..." Tan Han opened her hand to show the device, looking at the Shopkeeper. Her own condition was deteriorating.
"The phone..." Xia Li instinctively looked at her own storage equipment. If a phone on the outside had been affected like this, then the one in close contact with the crown... wouldn't it be even worse?
"I'm sorry... Tan Han. I dragged you into this, I dragged this city into this... so many innocent people..."
Seeing their hopes vanish one by one, Xia Li felt a wave of desolation. If only she could take it all back... but there was no such choice.
"Don't say that. The ones who destroyed everything are those people, not you, Shopkeeper... don't fall into the trap of victim-blaming yourself..." Tan Han immediately tried to comfort her. "Shopkeeper, don't talk like you're giving your last words... there will be a way..."
"Those people seem to have a tracking method. If they keep hunting me, they'll definitely find us... I should just leave the item behind. At least if we move to a different place, we might... survive."
"That thing... what exactly is it? Why are they so obsessed with it?" Tan Han asked.
"It's... [Transcendent Knowledge]. It's very precious. As for why they're so obsessed... I don't know."
"Transcendent... Knowledge? You mean that crown? It's a piece of knowledge?"
"I don't know... I'm not sure. I only know the crown is its carrier. Are you interested in it too, Tan Han?"
"Yes..."
"Then what if I said... I came here specifically to give it to you?" Xia Li continued.
"Give it to me? Why?"
"There's no 'why'... it's just that under these forced circumstances, you were my only choice..." At this, Xia Li couldn't help but mock herself. In the end, she had been led by the nose...
But right now, she just felt so tired.
"Why?"
"There are many reasons..." After a moment, Xia Li felt she could stand. she struggled to her feet. "But now isn't the time for that... we need to move. At worst, I'll just... give this up..."
Xia Li used her left hand to pull off the storage equipment hanging from her person. The gear itself seemed unable to withstand the absolute zero, leaking cold into the air.
"Wait... Shopkeeper... we haven't reached the absolute end yet..." Tan Han seemed to remember something. She fumbled through her own storage equipment and pulled out a small object...
"What is this?"
"It's... an item that can summon someone... to save us." As Tan Han spoke, she used the last of her strength to place it on the ground. Immediately, a rune ritual spread across the floor, and in the next moment, it erupted with a brilliant light. It was their final hope.
Even if Xiao Han couldn't defeat those people... at least she could call for reinforcements.
Just as Tan Han was thinking this, their enemies showed no intention of granting them even this sliver of hope.
"Found them! Over here!"
Just as the ritual was completed and they were waiting for a response, a voice came from outside that sent a chill down their spines!
It was them!