Chapter 479

Chapter 479: Intricately Linked

“Bang!”

A loud noise echoed above everyone. In the shadows, the Shadow Master and Mercury were still unaware of what had transpired, but the commander extraordinary beast was the first to react.

The three-headed bird had come in response to its call, naturally capable of making the optimal decision for its benefit at that moment.

Ignoring Wang Xiao, who was still clinging to it, the three-headed bird accelerated its wingbeats, flying straight upward.

It needed to replenish flesh and life force to kill these insect-like humans with an even stronger stance.

With that thought, the giant fly-like extraordinary beast leaped out of the large hole created by Wang Xiao’s descent.

The body of the three-headed bird lay less than two meters from the hole, its blood mixed with white mycelium already beginning to drip at the edge.

At this point, the giant fly extraordinary beast strained to break free from Wang Xiao’s grip, but to its surprise, Wang Xiao’s already powerful hands, strengthened by the exoskeleton, held tight to its body.

In desperation, the extraordinary beast made a fierce decision, softening its body to the limit, allowing the iron-tonged hands to tear away one of its wings.

Wang Xiao dropped the bloody wing of the extraordinary beast to one side, while its owner had already pounced onto the corpse of the three-headed bird.

This Third Level Avian Creature had died very skillfully; its head-on collision had instantly shattered all three of its heads without slowing down or showing regret.

However, it is well-known that birds can exhibit strong life force in certain situations. Thus, the headless body did not fully die; instead, it thrashed its wings violently on the ground.

The extraordinary beast leaped, quickly changing, merging like a blob into the corpse of the giant bird, and began rapidly absorbing its life force.

On the other side, the extraordinary beast’s wing in Wang Xiao’s hand rapidly turned to dried bone under his ability.

He glanced at the countdown at the edge of his vision, [20].

That’s enough.

The extraordinary beast’s body slowly swelled, absorbing biomass and life force at a slightly faster rate than Wang Xiao could.

This human’s trump card was now useless—there were at least eighty giant birds in the nearby sky, and even now, three birds were descending, ready to refill this commander’s strength.

From this perspective, the opponent’s defeat seemed inevitable.

In the next moment, powerful brute force acted on the extraordinary beast’s back, tearing at its body and forcing it to abandon its blob-like state and return to combat mode.

Yet, several unseen biological pipelines still connected the two, giving the commander confidence.

At this moment, the damaged human in the mech before it took on a posture that seemed almost provocative, akin to a human’s mockery before a fight began.

Very well, let’s play a game.

The extraordinary beast’s mouth almost opened wide enough to split its head in half, mimicking the human’s posture. Standing at a full three meters tall, Wang Xiao seemed like a comical dwarf before it, even in the exoskeleton.

Facing an opponent so powerful that victory seemed impossible, Wang Xiao whispered beneath his visor,

“Overload.”

“Buzz~”

The sound of the exoskeleton operating at maximum capacity suddenly seemed gentle and pleasant. Wang Xiao gained immense strength for the next ten seconds, while only fifteen seconds remained of his one-minute combat time.

Two shadows flashed past, and Wang Xiao collided with the extraordinary beast on the factory rooftop, which was now almost filled with extraordinary beasts, with a vast pack crawling up the walls.

[13, 12…]

Wang Xiao paid the price of one side of his abdomen being smashed to create an opportunity, bending one of the extraordinary beast’s legs in the opposite direction, causing its body to skew sharply and granting him more chances to attack.

[11, 10…]

One of his arms became entangled with the arm of the extraordinary beast.

[9, 8…]

Wang Xiao darted to the beast’s back, allowing the spikes on its body to pierce through him as he forcefully seized its other arm. With the last remnants of energy from his exoskeleton, he pushed his battered body to its limit, hoisting the three-meter-tall extraordinary beast onto his back and exposing its vulnerable chest before the walls of Hope City.

The posture of the two—no, the man and the beast—was utterly bizarre, resembling a stretching exercise that most people had only encountered in high school physical education classes.

[7, 6…]

The highly intelligent extraordinary beast was equally baffled by Wang Xiao’s actions. This human had clearly reached his limit; why expend his final strength to assume such a ludicrous and ineffective stance?

In the next moment, as the extraordinary beast gazed skyward, a question unrelated to the battle suddenly crossed its mind—

When had the sky grown so dark?

Its instincts, inherited from its mother Clotho, and the fragmented memories of survivors from past beast tides, hinted at a grim possibility.

In less than a second, the extraordinary beast’s eyes underwent multiple splits, transforming into a dense cluster of compound eyes.

Its countless eyes scanned the surroundings, finally locking onto a bright glowing dot expanding on the wall of Hope City.

So that’s it, that’s it!

The extraordinary beast felt its brain rapidly expanding; if it survived this battle, it would undoubtedly reach a level of power that would plunge humanity into despair.

And it still had a chance!

In the instant it realized the nature of the impending attack, its body and even its internal structure underwent another transformation.

What is the best defense against bright light?

A flawless, mirror-like crystal.

[5, 4…]

On the city wall, “Fresnel,” who had been charging his ultimate move for a full minute, finally seized the opportunity Wang Xiao had spoken of. With a roar, he unleashed an unprecedented beam of bright light directly at the open portal in the enemy’s chest.

At that moment, the flames of all other weapons paled in comparison; a miniature sun seemed to rise above the inner city walls of Hope.

The light sword plunged into the extraordinary beast’s chest, the flawless crystal melting instantly under the intense heat, transforming into dark, useless slag.

The moisture within the extraordinary beast’s body evaporated rapidly under the extreme temperature, stripping it of its ability to change forms and leaving it in a charred, brittle state.

Yet, even in this condition, the Fifth Level extraordinary beast clung to life, its heavy breaths still audible.

[3, 2…]

As the light faded, just as the disoriented extraordinary beast believed its moment to counterattack had arrived, a silver figure leaped from the shadow behind it and Wang Xiao. Its entire right arm had morphed into a gleaming giant hammer.

What had once been a blunt weapon incapable of inflicting harm now became the perfect instrument to shatter the extraordinary beast’s body. With a single crushing blow to its desiccated and hardened neck, the beast’s head exploded and tumbled away.

“Mercury” quickly jogged a few steps to retrieve the head.

[1]

As the giant hammer struck, a thick, heavy arm emerged from the ground, appearing as though it were clad in multiple layers of gloves.

The “Shadow Master” seized the leg of the headless extraordinary beast, dragging its entire body into the shadows and beginning to move with incredible speed.

“[Skydome], activate the switch.”

Wang Xiao issued his final command before collapsing, utterly spent, waiting for his body to recover naturally.

The “Shadow Master,” carrying the headless body of the extraordinary beast, appeared on the factory ceiling. Looking down at the rapidly spinning shredder below, he grinned and hurled the still-living giant into the feed opening.

In the next instant, his figure reappeared on the factory roof, one hand gripping Mercury and the other supporting Wang Xiao. The three of them descended like a drop of water into the shadows of the enraged extraordinary beasts surging upward.

Within the vast factory, the only sounds were the roar of the shredder operating at full capacity and the futile rage of the extraordinary beasts.

[0]

The battle was complete.