Chapter 277: Clash at the Third Energy Level

Faced with words that seemed almost coaxing and seductive, Wu Nuo remained unmoved, his brows slightly raised, as if he had fully turned serious.

"With the curse power content of all humanity rising... do you know what would happen?"

Wu Lan understood the meaning behind his words, and his expression cooled.

This demon looked at him, its tone carrying a trace of regret: "A supreme powerhouse like yourself, why would you fall into such shortsighted mortal morality?"

"You should have become the leader of the new era, guiding the entire civilization forward."

"Mortals will not be grateful for what you do, and those sorcerers with no hope of breaking through, the new-style superhumans, they will secretly fear and resent you..."

"..."

Wu Nuo let out a derisive snort.

"Idiot."

The next instant.

The space where Wu Lan stood seemed to be folded and sliced apart in a single moment. That refined-looking researcher didn't even have time to make an evasive move before he was chopped into a cloud of diffusing blood mist.

However.

Just as that human flesh collapsed into nothingness.

The shadows on the ground rippled violently, and suddenly a strange humanoid figure surged forth from within them.

The slash carrying spatial fluctuations swept past its body, yet it seemed as if something had blocked the attack.

It was like black, yet it carried a bizarre iridescent sheen, spreading outward in all directions like ink bleeding into water.

And the moment it appeared, a belt filled with mechanical texture materialized around its waist out of thin air, and a deep green memory device was clasped in its hand.

Click.

"Acid."

With a faint sound of gas venting, it inserted the memory device into the slot on the belt.

"Override."

Though it was clearly a mechanical synthesized sound effect, it carried a bone-chilling hoarseness and distortion.

A smile filled with malice split open across its face of black shadows. It extended its pitch-black claws, gripped the metal crank on the side of the belt, and began rotating it clockwise.

Click, click, click.

The harsh, heavy sound of gears biting into each other rang out in succession, as if they were chewing on bones.

The demon's viscous curse power surged wildly up its arm, pouring into the belt, then flowing back up into that deep green memory device.

"Hazard Up."

Both the memory device and the driver activated simultaneously. The spell stored in the core seemed to be forcibly contaminated, emitting a violent fluctuation.

A deep green toxic mist with a pungent acidic odor burst forth from the gaps in the belt.

"Corrosion Ready!"

With the distorted sound effects, the deep green toxic mist instantly spread in all directions, corroding everything in the room, then began wrapping around its entire body along the belt, as if condensing into an evil outer shell.

The demon let out a bizarre howl and spat out that word.

"Transform."

"[Acid]!"

In that instant, starting from the waist, a set of deep green heavy armor covered in barbs rapidly extended toward both ends of its body.

It regained a human-like form.

Deep green liquid spread across the armor's surface like blood vessels, hardened, and finally solidified completely.

What stood there was a humanoid figure roughly two meters tall. The armor's surface was asymmetrically woven with bizarre patterns, and its crimson compound eyes radiated a suffocating pressure in the darkness, utterly devoid of any hint of a righteous hero.

And at this moment.

Wu Nuo could clearly feel from its body that overwhelming, barely restrainable pressure, along with the violent rejection from the entire world itself.

This was not something that could be described by the so-called second Energy Level.

To mortals, this was a nightmare, a natural disaster, an irresistible will, the embodiment of terror.

Third Energy Level.

It had surpassed the limits of the world, still breaking through that ceiling under the omnipresent suppression.

In other words, this demon actually possessed a memory device worthy of being called a Transcendent Means.

Although its true name and spell remained unknown, Wu Nuo could be certain that its true body was by no means one of those demons born in the new era. Rather, it was a powerful demon that had survived on the other side of the world since the distant past.

So it was by no means a novice experiencing this power for the first time. It was forcibly reclaiming the power it should have always possessed in this world.

Yet at this moment, Wu Nuo showed no sign of panic. Looking at the enemy before him, he pulled his hands out of his pockets and suddenly revealed a wild, maniacal grin.

"I knew it."

- Without something like that, trash like you would never dare challenge me, would you?

"But..."

His smile grew even more radiant: "Do you know why, when we all possess Transcendent Means, the other factions... including those old immortals, still call me the Strongest?"

The next instant.

As Wu Nuo's words fell, intricate black patterns like tattoos appeared across his skin without any warning.

A terrifyingly extreme wave of curse power also erupted from his body.

............

Two kilometers away.

On top of an abandoned building.

A gaunt, middle-aged man with a thoroughly dejected look, like a worn-out office worker, stared at the girl blocking his path. With dead fish eyes, he raised both hands in a perfectly shameless gesture of surrender.

"Little miss, how about we cut a deal? Let me off the hook?"

The uncle scratched his somewhat messy hair, his tone helpless: "I'm just a mercenary trying to earn a living. I get paid, I do the job."

"Now even that famous Strongest has been deployed. This is muddy water I can't afford to wade into, and I have no intention of fighting to the death with your Sixth Division."

"Look, if we fight, it probably won't lead anywhere. How about we just both stay put right here? Saves us both some energy, right?"

Seeing his adversary adopt this defeatist attitude and try to negotiate peace before even starting, Luo Xi was indeed caught off guard for a moment, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.

"...?"

- Actually, if this is a pawn-for-pawn tactic, whether both sides move or both sides stay still... it really does seem like there's no difference at all.

"Luo Xi, don't be fooled by his appearance."

However, the next moment, Qin Shengshi's voice came through the micro earpiece.

"His code name is 'Sand Crocodile.' He's a mercenary sorcerer who operates across various countries."

"This man is extremely cunning. Not only is he a bona fide second Energy Level sorcerer, but two years ago, he has a record of successfully killing a first-grade sorcerer through traps and ambushes."

Hearing her section chief's words, Luo Xi immediately snapped back to alertness.

"I almost fell for your trick!"

"How dare you!!"

Luo Xi planted her hands on her hips, revealing her sharp little fangs, and declared with puffed-up cheeks: "Evil villain who destroys the city! Today I will surely bring you to justice!"

Spell Release!

[Wolf's Flowing Art]!

The next instant, a faint blue-green wind-attribute curse power surged forth from her body like a rising tide, carrying a wild and free sharpness as it flowed around her.

In that moment, golden wolf ears that seemed both real and illusory, along with a fluffy wolf tail, materialized on Luo Xi's body. Sharp cyan storms condensed around her small frame, radiating an intense deterrent presence.