Asterius stood unyielding before his terrifying foe.
Though his opponent possessed a clear advantage in raw power, Asterius kept his spine rigid, refusing to waver.
Behind his black helm lay a face devoid of fear, radiating only cold caution and insidious intent.
The creature’s muscles coiled with furious, hidden tension, drawing in the ambient essence and compressing it beneath lean flesh.
“Now…”
In a flash, both figures blurred out of existence.
BOOM…
BOOM!
They collided with explosive force.
Asterius immediately found himself on the defensive.
The Ant King lashed out with its antennae like a berserk swordsman, relentless and suffocating, denying Asterius even a moment to breathe.
Asterius barely managed to evade the chaotic flurry of strikes, completely robbed of any opportunity to counterattack.
Step by brutal step, he was forced backward.
Whoosh…
whoosh…
crack!
chang!…
whoosh…
kaching!
They traded blows amidst the torrential downpour, their feet churning the muddy undergrowth into a chaotic mess of tracks.
Asterius was treading on thin ice.
He pushed his body and footwork to their absolute limits, teetering on the very brink of collapse.
Slash!
Slash!
A sudden stumble cost him.
The blade bit deep into his shoulder and arm, leaving him disoriented.
Sensing blood, the Ant King ruthlessly seized the opening.
It unleashed a vicious strike aimed directly at his head, intent on execution.
Asterius wrenched his head backward, but he was a fraction too slow to entirely evade the swift arc of the blade!
CRACK…
BANG!
The brutal impact snapped his head back, violently lifting him off his feet.
Yet, even as gravity claimed him, Asterius refused to succumb.
Instead, he gripped his fading focus and prepared to turn the momentum to his advantage…
The impact hurled him backward.
He executed 4 rapid backflips to open up distance between himself and the Ant King before splashing down into a low crouch, steadying himself on the saturated undergrowth.
The previous onslaught had shattered his visor to pieces, leaving damp, dark hair plastered across his face, partially obscuring one of his glowing crimson eyes.
He had narrowly escaped the brunt of the blow; his armor had absorbed the worst of it, sparing him a catastrophic facial injury.
Propping himself up, his fingers tightened their grip around his daggers.
His cold, calculating gaze locked onto his foe.
The Obsidian Ant King stood entirely unscathed—a frustrating contrast to Asterius’s own battered condition.
For a fraction of a second, a flicker of surprise crossed the Astertius face, only to vanish instantly as the beast lunged forward, snapping its jagged, blade-like mandibles.
BOOM!
The Ant King slammed heavily into Asterius, driving its mandibles straight through him.
But the impaled figure instantly shattered, dissolving into a cloud of glittering white sparks.
Realizing it had struck an illusion, the beast shrieked in fury.
It whipped its gaze skyward and spotted Asterius soaring high above.
He was flying.
Twin membranous wings sprouted from his back, blurring with the relentless, rhythmic hum of helicopter blades.
Just moments earlier, as he reeled from the slash to his face, a notification had flashed in his mind announcing the death of a rare-grade obsidian ant and—
acquiring its soul armament: a pair of rare-grade obsidian wings.
Breaking free from the clutches of the Ant King, he vanished into the dense woods.
Shrieking in fury, the Obsidian Ant King gave fierce chase.
Whoosh!
Asterius rocketed through the towering canopy.
He weaved effortlessly through the tangled, lush branches as if guided by an invisible map.
In truth, he possessed exactly that—a vivid 3D rendering of the forest bound only by the limits of his [Divine Sense].
By projecting his spiritual energy through the woodland, a detailed holographic map materialized in his mind, allowing him to execute flawless aerial maneuvers.
Yet, his pursuer refused to slow down.
The Ant King tore through the thick foliage, its sword-like antennae slicing the branches to splinters.
Anticipating this, Asterius lured the beast toward a colossal, ancient tree—undoubtedly the titan of the forest.
It boasted a staggering girth of 5 meters and soared 15 meters into the air, crowned by a dense canopy of deep, shadowed greenery.
Against this monumental backdrop, both Asterius and the giant insect seemed utterly microscopic.
Asterius hurtled straight toward the pitch-black trunk at breakneck speed.
He didn’t tap brakes!.
Behind him, the Ant King closed the gap with terrifying speed—three meters…
two meters…
one meter…
half a meter.
With a collision just milliseconds away, Asterius finally made his move!
Azure Steps!”
“Blink!” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
He invoked the two techniques in rapid succession, warping through space to narrowly avoid a head-on collision with the massive tree trunk.
BOOM!
His pursuer, the Obsidian Ant King, possessed no such sophistication.
Unable to redirect its momentum, the monstrous creature slammed heavily into the wood, sending a violent shockwave through the canopy that showered the forest floor in shredded leaves.
“No matter how much an insect evolves, it remains a damned insect,” Asterius muttered under his breath.
Watching the beast struggle from a safe distance, he turned and shot into the sky, leaving the twitching Ant King wedged tight inside the fractured, blackened trunk.
A minute later, Asterius hovered over the carcass of another obsidian ant—the rare-grade specimen that had granted him his Obsidian Wings.
He retrieved the prize and darted toward his destination.
When he arrived, he touched down upon a desolate pile of rubble.
It was all that remained of his previous hideout, thoroughly obliterated by the Ant King and its destructive entourage.
CRACK-BOOM!
Lightning tore through the blackened skies, illuminating his battered silhouette.
His armor was a ruined web of fractures, with jagged gaps exposing the flesh beneath.
Deep lacerations marred his shoulders and arms, the left flank of his abdomen was violently caved in, and his shattered gauntlets left his bloodied hands completely bare.
Only his cloak had fared better, though its once-smooth, furry texture was now ruined by a lattice of shallow cuts.
Truthfully, he was lucky to be alive.
‘It won’t be restrained for long,’ Asterius thought, staring back toward the forest.
‘I need to use this window to recover my essence and make necessary preparations.”
He stepped into the pile of rubble and unleashed his spiritual power, scanning through the dense debris.
Now, where is that thing…
His mental probe snagged on something.
“Ah, there!”
He scrambled toward a tight section of the wreckage, digging fiercely through the stones until his fingers brushed against leather.
“Here it is!”
He pulled out a pouch and loosened the drawstrings.
Inside lay several small, cherry-like fruits—the rare harvest of a [Deadly Nightshade Plant].
Unfortunately, the collapsing ceiling had crushed most of them, leaving only two intact.
“Thank goodness they weren’t all ruined,” he muttered, letting out a long breath.
“….Whew…..Well, time to start recovering some essence.”
He turned his attention to the carcass and gripped a thick leg of the rare-grade ant.
With a sharp twist, he yanked it free—splurge!
Thick green goo erupted from the joint, dripping onto the stones.
He stared at the viscous fluid with open disgust, but his resolve steeled as he remembered what was at stake.
Blocking out the stench, he pressed the cracked armor to his lips and sucked the gelatinous flesh directly from the carapace—slurp!
The foul taste barely registered before he tore off another limb, then another, devouring them in quick, desperate successions like a starving primitive.
+1 Rare Grade Essence
+1 Rare Grade Essence]+1 Rare Grade Essence]…
By the time he finished consuming the six limbs, a warm current flooded his body.
He had successfully secured five rare-grade life essences.
Wiping his mouth, he summoned his companion to clean up the mess.
“Little Black, tie up the loose ends.”
“Meow!”
The small shadow materialized with a sharp cry, throwing itself onto the maimed corpse and tearing into the remaining meat ravenously.
Asterius settled into a cross-legged position and activated his cultivation art, circulating ambient essence deep into his body
BOOM!
Barely a minute into his recovery, a deafening explosion shattered the silence.
A massive shockwave erupted in the distance, painting the sky in a violent, bloody crimson.
Then came a piercing, otherworldly screech—SHRIEKKK!!!
“It seems the beast has broken free,” Asterius murmured, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the distant horizon.
“And it has already activated its empowered state.
Things are about to get bloody.”
An unfamiliar unease crept into his solemn, crimson eyes.
Rising to his feet, he stared fixedly into the distance, weighing his grim options.
Doubt began to fester.
For the first time, he questioned whether he could truly match the Ant King in its apex form.
But then, beneath the visor of his shattered helm, his eyes widened in sudden horror—not at the monster, but at his own weakness.
Shocked by his own faltering resolve, he slammed his palm against his face, his voice a harsh, self-loathing whisper.
“Unbelievable.
Utterly pathetic.
I am Asterius Vanaheim.
The progenitor of ruin, the harbinger of destruction, the Abstruse Sword God of Destruction…
yet I am trembling before a lowly insect?”
“Haha…
Hahaha…
HAHAHAHA!”
A wave of maniacal laughter tore from his throat.
Whether his madness was directed at his own fragile ego or the monstrosity awaiting him, none could tell.
Yet, deep within the boundless recesses of his soul, a strange phenomenon began to stir.
[The Chains of Order]—an ancient, primordial artifact forged for the sole purpose of binding and suppressing absolute power—began to rattle…
The [Chains of Order] sealing his soul rattled fiercely, struggling to contain the overbearing, resplendent golden light erupting from within him.
This brilliant aura triggered an immediate reaction from the ancient artifacts.
Gradually, the chains ceased their resistance against the golden radiance, as if abandoning their divine mandate entirely.
Instead, they began to regulate the golden light, which Asterius’s body greedily absorbed like a sponge.
Every cell was nourished and quenched by the divine energy The torrent of essence rampaged through his frame pushing through innate biological blockages within the twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary vessels, widening these narrow channels into durable highways capable of supporting high-pressure energy flow.
.
Ethereal inscriptions and mystical formations manifested across his skin, channeling the golden light into the deepest recesses of his body.
His cultivation, which had long stagnated at the peak of the 3rd level of the Primordial Body of Chaos, shattered its limits—surging into the 4th level!
Yet, the momentum did not stop there.
The energy roared toward the next barrier, crashing into it…
crack!
Fractures spiderwebbed across the blockage until—BOOM!—it exploded into the 5th level!
The breakthrough tore through subsequent boundaries: the 6th!
The 7th!
The violent surge only slowed upon hitting the 7th level, merely fracturing its stubborn barrier.
Just as Asterius thought the ascension had reached its end, the Chains of Order binding his soul secreted a mysterious liquid substance.
His body absorbed it instantly.
BOOM!
The barrier isolating the next realm shattered into pieces!
He had achieved the 8th level of The Primordial Body of Chaos!
An entire paradigm shift, completed in a mere span of thirty seconds.
Asterius settled into a lotus position, working to stabilize his cultivation and essence.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
“What…?
It’s already stabilized?
Even my foundations feel reinforced.
How is this possible?” He narrowed his eyes, tracking the foreign energy within his meridians.
“And what was that substance released by the chains of order?”
A torrential storm of questions and suspicion flooded his mind.
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
There is no use racking my brains for answers now.
I will find out.
Eventually.
Banishing the distraction, he focused his gaze on the horizon.
Far off in the midnight gloom, a pair of crimson eyes ignited.
“The beast is finally out of its cage,” Asterius murmured.
As if responding to his voice, the creature unleashed a deafening screech that shook the leaves.
The Ant King scanned the dense forest like a radar sweeps the sky, hunting for its prey.
It took less than a minute.
Though Asterius stood seven kilometers away, he felt the exact moment its wretched, bloodthirsty gaze locked onto him with the terrifying precision of a homing missile.
Rather than retreat, Asterius summoned a dagger, thrusting the blade high into the sky in a direct challenge to the peering monster.
“Come meet your death!”
SHRIEEKK!
The Ant King roared in fury and launched itself forward like an arrow loosed from a heavy bow.
SWOOSH!
It sliced through the wind and torrential rain, a blur of motion closing the distance instantly.
Asterius didn’t flinch.
Brandishing his twin daggers, he slashed forward in a ferocious X-motion, unleashing two intersecting crescent waves of sword Qi.
The radiant energy tore through the storm, screaming toward the incoming beast.
The sword Qi crashed—
colliding with its head—PEEENG!
The impact stalled the creature for only a fraction of a second before it lunged at Asterius with renewed fury.
Asterius narrowed his dual-colored, reddish-blue eyes.
At the point of impact, a thin, translucent barrier flickered precariously in and out of existence.
“A force field, huh?
Well, I’ll just have to shatter it!”
Shifting into a low stance, he brandished the dagger in his left hand.
The muscles in his forearm coiled tight.
Gripping the hilt with white-knuckled intensity, he unleashed a vicious slash.
“Absolute Warpath Technique—First Form: Absolute Slash!
His blade carved a downward, semicircular arc through the air.
The strike left behind a faint crimson trail, radiating a razor-sharp aura infused with faint traces of destruction.
Instantly, the crimson arc warped into a violent, churning vortex of sword qi, tearing across the distance toward the Ant King.
“Scree…?!”
The Ant King screeched, a sudden wave of caution and bewilderment piercing its primal mind as it sensed the sheer lethality of the beautiful yet deadly attack.
But its beastly instincts overrode all reason.
Bound by the blind conviction that its defenses were impenetrable, it charged headfirst into the strike—only to be instantly engulfed by the turbulent vortex of sword qi.
SHRIIKKKK!!
An ear-piercing shriek of pure agony erupted from within the vortex, accompanied by a violent burst of crimson energy.
Then…
PUFF!
The residual energy dissipated, finally laying bare the state of the Ant King.