89: Chapter 89 Hunter and Prey

As Ross cleared away the petrified monsters one by one, he passed through the broken walls and the rubble-strewn passageway before him, and the scene before his eyes suddenly opened up, yet it was shrouded by an even greater pressure.

This was a massive circular grotto whose walls seemed to pulsate all over, with some stone walls covered in dark red flesh and capillary-like things constantly vibrating.

In the center of the grotto floated a blood-red crystal, its spirituality seeming ready to overflow, and the sound of its continuous beating was as powerful as a living creature's heart.

Moreover, the magical power of those petrified monsters had somehow gathered and concentrated into this blood-red crystal.

"No wonder I felt that the strength of the petrified monsters in the final battle didn't increase as freakishly; it turned out they were nurturing this eerie thing."

The Wild Rhinoceros Inner Armor on his body had long turned into dust during the battle.

At this moment, Ross shook off the armor formed by the [Hand of Vines], expelling some clothing fragments and inner armor shards.

"Phew, I can finally catch my breath. After cleaning it all up, it feels a lot lighter."

Watching the commotion of magical power continuously converging still caused Ross some unease.

"This thing clearly looks like a boss. There's no way I'm going to wait for it to finish charging; I'd have to be a fool to do that."

Thus, Ross gathered a massive amount of magical power onto his fist enhanced by the [Ghoul Body] and struck heavily against this dark red crystal.

"Boom, boom."

Accompanied by the shattering of this blood-red crystal, a majestic surge of chaotic magical power gushed out from the broken spot like a breached flood.

"Heh, this stance is like a child wetting the bed, one wave stronger than the last."

Ross's gains at this point had already exceeded his expectations, and having fought to this stage, he naturally relaxed a bit mentally.

Looking at the obvious final boss, he couldn't help but want to start saying some dirty talk.

Along with the vibration of this magical turbulence, the entire grotto experienced violent shaking, as if it could collapse at any moment.

Right in the center of this magical turbulence, a behemoth that seemed to be condensed from countless flesh appeared, completely born here like a new life.

"It seems that merely destroying the core only accelerates the descent of this flesh monster, only making the accumulation of its magical power slightly less formidable. That's already not bad."

Ross's eyes widened to their maximum; the appearance of this flesh monster was still quite shocking.

"Furthermore, this boss aggregated from countless flesh still has quite a bit of reference value. If I guess correctly, this monster should also have a petrifying hand..."

The flesh of the debuting monster at this moment was like a writhing octopus, its flesh intertwining and twisting, yet constantly assembling itself toward a humanoid shape.

Its height reached almost three stories tall, which was about five or six meters high, nearly three times taller than Ross who had activated the [Ghoul Body].

Its skin was like an ominous dark red and pale white pieced together from broken bones and organs, and the outside was covered with ferocious armor composed of things resembling bones and [Ore].

It was extremely eerie, like a pieced-together skeleton and flesh, and its way of walking went from initial writhing to stumbling around like a person.

"Hoo, sss, hoo, sss."

At this moment, this mass of flesh seemed to emit a painful and vicious sound, and Ross could feel a strand of consciousness burrowing into his mind like a venomous snake.

Although this flesh monster was not completely born, having its accumulation of magical power interrupted by Ross, even in its incomplete state, it still radiated fluctuations that made one's [Mental Energy] tremble.

It was as if it was naturally a tier higher than Ross; looking at this aggregation of flesh for too long gave one even a slight feeling of the [Soul] being sucked in.

The high walls in the grotto and the labyrinth seemed as if they had been drained dry, collapsing with a roar.

The scattered magical power wrapped around rubble and spontaneously converged toward the mass of flesh before them, forming a petrified shell that wrapped around those blood-red chunks of flesh.

Feeling the waves of magical pressure emanating from this giant petrified monster (let's call it that for now), Ross felt his scalp go numb.

A stern thought stirred in his heart: he had to finish the battle quickly and not wait for the remaining magical power of the labyrinth [Secret Realm] to continuously converge.

Otherwise, once a petrified shell as thick as rock strata formed, even with his terrifying brute strength, he feared it would be difficult to match.

By then, it would probably be a battle of attrition between both sides.

A mere scraping fight where you lose a layer of skin and I shed some fur.

The flesh-petrified monster let out a roar, raised a sharp-clawed hand covered with stones, and clenched it fiercely towards Ross from afar.

A magical power fluctuation of the [Petrification Curse] carrying the stench of the petrified monster's blood impacted Ross's body.

Ross felt as if his head had been struck with a " Buzz" sound by an iron fist, turning his vision black and causing his body to involuntarily sway and half-squat down.

He almost lost his balance.

"Phew, how strange, it can actually use witchcraft. Is it the remnant of that [First-Ring Wizard], or some mechanism of the [Secret Realm]? Such strong force and control."

If Ross weren't a wizard with magical power and didn't possess a fairly high magical resistance himself, he probably would have suffered a secret loss from that single [Petrification Curse].

He could no longer defend passively.

With a fierce glint in his eyes, Ross withstood the impact of the giant flesh-petrified monster and took the initiative to attack.

He cast [Magic Flame], gathering a massive amount of magical power.

At this moment, the fireball was the size of a human head and was continuously condensing.

Just as the fireball reached 80 centimeters in diameter, Ross roared and struck it into the monster's exposed flesh.

The magical impact and flame scorching exploded inside the giant flesh-petrified monster's body.

It let out an angry roar, and the rubble on its body surface wriggled rapidly.

The bone and stone within that flesh, mixed with magical power, quickly smoothed out the wounds.

Clearly, flames and magical power had a certain restraining effect on it, but its weaknesses were made up for by the [Petrification Curse] left behind by the [First-Ring Wizard].

However, the wounds left by the flames were not so easily dispelled.

That [Magic Flame] mixed with fire elements and [Void Realm] elements burrowed into the giant flesh-petrified monster's body like a fire snake, wreaking havoc inside the monster.

And after cracks appeared on the epidermis of the giant flesh-petrified monster due to the internal fire snake attack, Ross quickly seized the opportunity to tear open the wound.

The battle reached the most perilous stalemate phase.

Relying on his higher mobility and combat skills, Ross constantly maneuvered around this giant flesh-petrified monster—which relied on brute force and the blessing of spells on its body—and tore at its wounds.

He even swallowed the flesh of the giant flesh-petrified monster into his stomach to replenish his own consumption, wearing down its condition bit by bit.

And as the flesh inside the giant flesh-petrified monster was continuously nibbled away by Ross, the roles of hunter and prey between the two sides reversed.