258: Chapter 257 Kill them all

Everyone was filled with shock.

They all stared fixedly at Chu Xuan, who stood in the center of the hall as the Black Flame on his blade slowly dissipated, his expression remaining calm throughout.

"So fast..."

Jian Mei's pupils contracted. For her, it would also be easy to kill these guards and steel hounds, and the same went for her two teammates who excelled in close combat.

Even Huang Xiong, who focused primarily on defense, was no exception.

However, none of them could have achieved such speed; even if the four of them joined forces, it would likely have taken over twenty seconds.

Especially for those three Two-headed Steel Hounds, they would either have to be worn down slowly or killed with a heavy, vibrating blow.

Yet, Chu Xuan had killed them all in less than ten seconds.

Thud!

The large yellow shield slipped from Huang Xiong's hand and slammed heavily onto the ground. Even though it hit his foot, he seemed to have no sensation of it. He stared at Chu Xuan in the center of the field with a shocked expression, his mind buzzing.

Only one thought occupied his mind: I'm screwed.

Tang Zheng rubbed his eyes vigorously, also finding it hard to believe: "Holy crap! When did my brother start using cheats again?"

The most shocked people present, however, were Xu Shuya and Tan Ziming.

The two exchanged a look, and though they didn't speak, they were both tacitly thinking of the same thing.

Chu Xuan... he couldn't have been possessed by an S-rank Specter, could he?

Or rather, had Chu Xuan actually ceased to be the original Chu Xuan a long time ago?

Their gazes then turned toward the pile of scattered iron armor.

The corpses had vanished!

"Shuya, that Black Flame... could Director He..." Tan Ziming's legs were trembling. Just as he was about to continue, he was interrupted by Xu Shuya's stern voice.

"Shut up!"

Xu Shuya said in a low voice, "We know nothing! And we saw nothing!"

Tan Ziming's body jolted, and he nodded repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Chu Xuan felt a bit of regret in his heart.

Back on the first floor of the castle, Chen Yong had mentioned that the spirituality value obtained from killing creatures on the War Dragon Continent was far less than what they got from killing Specters in their original world.

Chu Xuan had thought that the situation regarding spirituality value acquisition might be different with the Fire of Nirvana burning, but the actual result was not so.

[You have slain a Two-headed Steel Hound:

This creature had 2 undigested points of spirituality value, which have been fully absorbed by you after being burned by the Fire of Nirvana. There were 300 points of spiritual essence remaining in the flesh of the corpse; the War Dragon Continent has forcibly reclaimed 240 points, and 24 points have been fed back to you.]

This was the gain from killing one of the Two-headed Steel Hounds.

The distribution ratio of spirituality value obtained from the Fire of Nirvana remained unchanged from the original world—still a sixty-forty split—but before that, eighty percent had been forcibly reclaimed by the War Dragon Continent.

"Different worlds, different rules, I suppose..." Chu Xuan thought pensively.

Adding it up, these eight guards and three steel hounds yielded a total of 320 points of spirituality value. Subtracting the 55 points consumed by using the Fire of Nirvana and the All-Cutting Slash,

The net profit was 265 points of spirituality value.

[Current spirituality value: 985]

"Can you lead the way now?"

Chu Xuan pulled back his thoughts, his gaze finally landing on Chen Yong.

The latter's body jolted, and he nodded hastily: "Follow me!"

The others were still in a state of shock and offered no further objections.

Chen Yong moved quickly, leading Chu Xuan forward through the labyrinthine castle. They soon encountered another four-man squad at a corner.

The two sides met abruptly, and Chu Xuan easily slaughtered them, gaining another 100 points of spirituality value.

"Go up to the fifth floor from here!"

Chen Yong walked ahead, leading the way for Chu Xuan. His demeanor was clearly quite different from before.

As they made their way along the fifth floor, Jian Mei suddenly spoke up: "A squad of about thirty people is coming from ahead, and a squad of twenty is coming up from downstairs. Let's find a room to hide in first."

As she spoke, Jian Mei pointed to a room not far away: "Let's go there. I've scouted that room and it has a secret door that leads downstairs."

Chu Xuan raised his hand and said, "No need. We'll just kill them all."

"The guards already know there's an intrusion. It's better to avoid their brunt for now; otherwise, if we get cornered here, it's over."

Jian Mei said with a grave expression, "The key to this assassination mission is still stealth. We should use our wits..."

"You're wrong. The key to this mission isn't stealth, but ensuring the King doesn't get word in advance and flee or hide."

As Chu Xuan spoke, Jian Mei looked stunned.

Right then, a large number of guards appeared from both front and back, all clad in armor. In front of them was a giant man three meters tall, powerfully built.

"Ah!! Kill them!"

The three-meter-tall giant roared, his muscles and bones swelling further. His eyes turned blood-red, his face became distorted, and fine cracks appeared across it.

In the next second, the armor around his body was completely burst open, revealing a black-red body inside that looked like flowing magma. Fine black hairs wiggled incessantly like tentacles.

"That's the Guard Captain, a creature that has already undergone weirdification! He has 65 points of strength and 60 points of agility. With the fifty percent bonus after going Berserk... his strength is nearly 98 and his agility is 90. This is not good!" Chen Yong's expression was extremely grave.

"There's no other way, I have to use that move!"

Jian Mei's expression was incredibly serious as she said to Chu Xuan, "I'm going to briefly freeze the entire area for three seconds. This is an indiscriminate attack, but I can keep one person from being affected. It'll be up to you after that, Chu Xuan. Kill that big guy first..."

"That won't be necessary."

As Chu Xuan spoke, a cloak appeared on his shoulders at some point, fluttering loudly despite the lack of wind.

The cloak was as black as ink. With Chu Xuan wearing it, even the space around him seemed to transform into a deep, dark abyss.

The castle corridor was clearly brightly lit, as bright as day, but in everyone's eyes at this moment, Chu Xuan seemed to be shrouded in a patch of darkness.

Just as those guards all went Berserk and lunged forward in a dense, hideous, and frenzied mass—

"Nightfall!"

Accompanied by the low-voiced utterance, all light within the bright, spacious corridor vanished, and a boundless darkness suddenly descended.