BXBX NOVEL Chapter 43: Endgame
Charles extded his left hand,, as a crimson ergy began to slowly coalesce within his grasp.
Before long, this ergy formed into a black sphere. The sphere appeared profoundly deep, almost as if it compassed the tirety of darkness.
"The farce should come to an d, and the spoils should be claimed by the ultimate victor." Charles murmured softly.
Subsequtly, the black sphere, which had gathered its ergy from blood, floated slowly above Louis\'s head.
In the next instant, the battlefield, like a gruesome meat grinder, began to exude the stch of blood, all of which was drawn towards the black sphere.
The deceased Zerg and coalition forces gradually transformed into ghastly skeletons, presting a terrifying spectacle.
Nearly over six thousand life essces, their blood, were slowly channeled from the black sphere atop the high platform, streaming tirely into Louis\'s body.
Buzzing sounds echoed...
Countless blood ergies converged into Louis, who writhed and struggled incessantly on the g.
From mid-tier of the third rank... to high-tier of the third rank... and finally elevating his combat strgth to the lower-tier of the fourth rank!
The terrifying sse of oppression caused everyone, except Charles, to wear a grave expression. Little Gre, the Zerg hero who had yet to fully master his own powers, was nearly crushed under the immse pressure.
As Medusa had once remarked, the progression from the first to the third rank is a matter of quantitative accumulation, requiring continual consolidation of systemic ergy in a certain sse.
The fourth rank, however, is a watershed, a qualitative leap.
"It\'s merely the fourth rank. How dare you try to suppress my sisters?" Medusa\'s cold snort instantly dispelled the oppressive force, making it vanish without a trace.
Having once reached the sevth rank, she was adept at dissipating such oppressive forces.
"Master, I believe we have succeeded. This can be considered the first fourth-rank warrior we\'ve crafted with our own hands." Catherine remarked with admiration as she looked at the figure shrouded in deep crimson, clicking her tongue in amazemt.
The concept of the Bloodthirsty Zerg was no secret, the heroes all understood its purpose.
However, knowing about it was one thing, while witnessing it ascd to the fourth rank through the aura of slaughter and the stch of blood on the battlefield was quite another.
"After all, it is the essce of thousands of life forms. I believe our research on the Bloodthirsty Zerg can be further refined. You all could also use this method to quickly break through to the fourth rank." Charles said with a smile, his tone tinged with a hint of stimt.
The essce of over six thousand lives, forged into a guinely lower-tier fourth-rank tity, was indeed a remarkable achievemt.
Catherine was not surprised by his words. After all, her master had previously mtioned that the Bloodthirsty Zerg was a significant breakthrough point for their hero units. It was now merely confirmed that this path was viable.
Sigh, looks like she\'ll be working overtime again.
Suddly, a subtle smile curled the corners of Catherine\'s lips. "Oh, it seems our little darling is somewhat rebellious~"
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze toward the blood-red clock, focusing on the coalition leader who was siltly rising—Louis.
The wounds on his body had be completely healed by the blood ergy, and the aura emanating from him was as nauseating as a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
A fourth-rank warrior, capable of breaking through this clock.
But it wasn\'t ough, he needed more blood ergy!
With bloodshot eyes, Louis cautiously eyed the four figures in the distance, the malice and fury within him continuously simmering.
Just wait. Once his fourth-rank power stabilized, he would personally tormt them to death!
All for... revge for that girl, for retribution against the coalition that had be reduced to mere bones!
Fearing that his adversaries might detect his inttions and act prematurely, Louis feigned madness—laughing one momt, crying the next. Charles and the others, however, were more than happy to let him absorb ergy in peace.
After all, no matter how powerful he became, this amount of blood ergy wouldn\'t allow him to break through to the next rank.
And as for lower-tier fourth-rank combat strgth, they had plty of that!
About twty minutes later, the slaughter on the battlefield had completely ceased.
The ferocious Zerg warriors let out a collective roar toward the heavs, th fell silt, immobile in their places. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but ghastly remains, the coalition\'s tire army and their Overlords had all perished here.
And these more than two thousand second-rank combat units had only managed to take down over two hundred Zerg warriors, all of which were merely mid-tier second rank, of them high-tier.
Hceforth, the Overlord coalition was utterly eradicated.
Within the blood-red clock, Louis had absorbed all the blood ergy, thoroughly stabilizing his combat strgth at the lower-tier of the fourth rank.
It was time for revge!
"Number One, your greatest failure was leaving behind someone like me—a soul consumed by the flames of vgeance!" Louis shouted, swinging his blood-imbued great sword with ferocity.
In an instant, the blood-red clock shattered, and the viscous blood slowly poured over Louis\'s face.
A look of nostalgia crossed Louis\'s face, momtarily quelling the flames of his vgeance.
He murmured quietly, seemingly offering prayers for the fall, for only by doing so could he use this power with a clear conscice.
Only th... could he formally declare war on Number One in the name of the flames of revge, and drive his blood-red sword into Charles\'s chest!
"The time for remembrance has passed. You should speak your last words, Louis." Charles said, his face impassive and his tone devoid of any emotion, as he looked at the motionless Louis.
Hearing this, Louis slowly picked up the blood-red sword embedded in the g and abruptly drove it into Charles\'s chest.
The speed of a fourth-rank warrior was indeed astonishing, piercing Charles\'s chest before Medusa could ev react.
"How dare you! You wretched tainted blood, go to die!" Medusa instantly transformed into a massive purple serpt, simultaneously summoning the power of the Bloodthirsty Zerg to attain lower-tier fourth-rank strgth.
"Master!" Little Gre and Catherine\'s faces turned ash. They were too weak, unable ev to see Louis\'s movemts!
"Hahaha! So, this is all you amount to, Number One? In the d, you were easily slain by me!" Louis\'s eyes were ablaze with bloodlust as he laughed maniacally.
In the eyes of others, Louis might very well have appeared as nothing short of a madman.
What puzzled him, however, was that although he had driv his great sword into Charles\'s chest, he had not extracted any of blood ergy.
No...no, something was wrong!
Not only had he failed to draw out Charles\'s blood ergy, but why was his own power diminishing?
What in the world was going on...
"Heh, pondering why you hav\'t drained my blood ergy?" Charles chuckled, gtly caressing the blood-imbued greatsword, appearing utterly at ease.
He continued, "Before you start pondering that question, you might want to consider something more important."
"And that is... who do you think granted you this cheat-like ability to grow stronger through slaughter?"
This statemt caused Louis\'s pupils to contract slightly. He stared in horror at the young man before him, who wore a faint smile.
Could it be...
As if drawn to each other, Charles merely raised his hand slightly, and Louis\'s body was involuntarily lifted into the air.
The three wom looked on with worry as they used a special technique to remove the great sword, which bore not a drop of blood. The blood-red patterns on the blade glowed faintly.
"Well...all of this...it\'s your doing...my power..." Louis struggled continuously in the air, realizing that he couldn\'t muster any of his fourth-rank strgth.
If, earlier, he could at least retaliate with mid-tier second-rank power, now, before Charles, he was no differt from an ordinary person before arriving in the Contint of Overlord.
Charles smiled warmly and nodded, not intding to conceal the truth: "This outcome was decided days ago in the coalition\'s camp. You should still have some memory of that."
Upon hearing this, Louis\'s gaze grew unfocused, recalling the remnants of the forces that had escaped just a few days prior. So that\'s how it was...
Seeing Louis lost in thought, Charles shook his head slightly. He had no habit of sparing his emies, but there was something he needed to retrieve first.
"Come forth, Bloodthirsty Zerg, and don\'t ev think of resisting my will." Charles murmured softly.
Soon, Louis\'s tire face contorted grotesquely, as if he were undergoing some unimaginable tormt.
A blood-red glow flickered a his abdom, fluctuating in intsity as it roamed through Louis\'s body.
Heart...liver...kidneys—the organs were being devoured one by one by some terrifying presce, and Louis\'s once macing gaze gradually dulled.
His life was nearing its d.
Splat!
He spat out a mouthful of blood, followed by fragmts of his disintegrated organs.
After a series of insect-like hums, the blood-red, horrifying insect slowly crawled onto Charles\'s hand, appearing unusually docile.
"What...is it called?" Louis asked in a hoarse voice.
"Bloodthirsty Zerg." Charles replied coolly.