Chapter 155: Steel Cataclysm (12)

The sandstorm on the first layer had not yet dissipated. The metallic gorilla sat among the gravel in the large basin, chewing on Mohr. Its steel-like teeth crunched down so fiercely that Mohr was left unable to even curse.

Just at that moment, a surging torrent of metal rushed in from the entrance!

Large masses of liquid metal accumulated unnaturally on the slopes of the basin, forming a bizarre metallic clump that resembled a slime.

The metallic clump squirmed unceasingly, and the movement grew increasingly violent as massive metal bubbles continually swelled up and deflated.

The metallic gorilla stood up. Naturally, it knew what this thing was, and what was contained within it, for it was itself one of the avatars of that pseudo-king-tier entity.

Boom!

A massive metal bubble burst with a deafening sound, and a figure shot into the sky. It was none other than the powerhouse from the Pioneer vanguard unit sent to protect Zhao Tianhe and the others—the nameless, long-haired, burly gorilla!

His body was covered in various broken metallic barbs and blades, and several barbed metal tentacles were wrapped tightly around his arms and legs.

A multitude of metal tentacles pursued the burly gorilla, constantly extending. He could only continuously stomp on the air to accelerate his escape.

After revealing its true form, this pseudo-king-tier entity had surged in power. Having trapped the burly gorilla within its body, it was now capable of piercing his outer physical defense.

"This monster is a complete counter to me!" The fur all over the burly gorilla's body stood on end, and his entire frame appeared to swell to more than double its size.

A ring of brilliant starlight slowly dispersed. This was another trump card of the pseudo-king-tier liquid metal monster: microscopic metal creature infiltration attacks.

Hundreds of millions of microscopic metal creatures, measuring only a few micrometers or even nanometers, were the true culprits behind tearing open the burly gorilla's defense!

The burly gorilla stood in mid-air, a pair of metallic gauntlets materializing over his fists, while a dense, fully enclosed set of plate armor covered his body.

He had been careless earlier and had failed to materialize his own equipment.

Although even when manifested, his equipment would not boost his attributes or baseline defense, a metal surface still provided much tighter protection than mere pores.

"Did this monster previously disguise itself and trade blows with me head-on just to drain my stamina? In truth, the damage physical attacks can inflict on it is extremely limited." The burly gorilla discerned the true specialty of the liquid metal monster, and waves of intense heat began to surge from his fists...

The burly gorilla himself lacked magical attack methods, but his equipment certainly did not.

His meticulously crafted +10 S-grade gauntlets possessed an active skill capable of converting physical damage into elemental attacks.

With a simultaneous swing of both arms, torrents of fist-shaped roaring flames blasted toward the liquid metal monster. The scorching temperature and powerful force field shattered and melted the pursuing tentacles.

His formidable punch strength was largely converted into blazing heat. The microscopic metal creatures and tentacles, being too small in volume, were directly melted and decomposed, unable to return to the entity's body. If the liquid metal monster dared to split itself apart to release those microscopic metal creatures again, the burly gorilla wouldn't mind treating it to a cremation.

Sensing a crisis, the liquid metal monster began to contract its body and alter its structure.

At the same time, it sensed that there was still another avatar of considerable strength remaining on the first layer.

Therefore, to prevent this fragile avatar from being pointlessly destroyed, it decided to absorb it back into its main body.

Seeing those golden runes flying into its own body, the metallic gorilla felt an ominous foreboding. It wanted to shout that it must not be absorbed, but the problem was that it still had Mohr stuffed in its mouth; the moment it opened its mouth, that fellow would jab its throat with a spiked club!

Pity the metallic gorilla—it did not possess the master body's ability to effortlessly sprout tentacles and mouths from thousands of avatars. It could only reach out with its hand to pull Mohr out in order to warn the main body.

However, the moment it pulled Mohr out and opened its mouth to speak, its body dissolved into liquid metal...

"Pissed to the point of dissolving?" Mohr stared blankly at the pool of liquid metal flowing toward the main body.

Yet, through the sandstorm, he quickly caught sight of that massive lump of liquid metal and the countless fist-shaped roaring flames.

"Reinforcements have finally arrived." Mohr waved his hands excitedly. "Big boss, carry me! Let me touch it twice! Pull me into the party mode!"

The burly gorilla's perception attributes were not low, so he naturally heard Mohr's voice. After pondering for a moment, he used the adventurer system to search for nearby companions and added Mohr to the party.

"Aren't you Zhao Tianhe or Tianxie?" The burly gorilla had never even heard of someone named Mohr on this trip.

For no other reason than that the staff who dispatched the burly gorilla to the rescue were well aware of the capabilities of each member of this designated sealing squad, they simply couldn't be bothered to brief him about a monster like Mohr, who refused to die and couldn't be smashed to pieces.

Nevertheless, unaware of the truth, the burly gorilla had no intention of letting this fellow perish. While maintaining his offensive, he began to pivot his body with the intent of protecting him.

On the other side, the liquid metal monster's body began to rapidly transform, its surface structure reorganizing at the molecular level to become more heat-resistant and impact-resistant, forming a sturdy metallic shell.

This thick metal shell effectively withstood the burly gorilla's flaming fists, preventing its body from being easily melted and decomposed by the high temperature.

The liquid metal dissolved from the metallic gorilla merged into its body at this exact moment.

When the main body of the liquid metal monster reabsorbed the body of its avatar, it would simultaneously retrieve its memories and consciousness. However, the consciousness of the main body was thoroughly tempered and extremely resilient, not easily falling into chaos over something like absorbing memories—just as it had instantly absorbed hundreds of avatars on the island previously.

After all, these avatars were merely ordinary monsters created by absorbing the dungeon for less than a day; what kind of earth-shattering experiences could they possibly have had?

Yet, the one it was absorbing right now genuinely possessed an "extraordinary" experience!

The fury ignited by Mohr's taunting talent was practically tens of times more ferocious than all imaginable hatreds combined—such as the extermination of one's clan, the killing of one's kin, cuckoldry, and ranked match teammates going AFK!

One had to bear in mind that it had nearly wrecked its own body just because it exerted too much force during its attack!

That wrath, which could not be washed clean by the waters of the Five Lakes and Four Great Oceans, poured into the consciousness of the liquid metal monster like a bucket of ink...

"What the hell is this?! Sh*t?!" Mohr stared at the current appearance of the liquid metal monster and froze.

That hardened, lumpy mass of bulk truly did not look very aesthetically pleasing.

"Hey! Get your ass over here! That thing is..." The burly gorilla felt his heart burn with extreme anxiety at Mohr's behavior, assuming the fellow was courting death...

Hearing Mohr's voice, the liquid metal monster instantly boiled over with rage!

"Go to hell!!!!!!!!!"

Its hardened shell instantly transformed into dozens of spiked meteor hammers of varying sizes, which violently shot outward and smashed Mohr into the ground!

Not only that, the liquid metal monster threw its entire weight down, completely trapping Mohr within its body!

"Damn it! Even if you're looking for death, you don't do it like this?!" The burly gorilla felt his scalp tingle at the sight. He had just experienced what it felt like to be locked in the liquid metal monster's solitary confinement room, and a severely grave question suddenly struck him. 'Wait! Why does this monster seem to harbor such intense hatred toward him?! Furthermore, he's still not dead!'

Once part of a party, as long as teammates were not too far apart, they could view each other's general status—values such as health and mana ratios.

At this moment, the burly gorilla wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

For he saw Mohr's health points continuously fluctuating up and down. Initially, the lowest point had even dropped below 30%, but it quickly rebounded to 50%, and then the fluctuations grew smaller and smaller, never dropping below 50% again.

"Right, this team is the designated sealing squad." The burly gorilla was no fool; he quickly deduced the crux of the matter. "This guy is a top-tier defensive talent! Though I'm not entirely sure what's going on, he must be an undying-level monster!"

Since someone had drawn the monster's aggro, the burly gorilla naturally would not let his sacrifice go to waste!

"Burst forth!" The burly gorilla crossed his arms, and a massive, hazy phantom of a giant ape materialized behind him!

"Great... Ape... King..." The burly gorilla slowly drew back his right fist. His entire right arm took on a crystalline, glowing hue, as though it were a work of art sculpted from the finest jade. However, the astonishing power and thermal energy contained within it caused the liquid metal monster below to snap back to its senses with a jolt...

The liquid metal monster hurriedly launched dozens of missiles composed of microscopic metal creatures toward the burly gorilla, attempting to force him to retract his move.

Yet, everything was already too late.

"Fist!"

Boom!

The hundreds-of-meters-tall giant ape phantom struck out with a punch in response. But the problem was that the phantom's crimson-red fist was no longer an illusion; it was a solid, locomotive-sized iron fist!

Dozens of metal missiles bearing the brunt were crushed into pancakes by the terrifying sheer force, then melted into a liquid, evenly smeared across the fist, and rapidly vaporized.

The massive fist, wreathed in crimson metal vapor, smashed heavily into the liquid metal monster, driving it deep into the earth.

Countless bottomless ravines spread across the entire first layer, and surging flames erupted from within them!

Mohr had originally adapted to the liquid metal monster's microscopic attack methods and was attempting to struggle free, but the metallic mass above his head suddenly grew red and blindingly bright.

"What in the..." Mohr had just felt a sense of foreboding and raised his head when a massive torrent of molten steel poured straight down over him. Following that, terrifying brute force and thermal energy surged over, driving both him and the liquid metal monster deep into the subterranean depths...

"Damn, things are getting fierce up there!"

On the second layer of the dungeon, Tianxie looked up at the fractured rock strata overhead and the roaring flames gushing out, looking rather astonished.

"What's the situation? The thickness of that rock layer is over three hundred meters!" Zhao Tianhe gazed at the spectacle, even subconsciously comparing it against the full version of Excalibur, estimating the power to be roughly equivalent.

On the first layer, the burly gorilla hovered in mid-air, watching Mohr's health bar drop below 20% before surging back up again. He finally set his mind at ease.

"Good, good. As expected of a designated sealing operative; he won't die that easily." The burly gorilla descended toward the impact point with a smile, intending to look for Mohr and pull him out.