Chapter 409 - Special Trait of Undying Damage

Cassius pressed the tip of his foot down, driving it deep into the ground like a chisel. He suddenly leaped forward, causing the neatly paved stones of half the street behind him to flip and fold together like gray waves crammed into one another.

A black line streaked across the ground, racing straight toward the Graveyard of the Undead.

The Graveyard of the Undead was not exactly a cemetery, but rather a barren zone reminiscent of an ancient battlefield, something like a chaotic burial ground. Jagged rocks, withered trees, and dry weeds covered the earth, which was piled high with the bones of countless dark creatures. A grayish cloud of dust indicated the passage of countless years.

Amid the piles of bones, Iron Knight and Ghost-Man ran without pause, sometimes dodging left or right, or raising their weapons to block when enormous gusts surged from behind.

They had split up from Cassius, venturing into the Graveyard of the Undead alone to gather the skeletal remains. Both men were seasoned knight-level marked-ones, and with the inherent dangers of the World of Calamity, they remained constantly on guard for the dark creatures mentioned in the mission briefing. This particular type, called the Blood Massacre, must have been especially dangerous. Otherwise, Black Rain Manor would not have specifically noted it.

Thus, after entering the Graveyard of the Undead, both men suppressed their aura to the lowest possible level and moved with great caution. While searching for the required skeletal remains, they constantly watched their surroundings. After spending quite some time, they finally discovered a place densely packed with bones, where a Cataclysmic Spirit level skeleton lay in plain sight.

Ghost-Man and Iron Knight felt a hint of delight and began to dig immediately. Yet as soon as they made their first move, the bone heap before them exploded. A six-meter-tall, half-human half-wolf dark creature burst out—it was the disturbed Blood Massacre. The two men tried to fight back, but ended up fleeing with their heads bowed in retreat.

The Blood Massacre's strength was immense, and its speed was none too shabby. Moreover, it possessed multiple forms, with its speed and strength rapidly increasing as the fight went on.

When Ghost-Man and Iron Knight teamed up against it, they only managed to inflict two wounds at the very start, and that was only thanks to the weight and size of their weapons. After that, the situation quickly deteriorated. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight immediately retreated toward the small town to avoid attracting further danger.

Zing!

Ghost-Man spun suddenly and struck with a slash, his enormous black scythe whirling like a windmill. Its blade screeched across the Blood Massacre's body, throwing off a trail of sparks against its pale bone surface and producing a metallic clang.

Boom!

A heavy blow followed from the claw composed of pale bone, colliding with Ghost-Man's scythe, which he swung again. The tremendous force caused the weapon to tremble violently. Ghost-Man's arms went numb, and a wound split open between his thumb and forefinger beneath his glove.

Clang!

Iron Knight fared no better. The Blood Massacre lunged at him, sending his entire body flying over twenty meters before he landed, staggering. Threads of blood seeped through the seams of his armor, which looked like a tin can.

Ghost-Man narrowed his eyes, clearly sensing the gap in power. The Blood Massacre, as a dark creature, was no ordinary Cataclysmic Spirit level foe. It was extremely difficult to handle. The Black Rain Manor's missions in the World of Calamity were indeed far from easy.

He and Iron Knight had just started their first task and had already hit a wall. Fortunately, Ghost-Man had brought along a powerful ally.

"Wind Elephant!!!" He rolled forward to dodge the Blood Massacre's attack and darted a good distance away, then began shouting for help. His voice was loud, carrying far across the land.

The shout enraged the Blood Massacre further. It roared defiantly, sending visible fan-shaped ripples through the air. From the hollow horns atop its head, blood-red smoke billowed forth like streaming ribbons. Within a hundred-meter radius, dense mounds of bones began to exude a crimson mist.

Clearly, the Blood Massacre was about to unleash some special form or ability.

The tendrils of mist grew thicker and more numerous, forming a gigantic crimson vortex nearly a hundred meters in diameter, swirling around the Blood Massacre as if it were a ruler of this domain.

The airflow suddenly condensed, pressing inward like a liquid being forced into a smaller volume.

Boom!

Howling at the sky, the Blood Massacre was blasted away by an incredible force. Its towering six-meter frame soared through the air. The crimson currents that had gathered around it exploded on the spot, as if scattered by a hurricane.

Ghost-Man narrowed his eyes as thunderous echoes rang in his ears. Two seconds of chaos passed before he glanced into the distance. The Blood Massacre, now only five meters tall, crouched on the ground and propped itself up with one arm to stand again. The vine-like, bramble bone horns atop its head had been completely severed, meaning it could no longer use its special ability. It had even lost a full meter in height.

"Roar!!!" The Blood Massacre roared once more, targeting this comparatively small human before it. Though not even a third its size, this human had unleashed a power as colossal as a mountain. It had actually been thrown into the air with its horns forcibly ripped off. One of its arms had been shattered by that tremendous impact.

Ka-ka-ka...

A sound like grinding bones emanated from the Blood Massacre's entire body. Its injuries began to heal at a rapid pace as its arm and horns were swiftly regrowing.

Just as it was about to roar and attack the trio once again...

Bang!

Both the Blood Massacre's arms and half its body were smashed into fragments. A crimson silhouette appeared behind it with both arms slashing down like swift blades.

Zing! Zing! Zing!!!

Like a crimson spinning top, it whirled at high speed around the towering dark creature. Arms infused with second stage Death's Fang Force acted like razor-sharp turbines, shredding the Blood Massacre's body inch by inch. In just two or three seconds, the Blood Massacre's six-meter height was reduced to a mere one meter.

Its entire upper half vanished, leaving behind only a heap of pale horns.

The spinning top came to a halt, revealing Cassius's form. The move he had just used originated from a fist technique imprint in the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist trial arena. This method of continuous chopping with his hands like blades proved unexpectedly effective in certain scenarios.

Cassius lowered both arms, resting one hand atop the horns. The sixteen Southern Dipper Red Falcon acupoints activated, releasing a torrent of Death's Fang Force.

Sss...Sss...Sss...

The spiraling, disintegrating power flowed over the remnants of the Blood Massacre's body like liquid, rapidly destroying it.

However, when only half a meter remained, crimson mist surged up from beneath the graveyard. It began to slowly and laboriously restore the Blood Massacre's form.

A fierce light flashed in Cassius's eyes, and he drove the Death's Fang Force to its full strength in an instant. For three seconds, the crimson mist and the Death's Fang Force stood in stalemate, but ultimately the mist collapsed entirely. The remaining horns of the Blood Massacre disintegrated into a heap of powder.

Nearby, Ghost-Man, who had been watching from afar, breathed a sigh of relief and exchanged glances with Iron Knight. Choosing the right ally was crucial. In the World of Calamity, Cassius, with his Tower of Refuge and formidable strength, was the best possible partner.

While Iron Knight and Ghost-Man rejoiced, Cassius furrowed his brow.

The Blood Massacre was a type of dark creature born from the numerous corpses in the Graveyard of the Undead. Its power likely matched that of a veteran combat artist at his peak, which meant it was naturally no match for Cassius. Still, the creature's display of tenacious, undying resilience in its final moments left him wary. Southern Dipper Force was indeed the nemesis of immortality, but the degree of that immortality mattered.

In the real world, Cassius's Southern Dipper Force had been unstoppable, capable even of killing the Dead Blood Amalgamation of the Blood Spirit Society's president, Lotus. That Amalgamation was even slightly stronger than the Blood Massacre he had just slain.

However, that had been in the real world. Here, in the World of Calamity, pervasive calamity served as a fundamental element, greatly amplifying the undead traits of dark creatures. In other words, their inherent undead strength was meant for the World of Calamity. Dark creatures in the real world were weakened; their immortality watered down until they could be killed by humans.

When Cassius was killing the Blood Massacre, he sensed that the Death's Fang Force no longer flowed effortlessly. It struggled with a noticeable strain. Clearly, here in the World of Calamity, the second stage Southern Dipper Force might not be sufficient to handle dark creatures at the level of a peak combat artist. Although it could still restrain, suppress, and defeat them, it might fail to deliver a final blow. After all, the World of Calamity was the home turf of dark creatures.

Cassius surmised that dark creatures comparable to top-tier and extreme-level combat artists would require the third or even fourth stage Southern Dipper Force to annihilate.

As for creatures that required the fifth and sixth stages, they likely belonged to another world that Cassius couldn't reach for now.

With this in mind, Feng Liusi was truly terrifying. Even while still being a top-tier combat artist, he had already reached fifth stage Southern Dipper Force, enough to harm dark creatures above the Cataclysmic Spirit level here in the World of Calamity.

Unfortunately, his opponents were mostly combat artists from the world of Covert Martial Arts. No matter how powerful Death's Fang Force was, it could not showcase its full specialized attributes there; it could only be described as a formidable ancient first-rate Covert Martial Arts. Cassius now understood that many Southern Dipper Covert Martial Inheritances had been created by ancient sages specifically to destroy immortal dark creatures. Battling Covert Martial Arts experts was merely incidental. Their true purpose was to fight these undying dark foes to the bitter end.

"I need to hurry," Cassius thought, feeling an unexpected surge of urgency. "Sixteen acupoints have been activated, and I still need six more for the third stage."

He sensed vaguely that as a descendant of the Southern Dipper lineage, he would one day face these dark creatures head-on. When that time came, higher-level Southern Dipper Force would be his only true reliance.

His thoughts shifted, and Cassius felt a renewed desire for the platinum sacred marks. Born of the Blood of the Living, they might offer transformations to the Southern Dipper Forces. If Death's Fang Force were to fuse with Reverberating Force, wouldn't that stack four special traits? Such a fusion might bring about a change in killing these undying foes.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

In the upper right corner of his field of vision, he observed the technique status panel.

[Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist: Death's Fang Force, Second Stage (16/66)]

[Attributes: Spiral, Decomposition]

[Initial Stage of Undying Damage: By employing these extreme dual attributes, it erodes the immortal core of dark creatures, even allowing temporary resistance against creatures of the Endless Calamity...]

Cassius glanced again at the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist. Apart from having its attributes replaced by explosive shockwaves, there were no substantial differences. Unlike standard Covert Martial Arts, these two Southern Dipper fist techniques had no percentages, only six distinct stages. In other words, their progression was tied directly to the number of Southern Dipper acupoints opened.

Shifting his focus inward, he assessed the state of his own body.

Cataclysmic Spirit level life vibration energy: 6 from the Lord of Ashes + 1 from the Toxic Smoke Giant + 1 from the Blood Massacre.

He had accumulated eight strands now, but Cassius did not feel satisfied. Considering how the Golem Covert Martial Arts would become more difficult later on, he likely needed about eighty in total.

Five minutes later, guided by Cassius, Ghost-Man and Iron Knight returned to the small town to rest. They discussed at length and concluded that their earlier encounter was simply bad luck. Not every pile of Cataclysmic Spirit level remains would conceal a Blood Massacre. If that were the case, since Black Rain Manor's task required collecting at least ten and up to fifty such bones, wouldn't that mean there were fifty Blood Massacres lurking in the Graveyard of the Undead?

Clearly, that was impossible.

Half an hour later, Cassius emerged from the training arena and headed back to the Graveyard of the Undead with Ghost-Man and Iron Knight. Unexpectedly, their misfortune struck again: two more burial mounds they dug into unleashed Blood Massacres.

The first time wasn't so bad. Cassius, quick-eyed and merciless, severed the creature's neck before it could react.

As for the second time, he used Death's Fang Force only after a brutal beating to forcibly execute the second Blood Massacre. This time, the commotion of battle was too great. Two more emerged from the surrounding burial mounds, making three Blood Massacres in total. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight wisely ran far away, doing their best not to become burdens.

Cassius fought one against three, eventually exhausting his Death's Fang Force. Mid-battle, he switched to Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist, using the explosive power of Reverberating Force to decisively end the conflict. After a fierce struggle, Cassius had spent over one-third of his Qi, and a moderate wound now marred his shoulder.

However, the gains were significant.

Both the Southern Dipper Red Falcon Fist and the Southern Dipper Sonic Snake Fist each activated one more acupoint, bringing both up to seventeen. In addition, he gained four strands of life vibration energy from the Blood Massacres. Though their strengths varied slightly, they were mostly on par with veteran combat artists. Their quality was clearly superior to that of the Lord of Ashes.

With five Blood Massacres now slain in the Graveyard of the Undead, they had completed half of Black Rain Manor's task. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight searched a nearby area and found six other spots containing Cataclysmic Spirit level remains. This time, no Blood Massacres emerged, indicating that all in this vicinity had been dealt with. The others must have been lurking further away.

The group made a brief stop in the small town and decided to head back.

First, more than half the daytime had passed; delaying further would mean facing the perilous Blood Night. Second, all three were injured to some extent, with Cassius as the main combatant having spent the most energy and needing rest. Third, they had obtained eleven Cataclysmic Spirit level remains, meeting the task's minimum requirement.

After a brief rest, Cassius memorized the town's location. When departing, he assumed his Golem form to lead the two men safely back.

Since they had traveled the route before, the return trip went smoothly.

Before the Blood Night descended, the trio reached the Tower of Refuge, expelling the calamity from their bodies. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight departed through the tunnel. Cassius, on the other hand, used the Mark of the Spirit Bearer to return directly to the real world.

He opened his eyes to find the pale morning light spreading across the hospital bed.

Sensing his surroundings, he noted that Claire's aura was absent. It seemed she had been summoned back to the Dark Hunter Organization's headquarters and had not yet returned. The timing was perfect.

While traversing hundreds of miles across the land's mountains and streams, Cassius had encountered many dark creatures along the way even though he hadn't gone out of his way to hunt. Whenever he deemed them worthy, he slew them on the spot. One such example was the iron-armored centipede by the flame river.

As a result, he had accumulated a considerable amount of Savage Beast level life vibration energy, enough to begin attempting a physical breakthrough to become a combat artist!

Having gone through it once before, Cassius knew it would be a matter of course...