Chapter 682 - Mastermind of the Giants

The Shadow of the Giant Wood Village was the first to respond. “I give up!”

Han Wu’s power had convinced him completely. At the same time, he was proud of Han Wu. In his mind, Han Wu still belonged to the Giant Wood Village, and he could become the new Shadow with his new strength. In that case, there was no harm in stepping aside for him.

The others soon followed, and Han Wu took note of them. Almost everyone surrendered, though a few still hesitated out of stubborn pride.

Han Wu looked at the three powerful ninjas. “You three. Will you surrender or resist?”

Given their auras, he could tell they were Sages, stronger even than the Shadows. None of them wanted to live under another’s command.

“Why must we surrender?” one of them asked. “Can’t we cooperate?”

“No, you are too weak,” Han Wu said bluntly.

The Sage’s expression darkened with anger. He had expected Han Wu to show him some leniency. Instead, Han Wu rejected him outright.

“Toad Sage, only weaklings would cooperate. Beasts stand on their own.” Another Sage chuckled and looked at Han Wu. “I am the White Scale Sage and will choose to resist. Let’s see what you can do to me.”

The moment he finished speaking, the Origin of Mutation disappeared from Han Wu’s side and reappeared beside the White Scale Sage. It drove a powerful kick into him and sent him flying.

The White Scale Sage laughed. “I wondered how strong you might be. It seems that you’re just bluffing.”

Everyone soon saw why. The White Scale Sage was covered in white scales, and his form bent and flexed as if he had no skeleton. His soft body absorbed the Origin of Mutation's powerful kick without suffering any damage.

The display gave the other two stubborn Sages a glimmer of hope. Even some of the ninjas who had already surrendered started to doubt themselves. They looked up at the massive black water serpent circling in the sky, and it no longer seemed as scary. Some even suspected that they were trapped in a Genjutsu and frantically tried to break free.

The Origin of Mutation chuckled. "Don't celebrate too early. You only survived one hit."

As it spoke, something appeared in its hand. It was a scale that had fallen off the White Scale Sage during the earlier kick.

The White Scale Sage's expression darkened like that of a venomous snake. "Your strength was only enough to break one of my scales."

The Origin of Mutation smiled, placed the scale in its mouth, and activated Gene Lock. Scales identical to the White Scale Sage's spread across its body, and the energy it radiated matched the Sage’s exactly. If anything, it felt slightly stronger.

The White Scale Sage assumed it was merely some powerful transformation technique and even mocked, "You think that looking like me means you can beat me? Dream on!"

"Beating you in this form does seem a bit difficult," the Origin of Mutation mumbled.

Then every white scale suddenly turned black. It activated Controlled Mutation and strengthened its frame without consuming its life expectancy. In this black-scale form, the Origin of Mutation became three to four times stronger than before.

The White Scale Sage sensed the danger immediately. Fear crept into his heart, and he started to search for a way to retreat without losing face.

Unfortunately for him, the Origin of Mutation had no intention of wasting time talking. It moved instantly and shattered the White Scale Sage's body with a single punch. Three punches later, the White Scale Sage was dead. Even someone as strong as him couldn't survive more than three seconds against the Origin of Mutation in its black-scale form.

Han Wu addressed the ninjas once more. "Who will submit, and who will resist?"

At that moment, no ninja dared to consider resistance. After all, the White Scale Sage, who had tried moments earlier, still lay there; his corpse hadn’t even grown cold yet.

Han Wu nodded with satisfaction. Even though the ninjas were already in a very weak position, they were still part of the Giant Shadow Civilization.

He had just secured the area and intended to confront the giants next when a thick layer of storm clouds rolled in from the distance. Steam billowed beneath them in such dense waves that it changed the sky’s color. Meanwhile, lightning flashed with terrifying force, as though the end of the world were approaching.

The Shadow of the Giant Wood Village rushed forward and explained, "The giants are provoking us again. They want to lure us out and wipe us all out. Hanwu, don't fall for it!"

"The giants? I was just about to go find them. They're coming to us now, which actually saves me a lot of time," Han Wu said with excitement.

He ignored the Shadow's warnings and appeared on the path where thousands of giants advanced. Towering figures marched straight into the sea. Their frames burned with such intense heat that the surrounding water boiled, killing vast numbers of sea creatures. Even those that weren't cooked alive soon disappeared beneath the thick clouds of steam rising from the heat.

Under those dark clouds, bolts of lightning formed and crashed down in relentless waves that destroyed every living thing in their path.

Han Wu couldn't help but feel impressed by the spectacle. He had to admit that it looked even more intimidating than his own entrance.

As he watched, a bolt of lightning struck him directly. Han Wu, however, remained completely unharmed.

This outcome seemed to anger the mastermind. They began controlling the clouds and summoned them above Han Wu. Moments later, thousands of lightning bolts rained down upon him.

The mastermind clearly intended to strike Han Wu down. Yet not a single bolt wounded him. Instead, Han Wu activated Conversion and shaped the lightning bolts into a massive hand.

"You want to strike me down? Then prepare to be crushed instead," Han Wu said in a low voice.

His words seemed to resonate through their souls and reach every living creature's ears.

𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Han Wu then swung the giant lightning hand and crushed the powerful Sundering giants one after another.

Lightning fell even faster, yet none of it affected him. He had Conversion, so all energy-based attacks were useless against him.

After collecting a large portion of the energy, he condensed it into a hundred-meter-tall lightning giant modeled after the giants themselves. As it moved, it crushed several Sundering giants on the spot.

The mastermind hiding in the rear could no longer hold back and stepped out.

Han Wu froze when he saw the other party—the mastermind was himself!