Ultragene Warlord

"Who do you think will win?" one of the spectators asked.

"Who else?" A hunter rolled his eyes. "We have to believe in Zhang Lie, or we'll all die!"

"But his opponent's the sura king! Even the governor was unable to survive more than a single blow with him. Could Zhang Lie win?"

"I know it's unlikely that he'll be able to do so, but what can we do but cheer for him?"

Someone suddenly shouted, "Zhang Lie, keep it up!"

"Zhang Lie, you can't lose!"

Indeed, what else could they do? They were powerless to help in a fight of this magnitude.

The sura king rushed out of the tablets' range. His fists were caked with crystalline blood as he made to strike Zhang Lie down with a punch.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" Zhang Lie met the sura king's punch with one of his own, summoning a horde of black dragons to combat the sura king's blood sea.

The sura king waved his fists madly despite all the black dragons striking his body, laughing as he fought. "Haha, this is exhilarating! It's been so long since I last felt the fun of combat."

Zhang Lie activated his forest wolfman and blood ant soulshards simultaneously, turning into a blood-colored wolfman. His black dragons shone with an eerie red light as they bit at the sura king's body.

The sura king was forced back with a large number of wounds all over his body. He licked the blood from his lips. "Again! More!"

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Venombane shuddered as even more dragons shot out from the blade, which the sura king sent reeling with a few strikes from his palm. The shockwaves that resulted from the confrontation were so intense that they even caused cracks to appear on the city walls on impact.

Zhang Lie slashed apart the sea of blood and launched an attack straight at the sura king. The sura king roared in anger as he punched back in retaliation, causing the entire city of Qi to shudder.

Sun Mengmeng turned around from where she stood on the ramparts of Qi. "You can do it, Captain!"

A long, frightening gash snaked up the sura king's arm from his palm all the way to his shoulder. Beads of blood quivered on Venombane; the previous confrontation had gone in Zhang Lie's favor.

The sura king narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Zhang Lie. How long had it been since he last encountered a fighter of this caliber? He even felt as though his life might be in danger! The sura king licked his lips again. "You're amazing. I'll definitely make you my concubine!"

"Sorry, but I'm not interested! [The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Venombane struck once more.

With a wave of his hand, the sura king blocked Zhang Lie's attack with a bloody wall of water. The blood dragon broke through the wall, but by the time it did so, the sura king was long gone.

Zhang Lie frowned. "So the sura king also turns tail like a coward."

"Oh, I'm just making a few preparations!" The sura king extended a palm as a murky mass appeared from within the depths of the blood sea. A pitch-black creature slowly emerged, with growths that looked partially like beasts and partially like humans.

The sura king explained, "The sura are a very interesting race. Not only can they acquire genetic fragments by slaughtering other lifeforms, they can even absorb their soul fragments and nurture them in their soulspace."

The creature seemed to be composed of thousands of these warped spirits, a malevolent aura seeping out of it as the spirits cried out,

"Kill me!"

"Kill me!"

"Kill me!"

"Please, kill me!"

"I don't want to be tortured any longer!"

As the sura king pressed his palm down, a bloody flower grew out of the garish creature's mouth, resplendent in carmine. Its color was even more vibrant than blood. The longer one looked at it, the more one felt a desire to reach out toward it.

Zhang Lie recognized it immediately. "A red spider lily!"

All across the sea of blood, red spider lilies sprouted and bloomed, turning the battlefield into a veritable field of flowers.

However, none of the hunters watching felt anything but disgust at the sight. Each flower represented a wretched soul that the sura king had absorbed and sentenced to torture for oblivion—these lilies consumed the soul as nourishment and grew on the corpses of the dead!

The sura king continued mournfully, "Each of these lilies was born from one of my concubines, as well as those humans I found an affinity with. Unfortunately, my dear Musi Yu was unable to find a respite here."

Zhang Lie felt chills making their way up his body. Those terrified, haunted souls were all men whom the sura king had raped to death! He shuddered at the thought. The sura king was far more perverted than he had realized.

"I-I can't believe it. This is revolting!"

"You have to admit that this sort of thing grants the sura king immense strength, though. By torturing these men and beasts, he can make use of their souls to increase his own strength."

"What will we do if Zhang Lie can't bring him down? He's repulsive, but he's ridiculously strong!"