Liliath VS Forbidden King Karrot

[Chapter 3 is here... This is a bonus chapter for August.]

On the arena, Liliath's pupils suddenly turned gold.

The moment Karrot's gaze met Lilia's, his eyes glazed over. In the next instant, he was pulled into an illusion by Liliath. Although Karrot was strong in Combat Strength, his soul strength was not far inferior to Liliath's.

On the arena, the scene suddenly changed.

A 3D projection appeared above the two figures on the arena. This 3D projection was a projection of the illusion created by Liliath.

In this arena, everyone's existence is actually a projection of their spiritual bodies, so the arena's system can detect any fluctuations in these spiritual bodies. Using technology, reconstructing brainwaves into images is not a difficult task in this era.

However, this equipment is quite expensive. Therefore, only Number One Arena on each floor has it installed.

In Liliath's previous matches against other opponents, most people only saw the result of their defeats, not the process. But this time, many will finally be able to see what the illusion created by Liliath really looks like.

The two on the stage had stopped moving, but the scene above their heads was slowly becoming clearer.

In the scene, Karrot is looking around, seemingly encountering an illusionist like Liliath for the first time.

And everyone else also saw his surroundings.

It was a canyon surrounded by rocky mountains, and the roads inside were winding and labyrinthine.

Karrot stood still, not making a move. As a child, he often went hunting in the mountains and forests, knowing that familiarity with the environment was crucial in unknown places.

It was nighttime, and the canyon was pitch black. This environment instilled a sense of unease in many of the spectators. As a philosopher once said, the unknown is the source of fear. No one knew what would happen next in this canyon.

Suddenly, a cool breeze arose, carrying with it a faint rustling sound from afar. The sound resembled the sluggish treading of a heavy beetle on dry leaves.

Hearing that sound, Gu Ding and his group roughly guessed what Liliath's illusion was related to. They had often heard that sound in the Oul Ruins; it was the sound of insectoids crawling.

On the projected screen, the sound grew closer, and soon, the first Zergling appeared before everyone's eyes.

It was a Black-Toothed Blade Beetle, nearly four meters long, with a pair of sharp wing armor and hundreds of sharp, terrifying black teeth.

This insect was exactly the same as the one that Gu Ding encountered in the Oul Ruins, with almost no difference whatsoever.

Many viewers of this match had never seen the Zerg before. Watching the terrifying insectoid beasts appear, and with each close-up shot, many felt a chill run down their spines.

Of course. To deal with a powerful opponent like Karrot, Liliath would not simply deploy one insect.

As the first insectoid beast appeared, the second and third continued to crawl from all around the mountain wall toward Karrot's location.

When everyone counted them, there were over a hundred of them, and they couldn't help but feel worried for Karrot.

A few people had seen this kind of insectoid beast before. They knew it was a three-star level beast, with Combat Strength roughly equivalent to Four-Star Low-rank God. With over a hundred of them appearing at once, even a typical Five-Star Low-rank God would only be able to flee for their life.

The swarm of insects quickly surrounded Karrot, but Karrot showed no sign of panic. His black hair instantly turned blood red, and his entire body grew nearly a head and a half taller. His previously thin frame seemed to be filled with something, becoming muscular and bulging. In just a few seconds, the once frail boy had transformed into a muscular, robust man.

Everyone who witnessed this change was somewhat surprised. Even Gu Ding and the others were seeing this for the first time. They knew that this must be the Combat Strength- boosting effect that the Sea Emperor had mentioned earlier.

After activating the Combat Strength boost effect, Karrot's Combat Strength soared to the level of One-Star Mid-rank God. To him, these insect beasts were nothing more than ants.

As the first insectoid beast lunged at Karrot moved. Bare-handed, he unleashed a powerful punch. A spiraling force rippled outwards, easily piercing the insectoid beast, yet the Spiral Qi Strength continued to penetrate its body, tearing it to shreds.

"Hiss..." A gasp of astonishment came from the crowd.

They had initially thought that with Liliath's illusion, even if Karrot possessed some real strength, he probably wouldn't be able to hold out for long. But Karrot's actions this time completely overturned many people's previous opinions of him. Even just one insect beast of this level would likely be unstoppable by more than 80% of those watching the match.

After annihilating the first insectoid beast with a single blow, Karrot finally entered true combat mode. His movements were fluid and agile, like Monkey swinging among tree branches. Each flash of his body claimed the life of an insectoid beast.

The attack movements seemed effortless, leaving onlookers in awe.

"His movement and attack power are both very well controlled. This guy is really strong." Even Gu Ding couldn't help but nod.

In less than three minutes, hundreds of insect beasts were completely slaughtered.

Many people then realized that the new sniper chosen by the system was not a rookie, but a terrifyingly strong individual with real ability to participate in the challenge.

The first wave of insects was wiped out, which Liliath seemed to have anticipated, and the second wave of attacks quickly followed.

The insect-beast that appeared this time was the Cyan Scythe Mantis, a creature with six legs. It walks upright on four legs, stands over five meters tall, and its two forelegs are shaped like sickles. Its mouthparts are horizontal pincers, with a terrifying bite force.

These insectoid beasts are stronger than the first wave, being four-star soldier-level insectoid beasts, comparable to the Combat Strength of Five-Star Low-rank God. Furthermore, there are over a thousand of them appearing this time, more than the previous wave.

Looking at the valley filled with crawling insects and beasts, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Karrot remained valiant, charging directly into the swarm like an armored behemoth, leaving indelible corpses in his wake.

"So strong!" Liliath, hiding in the shadows, also noticed. Although she hadn't underestimated this opponent, she hadn't expected him to be even stronger than she anticipated. "In that case, let's see how many you can kill!"

A fierce glint flashed in Liliath's eyes as she looked up at the sky. At that moment, a rift was torn open in the darkness. A beam of light poured down onto the ground, causing Karrot to look up at the sky as well.

The scene in the sky was finally revealed on the projection screen, and everyone felt a chill run down their spines at first glance. The dark expanse in the sky wasn't night clouds at all, but a terrifyingly massive Insect Tide. These insect beasts had covered the entire sky from the very beginning, turning daytime in the Liliath illusion into night.

"I never imagined that Lily could turn the Insect Tide we encountered into such a realistic illusion," Elsa exclaimed in amazement.

"Directly copying the real-world scene actually reduces her workload. Because imagining a scene out of thin air is very mentally taxing," Sea Emperor explained. "She cleverly used her copying ability, which saved her a lot of time and energy."

This scene in the illusion made many powerful individuals above the 900th floor secretly glad that they weren't the ones challenging Liliath this time. This massive swarm of insects, at least a million strong, could wear down a person to death.

Karrot's expression, however, showed no fear, but rather a calmness tinged with excitement.

"Does this guy have a backup plan? With such a massive swarm of insects, even the strongest can't overcome it?" Some people in the crowd noticed the expression on Karrot's face.

Gu Ding had a vague feeling that things wouldn't end so easily. Such a massive swarm of insects required even his own fire abilities, and he also needed a sufficient energy replenishment. He wondered what kind of response the enemy would employ.

Under Liliath's control, the massive Insect Tide, like ocean waves, swept and surged towards Karrot.

Just then, Karrot's aura suddenly surged skyward. His eyes turned crimson, and then his body began to rapidly swell, countless crimson hairs bursting forth from his pores. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he grew from about 1.8 meters to two meters, three meters, four meters... until he reached over two hundred meters before finally stopping. At this moment, Karrot had completely transformed into a true behemoth.

This scene completely shocked many people.

"Is this guy really human?" someone questioned.

"They must be a special race. The Universe Sea is so vast, it's not surprising that they can transform into beasts." Some people, however, found it quite common.

"Is this the second transformation?" Gu Ding's fighting spirit surged instantly, and he could easily sense the power of the giant beast.

Karrot activated his second transformation, clearly intending to use his enormous body to crush the massive Insect Tide.

After transforming, Karrot let out a roar that sounded completely inhuman. It seemed that this change in size had altered his internal physiological structure as well; Karrot's vocal cords were no longer the same as before.

Almost at the same moment Karrot completed his transformation, the Insect Tide descended completely, engulfing the transformed Karrot in an instant like a tidal wave... (To be continued...)