Combat Upgrade

Overwhelmed by the Insect Tide Karrot roared with deafening fury, his fighting style extremely violent. His giant hands slammed out repeatedly, each strike causing the ground to crumble, rocks to collapse, and deafening roars to resound. With each strike, the flesh and blood of dozens of giant beasts were crushed into powder.

The insect beasts also pounced on Karrot frantically, scratching and biting with their claws and fangs, but their attack effect was very limited.

Half an hour passed, and the number of insect swarms showed no signs of decreasing, nor did Karrot's slaughter stop.

"It seems Liliath is preparing for a protracted battle," Gu Ding said, his gaze never leaving the video projection. "The opponent is too strong, and this is the only way to have a chance of winning."

"After his second transformation, Karrot's defense is comparable to that of Four-Star Mid-rank God. Even you and Dokter would find it difficult to break through his defenses, let alone Liliath," the Sea Emperor said again. "However, given the current situation, it's hard to predict who will win. As long as Liliath continues to create swarms of insects to harass Karrot, Karrot won't find a chance to escape from the illusion. But Liliath can't create insect beasts indefinitely, and Karrot can't maintain this transformed state forever. Therefore, what follows is a battle of wills; whoever can hold out longer will win."

The giant beast that Karrot transformed into had crimson eyes, was covered in long red fur, and stood upright on its two legs, resembling an enormous red gorilla.

For the entire half hour, he never stopped slaughtering the swarm of insect beasts, and the speed of his killings never slowed down. Clearly, this transformation of his would likely last for a very long time.

Even in this transformed state, Karrot remained fully conscious, able to sense the passage of time. He also noticed that the Insect Tide showed no signs of decreasing. This made him realize that if things continued, he was likely to lose. He didn't know how long the creation of Liliath's insect beasts could last, but he was well aware that his second transformation typically only lasted an hour, and half of that time had already passed.

Karrot had no clue how to break the illusion; he wasn't the type to fight with his brain. When faced with an opponent, he preferred to settle things with his fists. However, he knew that illusions required mental energy to maintain, and his opponent's creation of these insect beasts also required mental energy. As long as his killing speed reached a certain level, he could quickly deplete his opponent's mental energy. When his opponent's mental energy was insufficient to maintain the illusion, it would automatically dissipate.

The War God Arena is a virtual arena, and a major difference from real combat is that recovery cannot be achieved using potions or Energy Crystal. This makes Karrot's clumsy method of breaking the illusion feasible. However, Karrot also knows that while his current hunting speed is not slow, to quickly end the battle, he needs to be even more powerful in eliminating the insect beasts.

Thinking of this, Karrot suddenly stopped his attack, reached above his head, and after a moment pulled an object from the hair on his head. It was a thin needle, so small as to be almost invisible given his current size.

In the video projection, it was impossible to see what it was. But soon, the thin needle began to expand rapidly in Karrot's palm. In just a moment, it transformed into a long staff. But that wasn't all; given Karrot's enormous size, the staff was still far from being large enough. However, the staff continued to grow at a visible rate.

"What a peculiar weapon!" Even the Sea Emperor couldn't help but exclaim.

The long staff quickly transformed into a colossal pillar nearly 180 meters long, reaching towards the sky. The pillar was entirely silver, engraved with extremely intricate patterns, and was tightly gripped in Karrot's hand. The combination of Karrot's physique and this massive staff created a truly terrifying sight.

Seeing this change, many onlookers cheered. Because a new development usually means a shift in the stalemate. After all, everyone had watched Karrot's insect-killing performance for over half an hour; while exciting, it had become somewhat tedious.

As the controller of the illusion, Liliath knew immediately what had happened on Karrot's side, and her expression was not good either. The opponent's choice of a long weapon meant that their attack range would be greatly increased, and it also meant that their speed in eliminating the insect beasts would be greatly enhanced.

As expected, Karrot gripped the top of the giant club with one hand and swung it out. The silver club, like a giant silver python, twisted and writhed, sweeping across the swarm of insects. Wherever it passed, all the insect beasts turned to dust. With a single sweep, hundreds of insect beasts were crushed without any power to resist. His slaughtering speed was clearly more than ten times faster than before.

After swinging his giant club several times, he still seemed unsatisfied with his slaughtering speed. The club's size suddenly increased again, finally stopping only when it reached nearly five hundred meters. He then swung it out wildly once more. Each time the giant club churned through the swarm of insects, thousands of insect beasts perished.

The spectators outside the arena were speechless at the speed of the slaughter. It's worth noting that the weakest of those insectoid beasts were at least two or three-star Low-rank God, while the strongest were at least Five-Star Low-rank God. Yet, in front of Karrot, they were all indiscriminately slaughtered, as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

Above the thousandth floor, many onlookers watched in astonishment as this scene unfolded before them. They now truly remembered the name Karrot.

Many people are unaware of just how powerful someone can slaughter insectoid beasts with such efficiency, but Gu Ding have experienced it firsthand. It is precisely because they have experienced it so deeply that they know just how strong Karrot truly is.

Liliath was well aware of this, and the strength of her opponent ignited her fighting spirit. Although her opponent's slaughter speed was terrifying, Liliath remained calm, becoming even more composed. From the beginning, she had never underestimated her opponent, and after the opponent transformed, her battle strategy was to wear her down. Now, although the situation had changed, with her opponent's slaughter speed increasing more than tenfold, she adjusted her battle strategy accordingly.

Although Karrot's slaughter speed increased, under Liliath's control, the number of newly added insectoid beasts only increased slightly, without any substantial change. This also led to a sharp decline in the number of insectoid beasts in the Insect Tide.

"Is Liliath about to admit defeat?" Many onlookers noticed this change, and some even asked this question.

"The game has reached this stalemate, and the chances of them giving up are slim. It's likely that Liliath will have to change her tactics to fight back." Among the crowd, there were also those who sided with Gu Ding Team.

The reason why the number of insectoid beasts did not change much in line with the speed of their slaughter was because Liliath was focusing her mental energy on constructing something else.

Above the arena, the projection of the image twisted and quickly focused on the position where Liliath was standing. In front of her were three enormous insect eggs.

"Why are these three eggs so big?" a spectator couldn't help but ask.

"A special species, probably a bug-like beast capable of contending with Karrot," someone suggested.

Others might not recognize these three eggs, but Gu Ding identified them immediately. These were the Mother Queen's eggs. Once hatched, they would become a powerful Mother Queen.

Liliath created three at once, which means that a large number of insect beasts will be bred every day. This tactic is actually quite good. Although the insect beasts produced by the Mother Queen in the illusion consume Liliath's mental energy, this method saves Liliath a lot of mental energy.

Three insect eggs didn't seem to be enough for Liliath, so she kept making a fourth, a fifth... until more than ten minutes later, all twelve insect eggs were finally complete.

Meanwhile, Karrot had already dealt with nearly half of the massive Insect Tide. At his rate of slaughter, the Insect Tide created by Liliath should be completely wiped out in about ten minutes, before his transformation ends. Without the insect swarm, Liliath would be no match for him.

Meanwhile, on the shell of the first insect egg in Liliath's territory, a tiny crack suddenly appeared. This crack, after appearing, began to expand visibly. In less than a minute, a huge gaping hole appeared in the eggshell, and a massive, sharp claw emerged first. Then, an enormous Mother Queen crawled out of the egg.

The mystery was finally solved, and the appearance of this Mother Queen caused an uproar among the many powerful spectators. This was because the Mother Queen's appearance was so lifelike that many suspected Liliath had actually seen the real Mother Queen.

Above the 1000th floor, a young man and a young woman were watching the same battle video.

"What do you think of her?" the young man asked, dressed casually.

The woman in the black dress sitting not far from him shook her head. "She's already lost! Manifesting twelve Mother Queen at once in an illusion isn't difficult; the challenge lies in re-manifesting all the insect beasts produced by those twelve Mother Queen. This requires an immense amount of mental energy. But in this kind of arena competition, potions can't be used, and once mental energy is depleted, it can't be replenished. Even I might not be able to manage twelve Mother Queen. This little girl named Liliath is still too young; she doesn't even understand the limits of her own strength."

"My opinion this time is completely different from yours. I think the chances of them winning are still fifty-fifty," the man said with a squinting smile.

"Why do you say that?" the woman in the black dress asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Based on my intuition..." the man replied in a way that was hardly an answer.

~~~

[While I was typing, the power outlet burned out, and the lights went out too, plunging the room into darkness. Actually, about ten minutes before the outlet burned out, I had just finished a paragraph, and my gaze drifted to the outlet, a strange thought popping into my head: "This outlet seems to be quite old; I wonder when it would burn out..." Ten minutes later, I heard a "pop," and sparks flew from the outlet... Similar inexplicable thoughts turning into reality have happened to me several times before; it feels very eerie... I switched on the circuit breaker, but nothing worked; the lights still wouldn't turn on, and even after plugging every socket into the newly bought outlet, the indicator lights didn't light up. I don't know what's going on; I'll have to ask the landlord to come and take a look tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have to rewrite this chapter online; this is all I can manage for today... I'll make up for it tomorrow.] (To be continued...)