Chapter 170
Perhaps the scavenger would be grateful, but he wouldn't... He's Aatrox! He's the god-slayer!!
[You guys are damned!!]
The melting ice began to recombine, and those damned mortals were still gazing down. Their ugly faces seemed imprinted on the ice, watching him relentlessly as time passed.
Aatrox was furious.
The True Ice enveloping him began to melt, and his magic gradually began to affect the surrounding environment.
He sensed the presence of that pile of rotten flesh, his heart filled with contempt.
But he had no choice but to submit to that pile of rotten flesh.
To avenge...
To break through this damn ice... to get back to the ground...
For...
Kill all those damned mortals!!
[Chen Ce... I've remembered you... Your name... You'll be at the very top of the list...]
Blood magic activated, Aatrox began to devour the rotting flesh—in his quest for revenge, he chose to accept the "gift" of mortal mockery.
Like a pathetic scavenger.
But he vowed that he would repay this humiliation a hundredfold, a thousandfold, ten thousandfold!
Temporary patience will bring about a magnificent revenge!
Anyone who dares to offer the Ascended a sliver of hope, as if giving alms to a scavenger, should be prepared to have their head chopped off by the Ascended!
The Ascended's downfall is only temporary; glory will surely return! All those who have insulted the Ascended will receive their due punishment under the reckoning of the blade!!
Die--!!
Glug... Crack... Click...
After a chilling, eerie sound, Aatrox reconstructed his body from the pile of rotting flesh.
This body was small and fragile, riddled with laughable flaws, and had very limited capacity to bear the power of the Ascended... but that was enough.
"Everyone must die--!"
A terrifying roar erupted from the darkness, soaring through the ice towards the abyss.
Aatrox is "free" again.
Although this body was the worst he had ever used, at least he could move around freely.
No matter how frustrating it may feel, it's only temporary.
As long as he finds more flesh and blood... or a sufficiently powerful life form... he will soon regain his previous strength!
The moment to wash away humiliation begins...!
"Ah... the bottomless darkness..."
Aatrox, whose body was reconstructed from a pile of rotten flesh, was emaciated and resembled a walking skeleton in the darkness. But he didn't care.
He had made up his mind—to use this fragile body for now, and then search for living things in this dark abyss, eventually using those bodies to regain his previous strength.
And then... it was time to go up and take revenge.
He began to walk beneath the abyss, trying to find a life form he could "devour". His senses had long been adapted to the seal of tens of thousands of years, and he could see normally even in pitch black.
He kept moving forward.
Then, he sensed the presence of a living being—it only took a few minutes.
Overjoyed, his frail body quickened its pace. The crisp, clattering sound of his footsteps made him seem even more like a moving skeleton.
Finally, he spotted a glimmer of light in the endless darkness—purple. It looked rather eerie.
He drew the massive sword, which seemed disproportionately large to his body, with an arm that appeared to be all bone and no muscle, and strode closer with a hint of excitement.
The aura of that living creature was getting closer and closer... He could sense that it was no weakling.
That aura seemed quite powerful... Perhaps it belonged to a mortal also imprisoned here—maybe he committed some serious mistake for a mortal? But in any case, his body was qualified.
No... it could also be an ugly monster? Like that foolish giant bear. Its aura was too immense... somewhat unlike that of a mortal.
What exactly is it...?
Aatrox strode forward and stopped in his tracks above the light.
He looked down at the ice surface, his gaze passing through the deep blue of the True Ice.
Then, a look of confusion crossed his face.
Then, he flew into a rage.
Because he discovered...
That's a damn one-eyed thing!
"It's you...!!" A hoarse growl escaped Aatrox's throat. He began to sense things carefully, confirming his suspicions over and over again.
He somewhat hoped his guess was correct, and somewhat hoped not... but regardless of his subjective desires, the objective facts would not change in the slightest.
He was certain.
The enormous single eye buried beneath the solid ice was the kind of thing he recognized.
Those... disgusting, nauseating bugs.
They are called...
Void...!!
Overwhelmed by hatred and shame from countless years ago, Aatrox instantly flew into a rage.
At the very moment he recognized the Void creature, its enormous single eye trembled slightly.
Perhaps it had just woken up, or perhaps it sensed Aatrox's angry aura... In any case, its eyelids twitched.
A terrifying and eerie purple light burst forth from its enormous single eye.
The True Ice that imprisoned it began to melt—over countless years, it had transformed, assimilated, and corroded a portion of that True Ice, giving it enough space to move around.
It was first confused and surprised, then equally angry—its memory was still stuck tens of thousands of years ago. It instantly thought of the betrayal it suffered by beings in the material world.
Glug... Glug...
A disgusting, soft, writhing sound rang out, and the enormous, single eye extended its twisted "limbs" from beneath the ice.
It still cannot completely break free from its restraints in a short period of time, but regaining some mobility is not a problem.
So it began to wriggle upwards.
But what awaited it was neither freedom nor another layer of ice.
Instead...
A dark red greatsword thrust straight at you.
"You deserve to die!!"
Puff!!
The sharp Darkin Blade easily pierced through an unsuspecting "tentacle," and dark purple liquid immediately splattered.
That might be the blood of the Watchers, or it might just be some strange bodily fluid... No one knows if these morbid "life forms" actually bleed—heaven knows if they even have blood inside them?
But regardless, Aatrox enjoyed watching them splatter that disgusting purple liquid everywhere like gushing blood—like a lowly mortal whose head had been chopped off.
"Void--!!" Aatrox swung his sword again, preparing to cut off one tentacle in one fell swoop.
However, the Watchers, having regained its senses, was not about to let him succeed so easily.
A terrifying beam of disintegration shot from the Watchers's single eye, aimed directly at Aatrox's fragile body.
Even the greatest Ascended could not outrun the speed of light.
Unsurprisingly, Aatrox was struck squarely in the torso by the ray, and a large hole instantly appeared in his abdomen.
The Watchers let out a strange muttering, as if it was very unhappy that it had just woken up and was disturbed by an annoying bug—but now the bug had been crushed to death by it.
It ignored Aatrox's crashing "corpse" and continued to wriggle upwards, attempting to completely traverse the True Ice passage.
And this is its second fatal mistake in the material realm—the first being why it is now traversing this True Ice passage.
Before it could extend the other part of its body out of the ice cave, that familiar roar rang out again.
It even became louder.
It's also more... distorted.
"I will kill you... a thousand times... and it still won't be enough!!"
Puff--!!
The dark red greatsword struck again, this time piercing the one-eyed Watchers around.
It emitted a strange scream, sharp as a hurricane crowding through a hole no thicker than a finger.
It then realized that the annoying bug was not dead.
He stood up again... and became even taller than before.
The "blood" it had previously splattered and the piece of its severed tentacle had long since disappeared.
It was that worm... that worm devoured and transformed its body.
"This aura makes me feel nauseous..." Aatrox's voice became extremely shrill, enough to pierce an eardrum on the spot if an ordinary person heard it.
With no other flesh and blood available, he directly borrowed the flesh and blood of the Watchers.
His hardened carapace turned a dark purple, like the shell of the Void, and the liquid flowing from the cracks in the carapace changed from a dark red fluid like blood to streams of foul-smelling slime. His horns softened, like two disgusting tentacles. His body grew even larger, and strange things resembling both gills and eyes sprouted from each of his cheeks...
It disgusted him... even ashamed him. But he did it anyway.
Because hatred is above all else.
He intends to kill the Void with their flesh and blood.
As it happens... this body is qualified enough.
Even the most qualified.
Aside from his former body, he had never felt such surging power! This physical body was capable of bearing more than 60-70% of his power!!
"Come! Charge into destruction with me!"
The angry roars and the clang of swords merged into one...
After throwing the Darkin Blade into the abyss, Chen Ce sat on the Bridge of Sorrows for several days.
He had to make sure everything was working properly in the Howling Abyss.
The Watchers's awakening is unstoppable, but the True Ice can still greatly limit its movements... Aatrox cannot defeat the Watchers in its prime alone, but dealing with the trapped Watchers should be manageable...
Should...?
No one dared to guarantee anything, so he stayed there for several days without rest or sleep.
While Aatrox's combat prowess is inferior to the Watchers's, his vitality is practically immortal. His "mission" is simply to entangle the trapped Watchers and prevent it from further corroding the True Ice...
Based on observations over the past few days, Aatrox appears to have succeeded.
From time to time, a very faint rustling sound would come from the depths of the abyss... Perhaps ordinary people would mistake this sound for the daily wind Howling Abyss —just like its name. But Chen Ce knew that it was the sound of Aatrox and the Watchers fighting.
Lissandra's extraordinary sensory abilities also corroborate this.
Aatrox appears to have seized a piece of the Watchers's flesh to rebuild his body... just as they planned.
With Aatrox's boundless hatred and fighting spirit, there shouldn't be any problems afterward.
There is absolutely no truth to the claim that he was worn down to death.
If anyone is to be worn down, it will be the Watchers.
His will had long since collapsed. At this moment, he was no different from a madman who only knew how to fight and kill. He would not lose his fighting spirit or choose to give up due to prolonged fighting. His physical body was also protected, making it unlikely that the Watchers would seize an opportunity to kill him instantly.
He will keep fighting the Watchers until a victor emerges—or until the end of the world and time.