Seeing that the beast had finally stopped moving, Lin Fan's strength gave out. His whole body crumpled, and he landed hard on the concrete floor.
"Cough..."
A mouthful of thick, bloody phlegm surged up and lodged in his throat. He choked so badly that the veins in his neck bulged, nearly passing out.
The stench of blood filled his nostrils. He could even hear a raspy sound in his windpipe. Every breath felt like hooks were tugging at the underside of his ribs, making him twitch with pain.
"Damn..."
Lin Fan felt like his eyeballs were about to burst.
His vision was a blur. All kinds of flickering lights doubled and danced before his eyes, making his stomach churn.
He trembled as he reached into a pocket of his tactical vest. His fingers had gone stiff and barely obeyed him. He fumbled several times trying to grip the thin glass tube, nearly dropping it.
He didn't have the strength to pull out the stopper. Instead, he brought it to his mouth and bit off the top with a sharp crunch. His tongue caught a few bits of broken glass, but he tilted his head back and swallowed everything.
This so-called "Nutrient Solution" tasted bitter and acrid, like a mouthful of strong acid.
It burned all the way down his throat, and his stomach immediately cramped, twisting with pain.
Then the medicine took effect.
It was nothing like the cooling sensation described in the instructions. First, his wounds went numb; then came a piercing itch.
The itch seemed to burrow into his bones, where there was nowhere he could scratch.
Cold sweat trickled down Lin Fan's forehead and over his eyebrows, washing the dried blood scabs into a smear.
It took more than ten seconds for the nausea, so intense he'd felt like he might throw up his guts, to gradually subside.
Lin Fan lay sprawled there, gasping for breath. Only then did his eyes slowly come back into focus.
"Holy shit..."
"A high-level beast general... that thing was fucking strong."
Lin Fan pulled at the corner of his mouth, baring bloodied teeth.
Thankfully, he'd bought the medicine in advance. It had kept him alive, stopping him from passing out on the spot.
Otherwise, he probably would have died in this underground vault today.
"Not bad... I'm still alive."
Lin Fan raised his sleeve and carelessly wiped the blood from his face.
His gaze passed over the monster's carcass, a mound of flesh, and settled on the center of the hall.
Calamity, still stuck in the ground, had finally stopped trembling. The light on its blade had faded, leaving it dark and dull.
Just then, a system notification suddenly rang in his mind.
[ Ding! Companion divine weapon "Calamity" has completed its advancement. ]
Before he could react, the air shuddered.
The scythe shot out of the ground as if pulled by a magnet and slammed straight into Lin Fan's hand.
The impact was so forceful that Lin Fan, who was barely hanging on, nearly passed out.
"Your mother..."
Before Lin Fan could finish his affectionate greeting, a burst of dark purple light exploded from the blade and swallowed him whole.
Then a surge of heat poured through the hilt and into his battered body, like floodgates had opened.
"What is this?!"
Lin Fan's eyes flew open.
The energy was flowing back into him!
"Ugh..."
Lin Fan gritted his teeth and groaned. His spine snapped taut, and his body curled up like a shrimp, as if he'd been electrocuted.
The energy was too fierce, surging through his blood vessels. Wherever it passed, it brought pain and swelling, making even his fingers tremble.
But the changes were visible to the naked eye.
The wound on his stomach, which had only just stopped bleeding, flushed red and grew hot as the energy coursed through it. Tiny buds of flesh wriggled inside the wound, inching toward one another.
The blood scab was pushed right off, revealing pink new flesh beneath. The terrifying gash visibly began to close.
The nerve in his head that had felt as if it had snapped stopped hurting, too. The feeling that his skull was about to burst was doused like a flame, replaced by a clear, bright sensation.
Most importantly, his strength, which he'd exhausted, returned completely—and then some. He felt even stronger than before the ambush.
The energy swelled through him until he was uncomfortable, as if something were about to break out of its shell.
Crack.
Lin Fan clenched his fist, and his knuckles popped.
He could clearly feel that his body had changed. It was as if he'd shed dozens of pounds of weight, leaving him so light that it felt unfamiliar.
His strength, speed, and reaction time had all risen to a whole new level.
"What the hell? What's going on? Why was the energy so powerful this time?"
When the red light faded, Lin Fan examined Calamity in his hand again.
A layer of intricate, mysterious dark purple patterns had appeared across the blade, which had once been black as ink.
Feeling his body restored—and even stronger than before—Lin Fan couldn't help grinning.
"Even though I've said this plenty of times already, I still want to say it."
"Cheating is so damn satisfying."
Then he looked at Calamity in his hand.
[Calamity (Tier One)]
[Weight Compatibility: 100%]
[Changes to Traits:]
[Devouring Range: 1 -> 10]
[Devouring Speed: 1 -> 10 (melts on contact)]
[Base Attributes: Sharpness +10, Weight +10, Hardness +10]
[New Feature Unlocked: Can inscribe Law Runes.]
[Secret Art Inheritance: Obtained the first level of Calamity Killing Art.]
"Whoa, a tenfold increase."
Lin Fan's eyes lit up. He tried gripping the hilt with one hand and giving it a light swing.
He hadn't used his Spiritual Force, relying solely on his physical strength.
Whoosh.
A casual swing sent a gust of air rolling outward, scattering the dust across the floor.
Calamity now weighed a full ten times more than before: an astonishing fifty thousand kilograms!
That was fifty tons!
Anyone else who tried to lift it—even a Junior War General—would probably have their hand bones crushed under its weight. There was no way they could swing it.
But in Lin Fan's hands, with his "100% Weight Compatibility," this exemption from the rules governing weight meant he couldn't feel that crushing heaviness. Instead, the weapon felt remarkably easy to handle.
Still, even if Lin Fan couldn't feel it, the terrifying weight was very real.
A swing powered by that much momentum would be more than several times as powerful.
Lin Fan ran his hand over the blade's cold patterns.
"Strong... but it's not over yet."
Lin Fan looked toward the remains of the vault door not far away.
"Go!"
At a thought from Lin Fan, Sky Splitter unfolded behind him. Its silver-white wings instantly disintegrated into countless feather blades, each thin as a cicada's wing.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A dense barrage of piercing sounds rang through the underground chamber.
Like a school of piranhas that had caught the scent of blood, the feather blades instantly clung to the thick frame left behind by the enormous vault door, as well as the alloy framework embedded in the surrounding walls.
At Lin Fan's command, the feather blades began ravenously gnawing at the metal, devouring its essence.
The commotion this time was far greater than anything Calamity had ever caused.
Szzzz—
The shrill scraping sound made Lin Fan's scalp tingle.
"Good grief. I thought Calamity was already brutal, but Sky Splitter's even worse."
Before you continue