The Nether God Chthon

"You destroyed my body, so what? You still can't stop—"

Agatha's soul had charged into Xu Mo's sea of consciousness with a smug shout.

But when she saw the Astral Tower at the center of his sea of consciousness, seemingly existing in another space, her voice abruptly stopped.

The aura radiating from the Astral Tower made every hair on her body stand on end.

Her eyes warily examined the Astral Tower and Xu Mo standing beneath it.

"Kid, you really have surprised me. I never expected you to have such a treasure inside your body!"

As she spoke, Agatha casually waved a hand.

The Darkhold appeared in her palm.

"However, it is all futile. Nothing can stop me!"

With the Darkhold in hand, Agatha regained her confidence.

Xu Mo glanced at the pure black book in her hand, which radiated dark energy.

He knew very well that this was merely a copy of the Darkhold, though its contents were virtually identical to the original.

"Sometimes, being too arrogant is not a good thing!"

"I hope you can still talk so tough later!"

After saying that, pure dark energy poured from the Darkhold in Agatha's hand. It transformed into countless tentacles that coiled toward Xu Mo as she looked at him with pity in her eyes.

"Offer up your soul obediently!"

No one knew better than she did just how powerful the Darkhold was.

Not only did it record all the Black Magic created by Chthon, but after the passage of countless years and prolonged contact with numerous dark mages, the Darkhold had become a powerful treasure.

With the Darkhold's enhancement, both the casting speed and power of her Black Magic could double.

The instant the book released its dark energy,

the Astral Tower floating above Xu Mo's head seemed to be disturbed.

The ninth vortex rotating outside the tower trembled slightly.

A strange energy fluctuation seemed to pass over from another space, sweeping toward Agatha and the Darkhold.

The tentacles extending from the Darkhold vanished as though annihilated the instant they touched that energy.

Agatha's expression changed.

With a wave of both hands, even more dark energy spilled from the book, transforming into tentacles to block the energy released by the vortex.

Yet those tentacles could not slow the advancing energy in the slightest.

In the blink of an eye, the energy reached Agatha.

"No!!"

With a miserable scream, Agatha's soul vanished from Xu Mo's sea of consciousness just like those tentacles.

After the energy swept past, only the Darkhold remained, slowly floating in place.

Xu Mo's eyes lit up when he saw the Darkhold left behind.

He was not surprised that the Astral Tower had been able to crush her.

It was at least a God King-level weapon. How could it possibly fail to deal with a mere witch?

Taking two steps forward, he reached out, just about to put away the Darkhold.

Although the Devouring system had extremely strong frontal combat power, it was still somewhat lacking against magic-type enemies in the early stages. If he could control the Darkhold, it would undoubtedly make up for this weakness.

This was a divine book that stood opposite the Book of the Vishanti.

It could be said to be one of the pinnacles of magic in this world.

However, just as Xu Mo was about to touch the Darkhold, the Astral Tower at the center of his sea of consciousness trembled. As though summoned by something, the Darkhold turned into a streak of light and entered the Astral Tower.

The instant the Darkhold entered the Astral Tower,

within a certain Dark Dimension,

the colossal Nether God Chthon, who had been slumbering and was so vast that his edges could not be seen, suddenly opened his eyes.

"My power..."

At that moment, he felt the power within his body being rapidly drained away.

The speed was so terrifying that in less than two breaths, one-tenth of the power in his body had already been taken.

After sensing it carefully,

"Is a follower borrowing my power through Black Magic?"

As the Nether God and creator of Black Magic, anyone who used Black Magic needed to borrow his power in order to cast it successfully.

Of course, the price was that after using his power, they would gradually be corroded by it.

Until, in the end, their souls were completely devoured by him.

And souls were the source of the evolution of his power.

"No!"

Chthon almost instantly rejected that possibility.

Even if a million of the most powerful dark mages cast spells simultaneously, the rate of consumption could not possibly reach this level.

With no time to think,

Chthon hurriedly cast a spell, intending to stop the power from leaking out of his body.

After all, at this rate of energy loss, he would not even last half a minute before being completely drained.

When that happened, if he, a Nether God, died because a follower had borrowed his power and drained him dry, he would probably become the laughingstock of the demon god realm.

A moment later, Chthon's expression abruptly changed.

"No, impossible!"

A mad roar burst from his mouth.

He had just discovered that no matter how he severed his connection to the other party, the rate at which dark energy leaked from his body did not change at all.

This was the first time such a situation had occurred, causing Chthon's mind to freeze for an instant.

The Black Magic he had created borrowed his magical energy.

Whether it could be borrowed or not was naturally up to him.

But what was this situation now?

Even without his permission, his energy was pouring out madly.

"This isn't borrowing. This is robbery!"

Chthon roared furiously.

However, as one of the four most ancient Elder Gods, Chthon calmed down again almost immediately.

His most urgent task now was to preserve his own life first.

At that thought,

a massive purple magic circle appeared around Chthon's enormous body, which was formed from dark energy.

The endless dark energy surrounding him surged into his body like a tide, replenishing the energy he had consumed.

His current location was the Netherworld he had created over countless years. This world was filled with dark energy that he could absorb directly.

As the energy poured in madly,

he barely managed to offset the loss of energy within his body and maintain a balance.

After temporarily stabilizing the situation, Chthon finally had time to extend his senses toward the myriad worlds.

"Damn bastard, don't let me find you, or I'll burn your soul in Hellfire for a million years!"

No one knew how much time passed.

"I found you!!"

Chthon's voice rang out with excitement.

Then his consciousness descended into Xu Mo's world.

With his abilities, he could possess the body of anyone in that world at will.

After possessing them, he could wield one percent of his power.

But he did not believe that, in such a state, he could deal with an enemy capable of forcibly plundering his energy.

Wundagore Mountain, Dark Temple.

Dark energy seeped from the rock walls carved with intricate patterns.

In the end, it condensed into a black book in midair—the original Darkhold.

At the same time, a black Spatial Gate slowly opened within the cave.

Under Chthon's control, the Darkhold flashed and entered the Spatial Gate that had opened before it.