Virus King - Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Displaying Unique Skills! From the 1st Layer to the 10th Layer!

TL: YYang

[1st Layer Trial: Demon Warrior Balhe-1 has been slain! Trial cleared! You can recover for 10 minutes!]

“Hu…”

Chen Bai let out a long breath and collapsed onto the ground of the Abyss.

Even though his constitution allowed his physical strength to recover rapidly, and the wounds on his body were healing at a visible pace, the tension brought on by the battle left him with a rare sense of exhaustion!

The most frustrating part, however, was when he glanced again at the massive corpse slowly dissipating, vanishing like a phantom, leaving him speechless.

The greatest advantage of the Darklight Virus could not be utilized.

Although the Time Hourglass’s ability to reverse time could help him recover from this exhaustion to some degree, it was far less satisfying than the exhilarating rush of cells rejoicing after devouring a Demon Lord!

But damn it all, the Abyssal Will left Chen Bai no loopholes to exploit!

It had taken him nearly half an hour to defeat this 1st layer Demon Lord.

For the entire 10 minutes of recovery time, Chen Bai focused solely on analyzing the weaknesses and abilities of this first trial’s Balhe, contemplating how he could defeat him more efficiently.

Balhe, a demon warrior, had notable strengths in raw power and those relentless sword qi shockwaves.

However, Balhe’s mental capabilities were relatively weak, and his agility was average at best.

While he was certainly superior to ordinary demon warriors, he still had exploitable weaknesses!

If he could approach quickly using superior agility while combining it with a telekinetically controlled flying sword, the fight would be much easier!

After finishing his analysis, Chen Bai’s physical strength recovered rapidly. Only then did the Abyssal Will’s prompt reappear.

[Recovery time complete. Proceeding to the 2nd Layer of the Abyss.]

Darkness engulfed him again, and the world in front of him transformed once more!

However, in general, the blood-red sky remained as shockingly radiant as before!

The Abyss seemed unchanged.

Chen Bai paid no attention to his surroundings and instead focused on what lay ahead:

[Current 2nd layer Abyss Demon Lord: None. Extracting a past Demon Lord’s mark. Condensing a level 10 projection. Trialist, prepare yourself!]

None again!?

But it made sense. In the upper layers of the Abyss, especially the first ten, demon strength wasn’t particularly formidable. Any demon with even a shred of ambition would seek to climb deeper into the Abyss as soon as they broke through their limits!

[Condensing Demon Lord: Fallen Mage of the Fallen Demon Clan Uba-2 (level 10 projection). No additional battle requirements!]

Chen Bai’s pupils shrank slightly. Not far ahead, a figure appeared once more. Compared to the previous demon warrior, this Fallen Mage was only as tall as the waist of an average man.

Wearing a large, Western-style mage’s hat and holding a pitch-black staff that resembled a fire poker, the mage sneered.

“Oh, great Abyssal Will, I thank you…”

Before it could finish its shrill speech, a whistling sound interrupted it. A flying sword, driven by telekinesis, shot forward in an instant!

“Damn human, interrupting this lord—do you know the consequences?!”

The flying sword collided with what seemed like an invisible wall of air.

Chen Bai’s eyes suddenly widened.

The Fallen Mage’s staff waved, and one black-red fireball after another fired without pause, as if requiring no incantation at all, blasting toward Chen Bai like a volley of cannonfire!

This made no sense!

For a mage-class profession, casting fireball spells of such intensity should at least require chanting or some casting time, right?

Damn it!

What else could Chen Bai do? He pulled his telekinetic power back and started running at full speed again.

The flames pursued him relentlessly, leaving no escape.

…

Ten minutes later.

Chen Bai stood on the diminutive corpse, which slowly vanished under the influence of the Abyssal Will. He brushed off his plague robe, scorched in several places but gradually regenerating, and let out a scornful laugh.

“You think you’re so damn impressive, huh?!”

“Throwing fireballs, are you?!”

“Didn’t you say you could keep spamming fireballs forever?!”

“Fallen Mage?”

“If you’ve got the guts, let me see you throw fireballs when you’re sneezing, gasping for breath, and dealing with organ failure, huh?!”

Thinking back to the earlier scene, where he’d been chased around like a dog after a rabbit, Chen Bai stomped on the slowly fading corpse of the mage.

Only then did he let out a deep breath of frustration.

The flu virus! It’s damn amazing!

Exhaling deeply once more, Chen Bai resumed his analysis.

Thankfully, the Demon Lords of the first two layers were strong, but not so overwhelming that he couldn’t handle them even without using too many trump cards.

His strength was still reliable and well within his control, even though the process was slightly more challenging than he would have liked.

However, at the end of the day, there were no real issues.

After pondering a bit more, Chen Bai concluded that if he directly infected the enemy with the flu virus while simultaneously attacking with his telekinetic flying sword, he could cut down the time needed to take them out.

It would also save him from being chased around in such a miserable fashion.

This time, the recovery period was much shorter. After all, compared to the 1st layer’s Balhe, Chen Bai had taken on the 2nd layer Fallen Mage with hardly any injuries.

…

Abyss, 3rd Layer

[Current 3rd Layer Abyss Demon Lord: None. Extracting a past Demon Lord’s mark. Condensing a level 10 projection. Trialist, prepare yourself!]

[Condensing Demon Lord: Death Defender of the Fal Demon Clan (level 10 projection). Battle requirement: Death Defender while surrounded by the Knight Order!]

The world in front of Chen Bai shifted once again.

He showed no interest in the scenery of the Abyss’s 3rd layer.

The Death Defender was a relatively rare profession compared to the demon warrior or Fallen Mage.

Standing before him was a towering figure over two meters tall, with massive curved horns that were even larger than its head.

However, what was even more intimidating was the enormous shield it wielded.

And surrounding it was a group of mounted demon knights.

“Hu…”

The flu virus once again spread outward from Chen Bai!

However, this time, the results were significantly less effective. Both the Death Defender and the demon knights wore thick steel helmets that shielded them.

Chen Bai didn’t act recklessly this time. Instead, he unleashed the Explosive Fireball ability he had obtained by devouring a zombie mutant.

“Fireballs? You think you’re the only one who knows how to throw fireballs?”

But this time, the Death Defender and the surrounding death knights, while not as offensively overwhelming as the previous two Demon Lords, were practically ironclad fortresses. Breaking through their defense was like hacking at solid steel!

Their defense was just too strong!

Chen Bai, however, remained unfazed. One by one, he deployed his abilities: Zombie Claws, Telekinesis, and the flu virus. He cycled through them repeatedly!

It took an entire hour, but eventually, the flu virus fully erupted. Inflammation and asthma symptoms weakened the knights’ and defender’s resistance bit by bit, until they completely lost the ability to fight back.

There wasn’t much to analyze about their weaknesses, but Chen Bai still managed to refine several of his own techniques during the fight.

…

[Abyss, 3rd Layer completed…]

[Abyss, 4th Layer…]

[Abyss, 5th Layer…]

[Abyss, 7th Layer…]

[Abyss, 9th Layer…]

One Demon Lord after another emerged, including four additional demon warriors like the 1st layer Balhe, which seemed to be the most common profession encountered.

Finally, after relentless combat and constant analysis, Chen Bai reached the 10th Layer of the Abyss.

Unlike the nine layers before it, the 10th layer clearly felt different.

[Current 10th Layer Abyss Demon Lord: Lesser Demon Clan, Demon Warlord Aodu-10. Condensing level 10 projection. Trialist, prepare yourself!]

Demon Warlord? Was this an advanced version of the demon warrior?

The Demon Lord of the 10th layer had a true level of level 30!

Chen Bai’s entire body tensed as his muscles instinctively tightened.