Virus King - Chapter 178

Chapter 178: The First Hundred Layers of the Abyss! The Death of Chen Bai!

TL: YYang

Chen Bai had never imagined it.

So it turned out, damn it, that within the Abyss, there were so many bizarre and peculiar professions.

And these strange professions, even at level 10, possessed such a multitude of abilities!

[12th Layer of the Abyss, Fallen Demon Magister…]

[14th Layer of the Abyss, Demon Executioner…]

[16th Layer of the Abyss, The Silent One…]

Chen Bai had even caught sight of the father of that so-called Demon Prince, whom he had previously killed at the Abyssal Well.

This Demon Lord resided on the 17th Layer of the Abyss, with an actual level likely around level 40.

His profession? A “Sea-Patrolling Yaksha” named Koutao, a Fish Demon.

There was no reason to doubt the strength of these bizarre profession titles. The battles between these Demon Lords that followed hardly lasted less than an hour each!

It had to be said, the overall physical attributes of these Demon Lords were far inferior to Chen Bai’s.

In terms of physical stats alone, Chen Bai’s four-dimensional attributes were exceptionally formidable. In fact, he hadn’t encountered any Demon Lord whose attributes, at level 10, could surpass his.

But what he couldn’t compete with was the sheer bonus these professions brought, along with their overwhelmingly numerous skills.

And then there were all sorts of peculiar abilities. Take, for instance, that Silent One on the 16th Layer.

It could neither speak nor breathe, nor could it use its skills!

Although this meant it lacked abilities itself, certain situations—like the instinctive action of opening its mouth—could inflict devastating injuries upon its own body.

Even with the Time Reversal ability at his disposal, Chen Bai almost fell victim to this foe.

Then there was the Sea-Patrolling Yaksha, the Demon Lord Koutao, the Fish Demon. While its abilities were within an acceptable range…

Damn it, the battlefield was in the ocean!

Though there were some shorelines to fight on, that bastard was incredibly cunning. Unlike those vicious demons, Koutao would retreat to the water at the slightest mishap, leaving Chen Bai so furious that he nearly considered unlocking a virus capable of spreading through liquids in the Virus Sovereign’s talent tree.

In the end, though, he held back.

There was no helping it—evolution points were far too precious, especially large quantities of them. Were it not for the Cult of the Plague from the Plague Factory that kept supplying him with resources, it would’ve been nearly impossible to gather enough evolution points to unlock additional evolutionary paths. This was a slow, painstaking process.

Chen Bai did still have some general evolution points in reserve, but those were for emergencies only.

Thankfully, the Sea-Patrolling Yaksha’s abilities had their limits. The Influenza Virus proved particularly effective, and Chen Bai discovered several weaknesses in Koutao’s capabilities.

For example, it had a weakness to fire. Any form of flame caused tremendous damage to it.

As a result, Koutao became one of the rare Demon Lords Chen Bai managed to defeat without resorting to Time Reversal.

But this was just the beginning!

Chen Bai didn’t know exactly how many layers the Abyss had. But damn it, he certainly hadn’t anticipated that there could be so many Abyssal Lords!

Even if they didn’t currently exist, the Demon Lords conjured from the shadows of history were still far stronger than he could have imagined.

Yet, the combined power of Time Reversal and Chen Bai’s own abilities allowed him to emerge relatively unscathed from these terrifying encounters.

He even came to understand the personalities of these Demon Lords through the course of his battles.

With this experience in hand, Chen Bai eventually found himself facing some powerful Demon Lords without even needing to activate Time Reversal.

For example, there was the most commonly encountered type of Demon Lord: the Demon Warlord.

This profession, abundant within the Abyss, was virtually countless.

However, with ample experience gained, Chen Bai had developed his own methods for dealing with this kind of Demon Lord.

Even when facing a Demon Warlord on the 72nd Layer of the Abyss, he handled the situation with ease.

He moved through the battlefield as gracefully as a butterfly among flowers. Without suffering a single injury, he directly exploited the Demon Lord’s weakness with Biochemical Disaster. From start to finish, it took less than ten minutes to annihilate this projection of a Demon Lord, whose actual level was likely around level 60.

Chen Bai’s combat skills and tactical intellect needed no further elaboration. At level 10, even if his enemies had all these abilities, how could they contend with someone who had slain more Demon Warlords than he could count?

At this moment, Chen Bai seemed more like a Demon Hunter.

A true Demon Hunter—one dedicated to hunting Demon Lords.

If this were the case, then perhaps the Abyssal Overlord’s trials weren’t as difficult as they seemed!

A faint smile played on Chen Bai’s lips.

As the enemies of the Abyss emerged layer by layer, Chen Bai found his accumulated experience from previous professions increasingly useful, allowing him to proceed with what seemed like even greater ease.

However, Chen Bai knew that if it were an ordinary person in his place, they would likely have died as early as the 10th Layer. His apparent ease came entirely from his Time Hourglass and its ability to reverse time.

With the ability to learn from his mistakes and an absurdly high tolerance for error, he stood unmatched.

Moreover, at the end of each trial, he didn’t have to worry about recovering from his injuries.

Otherwise, even those whose strength surpassed Chen Bai’s severalfold would have likely fallen amidst this grueling combat and slaughter.

The depth and power of the Abyss had become crystal clear to Chen Bai.

This place was truly boundless, a domain where only strength could secure one’s survival.

Only the strongest could rise above the rest here.

Every one of those Demon Lords was an absolute powerhouse!

Even though they were merely projections condensed into level 10 forms, their overwhelming strength still left Chen Bai in awe.

“Phew…”

He exhaled with difficulty.

At that moment, a new prompt from the Abyss appeared in his mind, interrupting his numbed nerves:

[99th Layer Trial: Six-Armed Serpent Demon, Feathered Serpent Warlock-99 has been slain. Trial cleared! You can recover for 20 minutes!]

The Six-Armed Serpent Demon race was considered one of the most formidable demon races. However, to Chen Bai, they had become familiar foes by now.

Although the fight had still been challenging, it hadn’t consumed too much of his time.

After quickly organizing his mental notes on the professions and races of these demons, Chen Bai soon received another Abyss prompt:

[Current 100th Layer Abyss Demon Lord: Lesser Demon Shadow Sword Demon Gilbert-100. Condensing level 10 projection. Trialist, prepare yourself!]

As the prompt appeared, the world before his eyes began to shift and morph.

The 100th Layer.

Chen Bai’s emotions surged as his thoughts raced.

The Inferior Demon race—the most ordinary of all Abyssal demons. He had encountered countless members of this species and didn’t think much of them.

But this Shadow Sword Demon—what kind of profession was this?

Chen Bai felt a twinge of curiosity. As the illusory world before him stabilized, he turned his gaze forward.

What greeted his eyes was indeed a thin, spindly Inferior Demon, less than two meters tall. However, instead of wielding a giant axe or broadsword like many others, it carried a long, slender blade of incredible sharpness.

Just as Chen Bai was scrutinizing this strange foe, the Abyssal landscape finished stabilizing. In that instant, the demon’s figure vanished.

Before Chen Bai could react, his world plunged into darkness.

He saw a headless corpse.

It wore a deep green robe, and from behind the corpse—out of its very shadow—emerged that very Inferior Demon he had dismissed as insignificant.

The Shadow Sword Demon, that Demon Lord.

In that moment, Chen Bai finally understood.

“I… died?”