"Abyssal Gaze, accelerate."
Su Zhan murmured softly, instantly enveloped by a layer of pale golden flowing light.
The next moment.
His figure shot forward.
Creating a gust of wind through the narrow rocky tunnel passage.
The moss on the rock walls stretched into long green light trails during the high-speed movement.
The howling wind in his ears drowned out the sound of footsteps.
Su Zhan's eyes remained locked dead ahead.
The footsteps ahead grew increasingly clear, indicating the target was not far away!
A sharp turn appeared in the passage ahead.
Su Zhan didn't slow his pace at all, sidestepping and leaping at the moment before colliding with the rock wall, using his boot soles to push off the damp rock surface, his entire body bending toward the new direction like an arrow released from its bow.
Having possessed this acceleration ability for so long, he had long mastered controlling both speed and direction.
After turning through three branch paths.
The passage ahead suddenly widened.
Su Zhan abruptly halted his steps.
At the passage's end.
The Bone Lizard Aberration was desperately dragging its severely wounded body, trying to push open a rusted iron door.
Hearing the commotion.
It turned back in terror: "How could you be this fast!"
Su Zhan's twin blades were already drawn: "Had enough running?"
The Bone Lizard Aberration roared fiercely, its entire bony armor crackling as its body suddenly expanded by a full circle, its thick lizard tail sweeping horizontally and smashing the rock wall into flying debris.
"Abyssal Gaze, slow!"
Su Zhan activated his Life Soul.
The Bone Lizard Aberration's movements instantly slowed.
Su Zhan's figure flashed, his twin blades slashing crosswise toward the opponent's neck.
"Clang!"
The Bone Lizard Aberration actually managed to raise its forelimbs at the critical moment, bony armor clashing with blade edges, sparks flying everywhere.
It grinned ferociously, opening its bloody maw, dangerous red light glowing in its throat.
Su Zhan suddenly withdrew his blades and leaned backward.
A stream of scorching corrosive liquid shot past the tip of his nose, melting a basin-sized hole in the rock wall behind with sizzling sounds.
Rubble clattered down as the passage began to tremble.
"Accelerate!"
Su Zhan instantly circled to the Bone Lizard Aberration's flank, slashing with one blade toward its vulnerable joint area.
Black blood sprayed out.
The Bone Lizard roared in pain, its long tail whipping forward like a steel whip.
But mid-swing, it suddenly changed direction.
The bone spike at the tail tip shot off!
"Thwack!"
Three bone spikes pierced through Su Zhan's left shoulder, bringing forth a spray of blood.
He grunted in pain, but his movements didn't pause at all, his right-hand blade following through with a thrust into the soft armor under the Bone Lizard's armpit, giving a vicious twist!
"Roar—!"
The Bone Lizard Aberration struggled madly, crashing against both rock walls until cracks covered them.
Forelimb bone armor transformed into two sinister bone blades, chopping down overhead!
Su Zhan retreated urgently, the bone blades grazing past his chest, immediately tearing open a gash in his clothing.
Before he could steady himself, the lizard tail struck again.
Su Zhan hastily crossed his blades to block, sent flying backward by the tremendous force, his back slamming heavily against the rock wall.
Currently, his spiritual energy was largely depleted from the previous battles.
Compared to the Bone Lizard Aberration's injuries, he wasn't much better off.
"Why must you keep pursuing me like this!?"
The Bone Lizard Aberration roared furiously, taking the opportunity to pounce forward, bloody maw wide open.
At the critical moment.
Su Zhan channeled all his spiritual energy.
Slow debuff applied to the opponent, speed buff applied to himself.
The Bone Lizard Aberration's movements slowed.
Su Zhan seized the chance to erupt forward, delivering a cross-slash that brutally hacked into the opponent's chest!
He grunted in pain, but his movements didn't pause at all, his right-hand blade following through to thrust into the soft armor under the Bone Lizard's armpit, giving a vicious twist!
Black blood poured out like a waterfall.
The Bone Lizard Aberration staggered backward, the vicious cross-shaped wound on its chest deep enough to reveal bone.
It let out a piercing shriek, all the bone plates across its body standing up piece by piece.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
Dozens of bone plates shot forth like a torrential storm!
Su Zhan's twin blades whirled into a curtain of light.
"Clang clang clang clang..."
Amid the collision sounds.
Several bone plates still penetrated his defense.
One embedded in his thigh, one sliced across his cheek, one even flying toward his throat.
"Clang!"
At the final moment.
Su Zhan caught that bone plate between his teeth, not even noticing his lip corner being sliced open.
The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
Su Zhan saw the Bone Lizard Aberration frantically fleeing toward the iron door.
"With your mind focused only on escape, how could you ever hope to defeat me?"
Su Zhan spat out the bone plate, crossing his twin blades before his chest.
His figure flashed like lightning.
The Bone Lizard had just touched the door handle when it suddenly froze.
The next second, a deep bone-revealing gash opened across its back.
Black blood splattered against the iron door, emitting corrosive sizzling sounds.
Su Zhan leaned on his blades, breathing heavily, blood from his shoulder dripping down the blade edges, yet his face was full of excitement.
"Roar—!"
The Bone Lizard Aberration let out a miserable roar, suddenly turning around and charging at Su Zhan: "Your spiritual energy was already almost gone, do you think you're any better off than me!? Why must you keep pursuing me like this!? If we both retreat now, wouldn't that be better!? If you won't let me go now, we'll just end up destroying each other!"
It flicked its crimson forked tongue.
The cross-shaped wound on its chest was healing at a visible rate.
"Aberrations really have thick skin and tough flesh, still not dead after all this."
Su Zhan smiled coldly: "Destroy each other? Heh..."
The next moment.
Black scales rapidly emerged across his skin surface, his body and muscles swelling dramatically, his eyes transforming into vertical pupils.
A long tail grew from his back.
The golden light of Abyssal Gaze didn't disappear.
Instead, it flowed through the gaps between scales like a swirling golden galaxy.
The Bone Lizard Abertion abruptly halted its charge, eyes widening in terror: "You! You are..."
Su Zhan's lips twisted into a ferocious grin, his voice becoming hoarse and deep: "Surprised?"
Then followed.
An air-rending tail whip!
"Boom!"
The massive tail struck the Bone Lizard Aberration's blocking forelimbs, directly smashing it into the rock wall.
Rubble flew everywhere.
Su Zhan's black claws already reached its throat.
The Bone Lizard suddenly sprayed corrosive fluid!
At this moment.
The golden light of Abyssal Gaze formed a thin film over the scales, the corrosive fluid strangely slowing and suspending in mid-air.
Su Zhan's claws continued their motion unimpeded, directly piercing through the opponent's throat.
"...You, you... how is this possible!?"
The Bone Lizard Aberration struggled in its death throes, all its bone plates shooting out explosively.
Su Zhan dodged as much as possible.
Bone plates clashed against black scales, the clanging sounds continuing without end.
Su Zhan's claws penetrated the defense, deeply embedding into the opponent's abdomen, the claws in its throat violently jerking upward.
The next second.
The Bone Lizard Aberration's head flew high into the air, black blood gushing out like a fountain.
Su Zhan showed no mercy, drawing his twin blades and continuing to deliver finishing blows.
Chopping it into mincemeat.
Only then could he feel truly at ease.
During this process, he used the aberration's terrifying regeneration ability to rapidly heal all his wounds.
Then he deactivated his aberration form.
Su Zhan knelt on one knee, breathing slowly.
Heh...
The opponent had actually lost focus the moment it saw his dual identity, giving him the opportunity he needed.
But it really was understandable.
Seeing an awakener suddenly become one of your own kind—that kind of thing would definitely confuse any aberration.
Su Zhan pulled his lips into a slight smile, taking off his upper garment and tearing it to shreds.
Now all his wounds had completely healed, but the damaged clothing couldn't repair itself, so he could only destroy it completely.
Otherwise, having no injuries but terribly torn clothing would be far too suspicious.
What a pity.
He could only absorb the life essence of fog creatures, not that of aberrations.
Alright, time to report the battle situation.
Su Zhan pressed his communicator and spoke: "The Bone Lizard Aberration has been killed by me. How's everything on your end?"
But what came was silence.
Prolonged silence.
Su Zhan slightly frowned.
He checked his communicator.
It still had power.
Why weren't his teammates responding?
Could they all be in combat? Is it inconvenient for them?
"Repeat, repeating message."
Su Zhan continued pressing the communicator: "The Bone Lizard Aberration has been killed by me. How's everything on your end? I can come help immediately—which side needs assistance more? Please respond if received, please respond if received."
But the outcome remained silence.
Su Zhan sensed something wrong, his heart sinking.
Because even during combat, with two people fighting one aberration, they should have been able to spare a moment for a brief response.
But after all this time, after he'd spoken twice, his teammates still hadn't given any reply.
Could something have happened?