Chapter 1578: The Title Nine Gloom
“Got him!”
Silver Armor clearly sensed that his attack had not failed.
Just when he was about to continue pursuing the Nine Gloom Vine further, his danger instincts suddenly sensed an intense threat. Rapidly, he made a decisive retreat the moment his toes touched the ground.
The instant he moved, countless black vines turned into tens of thousands of thorns that penetrated right through the spot where he had been standing earlier. They resembled a giant black crystal flower in bloom.
Although he had anticipated that his combination attack would not kill off the Nine Gloom Vine right away, Silver Armor still felt that it might do some injury to his opponent. However, from the looks of things, he had underestimated Nine Gloom; his combination attack did not appear to have done any concrete damage to the Nine Gloom Vine at all.
The giant crystal flower’s prickly leaves consolidated into a giant face as Silver Armor’s attack failed. It was the impressive face that had greeted the four-faced individual previously.
“You lived up to your name, Silver Armor. If you had used that combination of attacks outside my God Territory, you might actually have severely injured me.
“However, you’re in my God Territory now, so you have no choice but to submit to my rules of the game. Under these rules of mine, you’d better just admit that you’re soundly beaten!”
As soon as the huge face finished speaking, it disintegrated instantly, turning into countless black vines.
Right as Silver Armor was about to dodge, he noticed that the vines did not charge at him. Instead, their forms were rapidly changing at a speed visible the naked eye could barely follow, transforming one by one into monsters of different shapes and sizes.
There were humans, Protoss, Bug Tribe monsters, as well as Abyssal creatures…
Each of them had an aura almost as powerful as a ninth-rank Heavenly God.
Dozens of them had auras that were very close to overlord-rank.
There were even a number whose auras were clearly no weaker than those of the six overlords.
As he glanced over the monsters with the most powerful auras, the red glow in Silver Armor’s eyes flickered slightly.
He was familiar with at least half of them.
Each of those powerhouses had been formidable individuals in the inner world’s history who had once laid claim to the position of overlord.
What disturbed Silver Armor’s state of mind even more was that he saw the newly-defeated three-tailed snake lady, Crimson Eye, and Giant Sarcoma. Their auras were almost the same as when they had been alive.
“So this is the trump card that you’ve been concealing all this time?!” Silver Armor forcibly suppressed just how shocked he was. He now had a rough idea of the kind of ability that the Nine Gloom Vine possessed.
“Do you think my name—Nine Gloom—is merely an empty reputation?” The Nine Gloom Vine’s slightly cynical voice drifted through flatly, “Nine Gloom is my title!”
The flame burning in Silver Armor’s eyes flickered again when he heard that.
Naturally, he was well aware of what a title was.
As one progressed along the path of cultivation, one would obtain a corresponding title when they had achieved some specific condition.
Different titles came with different effects. Some directly endowed the individual with a god rule, a sequence, or perhaps a divine ability. Some might allow one to comprehend a certain true meaning heavenly rule, and some would even produce some unique effects…
The title Nine Gloom evidently gave the Nine Gloom Vine a certain special divine ability or sequence power that allowed him to revive and control dead powerhouses with some specific technique.
To Silver Armor, this sort of ability was a bit of a riddle.
After all, the Nine Gloom Vine’s ability was by no means inferior to his own. Given that there were several powerhouses on par with Crimson Eye and Giant Sarcoma, his chances of winning were rather slim.
However, Silver Armor knew very well that he had already witnessed his opponent’s biggest trump card, and the Nine Gloom Vine was not likely to leave him alive. Right now, Silver Armor no longer had any way of escape; he could only fight to the death.
At this point in his considerations, Silver Armor had absolutely no intention of fleeing. Seeing that there was a horde of monsters swarming his way, he advanced to meet them immediately.
Like a violent storm, the Black Dragon Spear in his hand stabbed forward, swiftly impaling one monster after another.
These consecutive kills looked easy, but in his mind, Silver Armor felt increasingly concerned.
Before attacking, he had been trusting to luck. He thought Nine Gloom might have merely simulated the forms and auras of those deceased individuals. By nature, these simulated beings were still clones of the Nine Gloom Vine and did not possess their original abilities.
However, it took only the first wave of impact for him to know that he had made a serious error.
These monsters were not simulated beings; they possessed battle wills of their own. Not only were their auras the same as when they were alive, but they were also practically able to replicate perfectly the abilities and strength that they had before.
Naturally, the Nine Gloom Vine sensed Silver Armor’s probing.
“It looks like you’ve already discovered they’ve almost entirely been able to replicate their abilities from when they were still alive. However, did you know that my title’s ability is very simple to use? All I need to do is to obtain part of the deceased’s body before their soul completely dissipates. With that, I can ‘revive’ them perfectly.
“Of course, this sort of ‘revival’ comes with restrictions—they can’t leave my God Territory. However, that’s not much of an issue. All I need to do is to drag my opponent into my God Territory. ”
Perhaps because he felt sure that he would win or because of some other reason, the Nine Gloom Vine started becoming talkative.
“It’s unfortunate that something happened to that brat Four Face, so he managed to escape my God Territory in advance. Initially, I considered getting rid of all of you, then killing him as well so that I could live in peace forever!”
The Nine Gloom Vine disclosed what he really had in mind. In reality, if he had not felt that Four Face’s condition was somewhat peculiar, he would have certainly killed him right away.
Their so-called alliance had been formed solely because of benefits. As soon as these benefits had been achieved, one naturally did not have to be concerned about any falling out between both parties. To Nine Gloom, this was completely normal.
It was only at this moment that Silver Armor found out Four Face was not dead.
Previously, he had sensed Four Face’s aura vanish, so he had assumed all along that Four Face had died in battle.
Now, after hearing what Nine Gloom said, Silver Armor realized that Four Face had successfully escaped from the God Territory. He could not help feeling a surge of envy. He even regretted having gotten himself into this predicament.
If he had known previously that the Nine Gloom Vine had this sort of ability, he definitely would not have chosen to become enemies with him. However, he had entirely no choice now.
While dodging the attacks from the monster horde, Silver Armor was swiftly trying to come up with countermeasures.
Given the number and abilities of the monsters that the Nine Gloom Vine had summoned, it was basically impossible to kill all of them. Silver Armor even had doubts about whether his Divine Power would be enough to kill one-third of them.
Therefore, the key to resolving the problem still lay in the Nine Gloom Vine’s true form.
As soon as he killed the Nine Gloom Vine, who was the source, the Nine Gloom Vine’s God Territory would automatically collapse. These ‘revenants’ that he had created would also naturally disappear.
Now the biggest problem was how to bypass these ‘revenants’ and kill the Nine Gloom Vine.
Furthermore, Silver Armor had to kill the Nine Gloom Vine within an extremely short timeframe, or these ‘revenants’ would soon surround him again.
Silver Armor could not help sinking into deep thought…