Chapter 357 – The Exploded Mutant

“Boom!”

As the deafening roar echoed, a shockwave erupted from the violently colliding figures—one massive, one petite—sweeping through the surroundings.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…!”

Countless stone pillars, rocks, and stalactite-like spikes shattered under the storm-like shockwave, disintegrating into clouds of debris that scattered in all directions.

The ground fractured inch by inch, transforming into a spiderweb of cracks.

The Giant Phantom Demon’s territory trembled violently, sinking several meters into the earth.

“Miling—!”

The mermaid girl let out a melodious, drawn-out cry as she surged forward with sweeping waves, intent on breaking through the territory guarded by the Giant Phantom Demon.

“Roar—!”

Naturally enraged, the Giant Phantom Demon spread its rocky palm and slammed it toward Little Hai’er with a piercing sonic boom.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”…

For a moment, deafening roars continuously resounded, marking the abrupt beginning of an intense battle.

Little Hai’er, accompanied by surging waves, relentlessly assaulted the Giant Phantom Demon’s defense line, clashing repeatedly with its massive swinging arms and igniting wave after wave of thunderous impacts.

Shockwaves unfolded layer upon layer.

The atmosphere trembled incessantly.

The two figures—one colossal, one tiny—engaged in the most direct and extreme confrontation, nearly catching the swiftly approaching Su Ming in the crossfire. He almost got swept away by the storm of shockwaves and shattered rocks.

Fortunately, Su Ming possessed exceptional Spirit Sense, combined with his superhuman physique and dual Professional abilities. His body swayed like a willow branch in the wind, and after a series of fluid movements, he not only held his ground but advanced forward as if riding the gusts, continuing to dash ahead.

However, when Su Ming saw the roaring Giant Phantom Demon locked in extreme combat with Little Hai’er, his pupils constricted.

“A Hazardous Species mutant!”

That Giant Phantom Demon was unmistakably a mutant of a Hazardous Species.

“The Sixth Floor already has Hazardous Species mutants appearing?”

Su Ming was stunned.

Mutants were Phantom Demons that had failed in their evolution process, unable to advance further yet transcending their original life form to surpass their inherent Rank. They were aberrant Phantom Demons.

Although they were results of failed evolution, reaching the stage of evolution alone made them far rarer and more powerful than the vast majority of beings at their original Rank.

Like the mutants encountered on the First Floor, they were merely mutants of lower-tier Phantom Demons—inferior to upper-tier Phantom Demons and not even matching the lowest-grade Hazardous Species. Yet, they far exceeded ordinary lower-tier Phantom Demons and could nearly rival Four-Star Professionals.

As for Hazardous Species mutants, they were far more terrifying than those lower-tier Phantom Demon mutants.

Ordinary Hazardous Species possessed power roughly between that of Four-Star and Five-Star Professionals—stronger than Four-Star but weaker than Five-Star.

Only the elite among Hazardous Species could rival the power of Five-Star Professionals.

If a Hazardous Species accumulated enough power through blood consumption to initiate evolution, it would reach the limit of its kind, roughly equivalent to a Peak Five-Star Professional.Take the Ghoul, for instance—it was a Hazardous Species on the verge of evolution, slightly stronger than Chi Qian, who was at the Five-Star Peak Realm at the time. This prompted the Tianfeng City authorities to issue a special mission to subdue it and prevent its successful evolution.

The Giant Phantom Demon currently locked in fierce combat with Little Hai’er, however, was a Hazardous Species that had already undergone evolution but failed.

Had this Giant Phantom Demon succeeded in its evolution, it would have become a Nightmare Species, with its power surging to a level between Six-Star and Seven-Star Professionals. If it continued to absorb blood and accumulate strength, it could even rival a Seven-Star Professional.

But it failed, ultimately stagnating for life, stuck in its mutant form and unable to compare to a Nightmare Species.

Even so, this Giant Phantom Demon had undergone evolution; even in failure, it was far stronger than when it was a mere Hazardous Species.

The limit of a Hazardous Species—like the Ghoul, just one step away from evolution—was equivalent to a Five-Star Peak-level existence. This evolved mutant, though falling short of a Nightmare Species and unable to reach the realm between Six-Star and Seven-Star Professionals, was undoubtedly much stronger than a Five-Star Peak-level.

The Giant Phantom Demon before them, this mutant Hazardous Species, was a formidable being capable of rivaling a Six-Star Professional.

Such a creature already existed on the Sixth Floor of the Midnight Labyrinth. What level of Phantom Demons might lurk on the deeper floors—the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, or even the innermost Tenth Floor?

“Boom!”

As Su Ming was lost in terrifying thoughts, Little Hai’er collided with the Giant Phantom Demon once more, using the shockwave to propel herself high into the air.

“Meeling! Meeling meeling!”

Unable to break through the Giant Phantom Demon’s Defense Line, Little Hai’er grew impatient, crying out loudly in apparent frustration.

“Roar!”

The Giant Phantom Demon merely roared at Little Hai’er in the sky, adamantly refusing to let her pass.

Though furious, Little Hai’er truly couldn’t overcome the Giant Phantom Demon.

As a Nightmare Species that hadn’t yet reached maturity, Little Hai’er’s power was considerably weaker than that of a typical Nightmare Species. She could only match a Six-Star Professional, failing to reach the minimum threshold of a Nightmare Species—stronger than a Six-Star but weaker than a Seven-Star Professional.

On one side was an incomplete Nightmare Species, and on the other, a mutant that had failed to evolve into a Nightmare Species but far surpassed a Hazardous Species. Strangely, their powers were on the same level, leaving neither able to overpower the other.

Little Hai’er attempted to summon blizzards and unleash swirling torrents of water, abandoning direct confrontation in favor of spell-like tactics.

Yet, attacks capable of turning the surroundings into a frozen wasteland and flooding the area still proved ineffective against the Giant Phantom Demon.

Swinging its massive arms, the Giant Phantom Demon shattered the blizzards with sheer force. When faced with the oncoming water vortex, it didn’t even bother to block, instead enduring the assault with its colossal body—standing firm like a reef battered by waves.

It was clear that this Giant Phantom Demon, much like a troll, prided itself on strength and defense. Though slow, it boasted high attack and defense, with thick skin and immense vitality. For Little Hai’er to defeat it would be no easy task.The Giant Phantom Demon’s attacks were something Little Hai’er dared not take head-on. A single hit would undoubtedly result in severe injuries, forcing the mermaid girl to rely solely on her agile speed and nimble footwork to evade.

The two Phantom Demons, one large and one small, found themselves locked in a stalemate.

Without the intervention of a third force, this deadlock could easily persist for ten days or even half a month.

Unfortunately for them, Little Hai’er was not fighting alone.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, an astonishing surge of Spirit Power erupted from Little Hai’er, causing the blizzard she summoned to expand dozens of times in scale and increase in power by more than tenfold. The Giant Phantom Demon trembled violently under the onslaught.

At this critical moment, Su Ming, leveraging the spiritual resonance between himself and Little Hai’er, channeled his own Spirit Power into her, causing her strength to skyrocket.

Activating this state of spiritual resonance and borrowing Su Ming’s Spirit Power transformed Little Hai’er into the equivalent of a Dual Professional among Phantom Demons. Her power became so immense that she could exchange dozens of blows with the Poisonous Insect Queen, a top-tier Nightmare Species, and hold her own.

This sudden surge in power forced the Giant Phantom Demon to stagger backward with a series of thunderous “thuds,” its body rapidly accumulating layers of ice crystals within the devastating blizzard, leaving it in a wretched state.

“Roar!”

The Giant Phantom Demon bellowed in fury and shock.

But what greeted it was an even more terrifying force.

A figure, pitifully small compared to the Giant Phantom Demon, shot up from the ground. The right hand, clad in fingerless gloves, burst into flames of eerie blue light, illuminating the entire underground space.

With extreme speed, the figure closed in on the retreating Giant Phantom Demon and delivered a dazzling strike against its mountain-like chest.

“[Silver Arm · One-Tenth · Fist Strike]!”

Amidst a voice as cold as the void, the fist, shining like a burst of light, slammed heavily into the Giant Phantom Demon’s chest.

“Boom—!”

At that moment, the entire Midnight Labyrinth trembled violently. The Sixth Floor and the two adjacent floors shook as if struck by an earthquake, heaving and roiling.

“What’s happening…!?”

“What’s going on!?”

“Ahhh!”

“Watch out!”

Many Professional teams, who were either exploring the labyrinth, battling Phantom Demons, or gathering rare treasures, were caught in the sudden upheaval. As if facing a real earthquake, they were thrown into disarray—some stumbling and falling, others buried by collapsing terrain, all plunged into disaster.

Especially those on the Sixth Floor, they felt as if trapped in a cataclysmic event of earth-shattering proportions, descending into panic and frantic flight.

Even Chi Qian, Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, and Tong Xinyao, who were rushing toward Su Ming and Little Hai’er, were caught in the chaos.

“Watch out!”

Chi Qian’s expression changed drastically. Without hesitation, she shoved Tong Xinyao into Feng Qing’er’s arms, drew her Sword, and leaped into the air, shattering the incoming barrage of massive rocks and debris.

“Grab hold!”

Mu Yan, too, could no longer maintain her usual ice-cool beauty demeanor. Her face pale with alarm, she swiftly unfurled her Thorned Whip, wrapping it around Feng Qing’er and Tong Xinyao, and together with herself, suspended them from a ceiling-connected stone pillar to avoid being swept away by the tsunami-like shockwaves.Chi Qian even charged into an oncoming sandstorm. Her figure could vaguely be seen rapidly growing taller as her entire body transformed into an alluring Fiend form. With astonishing power, she swung her Sword and sliced through the incoming sandstorm and shockwaves on the spot, protecting Mu Yan, Feng Qing’er, Tong Xinyao, and others behind her.

The earth-shattering sensation persisted for an unknown duration.

Meanwhile, at the center of the blinding explosion, the Giant Phantom Demon shattered completely amidst the deafening commotion.

The scene resembled a mountain collapsing.

(End of Chapter)