*Boom—*
A massive fireball rose with a loud boom had lasted a large hole in the thick wall of keratin and connective tissue, from where some bodily fluid was oozing out and vapor, was rising. Hao Ren and Vivian had gone through the last obstacle and disappeared into the chaos inside the hole.
The demon-god Vivian felt a tingling sensation on her ‘foot.’ Standing at one-kilometer tall, she was startled for a while before looking down on the massive organ below her, but she saw nothing.
As if a robot losing its target, the bloody demon god stopped and went into standby mode. Meanwhile, blood began to ooze out from the surrounding tentacles to repair her wound, which Hao Ren had caused using magic, bullets, grenades and small rockets though these things had little effect on her.
More tentacles had stretched out from the chaos, making a strange hissing sound as they reached into the giant organ to repair and replace the damaged nerves and tentacles. Just like in the beginning, the living organ was held in position by the tentacles like a temple of evil. It was silent, emotionless, and seemingly devoid of rationality.
Over on the safe island some distance away, Lily and others were taking a break. During the battle, Hessiana had one of her wings broken; Turcan and Kassandra were poisoned by toxic blood, while Nangong Sanba had severe mental trauma, not forgetting that Lily had also lost a large patch of her beautiful hair. Nangong Wuyue was using an enchantment to heal them. She looked at the bloody demon god. “Looks like it has quieted down.”
“That thing isn’t capable of thinking.” Lily groaned and stroked her tail sorrily. “Otherwise, we would have been dead already. Didn’t you see that she didn’t even pursue us when I dragged Sanba away?”
“Do you think Mr. Landlord and Vivian can solve this thing?” Nangong Wuyue rolled her tail up in the shape of a question mark. “I could sense it through the water; this monster is just the tip of the iceberg, there is something bigger behind all these. She is connected to the entire planet through the tentacles. She is almost like the will of the planet.”
“I trust Mr. Landlord,” Lily replied without hesitation. “There’s nothing that Mr. Landlord couldn’t accomplish.”
Nangong Wuyue was wide-mouthed and mumbled, “Yeah, your master is the greatest man in the world. What a dog’s logic!”
Hao Ren and Vivian had come to a place where they could seize the opportunity to treat their injuries.
Hao Ren’s shirt was in tatters, exposing his severely burned skin. The blood mist was corrosive. The good news was that the wound was not fatal. A faint glow was running in the lacerations where the stinky damaged tissue began to come off as new flesh grew. Hao Ren felt not only severe pain but also light-headedness. He had lost too many body tissues, and he was weak.
Hao Ren took out a large vacuum syringe from the dimensional pocket, attached a med can on it and injected the med into his left arm, which suffered the most damage. The solution entered his self-healing system with a hiss, and his dizziness eased.
He looked at the glow that ran on his body, and for the first time, he saw his bone had a crystal-like texture in one of the deepest wounds. He shook his head with a complicated smile. “Oh gosh! Am I still a human?” he asked himself.
“You risked your life to protect me. Why didn’t you tell me that your shield was wearing out?”
Vivian’s injury was far less severe and only suffered minor scratches. She was blood-magic resistant, and Hao Ren had taken most of the hit. She treated her bruises on the skin by shrouding herself in a mist.
“I made a calculated risk,” Hao Ren shrugged his shoulders, and that aggravated the pain. “I thought the shield would hold up for at least a kilometer, but the attack was too brutal. I misjudged it.”
Vivian looked at Hao Ren with a frown. “Only if you are not immune to my magic, I can treat your injury.”
Suddenly, the MDT appeared out of nowhere. “I don’t mean to interrupt you guys, but I still need to remind you: your action was too reckless, it was not the best way!” it said to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren forced a smile. “I had no time to think,” he said.
Indeed, it was now or never. The MDT had many ‘best solutions.’ For example, bringing the Petrachelys over; returning to the surface and taking their sweet time to come out with an action plan; releasing drones to find out the composition and weaknesses of the demon-god Vivian, but he did not have the luxury of time. The activity of the bloody demon god might wake up the First Born, which could turn Inferno upside down. Hao Ren had no time to think about the best solution, he and Vivian had to act quickly.
“I mean you at least could come over by car. Though it has little self-defense capability, it could take the initial hit for you, and you don’t have to lick your wounds as you do now,” the MDT said.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Hao Ren asked.
The MDT lost its patience and shot its mouth off. “When I saw you lunged out and risked your life for her, I thought you knew what you were doing. Look at you! You’re in terrible shape now. You had freaking no idea! You were trying to impress her.”
There was a beat, and neither Hao Ren nor Vivian met the other’s gaze.
“Maybe we should first take a look around. This place is unusual,” said Vivian, breaking the awkward moment.
Hao Ren turned to look deeper into the inside and his brows knit together. “There’s a structure there.”
The interior of the organ was entirely different from what they expected; it was not wholly of biological tissues and fluid, but more like a natural building with pillars and vaults of biological tissue. The blood-like liquid was flowing in the groove at the top, but there were no pipes. It seemed some mysterious power was controlling the liquid flow.
There were many cracks on the above, through which Hao Ren could vaguely see the body of demon-god Vivian. He pulled his eyebrows together and said, “I have enough weapons to blow this place up, maybe we could destroy the body of the demon god.”
“But that doesn’t kill her,” Vivian pointed to the tentacles that extended into the organ. “Look at those things; they are interconnected. If you blow the organ up, the demon god will only move to other locations and respawn. It would be worse if it moves onto the surface; it could spell trouble for the world.”
“Hmm.” Hao Ren swung his arm, which had just recovered, a little. “Is the thing you’re looking for inside here?”
Vivian nodded and pointed to a direction. “It’s there!”
Hao Ren looked where Vivian was pointing. He was wide-eyed.
A two-meter-high blood-red crystal, bound by chains, was suspended in the center of the enormous organ quietly. Inside the crystal, there was a human figure.
Chain?
“I’m sure the First Born didn’t make this!” Hao Ren said as he checked the chain, then the crystal. “It is you. I mean it’s the evil spirit.”
The red-haired Vivian was sleeping soundly in the crystal. She looked peaceful.
“This must be true body of the bloody demon god,” Vivian said as she put her hand on the crystal. “She has become one with the First Born here and produced the great distortion. She wanted to stop all this by burying herself in the core of the planet.”
Hao Ren looked at Vivian. “Then, what’s your plan?” he asked.
Vivian smiled and said, “Eat her.”
