Chapter 140: Breaking Through The Army of Yokai, Infiltrating Ryujin’s Secret Laboratory

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Riven and Label boldly entered the fortress. He kicked through the outer walls — which were made of hardened cursed stone — as if they were nothing more than brittle wood. Inside they were immediately greeted by even more soldiers and Yokai.

This time there were nearly two hundred of them waiting.

"KILL HIM!!!"

They all roared in unison and charged toward Riven together. Their combined strength was certainly enough to overwhelm even solid A-Rank hunters under normal circumstances. Riven should have been no exception to that rule!

Cursed swords, spears, axes, explosive shuriken, and countless other weapons struck him from every possible direction. Yet Riven... remained completely unscathed.

His black bone armor had fused seamlessly with his draconic scales, forming a regal obsidian bone-dragon armor that blazed with ghostly black fire. The armor overflowed with immense power and toughness far beyond anything these enemies could hope to pierce.

His long silvery-white hair waved freely in the wind as the living sentinel took a single step forward. He suddenly underwent a full transformation, channeling every gene, mutation, and transformation skill he possessed at once. His body expanded into a bulky chimeric giant — a terrifying mix of beast, reptile, and heavily armored titan.

Holding both Fenrir’s Fang and the Netherworld King’s Blade, he advanced while using his claws and swords together as if he were wielding twelve blades instead of two. Each of his elongated fingers and claws counted as an independent cutting edge.

Abyssal Assault – First Form: Death Guillotine.

Black and ghostly slashes of pure death energy surged outward in every direction in the span of a single heartbeat. Every Yokai and soldier present underwent a painless, icy death as their bodies were instantly cleaved apart. Abyssal Shift allowed Riven to move from one position to another in the blink of an eye.

His Shadow Self appeared behind him and attacked in perfect synchronization, doubling the number of deadly slashes and devastating hundreds of foes at once!

Blood, guts, and severed heads flew in every direction until what remained of the courtyard was nothing more than a blood-soaked battlefield.

"...A-Ah," Label muttered quietly, gasping as she witnessed the absolute massacre Riven had just unleashed.

He had always been capable of similar destruction against low-level monsters, but these enemies were far stronger than anything he had fought before. And yet... they were already nothing more than dead meat.

"B-Bastard...!"

"What sort of demon has our master summoned against us?"

"Who could he have insulted so badly to gain such a terrifying enemy?!"

"W-We have to get out of here!"

"I don’t care anymore...! I’m running away!"

The remaining soldiers and Yokai tried to flee in panic, but glowing red runes suddenly appeared across their bodies. The runes cursed them with intense agony and forced them to turn back toward the fight against their will.

"Nngaaaahhhhh!"

"Raaahhhh!"

"Die! Die! Die!"

They roared with complete madness, falling into a berserk state as their distant master seized control of their minds using the same skill he had once attempted to use against the ninjas.

"..."

Just as Riven was about to continue his advance, he noticed the remaining soldiers and Yokai suddenly stopped moving. They frantically injected themselves with strange syringes that appeared out of nowhere. Their bodies immediately began to swell into gigantic, bulging masses of fleshy tumors.

"GRUUOOOHHHH!"

They rapidly merged together into aberrant mutant monsters with multiple arms and heads. The grotesque creatures roared and attacked Riven with wild elemental magic and massive claws, shaking the ground beneath them with every furious step.

"I guess you’ve grown desperate...!" Riven said coldly. "I don’t need to bother with this rabble, though."

He still knew his energy was not infinite, so he simply walked past the mutants with Label at his side. Four ninjas appeared behind him in a flash and immediately unleashed their ninjutsu, covering for Riven and giving him the freedom to concentrate on his true goal inside the fortress.

"We’ll take care of these. You go and do your thing, Riven!" Kagehisa called out. He appeared and disappeared in clouds of smoke while creating multiple clones, engaging one of the giants alone and bringing it down with swift, precise strikes.

"Let’s show master what we can do!" Hinata declared. With her two summoned spirits and her elemental ninjutsu she called forth raging floods and bolts of thunder from her hand signs, showering the mutants with continuous magical damage.

"You got it!" Goki roared as he swung his axes in a deadly dance of flames and explosive shuriken. He destroyed one giant’s legs and forced the massive creature to collapse.

"We’ll keep them busy," Ren said quietly. He spread his nearly invisible shadow threads across the battlefield, binding the remaining foes in place and preventing them from taking even a single step forward.

At the same time Noir, Label, and Riven continued deeper into the fortress. As expected, Ryujin himself was nowhere to be seen, yet there were still many people inside.

The interior of the fortress, however, was nothing like what Riven had expected. The walls and floors were metallic, and the air carried the sharp scent of artificial cleanliness — more like a hospital than a military stronghold. Or rather...

"A laboratory..."

He began climbing a set of stairs only to be suddenly stopped by a wave of dozens of heavily armed guards.

"Bastard, how did you even get this far?!"

"Kill him now!"

"Who do you think you are to storm into the boss’s laboratory?!"

"DIE!!!"

They all radiated solid C-Rank auras. These were high-ranked security personnel. The moment they injected themselves with Yokai Serum they surged up to C+ Rank!

Label nimbly avoided an incoming attack. She used her living hair to crawl along the walls and ceiling while carefully holding Chemy in her arms.

"Chemy, all out!"

"GRAWWR!"

Chemy roared with excitement and fired concentrated beams of burning green flames packed with deadly poisons and toxins. The green fire melted the Yokaified humans on contact, forcing them to scream in agony as explosions of toxic green flame spread throughout the corridor.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

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