Chapter 291: Blowing Through The Mana Reactor, Completely Destroying The Mutated Vampire

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Once Fenrir Fang finished shifting into its full axe form, Riven poured as much ice into the weapon as he could manage. At the same time he finally absorbed the Divine Frost Emperor’s Crown completely. The crown’s power sank into his body and immediately pushed his Ice Affinity, Freezing Touch Skill, and the related Cultivation Method to their current limits.

Ice Ki and Blade Energy mixed with his Blood Essence until the three forces moved as one. Riven swung the heavy axe in a rapid Divine Cleave that cut straight through Elias’s tentacles. The same strike continued downward and slammed into the reactor beneath them.

BOOOOMMM!!!

A massive explosion tore upward from the damaged reactor. The force of it would have ripped the entire platform apart if Elias had not thrown up a barrier at the last second. The barrier held, but only barely. Elias roared in pure fury as the shockwave still threw him back a step.

"HOW DARE YOU! THIS IS MY WHOLE FUCKING JOB! DON’T YOU DARE!!!"

He launched himself at Riven, both hands reaching for the man’s head so he could drive him to the floor. His fingers closed on nothing. Instead an explosion of poison and ice erupted right where Riven had been standing. The mixed energy quickly shaped itself into a cluster of ghostly swords that stabbed deep into Elias’s arm from wrist to shoulder.

"AAAAAGGH! WHAT THE...?!"

His eyes went wide when he saw Riven reappear as a dozen identical clones made of spiritual energy. Every clone carried an axe of solid ice and swung at the same time.

"Spirit Axe Ascension!"

Riven stacked ten full-powered strikes into one continuous motion, the second strongest technique of the Divine Axe Art. Compressed Ice Ki, Blood Essence, and Blade Ki crashed into Elias from below in a rising cleave that froze, cut, and drained blood energy with every hit.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Elias could not keep up with the number of attacks coming from every direction. He groaned and staggered, forced downward step by step until he crashed through the ceiling of a laboratory below. His body began to shrink under the pressure, the thick mass of tentacles and muscle compressing until he looked thinner and smaller than before.

"He’s grown smaller?"

Riven descended into the laboratory to greet him. The moment his feet touched the floor, dozens of soldiers swung their guns toward him and opened fire. Bullets filled the air, but he raised a psionic barrier that deflected every shot. Then he released his Spiritual Pressure, crushing the entire group flat against the concrete.

He found Elias on the floor in the middle of the chaos. Large glass tubes surrounded him, each one filled with twitching masses of flesh and tumors that pulsed under the harsh white lights.

"What the...? This again...? Do you have them in every damn reactor?" Riven asked, staring at the grotesque displays.

"Hahaha...! I-Is this why you came here?!" Elias answered, his voice strained. "Don’t you know that bioengineering can only be done within reactors, dumbass? They only... they are the only ones who can provide enough energy for the machines... to work properly... cough, cough...! Ahhh, what’s... happening to me?!"

"End of the line, Elias," Riven said. He tried to ignore the experiments around him. Among the soldiers he had just crushed were several scientists in white coats. That explained why so many of them had been stationed here. Inside the tubes he saw half-human, half-leech creatures, vampiric homunculi with elongated limbs, and people whose arms and legs had been stretched far beyond normal proportions. "What the hell were you doing here?"

"I am so thirsty...! G-Give me your blood... your blood!"

"Wait!"

Riven moved to stop him, but Elias activated his power over blood. In an instant he drained every person Riven had pinned to the floor. Their bodies swelled and then burst like overfilled balloons, one after another. Blood rained down across the room, and Elias laughed as it soaked his face.

"Yes, yes!!!" he shouted, absorbing every drop. His body grew large and uneven again. A long arm covered in muscle, eyes, and mouths erupted from his right shoulder and punched Riven hard enough to send him sliding back. Elias forced himself upright. "Hahaha, I just need more blood, more...! Ugh...!"

He suddenly grabbed his head and screamed. Something was speaking to him from inside. "W-What the hell... Who’s talking— Aaggh!"

His eyes turned red with fury. Reason drained from his face as he locked onto Riven and charged. "YOU DAMN BASTARD, DIE!!!"

Riven charged at the same time. He activated Explosive Mad Charge and closed the distance in a split second. Four fists smashed Elias into the floor. Then came a rapid series of claw strikes and blade swings, ending with a Divine Cleave linked to Spirit Axe Ascension and Horizon Cross.

"You’re no match for me anymore."

SLAAASH! SLAAASH! SLAAASH!

"GUH?!"

RUMBLE!

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

The walls behind them blew outward. Dozens of tubes connected to the mana reactor ruptured and exploded. Flames spread through the entire sector. People ran in every direction, some already on fire, screaming as they burned.

Riven stepped forward. His wounds closed on their own while his flesh pulsed and knit back together. In the center of the reactor, where the liquid mana boiled, a large screen flickered to life. A familiar man stared out at him with open fascination.

"Riven! To think I’d see you again so soon."

Riven’s eyes widened. For a second he thought it was a nightmare or some kind of hallucination. He took a step back, staring at the screen. On the floor, what remained of Elias was only a torso with one arm and half a face still twitching.

That voice. That face. That smile that always belonged to the most obsessive man on the planet—someone who never stopped talking about pushing humanity to the "next stage of evolution."

"Willheim?! What are you doing here?! Wait... a screen... you’re watching from HQ?"

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