Chapter 84: The Convergence of Steel

CRACK!

The eighteen-meter Titan Apex Aberrant pulled itself back to its feet, towering over the burning plain once more. Its four crimson eyes flickered with absolute, rabid malice as it fixed its gaze on the charging Aethelgard cavalry and the floating cultivator suspended in the clouds above.

"I will tear every last one of you to pieces!" the titan bellowed, its heavy, guttural voice rolling across the hills like continuous thunder as its massive frame braced for a catastrophic rampage.

Before the eyes of the surviving soldiers, the cavernous hole carved through the giant’s chest by Qing Su’s divine broadsword began to writhe. Thick, purple strands of organic tissue expanded, interweaving at terrifying speed to stitch the skin back together. Within seconds, the massive wound was completely sealed, leaving behind only a smooth sheet of dark, chitinous hide.

"Did you really think a pitiful trick like that would work on me, you arrogant bitch?!" the titan roared, its nostrils flaring as hot, sulfurous steam hissed into the air.

Below, the vanguard of Aethelgard finally slammed into the frontlines. Thousands of warhorses thundered across the dirt, their riders driving enchanted steel lances straight through the disoriented B-rank Aberrants. Above them, Qing Su’s aerial domain remained active; ethereal blue blades rained down in a continuous, automated pattern, dicing through any two-meter monstrosity that attempted to leap at the cavalrymen.

With the B-rank horde paralyzed and shredded by the constant hail of flying swords, the Aethelgard knights capitalized on the chaos. They swung their longswords in fluid, synchronized arcs, severing the remaining monsters’ limbs and carving through their exposed joints with ruthless efficiency.

Blood and broken bone spattered the grass as steel collided with dark flesh. The battle between humanity’s knights and the dark horde turned into a brutal meat grinder.

High above the carnage, Qing Su narrowed her eyes, keeping her distance as she watched the titan’s chest fully regenerate. Her hands remained held in a precise sword seal, her spatial focus unyielding.

A short distance away, Ren stood amidst the churned soil, his chest heaving as he monitored the engagement.

’Any energy-based attack gets absorbed or negated by its passive hide,’ Ren analyzed, his mind racing as he recalled the system’s warning. ’If they keep throwing high-tier elemental spells or Qi constructs at that thing, they’re just wasting stamina. I need to get the system’s analysis to that woman before she drains her reserves.’

He knew he couldn’t afford to stand by as a spectator. The Aethelgard forces and the floating cultivator had bought him his life; whatever their motives were for intervening, their survival directly dictated his own.

Drawing upon the lingering reserves of his Nyx bloodline, Ren planted his boots into the dirt and surged forward. He transformed into a blur of motion, leaving a faint streak of violet light across the battlefield as he wove through the frantic battle lines. Warhorses galloped past him, and severed monster limbs rained down on either side, but Ren paid them no mind. His full speed was directed toward the ground beneath the floating blue-haired woman.

Meanwhile, the Titan Apex Aberrant grew enraged by the persistent cavalry beneath its feet. Watching the B-rank Aberrants get systematically slaughtered by the knights, the giant let out a guttural growl and drove its colossal right foot into the earth with shattering force.

BOOM!

A localized shockwave exploded outward from the impact point. The earth buckled, tossing dozens of Aethelgard knights and their mounts thirty feet into the air like weightless toys. The formation broke instantly as horses screamed in panic, tumbling head over heels through the air and crashing violently onto the hard soil in a chaotic domino effect.

Seeing the knights thrown into disarray, a cluster of surviving B-rank Aberrants hissed, raising their bone scythes as they lunged to butcher the fallen riders.

Before the monsters could reach them, Qing Su flicked her fingers in a downward arc. A dozen ethereal blue blades altered their flight paths instantly, shooting through the air like guided missiles to pin the Aberrants to the earth, severing their heads before they could touch the dismounted soldiers.

"Die, you insects!" the titan roared, lifting its colossal heel to stomp the dazed knights into red paste.

Qing Su’s expression went cold. "Not on my watch."

She swept her arm through the air, drawing upon the deep lightning elements circulating within her Qi core. The atmospheric pressure plummeted as blinding purple bolts of thunder detonated across the storm clouds above.

THUN-DER!

A monumental, sixty-foot divine sword forged purely from blue lightning materialized out of the clouds and shot downward with terrifying speed, striking the titan’s raised leg at the knee joint.

SWISH—CRACK!

The dense lightning blade sheared straight through the giant’s leg, severing the massive knee joint clean off!

"GRAAAAAHHH!"

The titan shrieked in agony as dark purple blood sprayed from its stump like a broken pipe. Losing its center of gravity, the eighteen-meter monstrosity toppled sideways, crashing into the earth with a deafening thud that shook the surrounding hills and sent up a towering wall of dust.

Yet, even as it rolled across the dirt in agony, its eyes blazed with unnatural hatred. From the raw, severed stump at its knee, thick tendrils of dark purple flesh and jagged bone fragments sprouted violently, weaving together like living ropes to rebuild the severed limb in real-time.

Within seconds, the calf and foot fully reconstructed themselves.

The titan pushed itself up, letting out a deep, mocking laugh that echoed across the field. "Hahaha! Is that all you’ve got, you miserable bitch?!"

It pointed its claws upward at Qing Su, its sharp teeth bared in a grotesque grin. "Do you truly believe a low-tier cultivator like you can overcome the absolute perfection of dark divinity? You are nothing!"

The biological titan’s harsh, guttural insults cut straight through the air, striking at the silent burden Qing Su carried as one of the last surviving cultivators of this realm.

Qing Su hovered in the sky, her face remaining devoid of emotion, but the atmospheric Qi surrounding her suddenly changed.

Slowly, she raised both hands, drawing her index and middle fingers together before her face.

The brilliant ice-blue color of her long hair began to shift, transforming into a stark, blinding snowy-white from the roots to the tips. The ambient pressure on the battlefield multiplied tenfold. Thunder rolled across the sky as jagged bolts of blue and gold lightning ripped through the atmosphere. Deep within the earth, tectonic plates groaned under the sheer weight of her releasing spirit pressure. High above her head, massive, glowing golden seals and ancient Daoist diagrams materialized in the air, spinning in intricate, overlapping rings that stretched for hundreds of yards.

Her full cultivation aura as an Ethereal Ascension Realm master flooded the domain, forcing the air down so hard that the grass flattened across the entire plain.

"For centuries, your dark faction has invaded our world, slaughtered our sects, and corrupted the great cultivators of old," Qing Su said, her voice echoing with an ethereal resonance that sounded like the voice of the sky itself. "You sealed our realm’s guardians, corrupted the balance of our atmosphere, and forced humanity into hiding. I will not stand by and allow a mindless biological husk to mock our legacy."

The Titan Apex Aberrant completed its leg regeneration, standing tall amidst the dust storm as it glared up at the divine diagrams in the sky.

"Hahaha! Keep talking!" the giant sneered, its massive jaw clicking as it flexed its chitinous shoulders. "You think the natural Qi of a dying planet can stand against cosmic darkness? Keep dreaming, insect!"

Just as Qing Su was about to unleash her full, heaven-shattering sword array, a loud, clear voice shouted up from the ground directly beneath her.

"Hey! Look down here!"

Qing Su’s eyes flickered downward. Suspended mid-air, she glanced down at the young man waving his arm at her from the field below.

’Is this the commander Evelyn mentioned in her transmission...?’ Qing Su thought, observing Ren’s battered frame and the strange, lingering dark purple divinity pulsing faintly beneath his skin.

"Stop attacking it with Qi and elemental constructs!" Ren shouted, using his hands to trumpet his voice over the roaring wind. "That monster possesses an absolute passive immunity to magic, elemental spells, and environmental Qi! Any energy strike you throw at it will just be absorbed or negated by its biomass! The only way to kill it is through pure, unenhanced physical damage—a heavy, manual kinetic strike with no energy attached!"

Qing Su’s brows knitted slightly as she digested his words.

Immune to energy attacks...?

She stared down at the giant, analyzing the way her lightning blade had sheared through its leg earlier. The cut had been clean, but the energy contained within the lightning had been swallowed completely by the surrounding tissue, allowing the flesh to rapidly stitch itself back together without suffering any structural rot or elemental burn.

’He’s right,’ Qing Su realized, her cold eyes narrowing. ’My Qi strikes aren’t doing lasting damage because its hide actively consumes the energy matrix to fuel its regeneration.’

Ren wiped a trail of blood from his jaw, holding her gaze from below. "Let’s team up! I have a plan to tear through its core, but I need you to create a physical opening!"

Qing Su looked at Ren, considering his proposal for a single microsecond before giving a subtle, resolute nod.

"Very well," Qing Su answered, her voice cutting through the tempest. "Let us finish this."