178: infection assimilation

Each collision erupted with dazzling light and energy turbulence, and the church walls and dome continuously cracked and collapsed in the aftershocks.

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

The Power of Rule collided with the specter aggregate, emitting a piercing shriek as if souls were being torn apart.

But Old Jack was at an absolute disadvantage!

The speed at which he eliminated specters was far from catching up to the aggregate's replenishment and regeneration speed!

Each time a tentacle was dispersed, more specters instantly filled its place, making the tentacles seem endless!

Moreover, those tentacles were not merely physical attacks; each whip and entanglement was accompanied by a tsunami-like mental impact, fiercely assailing Old Jack's will and body.

The light of his battle qi dimmed at a visible rate, and the range of his domain was constantly being compressed.

“Pfft!”

A tentacle seized a gap in his defense, lashing out like a venomous whip at his protective battle qi.

Although the battle qi blocked the direct physical impact, the mental Power of Rule contained within it infiltrated like venom!

Old Jack grunted, his face instantly turning pale, and his movements showed a slight delay.

It was this momentary flaw!

The other two giant tentacles, poised and ready, tightened abruptly like long-waiting vipers!

One coiled around his waist and abdomen, the other around his neck!

Their speed was extreme!

Old Jack roared, erupting with battle qi, a crimson light blazing like the last rays of the setting sun, as the Rule of Annihilation surged out, attempting to burn through the coiling tentacles.

Indeed, the tips of the tentacles rapidly dissolved and vaporized under the Power of Rule, emitting a sizzling sound and the wails of countless specters before their dissipation.

But it was too slow!

More specter energy surged from the aggregate's main body, filling the dissolved parts one after another.

Far from being burned through, the tentacles coiled even tighter in the struggle!

Those translucent tentacles, formed by countless twisted souls, gripped Old Jack's body tightly like the toughest colloid!

A terrifying force emanated, making his bones creak, and his protective battle qi was compressed tightly against his skin, emitting a groan of unbearable strain.

“Ugh ah—!”

Old Jack's eyes were wide, bloodshot, as his Transcendent-level power erupted frantically, trying to break free.

The Rule of Annihilation burned on his body, constantly vaporizing the specter tentacles it touched, forming plumes of steaming blue smoke.

However, as one layer vaporized, two or three new layers of specter energy immediately coiled around him!

The speed of replenishment was several times the speed of destruction!

He was like an insect trapped in amber; the more fiercely he struggled, the deeper he sank!

At the core of the specter aggregate, countless tormented faces simultaneously turned towards him, emitting silent, maddening whispers.

A stronger, purer mental Power of Rule, carrying an absolute will of assimilation, surged into Old Jack's body like a cold tide along the tentacles!

“No...!”

Old Jack let out a final roar, filled with unwillingness and despair.

The crimson battle qi on his body flickered violently like a candle in the wind, finally extinguishing with a “pfft”!

Immediately after, a chilling transformation occurred.

Old Jack's struggling movements suddenly froze.

His weathered, powerful body began to turn... translucent at a visible rate!

First, his skin lost its color, becoming like cheap glass, then the outlines of his muscles and bones blurred and twisted under the tentacles' embrace.

His gaze rapidly scattered; human emotions like anger, pain, and resolve receded like a tide, replaced by a hollow, numb grayish-white, identical to the surrounding specters.

His body seemed to be assimilated and absorbed by the coiling tentacles, becoming part of this massive, terrifying aggregate!

Through the translucent tentacles, Lin Feng clearly saw Old Jack's body, like a wax figure melted by high heat, deforming and softening within the tentacles' embrace, finally losing its human form entirely and transforming into a constantly twisting, struggling, translucent energy mass. At its core, only a faint crimson light, the essence of Old Jack's soul, remained, also being frantically eroded and assimilated by the surrounding specter energy, rapidly dimming!

Lin Feng's mind reeled, and a chill shot from his feet to the top of his head.

Transcendent-level Old Jack had actually been so easily... defeated and assimilated before this terrifying specter aggregate!

Just as Lin Feng's mind reeled, the specter aggregate's massive “head,” composed of countless specter faces, suddenly turned towards the black mist area where Lin Feng was hiding!

It seemed to have finally completely digested Old Jack's power, or perhaps Old Jack's final resistance and soul aura had completely exposed Lin Feng's location!

A mental impact, more terrifying and condensed than all previous mental shrieks combined, carrying cold malice and a locked-on will, slammed towards Lin Feng like an invisible siege hammer, disregarding the black mist barrier that the Alien Queen desperately maintained!

Just as that soul-crushing mental hammer was about to strike Lin Feng's sea of consciousness at the last moment!

“Hissga!!!”

A piercing shriek, sharp enough to tear metal, exploded!

The Alien Queen beside Lin Feng moved!

Her massive body erupted with terrifying speed unbefitting her size, instantly blocking in front of Lin Feng.

Her back, covered in thick chitinous armor, arched like the strongest shield.

At the same time, her iconic inner jaw, like the most violent battering ram, shot out with a tearing shriek, striking the invisible mental impact from behind!

Boom!

An invisible bomb seemed to explode in the air!

Visible distorted ripples spread frantically from the point of impact; wherever they passed, the remaining walls and stone pillars of the church were kneaded by an invisible giant hand, instantly twisting, shattering, and turning into dust!

The ground was ploughed with deep furrows.

The Alien Queen's massive body shuddered violently; spiderweb-like cracks instantly covered her indestructible carapace, and dark green corrosive blood shot out from the cracks like a high-pressure water gun, splashing onto the specter tentacles, emitting terrifying sizzling sounds of corrosion and the mournful wails of specters.

She let out a pained groan, her thick lower limbs sinking deep into the ground, yet she did not retreat a single step!

Lin Feng felt as if his head had been violently struck by a heavy hammer; golden stars burst before his eyes, and his ears buzzed incessantly.

Had it not been for the Alien Queen's self-sacrificing block, he had no doubt that he would have already suffered a mental breakdown and become a walking corpse!

“Roar!”

The Alien Queen's injured ferocity was completely unleashed; her elongated skull suddenly turned towards the specter aggregate, and a bone-chilling killing intent erupted from her yellowish-green compound eyes.

She no longer defended passively but attacked proactively!

Her thick, powerful tail, like a steel whip, tore through the air, lashing out with immense force at the coiling specter tentacles.

At the same time, she opened her giant mouth, and a highly concentrated stream of strong acid breath, capable of corroding starship alloys, sprayed out like a dark green torrent of death, fiercely targeting the “face” composed of countless tormented human faces at the aggregate's core!

Chirp!

Chirp! Chirp!

Strong acid and specter energy violently collided and annihilated each other, emitting teeth-grinding corrosive sounds and the desperate shrieks of countless souls being instantly dissolved.

The specter aggregate also seemed to sense the threat; the faces at its core twisted, emitting even more piercing and chaotic whispers, and more tentacles split from the main body, coiling and lashing madly at the Alien Queen like countless venomous snakes.

While the Alien Queen attracted most of the firepower, Lin Feng endured the intense pain, concentrating his mind, trying to find a glimmer of hope amidst the chaotic energy storm and the sky-high tentacles.

However, the moment his gaze swept over the depths of the church, an inexplicable tremor and fear, originating from the depths of his soul, seized him!

The assimilated Old Jack, or rather, the distorted energy mass carrying Old Jack's last essence and being completely devoured by specter energy, at the very moment the specter aggregate launched its full attack, as if pulled by an invisible force, suddenly detached from the main body, transforming into a dim streak of light, and shot with astonishing speed into the deepest darkness of the church!