224: Chapter 224 Weapon Upgrade: Unrivaled!

Accompanied by the humming of the battle axe.

Three upgrade prompts appeared before Lin Xiao's eyes.

This time, the situation was somewhat different from before.

It wasn't a simple three-choose-one, but three completely different evolution paths, each representing what this battle axe could become in the future:

[Weapon: Blood Demon]

[Attack: 225]

[Durability: 192/192]

[Trait Upgrade - Life Return ↑ Blood Covenant: Every kill immediately restores 3% Vitality to the axe blade, while simultaneously restoring the same amount of Vitality to the user.

The lower the current Vitality, the stronger the recovery effect, up to a maximum of 10%]

[Let the blood flow like a river!]

——

[Weapon: Thorns]

[Attack: 140]

[Durability: 350/350]

[Trait Upgrade - Coordinated Combat ↑ Heart of Thorns: When actively activated, it continuously drains the user's Vitality to nourish the battle axe while applying a shield to the user, sharing all damage received.

Taking damage while the shield is active inflicts a reflect damage effect on the attacker based on HP.

[Heart of Thorns] can stack with other similar shields; the higher the current shield value, the stronger the reflect effect]

[Clad in heavy armor, heart like steel!]

——

[Weapon: terminator]

[Attack: 290]

[Durability: 99/99]

[Trait Upgrade - Rend ↑ Massacre: Attacks cause the target to enter a [bleeding] state, stacking up to five times.

If a target reaches five stacks of bleeding or dies from the state, the battle axe enters [Blood Rage] mode, increasing Attack Power by an additional 200%.

In [Blood Rage] mode, attacks deal True Damage that ignores defense and directly inflict 5 stacks of the [bleeding] state on enemy targets]

[Unrivaled power!]

——

"Hiss... not bad!"

Lin Xiao's gaze swept back and forth between the three options several times.

Each path had its unique value.

[Blood Demon] was the ultimate in sustain.

The lower the current HP, the higher the recovery; a maximum of 10% recovery per kill meant that even when near death, every kill could pull his health back into the safety zone.

In previous battles, he mainly relied on the passive of [Gentlemanly Demeanor] to recover health.

But the effect was minimal; if not for the Level 4 set [deep sea aria] triggering shields, he really wouldn't have had an easy time going head-to-head with the thousands upon thousands of Calamity Creatures in the Black Tide.

If he chose this evolution path, wouldn't he essentially become a walking blood pump, slaughtering his way through the calamity without a single drop of the blood on him being his own?

Then he looked at [Thorns].

Compared to [Blood Demon], [Thorns] was the ultimate in defense.

It generated a shield when actively activated, reflected damage while the shield existed, and could even stack with other shields.

Before an enemy hit him, they'd have to weigh whether their own health was enough to survive the reflected damage.

However, Lin Xiao was used to aggressive fighting; this kind of defensive weapon really didn't appeal to him.

He shook his head and looked at the third option.

[terminator].

New trait: [Massacre].

By stacking bleeding effects to enter [Blood Rage] mode, Attack Power would increase by an additional two hundred percent, dealing True Damage that ignores defense and directly applying five stacks of bleeding to the target.

This is good!

Lin Xiao loved passive skills that could stack.

Combined with the Maximum Output Mode of [Soul Siphon Strike], every hit with the axe blade would trigger a localized explosion.

If Lin Xiao remembered correctly, the description of the red rune [Raging Tide] he obtained earlier stated: For every three consecutive attacks, the fourth attack deals 150% bonus damage.

If he factored in this rune skill as well...

With three layers of burst stacked together, the damage would be simply unimaginable!

This was his style.

Not standing there taking hits, not relying on recovery to slowly grind things down.

It was about charging in, tearing everything apart, and killing all enemies before they could kill him!

Lin Xiao made his choice decisively.

The black light underwent its final fusion and expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The sound of metal grinding came from the sphere of light, low and long, like the first breath of some giant beast waking from a deep slumber.

The black light surged for seven or eight seconds before gradually dissipating.

Lin Xiao looked closely and saw a massive double-bladed battle axe lying on the conference table.

[Weapon: terminator]

[Type: Melee]

[Level: 5]

[Attack: 290]

[Durability: 99/99]

[Trait - Massacre: Attacks cause the target to enter a [bleeding] state...]

[Trait - Coordinated Combat: When actively activated, it continuously drains the user's Vitality...]

[Trait - Soul Siphon Strike: When the Vitality absorbed by the calamity bane reaches 100%, Maximum Output Mode will be activated...]

[Trait - Life Return: Every kill immediately restores 2% Vitality to the axe blade...]

[Trait - Fragile: Weapon durability consumption is accelerated]

[Unrivaled power!]

This heavy battle axe was so large that the handle alone was as tall as a person.

Even though he was fully geared and had 98 points of Constitution, Lin Xiao still needed both hands to wield it.

The dark red patterns on the handle had become much more restrained, no longer flowing as ostentatiously as before, but the aura of danger had grown even more intense.

Those patterns were like the etchings of some ancient seal, lying quietly dormant on the hard surface of the handle, waiting to tear open an enemy's throat and crush their bones.

As for the axe blade, it was more than three times larger than the previous [calamity bane].

What reflected off the broad surface of the blade wasn't a cold light, but a blood-colored edge that made one's heart turn cold.

Lin Xiao held the axe with both hands and swung it a few times in the air.

The whistling sound of it cutting through the air was heavy and sharp.

The three women, who were picking out jewelry, were all drawn to the sight and let out three simultaneous gasps of surprise.

The necklace in Wen Yiran's hand almost slipped to the floor: "Brother Lin, this axe... is way too big, isn't it?"

Jiang Wanwan leaned against her chair, sizing up the giant battle axe with interest, and smiled: "How strange, why do boys always like big things?"

Tian Xiwei didn't say anything, but the admiration in her eyes for Lin Xiao overflowed without any attempt at concealment.

"It's nothing much."

Lin Xiao responded indifferently, putting the battle axe back into his backpack.

In reality, he was itching to give it a try.

It just so happened he had Rift Anchors in his hand.

He could use the Calamity Projections inside to blood the blade!

Even with ninety-eight points of Constitution, swinging this axe was a bit taxing; he was very curious about what kind of effect the [terminator] could produce in Blood Rage mode.

Twelve layers of seals would be enough for him to conduct his experiment.

Lin Xiao withdrew his gaze and looked at the remaining gauntlet claws on the table.

Since the battle axe had become a two-handed weapon, the frequency of his secondary weapon's use would inevitably decrease.

Especially since he also had a legendary weapon, [poseidons trident].

With the trident in hand, there were even fewer scenarios where the gauntlet claws would be useful.

However, having an extra layer of protection was always good.

Furthermore, the percentage health damage of the gauntlet claws could have miraculous effects in specific situations.

For instance, when facing a single target with extremely high health and defense, the 5% maximum health bonus damage was more practical than any skill damage.

Lin Xiao unequipped the gauntlet claw on his hand and stacked it with the other eight on the table.

The black light of [Triple Moonlight] surged out again.

After making two upgrade choices, the light vanished, and the appearance of the gauntlet claws had completely changed.

[Weapon: Ghost Slash]

[Type: Melee]

[Level: 5]

[Attack: 275]

[Durability: 110/110]

[New Trait - Invisible Blade: Damage dealt by Ghost Slash will execute enemy targets with less than 5% health; if the executed target is a BOSS, the execution threshold is permanently increased by 0.1% of maximum health]

[Trait - Soul Extinguishing Slash: Attacks deal extra damage to targets below 50% health, equivalent to 5% of the target's maximum health]

[Trait - Weak Point Special Attack: Attacking a target's weak points triggers an additional 120% damage; this damage bonus benefits from all physical damage modifiers]

[The ignorant cannot escape their doom!]