Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 643

Chapter 643: Chapter 642: A Robber Invited? Identity Exposed!?
Sterl paused as a thought struck him.

The Extinction Heavenly Thunder Tribulation from the Endless Void was unimaginably terrifying. With his current strength, even the residual aftershocks of such power were beyond his ability to endure—let alone fully control.

Yet, the fact that Dream Power could bring something like the Extinction Heavenly Thunder Tribulation into existence, transitioning it from fantasy to reality, was nothing short of extraordinary.

Based on what he had just witnessed, if he could channel even more Dream Power, wouldn’t it be possible to recreate a true Extinction Heavenly Thunder Tribulation, just as he had done with the Black Hole Vortex before?

The idea ignited a burning curiosity in Sterl’s heart.

While directly mastering the power of the Extinction Heavenly Thunder Tribulation might be unrealistic, using Dream Power to recreate and wield it seemed incredibly feasible.

Most importantly, he already possessed the tools to harness Dream Power: the Illusory Dream and the Dream Orb, granting him the qualifications and resources to access this enigmatic energy.

Compared to the unpredictable and perilous Endless Void, the path through Dream Power was far more viable.

Moreover, through the Illusory Dream, he had discovered that Dream Power itself appeared remarkably stable and gentle, existing in a semi-real, semi-illusory state. It didn’t seem to pose any direct harm to him, making the risks of mastering it relatively low.

The only potential danger lay in Dreamland itself—a mysterious world so perilous that even the Nation of Orichalcum dared not continue its exploration.

Shaking his head to dispel his wandering thoughts, Sterl refocused.

There were too many things he wanted to accomplish, but he couldn’t do everything at once. His immediate priority was to handle the situation at hand. Everything else would have to wait.

Sterl’s gaze shifted to the exposed broodmother.

The creature, sensing the immense threat, began desperately squeezing out its power. It relentlessly pierced through the barriers of the Will of Hell, attempting to transmit all its information and summon reinforcements.

Its body visibly withered at an alarming rate, and through the perspective of Soul Insight, even its Soul’s Power was being rapidly consumed.

The sight made Sterl’s heart skip a beat.

“Damn it! That’s all my hard-earned resources!”

He couldn’t help but curse aloud. The broodmother was recklessly squandering the very soul aggregate he had painstakingly fattened with the souls of nearly ten million troops. There was no way he would allow it to waste everything for nothing!

Without hesitation, Sterl activated Phantom Purgatory!

The Purgatory Space unfolded slowly, and an intense suction force locked onto the broodmother. Its frantic movements abruptly ceased.

From the perspective of the soul realm, Sterl could see a massive soul aggregate being forcibly pulled out of the broodmother’s body, bit by bit.

Chains extended from the Purgatory Space, piercing into the broodmother and dragging it relentlessly toward the swirling void.

The process was seamless. Even though this broodmother’s soul was nearly twice the size of the previous one he had captured, it had no ability to resist.

Once dragged into the Purgatory Space, the Soulforge Fire ignited in an instant. The gathered souls within the broodmother erupted in agonized wails as the fire consumed them.

In just a single second, more than 60% of the souls were incinerated, transforming into new soul puppets within Sterl’s Purgatory Space.

As for the broodmother itself, it faced the same fate as its predecessor. Under the indiscriminate ravages of the Soulforge Fire, its soul began to collapse rapidly. It wouldn’t be long before it dissipated completely, reduced to nothing but ashes.

Sterl hesitated momentarily. He considered releasing the broodmother from the Purgatory Space. After all, if he refined all the souls entirely, the Will of Hell might withhold further authority from him in the future.

But then, his gaze fell on the broodmother’s remaining soul—still harboring at least ten million fragments.

“Damn it! I’ve already burned through my Illusory Dream reserves! If I don’t milk this for everything, wouldn’t that be a massive loss?”

Cursing under his breath, Sterl abandoned restraint. He decided to take just a little more… and then maybe a little more after that.

This time, he left the Phantom Purgatory active for a full two seconds before stopping.

Although he deliberately excluded a portion of the souls to avoid complete annihilation, even gods wouldn’t have survived two full seconds of the Soulforge Fire’s burn.

When he finally ejected the broodmother from the Purgatory Space, its once-vast soul aggregate had been reduced to a thin, pitiful layer.

A quick glance revealed that only about a million soul fragments remained intact!

“Uh… I think I might’ve overdone it,” Sterl muttered, rubbing his temples.

The two seconds of Soulforge Fire had drained 60% of his soul power. While his recovery rate was rapid, it would still take dozens of seconds to fully restore.

Even so, as he looked at the broodmother’s devastated, nearly hollow soul, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of awkwardness.

After all, this layer of Hell had once been home to over thirty million souls.

Now, thanks to his actions, nearly all of them had been devoured in one fell swoop.

At this moment, the Will of Hell finally reacted. It descended in a rush, frantically assisting the remaining souls in breaking free from the broodmother’s grasp and fleeing to safety.

At the same time, the Will of Hell was consumed by fury and frustration. It even began questioning its decision to bring Sterl into the fight.

Was this a case of inviting a wolf into the house? The broodmother hadn’t even accomplished this level of destruction, and yet this so-called “reinforcement” had wiped everything out!

This was robbery—no, worse than robbery!

“This isn’t my fault,” Sterl said, sensing the emotional turbulence of the Will of Hell through his partial control over the Authority of Hell. His voice was calm, his expression entirely unbothered.

“The broodmother was too difficult to handle, and I may have overdone it. Besides, I lost a very precious trump card in the process. My losses aren’t small, either. And in battle, some collateral damage is to be expected.”

What he said, however, only served to add insult to injury.

Collateral damage? Thirty million souls reduced to just one million—that was “normal”?

Yet, what was done was done, and the Will of Hell had no way to reverse the situation. Thankfully, some of the foundational souls had survived, and given time, the cycle of reincarnation would allow Hell to eventually recover.

“Exactly! Mutual understanding is the key to long-term cooperation, right?” Sterl added with a faint smile, his tone light and unhurried.

But deep down, his thoughts were racing.

The Will of Hell’s tolerance was much higher than he’d expected.

Initially, he had planned to divide the spoils evenly, fifty-fifty. But seeing this level of leniency, perhaps that split needed some adjustment.

“Hmm… 80-20 should do. Hell gets 20%, and I’ll take 80%. After all, I’m the one who fought so hard for this. Without me, Hell wouldn’t have been able to keep anything.”

Satisfied with his revised plan, Sterl swiftly reclassified the remaining souls—once belonging to Hell’s creatures—as his own spoils of war.

At this point, the broodmother’s grip on the hellborn souls had been completely severed, leaving only a gray-black soul worm writhing weakly as it began to dissipate.

Sterl’s eyes lit up with greed.

The broodmother’s soul quality was exceptionally high—surpassing even that of high-tier divine authority. Such a rare prize couldn’t be wasted!

He decided to use the same strategy as before, carefully refining the broodmother’s soul bit by bit.

But just as he was about to act, a burst of gray light suddenly shot out from the mysterious, slowly fading spatial rift behind the broodmother.

In an instant, the broodmother’s soul disintegrated completely, leaving him no chance to intervene.

The spatial rift vanished completely, severing all connections with this layer of Hell.

“This…”

Sterl froze, a flicker of disbelief crossing his face. He had been preparing to absorb the broodmother’s soul, yet it was gone—just like that?

His expression darkened. What was the meaning of this? This hadn’t happened last time.

Could it be that he had been exposed? Did those entities behind the broodmothers already know he was absorbing their souls, so they destroyed it outright to prevent him from gaining any advantage?

A chill ran down his spine at the thought.

He had assumed his actions were swift enough to prevent the broodmother from transmitting any information. Even with the use of Illusory Dream, which allowed him to eliminate the broodmother in an instant, it seemed his efforts weren’t enough.

This could only mean one thing: he had been exposed.

“This is bad,” he muttered, taking a deep breath. His mood grew heavier.

The strength of this unknown force was no longer a mystery to him—brutal, overwhelming, destructive, and oppressively orderly.

If they decided to retaliate and launch an all-out pursuit, escape would be impossible.

Returning to the main world in this state would be reckless; it could even lead to the calamity arriving prematurely, handing these strange creatures an exact location to strike.

At that moment, a surge of information from the Will of Hell rushed into his mind.

After processing the message, Sterl’s tense expression finally softened a little.

As it turned out, in its final moments, the broodmother had managed to break through the Will of Hell’s interference and transmit part of its information.

However, at a critical juncture, the Will of Hell had erased all details about Sterl’s identity and origins.

In other words, while the broodmother had successfully sent out a report, the content only described encountering an overwhelming and unstoppable enemy.

None of the details about Sterl—his appearance, abilities, or identity—had been included in the transmission.

This meant that the entities behind the broodmothers now knew there was a powerful adversary in Hell specifically targeting them, but they had no idea who that person was.

Even if Sterl were to stand right in front of them, they wouldn’t recognize him.

However, this also meant future broodmothers would likely be far more cautious. They might even take preemptive countermeasures to prepare for Sterl’s assaults.

As a result, taking down the next broodmother would undoubtedly be much more difficult.

…