Online Game: Starting with an SSS-Level Plundering Talent - Chapter 478

Chapter 478: Chapter 478: Infiltrating the Volcano, A Sea of Corpses and Blood
In just half a day’s time, John and Avis arrived at Dark City.

The city was still shrouded in black mist, with dark, swirling energies of the The Heaven laws. The shattering of the Heaven Divine Stele seemed to have no effect on Dark City.

“There’s definitely a secret here.” John was certain in his heart.

The Heaven Divine Stele had shattered, and the entire Realm of Chaos had lost its vitality. Even his World-in-Hand had been somewhat affected, yet Dark City remained untouched.

This city seemed to be a place that existed in stark contrast to the The Heaven laws.

At this moment, the city was eerily silent, and almost no one was visible.

In the past, to study the The Heaven Divine Stele and to fight against the Overlord and the others, the Celestial Vault had almost exhausted the city’s entire strength, assisting the Church of Light to set up the Demon’s Sky Formation.

But in the end, Anixegon had outwitted them, trapping the Celestial Vault in the Dark-Light Mirror, with their fate uncertain.

Even his nearly one million Black Magicians had been captured by Anixegon and incorporated into the Church of Light.

The remaining survivors in the city were weak and powerless, and they didn’t dare to stop John.

He made his way through the city without obstruction and directly arrived at the enormous volcanic crater.

Boom boom…

Black lava surged, and waves of heat swept through the air.

The volcano seemed even more violent now.

“Master, this place seems very dangerous,” Avis said, her eyes filled with fear as she looked down at the boiling lava below.

She could sense that falling into the lava would result in certain death, as the molten substance would instantly devour them.

John nodded. “You should return to my World-in-Hand for now.”

With a thought, he withdrew Avis back into the World-in-Hand, then landed on the edge of the volcano’s crater.

Boom…

The black lava churned and surged violently.

The terrifying heatwave hit him, and John felt a sharp, stinging pain, as if even his soul was being affected.

“Such strange lava,” he muttered, frowning. He hesitated for a moment, but decided to investigate further.

He suspected that there was still a hidden space beneath the volcano. When he had helped the Heavenly King resist the Emperor’s thunder tribulation, the Celestial Vault’s main body had been hidden beneath this very spot.

“Diamond Body Protection, Golden Lotus Manifestation!” he murmured, activating two powerful defensive skills.

A golden light enveloped him, and his soul was shielded by the Golden Lotus.

He then took a deep breath and, without hesitation, leaped into the boiling lava below.

Splash!

Hiss…

In an instant, his body was submerged in the black lava, which hissed and crackled around him.

The strange lava was filled with an intense corrosive force. His golden light flickered but became increasingly weaker.

Not only that, but he felt a burning pain deep within his soul.

Luckily, the Golden Lotus Manifestation protected him, preventing the lava from threatening his soul—for now.

However, his body’s golden defense could not withstand the terrifying heat and corrosive power.

Crack crack…

A sharp, clear cracking sound echoed as the golden light around him began to crack, and then, it shattered completely.

Whoosh!

The searing lava rushed toward him.

John felt an overwhelming heat sear his body, the flesh gradually melting away, and even his internal power was rapidly draining away.

He was shocked—this strange lava was actually devouring his strength!

“Diamond Body Protection!” He couldn’t afford to be careless. In a panic, he hastily activated his defensive skill, and golden light surrounded him, temporarily suppressing the lava around him.

At this moment, his body was already torn and charred, blackened from the molten lava that continued to burn and corrode both his body and his soul.

Fortunately, his soul was protected by the Golden Lotus Manifestation, so there was no immediate danger.

He forced the black lava that had invaded his body out and looked around at the surrounding darkness. Gritting his teeth, he continued to descend.

Crack crack…

Soon, the sound of the golden light cracking filled the air once again.

This time, before the golden light shattered completely, he activated Diamond Body Protection once more.

As he descended further, the temperature of the surrounding lava grew higher, and the power of the molten rock became even more terrifying.

Even his golden light could no longer withstand it for long.

He had been descending for more than ten minutes, at least a thousand meters below the surface, yet he still saw no end in sight.

Moreover, his mental strength was severely restricted here, and he couldn’t detect anything around him.

“I’ll see just how deep this goes!” he gritted his teeth, determined to continue.

The pressure around him kept increasing.

Crack!

With a sharp sound, the golden light surrounding him shattered completely. Before he could activate Diamond Body Protection again, an endless wave of lava surged toward him, instantly engulfing him.

[You have been erased by the dark lava. Lifesaver talent activated.]

The prompt flashed in front of him, and he was immediately killed. Then, golden light enveloped him as he Resurrected in place, triggering the invincible defense from his Lifesaver talent.

However, just like Diamond Body Protection, this golden light still couldn’t stop the lava’s corrosive power.

Ignoring this, he sped up, diving deeper into the lava.

[You have been erased by the dark lava. Lifesaver talent activated.]

…

Several flashes of the prompt appeared. The golden light around him faded, but fortunately, he had finally reached the end of the lava.

Buzz!

A wave of spatial fluctuation passed through him, and the surrounding pressure suddenly disappeared, though it was still unbearably hot.

He let out a long sigh of relief and finally got a clear view of his surroundings. He was now in a vast underground cavern, surrounded by pitch-black darkness.

Crack!

A sharp cracking sound came from beneath his feet. He snapped his fingers, and a ball of flame ignited, illuminating the cave.

In the light of the flame, the ground beneath him was covered in a thick layer of eerie white bones, piled like a mountain.

John furrowed his brows, feeling little impact from the scene. He began walking deeper into the cavern.

The cave wasn’t very complicated. After passing through a narrow, dark opening, the space before him suddenly opened up, revealing a wide, open area.

“Hmm? Celestial Vault!” He exclaimed in shock, surprised by what he saw. His United Sword appeared in his hand, its sword light flashing.

In the center of the wide cave, a figure floated in midair, surrounded by dozens of soft tubes, with one end of each tube buried deep in the cave’s rocky wall.

“No life force?” He frowned deeply, scrutinizing the figure and feeling a slight sense of relief.

This was a Celestial Vault avatar, devoid of any life force, simply floating passively here and absorbing energy.

No wonder when Heavenly King was here resisting the Emperor’s thunder tribulation, no other tribulations were drawn.

This avatar was not a living being at all, and thus could not be detected.

Although Celestial Vault had two bodies, it only possessed one soul. It couldn’t control both bodies simultaneously, but it could merge them into one.

For this The Heaven monument comprehension mission, he had been cautious of Anixegon, which was why he left this avatar behind.

But in the end, he had let his guard down, falling prey to the God-Devouring Curse, and had been trapped in the Dark-Light Mirror, with his life and death unknown.

“What are these tubes on him?” John wondered, stepping forward to investigate. He casually grabbed one of the tubes and yanked it off.

Whoosh…

A massive surge of power erupted, and pure The power of laws poured out of the tube, creating a fierce gust of wind.

“What an immense power!” John said in surprise, glancing at the tube that was buried deep into the rock wall. It seemed as though there was more space behind it.

He took a step back, swung his United Sword, and unleashed a blade of light, cutting through the rock wall with a roar.

Boom!

The sound of a violent explosion echoed as the cavern trembled, the rock face crumbled, and dust filled the air, revealing another space. A pungent, foul odor immediately filled the air.

He furrowed his brow and instinctively covered his nose and mouth, holding his breath.

Previously, when he hunted Bloodthirst demons and Corrupted Demon-Humans, he had plundered many Harsh Environment Adaptations, and certain harsh environments no longer affected him.

But this place still made him feel extremely uncomfortable, as waves of dizziness assaulted him.

Hiss… He saw everything clearly and couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.

Behind the cavern, there was another independent space, vast and boundless.

This place was a Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood—endless remains piled up into towering mountains, and beneath them stretched an inky sea of dark red blood, as if it had formed from the pooling of fresh blood.

John felt a chilling shiver down his spine.

Even hell itself couldn’t compare to this.

How many powerful beings had to be slaughtered here for such a hellish scene to form?

The environment of Dark City wasn’t created by the dark magic of the Black Magicians, but by the accumulation of this Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood that had leaked into the surroundings.

He had initially planned to refine Dark City and absorb this world into his World-in-Hand, but upon seeing this, he immediately discarded that idea.

This place was too evil, filled with endless resentment. Even though his World-in-Hand was brimming with vitality, it would be impossible to refine such a place.

“All of them are above Seven-Star powerhouses!” He looked at the corpses that hadn’t fully decayed yet. Their auras were formidable, with both magical beasts and humans among them, all at least Seven-Star cultivators.

And there were many Overseers as well.

Scattered on the ground were patches of dim, lifeless Hearts of the Continent. A light touch, and they instantly turned to ash.

All of the energy within them had dissipated, leaving them utterly worthless.

“How many Hearts of the Continent have been absorbed here?” John swallowed involuntarily. There were patches of Hearts of the Continent scattered around, at least a million of them.

Whoosh…

Winds stirred, and beneath the massive Mountain of Corpses and the deep Sea of Blood, intricate tubes emerged, crisscrossing and covering the entire space, linking the entire Dark City.

It wasn’t just the Celestial Vault avatar; the entire Dark City was absorbing these energies.

“What exactly is going on here?” John swallowed again, his expression becoming serious.

If Dark City was just Skybroke’s World-in-Hand, then why did it need to absorb such an enormous amount of power?

What was the purpose of all this energy?

Could it be alive, somehow?

He thought of Skybroke, whose heart was the only thing left, parasitizing an ancient tree.

Could it be that the entire Dark City was actually Skybroke’s true body?

A chill ran down his spine, and the more he thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed.

“I should ask Gaka,” he thought to himself.

Gaka had once been an Emperor-level powerhouse, but after being schemed against by Celestial Vault and Demon Emperor, he had been trapped in Dark City for a thousand years, imprisoned in the Tower of Death. Perhaps he knew something about all of this.

A thought struck John. He opened his World-in-Hand, and the Tree of Life began to sway, with part of it extending into the space.

However, the Tree of Life seemed to have been struck by an electric current, violently trembling, with its branches and leaves swiftly retracting.

It was as if this space contained an evil power that terrified him.

This was the first time he had seen the Tree of Life react so strongly.

With Jean absent from the World-in-Hand, he couldn’t communicate with the Tree of Life. The only thing he could do was wake up Gaka.

“Senior, take a look at this,” he opened his World-in-Hand, showing the hellish scene before him.

Gaka slowly awoke. Just as he was about to complain, he saw the sight before him and immediately gasped in shock: “The Ten Thousand Souls Bloodthirst Sovereign Technique!”