Sensing the intense malice from his opponent, Shi Ming didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately activated his skill, Ragnarok!

’Since I’ve been discovered, there’s no need to pretend anymore!’

’Time to kill!’

He let out a low roar as his body transformed into the Dusk Giant. The Fallen God Battlefield, reeking of blood and rust, descended upon this stretch of sea with its full power. A thick, twilight aura sank down from the sea’s surface, and along with the dim underwater light, it cast Fujing Mountain in a somber, decaying atmosphere.

Lesser creatures instantly decayed into nothingness.

The conical underwater volcano now resembled a tomb—a tomb to receive the decaying.

Shi Ming rushed out of the tunnel, as if dragging a yellow cape behind him, and attacked one of the sub-bodies he had detected.

Attacking the sub-bodies wouldn’t cause significant damage until he found the main body. However, stalling for time was the core strategy of Ragnarok. Time is the enemy of all living things, and under Ragnarok, decay is inevitable. Within the Fallen God Battlefield, for every 30 seconds a creature remained, its Defense Power, Physical Strength, Endurance, or Spiritual Power would be randomly and permanently reduced by one. This point would convert into 10 points of entropy. When a creature’s entropy value exceeded its total attribute points, corruption would descend.

This was a corruption that not even the Great Black Heaven Dragon could stop!

As long as he could make the corruption descend, it didn’t matter how many clones or sub-bodies she had; they would all march toward their predestined demise.

This was Ragnarok!

Moreover, Shi Ming’s Ragnarok had evolved to become even more absurd. It temporarily transferred the opponent’s lost stat points to Shi Ming, creating a zero-sum effect. The opponent would grow weaker and weaker, while Shi Ming became more ferocious the longer he fought. The more enemies there were, the faster this growth became. Once the accumulated points exceeded 100, the Dusk Giant would reverse its state and become a Dawn Giant, gaining a brand-new temporary skill: Pillar of Dawn!

’In the eyes of a giant, there is no retreat.’

Fight!

’Today, I’ll see which is stronger: your Infinite Progenitor or my Ragnarok!’

’Even if your ranking might be higher than mine, I still have "Descent of the Titan!", "Black Tortoise Shield!", and "The Third Law!"’

The Third Law was slowly merging and evolving with Ragnarok. In just a few days, the fusion process had already reached 32%. This process didn’t prevent the normal use of either skill; in fact, it even slightly enhanced their power.

This was the source of Shi Ming’s confidence.

"Virus," hiding in the shadows, saw how reckless Shi Ming was and sneered inwardly.

"Foolish."

The true body of "Virus," hidden in the darkness, immediately began multitasking, splitting off a full four sub-bodies. They swarmed out from the dark recesses of Fujing Mountain’s chamber to overwhelm him with numbers! This was her usual strategy!

Although Infinite Progenitor allowed for infinite splitting, with each resulting sub-body possessing the same strength as the original, the ability had its drawbacks. It didn’t grant any additional offensive abilities upon awakening, making her extremely dependent on other attack skills. Furthermore, the sub-bodies lacked independent consciousness and required the main body’s control to act.

How many she could control in battle depended mainly on the strength of her Spiritual Power.

"Virus" could currently manage to control 32 sub-bodies at once, which was already terrifying. If her target lacked any area-of-effect damage skills, they would be swarmed by the massive number of sub-bodies and easily killed. Most importantly, the skill’s growth potential was incredibly high—practically limitless. As long as her Spiritual Power continued to grow, so would the number of sub-bodies she could control. Eventually, she could fight a hundred, or even a thousand, enemies by herself, making it comparable to a top-10 ranked skill.

This was the source of "Virus’s" confidence!

Not to mention, she still had a trump card.

...

"Four of them?"

Shi Ming did not underestimate his enemy. His Dusk Giant-like body surged forward. His right hand slid across his left, using his left arm as a scabbard from which he drew a long, chillingly sharp blade. The seawater began to freeze around it, only to shatter into powder from the burst of energy before melting back into frigid liquid.

The Third Law!

The great cold sliced through the seawater like a Dimensional Blade cutting through space, bringing with it an indescribable sense of annihilation.

In a single clash, all four identical sub-bodies were severed at the waist, cut in two. Their lifeless flesh couldn’t resist the invasion of corruption and quickly decayed into heaps of mangled meat. At the same time, Shi Ming felt a temporary surge of energy, a boost to his own power.

’That’s it?’

Shi Ming sheathed the Great Cold.

This blade could not exist outside his body for too long. If used for more than 60 seconds in a single day, it would put a severe strain on his body and Spiritual Power. Therefore, Shi Ming conserved its use whenever possible.

As the sub-bodies decayed, several new ones grew out from the rotten, mangled flesh.

They were endless and inexhaustible.

But Shi Ming could feel it: the enemy’s main body was hidden within this mountain, within the range of Ragnarok’s Fallen God Battlefield. That being the case, she was bound to be affected by the increasing entropy.

’She probably can’t detect the subtle loss of her power yet, nor perceive the increase of entropy in her body.’

’But that’s fine. When the quantitative change leads to a qualitative one, it will be a fun surprise!’

"Heartless Serpent!"

The A-rank skill cast by the sub-body wasn’t particularly powerful. Shi Ming dodged the attack with a sideways flip.

Hiding in the shadows, Virus realized how powerful her opponent was.

’But so what? Humans, after all, have limits.’

’And she... is infinite.’

Her eyes held no emotion. On the main body, which was embedded in the stone wall, more than a dozen writhing bundles of fascia split off. After detaching, each one convulsed and transformed into another identical form, then charged into the battlefield one after another.

Infinite Progenitor might seem to lack killing power.

But a human-wave tactic where every unit possessed S-rank basic attributes was, in fact, an extremely effective method of attack.

If one died, it didn’t matter; there was always another.

She alone was a powerful army of Awakened.

Fearless of death, with no concern for reinforcements.

Unfortunately for her, she had run into Shi Ming. This army, sent out one by one only to die, couldn’t do anything to him. Instead, they became nutrients for him amidst the corruption.

Even time itself was decaying.

Finally, Virus, who was hiding inside the mountain and using powerful equipment to block detection, was shocked to discover that her body was starting to turn yellow. Tiny marks of decay began to appear and spread. And deep inside, unlike her usual self who had abandoned all emotion—both negative and non-negative—she began to feel restless and enraged.

’Hm?’

’Good!’

’Only by hunting such a powerful expert can I feel any pleasure!’

’In that case, let me show you the full extent of Infinite Progenitor pushed to its absolute limit!’

Virus tore off her clothes. The rock formations inside Fujing Mountain cracked and crumbled, and over thirty sub-bodies swarmed out from within. The physical strength of each was comparable to an ordinary S-rank Awakened, and they also possessed the other skills that Virus herself had!

Thirty against one. Even the most arrogant expert wouldn’t dare to face that head-on.

But by now, Shi Ming had accumulated enough points.

His slightly yellowed skin began to turn dazzling, as if shifting from dusk to dawn. His entire being was glowing, like the brilliant light of a rising sun!

His eyes were two morning stars, and his giant body was like a red sun rising from the distance, scorching hot.

State: Dawn Giant!

Skill: Pillar of Dawn!

Pillar of Dawn was an ultimate move that required sacrificing 100 max stat points (temporary points included) to cast. It was a skill that not even the Dusk Whale had ever used in its dawn state!

Shi Ming’s body erupted with brilliant light, like a colossal titan soaring to the heavens, a steadfast pillar holding back the sea.

Majestic and unshakable, dazzling and too bright to look at directly.

From all the seawater, tangible light precipitated, filling the entire interior of Fujing Mountain.

The Pillar of Dawn reached from the mountain’s base all the way to the volcanic crater above. With a roar from Shi Ming, the dazzling pillar disintegrated into countless specks of light—billions of them. They formed a Light Storm that swept through the entire inner chamber. Wherever it passed, the mountain walls dissolved and the seawater vaporized. The interior of the mountain, a space several hundred meters below the crater that hadn’t been particularly large to begin with, was instantly torn open, expanding to three times its original size!

Explosion is art!

Virus’s thirty-plus sub-bodies were ravaged by the storm of light before they even had a chance to act.

They were torn into pieces, staining the dawn with a touch of crimson.