Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 174 Hidden Area!

Vaal Hazak is quite large, looking about the same size as Nergigante.

The commotion when it fell to the ground was quite loud; the fresh corpse that rolled down was crushed like a watermelon.

Foul-smelling liquid mixed with indescribable 'meat paste' gushed out from every orifice.

"laugh!"

A sharp whooshing sound rang out, and Li Xia had already appeared at the head; Ye Ji had pierced directly through the brain.

A look of surprise flashed across his eyes.

It felt strange, indescribably odd, as if a lump of rotten flesh had been stabbed into it.

The Vaal Hazak suddenly let out a hoarse roar, and the dissipated miasma gathered again, coiling around its body as if it were alive.

A notification from the hall suddenly popped up.

[Executioner, you have been corrupted by the activated miasma.]

[The Eight-Nine Arcane Arts - Primordial Unity has been triggered]

[Based on relevant resistances and physical attributes, you are currently taking 0.5% of your health as damage per second.]

When the miasma causes damage exceeding 30% of your health, it will inflict injury.

Li Xia's gaze sharpened, and he immediately dodged backward, retreating to a distance of about 20 meters.

The health points, which had been slowly decreasing, finally stopped dropping.

This miasma is really potent. Since the Vaal Hazak is weak in melee combat, it must have some strengths.

Therefore, this extremely violent miasma must be a special ability of the Vaal Hazak.

The activated miasma deals 0.5% of a person's health damage per second, which is more than 10 times stronger than the previous 0.6% damage per minute.
This damage was already mitigated by the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts; without the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts' unified primordial energy...

Miasma damage must not exceed 1% per second?

In addition, if more than 30% of the target's health is damaged, injuries will begin to form.

Night Silence spun nimbly in my hand.

Li Xia was somewhat speechless. He had been fighting the ancient dragon in close combat, but now he had finally met his match.

An ancient dragon that is extremely unfriendly to melee combat!

"I'll lure him away in a bit. You guys hurry up and look for clues. There must be something like an entrance."

Li Xia said something in the team channel and then slowly backed away.

The Vaal Hazak roared angrily and charged towards Li Xia's position.

When its massive body moved, it created an earth-shaking effect inside the cave.

The ground was trembling, and tiny fragments of rock were falling from the overhead layers with a soft rustling sound.

It seems that an overly intense battle could even lead to a collapse.
The terrain is not on their side either.

Out of the corner of Li Xia's eye, he noticed four figures sneaking out of their hiding place and running around to the back of the mountain of corpses.

Awoo and the others have already started their operation.

Let's go then!

Night Silence transformed into a streak of light and was hurled from Li Xia's hand, piercing the body of the Corpse Dragon with a mournful whistle.

"when--"

Amidst the dull sound, Li Xia received a somewhat strange notification:

[Attack strength is lower than the Vaal Hazak's physical strength]

[Judgment: No damage caused]

No defense broken?
How could that be? With that lump of rotten flesh on its body, where would its strength lie?
Li Xia's gaze was fixed on Ye Ji, which was almost halfway inside.

The right hand was raised, fingers spread, and the night trembled incessantly. Then, a large chunk of rotten flesh was pulled from the body of the Vaal Hazak.

It revealed the shimmering silver dragon scales underneath.

?

Li Xia suddenly remembered a legend circulating among players: after destroying a part of the Vaal Hazak in the game, a silver light would appear.

Legend has it that the Vaal Hazak is just a dragon whose body is covered with a large amount of rotting flesh, and the real Vaal Hazak is buried in the rotting flesh.

I can't believe it's true?

I originally wanted to save on the detection.

Li Xia let out a breath, after all, the detection also required the digestion of true qi.

A flash of blue light appeared in the right eye—detection!

[Comparing the intelligence and mental attributes of both parties]

[Due to attribute differences, you have obtained 90% of the enemy's information.]

Vaal Hazak

[Category: Elder Dragon - ? ? ?]

Physical Strength: 6 (Tier 2)

【HP: 100%】

[Attribute: Elder Dragon-type creature template] (The calculation method for Strength and Physique in this template is special)

【Strength: 28】

Dexterity: 25

【Intelligence: 15】

【Spirit: 22】

【Physique: 30】

[Skills: Elder Dragon, Rotten Flesh Shell, Miasma Control, Miasma Ejection, Miasma Absorption, ???]

【古龙种】：生命值上限提高70%，力量+2、体魄+3、肉体强度+1、回复能力提升1000%
【Rotten Flesh Shell】: The Vaal Hazak attaches rotting corpses to its shell, which is then decomposed into a special rotting flesh shell by miasma.

Dexterity reduced by 30%, health regeneration speed increased by 100%.
【Miasma Control】: The Vaal Hazak has an extremely strong control over miasma composed of microorganisms and poisonous gases.

Furthermore, it activates the miasma through its internal energy, giving it a stronger corrosive effect.

[Miasma Spray]: Absorbs the surrounding miasma and spews out a high concentration of compressed miasma from its mouth, causing 33.33% of the target's health as damage per second, and inflicting an equal amount of injury.

[Miasma Absorption]: The Vaal Hazak can absorb the miasma contained in the bodies of surrounding creatures, and when the miasma is absorbed, a large amount of organic matter will flow out.

It restores health at a rate of 10% per second. (This effect will not work if there are no living organisms nearby.)
Miasma absorption range: 500 meters in radius

? ? : Skill unknown

[Evaluation: A peculiar existence, completely different from other Elder Dragons, an Elder Dragon shrouded in mystery]

So he really was wearing a leather hood?

Li Xia looked at the panel filled with miasma. The main way the Vaal Hazak dealt damage was with miasma, and with its current clumsy attacks, it couldn't even touch him.

Moreover, it combines recovery, burst damage, and resource consumption into one, except that it can't fly.
A moment of hesitation flashed through my mind.

To kill or not to kill?

If he really went all out, Li Xia was confident that he could definitely kill the Corpse Hare Dragon.

But it will definitely be almost completely depleted, and if we encounter danger while exploring the secrets, then it will be truly dangerous.

After hesitating for only a few seconds, Li Xia made up his mind.

Let's stall for time until we find the secret, if there's no need for a fight, or if the gains are minimal.

Then let's go out and kill the Vaal Hazak to make up for the losses!
He secretly marked the Vaal Hazak as a 'resource to be developed' in his mind.

Li Xia beckoned to the Vaal Hazak, "Come and grab me!"
"Dig quickly! Based on my experience and intuition, there's a high chance that the entrance or something similar is beneath the mountain of corpses!"

With a howl, it used all four paws to grab the corpse and throw it out frantically, while Dettel's cat eyes were wide open.

They desperately dragged the body out.

Even if the hundred-meter-high mountain of corpses contains a ghoul dragon, there are still tens of thousands of corpses.

With just a slight movement, countless corpses rolled off.

The observer stared in despair at the mountain of corpses before him, a scene of utter carnage, like a living hell.

Your partner is holding off the Vaal Hazak, but your progress is extremely slow.

I don't know how things are going on my partner's side, but that's Vaal Hazak!
This must be an extremely dangerous situation!
(The Vaal Hare crashed heavily to the ground, roaring angrily, and the miasma suddenly erupted, but Li Xia's figure had already appeared dozens of meters away.)
"Meow!"

(Make way! Let me, the cat, have a turn!)

Aowu and the observer turned around, their eyes gradually widening.

A row of explosive tubes had appeared around Black Charcoal.

The largest is a full two meters tall, arranged in a row like Russian nesting dolls, from largest to smallest. The smallest is about the size of a can of beer.

But the observer clearly saw a guild warning icon labeled 'Danger' on the smallest of the explosive barrels.

The cat, with its charcoal-black paws, held a match in two sharp claws, and grinned, revealing a small white tooth that reflected the firelight.

"I go!"

It turned tail and ran, not forgetting to grab the observer and Dettel.

"Chi chi chi——"

The fuse burned rapidly toward the explosive barrel.

Black Charcoal pulled out a pair of Li Xia's sunglasses from his pocket and awkwardly stuck them on his face.

"boom!"

The huge explosion was followed by a series of even more muffled explosions.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

The energy generated by the explosion was absorbed by the mountain of corpses, and the converted kinetic energy pushed the bodies away violently.

Fragments of bone and flesh mingled with the flying corpses, falling like raindrops.

The flames roared into the sky, carrying a burnt smell.

Awooo, the observer and Dettel stared in disbelief at the charcoal-covered figure with its back to the firelight.

He made a thumbs-up gesture in his own direction.

He's just so irritable!

Heaven knows how its little cat paw managed to make such a difficult gesture.

Aowu was about to say that this was too dangerous, what if it collapsed?

Then they heard the observer shout in surprise:

"There is a Daoist sect! There really is a Daoist sect!"

The words that were about to come out as "woo" turned into:
"Well done, Blackie! This team can't function without you!"

They rushed over, and even though it was covered with bone fragments mixed with flesh and blood, the round door was still as smooth as a mirror, reflecting a faint metallic luster.

The dog grabbed the handle on the round door with its two claws and pulled upwards with all its might.

With the sound of the machine, the heavy round door actually moved upwards slightly.

Upon seeing this, the observer immediately pulled out a rope, threaded it through the handle, and, like in a tug-of-war, pulled hard with Black Charcoal and Dettel outwards.

The round door was raised higher and higher, but it was always just a little short of crossing a certain boundary and opening completely.

"Your Highness! We've found the door, it's almost open!"

"Okay, got it."

Suddenly, the furious roar of the Vaal Hazak came from afar, and the miasma on the mountain of corpses gathered in a certain direction like swallows returning to their nests.

"Whoosh!"

With a sharp whooshing sound, Li Xia, like a streak of light, shot straight in from afar, bracing himself against the edge of the round door with one hand.

The muscles on his arms bulged high, supporting the heavy metal door.

"Quick, you guys go in first, Awoo grab the others and hang them in the air!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Aowu flew directly towards the cave entrance, with Heitan following closely behind and jumping inside. The observer glanced at Li Xia with concern.

He then jumped in.

The heavy footsteps of a colossal creature on the road echoed from afar, and a resolute glint flashed in Dettel's eyes.

"Meow!"

Detler also jumped in.

Li Xia released his grip and rushed into the passage.

"bang"

The round metal door slammed down heavily, and a hazy, miasma-like breath swept across it.

The Vaal Hazak glared angrily at the metal door, hesitated for a moment, and then simply lay down on the door.

A rustling sound came from all around, and the paralyzed dragon with a dazed look appeared out of nowhere.

Like tireless robots, they picked up the scattered corpses again and piled them up like ants carrying food.

"Click"

A beam of light illuminated the pitch-black passage.

Li Xia turned on the flashlight and saw that in the straight vertical passage, Aowu was grabbing the observer's shoulder, while Heitan and Detel were hugging the observer's legs.

It was struggling to stay suspended in the air.

"Your Highness?"

Out of caution, Aowu didn't speak directly, but instead asked a question in the team channel.

Li Xia thought for a moment and replied:
"You all stay here. I'll go down and check to make sure it's safe before coming back down."

After giving a brief explanation, Li Xia slowly descended along the circular passage, which was exceptionally long.

He also discovered that there should have been a ladder in the passage, but it had disappeared.

Only two connection points remained on the wall of the passageway.

After descending approximately 1000 meters, the surrounding environment suddenly widened.

The moment the foot touched the ground, it seemed to have triggered some kind of sensor.

A soft light suddenly appeared, illuminating the entire space.

Li Xia's pupils contracted, her body tensed, and she scanned the surroundings warily.

There was complete silence all around; there was not a sound.

This looks like a large hall, with a style completely different from the New World Survey Base.

If the Hunter's Guild's decorations and architecture are somewhat primitive, with a rugged steampunk style.

The style here is a strange blend of modernity and mysticism.

Metal cabinets and rather Western-style exquisite armchairs, with yellowed papers scattered everywhere.

And dozens of skeletons in the hall.
The entire hall looked quite messy, giving the impression of someone fleeing for their life and knocking over everything around them in a panic.

My gaze finally settled on the carpet.

The carpet, covered in dust, bore messy footprints, which, though also dusty, remained fairly clear.

Li Xia looked thoughtfully at the human footprints and the cat's paw prints.

This must be Tissna and Dettel who arrived here more than 50 years ago.

Perhaps the clue lies in following the footprints!

After thinking for a moment, he simply said in the team chat;
"Awoo, come down first."

As things stand, there doesn't seem to be any danger in this hall.

It was several minutes later when Aowu carefully carried the three 'accessories' down.

Li Xia had already collected the scattered papers on the ground and was using a flashlight to barely read the text on them.

Of course, I paid for it.

Ancient Shureid script discovered; the Executioner has been detected to have obtained the world's secrets and is currently exploring a hidden area.

[Would you like to spend 100 points to get the translation feature?]

After payment, the obscure and difficult-to-understand text was abruptly transformed into Chinese characters, and the translation was extremely accurate and elegant.

For example, an article that seemed to be about researchers secretly criticizing their superiors appeared in large numbers, using terms such as "dog's," "idiot," "brain-dead," and "absolutely Tang."

Li Xia suspected that the temple was using the subconscious projection technique again.

Skipping over a lot of useless chapters, we finally arrived at a piece of paper with a 'black dragon' emblem.

Li Xia saw something interesting.

[Top Secret]

[Ancient Technology Restoration: Project Dragonstrike]

----------------------

1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

(End of this chapter)