Chapter 170: The True Red Demon Lord

It took Wu Qingsong a while to regain his senses after the strike. By then, Ling and Liuli were already by his side, guarding him.

They all watched the red crystal cautiously, wary of another burst of red light.

“Wu?” Ling and Liuli called out loudly.

“I’m fine,” Wu Qingsong said, struggling to get up.

The chest blow from the red light had initially left his body numb with pain, a sensation that only began to fade after several seconds. It was his first experience of such a thing since arriving in this world.

What exactly was that thing?

A demon god? Or some other kind of monster?

At that moment, the surrounding spiderpeople suddenly halted. The red crystal continued to flicker with wave-like light. Suddenly, another red beam flashed. Wu Qingsong instinctively tried to protect them, but this time the red light struck a spiderperson. After a brief pause, its body began to convulse violently.

Ling and Liuli couldn’t help but scream in horror as the creature’s body twisted and enlarged. Numerous pincers, bristles, bone spurs, and carapaces burst forth from its body, growing rapidly. Within seconds, it transformed into a monstrous being with a massive body and repulsive appendages. It roared in agony, writhing as it slowly crawled toward Wu Qingsong and his companions.

“Wu!”

The sight of such a grotesque creature startled Ling and Liuli, but as it took a few steps forward, its body suddenly lost balance. Amidst continuous internal convulsions, it became even more bizarre and burst suddenly with a pop, scattering various organs and tissues everywhere.

Wu Qingsong and the others nearly vomited.

At that moment, someone screamed.

The wolfman, who had disappeared after the chaos erupted and whom Wu Qingsong thought had died, was now controlled by a force and brought close to them. His body underwent rapid changes like the spiderperson before him, sprouting pincers, bristles, and spikes that were more characteristic of insectoids than wolfkin.

However, the power infused into him by the red crystal might have been much less than that infused into the spiderperson, or perhaps his endurance was greater. After transforming into a nearly three-meter-tall monster with features of both wolfkin and insectoids, his mutations finally stopped.

Liuli wanted to rush forward, but Wu Qingsong promptly held her back. She had been fighting continuously for a long time, and she might revert to her original form at any second. Charging forward now was too risky.

The will behind the red crystal clearly had no intention of killing them, at least not for now. It could have simply continued firing those powerful red beams to kill them. Even if emitting such beams was too costly, it clearly had control over the spiderpeople, simply sending a relentless onslaught of them could also resolve the issue.

Wu Qingsong had a feeling that the creature wasn’t created to fight but rather for communication.

As expected, the mutated wolfman took a few steps forward and stopped about ten meters from them.

His throat emitted continuous, discomforting sounds as if the entity controlling everything was trying to manipulate his vocal organs. After only a few seconds, he began to produce relatively normal sounds and asked, “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” Wu Qingsong responded.

The mutated wolfman let out a disturbing laugh, “Who am I? Well, surface dweller, I shall satisfy your curiosity. I am the True Red Demon Lord, master of the Third Layer of the Abyss.”

“Why are you here? What do you want?” Wu Qingsong asked, though he realized his question might be meaningless.

However, the entity claiming to be the True Red Demon Lord answered his question once again.

“It was these weak surface dwellers who summoned me, seeking to gain power from me.”

“Did you also create the previous insectoid swarm?”

“Insectoid swarm?” The True Red Demon Lord shook his head. “That was merely a small probe to test the resistance of the surface dwellers and to determine how much force would be needed to conquer them. The results were somewhat beyond my expectations. You are not as weak as I presumed. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter. After extensive preparations, we have already found a way to bring my power into this world.”

“You won’t succeed,” Wu Qingsong said.

At that moment, Liuli’s body suddenly shrank rapidly, and she collapsed, prompting Wu Qingsong to quickly catch her in his arms.

“That’s interesting,” the True Red Demon Lord remarked. “Another method of infusing power? How did you manage that?”

Wu Qingsong did not respond.

Events had deviated from his initial plan.

He had believed he was dealing with another swarm of insectoids or a group of wolfkin summoning evil forces. Thus, by killing the insectoid queen or those summoning the evil, they would complete their mission and could retreat before Liuli’s transformation expired, then relying on Ling’s power to break through the encirclement.

According to his plan, once the insectoid queen or the mastermind behind the scenes was killed, these spiderpeople should lose their coordination, act independently, and under those circumstances, escaping should not be difficult.

But he had not anticipated that they would face an existence far stronger than he had expected, and Liuli had already exhausted her strength before they could defeat it.

How could they escape?

He quickly assessed the situation. The spiderpeople had recovered from the chaos caused by the insectoid queen’s death, which wasn’t good news. It showed that the True Red Demon Lord’s control over them was as strong as the queen’s. Although Ling’s power could kill hundreds of spiderpeople, it lacked the mobility needed to get them out of there.

He had collected four or five soul fragments in the earlier battle, but what use could these soul fragments be now?

“Not answering my question?” the True Red Demon Lord continued. “No matter, now that you have lost your strongest power, the rest will be easy.”

Countless strands of spider silk suddenly shot toward them from various directions. Ling quickly activated her powers to slash all the silk apart, but at that moment, the mutated wolfman made its move.

“Ling! Look out!” Wu Qingsong shouted.

However, the mutated wolfman suddenly dashed to Ling’s side and struck a heavy blow on the rapidly spinning boomerang. Ling’s face turned pale as the boomerang immediately dispersed into a cloud of dense flying needles, swiftly targeting the mutated wolfman. He waved his arms to block the less protected spots, but Ling’s flying needles failed to penetrate his tough outer shell, all being deflected.

“Weapons created and controlled by telekinesis?” he chuckled. “Very interesting, indeed.”

In desperation, Wu Qingsong raised his short sword to strike at him, only to be knocked back by a powerful punch.

Seizing the moment, Ling drove a flying needle through his left eye, but it had no effect. He continued advancing toward her.

“An immortal body, gigantification, and the ability to create and manipulate objects?” he laughed loudly. “Your abilities are all very intriguing. I want them all.”