Chapter 135: A Righteous and Courageous Young Man

Roger suddenly thought of a crucial question.

If the monster that achieved ultimate victory in that brutal slaughter possessed a human soul, and that soul belonged to Xiluoya—an unyielding, steadfast humanist and anti-demon warrior—would she truly follow Adonsa's will and become that final "conclusion"?

The answer was self-evident. Her resistance would be unprecedentedly intense, which was why Adonsa was in such a towering rage.

Sure enough, this unrecognizable former Wyvern Knight, spitting up turbid, yellowish blood, managed to restrain the urge to enjoy the spoils of war and did not devour the large warrior who had almost killed her.

Her mind was in utter chaos. All her beliefs and everything she had sworn to protect had turned to ashes within a single day, and she didn't even understand what had happened.

Death, rebirth, bloodshed, victory—all of this instead brought her a profound sense of nothingness.

Roger could well imagine the heavy blow that reincarnating as a monster dealt to a warrior dedicated to protecting humanity.

When astonishment, fear, bewilderment, and rejection all fused together, nothing remained but the despair of a dead heart.

Every second spent lingering inside this alien shell felt like suffering through ten thousand years in hell.

Such agony was enough to make her resist even the primal instincts of devouring, evolution, and survival.

Her previous combat was merely a reaction driven by a warrior's instinct amidst her confusion. Now that it was all over, she, who had lost all will to live, only wished to die this miserable death.

However, Adonsa would certainly never accept such an outcome.

It had gone to so much trouble not to watch a tragic swan song of a hero ending up as a dragon.

The previously warm reunion seemed like a mere illusion. Adonsa expressionlessly forced Xiluoya's smooth head—resembling a peeled egg—down hard onto the paralyzed giant's body, passively driving its sharp fangs deep into the sturdy muscles.

A cold voice, identical to the one that had killed her earlier, reached Xiluoya's ears.

"Eat."

Xiluoya let out a dejected whimper, her struggle terrifyingly powerful. Her remaining upper limbs flailed, tearing off bloody fragments of scale armor from the giant beneath her, but when raked across Adonsa's seemingly delicate, pale skin, they only managed to snap her sharp nails with a harsh, grating screech.

Those bloodied, mutilated fingernails clawed Adonsa's morbidly pale and flawless skin into a mess of blood, even tangling and splitting its silvery hair.

Xiluoya's resistance was fiercely resolute; she would rather let her teeth snap inside the flesh than swallow even a single mouthful of blood and meat.

To her, this was both the flesh of a monster and the flesh of her own kind. Still clinging to human moral and ethical values, she could under no circumstances accept cannibalism.

Though life in the post-apocalyptic wasteland had eroded much of humanity, as the foremost of all knights, she remained an absolute beacon of light.

Adonsa's mood instantly plummeted. The vortexes in its eyes expanded to fill both entire orbs, and the single point of darkness at the center of the vortex unclosed. A strange power began to tamper with Adonsa's emotions, rendering it even more volatile and eerie.

Its tangled silver hair floated up as if endowed with life. Several strands of silver hair pierced like sharp arrows into Xiluoya's limbs, torso, and body, boring straight through her flesh to anchor deeply into the ground.

The agonizing pain of having her limbs pinned caused Xiluoya's muscles to contract violently all at once. Yet, she was fixed immovably in place by the silver hairs, her twitching muscles constantly tearing against the strands, looking as wretched as a beast roasting over an open fire.

These hair strands, thin as silver needles, simultaneously secreted various neurotransmitters that further intensified the agony.

"Eat."

Adonsa repeated, concise and ice-cold.

Xiluoya screamed piercingly, but her eyes were vacant, her consciousness seemingly drifting in another world. She completely refused to accept reality, utterly sealing off her own mind.

Adonsa withdrew all the silver hair, but instead of letting Xiluoya collapse, it drove its five fingers deep into her face, seized her head, and smashed it viciously against the ground.

A dull thud mingled with a crisp crack, as if even her skull had fractured.

Xiluoya seemed too weak even to scream, reduced to a continuous, feeble moan.

Adonsa smashed her down once more, growling fiercely, "Useless trash, I didn't go through all this trouble for you to indulge in self-pity here. Eat, evolve, and then fuse with that monster so we can fight again!"

After four or five consecutive blows, even though Adonsa had restrained its strength, Xiluoya's head was severely deformed, maintained solely by her formidable life force.

Watching from the side, Roger's heart leaped to its throat. It cast a cautious glance toward a corner not far away, sensing a hint of unease.

In the corner, two pairs of eyes peeked out carefully, instantly paralyzed by the violent spectacle.

Yet amidst this torment, Xiluoya almost found a martyr-like gratification in her masochism, bringing a bizarre shred of comfort to her tormented soul.

Adonsa keenly perceived this and halted the physical abuse.

It said, "It seems simple pain can no longer stimulate you. I truly didn't want to resort to such tedious methods."

Dragging the puddle-like mass of Xiluoya, Adonsa walked over to a nearby warehouse made entirely of flesh. It emitted a signal combining electromagnetic waves and pheromones, prompting the Mother of Corpses to immediately open the storage space.

The circular sphincter-like muscles slowly contracted, revealing dozens of living beings suspended upside down inside.

Li Kangshan, hiding in the corner, shuddered and stared in disbelief. The people he had once lived and worked with day in and day out were actually monsters of this shape, throwing his emotions into utter turmoil.

Beside him, Xu Xiaoqke pressed down on Li Kangshan's shoulder, shaking his head to signal him not to act rashly.

Li Kangshan clenched his fists and remained still.

These were the residents who had revealed their true Mantis-man forms—old and young, male and female, tall and short, fat and thin, representing every conceivable type.

Adonsa muttered, "I originally intended to keep them as rare specimens... Oh well, they can be cloned anytime anyway."

The ground bulged into the shape of a lounge chair, and Adonsa tossed Xiluoya onto it, where eight tentacles instantly bound her tightly from head to toe.

Catching sight of these unrecognizable kin, a faint gleam of light suddenly flickered in Xiluoya's murky eyes.

Even if everything in the past was an illusion, this summons from her own kind still stirred a sense of familiarity within her.

Roger shook its head, unable to bear watching any longer. It knew what Adonsa was about to do next.

Dozens of Mantis-men began to slowly awaken, struggling with terror-stricken expressions. The helpless gaze pierced Xiluoya's heart with a sharp pang, causing her to writhe desperately in an attempt to break free.

Adonsa nodded. "Good, it works just as expected. Let's add a bit more stimulation."

It grabbed a child-sized Mantis-man and, amidst the creature's despairing eyes, slowly crushed its slender neck.

The scream was choked off in the throat, degrading into a shrill whimper.

The tiny Mantis-man let its head loll to the side and stopped breathing.

The surrounding Mantis-men momentarily forgot to struggle.

Xiluoya's eyes widened, her pupils suddenly contracting as her struggles grew increasingly frantic.

Sensing that the efficiency was too low, Adonsa's arm suddenly transformed into a sharp, ten-meter-long bone blade. It effortlessly supported this lethal weapon with its slender arm, almost ignoring the laws of leverage, much like an ant brandishing a toothpick, creating a striking sense of contrast.

At that moment, a shout rang out: "Stop!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Adonsa raised its hand and brought down the blade. A row of Mantis-men was swiftly sliced in half at the waist.

Adonsa timely released the bindings, letting a dozen or so Mantis-men tumble to the ground and twitch uncontrollably, spilling turbid yellowish blood all over the floor.

"Save me, save me!"

"Please, spare my child!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The Mantis-men, severed in two, crawled, rolled, and curled up on the ground, their shrill screams echoing endlessly.

Yet Adonsa turned a deaf ear, merely glancing sideways at Roger. "I told you, keep your little pets under control. You're making things very difficult for me."

Cold sweat broke out in a gush on Roger—do rabbits sweat? Who knows, but sweat it did anyway.

Striving to keep its voice steady, Roger blurted out quickly, "Wait, I'll take care of it. You don't need to worry about such trivial matters."

Adonsa tilted its head and suddenly said, "Forget it, don't stop him."

Roger's already lifted leg gave a twitch and froze mid-air.

Li Kangshan had run right up in front of Adonsa, his legs trembling uncontrollably, his cheeks distorted from tension, yet he still threw open his arms and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lord Adonsa, please stop! They are all innocent!"