Seeing that no one else could enter, John turned to the group and said, “You guys should head back. I can feel that while this lifeform is strong, its power is not enough to threaten me.”
The others hesitated but eventually nodded in agreement.
With the seal on the Ancient Battlefield Ruins already broken, there would definitely be chaos spreading across the Skyline Continent.
Ben and Tony needed to unite the various races’ gods and rally them to resist the enemy gods, rescue the imprisoned Immortals, and find a solution to the problem of the Hunters as quickly as possible.
Sini and the other girls wanted to stay and wait for John, but he firmly sent them away as well.
He was worried that those Hunters would target the territories under his control. The girls were powerful enough to offer some protection if anything happened.
Once everyone left, John ventured deeper into the cave alone.
With a snap of his fingers, a fireball formed in his palm, lighting up the surroundings.
The cave was deep, and its depths were shrouded in darkness.
Yet, he could distinctly sense that strong life force inside. It seemed to have noticed his approach and was becoming increasingly agitated.
In the distance, countless weak life signals began rushing in his direction.
He glanced at them dismissively, letting the Three-Foot Black Dragon Sword float in front of him as he continued forward cautiously.
Crack!
A sudden sound of something breaking underfoot made him pause.
Looking down in confusion, he saw a pile of shattered eggshells.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, shadows flitted through the darkness, accompanied by a chorus of angry roars as a swarm of Hunters emerged from the depths of the cave.
Compared to the Hunters outside, these were much smaller, and significantly weaker, ranging from levels 1 to 6.
“Could this be the Hunter’s breeding nest?” he wondered. Without missing a beat, he split the Three-Foot Black Dragon Sword into three, activating Sword Mastery to begin a merciless slaughter against the incoming Hunters.
Slash!
Blood sprayed as screams echoed. These frail Hunters fell with barely any resistance.
[You have slain a level 500 Hunter, gaining 176,300 experience points.]
…
Notifications flashed continuously, but John’s pace was unaffected as he pressed forward.
These Hunters were mere ordinary beasts, providing little to no attributes from his Plunder ability.
Crunch, crunch…
The sound of cracking eggshells echoed underfoot, as the ground was littered with shards.
The further he went, the more numerous the Hunters became, although they remained weak.
He continued to control the Three-Foot Black Dragon Sword with no mercy, mowing down the oncoming waves of Hunters.
As he ventured deeper, the number of Hunters began to decrease, but their strength grew. Now they were all level-9 legendary Hunters.
He even encountered two demigod-level Hunters.
John guessed that these were guardians, placed to protect something deeper within.
But against him, they were no match.
With ease, he dispatched them and turned a corner, stepping into a vast, open cavern.
Illuminated by the flickering firelight, he finally saw what lay within.
The spacious cavern was lined with countless white, basketball-sized eggs.
“Leave this place, human!” a furious voice boomed, accompanied by a powerful wave of soul energy.
Although the soul energy was potent, it was purely an intimidation tactic, devoid of any actual damage.
“Is this… the Broodmother?” John stood there, dumbfounded.
At the far end of the cavern, on a wide, flat stone platform, lay an enormous Hunter.
Its size wasn’t remarkable due to its body, but because of its grotesquely swollen abdomen, which dominated its entire form.
It reminded him of an ant queen in an anthill.
This Hunter was clearly the equivalent of a queen ant, responsible for mass-producing the Hunter offspring.
“No wonder there are so many Hunters,” John muttered, glancing at the densely packed giant eggs scattered across the cavern.
Gripping the Sword of Divinity and Demons tightly, he activated Dark Storm, letting the dark energy engulf the entire nest.
“How dare you, human!” the Broodmother roared furiously, seeing John’s actions. It unleashed a powerful wave of soul energy, trying to intimidate him.
Buzz!
The soul energy seeped into his mind, but the Jade Heart Lotus manifested, easily neutralizing it without causing any harm.
John sighed with regret, shaking his head. Such a vast amount of soul energy was wasted on this creature that didn’t even know how to use it properly.
It was like a miserly rich man, sitting on a mountain of gold but not knowing how to spend it.
“If I’m not mistaken, all the Hunters share one soul with you. If you die, they lose their ability to resurrect,” he sneered, glancing down at the shattered eggshells on the ground.
All these Hunters were reborn through the Broodmother, hatched from the giant eggs.
The Broodmother’s expression turned wary. It spoke again, this time in a more cautious tone: “Human, I’ll warn you one last time—leave this place!”
“Ha! That’s not up to you,” John scoffed. He didn’t want to waste any more words. The Three-Foot Black Dragon Sword shot forward, spinning rapidly and slashing at the Broodmother.
Slash, slash…
-8,442,000
-8,452,100
…
A series of critical damage numbers flashed before his eyes.
Sword Mastery was just a basic physical attack. Given that his Strength and Spirit attributes were both at two million, his ordinary physical attack could only deal around four million damage.
But the Broodmother had no defensive measures whatsoever.
Moreover, its enormous belly made it immobile, turning it into a giant sitting duck.
Splat!
With each slash from the Three-Foot Black Dragon Sword, wounds opened across its grotesque form, spilling dark blood onto the cavern floor.
“Human, all Hunters are connected. If you kill me, they’ll sense it. When that happens, you’ll be dead, too!” It shuddered, finally sensing the true threat of death. Cold sweat glistened on its body as it spat out a desperate warning.
John snorted dismissively. “You mean the Hunters in the Ancient Battlefield Ruins? I’m not worried about them.”
Those Hunters were released by him. Sooner or later, he’d annihilate them all.
And with the death of the Broodmother, they’d lose their ability to resurrect, significantly reducing their threat level.
“No!” The Broodmother shook its massive head frantically, eyes filled with pain. It hurriedly added, “I mean all the Hunters across the universe! If I die, every single one of them will sense it. You will be faced with trillions—no, quadrillions—of Hunters. A true endless swarm that even a Dominator or a Supreme God can’t withstand!”
“Dominator? Supreme God?” John frowned. He had never heard of these titles before.
It seemed this creature harbored a wealth of secrets.
Unfortunately, its soul was too powerful. Using Memory Extraction on it wouldn’t work and would only backfire.
“Hmph, I’m willing to take that risk!” he scoffed, increasing the intensity of his attacks as he unleashed his skills.
Boom, boom…
Sword beams whistled through the air, accompanied by a barrage of powerful magical spells.
Under the terrifying critical damage, the Broodmother, without any form of defense, suffered a massive one-billion-plus damage with each strike.
It didn’t take long for its life force—hundreds of billions of health points—to be completely drained, and with a final, shrill scream, the Broodmother succumbed to death.
[You have slain the Hunter Broodmother, gaining 100 billion experience points.]
[Your level has increased to 2077…]
[Plunder Talent Activated: Soul Technique +1000, Shadow Force +1000]
[You have been marked with the Hunter’s Hatred Seal. Prepare for relentless pursuit by Hunters.]
The notifications flashed across his vision. John couldn’t believe his eyes—100 billion experience points! This creature was equivalent to a mid-tier god.
Not only that, he managed to plunder an additional 1000 points in Soul Technique and 1000 points in Shadow Force.
His Soul Technique attribute had now reached over 21,000 points, and his Shadow Force had also surged to more than 20,000 points.
Yet, the percentage-based health damage didn’t increase.
As for the final notification, he merely brushed it off with a smirk.
The Hunters’ enmity meant little to him.
Without the Broodmother, the Hunters on Skyline Continent, numbering only around a few billion, had lost their ability to resurrect. As long as he didn’t face overwhelming numbers, his life would not be in danger.
Boom!
Suddenly, the Broodmother’s bloated belly burst apart, scattering a mountain of loot across the cavern floor.
They weren’t eggs but all kinds of items and treasures.
Weapons, equipment, skill stones, enhancement stones, and various other item drops were sprawled out on the ground.
There were even a variety of elemental Spirit Stones and other rare resources.
“I get it now!” John’s eyes widened in realization. He surmised that all the items obtained by the Hunters were delivered to the Broodmother for refinement and absorption, to breed more Hunters.
And all these items were those that the Broodmother hadn’t yet refined.
Among them, he even spotted some loot from his own previous Hunter kills.
“I’m rich!” His eyes sparkled with greed, as he scooped up everything into his storage space.
A quick estimation revealed over 10,000 sets of low-tier divine weaponry and equipment, more than 4 million skill stones, and a collection of around 3,000 Spirit Stones and Elemental Spirit Stones.
There were also over a hundred Lightning Spirit Stones.
If he refined those Lightning Spirit Stones, he could gain control over the Lightning Power of Laws, thereby enhancing his strength even further.
“What’s this?” A small, purple, diamond-shaped jade stone, about the size of his palm, caught his attention.
He distinctly remembered that this object hadn’t come from the Broodmother’s stomach; it must have been dropped after killing it.
Picking it up curiously, he inspected its details.
[Soul Essence: Supreme Treasure. Absorb to gain 10,000 points of Soul Technique. Requires a special flame power for refining and absorption.]
“Supreme Treasure!” John exclaimed in shock. This item was a Supreme Treasure, and absorbing it would increase his Soul Technique by a whopping 10,000 points!
Improving Soul Technique is extremely difficult. Even though he possessed a significant number of skill points, he had already expended over 9 million of them, yet had only managed to increase his Soul Technique by 10,000 points.
It was increasingly difficult to level up further—every additional point in Soul Technique required an astounding 10,000 skill points.
The only unfortunate thing was that this item required the absorption of a special flame to refine.
“Wait, isn’t the Undying Flame considered a special flame?” He suddenly thought of the Undying Flame that had been used to destroy the seal.
After it was released, the Undying Flame continued to burn and showed no signs of extinguishing.
Tony had warned him that the energy of the Undying Flame was terrifyingly potent, capable of burning for centuries, and he should never get too close—otherwise, it would put his life at risk.
John suspected that the Undying Flame might qualify as a special flame and might be able to refine this Soul Essence.
“Let’s give it a try!” After carefully inspecting the entire cavern to ensure he hadn’t missed anything, he left the cave.
He took to the air with Sword Flight, heading back toward the altar.
From a distance, he could already see the white flames flickering there, emanating an intense heat that distorted the surrounding space.
Recalling Tony’s warning, he descended from his sword and started to approach slowly on foot.
The Undying Flame was capable of dealing soul damage and could easily annihilate him if he wasn’t cautious.
“So hot!” Even though he was still more than seventy thousand meters away, the searing heat was already overwhelming.
The very air he breathed felt as if it were setting his lungs ablaze.