Before the punch could connect with her perfect body, Ling Lian subtly moved her slender fingers. Countless silver threads abruptly halted the tree monster's movements. She used this moment to counterattack with her fan and grabbed a knife for a close-quarters assault.
"You underestimate me too much, human!" The tree-human roared in fury. The invisible threads and the interdimensional energy waves from the fan were instantly nullified. It used its body to clash with the young woman. With a catastrophic-level physique, the interdimensional monster had no fear of Ling Lian's weapon whatsoever. Only interdimensional energy waves could inflict any damage upon it.
Ling Lian's movement was interrupted. The knife remained stuck in the enemy's body. It used its own body as a shield to find an opening to counterattack her. A grotesque smile stretched into a wide mouth. The tree-human began to burn itself into fire again. A powerful punch aimed directly at the young woman's fair face.
BOOOOM! An explosive sound erupted from the force of the punch. Ling Lian managed to defend with her fan in time, but was still sent flying and collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Her combat suit was damaged beyond repair. Its internal systems were utterly destroyed, rendering it useless for defense. This meant that next time, the young woman would have to bear the full brunt of the damage.
"Activate primary system…" Ling Lian waved her fan forward. Instantly, an electronic alert sounded. A circle of dark purple light appeared around the young woman's feet. This light was formed by an immense amount of interdimensional energy converging to create this color.
"My Domain… Open!" Upon seeing the quantity of interdimensional energy possessed by the human girl, the catastrophic-level tree monster sensed danger. It dared not be careless any longer and immediately activated its high-level interdimensional being ability.
Domain… This is something only S-level or higher interdimensional beings possess. The more powerful the domain, the more powerful the interdimensional being. What's the difference between an S-level and a catastrophic-level interdimensional monster? Besides intelligence, it's the domain.
A catastrophic-level interdimensional being's domain is a step above and far more dangerous. Their domains are at least 20 times more powerful than an S-level interdimensional monster's domain, and can be up to 50 times stronger if the catastrophic level reaches its late stage!
"Domain," Ling Lian murmured, her expression becoming more serious. If she activated her primary system and the other party activated its own domain, it meant the true battle had begun.
The young woman snapped her fan shut, then attached it to the knife handle in her hand. Less than a second later, a notification sounded confirming the successful loading of the auxiliary module. At the same time, the environment transformed into a vast, lush green forest, indicating that the tree interdimensional being's domain was also active.
"My heart is cold as ice," Ling Lian murmured. A small interface on her knife handle showed a loading animation before transforming into a heart icon. The voice command had successfully activated the function. Ling Lian could feel interdimensional energy continuously flowing out of her body.
The young woman swung her knife forward. The temperature rapidly plummeted. Her body vanished, reappearing near the enemy. Due to the activation of her primary system, Ling Lian's speed increased severalfold. Not only that, but every one of her attacks was imbued with corrosive interdimensional energy poison.
Even the tree-human dared not receive this directly. It shifted to a defensive stance instead. It seemed its vast forest domain wasn't very strong. Even with multiple ability boosts, Ling Lian's current stats were still superior.
However, that was only under normal circumstances. It would be different once the tree monster began to burn itself. It did so, its wooden body emitting acrid smoke before fire engulfed its entire form. This peculiar ability also affected its domain.
The entire forest began to blaze. At that moment, the catastrophic-level interdimensional being's stats curve soared in a straight line. This peculiar ability eventually gave the tree monster superior speed and attack power over Ling Lian.
"Human… die!" The fiery punch aimed directly at the young woman's face once more, as if specifically targeting this spot. However, Ling Lian wouldn't let the same event repeat. She raised her arm, and the knife in her hand sliced across her fair, delicate skin. Dark red fluid flowed from the torn flesh.
The flowing blood caused the surrounding temperature to plummet frighteningly. The fire on the tree-human's fist extinguished. The raging fire throughout the large forest vanished. Everything was frozen into an ice sculpture. The catastrophic-level monster was no exception.
Only one thing in the area remained. Ling Lian. Her face was now expressionless, emotionless. Her body was as cold as a corpse. Several of her organs had ceased functioning, yet she remained alive due to the continuous interdimensional energy circulating within her body, preventing her from nearing death.
"Director, if it were me now… would you be worried about me?" Ling Lian murmured softly, touching her own head. She felt a severe headache, but showed no outward signs.
The young woman exhaled, and something fell precisely onto her head. Looking up, she found snow that shouldn't exist in this dimension. This was a side effect of activating her weapon's primary system.
"Kilenc… I accidentally used it. I hope you're not angry with me," Ling Lian didn't wait for her condition to worsen. She moved the knife in her hand, drawing a curve that cut through the tree-human's body.
Due to the maddening cold, the tree-human felt so much pain it wanted to scream loudly, but it had no chance to do so. In reality, it was still frozen. Every time the tree-human tried to summon fire to burn itself, the fire would be extinguished immediately. Furthermore, it received negative effects from the cold, which returned to its own body. The cold gnawed down to the cellular level.
Ling Lian attacked dozens of times in quick succession. The temperature dropped every second. Just as the interdimensional energy poison slowly disintegrated the tree monster from within, no matter how fast or efficient a catastrophic-level interdimensional being's regeneration ability was, they could not withstand corrosive interdimensional energy poison.
Ling Lian's headache worsened as time passed, a sign that she should end the battle. The young woman summoned threads, buffed by the cold, to wrap around the enemy's entire body. Then she exerted all her remaining strength. The invisible threads tried their best to squeeze the ice-sculpted body until it shattered into dust.
A cracking sound. Before the young woman finally released her hand from the threads. The tree-human disintegrated into dust. Even so, it wasn't over. The tree-human wasn't completely dead. Its body was regenerating from the smallest fragments. Catastrophic-level interdimensional beings could revive. This was the ultimate regeneration ability, exclusive to this realm. S-level or lower interdimensional beings could not do this.
Of course, Ling Lian had anticipated this situation. She had fought catastrophic-level monsters before. Why wouldn't she know this? The young woman moved her fingers. Invisible threads wrapped around the regenerating fragments. The interdimensional energy poison within the cells was stimulated. It began to corrode madly, destroying the monster's cells until nothing remained. It was dead, completely gone. It would not revive again.
Ling Lian deactivated her weapon's primary system. Then, she slowly and weakly walked away from the area covered by the illusory snow. Along the way, no creatures attacked her. She had mostly eliminated them all. Some dared not approach such a dangerous area.
"So cold…" When the primary system deactivated, her body returned to normal. Her internal temperature regulation system caused the young woman to shiver uncontrollably. She took one step at a time, heading towards the energy shield area, which was now fully active.
GRRRR! A B-level interdimensional monster, resembling a crocodile, sensed the young woman's weakened state. It lunged to attack quickly, its sharp tail thrashing violently, creating a dangerous storm.
Ling Lian cast a cold glance. Silver threads enveloped its body before squeezing tightly, turning it into shredded flesh. Her fan was brought back into hand. With just a gentle wave, an interdimensional energy wave dispelled the storm, making it vanish.
The young woman encountered several more attacks, but interdimensional monsters below A-level were not much of an obstacle to her. Although Ling Lian's body was weakened from activating her primary system, she was still a powerful S-level member of the organization. She wouldn't fall easily, not at least now that her Director was absent.
Not counting agility, Ling Lian estimated that switching to her organization uniform would be safer. Safety is the top priority. You said that, didn't you… Director, she murmured softly.
Once her interdimensional energy had recovered somewhat, Ling Lian took a few more recovery injections before heading directly in the direction where Aleah and the others were.
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Eternal Illusion, Divine Realm of Dreams, The Ominous Castle at the Peak
"I found an interesting woman, old friend," Tanha said, stroking Kilenc's chest, her face pressed against his muscular body.
"An interesting woman?" The young woman's words greatly piqued Kilenc's interest. What kind of human could make an interdimensional deity like Tanha interested? Was she the same type of person he was looking for?
"I'm very sure you'll be interested in her. That woman has the potential to be the hope of humanity." Just as Tanha said, Kilenc was genuinely interested in the woman she spoke of. Having the potential to be the hope of all humanity, that's truly a high assessment.
"What does she want?" Kilenc stared directly into her enchanting sapphire eyes. He was very sure that Tanha wouldn't give him this information for free. There had to be a hidden motive.
The young woman giggled softly. "Of course there's a cost~ Don't worry, not right now."
Tanha slowly sat up. Her naked body was fully revealed to Kilenc. The young man's expression beside her on the bed remained calm. How should he react? Kilenc had seen it all before. Not only that, he had experienced it as he wished. So, the sight before him now was nothing to him.
"I want to spend a little more time with you," Tanha fell silent for a moment, before her voice sounded again. "But it's a shame… You have something important to do. Find your true self. I cannot be with you like this, my old friend."
"..." Kilenc didn't quite understand her words. His true self?
"See you again. That day, I will never let you leave my bed~" Without letting Kilenc ask any questions, she concluded in an indifferent tone, "Go to the university in the capital. 'Destruction' is planning something. If you don't want to lose your favorite 'toy' forever, follow my advice."
Tanha gently and softly placed her hand on his chest, in contrast to her lips, which brutally shut down his questions. Once satisfied with the final touch, the young woman used her power as the domain owner to kick Kilenc out.
His body vanished from the bed along with his clothes. Tanha looked at the lingering traces of love and the battleground throughout the room. Then, she slowly smiled. With a slight wave of her hand, all traces disappeared. The room was clean as new, nothing broken.
However, a lingering scent remained. It wasn't that the young woman couldn't remove it; it was simply that she didn't want to. Tanha inhaled Kilenc's scent in the air. She trembled slightly and bit her lip softly. If only I didn't have to let him go at all…
"It's truly unfair, old friend. I've waited for you for centuries, yet you can't even remember me!" The young woman released all the emotions she had held back for so long. Before, when Kilenc was still there, she dared not show it, and she didn't want to show it either. Her old friend, as he was now, was not yet worthy of these deep feelings.
Tanha hugged a pink pillow. Her ample body slowly transformed back into the slender figure of a young girl, probably not even 170 centimeters tall. The young woman still preferred using this form as it was much more comfortable than that heavy body.
She only used that plump body because she wanted to please Kilenc. Normally, Tanha would use the form of a cute young girl, perhaps a bit short and small, but that was no problem for her at all. Isn't it cute? Right?