Apocalypse Forecast

An instant hit!

It was as if he had stirred a cloud of fog. The space where his hand fell was empty, but Huai Shi didn't slow down in the slightest, unleashing his powerful energy!

BOOM!

The darkness stirred like mist.

Walker screamed as he retreated, finally paying the price for his hesitation.

When his twitching face lifted again, half of it had shattered. His entire left cheekbone was deeply sunken, and his strained left eye had already burst.

He hadn't managed to transform his head into an illusion in time, and thus took more than half the damage from the Drummer's blow.

It's a pity...

Huai Shi felt a pang of regret. If his Drummer skill had been more refined, not merely unleashed with brute force, that strike could have achieved the effect of the North Dipper God Fist, making Walker explode on the spot.

But it was too late for regrets.

Walker's counterattack arrived.

In the darkness, a writhing, bizarre eyeball suddenly snapped open, turning in his direction as gray light shot out.

But even before that, Huai Shi had sensed the eye opening. He took a step to his left, brushing past the gray light as he relentlessly pressed forward.

In the darkness, the aberrant organ formed of countless overlapping pupils angrily tracked his movements.

But it couldn't catch Huai Shi's Yu Step.

The speed of sight should be faster than movement, given that it's based on the speed of light. However, Huai Shi had long since honed his dodging skills under the Gatling barrage of the Muscle Monster's training.

Even though he could only maintain a beginner's level of Yu Step over long distances, he still twisted and turned wildly, dodging within Walker's blind spots.

"AHHH!!!!"

Walker roared in anger. The peculiar super-eyeball rapidly dissolved, reverting to its original state of hundreds, even thousands, of eyeballs that cast their gazes chaotically around.

Instantly, he sneered.

"Got you!"

Targeted abruptly by three eyes under the dim glow of the gray light, Huai Shi suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and sluggishness wash over him. An involuntary wave of sleepiness began to rise.

His Yu Step faltered.

But then he felt a gust of wind behind his ear and instinctively dove forward, feeling Walker's elbow whistle past. Huai Shi rolled. He felt the floor beside his ear thunder, already crumbling under the Nightmare's trampling.

More eyes looked over.

Huai Shi's movements became sluggish once again.

Walker lifted his foot and kicked out fiercely. Huai Shi was sent flying backward. Before he could even touch the ground, a shadowy figure in the darkness caught up to him, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him forcefully onto the ground.

In mid-air, Huai Shi fought back, but his hands grasped only smoke. As he hit the ground, he adjusted his posture, propped his body up with his palms, and flipped backward.

But the moment he steadied himself, he felt a hand thrust out of the darkness and clamp over his face.

Walker sneered.

Behind him, countless eyes in the darkness opened. They stared intently at Huai Shi, draining his Source Substance, relentlessly pushing him deeper into stupor, stripping away his rationality, and pulling him into the Dreamland.

That was the true Domain of the Nightmare.

"Sleep, child!"

Under the gaze of countless eyes, Huai Shi lost consciousness in an instant. Walker laughed sinisterly as he continuously poured the dark, negative Source Substance into Huai Shi's Soul.

"Drown completely in the despair of nightmares!"

What followed was the Nightmare's stage to showcase its power. Once someone fell asleep, they would have no control over their fate!

But at that instant, he saw Huai Shi's closed eyes open once more.

"What did you say?"

Walker was stunned, then saw a fist rapidly enlarging before his eyes.

BOOM!

He was sent flying. His face, which had barely been restored, shattered once again. But even more unbearable for him was the fact that Huai Shi had not entered the Dreamland...

No, that was wrong; he indeed had entered the Dreamland.

But only for an instant.

An instant later, he awoke from the dream of despair that Walker had meticulously crafted.

He had broken free from the cage.

Why? He showed no sign of being lost at all!

"Ah, probably woke up because I'm too handsome, huh?"

Huai Shi smiled and stepped forward, instantly crossing the great distance. He gazed directly at the nearby Walker, grinning—a grin as ferocious as that of the Muscle Monster.

His expression, like an Evil Ghost that had Listened to the Buddhist Law, made his smile as solemn as that of a Vajra.

Then, a punch!

BOOM!

The smoke swirled.

In front of the burning Huai Shi.

Emerald flames rose from his form. As his body transformed, the Mountain Ghost revealed its shadowy aspect. Within the massive gash on its chest, countless points of firelight surged.

Next, a mighty tide of the Fire of Sorrow burst forth!

It caused the dark Dreamland to tremble and roil, as if it were about to be ignited by these emerald flames of sorrow.

Without using any of the Mountain Ghost's Stigma's abilities—neither the Fear Aura nor the Plague Halo—and even without overclocking, Huai Shi simply moved forward. He stirred the darkness constructed from countless nightmares.

After just a few short days, this excessively violent, fierce, and cold life force had already undergone a qualitative Metamorphosis.

It was as if an axe blade had been ground to a razor edge!

Terrifying aggressiveness shot forth from those eyes burning with ghostly flames.

At that moment, Walker finally understood.

It wasn't that his Dreamland lacked a wondrous effect; in fact, his Dreamland had excellently fulfilled its mission, truly casting despair, pain, and darkness into Huai Shi's consciousness in an instant.

However, the nightmare he had created, compared to what Huai Shi possessed... it was simply not worth mentioning!

"Ah, marvelous! Marvelous!"

Far from being alarmed, he laughed sharply with delight. "This is what you call a champion of justice, young man...? Despair, fear, anger, and that rare indecision... What rich, negative Source Substance! What refined darkness and madness!"

He laughed with pleasure, as if he had found a kindred spirit. "Boy, indeed, you are, in your very bones, one with me..."

BOOM!

The nightmarish illusion, as if struck by lightning, was sent flying.

Before the young man's raised fist.

"You... have misunderstood something, haven't you?"

Huai Shi tilted his head and looked down at Walker's dumbfounded form. Arrogance materialized in his blazing eyes. "Don't lump me together with trash like you!"

"—Trash!"

With a deep voice, the young man took a step forward. His palm tightened, and a thunderous boom echoed.

In that instant, in the spectator seats, not only was the Older Cousin dumbstruck, but even the indifferent Luo Lao raised his eyebrows and sat up straight.

He actually broke through?

That's right. In that instant, Huai Shi's Drummer skill had truly reached the proficient stage.

It was not just the thunderous outward manifestation but the combined effect of genuine combat techniques and Source Substance manipulation.

Without relying on his Soul Ability.

Relying solely on the coordination of his muscles and Source Substance, he had broken through the barrier between reality and illusion, truly touching the ethereal Dreamland!

In other words, from now on, Walker's Soul Ability was completely useless against Huai Shi!

Before the newly proficient Drummer.

Such a laughable nightmare would only be torn apart like flimsy paper before him!

Under the gaze of countless astonished eyes in the darkness, the burning young man moved forward step by step, flexing his arms and shoulders, muttering to himself, Despair? Pain? Darkness? Madness?

"—Stuff your nonsense!"

BOOM!

In the blink of an eye, he crossed a dozen or so steps. Huai Shi appeared before the Nightmare and swung his fist.

Enveloped in emerald flames, the muscles and sinews on his arms trembled violently. Power and Source Substance converged into a single line, bursting forth from between his five fingers as they suddenly clenched into a fist. This created a Source Substance explosion confined within his fist.

Illusionary Drumming!

This was the true essence hidden within the name of the Drummer!

Using his own Source Substance to drum upon the void, make the air tremble, unleash a mighty thunder, and bring down tangible destruction with an unstoppable advance.

The darkness trembled, and countless nightmares and negative Source Substances showed signs of disintegrating under this strike!

The dream of nothingness woven by the Nightmare cracked, a fissure appearing within it.

Huai Shi was already gripping Walker's neck. Staring into his eyes, he asked pointedly, "Do you have any idea how happy I am?"

Walker stared at him blankly, lips trembling, but he was unable to make a sound.

"Wrong! My joy is something you can't even begin to imagine—"

Huai Shi threw a punch, hitting the malformed giant eye that had re-formed in the darkness. This caused two streams of bloody tears to flow from Walker's eyes as the giant eye disintegrated into countless terrified tiny eyes.

It was as if they truly felt Huai Shi's joy.

Sometimes, isn't the most wicked joy of all to inflict your own suffering upon your enemies?

"Guess again—"

Huai Shi lifted Walker once more, asking seriously, "What goes RAT-TAT-TAT and spits emerald fire?"

Walker was stupefied.

What goes RAT-TAT-TAT and spits emerald fire?

A Gatling gun?

"Wrong."

Huai Shi slowly shook his head and began to smile. "It's me!"

Right in front of Walker, he slowly assumed the standard Drummer stance. Amidst the wild torrent of emerald flames, the muscles all over his body pulsed erratically, eventually settling into a deep, rhythmic beat.

"Light plus heat equals fire; fire plus joy equals me," he sang, as if to himself, oblivious to Walker. "If I, with fire, am then joined by you..."

"—Then the joy should be even greater!"

In that moment, the Drummer's thunder erupted, yet it shone with a silver light, like metal grinding against metal.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

Amidst the thunderous Space Break sounds, fists laden with countless motes of Apocalypse thundered repeatedly. The whistling sounds of their passage overlapped, transforming into the "Ten in a row" that mobile game players cherished most!

Tangible joy descended upon the Nightmare's domain, eliciting a wail of crumbling despair.

Under the crushing might of the Iron Fist, those tiny eyes shattered one after another. The illusory, dark nightmare landscape quaked violently, continuously dissipating under the relentless barrage until it vanished completely into the void.

When the joyous thunder ceased abruptly, the now-unrecognizable Walker had already been sent flying, landing heavily on the ground, unable to move.

And Huai Shi stood his ground, panting heavily.

Grievous fissures spiderwebbed across his arms, which had been nearly shattered by the strain of the "Ten in a row" Drummer technique that pushed him beyond his limits.

But now, under the Mountain Ghost's vital force, the wounds were rapidly mending.

And Huai Shi pressed onwards.