Gamers Are Fierce

How long had the Mountain Demon—or as he was once known, Master Taozhi, Wang Guan—been trapped within this Misty Territory? Even he wasn't sure.

All he vaguely remembered was being sent by his so-called "Master" into a gloomy corner of a layer in the Demon Prison, lying dormant as a Cocoon, waiting for the day he would be awakened.

Inside the Cocoon, the flesh buds covering his body gradually calmed from their chaotic state, and hair regrew on his skin. Those muddled memories were slowly retrieved, piecing together fragments of a halved life.

Perhaps due to the influence of the Misty Territory, he woke up earlier than his Master had anticipated.

However, this was not a good thing.

The newly conscious Mountain Demon found himself shrunken within the narrow confines of the Cocoon. He was unable to hear, see, lift his hands, or touch his feet to the ground. With all his might, he couldn't cause even the slightest damage to the Cocoon, let alone escape it.

Pitch black—an empty, deathly stillness—became all the Mountain Demon could perceive.

Time completely lost its meaning. At first, the Mountain Demon tried to keep track of it, to mark its passage for himself.

But as time wore on, he eventually gave up. Chi Duzi had merely planted the Divine Thought in his mind that "someone might awaken you in the future," without giving a specific timeframe.

Perhaps even Chi Duzi himself wasn't sure whether this casually placed pawn would be of any use.

Shouts went unanswered; struggles were ignored.

When the great sage of the Monkey's Clan was trapped under the mountain, at least he had the sky, clouds, flowers, birds, and trees to look at; Bug Buzz and bird calls to listen to; and the occasional sour, astringent fruit to eat.

But accompanying the Mountain Demon were only silence, darkness, and a future devoid of hope.

Thus, he fell into complete madness.

Chaotic flesh buds burst through his skin. The urge to destroy everything completely seized his mind. The huge, flesh-bud gorilla, squeezed into the narrow confines of the Cocoon, battered the thin layer of the Cocoon into various shapes with its fists.

Yet even in its frenzied, flesh-bud state, the mindless monster was unable to destroy the Cocoon. Instead, it was influenced by the Formation engraved both inside and outside the Cocoon, which gradually restored its clarity, allowing its own consciousness to regain control.

The Mountain Demon could no longer recall how many times he had gone mad over the long years, nor how much of his current memory consisted of erroneous recollections added during his mindless, flesh-bud state.

But he could still remember the scents of those who had killed him.

"Do you still remember me..." murmured the Mountain Demon. His body abruptly swelled, shattering the black robes draped over him, the tatters flying into the air.

In its place stood a "monster" over six meters tall.

It had the contours of the Mountain Demon, every inch of its surface composed of flesh buds, with clumps of thick hair growing intermittently among them.

Its upper body, shaped like an inverted triangle, was more robust than its lower half. Its two pillar-like, muscular arms rested on the ground like battering rams.

The fine flesh buds on the Mountain Demon's face, overexcited, burst in unison, splattering blood and filth everywhere.

It raised its fists and gently hammered the ground, creating craters and cracks in the earth.

THUMP. THUMP.

The very ground trembled lightly. Even from several tens of meters away, Li Ang could feel the terrifying power contained within his opponent's huge body.

"Hahaha!" The Mountain Demon's blood-soaked, savage face revealed a smile that split with excitement—its face literally cracked open down the middle, exposing a dense mass of worm-like flesh buds writhing madly within its skull.

"I am the Mountain Demon whom you ground to dust and scattered to the winds!"

"Sorry, who?" Li Ang flicked his spear and said in a deep voice, "Your vengeance should be sought from those who killed you. What has it to do with me, Ji Jiu?"

Fortunately, the real Ji Jiu was thousands of meters away and didn't hear these words, sparing him the cringeworthy discomfort.

"Hahaha!!" The Mountain Demon ignored Li Ang's words entirely. It thumped its chest and, with an agility that belied its massive frame, leaped into the air, crashing down towards Li Ang.

Li Ang dodged to the side, avoiding the Mountain Demon's pounding arms, and instantly vanished.

The Mountain Demon fell like a meteor. The forceful impact wave kicked up clouds of dust and stones, sending the ordinary people in the innermost circle sprawling. Their ears bled as they collapsed to the ground.

Li Ang reappeared nearby, holding two Mk19 grenade launchers borrowed from Ash. He continuously pulled the triggers, bombarding the Mountain Demon.

M430 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenades struck the Mountain Demon's surface one after another, blasting its simian flesh open.

However, where the ape-like body was torn, the flesh churned. Countless flesh buds rapidly grew, spread, and intertwined, "stitching" all wounds at astonishing speed, healing it completely.

What was even more astounding, these flesh buds—constantly emanating Demonic Qi—didn't stop after healing the Mountain Demon. Instead, they expanded further, continually enlarging the ape-like creature's physique.

A continuous series of CRACKING sounds echoed from within the Mountain Demon—the flesh buds forming its body were being crushed and bursting under its excessively swollen weight.

But more flesh buds, with a more perfect load-bearing and force-distributing structure, were re-crafting its body.

Every second, it grew stronger.

BOOM!

The Mountain Demon, which had silently endured the grenade barrage, suddenly raised an arm and accurately caught a grenade flying towards its head, forcefully crushing it.

Its palm was blown to pieces by the high-explosive grenade—one powerful enough to destroy fortresses. However, the newly grown palm was already subtly covered by a thin layer of black, scale-like armor.

As a creation of Chi Duzi of the Kuiyang Sect, these flesh buds composing the Mountain Demon's body were a special kind of demon. They lacked any intelligence but possessed the Trait: "to evolve the most suitable structures to counter the external environment."

As long as its Demonic Qi didn't run out, the Mountain Demon was practically unkillable, growing stronger with each regeneration.

Of course, this also raised a new question: was the current Mountain Demon Wang Guan with a body of flesh buds, or merely flesh buds with Wang Guan's memories? Its God Soul had already merged with its body, becoming indistinguishable.

WHOOSH—

The Mountain Demon's flesh-bud arm suddenly stretched out over twenty meters, like that of a legendary rubber man, hurling a punch towards Li Ang's location.

But, as if the Mountain Demon had seen through his thoughts, its sandbag-sized fist suddenly exploded like a blossoming flower. Countless slender flesh buds shot out, frantically whipping the air around the fist.

The Mountain Demon couldn't see what was happening in the Grey-white World. However, by striking indiscriminately in this manner, its attacks could become part of the Grey-white World, thereby harming enemies within the Ball Technique.

Li Ang hastily activated his Phase Boots to dodge the lashing flesh buds within the Grey-white World. He looked for an opportunity to exit the Ball Technique and launch a sneaky attack from a corner.

"You want to ambush me, is that it?" The Mountain Demon laughed coldly and crazily at the empty space. "Skulking around, refusing to show your face? Then I'll force you out!"

With that, it swung its arm vigorously. Its arm bone transformed into a sharp blade in mid-air and swept horizontally towards the waists of the Datura patients, who were already screaming themselves hoarse.

It didn't care if these humans lived or died. After the deaths of the Viper and another Datura member, the Ritual Track had already reached the minimum Pollution requirement. Its completion was merely a matter of time.

Even if all these Datura patients were exterminated, it wouldn't affect the Ritual Track's completion.

A bone-spear blade emerged from thin air, barely managing to intercept the attack before it reached the Datura patients.

Li Ang supported himself with his long spear in one hand; in the other, he held only an empty container of King Slime.