Chapter 571 Upgrade! Upgrade!

As the [Battle-Hardened Blade Lord] was a nearly conceptual legendary creature active only in biographies and heroic epics, no one knew its exact appearance.

Even the physical traits described by self-proclaimed eyewitnesses varied significantly.

Some scholars in related fields believed that rather than a real biological entity, it was a conceptual product born of certain laws. Others thought it was purely a fabricated rumor, invented by individuals looking to add a touch of legend to their pasts.

Xia Nan, having already completed his Fifth Evolution, leaned toward the former.

He did not know the exact physical structure of this wolf-like creature.

To some extent, however, his post-evolution appearance seemed inextricably linked to the various abilities he had mastered.

[Gaze into the Abyss] from the Evil God Secret Realm and [Night Mother's Gaze] from the anomalous winter wolf Kalosh made his pitch-black, lightless wolf eyes swallow any light that dared to enter them, letting an unspeakable fear quietly spread wherever his gaze fell.

[Bronze Sinews and Iron Bones] and [Slashing Expert] granted him fangs and claws as hard as steel that refracted a metallic sheen.

[Gravity Control] and [Heavy Tide] ensured that with every step, the surrounding air warped slightly like a reflection in water.

And the absolute core of his build and combat style—the pitch-black mane that swayed gently even without wind, exuding an unsettling aura and appearing as if formed by blurred air currents—was entirely characteristic of [Fang Hunt] being unleashed.

"Algae Scale" Dodd had never seen such a creature.

Nearing the Transcendent Tier, he had faced countless powerful enemies and encountered an unknown number of ferocious monsters that ordinary people would consider nightmares over his long, tumultuous adventuring career.

His mental fortitude and psychological resistance far exceeded those of ordinary adventurers.

Under normal circumstances, his mental defenses were incredibly difficult to shatter.

Right now, however, the situation was entirely different.

On one hand lay the primary factor.

Due to the unique nature and growth trajectory of the adventurer profession, the vast majority of Dodd's confidence—the very foundation of his self-perception—was rooted in the real world: his steel-like dragonborn body, forged through countless trials.

Now, having entered the Ritual Secret Realm and started in a frail beast's body, a slight lack of self-assurance still lingered in his subconscious, even though his physique had gradually strengthened through evolution.

This became the most fatal breach in his mental defenses.

On the other hand, there were Dodd's experiences within the ritual itself.

He had thought himself fully prepared, only to miss a crucial airdrop of life energy due to a restorative slumber following an accidental injury. Although he made up for it later, his mindset had already begun to waver.

When the ritual reached its final stage, the few remaining competitors, the dawn of success finally visible after years of planning, and the Transcendent Tier that was merely one step away all turned his heart into fragile glass amid his excitement, until cracks finally surfaced when he dug into the Dragon Lair.

And now, crushed beneath the [Night Mother's Gaze] feat and the overwhelming suppression of biological life tiers, it shattered completely.

It was like a tiny, dying spark struggling in the night.

It felt as though some invisible, icy tentacle had stroked its way up from the forearm of his human body to the back of his neck.

Fear quietly welled up in his heart.

His consciousness gradually blurred amidst the low wolf growls echoing in the air.

At this moment, Dodd had even lost the ability to identify the wolf beast standing before him.

Following mere instinct, his body stiffened as he stared at the pitch-black shadow billowing from the woods, deep and dark as a hellish abyss.

And when his earthy-yellow, slitted lizard pupils met those pitch-black wolf eyes hidden deep within the shadows...

Fantasy, anxiety, excitement—all the emotions in his heart instantly morphed into the purest terror.

Dodd did not resist.

Or rather, with his mental defenses utterly destroyed by fear, his current body—a lizard monster merely at the Fourth Evolution—had absolutely no ability to resist the massive wolf beast before him, a creature that had reached its final evolution through the most optimal path and drastically enhanced its physical attributes with a massive amount of life energy.

He essentially watched helplessly as the other party, shrouded in shadows, strode forward on four slender, nimble limbs. Deep, abyssal energy wrapped around its body, and a gaseous black sword condensed in its wolf's maw.

Amid a high-pitched wolf howl, it turned into a blur. An ochre-red glint flashed fleetingly through the distorted air.

Blood spurted from the severed stump as the lizard's head went spiraling into the air.

Death descended.

It all ended far too simply.

To some extent, Xia Nan had not even believed that this filthy lizard monster could be Dodd's true body in the secret realm.

From his perspective, shortly after their group of four had left that thoroughly trashed clearing in the woods, the two points of light in his perception that had originally been overlapping suddenly underwent a change.

He saw one of the points abruptly separate from the other, rapidly closing in on their direction.

Unable to discern their identities, Xia Nan had no idea whether the one approaching them was "Algae Scale" Dodd or the halfling Alton.

If it were the latter, they could form a team and ally, conveniently exchanging intelligence regarding the great pirate's movements within the secret realm.

But if it were the former—Xia Nan and his group had long since prepared for battle.

When the lizard possessed by "Algae Scale" Dodd arrived on the scene, Xia Nan was lurking on the sidelines observing, following the plan he and his teammates had quickly drafted.

Because of this, when he witnessed the look the creature gave his teammates, Xia Nan was certain—the newcomer was absolutely not Alton.

Given the little guy's real-world vantage point on the coast, he would be able to see Xia Nan floating in mid-air over the sea, similarly wrapped in blue light, and thus know that Xia Nan was also still inside the secret realm.

With Alton and Dodd's points of light having overlapped for a long time, indicating a high probability that the two had already met, it was impossible for the little guy not to deduce that Xia Nan was the last remaining faction in the secret realm within his perception.

He would never have shown such a bloodthirsty and ecstatic expression toward their group; it simply wasn't in Alton's nature.

Truth be told, however, if this lizard wasn't Alton, Xia Nan remained highly skeptical about treating it as "Algae Scale" Dodd.

After all, in Xia Nan's view, as the host of this large-scale ritual, no matter how badly things had gone midway, with Dodd's preparations, he should have at least completed the Fifth Evolution by now.

Yet this panting, mud-covered, pathetic-looking six-legged lizard before him obviously did not look like it had reached the final stage of evolution.

Maintaining his usual caution, Xia Nan guessed that this earthy-yellow lizard was likely a decoy set up by Dodd using his special abilities to draw their attention.

Considering the position of the light point in his perception and their earlier encounter in the clearing, Xia Nan suspected that Dodd's true body was hiding in the soil directly beneath the lizard.

He had originally planned to observe a bit longer and inspect the situation carefully, but upon sensing the lizard's intense desire to attack his teammates, Xia Nan chose to strike preemptively for the safety of Lorraine and the others.

Given his personality, since he had decided to attack the enemy, he naturally wouldn't hold back.

Stacking [Spinning Slash], [Fang Hunt], [Heavy Tide], and [Gravity Etching] into a single strike, he unleashed his full strength in an instant.

At the same time, he kept a close watch on his surroundings, including the ground beneath him and the air above, constantly on guard against a sneak attack from Dodd's true body.

He had even prepared to use [Ember Echoes] to unlock Stage 2 if he sustained severe injuries.

Except—

The way things unfolded seemed to exceed Xia Nan's expectations.

"Thud."

The blood-spraying lizard head spun and landed, making a rolling sound as it tumbled across the meadow.

An exceptionally rich cluster of radiant blue light subsequently condensed above the headless corpse of the six-legged lizard.

Within his perception, the point of light symbolizing Dodd's existence quietly dissipated.

'Huh?'

With the glowing blue light of the life energy reflected in his wolf eyes, Xia Nan felt astonished.

Yet he maintained his vigilance, his wolf's maw clamping horizontally down on his longsword as he warily watched his surroundings.

Perhaps it was some sort of smokescreen specifically laid out to lower their guard?

Given Dodd's identity as the host of the ritual, Xia Nan had no doubt that the other party possessed the means to pull off such a maneuver.

However, one second, two seconds, three seconds passed...

As time quietly slipped away with absolutely no movement occurring around them, Xia Nan couldn't help but grow suspicious.

'Could it be... that filthy, earthy-yellow lizard just now really was "Algae Scale" Dodd?'

Double-checking his real-world perspective and seeing the halfling Alton still suspended in mid-air, he couldn't help but wonder.

Rumble—

Just as Xia Nan was formulating his guesses.

Suddenly, an explosive boom resembling thunder echoed from overhead.

His attention already highly concentrated, he snapped his head up instantly, his gaze shooting toward the source of the sound.

He saw that the semi-transparent boundary—which had grown increasingly rich with scarlet light over time, shrinking inward and capping the sky above the secret realm like a protective dome—had actually begun to vibrate violently with the death of the earthy-yellow lizard.

'This is—'

It wasn't hard to understand.

This large-scale ritual—which encompassed the entirety of Stodd Island and the surrounding waters and dragged in over a hundred adventurers—had been set up by "Algae Scale" Dodd to begin with. He had even secured numerous advantages for himself within it.

Dodd himself was the core of the secret realm.

Truthfully, under normal circumstances, with a level of strength that had not even touched the Transcendent Tier, he could never have possessed the means to host such a special ritual—one that allowed Xia Nan to harvest combat technique proficiency—even if he exhausted all his wealth.

To some degree, he had taken a shortcut.

A massive quantity of Deep-Sea Resonance Stones and complex, ever-changing array runes—these prerequisites, which could be solved through money and connections, were merely the foundation of the ritual.

The crucial core that allowed the entire secret realm to open and be sustained was the mysteriously textured metal ring that "Algae Scale" had obtained from Lyle Morton many years ago—the encryption key to the [Dream Weaving Corridor].

Relying on the convenience of the item, and leveraging his previously accumulated wealth and experience, he had forcefully held an advancement ritual themed around wildness and survival for himself.

The ritual itself was not complete; its purpose for existing stemmed solely from "Algae Scale's" selfish desires.

Now that "Algae Scale" Dodd had died in the secret realm and his consciousness had returned to reality, the ritual originally centered on the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key sensed the change and naturally lost its reason to continue.

There was no need for the few remaining adventurers in the secret realm to fight to the death; it began to disintegrate on its own.

Along with the violent tremors, one could see dense, fine cracks surfacing on the scarlet light dome covering the sky above the secret realm.

Even the ground beneath the feet of the people present heaved and shuddered in tandem.

Xia Nan felt his originally razor-sharp, even slightly taut consciousness slowly blur, much like sleepiness welling up when lying in bed, to the point where he could only see vague outlines of the scenery before him.

Sudden enlightenment flashed in his mind.

This filthy lizard he had cleanly decapitated was actually possessed by "Algae Scale" Dodd, the very enemy he had been guarding against with extreme vigilance.

Xia Nan even found it a bit absurd.

But the very next second, he cast aside all the stray thoughts tangling in his mind.

He no longer pondered why the host of the ritual had ended up in such a state, nor did he delve into what the other party had encountered during all these days in the secret realm.

Instead, taking advantage of the fact that his consciousness had not yet completely detached from this temporary wolf body and that he still retained some mobility, he controlled his limbs at the critical juncture of returning from the secret realm to the real world and leaped fiercely toward the glowing blue light cluster above "Algae Scale" Dodd's corpse.

"Bang!"

With a thrum, the powerful strength of his limbs stamped a distinct crater into the ground. The pitch-black wolf beast with the swaying mane held its jumping posture, its massive yet weightless body carving a half-arc through the air.

His wolf's maw gently brushed against the mass of life energy that was about to vanish along with the secret realm.

The glowing blue light, originally floating in mid-air like a luminous mist, seemed to receive some invisible guidance. It churned and seeped into the black wolf's body.

The wolf beast's body, which had long since evolved to the final stage and was rapidly strengthening with the influx of life energy, could obviously not be brought out into the real world. While the combat experience regarding skill combinations and the beast form accumulated during this time had been deeply etched into Xia Nan's mind, the physical body itself was ultimately unimportant.

However, the true reward Xia Nan sought—the gains derived from the [Dream Weaving Corridor] that belonged solely to him—was absorbed completely and entirely, without a single trace wasted, just as the secret realm was about to collapse.

In the empty space before his eyes, semi-transparent characters flashed past like a scrolling screen.

[Proficiency +9]

[[Gravity Control] lv1 (90/100) -> [Gravity Control] lv1 (99/100)]

[Proficiency +16]

[[Ember Echoes] lv2 (97/100) -> [Ember Echoes] lv3 (13/100)]

[Constitution +1]

[Proficiency +42]

[[Heavy Tide] lv4 (99/100) -> [Heavy Tide] lv5 (Max)]

[Perception +1, Strength +1, Charisma +1]

[[Meteor Blade Hunter] lv3 -> [Meteor Blade Hunter] lv4]