Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 436 Transformation
"It transferred the damage it suffered to the city of Iberia!" Mu Xiang thought to himself. "That's why it can keep recovering... because all those injuries were transferred!"

Zheng Zha and Zhang Jie were both shocked: "What the hell is the logic behind this?"

“Hmm… Thinking about the legend of Bokrug carefully, it does make sense.” Mu Xiang said as he launched an even fiercer attack on Bokrug. “The Xel'Nas destroyed the city of Iber, causing the worshipped Bokrug to fall into a deep sleep… This seems to explain the source of its power. A thousand years later, Bokrug revived and completely wiped out the Xel'Nas civilization, completing its revenge… And this water lizard also has a divine title: Avenger.”

Zheng Zha pondered for a moment: "You mean... this guy's power is closely related to the city of Iberia, and its sure-fire counterattack is in line with the divine title of 'Avenger'?"

“That’s right…” Mu Xiang kicked out, and Burkrug’s massive body shot uncontrollably into the sky. Then, Mu Xiang twisted his left and right hands together. The golden figure soared into the sky and punched Burkrug in the abdomen. After this punch, Mu Xiang saw that its internal body was almost shattered into piled-up fragments, but the next moment, it returned to its original bizarre structure.

Correspondingly, a large section of the buried city of Iberia showed signs of fractures...

“Zheng Zha, deal with those Tumhar people… You don’t need to kill them, but it would be best to drive them away,” Mu Xiang said. “Your main task is to use the Crimson Flame to destroy the ancient city of Iber. Using energy collisions will be the easiest way to find out what this strange ancient city is all about. You’ve sensed the aura of the abyss, so you should be able to detect it.”

Zheng Zha nodded: "Verification, is that right... Okay, I'll get on it right away."

Just as Zheng Zha flapped his bat wings, preparing to descend, Zhang Jie frowned: "Wait... those frogmen... they're starting to flee into the underground water network on their own, their destination seems to be an altar?"

Mu Xiang sighed: "That's why I had Zheng Zha drive them away... This ancient city is indeed somewhat strange because it's connected to Bokrug; but it's not surprising at all that these Tumha people, as believers, are able to help Bokrug through sacrifices and such."

“Tsk… We seem to have promised Nordens that when we’re fighting the Old Ones and Outer Gods, we shouldn’t harm ordinary creatures. Unless it’s a fanatical cultist like the Gorg, killing them will cause the plane itself to reject us.” Zheng Zha hesitated for a moment after hearing Mu Xiang and Zhang Jie’s conversation, then rushed into a body of water with dark red flames.

Zhang Jie shook his head: "Perhaps these frog people aren't aggressive at all. For them, being law-abiding and worshipping their own gods isn't a sin. Judging from the way those ancient gods act, it's impossible to classify them as fanatics."

Zhang Jie didn't say the rest, but all three of them understood... At least in terms of the history of this region, it was actually humans who slaughtered the originally peacefully coexisting alien races, only to be destroyed by the gods who returned from their resurgence. It was a kind of cycle.

Within the shared spiritual vision of the three, deep within the cave, in a place resembling an altar, a short, stout Tumha, much larger than the other Tumha, was holding a scepter, directing the rest of his tribe to bind the chosen Tumha and send them to the altar.

Wherever Zheng Zha's crimson flames passed, the water in the lakes and marshes was directly pushed aside, and boiling bubbles drew a clear boundary between the crimson flames and the water. When he passed through layers of water and arrived at a waterless cave, he immediately struck out with his palm. The terrifying heat caused the Tumuha people affected to scream in agony and flee.

However, this was merely intimidation... at least much milder than a massacre, and consistent with Zheng Zha's usual style. If he truly intended to kill, the aftershocks of the intense heat alone would have been enough to annihilate these amphibians, who were even weaker than humans.

The crimson flames traveled down the underground water network, burning the ruins of Iber; while heatwaves erupted within the caverns, rolling forward like cannonballs along its paths, finally slamming into the altar. Even the imposing, stout Tumhari was blasted to the ground, trembling with fear.

Even so, it still tried to command the rest of its kind to offer sacrifices... but unfortunately, the rest of its kind performed even worse than it did.

"Get out of here if you don't want to die!" Zheng Zha, his body enveloped in dark red flames, stepped into the underground cave where the altar was located and shouted sharply.

Just then, a strange fluctuation made Zheng Zha tense up, and all the Tumha people froze, even their trembling movements stopped.

This strange fluctuation originated from the battlefield between Mu Xiang and Burklug. If it weren't for this peculiar mechanism confusing them for a moment, Burklug would have been blasted to pieces long ago... Now that Mu Xiang has seen through its secret, he naturally won't leave it any room to maneuver. Seeing that it was about to be pinned down by Mu Xiang and hammered until the ancient city was annihilated and its body shattered, Burklug also got serious.

After once again taking a direct hit from Mu Xiang's punches and kicks, Bokrug's eyes suddenly exploded, a distorted force field covered its entire body, and it unleashed its claws and tail, striking Mu Xiang squarely.

Mu Xiang was not afraid at all. Just as he was about to give chase, Burklug opened its mouth again. This time, he still could not hear the roar, but the sound wave merged into the air and then spread out as a strange wave.

"What is this?" Mu Xiang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately felt something strange within his body. But this feeling was fleeting, and when Mu Xiang lowered his gaze to examine his body, he found nothing. Meanwhile, Burkrug roared furiously, this time with a shrill and terrified voice, and then it fiercely tore open the muddy bottom of the lake with its claws, its massive body rushing into it without regard for anything else.

Mu Xiang flashed forward, grabbed its tail, and with a forceful pull, yanked its tail up.

"Damn, you can even cut your tail to survive?" Mu Xiang couldn't help but curse.

Just as he was about to jump into the hole, Zhang Jie thought to himself, "Watch out for the ancient city below... those city walls are starting to move!"

Mu Xiang looked down and found that it was indeed so... Upon closer inspection, the changes in this ancient city seemed to have occurred after the strange fluctuations.

The ruins of the ancient city from beyond the heavens, originally buried underground, began to writhe and rise upwards. During this process, Zheng Zha's omnipresent and rapidly spreading red flames were extinguished. In the end, the ruins of Iber City transformed into an incomplete fleshy dome, enveloping Bokrug.

One of them, Bokrug, swung its claw, and its eyes have not yet recovered, but that's no longer the key issue... it just wants to escape!
The fleshy shroud that once covered Iber City enveloped Bokrug, which then burrowed deep underground.

Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses: "I understand... This thing is its egg! What ancient city outside the heavens? It's a holy city built for it by its kin using its egg! Zheng Zha, how's the feedback from your red flame?"

"Just as you thought..." Zheng Zha chuckled. "After penetrating deeply with energy, I indeed sensed a familiar aura. This thing definitely comes from the abyss!"

Zhang Jie, who had been standing in the air overlooking the battlefield, smiled and said, "With your control over the Red Flame, there's no way it could have gotten away, right?"

Standing amidst countless Tumha people, Zheng Zha said smugly, "Of course not... it won't explode!"

The next moment, the tattered giant egg, deep underground, suddenly paused, then exploded with a deafening roar. The crimson flames that had already seeped into it erupted, completely destroying the broken egg. Berkrug roared in agony; without the egg that had been drawing energy from the plane, its self-healing ability was gone!

But before it could do anything else, a golden light descended from the sky, piercing the ground and completely shattering Bokrug's body. Mu Xiang looked at the fragments at his feet, smiled, and said, "That's a wrap."

Zhang Jie yawned: "Next, should we head towards the Northern Continent, or continue eastward?"

“There’s no need to go to the Northern Continent. The enemies there are Moon Beasts. We’ll just head east and raid their homeland,” Mu Xiang said.

With Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha back on the ground, the three reunited and continued flying eastward. The Eastern Continent was an occupied zone, a place they had to deal with.

"This dream world is really strange... It's one thing to follow the flat-Earth theory, but to be able to get there by boat from the moon? You row your boat whichever side the moon is on, that's really imaginative," Zheng Zha couldn't help but complain.

The three chatted and laughed as they walked, while behind them, beneath the lake in the ruins of Sarnath, countless Tumhari simultaneously fell to the ground, lifeless. But as their life force faded, their bodies, which had originally resembled frogs, slowly transformed; though their size remained largely unchanged, their appearance became entirely different.

The short, stout Tumha, clutching the scepter, clung to its last breath. Watching the transformation of its people, it struggled to crawl towards a puddle. As it crawled, its body changed. When it finally reached the puddle and saw its reflection, a stream of murky tears rolled down its cheeks.

The aged face in the puddle is a face it has forgotten for a thousand years... that is its original appearance.

It, or rather it, finally collapsed at this moment, and breathed its last.

(End of this chapter)