Chapter 135: Absorption-What to Do After Becoming an Elf(Ai Xin gently)

Chapter 35: Absorption

"Bang!"

Lu Yun’s hands were encased in reddish-brown Fighting-type energy. As his muscles bulged, he clamped onto the Arbok’s upper and lower jaws with pinpoint precision. A foul, sickening stench erupted from the depths of the Arbok’s throat, which resembled a bottomless black hole. Thick, black saliva dripped onto Lu Yun’s face and shoulders, emitting a hissing, corrosive sound upon contact.

Lu Yun gritted his teeth, the veins beneath his dark skin bulging like gnarled tree roots. After all, this was the Arbok’s final, desperate strike, fueled by its entire life force. Even with the formidable strength that allowed Lu Yun to dominate others of his species, he found himself unable to withstand the pressure. The immense force shattered the floor beneath his feet; his legs, as if cast from black iron, sank deep into the ground. His waist bowed under the strain, and his internal muscles were stretched to their limit. His hands, gripping the Arbok’s jaws, began to buckle.

Closer and closer.

In Lu Yun’s wide, crimson pupils, he could see the tiny particles on the Arbok’s flickering tongue and the jagged, serrated edges of its venom-slicked fangs. The distance between the Arbok’s ferocious head and Lu Yun shrank, as if drawn together by the intense magnetic pull of two giant magnets.

Finally, after a grueling battle, the sturdy muscles in Lu Yun’s waist, abdomen, and arms—pushed far beyond their capacity—completely collapsed.

*Crack—*

Muffled sounds, like steel bars snapping, echoed continuously from within his body. The muscles beneath his dark skin tore, and a wave of intense, searing pain flooded his entire frame. With the loss of tension and the sudden drain of energy, though Lu Yun’s hands remained clamped onto the Arbok’s jaws, he no longer had the strength to hold them.

In the depths of Lu Yun’s crystalline, rose-colored pupils, a flicker of despair appeared, only to be instantly replaced by a will as unyielding as tempered steel. In this moment of desperation, the vibrant, hot-blooded spirit inherent to Fighting-type Pokémon surged within his heart, hardening into an indomitable resolve. On his system attribute sheet, the entry under "Ability" flickered: "Steadfast."

*Boom—*

Deep within his soul, a tiny spark suddenly ignited, drifting erratically in the darkness like a firefly.

The reddish-brown Fighting-type energy, carrying Lu Yun’s indomitable, steel-like will, cautiously wrapped around the spark, using it as fuel to pierce the gloom. The next second, the fire of "Steadfast" roared to life!

Lu Yun felt waves of scorching energy, like streams of molten heat, continuously pouring from deep within his body and spreading to every limb. It was scalding, boiling; the blood flowing through his veins surged like a rushing river. His once-dark skin began to glow with a faint, burning red hue. Wisps of white steam curled from his pores, raising the temperature of the surrounding air.

Lu Yun’s near-collapsed body, like a machine that had been running for years, suddenly found new life under the influence of this internal lubricant. Endless heat coursed through his bones, muscles, and blood, all ignited into pure, raw power. Lu Yun felt as though he had become a ball of flame. The pain of his wounds vanished, the agonizing sensation of muscular overload dissipated, and in their place came a feverish, burning sensation.

White steam swirled around his skin, and power, even greater than when he was at his peak, erupted from his arms.

"Aaaah!"

Lu Yun roared. The muscles in his arms, still clamped onto the Arbok’s jaws, bulged and swelled.

*Snap—*

A bone-chilling sound of tearing muscle rang out, followed by the sound of bones shattering like firecrackers, echoing through the dark corridor. Crimson blood sprayed everywhere as Lu Yun tore the Arbok’s jaws apart, cartilage and all. The cold, reptilian eyes, once filled with madness, were veiled in the heavy shadow of death, and the twitching of the snake’s body grew weaker and weaker.

"Thud."

A dull sound echoed through the gloomy corridor. The Arbok’s massive body, now devoid of life, collapsed heavily to the floor.

Lu Yun stood where he was as the scorching heat dissipated from his body. A terrifying, agonizing pain washed over him like a tide. With a pained groan, Lu Yun slumped to the ground. He stared blankly at the ceiling as fine dust drifted down.

This Arbok was not the most powerful opponent he had ever faced, but this battle was the most perilous and difficult one since his rebirth. The constant shifts in the situation and the layers of ups and downs had pushed Lu Yun to the brink of death more than once. His system equipment, the Ghost-type energy within him... if he had lacked any one of these factors, he would have fallen into the cycle of death. Even at the very end, had it not been for the eruption of his "Steadfast" ability providing that final surge of energy, he likely would not have escaped the fate of dying alongside the Arbok.

A faint smile touched Lu Yun’s scarred face. As expected, "Steadfast" was indeed the hidden ability of Machop. While it seemed lackluster in the game, in the real world, it possessed the powerful effect of triggering a surge of strength when gravely wounded. This brought Lu Yun a sense of relief.

Intense pain, accompanied by a deep sense of exhaustion, welled up in his heart. After such severe overexertion, a feeling of emptiness washed over his battered, wretched body. Lu Yun’s eyelids slowly drooped as he fell into a deep, heavy unconsciousness.

In the gloomy, dark corridor, crimson blood flowed softly across the debris-strewn floor, and the Arbok’s massive purple body lay silently to one side. Not far away, the humans who had been caught in the vertigo effect of Lu Yun’s "Confuse Ray" lay on the ground, their chests heaving with every breath. As Lu Yun lost consciousness, the hideous wounds he had kept closed through sheer muscular control began to reopen. Blood seeped from them incessantly. Clearly, if he remained unconscious like this, it would not be long before he returned to the cycle of reincarnation.

Suddenly, wisps of dark purple, ghostly mist emerged from the surface of his body. The Ghost-type energy hidden within him, as if sensing the threat to its host’s life, quietly reached out. The dark purple mist twisted and coalesced, forming long, thin tentacles in the air like those of an octopus.

The tentacles swayed gently, as if sensing something. Suddenly, like a hound catching the scent of prey, the dark purple tentacles lunged toward the Arbok’s corpse. They wrapped tightly around the Arbok’s flesh, undulating eerily as if sucking the life out of it. Patches of dull, deep grey appeared on the Arbok’s body; as if stripped of all nutrients, the flesh crumbled into fine dust at the slightest breeze.

The essence of the energy was conducted through the tentacles into Lu Yun’s body, instantly stimulating his self-healing factors. Broken bones were meticulously reknit, torn muscles were deftly stitched together, and the bleeding ceased. The horrific, near-fatal wounds on Lu Yun’s body gradually recovered under the absorption of the Ghost-type energy.

A moment later, the Arbok’s massive body had withered into bone-white ash. The dark purple tentacles swayed with a sense of lingering hunger, then began to spread toward the other side of the corridor, where the members of the security guard team lay silently on the ground...