Chapter 90: The Red Queen’s Ultimate Move (18/26)

With Red Queen’s roar, Ou Xiaolu sprang into action as well. He once again increased the speed at which he cast vortex magic, hurling several more whirlpools into the mercury pool.

By then, the boss was already thrown into some disarray. She kept shifting her body, trying not to get dragged into the vortices.

Seeing this, Ou Xiaolu became even more certain of one thing: the boss drew her power from the mercury pool. If the pool was unstable, her strength could not fully manifest.

Just as Ou Xiaolu was about to push the assault even further, Red Queen’s spell was ready.

Aside from fireball casting, Red Queen’s Abyssal Crimson magic actually possessed a devastating ultimate technique. The only drawback was that using it demanded a tremendous effort from her.

This time, in order to bring down the boss, Red Queen was going all out. She raised both hands high and concentrated all her mana between her palms. Slowly, the temperature in her hands began to rise, and something like molten lava started to appear in her palms.

The boss also noticed Red Queen’s movements. At last, fear appeared on her mercury face. She immediately darted toward Red Queen, trying to stop the spell.

But that move drew Ou Xiaolu’s attention at once. He understood that Red Queen’s attack was truly an ultimate among ultimates, and so he stepped forward as a human shield, fully activating the Purple Veil Robe and forcing himself to the front line.

When White Queen saw this and was in the middle of casting defensive magic on herself, she immediately transferred the defense spell she had not yet released onto Ou Xiaolu, while also adding a Sharpening Spell to the longsword in his hand.

But Ou Xiaolu simply raised his hand, and the longsword instantly changed into a revolver. He fired five shots straight at the boss.

The boss had already suffered before from Ou Xiaolu’s five-hit combo, and when she saw him switch to a pistol, she was ready for it. As Ou Xiaolu unleashed the five-shot burst, she twisted her body in an almost unbelievable way and dodged every single bullet.

After finishing that, she even looked at Ou Xiaolu smugly, only to find that he said nothing and calmly took out fresh rounds, loading them into the gun.

“These bullets can’t hit spirits. I’ve got more than enough of them. Want to dodge again and see?”

Realizing she had been made a fool of, the boss flew into a rage. Ignoring Red Queen, who was still preparing her spell behind her, she charged straight at Ou Xiaolu.

Ou Xiaolu grinned. With a flick of his hand, the bullets that should have been loaded into the revolver all fell to the ground.

“Sorry. These ones can hit spirits.”

By the time the boss realized she had been tricked and tried to retreat, it was already too late. She had lunged too far and was almost upon Ou Xiaolu.

It could be said that Ou Xiaolu fired with the boss practically pressing against his chest. All five shots of the Soul-Reaping Burst struck her squarely in the chest.

This time, the boss was nowhere near as formidable as before. The mercury pool was in complete chaos, her body was no longer stable, and the rate at which she replenished herself had clearly slowed. All five shots hit cleanly, tearing a massive wound open in her chest.

The boss opened her mouth wide, trying to sink into the mercury pool to recover her life force. But the liquid in the pool was now layered with great whirlpools and small whirlpools alike, clockwise against counterclockwise, colliding in frenzy. Forget diving into it; even looking at it from outside was enough to make one dizzy. If she fell in by accident, she could easily be shredded to pieces by the vortices.

Yet she could not remain outside either. Her body had clearly shrunk considerably, and without fresh mercury to replenish her, she would not be able to fight.

So the boss skirted around several large whirlpools, trying to slip back into the mercury pool.

But Ou Xiaolu kept adding more vortex spells from behind her, paying no heed at all to the mana that was already about to give out.

Just then, Red Queen’s spell was finally complete. She had gathered enough magma in her hands and walked slowly to the edge of the mercury pool, pressing both palms down with force.

“Abyssal Crimson Magma Pool!”

This spell was not actually an attack spell, but rather a kind of abyssal terrain spell. Its effect was to convert all mana into magma and transform the ecology of a given area. If used on land, it would turn the ground into a volcanic crater. If used in a body of water, it would transform the water into a magma pool.

As for the range of the transformation, that depended entirely on how much mana the caster possessed.

Generally speaking, this was the first thing the demons of an abyssal invasion would do. They would convert all their mana, alter the environment of the place they had invaded, and make it easier for the demons behind them to arrive.

But Red Queen’s move was perfectly suited to the situation here. The boss did not yet have a body of her own; everything she was depended on that pool of mercury.

With the mercury pool thrown into vortex-ridden chaos, the boss’s combat power had already dropped sharply. If the entire pool were turned into a magma pool, then death would be her only possible end.

Watching the mercury in the pool turn into gleaming crimson magma, the boss strained her mouth open, her expression as though she were desperately shouting no.

But at this point, not even no would help, and even calling for mercy would be useless. Ou Xiaolu was still waiting to finish off the boss and reap the experience.

So he swiftly unleashed more vortices upon the boss, using them to tear apart the structure of her body.

Then, suddenly, the boss seemed to make some sort of decision. Her face hardened with grim resolve, and she plunged downward, her entire body disappearing into the remaining mercury pool.

That left Ou Xiaolu speechless. The boss had been growing weaker with every exchange, and victory had been right within reach. What on earth was this supposed to mean? Could it be that the boss was trying to transform into a magma monster?

While Ou Xiaolu was still mired in wild speculation, a change suddenly erupted within the mercury pool. Vast amounts of mercury turned into vapor, rising rapidly from the surface.

Within the steam, the previous boss could be faintly seen moving about.

At the sight of this, Ou Xiaolu knew instantly that something was wrong. The boss had actually undergone a second transformation. If she really converted all the mercury into vapor, then his vortices from before would no longer have any effect.

Thinking of this, Ou Xiaolu could not help shouting, “Can you hurry up and turn all the mercury into magma?”

Red Queen was also getting anxious, but there was nothing to be done. “I can’t go any faster. This is the limit.”

Ou Xiaolu’s expression tightened. He raised his longsword and prepared to meet the boss head-on.

At that moment, White Queen timidly raised her hand. “I may have a way to deal with this.”

Ou Xiaolu turned and gave White Queen a look of exasperation. “Can’t you be a bit more imposing, like your sister? Just say, ‘Buy me some time, I’m going to unleash an ultimate move too, an absolute ultimate move!’ Is that so hard?”

“I’d like to say it too, but the problem is that this doesn’t count as an ultimate move. It just happens to be able to handle this kind of situation,” White Queen said, still in that soft, hesitant voice.

“Forget it. Do it now. I’ll hold her off... uh, done already?”