I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 253

Without another word, Dr. Mengele lunged. His movement was a blur, a distortion in the air that defied the natural order of motion. He was not just fast; he was erasing the distance between us in a violent, aggressive assertion of his will.

I naturally saw the attack coming. His clawed hand was wreathed in a sickly green energy that matched the lantern’s light. I didn’t put on any defense. I now had a better understanding of my defense status. It wasn’t some arbitrary number that made you invincible to all attacks. Rather, it was more like a protective barrier you could choose to apply to yourself using energy. Of course, I also had my naturally built body, which had a great deal of defense to it, but when dealing with things that had the physical strength to push past that defense, I would need to protect myself with energy.

This also meant I could not do that, and thus, my body would not have any substantial defense. This was the state I left myself in when he attacked me, and the result was that his attack immediately went through me. All of the cells in my body were instantly destroyed. I took a trillion damage, but I had expected something like that. With my body destroyed, Dr. Mengele retracted his attack and snorted.

“Not even a body left over? How weak… You would barely even offer enough death energy to affect my lantern.”

With those words, he still pulled out the lantern and left it on the ground. He then turned his attention to the rubble-strewn crater. He reached out an ethereal hand formed that was the size of a small building. With a swipe, he pulled a massive pile of rubble out of the way. His ethereal hand picked several tons of material up and then tossed it to the side with ease. I couldn’t help but watch this. I knew very little about high-level evolved, so this was a rare chance to observe one.

Dr. Mengele continued to excavate the rubble. It took him about an hour, but when he was done, he managed to find his buried body. He pulled it out of the crater and then placed it in front of himself with a satisfied expression. He reached out and took the Gibbs’ lantern and then placed it into the center of the skeleton. I had no clue what he was doing. I had already recovered my lost HP, and my patience was wearing thin.

“What are you doing?” I asked from an otherwise disembodied voice. “You plan to return to that old, broken body?”

Dr. Mengele grunted. “These bones have absorbed countless eons of energy. How could I let them go to waste? I would never abandon a part of myself. I will refine them, forge them into a weapon and armor worthy of a Sage-” His words finally froze as he realized he was talking to someone who should be dead.

Perhaps his years of isolation and talking to the voices in his head had caused him to answer reflectively. However, he immediately spun around, his eyes darting around the darkness with confusion.

“You… you are still alive? Where are you? Show yourself!” He let out a growl.

“I’m close by,” I replied, my voice seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. “But don’t waste your time looking. You won’t find me.”

“We’ll see about that!” He waved a hand in one direction, and that hand came out again, carving a small crater out of the earth.

He spun around, attacking in several locations one after another. He unleashed a barrage of attacks throughout the entire underground. Each attack was devastating, capable of leveling a small mountain, yet none of them found their mark. It was only when the cavern started showing signs of unsteadiness that he finally stopped, panting loudly. Of course, his attacks all missed me.

“Sorry, still here.”

“A trick!” he snarled, his chest heaving. “You may be good at hiding, but that’s a coward’s game. If you are brave enough, you should show yourself!

“As you wish,” I responded.

I stepped out from behind one of the giant mushroom plants. His eyes immediately locked on mine, and he let out a roar. He didn’t waste any more time on talk as he delivered a final bow. He was clearly using a lot of energy as if to make up for the embarrassment of his previous failures.

However, this time, I put up my defenses. I did more than just that. I use Encapsulation on my hand. If someone was looking at it, my hand temporarily had the appearance of a rock. I used Organ Reinforcement on the bones, and even Physical reinforcement. The result was that his attack struck mine. Although I didn’t strike back, his claw immediately shattered. Dr. Mengele stumbled back a few steps. For the first time, a look of genuine fear appeared on his face.

“What… what are you?” he stammered, staring at me with newfound wariness.

“One could ask the same about you?”

“My… sage beast form is called a Demonic Hellbeast. Due to our association with dark energy, we were hunted near to extinction. What about you? I will not believe you follow the evolutionary pathway of those paragons. Are you an antecedent like me?”

“Honestly…” I spoke. “I don’t really know what I am.”

“Don’t give me that!” he shrieked.

“It’s the truth,” I continued, my voice even. “I don’t know how long ago I was born, and I don’t know how long it took me to reach my current state. All I know is that I kept consuming other things, larger things, and I continued to grow.”

His expression turned white. “The Abysmal Path? You’re a devil?”

I shook my head. “Devils? I’ve not heard of them.”

Dr. Mengele’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What evolutionary level are you currently at?”

“To the best of my knowledge, I’ve had nine evolutions in this lifetime,” I admitted.

He stared at me, his jaw hanging open in utter disbelief. “Tenth level? That’s impossible. No one can undergo nine evolutions. The world itself doesn’t allow it! Some laws prevent such a powerful being from appearing in our world. You must ascend to a higher plane of existence to evolve!”

“Is that so?” I wondered aloud. “Perhaps this is why my tribulation was interrupted back then. It seems I didn’t follow the rules.”

“You can’t be serious. The restriction… the world’s law… it caps evolution at eight. To achieve a ninth… that would mean you’ve broken the world’s fundamental laws. That would make you…” He rejected the idea with a violent shake of his head. “No. A tenth-level being… that would be a God. A being who could control the very earth we stand on. You are no God!”

“I never said I was?” I shrugged. “In truth, I’m still learning what I’m capable of. Even I don’t know my limits.”

“It doesn’t matter!” he roared, his eyes narrowing on me. “You’re a liar. I’ll just kill you here and now! The lantern will absorb your death energy, and I will know the truth then.”

“That’s the difference between you and me,” I sighed, taking a step forward. “You need a lantern to absorb energy. I just consume it directly.”

“Are you threatening to eat me?” Dr. Mengele demanded.

“Why not? You planned to consume my power. I might as well take yours instead.”

“It’s too late for that. You should have attacked when you had the chance!” he declared.

“Why?” I asked nonchalantly. “Because you bonded with your body? I already figured you wouldn’t refine your own bones into a weapon. That’s a bit morbid. Now, raising your undead body and using it directly to attack? That seems more like it.”

“You knew?” Dr. Mengele seemed surprised.

“Of course, while you were forging a connection with your dead body, I was finishing up a connection of my own.”

“It’s too late for that!” He roared as the massive skeletal beast next to him stirred.

Its eye sockets flared with the same green light as the lantern, and it rose to its feet, a juggernaut of bone and ancient rage. It was filled with power and appeared to be about the same level as Dr. Mengele, a top-tier King. In this world, strength wasn’t merely defined by status. The mightiest cockroach could still be crushed by a human if it wasn’t careful. The additional size of the skeletal beast put it at a level higher than the old man, at least in terms of threat. Even though its evolutionary level was the same, it had a sturdier body and far fewer vulnerabilities. Not to mention, it had those long claws, which were like multiple weapons.

In a way, he hadn’t been lying. He really had turned his skeleton into a weapon. It just happened to be the walking, autonomous kind. However, I wasn’t the slightest bit concerned. Although this would be the hardest battle I had ever faced, I was still confident I could defeat this enemy. This was for one reason.

“It seems you still haven’t realized it,” I explained. “While you were busy taking control of your former body, I was also taking control of something. I have finally succeeded. The mycelium network is now mine to wield.”