Chapter 561: Shadowless horse

Chapter 561: Shadowless horse



The air fell eerily silent.

Unlucky? Yeah, that was one way to put it.

Mike had barely stepped into the Void Maelstrom, and now he was surrounded by a horde of powerful enemies.

Fight them head-on?

Not a chance. That option wasn't even on Mike's list.

The reason was simple: Mike hated direct confrontations.

If he could take someone out with a sneaky one-shot, he'd do it without hesitation. If he couldn't? Then he'd wait until he could.

And honestly, if it came down to a real fight, neither he nor Maxen stood a chance.

There were three enemies here who were over level 1000. Three!

Sure, Maxen was strong-unstoppable against anyone below level 999. But against level 1000 enemies? Not so much.

And if Maxen got too carried away in the fight, broke his chains, and ascended? Well, that'd be a whole other problem.

Mike scanned the area and noticed something interesting.

The enemies surrounding them came from all sorts of races: dragons, werewolves, elves... even Chaos beings.

But there were no signs of the blood clan or the angels.

Based on the intel Mike had gathered earlier, could the Void Maelstrom actually be the ruins of a previous world?

Were these beings survivors of a past Apocalypse?

After all, this was the place where the Tower of Truth had emerged. The theory wasn't entirely far-fetched.

[Congratulations, you got it right!]

The Eye of Truth always seemed to shine in the most useless situations.

After its fourth awakening, the Eye of Truth had gained a new ability: [Immunity Mode].

The effect of Immunity Mode was simple: during combat, Mike could designate one enemy skill to be "immune." He could then use that skill himself, without any cost, until the combat ended.

Mike liked to call it the "Freebie Mode."

Steal it! Everything could be stolen!

And the best part? Immunity Mode's stolen skills didn't conflict with Replication Mode.

Plus, the skills stolen through Immunity Mode had zero cost to use.

It was perfect for someone like Mike.

Finally, after its fourth awakening, the Eye of Truth was starting to show its true potential.

As the enemies surrounded them, the situation fell into a strange stalemate.

A gray wolf stepped forward. A terrifying scar ran across its face, and its voice was hoarse. "Are you the new Wolf Alpha?"

Clearly, this wolf had once been a Wolf Alpha himself and could sense the aura emanating from Maxen.

"Yes," Maxen admitted without hesitation. Then, testing the waters, he asked, "Wolf Alpha doesn't fight Wolf Alpha, right?"

One less enemy would definitely be a good thing.

"Heh heh heh-"

The gray wolf chuckled, its green eyes gleaming. It raised its right paw and pointed to the scar on its face.

"This scar? Ares gave it to me."

The wolf's laughter was low and menacing. The scar on its skull had nearly killed it.

Maxen, with a proud tone, replied, "He's my Second Godfather."

"Second Godfather?"

The gray wolf froze, caught off guard. After a long pause, it finally asked, "Did they... adopt you?"

Something about that question felt off. But at the same time, it kind of made sense.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Mike couldn't help but interrupt the wolf's wild imagination.

This conversation was getting way too ridiculous. No more unnecessary tangents!

Mike explained on Maxen's behalf, "Ares is just one of his many godfathers."

Many godfathers?

The more Mike explained, the more absurd it sounded.

The powerful beings who had lived through two eras were truly witnessing something extraordinary today.

A massive dragon exhaled a plume of dragonfire and asked curiously, "You, human. I can sense the aura of a dragon on you. What's your connection to the new potential Supreme Being of the dragon race?"

"None whatsoever," Mike replied earnestly. "I do have a good relationship with a golden snake, though. It's also a potential Supreme Being. Is that who you're talking about?"

"A snake?"

The dragon let out a deep, rumbling laugh.

"My noble and sacred dragon race has nothing to do with snakes."

Clearly, the dragon thought it must have been mistaken.

"Our prince is here..."

A Chaos being spoke up, its gaze fixed on Mike.

"Hand over our prince, and I won't participate in this hunt."

It seemed the Chaos race was a tight-knit, loyal group. Judging by the tone, though, they were

probably planning to kill their prince.

Mike admitted honestly, "Sorry, I have no idea where he is."

"Then I'll just have to kill you..."

The Chaos being also let out a low, sinister laugh.

Enough! What was with all these "heh heh heh" laughs? Did they all take villain lessons or

something?

The powerful beings stepped forward, tightening the circle around Mike and Maxen.

They were clearly just stalling for time with all this talking.

Ever since Ares had left the Void Maelstrom over a century ago, these beings had been lying in

wait.

For them, a hundred years of ambush had dulled their vigilance.

So when Thor appeared, their first instinct was to patch up any gaps in their defenses.

In other words, Thor had wasted his one chance to escape by stopping to chat.

"Relax," Mike said confidently, completely unfazed by the situation. "I've planned for this."

Maxen's eyes lit up.

"Are we about to counterattack?"

Right now, it was just the two of them.

If Thor had some secret trump card that could get them out of this mess, Maxen was eager to

see it.

If they could escape unscathed, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

And when it came to creating miracles, Thor had always been a natural.

Even their enemies were holding their breath, not daring to let their guard down.

Despite their overwhelming advantage in strength, numbers, and positioning, they chose to

defend rather than attack.

They had seen firsthand how terrifying a human potential Supreme Being could be.

Morpheus, Ares—these names had already cemented the reputation of human potential Supreme Beings as "invincible."

That stereotype had now been projected onto Thor.

It was precisely because of this that so many powerful beings had set aside their pride to

gather here and ambush him.

Anything worthy of being called a trump card by a potential Supreme Being had to be

terrifying.

Even if Thor killed them all today, they wouldn't be surprised.

Of course, the one person who knew Thor best was Maxen.

And Maxen knew one thing for sure:

What now?!

Taking full advantage of his speed, Maxen returned once more, grabbed the golden tree lying

on the ground, and fled the scene again.

For a few seconds, the powerful beings stood there in stunned silence.

Then chaos erupted.

"Chase them!"

"Kill them and restore our honor!"

"That tree-there's something special about that tree! It might contain a source!"

To the powerful beings, the golden tree looked completely ordinary.

But Maxen and Thor's actions suggested otherwise.

If they were willing to risk their lives for it, the tree had to be extraordinary. Clearly, it held some kind of secret that their limited understanding couldn't grasp. And so, their determination to hunt down Thor and Maxen reached new heights.

In a remote corner of the Void Maelstrom, a golden light flashed, and a majestic horse landed

on the ground.

After running at full speed for ten minutes, Maxen finally couldn't keep going.

He dropped the shadow and the golden tree, transformed back into his human form, and

gasped for air.

Mike, who had narrowly escaped death, let out a long sigh of relief.

That was close, but they made it.

With a 105% survival rate, Mike had never doubted his ability to stay alive.

But surviving didn't mean he was immune to suffering.

If he'd fallen into the hands of those enemies, he would've been in for a world of pain.

As soon as they had a moment to breathe, Mike asked, "How often can you transform?"

Maxen: ???

That's too much! You're planning to make this a regular thing?!

Transform? My ass!

Maxen, using his brilliant mind, threw out a random number:

"About thirty years, give or take." That number was obviously nonsense.

Mike knew full well that Maxen wouldn't transform unless it was absolutely necessary.

But when push came to shove, Maxen would do it without hesitation-even if Mike didn't

ask.

The only reason he hadn't done it earlier was that he'd forgotten he could.

"We have to make it back alive," Mike said, his tone serious. "I've got 15.67 million Lord

merits stashed with Apollo..."

Thor's words nearly gave Maxen a heart attack.

How much?!

15.67 million?!

Maxen could practically see the money waving at him.

"Uh... just out of curiosity..." Maxen rubbed his hands together awkwardly. "If you never go

back... what happens to that money?" Mike glanced at Maxen, let out a cold chuckle, and didn't answer. According to Mike's plan, about 80% of that money would go to Maxen.

Not because Mike was particularly fond of him, but because it was the most practical option.

For one, Maxen wouldn't have to pay inheritance taxes.

As a human Supreme Son, Maxen had certain privileges. It was only fair.

For another, Maxen would distribute the money to Morpheus, Ares, Apollo, Guardian

Shadow...

By the time Mike finished dividing it up, Maxen would probably only get 0.1%.

Maxen estimated he'd get at least 2%.

Shaking off the thought, Maxen asked, "What's the plan now?" Coming to the Void Maelstrom had been Thor's idea. But as for what they were supposed to do here, Maxen was completely in the dark.

"Let me check the map," Mike said, pulling out a blank sheet of paper. Maxen: ???

You call that a map?

Mike began scribbling on the paper.

During Maxen's ten-minute sprint, Mike hadn't been idle. Using the Eye of Truth, he'd

recorded all the landmarks along the way.

Looking at the densely packed markings and symbols on the paper, Maxen asked, "Is this map accurate?"

Mike replied confidently, "Absolutely."

Half an hour later, as he stared at the finished map, Maxen fell into deep thought.

Even Mike couldn't help but marvel.

"In ten minutes, you ran across three Abyss zones. You're incredible..."

The map now had several key points marked:

- A. Ace and the Chaos Prince's location

- B. A hidden fragment of an ancient source

- C. The ruins of a certain race

- D....

Mike had come to the Void Maelstrom to grow stronger.

And there were only so many ways to do that: resources, sources, void fragments, Heavenly

Realm materials...

His primary goal was to collect source fragments to feed the Greed Source.

When it came to source laws, quality always trumped quantity.

And the Greed Source was practically tailor-made for Mike.

Aside from that, he had two smaller goals:

1. Collect Heavenly Realm materials to prepare for building Thor's Tower.

2. Repair *Nightmare's Breeze*.

The battle-damaged version of *Nightmare's Breeze* was practically useless to Mike at this

point.

Even Cerberus wasn't as strong as Vladimir.

If Mike wanted to restore the glory of this SSS-tier equipment, he'd have to put in some

effort.

He'd already exhausted all the materials available in the Abyss, and the repair progress had

stalled.

The Void Maelstrom was his last hope.

If he could accomplish all three tasks, it would be perfect.

"Within two months, I need to reach the level of a quasi-Supreme Being..."

Mike set himself a modest goal.

"At the very least, I need to be 1.1 Maxens strong."

Maxen: ???

I'm planning to make you my godfather, and you're using me as a unit of measurement?

"Fine."

Having accepted his fate, Maxen didn't bother resisting. Pointing at the map, he asked, "Are

we rescuing Little Calderon (Ace) first?" "Why would we do that?" Mike asked, genuinely confused.

Ace had come to the Void Maelstrom to grow stronger.

For him, life-and-death situations were the fastest way to break through.

Why interfere?

Mike pointed to a relatively safe resource point guarded by a mere level 992 being. "Let's go warm up first."

With that, the two of them set off, their figures disappearing into the void.