Chapter 218: Second Phase — Gem Allen
It was evident from when Cheng Tian assimilated and merged with the gem fragments that the Sun God Gem Fragment was not a harmless innate treasure, but rather a parasitic gem with an inherent ability to erode and assimilate.
Cheng Tian was able to successfully assimilate the fragment that had blown his head off for two reasons.
First, because Cheng Tian had initially learned the Ten Commandments, his frontal lobe had undergone organ mutation, greatly enhancing his resistance to assimilation.
Second, the fragment that blew his head off was small enough, only 5% of the total, so Cheng Tian ultimately took the lead and devoured the gem fragment.
If the amount of fragments at that time had been as much as Allen's, the situation might have been different.
As for Allen, with his high Mental and high Strength attributes, and protected by a high-grade crown, he was able to smoothly control 10% of the gem fragments.
However, the pressure Cheng Tian brought upon him made him choose to abandon the crown as a buffer, directly using his physical body for deep integration. The erosive pressure that had been slowed by the crown as a buffer now fully impacted his physical body.
Of course, at this point, he still hadn't noticed the changes within.
But when Allen conceived the idea of shattering the gem and acted upon it, the gem interfered.
The Sun God Gem Fragments were scattered across different dungeons, but their ultimate goal was undoubtedly singular: to reassemble and become whole. Allen's attempt to further shatter a fragment that was already only 10% of its original size triggered the gem's self-preservation instinct, and it intervened.
It caused Allen's punch, which should have been restrained to merely break the gem without harming himself, to become less restrained. Then, in front of Cheng Tian, he demonstrated what it meant to kill himself.
However, just as Cheng Tian saw a large damage number appear above Allen's head, the gem fragment, which had already been driven into his brain, began to exert its power.
When protected by the skull and with his consciousness still clear, the gem's erosion of Allen would have taken some time. But now, it was in direct contact with the brain, so what would happen needed no further explanation.
"Second Phase!?"
Cheng Skull's flames momentarily turned blue as he saw Allen's panel and physical changes, and he couldn't help but exclaim.
How fresh this sounds!
It's normal for a BOSS to have a second phase, but for a player like you to have a second phase, that's truly abnormal.
The description on Allen's panel regarding "Sun God Gem Fragment Mutation" had conspicuously changed to "Sun God Gem Fragment Host." Much like Cheng Tian's previous transformation by Hellfire, Allen's eyeballs were first melted by the internal high temperature, then his eyes began to glow continuously... Well, in Cheng Tian's opinion, the current Allen somewhat resembled the Sun God Flashlight.
That is, Helios, the Sun God from "God of War 3," who was forcibly torn off by Kratos and could only continue to exist as a flashlight.
When he lifted his head again, the center of his forehead, where a bloody hole should have been, had been replaced by a scorching mark resembling a sun, as if it had been there since birth.
Allen's consciousness had been completely suppressed, replaced by the 10% Sun God Gem taking over.
However, just as Gem Allen raised his head, a metal skull wrapped in Hellfire rapidly enlarged in his vision, and just as it was about to hit his face, a sudden forced target transfer attack struck his chest, sending his heavy and massive body reeling back with an even greater force.
The mandatory target transfer effect attached to the Silver Armor was still active.
"Tsk!"
Cheng Mouren, who played unfairly and gave no invincibility frames for transformations, used the force of the chain's retraction to quickly close in on where the hammer had landed, and the three Hellfire Mounts, in sync with Cheng Tian, immediately followed.
And as he landed, the Hell Chain Hammer, his template weapon, disappeared, replaced by the Type C Homing Missile Launcher, which had previously been unusable.
It's worth noting that Cheng Tian was not equipped with any weapons at this moment. His two swords, now out of their silvered state, were still stuck in the ground, and his weapon slot was empty, allowing him to bypass the usual 6-second weapon swap cooldown and switch guns directly.
When this previously unusable Type C gun fell into Cheng Tian's hands, it was immediately covered in Hellfire. The gun body instantly transformed into a hellish appearance, assembled from elements like chains, skulls, spikes, and bones, and immediately became usable.
Cheng Tian decisively pulled the trigger, and one Hellfire Homing Missile after another, with their warheads replaced by grinning skulls, mercilessly began to barrage Gem Allen.
But Allen, whose body had been taken over by the gem, immediately took countermeasures.
The Sanction Feathers, which could originally only generate one per second, instantly generated over twenty, circling Allen, who was not touching the ground, like a solar halo, then shot towards Cheng Tian like a sword rain.
Some intercepted the Hellfire Homing Missiles, while others targeted Cheng Tian himself.
At this point, the characteristic of Sanction Feathers being difficult to nullify came into play.
Cheng Tian's Hellfire Homing Missiles were almost entirely destroyed, and several puncture marks appeared on his arms and thighs.
It was clear that Gem Allen's Sanction Feathers' single-shot damage had exceeded 18 points, reaching a damage value that the Primordial Shell could not nullify.
Those that hit the Dragon Scale Cuirass were blocked by the dragon scales themselves. His arms and thighs, lacking additional protection, were simply pierced through, though even after being pierced, they still showed flaming bones rather than flesh inside.
Cheng Tian was silent for a moment, then his mouth opened wide, spewing a ball of fire that represented his displeasure. The next moment, a demonic jewel-shaped crystal eye, identical to Amakusa Shiro Tokisada's, appeared on his shoulder.
However, because its pupil's original shape was already hellish enough, it itself didn't change much when covered in Hellfire. Only when Cheng Tian made a gesture of bringing his two index fingers together and then separating them, it directly split into two eyeballs, and then two crystal Hellfire Type C gun barrels suddenly extended from the very center of the pupils.
Three Hellfire Type C guns, six Hellfire machine guns, and continuous flame stone throws were already aimed at the floating Gem Allen, firing with full power!
And Allen, too, began to condense more Sanction Feathers in layers, raining arrows down on the ground!
Both sides entered a mode of intense gun battle, and currently, it seemed that Gem Allen, despite being alone, held the advantage!
This was clearly due to the "difficult to be nullified by other projectiles" effect attached to the Sanction Feathers. They could break through Hellfire bullets while continuing to fly towards Cheng Tian and his group.
However, strangely enough, Cheng Tian, who possessed the same ability, did not choose to expend mana to summon Sanction Feathers, but instead consistently consumed his and his vehicles' ammunition. Some even noticed that Cheng Tian, despite being at a disadvantage in the gunfight... seemed to be smiling.
Gem Allen, who had consistently held the upper hand, firmly suppressing Cheng Tian and his three mounts to the ground, wanted to wave his hand to create more energy feathers again, but found the quantity was incorrect. He intended to condense 100, but only 37 were formed.
And at this moment, he noticed a very fatal thing—
His mana bar was empty.
"My turn!"
It was also at this moment that Cheng Tian's hellish voice came from below, along with three rapidly enlarging hammerheads, also wrapped in Hellfire, within his line of sight!
And this time, Gem Allen, with his mana bar completely empty, was unable to redirect the attack again and suffered a direct hit to the face from the Hell Chain Hammer!