Infinite wealth In A New World-Chapter 364: The Unknown
[The Abyssal Auction Hall.]
{Master, You received a high-priority message.}
Sunny’s brow arched slightly as the system notification flickered in his peripheral vision. He read Nioh’s report from the castle, and his initial surprise curdled into a deep, icy frown. The Star Nation hadn’t just collapsed; it had been harvested from the inside.
"Congratulations!!!"
"Huh?!"
Sunny’s attention snapped back to the stage. Jovial—the masked host—was pointing a gloved finger toward a massive Ogre in the front row. The Ogre was on his feet, a repulsive, triumphant grin stretching across his tusks.
"Hahaha!! You won the bid!! 200 billion for the first princess of the Star Nation!! Congratulations!!" Jovial announced, his voice dripping with mock cheer.
"Hahaha! I am so going to enjoy her," the Ogre barked, rubbing his palms together as his lustful gaze raked over Casey’s motionless, silver-haired form.
Sunny didn’t move, but his Spirit energy surged, fanning out like an invisible web across the hall, marking every soul in the room for what was coming.
"Oh... It seems we have been discovered. I am guessing from the very start," Jovial said suddenly. He stepped toward the podium and picked up the Soul Sucker forbidden skill scroll.
"Discovered?" someone muttered, the festive atmosphere dying instantly.
"I thought this auction was secretive... don’t tell me the military forces are already here?"
"Shit! I can’t get caught! Not in the Star Nation with their princess in this state. We’ll be executed!" a human noble yelled, scrambling to his feet.
"Anyway..." Jovial continued, his fingers slowly unrolling the ancient parchment. "Now that we are discovered... there is no need to hide anymore."
He pressed his palm against the scroll. Instantly, the forbidden artifact shattered into fine black dust, the particles swirling around his hand. "Let’s kill this traitor, and rise!!"
He snapped his fingers.
BAM!
An invisible, concussive force slammed into every guest in the room. They dropped to their knees as if struck by a giant’s hammer, clutching their abdomens and screaming.
"What is this?!"
"I feel like I am going to explode!!" a woman shrieked, black blood beginning to leak from her eyes.
Jovial reached up and slowly peeled away the ivory skull mask.
".....?!!"
The crowd expected a man, perhaps a disfigured criminal. Instead, they saw a woman of haunting beauty, her features sharp and regal. It was a face Sunny knew from the archives of his own lineage.
"What the hell?!! Second elder of the Immortal Council... Valerie?!!" Sunny stood upright, his voice tight with shock.
"If my guess is correct, it’s my great-great-great grandson," Valerie said with a cold, elegant smile. She turned her head toward Sunny, her eyes glowing with an unsettling, pale light. "From the moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew you were here to disrupt the auction... your refusal to bid only confirmed it."
She opened her palm, and a slender, silver needle manifested out of thin air, humming with high-frequency energy.
"Ok, God Wolf... or I should call you Sunny. Now that you’ve disrupted my auction, I will have to kill you."
She flicked her wrist. The needle tore through the air with terrifying speed, aiming straight for Sunny’s throat.
"So fast?"
Sunny tilted his head a fraction of an inch. The needle hissed past him, but to his shock, it didn’t hit the wall. It froze in mid-air, defying momentum. Before he could react, the needle shattered into light, and Valerie materialized in its place, her leg already mid-swing in a devastating kick.
BAM!!!!!
Sunny caught the blow with his palm, but the sheer kinetic force sent him skidding backward, shattering several rows of ornate chairs before he stabilized twenty meters away. He looked down at his smoking palm.
’My gosh, what happened to the elders while I was away? How did they become such monsters?’
"What happened to you?!!" Sunny demanded.
"I saw the light, and the light gave me strength," Valerie replied cryptically. Suddenly, her body shattered into thousands of silver needles, a metallic cloud that filled the room.
"You’ve got to be kidding me!!"
WHOOSH!!!!
The swarm of needles shrieked toward him. Sunny slammed his hands down, raising a massive earth defense. The needles struck the stone like armor-piercing rounds, recoiling and reforming back into Valerie’s physical shape.
"What type of skill is that? I am sure it’s not that forbidden skill you got from the scroll," Sunny said, dispelling his earthen shield.
"Fascinating," Valerie whispered, tilting her head. She raised her hand one last time. "Ok... I am off. Deal with them."
SNAP!!
The sound of her fingers echoed through the hall like a death knell.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The "Miracle Drugs" inside the guests finally reached their terminal state. Their bones snapped and reformed; fur, scales, and shadows erupted from their skin. Within seconds, the hall was no longer filled with nobles, but with a sea of mindless, ravenous monsters.
"We will see each other again, Great-grandson," Valerie said, shattering back into needles and flowing into the ventilation ducts like a silver stream.
"I don’t think so." Sunny snapped his fingers, and in a flash of spatial magic, both Alex and Casey vanished from the room, sent to a safe zone.
"Soul Slash!!"
__
[The Streets of the Capital.]
Valerie reformed high above the city, walking along the edge of a rooftop with a serene expression. Below her, the capital was teeming with civilians unaware of the horror unfolding beneath them.
"By now, Leonardo should have the weapon? I should go and check—"
BOOOOOM!!!!
The ground several blocks behind her erupted. Sunny ascended into the air, his silhouette framed by the sun, his gaze burning with cold fury.
"...?!!"
The citizens froze, staring in horror at the massive crater and the flying man.
"I knew you would be a headache," Valerie sighed. She shattered into a swarm of needles and dived into the crowd, plunging into the necks of every civilian she passed.
"This?" Sunny’s eyes widened.
"GRAAA!!"
The struck civilians began vomiting black ichor, their eyes turning a bruised, demonic red. They dropped to their knees, blood leaking from their ears as their humanity was forcibly overwritten. The surrounding people watched in paralyzed terror as their neighbors turned.
"GRAAAAA!!!" The infected lunged.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!"
"No!!"
BAM!!
Sunny watched as an infected woman tackled a man, tearing a chunk of flesh from his shoulder.
"Are they zombies?" He muttered, his mind racing:
’I don’t have a purifying skill or anything useful for a mass infection.’ He looked at the chaos, then toward the distant castle where his subordinates were fighting for their lives.
’I will have to kill these people to stop the spread, and then find a way to move her out of the city...’
He raised his hands. "Abyssal Chains!!"
BOOOOOM!!!
Jet-black chains erupted from the pavement, lashing out and binding the infected. In seconds, the chains pulsed, draining the life force of the monsters. They slumped over, dead instantly.
Valerie reformed from the needles, a smirk on her face. "You’re more ruthless than ever... those were dozens of innocent people you just killed. Nearly a hundred." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"A small sacrifice," Sunny replied. Then, he vanished.
’Impressive!’ Valerie thought, her senses searching the air. ’He’s masked his energy signature and scent completely.’
"I am right here!!"
Sunny’s hand clamped onto her arm like a vice. Before she could transition into her needle form, the space around them buckled. They vanished from the city, leaving the carnage behind.
___
[Thousands of Miles Away — The Barren Wastelands.]
BOOOOOM!!!
Valerie slammed into the dirt, tumbling across the rocky plains before skidding to a halt, while Sunny stepped out of a spatial rift, his aura flaring.
"What rank are you on?! What are you?!" he demanded. With his Seventh-Order strength, he should have dominated her, but she moved with a power that transcended the standard rankings. He felt the same primal chill he had felt against the Child of Destruction.
"You really want to know who I am?" Valerie stood up. Half the skin on her face had been shredded by the impact, revealing raw muscle beneath.
Sunny watched in silence as the skin knit itself back together in seconds, leaving her face flawless once more.
"Tell me! Who are you!!" Sunny yelled. His body began to shift. Thick, golden fur sprouted across his skin; his face elongated into that of a Great Ape, and a legendary staff manifested in his hand. He had stepped into the form of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King.
"Truly fascinating," Valerie whispered, licking her lips. She launched herself at him, shattering into her needle storm.
Sunny’s eyes narrowed. He spun his staff with blinding speed, creating a localized tornado. The vacuum caught the needles, trapping them in a crushing whirlwind.
"You bastard!!!"
Valerie forced her needles to reform mid-air, leaping out of the vortex and landing a distance away.
BAM!!
Sunny slammed the staff into the ground, the impact cracking the earth. "Do you think there isn’t a counter to your skill?!! Try it again!"
"Hmph!" Valerie scoffed, brushing dust from her shoulder.
"I’ve seen enough. It seems you’re immune to Soul Attacks. Not only that..." She pointed a finger at him. "You have two powers inside you protecting you from my influence. Fighting you is a waste of time."
’Two powers? The System is one... but what is the second?’ Sunny wondered.
"I will have to go now... but at least I can cause some destruction to this world before I leave," Valerie said, closing her eyes to channel a massive spell.
"I don’t think so!!! FIVE GREAT WORLDS!!!"
Sunny roared as five massive, circular rifts in space opened behind him. Each one crackled with the energy of a different primordial realm. They aligned, focusing their power into a single, blinding beam of destruction aimed directly at Valerie.
"This?"
BOOOOOM!!!!!
