My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS-Chapter 69 - 058: Twins

The lights went out completely at this moment, and the entire Roppongi EX Theater was swallowed by the beast named "darkness," leaving only a faint candle flickering on the stage, casting the eerie shadow of the Spider Demon dancing on the wall.

"It’s really like the underworld..." Ji Minghuan thought.

He stood in the audience aisle leading to the stage, with seats on both sides.

The Queen’s Statue guarded his side, its pupils burning with a cold flame flickering.

He was on alert for any movement in the vast theater. Clearly, the shadows on the wall were swaying, yet he couldn’t find the spider’s limbs in the darkness, only hearing a rustling sound.

At this moment, Ji Minghuan unleashed the Celestial Driver from within himself, forming a black and white ring road around him.

He raised his hand to touch the rotating chess species, directly summoning all the remaining chess species — three soldier statues, one cannon carriage statue, and one king statue.

The reason for the extra two Soldier Statues was that Ji Minghuan developed the "Recruit Soldiers" skill in the skill tree, gaining two new soldier chess pieces.

The Black Iron Soldiers raised their greatswords and half-knelt beside him; the Cannon Carriage statue clattered as it filled with shells, the sound of clicking coming from the cannon; the King Statue stood still like a cripple, holding a scepter high.

As the Celestial Driver expanded, a "overhead perspective" appeared in Ji Minghuan’s mind — he seemed to stand on the ceiling, overlooking the center area of the EX Theater.

Just like a chess player observing the movements on the chessboard.

This perspective’s observation range is a circle with a radius of thirty meters centered on himself, and Ji Minghuan’s chess species are only allowed to act within this circle, which means this circle is equivalent to a "chessboard" — the chess player can always observe the overview of the board but can only manipulate his pieces on it.

Once beyond the board’s range, the chess species will automatically return to the black and white ring road beside him.

The only species that can transcend this rule is the "Queen Statue."

Ji Minghuan had already personally experimented earlier, and the results were consistent with Xia Pingzhou’s memory: the Queen can continue acting even outside the "board" range, thus being able to clear the theater’s surveillance one by one.

As the "King Statue" appeared in the audience aisle, a black and white light rose from its scepter, transforming into an invisible barrier that enveloped Ji Minghuan’s body.

This is the special authority of the King Statue: as long as it remains on the "board" and isn’t destroyed, the chess player won’t suffer any level of damage.

With the King’s statue protection, Ji Minghuan could naturally use the "board perspective" to perceive the whole situation without any worries.

In a blur of darkness, his eyes’ vision became more of a burden. So he simply closed his eyelids, relying on the "board perspective" in his mind to perceive the changes in the theater.

Like wearing night vision goggles, he could clearly see every detail in the darkness, the Spider Demon’s body sometimes sliding across the ceiling, sometimes crawling on the northwest seats... Her whereabouts were uncertain, like a phantom wandering everywhere, unsure which direction she would attack from.

The hoarse singing voice still floated and echoed in the theater, "Though the butterflies are divided into two, the heart is one." She sang a classic line from the kabuki "Diary of the Twin Butterflies in the Whirlpool," telling of a tragic love between twin sisters.

The sound of her bones creaking each time she twisted her body also mixed with the song: clatter, clatter...

Ji Minghuan remained unmoved.

He silently contemplated a countermeasure; after each nihilization of the Queen Statue, about 10 seconds of buffering time was needed.

Letting the Queen use "nihilization" to protect the King Statue was naturally an option.

But this was akin to cutting off an arm, because the Queen was the strongest force among the four basic chess species. A chess player cannot only focus on defense; sometimes offense is the best defense.

In the next moment, the board perspective suddenly captured the image of the Spider Demon.

She hung upside down using a thread from the ceiling above Ji Minghuan’s head, attacking, her form descending like a deformed mountain towards Ji Minghuan’s head.

"Cannon carriage."

Seizing this instant, the Black Iron Cannon Carriage slightly twisted its cannon tube, aiming at the sky above Ji Minghuan.

"Boom—!" A loud roar echoed as the dark shell shot out from the tube, instantly hitting the demon mid-air. Firelight burst like fireworks.

The Demon Spider shrieked, her hoarse low humming replaced by ear-piercing high-decibel screams.

Flowing like liquid flame over her dense fur, gradually climbing her entire body, each of her limbs twisted with crackling sounds, producing annoying "firecracker sounds."

At this moment, the distance between the Demon Spider and Ji Minghuan was no more than one meter.

The explosion occurred in such a dangerous position; logically, Ji Minghuan should’ve been caught in it— at best burnt completely. Yet his body under the King’s protection, reinforced by the black and white barrier, remained unharmed.

Riding the success, Ji Minghuan drove the Queen Statue to leap from the audience seats in pursuit of the ceiling.

She spun gracefully like a dancing swan, using momentum, with both daggers in hand creating a clear arc, forming a sharp crescent moon.

"Sss—" unexpectedly, the Demon Spider in mid-air opened her mouth, spewing out a huge amount of web threads, instantly encasing her own body into a cocoon.

This act not only extinguished the flames on her but also resisted the pursuit of the Queen Statue— the Queen’s daggers merely carved grooves on the cocoon, the sticky web cushioning much impact, like a round swamp, the more force applied, the deeper it sucked.

"Don’t attack the cocoon; cut the thread hanging her," Ji Minghuan observed and ordered from the overall view.

Then the Queen, before gravity pulled her to the audience, flicked the short dagger in her right hand back-handed.

Carrying a chilling wind, the dagger’s tip sliced through the air, cutting the thread suspending the large cocoon.

Tremendous cries echoed through the theater, as the spider cocoon spun and fell from the air.

Below it, three Black Iron Soldiers were already set in formation.

The Soldier Statues raised their huge swords, their blades aimed at the descending cocoon, like ancient soldiers poised to stab a lone enemy with spears, bound to pierce the demon within the cocoon through.

However... just when Ji Minghuan thought he had secured victory, a grotesque giant appeared in the board perspective.

He startled and opened his eyes to look up—only to see a monster identical in appearance to the Spider Demon crawling on the ceiling, but with a man’s face embedded instead of a woman’s, their features equally twisted and grim, like devils just dredged up from Hell’s Sulfur Spring.

"Spider Demon... more than one?" Watching this scene, Ji Minghuan murmured.

It was then he suddenly recalled the singing line the Spider Demon chanted: "Though butterflies are divided into two, the heart is one..." revealing that the lyrics hinted at a pair of twin demons dwelling within the theater.

At this moment, the Queen had just descended from mid-air, soldiers encircling the descending spider cocoon, and the cannon carriage’s second round of shells was yet to be loaded.

Thus, the King’s Statue found itself isolated, vulnerable.

Another Spider Demon silently descended from the dark, rotating the claws on her eight feet, both howling and diving towards the King.