CHAPTER 244: CHAPTER 244: KILLING MOUNTAIN HUNTER, GASTRO‑SAC TRANSMUTER

"Leave the kill to me!" Johnnie called to the two women. He controlled Seven Sword and went all out at Mountain Hunter.

Pft, pft—

Damage numbers flickered, but each hit was still only a bit over a million.

But by now, Mountain Hunter was badly hurt. The chance to trigger Instant Kill should be high.

"You can’t kill me—I’m a subordinate of Lord Pitiless!" Mountain Hunter cried in panic.

Johnnie didn’t waver and kept attacking at full force.

Off in the distance, Jack’s face changed. He wanted to speak up and warn him, but he held back.

If Johnnie offended Lord Pitiless, that might actually be good for Jack.

Buzz!

Seven Sword howled through the air, and the Dark Golden Golem attacked with full force too.

If the golem killed a Domain foe, it would also trigger God-killing power and boost Johnnie’s strength.

Under their combined assault, Mountain Hunter was in a sorry state. He tried to run several times but failed each time.

[Ding, Seven Sword Instant Kill effect triggered. Mountain Hunter slain. EXP +16,000,000]

[Four basic attributes +10,000. God-killing power triggered: attributes permanently +10%]

After more than ten minutes, Johnnie finally triggered Seven Sword’s Instant Kill effect and killed Mountain Hunter. His strength surged again.

Whoosh!

Just then, strong winds rose and dark clouds gathered overhead—it was a heavenly tribulation for becoming a god.

Johnnie was startled and quickly suppressed his power.

With his strength rising again, if he didn’t hold it down, he could draw a tribulation at any time.

Buzz!

At that moment, Mountain Hunter’s Divine Soul flew out. It looked at Johnnie and said coldly, "Boy, you’re dead. Lord Pitiless will never let you go!"

As soon as he finished, the Divine Soul tried to flee.

Johnnie and the others had no way to attack a Divine Soul and couldn’t stop it.

Whoosh!

But then, a powerful wave spread out, and a giant pot dropped over the area.

"What is that?" Mountain Hunter’s Divine Soul panicked, pulled toward the huge pot against his will.

"Demon-Refining Pot!" Johnnie cried. Douglas was still here.

Nalorin Sylvia and Maiev sensed it too and launched attacks toward the depths of the forest at the same time.

Buzz!

The Demon-Refining Pot easily swallowed Mountain Hunter’s Divine Soul, shrank fast, and flew back into the forest.

"Johnnie, a reminder: in the real world, some people are coming after you. We’ll meet again!" Douglas’s voice came, then his aura vanished. He had clearly used the Celestial Mirror to teleport away.

Johnnie frowned. He wasn’t sure what that last line meant.

Forces in the real world targeting him? The first he thought of was the Doe Family.

But Douglas didn’t need to warn him about that.

Even so, Johnnie wasn’t afraid. His power had grown a lot, and with attribute fusion, no faction could threaten him—unless it was a powerful nation.

If they used national power, that would be a war with the Dragon Nation.

"What a pity." he sighed.

Douglas had plenty of treasures: the Celestial Mirror, the Demon-Refining Pot, the Kantorin Seal...

Now he had also gotten a Divine Soul. After refining it, his strength would rise a lot again.

Douglas was already stage10 but hadn’t become a god yet. Clearly he wanted to break through to a higher tier before becoming a god. When that happened, Johnnie definitely wouldn’t be his match.

Johnnie stopped dwelling on it and looked at the loot that dropped from Mountain Hunter’s death.

"So many Spirit Stones?" he blurted. There were over a thousand Spirit Stones of different elements.

There was also an Elemental Heart fragment.

It seemed Elemental Heart fragments didn’t only drop from killing a Slime Domain.

Johnnie already had two fragments, and with one more, he could fuse a complete Elemental Heart.

But what he wanted most wasn’t these. It was the treasure Mountain Hunter used to refine slime mucus and the Magic Core.

Something on the ground that looked like a stomach sac caught his eye.

[Gastro‑sac Transmuter: God‑tier, special item; merges into the body; can swallow items; refines impurities and purifies energy.]

"It’s actually a God‑tier special item!" Nalorin Sylvia came over, saw the Gastro‑sac Transmuter’s details, and looked stunned.

Johnnie was surprised too, but this thing had to merge into the body to work.

In other words, if he wanted to convert slime mucus, he had to eat it.

The scene of Benz trying to swallow slime mucus was still fresh in his mind.

"Maiev, do you want to use it?" he asked.

"No!" Maiev refused without the slightest hesitation.

Johnnie turned to Nalorin Sylvia.

Before he could speak, Nalorin Sylvia backed away with a disgusted look. "Master, I’m your disciple, not a garbage disposal."

Garbage disposal? That name actually fit.

Helpless, Johnnie looked to Benz and Jack, who had edged closer.

"My lord, I’ll eat a Magic Core if you ask, but eat shit? I’d never agree, not even if you killed me!" Benz refused at once, looking a bit queasy.

His last try at swallowing slime mucus had clearly left him traumatized.

"Master, I can try." Jack said through gritted teeth.

"Respect!" Benz gave him a thumbs‑up, full of admiration.

Johnnie frowned and didn’t agree. This was a God‑tier special item. Its effect was surely more than it seemed.

He still couldn’t fully trust Jack; he’d rather use it himself than hand it over.

Right—could the Mechanical Golem use it?

Johnnie thought of this and looked at the Dark Golden Golem beside him.

It was a mechanical body he controlled with his mind, and if the Mechanical Golem improved, he would improve too.

"I can try." Johnnie said.

The Mechanical Golem spoke, its voice flat and emotionless.

Johnnie handed it the Gastro‑sac Transmuter.

The Dark Golden Golem hesitated, then refined it. The stomach sac merged into its body.

"How is it?" Johnnie asked quickly.

The Dark Golden Golem felt it carefully and said, "It can convert and absorb energy. Fifty portions of slime mucus can be turned into one Spirit Stone."

So Mountain Hunter really had been keeping this to himself.

"Try converting some." Johnnie said, taking out a pile of slime mucus.

The people around them couldn’t help but step back.

The Dark Golden Golem’s mechanical gaze showed a bit of disgust too, but it still grabbed a handful of mucus, closed its eyes, and stuffed it into its mouth.

Urgh...

The Dark Golden Golem showed no reaction, but Johnnie started gagging.

"Stop, stop!" he said in pain, quickly motioning for the Dark Golden Golem to stop.

He realized he shared the golem’s senses—when it swallowed the slime mucus, he felt the taste and texture as if he were the one eating it.

"My lord, you can detach your consciousness first and just use it to drive my body to swallow." the Dark Golden Golem reminded him.

"That’s the only way then." Johnnie nodded, pulled his consciousness back, and used the mechanical laws to control the Dark Golden Golem to swallow the slime mucus.

Even without that shared-senses feeling from before, he still felt waves of nausea.

"Benz, you were right. This stuff tastes worse than shit." Johnnie muttered.

Benz sidled up with a sly grin. "My lord, you tried it too?"

"Huh? Get lost!" Johnnie exploded, kicking him flying.

Watching the Dark Golden Golem swallow slime mucus still made him queasy.

If he’d known, he would’ve let a regular Mechanical Golem refine the Gastro‑sac Transmuter instead.

Sensing his thoughts, the Dark Golden Golem spoke up,"My lord, this thing has other uses. Through the stomach sac, I can further purify and absorb Spirit Stone energy, boost elemental law insight, and even absorb Magic Core energy directly."

"It can boost law insight?" Johnnie asked in surprise.

After reaching law insight, pushing it further was extremely hard. Other than your own comprehension, only Elemental Law Stones could help. But self-study was slow, and Elemental Law Stones were rare.

The golem went on, "Yes. But it burns through Spirit Stones. I feel it would take at least tens of thousands of Fire Spirit Stones to raise Fire Element law insight by 1%. And the higher it gets, the more stones it will cost."

Johnnie didn’t mind. He now had a slime nest and could mass-produce slimes. He could get as much slime mucus as he wanted.

This thing really was a divine tool. And when the Dark Golden Golem grew stronger, their stats synced—so he grew stronger too.

"Control the Dark Golden Golem’s body, but don’t merge our minds." Johnnie said. "First push all five elements up to law insight."

He gave the reminder, then stored the Dark Golden Golem inside the Map of Heaven and Earth to keep swallowing and refining slime mucus—out of sight, out of mind.

He didn’t waste Mountain Hunter’s corpse either. Although Mountain Hunter became a god by refining divine essence and his body was weak, with mechanical upgrades it could still be powerful.

Johnnie also moved the body into the Mecha Divine City for rebuilding.

"Jack." He looked at Jack and asked, "Who is the Lord Pitiless that Mountain Hunter mentioned?"

Jack swallowed, fear on his face. "My lord, he’s one of our demon race’s two Core Gods—terrifyingly strong and extremely cruel."

"Core God?" Johnnie was surprised.

With Nalorin Sylvia, Maiev, and the Dark Golden Golem helping to pin an enemy down, and with the Seven Sword Instant Kill effect, he could barely manage to kill a Lesser God.

But against a Core God, he was no match at all.

Jack nodded and went on, "But Master, you don’t have to worry too much. Lord Pitiless cultivates the Unfeeling Way. He has no attachments—he doesn’t care about those closest to him, let alone a mere subordinate."

Johnnie frowned, then said, "What if Mountain Hunter was gathering Spirit Stones for him?"

The Gastro‑sac Transmuter is so powerful that even a Domain Lord would be tempted.

Mountain Hunter might well have been helping that pitiless Domain Lord collect them.

"If that’s true, we’re in trouble." Jack said, looking uneasy. In his heart, though, he hoped the pitiless one would strike Johnnie down so he could break free of control.

He just hoped the man’s anger wouldn’t spill over onto him.

Looks like he had to find a way to contact his father.