Life Is Just So

Ye Xing stared out at the empty wasteland before him.

After he had determined the new, much shorter, search path to follow, he had immediately set off to implement it.

Originally, he had been expecting to need to determine which of the dungeons were missing, and then calculate a pattern according to where the losses were spreading to find the possible target destroying the dungeons. Although that would've taken some time, it would still be less time than the original plan.

Instead, not even a day after Ye Xing had begun his new plan, he sensed a weird dungeon from one of the dungeons on Pluto.

Weird, as in, there were no monsters inside it.

Obviously, he had to investigate this.

Now, on Earth, the dungeons were all merely one type of dungeon, with several sub-species under that type. That is, the one type of dungeon Earth had were the permanent, stable, static type. The dungeons of Earth didn't grow stronger, they weren't unstable enough that a strong enough shock could collapse them, and they were self-replicating the original monsters inside of them.

In contrast to the lively planet, the dungeons everywhere else composed of two types. The second type of dungeon was not permanent, they were not stable, and they were not static. This type was the one with a deity-based BOSS as the central node holding up the entire pocket space. The creatures within, including the BOSS, could grow stronger, the dungeon didn't spawn any more creatures to replenish itself, and the dungeon was unstable enough that killing the BOSS inside it would be enough to cause it to fall apart completely.

So, when Ye Xing had sensed the energy signature and discovered this dungeon to be of the second type, it was obvious that there was a problem with it.

No BOSS, no dungeon. That was what should have been, but this one was clearly still stable.

For Ye Xing, this just meant it was highly possible that the godling that was originally here was the prey he had been hunting an entire week for. So now, all he had to do was...

Obliterate this place!

Once that happened, according to his short experiments beforehand, the godling would have to rush back to the spatial coordinates of the dungeon and reconstruct its home or gradually lose all of its strength and then die. What a very convenient solution for Ye Xing.

And, concentrating a fraction of his spiritual energy and Intent into his fist, he punched with his body and his mind at the weakest point of the dungeon.

As his fist surged forward, a cyclone of Power spiraled around and along the trajectory of his fist, disintegrating all forms of matter in the way. The air in the entire dungeon shifted and screamed, the ground completely shattered into rubble and dust, and space itself twisted from the blow!

Amidst all the devastation, the core of the dungeon, hidden in yet another pocket space at the center, was struck by the Power that penetrated its barrier. Weakened already from the majority of its territory being destroyed, the attack had instantly broken through its shell. With an eye-searing rainbow of explosions simultaneously bursting out, covering the entire dungeon and collapsing the pocket space wherever it touched, Ye Xing's casual punch finally ended there, no longer holding any more energy to go further.

Random Pluto dungeon, destroyed.

Moving out of the collapsing pocket space, Ye Xing spread out his senses like a net, waiting for his prey to step into the trap it had no choice but to jump into.

Of course, he didn't just float around and did nothing while waiting. No, Ye Xing wanted to greet his enemies with a warm, enthusiastic welcome!

Utilizing the time it would take for whatever he was waiting for to return to the area, Ye Xing placed tens of thousands of hidden traps around the determined battlegrounds. Lethal traps that targeted single targets were surrounded by fatal traps built to cripple and kill large numbers of enemies in a large radius around the trap itself. Traps to cut off escape routes, traps to block any attempt to counterattack, traps to disrupt and disable unpermitted magical and spiritual energies, traps, traps, and more traps hid in the local space of the newly formed kill zone.

Not just the traps were prepared, though. Ye Xing had even transfigured and enchanted plenty of automated turrets capable of quickly and continuously firing divine tier attacks with extreme range, and large enough fuel stores to last ten minutes of unending consecutive shooting before the need to recharge and reload kicked in.

Combined with the temporary formation array he had set up to contain his prey before they could run away, using Pluto's core to power it, there was very little chance of Ye Xing failing to catch the little pest making so much trouble for him. The additional properties of draining energy from those caught in it and amplifying his own strength merely ensured there was no chance of failure.

Yes...

Ye Xing was going to enjoy this upcoming [Slaughter]. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours pass in foreboding silence.

Ye Xing, in a rare moment of peace and patience, did nothing during this time other than quietly meditate and rest his mind.

Today was going to be his first real battle in his entire life. He didn't know the enemy's strength. He didn't know the limits of his own strength, either.

This was a turning point in his life.

So, he reminisced of the past. He meditated on how he lived his life until now. His relatively bland years of childhood, his new experiences in this life, his changes upon seizing true power, and his true self without any chains shackling his mind and body.

Looking at his actions and the consequent results, Ye Xing found... he didn't dislike it. Power gave him the opportunity to act as he pleased without worrying about any sort of possible reprisal.

Power freed him.

Power supported him.

The actions he took, the behavior he displayed, the mentality he now had was a result of his true self unhindered by any societal expectations, brainwashing, or propaganda corrupting him and changing his ideals and ideas. Why would he hate how he was behaving when this was what he would've normally done without any foreign influences beyond the norm?

In the end, Ye Xing couldn't bring himself to care about anyone but himself.

Selfish.

Lazy.

Apathetic.

He was human. He acknowledged that. He embraced that. He sneered at those who wore masks and lied to fit in and make themselves feel better. He despised those who could not accept their humanity and broke themselves acting like something they were not.

Hm.

. . .

Ye Xing found something odd as he meditated, but he didn't have the time to go through his memories more deeply.

After all...

His prey had finally arrived. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Opening his eyes, Ye Xing focused on the enormous motley of undead creatures chaotically tumbling through space toward his position at the edge of his senses.

He exhaled.

The world opened to him and everything within his senses suddenly felt more real in that instant. His internal energies vibrated with his rising excitement, freely circulating through his form.

As his crimson eyes shone with a divine light, his soul, mind, and flesh resonated with a certain frequency, temporarily amplifying his strength further and fusing his various energies together.

Ye Xing continued his preparations for the coming battle, even as he sensed the individuals with the highest power levels in the opposing army.

Only one could give him something of a challenge. He wouldn't need to synchronize with his Summons for this duel.

He set the rest of the undead as targets for the turrets and traps. Readying a quick spatial technique to bring the strongest foe to a disadvantageous position for him to toy and torture, a predatory glint passed his eyes as he watched the army begin entering the kill zone without a hint of noticing its presence, whatsoever.

Inhale.

Reality sharpens.

The first of the cannon fodder reaches the outermost line of traps and the furthest range of the turrets. The last of the undead enter the kill zone. The crowned skeleton on its throne jolts its skull in surprise. The inverted defense array activates and begins to contract. The first trap explodes, devouring three thousand monsters. The forward turrets fire once, obliterating ten thousand. The crowned one abruptly jumps from its seat to a stand, raising a staff to cast a spell yet disappearing with a sudden crack and reappearing far in front of its slaves.

Surging power from his body flooded the area with a pressure beyond mortal comprehension, instantly suppressing the flagging divine aura of the prey in front of him.

He widely smiled, with his teeth and killing intent on full display, at the injured lich appearing a mere hundred meters in front of him, accompanied by a crack and many artifacts shattering into dust and debris.

Like a Devil scrutinizing a particularly sumptuous defenseless soul, he gazed upon the thing and decided to introduce himself.

Twisting his internal energy into a peculiar pattern, and integrating his Intent to induce crippling Pain into the energy, he swung his sword and cut one thousand times in an instant along with a message telepathically sent through the meager mental barriers in his way.

"Hello, there. Please, die."