I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 667: Adversity!

The female Absolute gazed upon Lamashtu with eyes shining with devotion, her obsidian garments rustling as she floated closer to his magnificent presence.

"Master, I am grateful beyond words to have come under your service. When your glorious time arrives, when you reclaim THE Second Scale and ascend beyond, myself and all others will wait patiently for our blessings. We know you will elevate us as you always have."

Lamashtu smiled brilliantly at this. Such loyalty was only natural when one served someone as grand as himself. These Absolutes understood their place in the hierarchy, understood that their advancement depended entirely upon his success. It was a beautiful arrangement, really.

An instant later...

AAAAAAH!

A horrid screech echoed through The Existential Lattice, the sound tearing through crystalline channels and corrupted biological walls alike. The surroundings of this region cracked from the vibrations alone, purple obsidian structures fracturing as something approached from the depths.

Lamashtu frowned and looked far ahead into the darkness beyond their harvesting zone.

His Absolutes circled closer to him immediately, their positioning shifting from relaxed observation to protective formation without needing to be commanded. They knew their duty when potential threats emerged.

The female Absolute’s voice came out slightly shocked, trembling in ways that annoyed him slightly. "What... is that? It feels suffocating, endlessly suffocating!"

She wasn’t wrong to be concerned. The pressure washing over them approached something familiar, something that made even his burning eyes narrow with serious consideration.

"The Existential Lattice produces many things."

His voice remained calm despite the approaching threat.

"Of all the corrupted weavings of existence that arise within this construct, they are attracted to the strongest pure weavings of existence. The two beacons I set will divert much of this attention, but most will still come to me. I am, after all, the most powerful presence within this Observable Existence."

The screeching grew louder, closer.

"That endless oppression you feel should be one of the trickier things emerging from a place like this. Something horridly mutated, approaching THE Second Scale in raw power if not in comprehension. And that specific quality of suffocation you sense..."

He paused, processing what his perception was telling him.

"We have been unlucky enough that this mutation has picked up on weavings of endless potential. Or really, Infinity. Anything below THE Second Scale that picks up Infinity will be in the state of..."

ROAAR!

Space shattered ahead of them, crystalline structures exploding outward as something crashed through the barriers separating regions of The Existential Lattice. It shone with murky obsidian-blue radiance, its presence distorting reality simply by existing within it.

Lamashtu sighed solemnly.

"THE Gamaidjan. We have been unlucky enough to come across a thing corrupted with the madness of Infinity."

AAAA!

The monstrous thing screamed again as it fully emerged into their harvesting zone.

Its body was that of a massive horse, muscles rippling beneath obsidian-gold hide that pulsed with authority approaching his own. But from where a horse’s neck should have been, a human chest and head rose with proportions that seemed almost deliberately perfect. Rivers of murky undifferentiation flowed around its form alongside waves of blue light.

Its chest was muscular and defined, sculpted like something from ancient statuary rather than corrupted mutation. Its face was handsome in ways that seemed designed to inspire reverence, features so perfectly symmetrical that they crossed into the uncanny. And that face was currently smiling brilliantly, expression holding superiority and imperious confidence that recognized no equals.

Its pupils were gone entirely. Only endless crystalline blue eyes remained, shining with light that spoke of Infinity perceived without anchors, without companions, without anything to remind it that other existences mattered. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

It looked arrogant. Accomplished. Grand.

And it looked at Lamashtu alone as if only he was worthy enough for a fight here. The Absolutes surrounding him might as well have been insects for all the attention this thing granted them.

Lamashtu looked at this corruption of Infinity and sighed internally. THE Gamaidjan in its purest form, a being that had touched endless potential and lost itself entirely to the belief that nothing else compared. Under different circumstances, he might have found the situation amusing.

"Alright!"

His voice boomed across the shattered space, commanding the attention of his forces.

"With danger is opportunity! If we can kill something like this with no casualty, its meat is very conducive to fortifying your Civilizations! The one who deals the killing blow will receive first choice of the harvested materials!"

...!

OOH!

His forces bellowed out in response, their existences beginning to burn brilliantly as they prepared for combat against something that approached their Master’s level. Absolutes who had served him readied their Civilizations for what would clearly be a difficult battle!

He did not tell them that some of them would likely die here.

But that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

The creature corrupted with THE Gamaidjan reared back on its horse-like body, muscular human chest expanding as it drew breath for words that echoed with absolute conviction.

"In this domain, I alone am exemplary!"

Its crystalline blue eyes blazed brighter as it beat its chest with fists that cracked the air itself. The smile on its handsome face never wavered, supreme confidence radiating from features that recognized no possibility of defeat.

BOOM!

An obsidian-blue sea erupted behind it instantly, waves of corrupted Infinity surging upward and outward with hunger that sought to consume everything in its path. The sea crashed toward Lamashtu and his forces with speed defying measurement, murky undifferentiation mixing with blue radiance in patterns that would unmake anything they touched.

Several Absolutes flinched backward at the approaching destruction.

Lamashtu looked ahead coldly, his burning eyes showing no fear despite the power rushing toward him. His chained hands rose with motion that held ancient familiarity, authority he had wielded since before his imprisonment awakening within his core.

"My Existence is unbound."

His voice pressed against reality itself.

"My Existence is unshakable."

The chains on his wrists clinked together as power gathered.

"My Existence is immovable!"

HUUM!

A solid wall of obsidian-gold existence erupted before him to meet the surging sea, his Civilization of Unbound Existence manifesting in defensive form that held nothing back. The two forces collided with impact that shattered crystalline structures for miles around, corrupted Infinity crashing against authority that had once touched THE Second Scale!