Chapter 464: Uchiha Madara: I Just Love Defense
"No wonder Uchiha Nawaki's [Wood-Style Susanoo] is several times stronger than mine."
Uchiha Madara quickly digested the shock brought by the embedded pearl.
Even the weakest Earth Wall technique, if socketed with enough pearls, might rival Susanoo in strength.
Madara's lips curled into a smile—but it was a bitter one.
The more he saw,
The more he realized just how terrifying and powerful the Samsara Game was. It was as if some invisible hand effortlessly crushed his pride and confidence.
Madara asked, "Uchi—Nawaki, your Susanoo also has embedded pearls?"
Nawaki nodded, then shook his head. "Yeah. Compared to other skills, Susanoo's base stats are higher, which makes it perfect for pearl enhancement."
"So I embedded a vitality pearl into mine, and even upgraded it to purple grade."
Pearl enhancement
meant fusing several lower-quality pearls into one of higher quality.
Five white pearls could be fused by infusing the energy of four into a single one—if successful, the result was a green-grade pearl.
Of course, this was typical Samsara Game design: if the enhancement failed, all four material pearls were destroyed—an absolute loss.
Nawaki's purple vitality pearl had been strengthened step by step from green.
"Vitality?" Madara asked, puzzled. "Susanoo doesn't have any life-related stats, does it?"
Susanoo was known for high defense and attack power. He'd never heard of boosting its vitality.
Nawaki smiled mysteriously. "It's just a personal habit…"
"In battle, when I get surrounded, I don't want enemies to be able to predict how my skill behaves."
With the vitality pearl, his Susanoo resembled a Wood-Style giant. Any damage it took was instantly regenerated by its immense life force.
Madara looked speechless.
He could tell Nawaki was just spouting nonsense. The real reason he embedded the vitality pearl was clearly that his twin vine-whip weapons could apply Wood-Style effects.
Looks like Uchiha Nawaki still doesn't fully trust me.
As one of the few remaining Uchiha in this world, he shouldn't be like that. I need to take him to the Naka River when I get the chance—so he can acknowledge his heritage.
If Nawaki had heard that, he'd definitely find it absurd.
I'm the last surviving heir of the Senju clan... and you want me to recognize the Uchiha as my ancestors? How bold!
But in Madara's eyes, it was perfectly logical. The kid had Sharingan. And not just any Sharingan—the Mangekyō.
How could someone with that not be Uchiha?
"Let's keep going."
Madara couldn't wait. He summoned Susanoo again and charged into a new group of Axe-Wielding Expellers in the Black Abyss Corridor.
Nawaki and Tanjiro joined in, continuing their monster hunts.
Soon,
Their attacks drew in a full formation of Expellers.
Fifteen Axe Expellers, nine Sword Expellers, and one Flame Expeller leading them.
Every swing of the Flame Expeller's crimson blade summoned a volcanic eruption of flames.
Boom!
Four columns of fire burst skyward, crashing into each other mid-air.
Flaming embers scattered across the battlefield.
Two Susanoos rose—flame fragments fell onto their chakra armor, producing only light sizzling sounds.
The armor didn't catch fire or crack.
Tanjiro clasped his hands into a seal. A glowing blue robe billowed behind him, flaring into existence.
He bowed his head, raised his right arm, and—
In one sweeping motion, flung the robe like a giant cape toward the Expellers.
Rumble.
The blue robe expanded rapidly in midair, growing large enough to envelop all the enemies—including the Flame Expeller.
The Flame Expeller slashed frantically, but its fire couldn't burn the robe.
This was Tanjiro's strongest skill: [Universe in the Sleeve Lv. 37].
Against this, even commander-level monsters would struggle to tear through the radiant robe, let alone elite ones like the Flame Expeller.
"Now's our chance!"
Nawaki charged in, perfectly in sync. His vine whips lashed down like a torrential storm, smashing the restrained Expellers to pieces.
Madara followed a beat later, slicing down several Axe Expellers of his own.
When Tanjiro's control skill ended,
The Flame Expeller was still intact—not even its helmet had fallen off. It gripped its red sword tightly and charged.
Flame Slash.
The red blade carved through the air, releasing a fiery shockwave shaped like a burning ring.
Even though Madara's Susanoo had the Fortified defense pearl, it was still torn open by the flame slash.
"Uncle Madara, careful! The Flame Expeller's flames are energy-based attacks!"
Seeing Madara take the hit head-on, Nawaki quickly warned him.
Energy attacks…
Madara quickly understood—like the difference between physical taijutsu and elemental ninjutsu.
He twisted his body, dodging the Flame Expeller's follow-up thrusts, then struck its neck with his dual blades.
Thunk-thunk.
The helmet fell off, revealing the empty armor within.
Nawaki's green vine whip stabbed forward like a spear, shattering its crimson leg armor and sending it toppling.
Madara finished it off with two more sword slashes.
Purple light flared.
The Flame Expeller had dropped a rare purple chest.
A loot drop!
Nawaki's eyes lit up. Tanjiro quickly came over too.
Based on contribution, Tanjiro had priority to open it.
Inside was another pearl.
"Today's our lucky day."
The pearl was bright red—like a burning ember of amber. Clearly a high-tier fire-type pearl.
Tanjiro grabbed it excitedly.
His entire build focused on flame swordsmanship and flame-based Taoist arts. Whether socketed into gear or skills, this pearl would be a massive boost.
But after inspecting the attributes, Tanjiro's smile froze.
It was fire-elemental, yes.
But not an offensive pearl. Like Madara's earlier drop, it was a defensive pearl.
His was a Fire Resistance Pearl, boosting fire resistance by 400 points.
For a [Taoist-Warrior Hybrid] like Tanjiro, it wasn't very useful.
Then Madara spoke up, "May I have it? I'll give up part of the next loot."
"Uncle Madara, every skill or gear piece only has three pearl slots."
Nawaki explained patiently, "That means you can only embed three different types of pearls."
"For Susanoo, not many players use it, but we've figured out the best combo is Attack, Defense, and Speed. That way, Susanoo's full power can be unleashed."
"If you socket pearls randomly, the skill might become worthless."
He was worried Madara might ruin his build.
Unless you bought a Memory River Droplet to reset the skill to Lv. 1 and start over, there was no way to undo a socketing mistake.
And resetting took astronomical time, resources, and money.
"My Susanoo doesn't need to be powerful in every way—I just want its defense maxed out."
Even Madara wasn't sure why, but he had become obsessed with defense pearls.
Since his resurrection, his back had always felt cold—like it was exposed.
It made him instinctively want to strengthen Susanoo's defenses.
Not just physical defense—energy resistance, elemental resistance—everything had to be maxed!
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