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Chapter 215: Ch.214 Pitch-Black Enemy

Su Ming felt it too—his armor was never great at retaining heat. Still, his body was more resilient, and he could endure it better than Holloway.

"If I\'m not mistaken, we should be in Nepal, on the southern slopes of the Himalayas," Su Ming said, looking around. Snow-covered peaks stretched in every direction, with no buildings in sight, as the towering mountains surrounded them.

"There\'s nothing here. That little sorcerer might have tricked us," Holloway muttered, clutching his cloak tightly, arms crossed over his chest. As a doctor, he knew the dangers of rapid hypothermia. His priority was keeping his core body temperature stable.

"No, he wouldn\'t. I\'m a friend of the Ancient One. He\'s not foolish enough to pull something like that," Su Ming said, fastening his helmet to shield himself from the snow and wind. Ice particles clattered against his visor, making soft, flowing sounds as they bounced off.

Kaecilius was still under the Ancient One\'s tutelage and seemed confident in her ability to win. There was no reason for him to cross one of the Ancient One\'s allies. In fact, he\'d be more likely to help them to curry favor with her. Kaecilius knew the New York Sanctum was secure, so he stayed behind to show his loyalty, but Su Ming saw through the pretense easily.

"But there\'s nothing around us," Holloway insisted.

"That\'s because we don\'t need to search for it," Su Ming replied, nodding toward the floating Cloak of Levitation behind them.

The snowstorm didn\'t seem to hinder the cloak\'s movement at all. It hovered, clutching Su Ming\'s gemstone tightly in one corner while shaking off the snowflakes with the other.

"Cloak, take us to Kamar-Taj," Su Ming instructed.

The cloak grabbed both men and lifted them into the air once again, flying through the raging snowstorm for quite a while.

After passing through an invisible barrier, they suddenly found themselves standing in front of the grand temple complex at the mountain\'s peak.

The temperature here was much warmer. Holloway\'s frosty beard began to melt, dripping water down his face.

But both men were more focused on the scene in front of them.

What had once been a serene paradise filled with vibrant, ornate structures now appeared as a desolate ruin. What had once been lush and filled with birdsong now lay dead and blackened, with plants and animals scattered across the ground.

A massive gray beam of light shot straight from the temple\'s depths into the sky.

"Are you feeling alright?" Su Ming immediately suspected negative energy or some potent toxin. He felt fine, but he needed to check on Holloway.

"I\'m okay. My hands and feet are numb from the cold, but they\'ll recover soon," Holloway replied, flexing his hands. His fingertips burned as they began to thaw.

"Good, let\'s go in."

Su Ming drew his Nightfall Greatsword once more. It was his most powerful weapon now, and whatever was holding the Ancient One at bay meant Su Ming would need to give it his all.

The charred remains of plants and animals littered the sides of the path. They looked as if they\'d been burned in a furnace, but there were no signs of fire—only corpses.

Human corpses.

These bodies, too, were reduced to charcoal, making it impossible to identify them. But they were most likely the apprentices of Kamar-Taj.

From the distant pillar of light came an unsettling sensation, like a gray beacon burning in the sky.

As they advanced quickly, suddenly, from the ruins ahead, a monstrous black figure leapt out with a thunderous crash, landing in front of them.

The creature stood over four meters tall, weighing several tons. Its slick, black skin glistened with power, and its body was rippling with dense, bulging muscles.

It had four legs and four muscular arms, with a face resembling that of a fanged gorilla, bloodshot eyes radiating pure malice.

The creature\'s four massive fists, each the size of a basketball, slammed into the ground where the two men had just been standing. The impact shattered the ground beneath them, turning the stone path to dust.

Su Ming grabbed Holloway and rolled them both out of the way, the debris pinging off his armor with sharp, crackling sounds.

This thing was terrifyingly strong, and Su Ming recognized what it was.

A symbiote—a parasitic, liquid-like alien lifeform that needed a host to survive and function on Earth. It could amplify the host\'s strength, granting ordinary beings extraordinary power.

This symbiote had likely bonded with one of Kamar-Taj\'s experimental animals, or perhaps it was an experiment itself. When the sanctum was attacked, it found a new host and escaped.

This symbiote wasn\'t one Su Ming recognized. In the comics, Venom arrived on Earth via a meteorite, which happened much later.

Reality clearly differed, as Kamar-Taj had captured a symbiote much earlier.

The most famous symbiote was, of course, Venom, who had once bonded with Spider-Man. Beyond that, there were many other symbiotes, including its offspring and old friends.

They reproduced asexually, like single-celled organisms, splitting to create new symbiotes.

Carnage, Toxin, Scorn, Phage, Lasher, Agony, Riot, Hybrid... the list went on. There was even the "Anti-Venom," a symbiote born from a white blood cell mutation.

And that was just the symbiotes Su Ming was familiar with. They had an entire home planet of bizarre variations.

Only on their homeworld could symbiotes survive without hosts.

Symbiotes weren\'t inherently good or evil, but they were heavily influenced by the thoughts of their hosts, which shaped their behavior.

For instance, Venom\'s first host was a Kree warrior named Tel-Kar, a murderous lunatic so crazy that even Venom couldn\'t tolerate him and eventually killed him.

Afterward, Venom arrived on Earth via a meteorite, was captured by the government, and, during the Secret Wars, briefly bonded with Deadpool, who discarded it, leaving it a bit unhinged.

Over the next decade, Venom changed hosts about a thousand times before eventually bonding with Peter Parker, becoming the well-known Venom.

This one might be similar. Perhaps the host was some kind of magic-enhanced ape or pet monkey, lacking higher intelligence. It was merely a puppet to the symbiote.

The host\'s body was just a structure allowing the symbiote to move upright.

The symbiote society was simple: devour and evolve. Those were the only rules on their planet, and their abilities and instincts all served that purpose. They didn\'t need moral codes—they only needed to evolve.

Now, this nameless symbiote clearly saw Su Ming and Holloway as obstacles in its path to escape.

Each symbiote had unique abilities, but they all shared immense strength, incredible speed, and regenerative powers. Venom had once lifted a 2,000-ton ocean liner, and other symbiotes weren\'t much weaker.

This wasn\'t an enemy Su Ming could face head-on. He wasn\'t sure if his armor could withstand its attacks.

But now that he had identified it as a symbiote, Su Ming had plenty of ways to deal with it, thanks to his own enhanced physical condition.

Symbiotes were powerful, but they had many weaknesses: loud noises, fire, and high-frequency energy waves could liquefy them, preventing them from bonding with a host.

Su Ming nudged Holloway aside, signaling him to find a safe spot and provide support while he dealt with the symbiote. His only hope now was that the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj hadn\'t foolishly tried to enhance this creature with magic.