Chapter 544
It was me
Bram’s eyes widened in fear. He understood what was happening. After all, Bram had many high-ranking friends in both the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi and Star Antinomy. While the Pope’s Guard’s abilities were a secret to most, he was one of the few who knew.
The next moment, his body exploded. He transformed into countless screaming, flying bats, dodging the approaching arcs of light. Where he had just been, a gray cocoon bulged from the void, and countless threads rapidly shot out in all directions, attempting to ensnare the Pope’s Guard in their blood-red cloaks.
The gray threads, erupting in all directions, easily pierced the walls of the houses, raising dust everywhere. But such damage and control were useless against the Pope’s Guard. A phantom light shield appeared on their bodies, blocking all incoming attacks. This was the protection of the Pure White Saintess.
Failing in its first attempt, the gray cocoon began to swell, emitting a dangerous aura.
Just then, Eivass struck. With a wave of his scepter, flames condensed into a golden-red flame butterfly and flew towards the table where the old troll sat cross-legged. Pure White’s gaze subconsciously followed, and she saw the disheveled Bram picking up the cup of wine on the table and draining it in one gulp. It was only then that she realized someone was crouching there!
Bram’s stealth ability wasn’t that strong; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been discovered so quickly. But the erupting, mutated gray cocoon subconsciously drew the attention of others. Both the bats and the gray cocoon were merely deceptions… One of those bats was him. While people were focused on the gray cocoon that appeared after the bats scattered, he had already run to the table. This wasn’t achieved through extraordinary skills, but through psychological trickery!
In fact, even Eivass hadn’t noticed him at first. The first to sense something was wrong was Lily. The moment Bram disappeared, she immediately grabbed Eivass’s wrist, signaling him to look to the side. Thanks to her subtle reminder, Eivass was able to notice someone over there.
Under Eivass’s gaze, the flame butterfly had already flown past the silent old troll sitting on the ground and was heading towards Bram, growing brighter. At this time, Bram had already finished the wine in his cup. His pupils had turned dark red, and dark red colloidal substances had formed on his skin.
From the moment Eivass made his move, only a little over a second had passed. The flame butterfly suddenly exploded—a scorching, intense vortex of flame, like a tornado, expanded from the裂开了 flame butterfly, binding Bram tightly!
At this point, Eivass could no longer worry about the potential damage to the Sacred Tree from the flames; he had to stop Bram first. The howling, expanding flames instantly drew everyone else’s attention. But in the next moment, an abnormal swelling occurred within the fiery storm. A giant arm, with red skin, emerged and tore the flames apart!
The rapidly expanding man’s eyes were blood-red, and he let out beast-like roars. In the blink of an eye, his body surpassed all the elves, reaching high enough to pierce the ceiling. He stood over eight meters tall, his skin flowing with a fresh red, turbid blood that resembled liquid flame. It pulsed like fire, burning a hole through the time-slowing domain around them, preventing it from affecting his wrath. He let out an angry, hysterical roar, and large patches of runes suddenly appeared on his skin. Phantom red shackles instantly materialized on his limbs, smooth and lustrous like jade. But then, they instantly ignited and turned to ash.
An overwhelming presence rushed over. The terrifying power that made one’s heart tremble caused the entire building to collapse with a casual swing of his fist. He easily tossed aside the burning roof, sending it flying into the distance like a meteor.
In that instant, Pure White hesitated. She looked at the crimson giant in astonishment, as if recalling something. The younger Pope’s Guards, however, were completely unfazed. They immediately formed ranks and let out sharp, explosive cries: “Damn it, it’s a giant descendant!” “Your Excellency the Archbishop, please retreat!” “Protect the civilians! Protect Her Highness the Saintess!” “You protect the Archbishop, I’ll take the front!” In a mere moment, the four guards split into two groups. One group continued to engage the giant, while the other immediately retreated, forming a protective cordon around Eivass and Pure White.
At that moment, Eivass’s eyes widened. He recognized this guy! This was a high-difficulty BOSS from the late stage of version 0, “Wildfire Giant Utgarðar-Loki”! However, his height seemed a bit shorter than the real “Wildfire Giant Utgarðar-Loki”… and his world-ending, god-like aura was also much weaker. But, why… Wasn’t “Mr. Red Wine” Bram Stoker?
The moment he entered the room, Eivass saw it clearly. He indeed looked like a human youth, and his age matched what Sherlock had previously said about Bram. “It’s that cup of wine!” Eivass immediately connected it to the blood wine he had just drunk. When he was attacked, he had clearly used deceptive tactics to distract others. But his first reaction wasn’t to flee, but to come over and drink that cup of wine… Bram turned into a giant immediately after drinking the wine; he had also transformed into bats for a moment, which was clearly the ability of the Child of the Moon; he also used gray spider silk, which was the power of Path Adaptation… Combined with his identity as a writer and his past as a Law Master, this was already several Paths!
“…It’s the ‘Steal’ power from Path Adaptation.” At this time, Pure White finally distinguished it. “Don’t worry, he’s not a real giant.” Saying this, Pure White extended her right hand towards the giant-like Bram.
The next moment, an old, tattered wooden door suddenly appeared before her. As the wooden door creaked open, a gust of pure white, cold wind instantly filled the entire room. Accompanied by the furious dragon roar from the distance, the extreme cold wind pouring from the door covered the entire house in a layer of frost. Even the ground that Eivass had just set ablaze was extinguished by the flames.
The giant maintained the posture of clenching his fist to strike the Pope’s Guard, but he visibly slowed down. What was originally an instantaneous action stretched to half a second, allowing his attack to be easily dodged. An arc of light slashed through the air, and the giant’s right arm was severed! His clenched fist, like a pillar, flew towards the sky and shattered into countless tiny gray insects in mid-air. His second punch became increasingly slow, until the entire giant was frozen in place.
The next moment, the giant’s body suddenly shattered. Countless flying gray winged insects scattered in all directions, disappearing into the air. This was all just a “lie.” Bram, having returned to his human form, stumbled forward a few steps before being bound by over a dozen lines of light, dangling in mid-air. “Damn it, if only I had come a moment later…” His eyes were filled with unwillingness. “I wasn’t ready, how could I—”
“—Behave!” An angry Pope’s Guard punched him in the face. Bram swayed violently, flailing in the air like a puppet being pulled by strings. Sherlock, standing nearby, reacted, “It’s that cup of wine! If he were ready, he wouldn’t have kept the wine and not drunk it. That only means his ritual wasn’t completed—”
“Her Highness the Saintess, is he the Curse Master who set up the trap?” another Pope’s Guard turned back, asking cautiously. “Be careful of his accomplices!”
Hearing this, Bram froze. He suddenly looked at the old troll who had been quietly kneeling in the corner. Even after Bram had turned into a giant, the troll had remained motionless, slowly eating fried chicken. The old troll slowly raised his eyelids and glanced at Bram. He was neither surprised nor pleased, as if he had expected it long ago. He slowly raised his head, straightening his hunched back slightly.
“Pfft.” The old troll spat out two broken chicken leg bones. The broken bones, mixed with foul saliva, flew onto Bram’s face as he dangled in the void. “It’s me, I surrender.” Then, the old troll opened his mouth and spoke in standard Elven Language, “I am Zomai and I cursed him.”
(End of Chapter)
