Chapter 978
Severed Arm!
After resurrecting George, the next to be resurrected was Gryphon Philip – after all, half of the Grand Guardian’s power was on the Gryphon, and without it, the aerial cavalry was simply too weak.
“Of course, even with the Gryphon, it won’t pose much of a threat to a Fallen Heavenly Envoy.”
The characteristic of the aerial cavalry Profession is having double the combat power. When facing weaker enemies, the rider and the Gryphon can compensate for each other’s shortcomings; but when challenging enemies far stronger than themselves, because their power is ultimately divided into two, their upper limit becomes far insufficient!
Subsequently, Philip immediately charged into the mountains with the Grand Guardian, rescuing Lixia!
Shockingly, Lixia, who had shattered a mountain, was not completely dead yet!
Although almost all of her bones were shattered and she looked like rotten flesh… her rapid breathing could still be seen.
She had long lost consciousness.
However, her flesh and blood seemed to have entered a state of frenzied vitality, resembling a clump of out-of-control seaweed. Four-fifths of her head had been ground away, and the traditional vital point known as the “brain” had already vanished!
Yet Lixia was still alive!
Her spine grew, extending from her fractured skull like a grotesque white flower. Her damaged and broken bones, mixed with the shattered flesh and blood, transformed into tendrils – each covered with teeth formed from bone, and even possessing mouthparts for feeding. The largest of these tendrils was her former tail.
Perhaps because her “tail” remained intact after being injured, her body, lacking a brain to judge, decided “the tail is the correct structure,” and thus grew a dense cluster of tails—
The Grand Guardian, simply by picking up Lixia, had his arm bitten and bleeding from these “fanged tails”!
He was a Fifth Tier Melee Profession!
Even shooting him in the head with a shotgun would at most leave a shallow black mark. Even a chainsaw couldn’t chew through his flesh… yet Lixia’s “body” managed it!
Her distorted life force was so terrifying. If left alone, Lixia might not have died… She might have gradually turned into a horrific monster like a Venus flytrap after consuming passing rabbits or fawns for nutrition. If there were any small animals around.
Under Saint Joan’s command, Siegfried and the Grand Guardian quickly chopped off all the tendrils that had grown from Lixia’s body, along with her distorted limbs. What remained was a square block of pink “lunch meat” – then, Saint Joan once again used the most ordinary “Illuminate Spell.”
Under the radiance of the light, the block of lunch meat rapidly grew, soon taking on a human form.
At this moment, there was no need to worry about indecent exposure – because even after being healed by Saint Joan, Lixia had not fully recovered her dragon-human little girl form.
Her entire body was covered in silvery-white scales, and her legs and arms had dragonized. Only her upper chest could barely be recognized as human… and her entire body had grown a large number of “erroneous” organs. Her body was covered in “eyes” and “mouths,” yet her face lacked eyes.
—That was an Ascencist’s “Molting Technique.”
With each near-death experience, Ascencists become stronger, at the price of gradually losing their human form.
Because Lixia’s molting was interrupted before it was completed… it was like a butterfly breaking out of its chrysalis being directly pulled out. She thus mutated into a distorted form, her body on the verge of collapse at any moment.
—Because she wanted to “see,” numerous eyes appeared all over her body; because she wanted to use order spells, she obtained many mouths. Because she was severely injured, her body was covered in dense dragon scales…
She had to achieve victory; only by completing her “molting” would Lixia’s body cease to collapse!
At this moment.
The distant Spirit Tower floated in the sky, slowly approaching.
Cardinal Fafnir transformed into a gargantuan black dragon with a green belly, circling high in the sky. Her chilling dark gold vertical pupils gazed down at the battlefield.
When the impact reached its limit, the entire space let out a creaking sound, unable to bear the strain.
With a loud noise like shattering glass, the triple halos behind Eivass and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy simultaneously dissipated.
Eivass and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy slowly fell to the ground, their internal mana entering a state of brief void – even their own buffs were dispersed by Paradise Lost.
And in this instant.
Cardinal Fafnir suddenly swooped down!
She spewed out black-green flames, scorching the defenseless Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
Having lost the protection of “Taurus,” Cardinal Fafnir’s surprise attack was exceptionally effective!
The scorching caused visible damage to the Fallen Heavenly Envoy – but after only three seconds of burning, several purple rings suddenly erupted within Cardinal Fafnir, binding her tightly!
—That was the Mark of Sin!
The moment she was detected as “sinful” by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, she was instantly bound, completely losing her combat ability!
Just like Eivass before, she was completely sealed in mid-air—
And more than a dozen black chains emerged from beneath the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s cloak, piercing deeply into Cardinal Fafnir’s body from below, injecting the power of the Great Sin at point-blank range—
“Now’s the time!”
Saint Joan realized the moment for counterattack had arrived and re-applied the blessings previously dispersed by Paradise Lost onto everyone!
The clash with Eivass’s Paradise Lost had consumed too much of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s power – the mana within a corporeal body was not infinite, just as the mana stored within Path Crystallizations was limited when using High-Tier Divine Arts. Now, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was equivalent to having transformed his entire body into a “Path Crystallization” of High-Tier Divine Arts.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy was accustomed to the infinite Path Power of his Heavenly Envoy body. After changing to a corporeal body, he subconsciously squandered far too much.
Now, to conserve mana, he no longer directly injected mana from a distance to forcibly transform Eivass as before… instead, he was using a more refined method of control!
At this time, the Spirit Tower also began to condense spells.
Above the Spirit Tower, the suspended First Generation Black Phase opened all three locks on her chest.
The surging twilight power dispersed, dyeing everything around them a dim yellow.
And the moment Cardinal Fafnir was bound, Cardinal Siegfried, who had been observing from the rear after being repelled, finally found his opportunity.
He charged forward!
His blade shone with the divine power of the Hourglass, and he pushed the Hourglass’s power to its limit!
—Five Times Speed!!
Siegfried’s speed had reached its absolute limit; his skin was even reddening from bearing the excessive Path Power, and the whites of his pupils had turned completely blood-red.
Even the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had to react – he couldn’t ignore the attack and continue transforming Cardinal Fafnir, so he turned and used the bound Fafnir as a flail, smashing her towards Siegfried!
But Siegfried’s uncanny action speed allowed him to skillfully evade the repeatedly attacking Fafnir, and in an instant, he approached the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy flung Cardinal Fafnir, still completely sealed by the Mark of Sin, to the side, and counterattacked Siegfried with the same divine speed!
However, this time, even others could see it.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy was indeed somewhat tired!
When he was wearing armor before, he could easily counterattack Siegfried. At that time, Siegfried didn’t even have the strength to retaliate, and was instantly inflicted with life-threatening injuries.
And now, although the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had removed the constraints on his power, he was actually entangled by Siegfried, unable to break free for a short period of time.
Although Siegfried’s speed was Three Times before and had now increased to Five Times, it was indeed visible that the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was visibly weakening!
He was not invincible!
It was just that he was too powerful before. Without Eivass’s intervention, they couldn’t even see the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s limit…
And after the collision of Paradise Lost, everyone clearly realized – the “limit of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy” indeed existed!
Even the Fallen Heavenly Envoy himself realized this.
He desperately needed to create distance, re-apply buffs to himself, heal, and recover mana…
But under Siegfried’s desperate and frantic entanglement, he couldn’t shake off the Five Times Speed Siegfried – the Five Times Speed mode was already capable of keeping up with, and even surpassing, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s normal speed!
At this moment.
—The King of the Wild Hunt arrived with a howling wind!
Helchin looked at the bound Fafnir, already furious!
As soon as he appeared, he did not speak, infiltrated the twilight domain, and launched a sneak attack devoid of honor against the Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
His attack was extremely ruthless – the Dragon Lance hummed and materialized out of thin air, thrusting towards the Fallen Heavenly Envoy from the void!
—Undead Charge!
“…The King of the Wild Hunt?”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy frowned slightly, thinking to himself that it was somewhat troublesome.
He was entangled by the crazed Siegfried, unable to create distance – and the Five Times Speed Siegfried was no longer easily caught by him. He could only strike Siegfried again and again… however, Saint Joan’s healing always arrived in time, causing Siegfried to die and come back to life several times, yet he still pestered him, preventing the Fallen Heavenly Envoy from leaving!
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy simply couldn’t find a window for spellcasting, but now with the King of the Wild Hunt’s arrival, he had to waste a large amount of mana to deal with the enemy.
He injected mana into the wings on his back – spinning his body, he transformed them into sharp black blades, cutting out streaks of purple light blades towards his spear and Helchin who wielded it!
This was a spiral counterattack that could send Siegfried flying in one blow, a special martial skill that only Winged Ones could use.
Although he was somewhat tired now, it had temporarily repelled Siegfried – he knew how powerful this strike was. If he were caught in it, he would be torn to shreds!
Even the King of the Wild Hunt, under the suppression of the Hourglass, could at most exert Sixth Tier strength.
This strike was enough to repel him and block his sneak attack—
However, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy did not know that Helchin was also not in an ordinary state at this time.
—[Enchantment: Treant · Moon Spirit (The Fool)]
—[Equipment: Thunderclap Halberd (Wheel of Fate)]
With the “Fusion Card” enhancement of two Wind attribute cards, Helchin’s all attributes were temporarily increased by one-tenth!
In such top-tier duels, even a slight difference in power could lead to a snowballing disadvantage. And a full 10% increase in all attributes… Helchin’s strength had surpassed the fatigued Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
Helchin forcibly endured the attack launched by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy – trading injuries for injuries was definitely worthwhile!
This surprise “Undead Charge” attack had forcefully broken through the protection of the wings and ruthlessly pierced the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s left shoulder blade from behind!
Blood immediately spurted out.
—That blood was red.
“Ugh…”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy grunted, and the unfamiliar pain caused an expression of disbelief to appear on his face.
—He was bleeding!
He was actually injured!
The last person who had injured him was the Father of Snakes…
And before that, as Lucifer, as a Fallen Heavenly Envoy, he had never been injured even once by anyone!
That momentary daze presented an extremely brief opening for the Fallen Heavenly Envoy – it was only a fleeting moment of stunned disbelief, yet Siegfried seized the opportunity.
His follow-up attack, seizing this chance, also hit the Fallen Heavenly Envoy!
Although it was a follow-up attack after the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was injured, the two wounds appeared almost simultaneously.
This was the manifestation of the Authority of Time!
—As his shoulder was injured and he was unable to parry, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s left forearm was severed by Siegfried’s Holy Sword!
