Chapter 341: 116. Standoff Across Space (Two-in-One)
“Miss, be careful!”
The giant eyeball growing on the branch suddenly turned to look at Valentina, and then tentacles grew from the branch, rushing towards Valentina rapidly. The tentacle broke through the window and in an instant was about to reach Valentina, who was pale with fright. Luckily, Heidi Lin behind her was quick-witted and hurriedly pulled the wheelchair back just in time to avoid the first wave of attack.
“What… is that thing?”
“Never mind that for now, Miss. Tribe Leader Dar, please evacuate all the members immediately. We need to get out first.”
Heidi Lin was possibly the calmest person on the scene. However, although her words were relatively calm, if you focused on her thigh at this moment, you would notice it was shaking constantly; clearly, her inner state was not as composed as it appeared.
“Boss, I’m here!”
At that moment, the meeting room’s large door suddenly shattered, and the Lion Race, Felis, wielding a giant knife, roared as she entered the room. She waved to the conference room and shouted, “Felis is here, everyone get out of the way!”
“Get out of the way? Hurry up and let the miss and Tribe Leader Dar escape! Where’s that Fisher guy?”
Felis’s cool pose was interrupted by a frowning Heidi Lin. She had to pat her head to clear the way, while also pulling out a pendant that was shining with a deep red light.
“Oh, he went down to find old Balzak. Before that, he gave me a few magical pendants for self-defense. Here, they seem quite valuable.”
Valentina, who was originally flustered, felt her expression darken slightly at these words. She clenched her teeth and glanced at the magical pendant in Felis’s hand, muttering softly, “That guy, when asked to carve a magic for me to defend myself, he first gives the magic to you, and what about mine?”
Felis didn’t understand why her boss suddenly got angry. She scratched her head and instinctively handed the magic that Fisher had given her to Valentina.
“Boss, you can have my pendant.”
“No, you keep it.”
Heidi Lin couldn’t wait for her miss’s unexpected little temper to pass; she sighed and quickly pushed Valentina towards the door. The petite Snow Fox tribe members hurriedly followed. As they were leaving, Heidi Lin looked at Felis guarding the door and instructed, “I leave this place to you for the rear guard. Don’t delay too long. Exit the hotel with us soon. Ensure safety before discussing anything else.”
“Understood!”
With everyone exiting the room, Felis yawned, raised the giant blade in her hand, and pointed it at the blood-soaked tentacles coming at her. The flame magic Fisher had given her also flickered brightly, the glow gradually igniting her eyes and the mane on her head.
“Although I don’t know what you are, just bring it on.”
“What exactly is that thing? It has sealed the hotel’s doors; we have to get out!”
“The miss is still up there!”
On the first floor, many maids and staff rushed down quickly, but they were stunned in front of the door blocked by the huge branch, exchanging glances between each other. It wasn’t until Balzak, who had lost an arm, stumbled over that their panic was somewhat alleviated.
“Everyone, step aside! Let me use magic to blow the door open. Clear the way!”
“Wait, magic? If used here, we’ll all be affected!”
Just as the crowd hesitated at the door, a violent tremor suddenly erupted from the deep end of the corridor. A red-eyed Nali person swung a Fluid Sword, continuously hacking at the tentacles spreading over the ground, with magical lights flickering, making the already fragile walls even more precarious.
“Buzz buzz buzz!”
It was Fisher. Although he was only using low-tier magic from stock to ensure the building’s safety, it was enough to shock the already panicking servants.
“No, no, no, we better blow the door open with magic quickly. Please!”
“…”
Balzak glanced at the suddenly moody fellow beside him and then raised the high-tier magic that Fisher had given him, aiming it at the blocked door. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he activated the magic, and a gigantic sword shimmering with bright light appeared in his hand. People hurriedly retreated; Balzak held that enormous sword, feeling a surge of strength even with one arm broken.
A six-ring magic, Light Ring Giant Sword. As a scholar of the Shivali lineage, Balzak certainly knew the purpose of this magic.
No wonder ancient humans could defeat so many strong subhuman races with magic; this was just a six-ring magic that could endow someone with no training significant killing power.
The magic gave him immense courage. He shouted while raising his weapon, aiming it at the blood-soaked tentacles in front of him, slowly cutting a large opening through the tentacles blocking the door. He then gasped for air and shouted to the others behind him, “Hurry and get out! Cough cough!”
Meanwhile, Fisher, wielding the Fluid Sword and hacking at the tentacles still assaulting him, shifted his gaze towards Balzak. Confirming that others were escaping from the hotel, he changed direction without hesitation and quickly dashed upstairs, as Erwind’s target was Valentina, or rather, the imprints she treasured. He needed to rush back to her side at the soonest.
“Where are you going, Fisher?”
Behind him, Erwind’s voice followed like a shadow. Fisher couldn’t tell if what he heard was an illusion or real, so he had no choice but to stop in his tracks. The next moment, the tentacles from below began to grow wildly again, completely clogging the staircase connecting the first and second floors and shattering the upper ground.
“Be careful, Miss!”
Fisher faintly heard Heidi Lin’s scream and the hurried, crowded footsteps. His face suddenly darkened. He drew out a slender necklace and a copper ring, each shimmering with high-tier deep blue and deep purple lights.
A seven-ring ice magic, Conduit Cryogen, could trigger a rapid conduction cryogenic beam covering a wide area. Fisher aimed to use it to stabilize the precarious hotel structure to avoid casualties among those above due to collapsing debris.
A six-ring gravity magic, Sliding Gravity, could accelerate the movement speed of the released object and temporarily repel objects around the released object. This was to help Fisher reach Valentina faster.
“Crack crack crack!”
Both spells began to activate simultaneously, but Fisher couldn’t wait for their effects and dashed towards the upper floor. His ten-rank physical constitution made his sprint lightning-fast, and the deep purple gravity light encircling him made his movement resemble a bullet piercing through the massive tentacles.
“Boom!”
On the verge of collapsing as the hotel’s third floor, the ground beneath Heidi Lin suddenly shattered, launching Valentina into the air. Everyone present stared in shock at the tentacles that spread in and out. Their hearts felt nothing but amazement and despair at the terrifying creature.
They had never seen such a spectacular and bizarre entity in their lives. Even from the skies above the Miya district, one could spot the enormous blood-soaked flower in full bloom.
“Miss, hold tight to your wheelchair! Don’t get thrown off! I’ll be there soon!”
Heidi Lin, pale-faced, looked at Valentina, who was held up by the blood-soaked tentacles. Even as her thighs began to tremble uncontrollably, she decisively kicked off her high heels. Her black-stocking-clad feet stepped onto the soft, blood-soaked tentacles, and in the next moment, the place she stepped on grotesquely sprouted eyeballs.
“Ugh!”
Heidi Lin suppressed her nausea and forcefully climbed toward Valentina, but the next instant, an ice-cold frost rapidly spread, firmly freezing her feet onto the tentacles. As the tentacles writhed, she lost her grip and began to fall below, while the six or seven petite Snow Fox tribe members quickly formed a circle, trying to catch Heidi Lin.
But the next moment, a man glowing with magical radiance shot up from beneath the frozen ground, catching the falling Heidi Lin in a steady grip.
“Fisher?”
Heidi Lin instinctively hugged Fisher’s neck, her face flushing for a second, but then she panickedly looked up, pushing Fisher’s face with her hands.
“Miss is still above the tentacles! Hurry and save her!”
Growing impatient with her delicate soft hands pushing against him, Fisher bit down on her finger, and that strange sensation made Heidi Lin give him an annoyed glare, expressing clear disgust, then muttered softly, “What are you thinking? Hurry and save the miss!”
The hunger of reproduction gradually spread, making Fisher dare not breathe in the faint fragrance on Heidi Lin. He held his breath, looked up towards the upper floor, and suddenly, he slapped Heidi Lin’s waist to set her down, treating it as compensation for saving her while still being disliked.
“I get it, foolish woman.”
“You!”
Heidi Lin landed on her feet, angrily wanting to kick Fisher, but when she turned her head, she saw a small circle of shocked Snow Fox tribe members watching her, which made her feel a bit embarrassed and retract her toes.
In Tribe Chief Dar’s eyes, the deep purple aura of disgust surrounding Heidi Lin grew stronger, but the pink hue representing liking and interest also deepened. A root of confusion sprouted from his fox-head, and he silently glanced at Valentina, who was still clutching her wheelchair and screaming.
“Ahhh! Save me!”
Behind them, Zuna, clutching a wooden basket, had not noticed Heidi Lin at all. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed at the figure wielding the Fluid Sword—the reliable figure that suddenly appeared in a crisis; who else could merit the title of “prince charming”?
It was a pity that Fisher was not a prince charming but a big bad guy about to be consumed by the fire of reproduction.
Only after Heidi Lin left his side did he dare to breathe, but his nostrils were still filled with the faint scent from Heidi Lin, causing him to sneak a few more glances at her glaring at him… and the black stockings on her legs. It seemed Renee had worn similar ones before, a style popular in Nali. He hadn’t expected even the North Region women would buy such things.
Thinking of Renee, the blazing fire within him for black stockings slightly subsided. Objectively, the way Heidi Lin wore them was not as pretty as Renee, but it wasn’t bad either.
Fisher’s frightening gaze made Heidi Lin retract her petite feet, but the next moment, he had already charged towards Valentina above.
“Boom!”
The frozen tentacle began to writhe again, seemingly trying to prevent Fisher from rescuing Valentina. But this was not Erwind’s main body but a biological weapon he created; even counting the tentacles covering the hotel, its rank wouldn’t exceed nine. Fisher reached into his robe and tossed several shimmering magic rings to Heidi Lin.
“This is magic! Take the Snow Fox tribe members and exit from another direction. I will safely bring Valentina back.”
Heidi Lin caught the magic rings falling from the sky with both hands, watching the massive tentacles take Fisher and Valentina upward. The expression she had found so distasteful earlier slightly faded away, and once Fisher disappeared, her expression completely changed to worry.
She turned to Tribe Chief Dar, seriously instructing them, “Everyone, please follow me to leave immediately. This place is not safe.”
Before her words fully left her lips, she opened her mouth slightly, the sentences thereby ground to a halt.
Had she forgotten something important?
Where had that idiot Felis gone?
Heidi Lin’s face darkened as she adjusted her aquamarine hair crown, searching for the Lion Race member near the meeting room but saw nothing.
“Fisher, what is this thing? Where is it taking us?”
Fisher leaped beside Valentina, and as he got closer, he realized she was shaking violently, her palm tightly gripping the armrest of her wheelchair, even her fingertips turning pale from the pressure.
“Are you scared?”
“I’m not! Not at all!”
Fisher glanced at her suddenly lifted head; that defiant resilience was a sign of her adulthood. But that obvious vulnerability also hinted at her undeniable youth. He slowly took off his suit jacket and draped it over Valentina’s head, then he grabbed her wheelchair with one hand.
Beneath the jacket covering her head, Valentina’s large silvery eyes looked at Fisher beside her, but before she could see clearly, he pulled his hand back, blocking her entire line of sight.
“What are you doing?”
“Though people use ostriches to describe cowardly fools, it can’t be denied that this will give you a stronger sense of security.”
“Ha, are you saying I’m cowardly like an ostrich?”
Fisher casually responded while surveying the direction the tentacles were leading them, “No… I mean, at least when you’re alone with me, it’s okay to occasionally show your timid side, especially when you’re being stubborn and arguing. It’s quite cute.”
Hiding beneath his coat, Valentina secretly clutched his jacket, but then suddenly touched a square book. Tentatively, she asked, “Mr. Emhart?”
Emhart, lying in Fisher’s pocket and now resting on Valentina’s head, had already been in a daze for quite a while. If it weren’t for the current desperate situation, he would have started spewing colorful language. But seeing that the little girl was scared, he decided to be polite.
So he sighed and replied, “Hmm. But if it’s possible, I think it’s better for you to call me the Great Sir Book. Generally, only Fisher calls me Emhart, and I am too lazy to argue with him.”
“…”
Fisher narrowed his eyes, watching the tentacle supporting them ascend through the elevator shaft, suddenly realizing something. His entire magical circuit lit up; as the power of the soul was activated, he looked down at the huge tentacle carrying him and Valentina. The soul light above was very dim, indicating that Erwind’s consciousness was not focused here.
Thus, what he was doing was just to temporarily distract himself; the goal was to—
At that moment, Jahl Uzz’s voice suddenly rang out.
“The imprint! He knows where Valentina has hidden the other imprints. Those imprints, including the ones the Snow Fox tribe is currently holding, are what he desires. He just wants to draw you away, don’t fall for it.”
Fisher turned to look; Jahl Uzz crouched at the edge of the tentacle, pointing downward. Fisher didn’t respond to the illusion’s words; instead, he turned back to Valentina and asked, “Where did you hide those imprints?”
“Imprints? You mean this attack is because of the imprints we’ve collected? I hid them in the room where we previously looked at the perfected ice—just downstairs from the meeting room.”
Fisher fell silent for a second, and then suddenly grabbed Valentina’s wheelchair, speaking to her, “Hold on tight, Miss Valentina.”
“I told you not to—Ahhh!”
In the next instant, Fisher suddenly raised the Fluid Sword in his hand, which began to spin like a drill and forcefully pierced the blood-soaked tentacles below. In his eyes, the splattering blood and flesh were completely ignored; he only saw the consciousness of Erwind concealed within the blood and flesh, and that consciousness was located on the second floor of the hotel, where Valentina kept the imprints.
“Found you, Erwind.”
Fisher pierced through the large tentacle beneath him with the drill-like sword, then with one hand pulled Valentina’s wheelchair, while the other used the Fluid Sword to violently stab into the elevator shaft’s wall. Accompanied by a shrill screech of friction and Valentina’s scream, they descended until they completely vanished from sight.
In the corridor on the second floor of the hotel, a lion race girl, engulfed in flames and wielding a giant knife, was continuously swing her blade, the numerous waves of blade winds enveloped in fire hacking away at the endlessly attacking tentacles. It was none other than Felis forgotten by Heidi Lin!
“Hahahaha! Using magic to ignite my blade for attacks is indeed very effective! This is simply the greatest invention of the century!”
She laughed wildly, her actions not slowing down at all, seemingly showing off her creative new invention.
In reality, the magic Fisher had given her was a four-ring Fire Wall. If fully activated, it would raise a spectacular fire wall. However, whether it was due to Felis’s brain not working well or her insufficient magic power, this four-ring magic had turned into a pitiful form of “fire enchantment,” with flames sputtering like a first-ring bonfire.
The surrounding giant tentacles were continuously slashed by her. The lion race’s battle bloodline was fully ignited; rather than tiring, she became more energized, and the many tentacles growing in the corridor were soon slaughtered, leaving only burnt traces of flames on the ground.
“Is it over? Huh, how did I end up on the second floor?”
She suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back, suddenly realizing she had killed from the third floor to the second. She stood silly in place, wanting to turn back to find Heidi Lin and Valentina, when she suddenly sensed a terrifying aura behind her.
Felis’s muscles instantly stiffened, and she explosively turned back, facing a clump of sticky, bouncing flesh slowly approaching her. Although that clump of flesh looked far less dangerous than the giant tentacles, Felis felt an inexplicable fear from it.
“Gulgululu.”
The clump of flesh trembled slightly, raising its head to look at Felis, who was alertly holding her blade. The next second, it gently lifted its small tentacle, and the tiny tentacle instantly transformed into a fleeting shadow, striking toward Felis.
“Buzz!”
Felis’s hair stood on end, and she exerted every muscle to lift her knife to block—this might be the fastest she had ever raised her knife since learning to fight. Just as the tentacle was about to hit her, she successfully blocked it. However, the tentacle effortlessly severed the blade she was gripping, producing an ear-piercing clang of metal. Felis staggered back several steps.
“Roar!”
She growled like a lion. A deep wound on her cheek was bleeding with streaks of scarlet. Had she not immediately dropped her knife and fled, her neck would have been swiftly cut by that tentacle.
Something was off; this little thing was even more terrifying than the booming tentacles outside.
The flesh retracted its tentacle and instantly stood up to prepare for the next attack. Felis’s ears perked up, glancing down at the broken blade on the ground and then at the blood-soaked mass preparing to attack. Her gaze turned icy as she wiped the blood on her cheek with her hand.
She turned without looking back, escaping down the corridor on all fours, while calling out loudly, “Boss! Miss Heidi Lin! Fisher! Old Balzak! Come quickly! There’s an enemy! Someone is stealing the perfected ice! Ahhhh!”
The tiny piece of flesh controlled by Erwind froze mid-motion, its tentacle up in the air as it watched Felis flee for her life, dazed for a whole second.
But soon, it didn’t bother with the fleeing Felis and hopped over to the door where the perfected ice was stored. It raised its tentacle, slicing through the door and wall, revealing the softly glowing perfected ice.
And beneath that perfected ice, four imprints lay hidden within a mechanism.
The flesh lifted its tentacle but suddenly felt a surge of heat behind it; even the specially crafted biological weapon body, close to the tenth rank, found it hard to endure. It turned its head to see Fisher, grasping the Fluid Sword with a cold gaze.
“Erwind, the eyes that just met mine were merely your illusion, right?”
“Yes. If my consciousness was there on that [Blood Giant Tree], I wouldn’t be so surprised by your growth speed. It’s beyond my expectations—not just from the effects of the Soul Supplement Handbook; otherwise, your body wouldn’t be so strong. I’m suddenly quite curious about the valuable knowledge recorded in that unknown handbook of yours, which enabled your soul to mutate this way while still retaining rationality.”
Fisher raised his Fluid Sword, stripping the magic off one by one.
“Although I don’t know whether you’re speaking an illusion or truly communicating, but now, I’m going to blow you sky-high. Your main body won’t escape disaster soon either.”
“An illusion?”
The flesh possessed by Erwind hesitated slightly, then its gender-ambiguous voice held a clear mockery.
“It seems my judgment of you isn’t entirely correct; you’ve already entered the door, haven’t you? Welcome to our ranks, the seeker of truth, Fisher Benavides.”
After these simple words, the innocent little clump of tentacles suddenly expanded, the twisted and soft flesh continually congealed and reformed until it barely stopped at a towering height nearly reaching the ceiling of the room. At the place where that giant could be termed its head, a hideous eye suddenly opened, reflecting Fisher’s image in a murky manner.
“In fact, what you did to Feilon on the Southern Continent doesn’t matter at all; his connection was merely unilateral with that mindless AI. Even if you didn’t act then, I would have gone to the Southern Continent to kill him and take the Soul Supplement Handbook. Unfortunately, Feilon had only recently obtained the Soul Supplement Handbook, so I couldn’t experience what benefits reading the soul knowledge could bring from him. But now, look at you, that strong and twisted soul is precisely the item necessary for my goals.”
“Once you reach the root of the Phoenix and myths, you will die without a burial place. Even the death runes granted by the demon race cannot protect you.”
Clearly, the creature in front of him was only a creation attached to Erwind’s consciousness, but the mad will of Erwind was still clearly captured by Fisher, as if it wanted to completely swallow him.
Please vote, tip, and support; this is extremely important to me!
Thank you immensely for your support!
(End of this chapter)
