Chapter 864
Chapter 864 - 850 Curse
1,860 words
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10 min read
The phantom snake moved towards reality, and the weapon in Lu Ping’an’s hand gained a new life.
The weapon, which was also Ah Jiu’s new body, happily greeted its master.
[Ah Jiu (Upper Silver Life Form)]
[Physique: None, Reflex: None, Spirit: Lower Gold.]
Just the panel alone, a mature version of Ah Jiu was quite abnormal.
She lacked the material presence of a basic physique almost necessary for life forms and thus also lacked the reflex system to control the physique. Compared to Zhi Xi, she was an even purer non-physical entity.
What Lu Ping’an needed was a "weapon"... but he didn’t even know what kind of weapon he needed.
It had to be powerful enough, resilient enough, effective at all times, and capable of posing a threat to any opponent.
When Lu Ping’an outlined his needs and organized them into a list, he found himself laughing.
But the Quasi-rule level Life Illustration fulfilled his requirements, albeit rather reluctantly...
[Materialization (Upper Silver Abnormal Ability): As a Quasi-high-dimensional non-physical entity, Ah Jiu doesn’t have a true physical form, but with a sufficient vessel, she can use it as a temporary ’body’ to inhabit.]
This seemingly ordinary ability was actually the essence of Ah Jiu.
Clutching the snake-shaped War Scythe that meowed, Lu Ping’an felt all his "Active Weapon Specialization" properties activated, and with his Life Perception ability, he could sense that the weapon in his hand was indeed alive.
Lu Ping’an swung the War Scythe, feeling a sensation as if it was an extension of his own flesh and blood.
At that time, just for those sensations, Lu Ping’an wouldn’t have needed to pay so much...
"Take my move... the Energy Conservation Breaking Slash!"
The casually made-up move name, along with its wave-like casual slash, produced a strangely eerie atmosphere.
As the Sharp Blade fell, it sliced Didirona’s unbelievably hard flesh and the ground beneath it into two as easily as cutting vegetables.
A trench several meters deep divided the battlefield, and everywhere Lu Ping’an’s long blade pointed split in two.
This strike cleaved through mountains and rivers, and through the Magic Monster as well.
The force of the strike was so great that even Lu Ping’an himself was a bit frightened.
"...uh, maybe I should come up with a more formal name for it."
"Is that the point here..." Big Cat was somewhat speechless. Although all of this was within the plan, the effects were a bit beyond expectations.
It was still the same ability as before, the one that Lu Ping’an had received.
[Note: As an object of possession, Ah Jiu activates its latent properties based on its material and abilities.]
In a way, it was similar to a Binding/Protection system "Enchantment," but it transformed the "object" into a living thing and endowed it with several extremely useful properties.
[Energy May Not Always Be Conserved (Quasi-Gold level Abnormal Ability): When Ah Jiu attaches to a weapon, that weapon can convert thermal energy into kinetic energy, to a degree that surpasses the law of energy conservation.]
Ah Jiu’s ability was now directly attached to the weapon. This one property alone ensured a strong enough weapon would not lack in attack power.
And other abilities of the Abyss Beheading Blade aside, its hardness was definitely enough.
"That’s the stuff."
The grey-black knight this time, wielding the War Scythe, was able to cut off large chunks of flesh with every swing.
And even more outrageous, the "Abyss Evolution" from that day was repeated, as Lu Ping’an’s Abyss Knight form swelled larger and larger, his strength clearly receiving another boost.
This was not just the favor of the Abyss but also the latent ability of the Abyss Beheading Blade that was activated by Ah Jiu.
[Abyss’s Favor (Lower Gold, Abyss Universal Passive Ability): Slaughter is the prelude to feeding as well as evolution...]
[Thirst for Blood Curse of the Beheading (Lower Gold, unique passive trait of the Beheading Blade): The Life Essence of those beheaded will be devoured by the wielder of the weapon.]
These looked like two ordinary Abyss properties; every Abyss creature had the privilege of "healing" and "leveling up" through slaughter. But when these properties were activated by the Beheading Blade, they reached the Gold-level minimum requirement for an Abyss Lord.
"...Ahhhhhhhh!"
Didirona’s painful screams were non-stop as the parts of her body that were chopped off withered and turned to ash in an instant.
This time, the severed snake head could not regenerate!
In the face of such an Undead monster, the Instant Death trait of beheading was almost rendered useless, but this ability to continuously plunder the essence of the opponent’s Abyss nature to strengthen oneself was exceptionally useful... The property that prevented the opponent’s healing was even just an unexpectedly delightful byproduct.
"Ow ow ow!"
But next, the monster instinctively found a way to respond.
One snake head bit at another, directly biting off and tearing away the withered part along with the roots.
For a normal life form, this self-mutilation would be almost suicidal, but for an entity with an "infinite" inner life, it was acceptable.
In Lu Ping’an’s vision, more and more "Didironas" were being converted and incorporated into this body; in a sense, it was similar to Ah Jiu, both were essences of illusion moving towards reality through some medium.
The snakes kept multiplying.
Even though Lu Ping’an was slaying them faster and faster, his self-healing, Flame Shield, and blood-sucking Beheading kept him unscathed. But now, he could only injure the giant serpent, not kill it.
Has all this effort been in vain?
No, Lu Ping’an had never anticipated that after obtaining the Book of the Abyss, he would be able to sustain the battlefield to this extent.
The ultimate weapon he had prepared was another method, but it seemed there was only one chance at it...
"Is it still not enough?"
"...No, at least its life essence must enter the third layer to ensure its end."
Chris had always been helping Lu Ping’an with observation, determining the rate of Didirona’s transformation and how far it was from its truly complete form.
The massacre continued, with Didirona becoming even more terrifying, while Lu Ping’an still moved rapidly, slicing through foes.
He was also tired, exhausted, and if not for his new weapon and a pile of Abyssal passives, he would probably have already died from physical exhaustion.
This was with the premise that Didirona had lost over ninety percent of its attack methods and all of its equipment and bodily weapons... But managing to fight to this degree, even Chris, who was extremely critical, was exceptionally satisfied.
"...Don’t rush, the gap in hardware between you two is too great..."
Originally, such absolute disparity also meant that, as a Lower-level, Lu Ping’an had absolutely no hope of victory.
As it was now, Didirona stood there, letting Lu Ping’an hack at it, and he couldn’t kill it in a short time.
But, by the favor of destiny, or perhaps the Abyss’s malice towards a certain being, the moment Lu Ping’an entered the Abyss, he received an ace in the hole.
The premise for using it may be luck, maybe the Abyss’s favor, or perhaps more importantly, the Abyss’s deep malice and intent to kill Didirona...
[Authority of the True Words: One-eyed Newman’s Gaze (Snake Tamer)]
[Call upon Newman’s gaze with the user of the True Words as the coordinate point, manifest his authority, and gain complete control over ’snakes’.]
This True Words were evidently an ultimate weapon intended to curse Didirona.
But previously, it couldn’t be used, or rather, its effectiveness would not be good... because Didirona at that time was no longer purely a snake, but "human."
Now, as it continuously extracted "itself" out and transformed its essence into the myriad snakes before him, it gave Lu Ping’an the premise to use the ability.
Yes, Lu Ping’an had been waiting, waiting for it to transform at least thirty percent of itself into a snake’s body, only then would there be a real possibility to kill it.
"It’s ready."
Big Cat’s affirmation made Lu Ping’an resolve to act.
But in the moment of using the True Words, Lu Ping’an hesitated... not about whether to use it, but about which form to use.
[According to the summoning method, there are two usage modes of this True Words: have the caster’s body bear the authority, which has better effects, but once used, it requires at least seventy-two hours to use again. Alternatively, summon the phantom of Newman for a glare, and it can be used again in at least twenty-four hours.]
Clearly, bearing the power directly in the body would be much more effective... But Big Cat had stopped him earlier, because his physical strength was simply not sufficient to withstand the circulation of Gold-level power in his body.
"How about now?"
"...You could give it a try."
And so, Lu Ping’an smiled.
With the support of the infinitely regenerating Abyss, Lu Ping’an summoned the name of the "one-eyed Duke."
The next instant, his pale twin eyes turned a murky yellow, and starting from his core, snake scales rapidly spread across his body.
But Lu Ping’an gritted his teeth, gave himself a deferred payment, and the transformation only happened on his face.
Lu Ping’an shook his head, his body swirling with dizziness, yet he still forced himself to stand up.
He opened his eyes, gazing at Didirona... perhaps some being, through these eyes, was looking back at him.
"Ugly." Irritation appeared inexplicably in Lu Ping’an’s heart; perhaps these were not his own thoughts.
At this moment, maybe the snake god’s vertical pupils were silently observing the multitude of snakes in front of him—offspring that might share a trace of his own blood, yet were so disfigured.
In reality, Lu Ping’an quietly watched the myriad of snakes come to a stop.
They were afraid, fearing an existence superior to themselves.
They were waiting, waiting for the Eternal Snake King’s command.
It was time for Lu Ping’an to speak.
He needed to make a request (command) to finish his snake taming...
To command it not to move? That would be meaningless; Lu Ping’an couldn’t kill it.
To order it to commit suicide? It would regenerate immediately after slashing its throat, and besides, instructions related to ’life’ are easily rejected.
There was only one chance for the command; if missed, he could simply turn and run, and theoretically, there was no possibility of a killstreak.
But Lu Ping’an himself had been prepared all along.
His target for the command wasn’t Didirona itself from the beginning...
"All snakes before me, activate your boundless hunger and devour each other."
The vicious one-eyed Duke cast the most malevolent curse.
The myriad of snakes began their final apocalyptic banquet.
— End of Chapter 864 —