The instant the sword light cleaved through the deathly aura, the mouth on that face snapped shut.
Root Severer struck the grayish-white skin as though it had hit iron.
It was not that the blade could not cut through—it was that the skin hardened the instant the sword edge touched it—harder than stone, harder than iron, harder than anything he had seen in the ruins.
The blade sank less than an inch before getting stuck. Silver-white light burned within the wound, but slowly, like fire meeting wet wood.
That face tilted slightly, and its mouth split open again. The teeth within the crack reflected a pale gleam in the sword light. Each one was as long as a finger, sharp as needles.
"Your sword has grown stronger." The voice squeezed through clenched teeth, carrying a hissing rush of air. "But your body has not."
It raised a hand, spreading five fingers, each longer than Lu Chen's arm.
As the palm came crashing down, Lu Chen yanked out his sword and retreated. The force of the palm brushed past his chest and blasted a three-foot-deep crater into the ground behind him.
Lu Chen retreated thirty yards, lowering his gaze to Root Severer. A layer of grayish-white powder clung to the blade—the remnants of the face's skin after it had been cut away.
The powder wriggled atop the sword, as if alive, trying to crawl toward the hilt. The golden patterns on Root Severer flashed, burning the powder to ash that drifted away.
[Target: Undead Monarch incarnation. Realm: Peak Longevity Realm. Traits: Skin can harden instantly; hardness rises with the concentration of deathly aura. Weaknesses: Interior of the mouth, eyes (if any), nodes where deathly aura flows through the joints.]
Lu Chen stared at that face.
It had no eyes,