Mold, the Third Hand, and the Strongest Debuff (I)

A red and yellow shadow flashed by as Freya sped along the bumpy stone road.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

Heavy breathing echoed inside the car, interspersed with the sound of liquid dripping.

"Xiang! Hang in there, Xiang!"

Tani Hana Mei's voice was trembling with sobs as she bandaged Tani Hana Mei's wounds, her hands shaking as she tried to hold back her trembling hands.

"Ugh, ughhhhh!!!"

"Hold on, hold on! Damn it... there's no professional medical equipment..."

Apply a hemostatic Spiritual Medicine and tightly bandage the wound—though calling it a wound is no longer quite appropriate.

That's a cross-section.

Tani Hana Hibiki's once slender and beautiful arms were gone, leaving only two bloody and mangled severed ends.

It appears to have been caused by being slashed with a sharp blade.

That's understandable.

Because the one who removed her arms was none other than herself.

"Damn it! Just who are those three people?!"

"Focus on driving, Amy! If they catch up, we're done for!"

"Whoosh... sound... sound..."

Just two minutes ago--

Her hands were infected with mold—the moment Hibiki realized it.

"Ooh!"

Her hands suddenly went limp, and the Black Greatsword fell to the ground, turning into a wisp of black smoke and dissipating. Xiang trembled all over, cold sweat pouring down her face. Intense pain assaulted her nerves, as if a million ants were crawling on her hand bones!

"""Ring!"""

The other three hurriedly stepped forward.

"Don't come any closer! Run outside!"

"But!" "Quickly!"

The mold spread extremely quickly, covering the wrist in the blink of an eye and extending towards the arm. Meanwhile, the mold on the palm began to erode deeper, with the ubiquitous hyphae penetrating beyond the skin, piercing through the muscle, and reaching the bone marrow!

Snap--

The sound was very soft, yet it drew everyone's attention.

My finger fell off.

Under the erosion of mold, the severely rotten connective tissue can no longer perform its function of connecting the flesh, and the outer muscle has long since turned into mud. Without support, it is only natural that the finger will fall off.

The next moment, Hibiki made the wisest, yet also the cruelest, move.

"Come out!!!"

With a roar, several small cracks appeared in the space in front of her, and long, sharp blades emerged from them. She gritted her teeth and slammed her two arms, which were ravaged by mold, into the dark blades!

Click!

Without any hesitation, two slender, fair arms gushed crimson blood as they crashed heavily to the ground. Within seconds of hitting the ground, dark green mold covered them completely, turning their once-intact arms into a bloody mess in an instant.

"Wow, she really cut off both her own arms! This girl is awesome!"

"Give it your all Xiu Lin! Use your mold to wipe them all out! That way we won't have to lift a finger, okay?"

This is a shocking tragedy, yet the trio is still laughing and joking, showing absolutely no sympathy.

"Don't... underestimate me!!!"

Several cracks opened simultaneously, and dozens of jet-black swords shot out, all aimed at the three! Taking advantage of their momentary lapse in concentration—

"Xiang-chan, hurry!"

Emilia waved her hand, and a pink Light Path appeared beneath Hibiki. Upon touching the acceleration arrow, her body immediately sped towards the three women along the Light Path. Messiah scooped her up, and with Emilia's acceleration, the three escaped this dangerous place at top speed.

On the other side--

"Whoa whoa... that really startled me! What a cool girl, and she ran away so fast!"

"What are you two doing, letting even a nobody like him get away?!"

"My mold can't catch up that quickly..."

As if it were only natural, the three of them were unharmed, while the dozens of swords had long since been shattered and vanished into black smoke.

"Looks like none of you want to bother... Oh well, I guess I'll have to do it myself. Let's see how awesome I am!"

Payne closed his eyes as he spoke, ripped off his long black trench coat, revealing his bare upper body—that's right, he wasn't wearing any shirt under his trench coat.

"My hands..."

In that instant,

The air in the entire space began to vibrate, a thick killing intent flowed everywhere, and even the ground began to tremble slightly.

"Tear the world apart!"

When he opened his eyes again, the whites of his eyes had turned dark red, and his pupils were a cloudy white, making him look extremely eerie and terrifying.

Slurp slurp----

Accompanied by a sticky, slippery sound, a large lump of flesh rose in the center of the once smooth chest. The lump of flesh grew rapidly, stretched, and differentiated into various details, eventually becoming—an arm.

It was a two-meter-long, red and black striped arm with at least four elbow joints—an inhuman, demonic arm.

"Oh..."

A chilling laugh emanated from its split mouth.

"Hehe... hehe... hahahaha... hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!"

With the appearance of the Third Hand, Payne seemed to have become a different person. His originally ordinary face was twisted to the extreme, his mouth split open to his ears, and he couldn't help but let out a piercing laugh. His body trembled uncontrollably as if in spasm.

"Hiss--hehe--so-so-so-I'm going! Hehehehe!!!!!!"

Boom!!!!!

Third Hand suddenly stretched out and slammed into the void in front of him. The seemingly stable space cracked like glass under his palm! The cracks spread outwards in a straight line, chasing after the direction Emilia and the others had fled! Payne roared and leaped directly into the spatial crack. Like water seeping into a crevice, his body squeezed into the narrow crack and sped outwards along its trajectory.

This is Payne's superpower.

Third Hand capable of tearing through space.

Furthermore, the main body can move freely along the spatial rifts it creates.

Inside the Square Tower, only Geronimo and Xiu Lin remained.

"Ha, it's rare to see Payne get serious."

"Huh? Geronimo, don't you need to ask a question?"

"Well... my 'questioning' and Geronimo's 'dick' verbal tic were actually things we added ourselves."

"Why?"

"If I had to explain why, it's like a switch; the presence or absence of verbal tic can strengthen or weaken the suppression of supernatural abilities."

"You guys are really weird..."

"You can give it a try too, don't always be a moldy girl."

"It's not moldy, it's full of vitality."

"It should be full of moisture, right?"

"...(puffed up in anger)"

"Okay, stop puffing out your cheeks and acting cute. Come on, smile."

"... Hate."

"Since you're a member of our trio, you could add a catchphrase too."

"Real?"

"Of course, give it a try!"

"So..."

Xiu Lin placed his hands on his hips and made a scissor shape with his other hand in front of his eyes.

"This is the adorable moldy girl Xiu Lin- chan~☆"

kirakirakira~~ She forcefully puffed out her small, almost sunken chest, stuck out her sparse buttocks, stretched out her thin, shapeless legs, tossed her not-so-smooth dark green hair, and emitted strange, musty-smelling electric waves from her eyes.

Geronimo just stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, and then--

"... Sinai!"

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I'm sorry! Please don't spread spores to me!!!"

With a thud, Sirius's four wheels hit the ground heavily. After a burst of speed, we finally returned to the third level.

"Givinia! Quickly use the projector to find them!" Ally looked anxiously around.

"I've been searching, but haven't found them yet. They might be moving at high speed!"

"Damn it... what on earth is going on!" Ally slammed her fist on the steering wheel in frustration, about to roll down the window—

"Don't move!!!"

Givinia suddenly gasped, startling Ally so much that she pulled her hand back.

"Look carefully outside, something's wrong!"

Something's not right?

I peered out carefully in the dim light, but there didn't seem to be anything special, except...

"... Aren't there too many mos..."

"It's not moss, it's mold."

"Huh?" Mold?

Mold and the like usually grow on rotting meat or decaying wood, and sometimes even in the cracks of bathroom walls. But the ruins are made of ancient, sturdy bluestone, and there's no underground river on the third level, so why is that?

"It's probably the enemy's superpower..." Givinia pondered.

"Help, help me!!!"

Just then, a tall figure rushed out of the house next door. He seemed to be in great pain, scratching his body with both hands.

He looked around, then suddenly spotted our car and rushed over as if he'd seen a savior.

"Please, please save me! It's moldy... it's all moldy..."

Only then did we get a clear look at him.

The Sena Sisters couldn't help but scream, I gasped, and even Givinia turned her face away.

Is it a person or a ghost?

The man's face was covered in layers of mold, a truly nauseating sight. One eyeball was ulcerated, and his mouth was so rotten that his jawbone was visible, even the normally pale white bone was covered in mold. Even more horrifying, a portion of his skull had rotted into a pulpy mess, exposing his brain, also consumed by mold.

"Help me! Help me! Help me!!!"

The man screamed at the top of his lungs and frantically pounded on our car door. Ailin was so frightened she started to cry—of course, no one opened the door for him; this was no time for pity.

"Help me... Waaah..."

With a final, pitiful whimper, its neck, riddled with mold and beyond repair, could no longer serve its original purpose. Its tattered head slipped off its shoulder, fell to the ground, and quickly rotted into mud.

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After this final climax, it's time to prepare for the ending.