Volume Four: Withering in the Mortal World - Wither

"The Templar Knight, Chief..."

"Yes! And Lord Nid is fighting the enemy alone to protect us!"

"...(That idiot!)"

Looking at the messenger who rushed back from the Gate of Books to report the news, Loxue felt a headache coming on.

The idea of "protecting us from the enemy alone" is clearly just wishful thinking on the part of subordinates who excessively idolize their leader. Nid was probably provoked, which is why he wanted to "act like a man and fight one-on-one." Normally, he wouldn't care what he did, but in such a critical moment, he shouldn't have acted recklessly!

Loxue hadn't shown such a serious expression in a long time.

Although she had prepared for the possibility of encountering unexpected enemies, this unexpected event was far too "surprising." Faced with the Chief Templar Knight, she didn't think those little tricks would work.

"... Blood Emperor, where are Miss Tartaglia and Xiao Wu?"

"The specifics are unclear, but they encountered resistance from an unknown force! However, we cannot determine the identity of the attackers!"

"Unknown force!?"

The Chief Templar Knight is locked in fierce combat with Nid, and the majority of the Papacy's army has already been routed. Who is holding them back? If they could only stop one person, that would be one thing, but what method could possibly be used to hold off all three of them simultaneously?

"This is bad... Miss Xiao!"

"W-What's wrong?"

Xiao, who was sitting to the side at a loss, was suddenly called out, which startled her. After teleporting the last wave of the Revolutionary Army, she temporarily closed the Book Gate, since keeping it open all the time would consume too much energy.

"Although it might be a bit of a stretch, please be prepared to open the door in an emergency!"

"Okay, actually I've rested enough too..."

"You've really had to work hard. It can't be denied that you're the one who deserves the most credit in this battle. Without you, the entire surprise attack plan would have been impossible."

"Oh, oh, oh, there it is... I am! It's so great that I can come in handy! ⁄(⁄)"

⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄

⁄)⁄"

Yes, I'm finally not hiding in a dark corner reading in isolation, nor am I just helping out when others are struggling. I've truly become someone who influences the situation! It's so wonderful to be needed!

"In that case, Ye will definitely treat me even better..."

"Huh? What did you say?"

"No, no, it's nothing!"

"..."

Loxue tilted her head.

"If you like Miss Ye, you should just tell her directly."

"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgoing part out out there out there!!!!!"

"Alright, enough joking around. We're now entering emergency mode! Everyone be prepared for anything to get worse!"

Loxue announced loudly, and the reserve troops immediately stood at attention, ready for battle at any moment. Although she was a woman, when Loxue got serious, her aura was in no way inferior to Nid's.

"Wow, Miss Loxue is really amazing... Eh?"

Xiao suddenly paused, startled.

"Xiao?"

"Hmm... what's wrong? The door feels a bit... strange?"

"--!!"

Sin Annihilation suddenly felt a jolt in his heart, as if something had broken off.

It was as if some kind of connection had been severed.

"... Spinal cord control failed?"

Preparing the separated spinal cord is not easy; it's practically half of her body. Moreover, once the spinal cord invades, it quickly assimilates with the invaded person's nervous system. Forcibly removing it will definitely leave serious sequelae—high-level paraplegia is the least of your worries. Furthermore, the substances secreted by the spinal cord can inhibit the regeneration of the nervous system. In other words, once it's removed, the resulting trauma is extremely difficult to recover from through healing abilities or medication!

"Do you even have time to be distracted!?"

In the instant that Sin Annihilation stunned, Xiao Wu's meteor-like kick struck her squarely in the face, sending her plummeting to the ground in a bloody arc!

However, Xiao Wu's next move was not to immediately pursue, but rather—

Click!

Black and white twin guns— Black Star and White Night—flashed, and the sharp bayonets severed the left foot, the one that had kicked Sin Annihilation away.

With the 70% demonic enhancement, the new foot grew back in just one breath, while the original foot that had fallen off had turned into dark red rotting flesh. At the moment her left foot collided with Sin Annihilation's body, a few bits of flesh that flew out stuck to her foot and began to erode it at an alarming speed. If it wasn't amputated immediately, the entire leg would be ruined.

"... As expected, direct physical contact is not advisable. Speaking of which, her sudden look of surprise just now must mean Ye has already taken care of things."

The rage that had filled his mind at the start of the war gradually cooled down.

This allowed her to carefully consider the whole story.

For example, why should we wage war against the Sin Annihilation?

She was an assassin of the Papacy, a highly threatening enemy, which was enough reason to take his life.

So what's there to hesitate about?

Xiao Wu knew exactly what she should and shouldn't do, but a small voice inside her was still asking a question.

Is it really enough to simply eliminate her as an enemy?

"Offering both arms--"

Just then, another voice came from below. Unlike her flat and indifferent tone when she was fighting Ye Yue, her voice was now very unstable and even had a hysterical quality.

"--Rotten Beast!"

"Tsk--"

The smoke and dust below were instantly dispersed, and two objects that looked like giant snakes shot straight into the sky! The two "snakes" had bodies as thick as oil tankers, and at the top was a gaping, lizard-like maw with countless tiny eyes; just looking at them would make one feel physically disgusted!

"Cut!"

Xiao Wu repeatedly kicked through the air to dodge the charging and biting attacks of the Corrupted Beasts. The two enormous creatures were completely disproportionate in size and speed, both incredibly huge and incredibly fast! Each charge would pierce through a building, and each bite would tear off several roofs, but Xiao Wu only focused on dodging. She knew that she absolutely could not touch anything created by Sin Annihilation!

In other words, most of the moves in her simplified and enhanced Night Nether Style cannot be used lightly! Because they all rely on physical impact from body-to-body collisions!

"Li Liu Si Style - Sickle Carving!"

Xiao Wu flipped in mid-air, launching a horizontal kick that created a vacuum that slashed both rotting beasts in two! But in the next instant, new heads grew from the cut surfaces, and the shaved parts fell to the ground and began to regenerate on their own!

As Sin Annihilation watched Xiao Wu darting wildly through the sky, he separated his arms from the rotting beast, and then—put his hands on his face.

"Offered to the skin—the membrane!"

The fingers, transformed into razors, pierced the skin, easily slicing through the subcutaneous connective tissue. With a slight exertion, accompanied by the sound of something sticky tearing, the face and scalp were peeled off together. The head, stripped of its skin, was left with only its bloody interior, eyeballs, muscles, and teeth fully exposed. But in the next instant, the head was restored to its original state, even with hair growing back.

"Using the skin of a skull to construct a dome..."

The skin flew upwards like a kite, expanding in the wind, and in just a few breaths it became a huge semicircle covering a kilometer, looming over the sky! Xiao Wu, who was trying to dodge upwards, had her path abruptly cut off and had to turn and hide in another direction!

"Using the skin of the limbs, to construct the four walls..."

This time, the skin of all four limbs burst open simultaneously, turning into four enormous fleshy membranes that surrounded the dome, forming an incredibly tough wall!

"Using the skin of the torso to construct the framework..."

The girl's torso skin, combined with the previous pieces, eventually formed a circular fleshy sphere with a diameter of one kilometer, trapping both Xiao Wu and the Rotten Beast inside!

At this moment, Sin Annihilation suddenly hesitated.

Should we kill her?

Did you kill the first person who was kind to you?

"..."

--Of course we must kill them.

The enemy must be annihilated.

No pity, no favoritism, not to mention that everything she went through might very well be a lie.

"... receive!"

A small hand gently grasped the enormous, fleshy sphere in the sky—

Guji jiji jiji!!!!

The enormous ball of flesh shrank rapidly, and Xiao Wu's free space, already confined with the rotten beast, was shrinking drastically! At this rate, even if she wasn't torn apart by the rotten beast, she would be wrapped up in flesh and digested, with nowhere to escape!

As the Sin Annihilation Hand clenched tighter and tighter, the fleshy ball, which was a kilometer in diameter, shrank to several hundred meters, then to several tens of meters, and finally became a tiny ball that even the Rotten Beast could not contain! But at this moment, a blinding light suddenly burst forth from the inside of the fleshy membrane, which could be seen clearly even through the membrane!

"Black Star Blade Array, Seventh - Eight Cuts!"

A metallic clang rang out, and an octagonal pattern appeared on the inside of the flesh membrane—eight connected slash marks! Although it hadn't pierced through the flesh membrane, it had still caused immense damage!

Then, Xiao Wu unleashed her second attack.

"White Night Gun Array II - Pierce the Sun!!!"

The massive energy mass collided violently with the flesh membrane from the inside. Already severely damaged by the eight cuts, the membrane was utterly unable to withstand the attack, and after less than a second, it was pierced through, leaving only a large octagonal hole. A white figure flew out from within; Xiao Wu was wielding dual pistols, the muzzles pointed directly at Sin Annihilation—

"Blazing Fire, Night Rainbow!"

Flowing flames and a halo of light shot out from the gun muzzle, and just before being shot, Sin Annihilation's body disintegrated on its own. Only half of his torso suddenly expanded to withstand the explosion, while the rest flew straight toward Xiao Wu!

Caught off guard by this move, Xiao Wu didn't have time to use the power of her Gun Array or Blade Array. In desperation, she could only use ordinary spiritual energy bullets to fire at the incoming chunks of flesh one by one. However, simple penetrating damage was no match for her. The shredded flesh rapidly reformed into human form amidst the rain of bullets, so fast that even Xiao Wu was astonished! Although she considered her self-healing ability to be unparalleled in the world, even she couldn't completely reassemble a body shattered into pieces in such a short time!

"Serpent's Belly Sword - Combination - Eyeball Sacrifice!"

The eyes of the Sin Annihilation exploded into Blood Mist, and at the same time, countless eyes of all sizes opened on the huge serpentine sword! Countless eyeballs crowded together, almost covering the entire surface of the serpentine sword, each eyeball emitting a dazzling silver light!

"Etc--"

"Annihilate them!!!"

A grotesque blade, capable of easily killing someone with trypophobia, slashed towards Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu immediately parried it with the bayonets of her dual pistols! But in the next instant, a laser beam shooting from the eyeballs covered in sword blades easily blew her away!

"Offered with fingers, finger flicking!"

"I told you to wait a moment!!!"

The hand that Sin Annihilation Extinguished burst open with a large spray of blood, and all five fingers shot towards Xiao Wu! Xiao Wu knocked down four of them, but the last one, caught in the net, pierced through her throat and buried deep in her neck!

"Gurgle... crunch... crunch..."

Xiao Wu's first reaction was to pull it out, but it seemed that many root-like things had grown from that finger, clinging to Xiao Wu's cervical spine and impossible to pull off. And Xiao Wu couldn't cut her cervical spine in the middle of a fight!

Just then, death drew near.

The blade of the snake-belly sword was pressed against Xiao Wu's eyes.

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I'm so tired today... I'll sleep a little longer...