Spirit Speech: Abyss Court Heavy Domain

In the dim classroom, only the cigarette at Lu Shiyan's fingertips flickered with a faint light.

Hoshino used this sliver of light to stare at the pitch-black mark on Yekaterina's arm.

It was a human face, frozen in a silent scream.

Just looking at it made her feel a chill deep in her womb.

"What... what is this?" Hoshino's voice trembled.

Yekaterina pulled down her sleeve and said concisely, "A curse."

"Don't be afraid~ little girl."

Lu Shiyan exhaled a smoke ring, a wicked smirk hanging at the corner of his mouth.

"Everyone who enters the grounds of this school is branded by that hospitable master."

"Of course, that includes you too~"

"Ah?!"

Hoshino shrank into a ball, terrified, tears shimmering in her eyes.

She looked at Yekaterina pitifully, her eyes filled with a plea for her to say it wasn't true.

However, Yekaterina crushed her last shred of hope, saying coldly.

"Lu isn't trying to scare you this time."

"If you don't believe it, check your own body."

Now Hoshino was truly panicked.

Her hands trembled as she reached for her collar, wanting to look but afraid to see, as if some flood and fierce beast were hidden beneath.

"Then... why did that ghost brand us with this mark?"

Hoshino asked, her voice thick with tears.

Lu Shiyan raised an eyebrow, lowering his voice to sound mysterious.

"To throw a party, of course."

"When it hits 4:44 am, you'll know exactly what it wants to do..."

"Just think about where we are... it's a school, after all. There always has to be morning reading and a flag raising ceremony."

"Believe me, you will definitely 'like' it."

"I don't like it!!"

As Guo Shuai was about to step out of the rain curtain of the valley, a roar echoed in his mind.

"Holy crap! Are you trying to kill me?"

Guo Shuai was so startled he nearly slipped in the mud. "Why are you scaring me so suddenly? Can you have some manners?"

"Manners? You want me to have manners?"

In his mind, Albert roared in exasperation.

"What was the meaning of that nickname you were thinking about just now?! Fei Yangyang?!"

"That doesn't sound like a proper name at all!"

"You little bastard, you're wicked, always bullying an old man like me who's over a thousand years old."

"It's just a nickname, isn't it? Do you have to hiss like that?"

Guo Shuai retorted while trudging forward, his steps uneven in the mud.

"I don't care! I don't want it! You are not allowed to call me Fei Yangyang!"

Albert snorted like a tsundere old urchin and stopped speaking.

The corner of Guo Shuai's mouth twitched.

This guy's personality...

How does it not match the image of the one filled with bitter and deep hatred from the diary at all?

Instead, he is more like a tsundere who has been locked up for too long and has become a bit of a chatterbox.

"But... people are capable of disguise."

Guo Shuai thought to himself, One must always be on guard.

He hummed a little tune, shouldered his machine gun, and walked quickly toward the black rv parked in the distance.

"I've made a great contribution this time, bringing back both weapons and intelligence. Boss should praise me, right?"

Thinking of Jiangnan, Guo Shuai's eyes were filled with admiration.

That figure who stood like a god in the sea of fire, that back that could turn everything to ashes with a wave of his hand.

He had already become his only faith in this apocalypse.

However, just at this moment.

Albert started acting up again.

"Hey, kid."

"Why are you following that man?"

"Now that you have this god, we can totally go solo!"

"When the time comes to establish a sect, you can have whatever you want—women, resources, territory—all within your reach! Why settle for living under someone else's roof?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Shuai was instantly enraged.

"Shut up! Stop trying to swindle me!"

"I haven't even settled the score with you for discriminating against people based on their status!"

"Let me tell you, the boss is my boss forever! I will follow him until the day I die!"

"What discrimination? Don't you dare slander this god!"

Albert grew anxious.

"Although I, Fate Albert, occasionally tell some 'well-intentioned little lies,' I never joke about critical matters!"

"That boss of yours, according to the precise scan I just performed, his data panel shows he's just an E-rank weakling!"

"Although, in terms of temperament... I admit he's quite good, and he certainly knows how to be pretentious."

"But he doesn't even have any supernatural ability fluctuations; he's just an ordinary person! What makes him worth your such unwavering loyalty?"

"..."

Guo Shuai rolled his eyes, not believing a word of it.

"An ordinary person? Heh."

"You blind fool don't know a damn thing."

Guo Shuai was convinced that this guy was either trying to fish for information or was simply blind.

Furthermore, before the scarecrow died, this guy had been locked in the cellar.

Since he hadn't seen the boss unleash his power, he naturally didn't know what it meant for "divine might to be like a prison."

"Can't be bothered with you."

Guo Shuai directly blocked the voice in his mind and quickened his pace.

Albert saw that the other party ignored him, so he didn't bother to make a fool of himself further.

However, he fell into deep thought.

Strange... could I have really misjudged him?

That man... there was indeed a scent on him that made even me feel a palpitation.

But why are all the values on his data panel so low?

Interesting... truly interesting.

As they spoke, Guo Shuai had already walked up to the RV.

"Guo Shuai!!"

Wang Meng, who had been pacing by the car door, saw the humanoid figure and rushed down, grabbing Guo Shuai in a hug.

"Haha! Brother, you finally made it back! You scared me to death!"

Immediately after, Wang Meng saw the machine gun hanging around Guo Shuai's neck and the rifle on his back. His eyes lit up like light bulbs:

"Holy crap! An NG-7 machine gun?! A fully equipped M4?!"

"Did you go on a shopping spree? Where did you get these?!"

Guo Shuai scratched his head, smiling as he shook the rainwater off his body:

"Hehe, just got lucky. I scavenged them."

"Brother Wang, can you let me get on the car first? This rain is freezing, and I'm covered in mud."

"Oh, oh! Right! Look at my brain!"

Wang Meng slapped his thigh and immediately started taking off his own jacket.

"Quick! Take off your wet clothes and wear mine first! Don't catch a cold!"

"This... this isn't very appropriate, is it?"

Guo Shuai felt a bit embarrassed.

"Aiya, what's inappropriate about it! We're brothers! What's mine is yours!"

Wang Meng began unbuttoning his shirt with a generous air.

"Brother Wang~"

"Guo Di~"

Two grown men stared affectionately at each other in the rain, the atmosphere gradually becoming somewhat scorching and ambiguous.

"Ahem."

Just then, the car door opened.

Jiangnan stepped out draped in a shirt, his expression cold, interrupting this display of "brotherly love."

He first swept a glance over the equipment on Guo Shuai, showing no sign of excessive surprise.

Instead, he took out his memo pad and got straight to the point.

[What is the situation?]

Seeing his boss, Guo Shuai immediately put away his playful grin, his expression turning solemn and respectful.

He stood up straight, not bothering to wipe the rain from his face, and reported everything he had seen and heard at the school gate.

This included the wiped-out Cherry Blossom Country squad, the bizarre rain monsters, and the chatterbox "Fate Albert" inside his head.

He reported every detail without omission.

Jiangnan listened quietly, nodding from time to time.

When he heard the name "Fate Albert," a playful glint flashed in Jiangnan's eyes.

That madman wizard who wrote diaries was actually still alive.

Interesting.

After listening to the report, Jiangnan wrote on the memo pad:

[You performed well on this mission.]

[Hand the gun over to Wang Meng to handle.]

[As for searching for the terminal signal tower, delay it for now.]

After writing this, Jiangnan turned to get back into the car.

"Hey? Boss?"

Guo Shuai was stunned for a moment. He pointed to his left eye and asked with some hesitation.

"Don't... don't we need to worry about 'him'?"

He was naturally referring to Albert, the former creator of s-class bosses who was currently parasitic in his eye.

This was an old monster who had lived for thousands of years. Although he looked a bit ridiculous right now, what if he lashed out?

Jiangnan stopped in his tracks.

He did not turn around. With his back facing Guo Shuai, he raised the memo pad in his hand, tore off a sheet, and let the wind carry it to Guo Shuai.

Guo Shuai hurriedly caught it.

There was only one line of text on the note, written with a sharp stroke that exuded unparalleled dominance and contempt:

[Would you care about a wild dog you kicked to death on the side of the road?]

"!!"

Looking at these words, Guo Shuai felt a rush of blood surge straight to his head!

Dominant!

It was just too damn dominant!

To compare a thousand-year-old great witcher, the creator of an S-class anomaly, to a wild dog on the side of the road?!

And a wild dog that was "kicked to death at will" at that!

"Boss is truly the boss!!"

Guo Shuai was trembling with excitement; he even wanted to kowtow to Jiangnan right then and there and shout, "Awesome!"

However.

One man's joy is another man's sorrow.

"Bastard!!!"

Inside Guo Shuai's mind, Albert had gone completely red hot, his roar making Guo Shuai's brain ache.

"A wild dog?! Who is he calling a wild dog?!"

"This arrogant mortal! What right does he have to look down on this god?!"

"Kid! Give up control of your body! I want to challenge him to a duel! I want to show him what the dignity of a witcher is!!"

He, the dignified Fite Albert, had never suffered such an insult.

Guo Shuai sneered in his heart:

"You? Don't overestimate yourself."

"Boss isn't someone you can provoke. If you don't want to die, stay quiet."

"Hmph!"

Albert was exasperated.

"It's clear to me he's just scared! Suddenly saying he's delaying the departure—he's definitely afraid of that monster in the rain!"

"I think he's just a coward!"

"Shut up!"

A flash of anger crossed Guo Shuai's eyes as he snapped in his mind:

"You are not allowed to slander the boss! The boss must have his own deep-seated reasons for doing this!"

"If you dare say one more bad word, I'll gouge out those eyeballs of yours and shove them into the buttocks of a wandering corpse outside! I mean it!"

"..."

This method of physical insult was clearly extremely effective.

Albert choked on his words, finally able only to let out a cold snort:

"Facts speak louder than words! Stinky kid, let's wait and see!"

Outside the car, the argument continued incessantly, but inside, there was nothing but silence.

Jiangnan sat before the monitor screen, his gaze deep as he watched the entrance of the valley shrouded by the rain curtain.

"A monster hidden in the raindrops, huh..."

"Water-elemental, teleportation, physical immunity."

"Indeed, for someone like me who is currently in a skill cooldown period."

"And lacking large-scale crowd control, it's a somewhat troublesome opponent."

If he were to force his way in, he could save his life by relying on the deterrent of the s-class magic skin.

But trying to kill that thing hidden within thousands of raindrops would be very difficult.

"However..."

"This is only for today."

"I hope that tomorrow... you can still be as arrogant as you are today."

Jiangnan stood up, took off his clothes, and returned to the warm, large bed.

Chen Tong burrowed into his arms like a docile kitten, rubbing her cheek against his chest.

Jiang Nan held the warm, soft body close and closed his eyes. Ding Nuannuan was fast asleep.

He was waiting.

Waiting for that moment to arrive.

Tick.

Tock.

When the hour hand and minute hand overlapped at the highest point.

[Ding! The time has reached midnight 00:00.]

[Daily settlement complete.]

[Word quota refreshed: +1 (Current balance: 6323)]

[Current location: Rainy Night Valley (Edge)]

[Sign-in successful!]

The system's notification arrived right on cue, sounding like a heavenly melody.

[Congratulations to the host, you have obtained Spirit Word: Abyssal Court Domain (A-class)!]

[Spirit Word: Abyssal Court Domain (A)]

Effect: Expand a gravity courtyard with a radius of 10 meters centered on yourself.

Anyone who enters this domain with killing intent will immediately suffer your directional super-gravity pressure.

Super-gravity pressure: One hundred tons.

Characteristic: Counter-trigger, stackable, infinite duration, ineffective against those without killing intent.

Range: 10-meter radius (centered on yourself).

Consume: 6 words.

Activation method: Kneel on one knee, press your palm to the ground, and whisper: "This court is heavy; halt."

On the large bed, Jiang Nan suddenly opened his eyes.

Raindrops? Teleportation?

In front of the Hundred Ton King, I will make this sky full of heavy rain kneel before me!