Smack!!
He swept his hand through the air, bursting seven or eight bats lunging at him. Fragments of flesh rained down.
The priest charged forward, crushing countless rats into pulp beneath his feet.
Carter gave a cruel sneer and reached out with a large hand to seize Chen Lun.
"Interesting... a rare [Fate Faction] Beyonder!"
"I must study you thoroughly. You aren't going anywhere!"
Chapter 14: The Priest
His withered, pale hand resembled an eagle's talon, its veins bulging as he tried to crush Chen Lun's head!
Relying on his supple body and high dexterity, Chen Lun abruptly ducked. A fierce gust whistled over his head.
A cold gleam flashed in the priest's eyes.
His five fingers closed into a fist, and he hammered it down!
Bam!!
The punch slammed into Chen Lun's back. It felt as though a sledgehammer had struck him, bending his body even farther down.
A metallic taste rose in his throat, and he immediately coughed up blood.
[-68]
White text floated up.
Father Carter had knocked away a third of Chen Lun's health with one punch!
Two more punches like that, and Chen Lun would be dead on the spot.
Whoosh, whoosh!!
Chen Lun hadn't taken that punch because he'd lost his mind. He'd done it for this opening.
He thrust both hands out, latching onto the priest's arms with a sharp smack.
Under Serpent Body Transformation, his hands twisted and snaked upward along the priest's arms, coiling tightly around them like two pythons and locking him in place!
The priest frowned slightly, sensing trouble.
A moment later, hordes of rats and bats caught up from behind, piling onto his body.
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!
The huge black rats and bats seemed to have gone mad. They opened their mouths and lashed out with their claws, tearing into Father Carter.
"Aaargh!"
In moments, blood seeped from all over Father Carter's body, drenching him red.
"Get off!! Disgusting vermin!!"
The priest roared and wrenched himself free.
Bang!!
Chen Lun's hands sprang apart like two taut tendons suddenly released, sending searing pain through him.
The rats and bats swarming over the priest were flung away as well, flying in every direction with a flurry of thuds.
The priest's robe had been chewed full of holes. He stood before Chen Lun in tatters, looking utterly wretched.
Carter raised his blood-soaked face and gave a savage grin.
He clenched his fist, his bones crackling.
"You shouldn't have angered me."
With that, he stamped down and shot straight toward Chen Lun like a cannonball.
"Die!!"
A viciously powerful punch came crashing down toward Chen Lun's head, the air cracking once more.
Chen Lun didn't dare meet it head-on. He could only dodge, exploiting his superior dexterity.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!
Amid the furious whistles of fists cutting through the air, Chen Lun narrowly escaped death again and again.
Father Carter was nothing like an elderly man. He was more like a ferocious beast in human form.
His fists left trails of afterimages as he relentlessly attacked Chen Lun, who often had to dodge four or five blows before finding a tiny opening to strike back.
But his counterattacks barely tickled the priest. His punches and kicks inflicted only a dozen or so points of damage, less even than the earlier swarm of rats and bats.
"Raaaargh!!"
The priest let out a monstrous roar and unleashed a heavy, powerful hook straight at him.
The force of the wind whipped Chen Lun's hair back. His scalp prickled, and his eyelids twitched wildly.
That'll kill me in one hit!
I'll die!
The fist skimmed past the tip of Chen Lun's nose, the air buzzing and cracking around it.
A bead of sweat flew off and vanished into the dirt.
At the last possible instant, Chen Lun used Serpent Body Transformation again.
He arched his entire body backward and twisted his neck aside, dodging the lethal punch.
Without stopping, his neck suddenly extended forward, carrying his head around a bend. He faced the priest and opened his mouth.
Bzzzt-!!
[Animal Mimicry LVMAX] [Ultrasound] [Skill description: You have learned a bat's vocalization techniques and can temporarily gain the ability to produce ultrasound.]
A powerful burst of ultrasound, accompanied by a wave of air pressure, erupted from Chen Lun's mouth and struck directly at the priest's face.
Father Carter froze for a moment. His ears instantly began ringing, as though countless insects were screeching beside them.
His vision suddenly blurred, and intense nausea welled up inside him. Blood slowly trickled from both ears.
"Die!!"
Finish him while he's vulnerable!
Using the ultrasound to briefly immobilize the priest, Chen Lun raised his right arm, pressed his fingers together into a blade, and chopped down!
Bang!!
His knife-hand struck the priest squarely in the neck!
The priest's eyes immediately lost focus, and his head bent at a ninety-degree angle.
Chen Lun could even distinctly feel the vibration of the man's bones snapping.
Crack!
With his head hanging sideways, the priest crashed to the ground, kicking up dust.
Chen Lun panted heavily, his entire body soaked in sweat.
He felt as though he had almost no stamina left. His legs trembled just from standing.
"That old bastard was really tough..."
Chen Lun sighed.
Looking up, he saw Froy tightly bound by the branches extending from the [Sun-Averting Potted Plant], her face filled with fear as she struggled helplessly.
He was about to go over and help, only to find that he couldn't move his leg.
He looked down, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
The priest's pale, withered hand had clamped tightly around his ankle.
"Die!!"
The priest sprang up from the ground and kicked Chen Lun in the abdomen.
Bang!!
Chen Lun's eyes widened. His body curled like a cooked shrimp as he was sent flying backward.
Rumble...
The tremendous force kept him hurtling onward, tumbling and skidding across the ground as dirt and gravel flew up around him.
Only when Chen Lun slammed into the base of a large tree with a deafening crash did he finally stop.
Covered in blood, Chen Lun lay on the ground and struggled to lift his head.
Father Carter's robe had split open. His body seemed to have swollen by a third out of nowhere, inflating like a balloon until he became a hulking mass of muscle.
"[Butcher]..."
Chen Lun spat out a mouthful of blood and uttered the name of this Beyonder Sequence.
[Flesh Faction] [Sequence 9: Butcher]
Most Beyonders of the Red Apple Church followed this Sequence, renowned for their powerful vitality, regenerative abilities, and prowess in close combat.
The hulking priest wore a vicious expression, his eyes filled with madness and murderous intent.
"I underestimated you... but you're still going to die."
Now standing three meters tall, the priest charged like a giant bear, making the ground tremble.
Bzzzt-!
Chen Lun shakily climbed to his feet and unleashed another ultrasound attack at the sight.
This time, however, he saw a hint of mockery on the priest's face.
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