The Golden Apple Pendant hanging around the priest's neck suddenly shone with golden light, radiating an aura of peace.
The hulking, giant-like Father Carter kept advancing, his strides carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Chen Lun's Sonic Attack left him unmoved, as though it were no more than a breeze brushing his face.
"Waaah!!"
At that moment, the [Sun-Averting Potted Plant] went berserk again. The baby face at the center of the sunflower wailed, and more and more branches extended from it, thrashing wildly in the air.
The branches binding Froy tightened. Still an ordinary human, she could not withstand the pressure and immediately began to suffocate.
Blood vessels spread across her wide-open eyes, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Chen Lun knew things were going badly. At this rate, Froy might die here before he did.
He grabbed the Seashell Necklace on his chest and attempted to hypnotize the approaching priest.
[Sanity -1]
Enduring a splitting headache, Chen Lun stared straight at his enemy.
A faint blue light flashed.
The priest's raised foot froze in midair.
His savage expression seemed to struggle, but [Flesh Faction] supernatural beings were not particularly strong in willpower. The priest could not pass a check requiring a full 25 points of willpower!
He had been successfully hypnotized!
Chapter 15: You Call This Tickling?
But a moment later, Chen Lun nearly broke down in tears.
"Goddammit, are you kidding me!? Even damaged, you're still a grade B anomalous item! You can't even hold him!?"
The Golden Apple Pendant on the priest's chest shone again, brighter and more intense than before.
The hypnotic effect Chen Lun had cast through [Siren's Song] was dispelled!
"Waaah!!!"
The [Sun-Averting Potted Plant]'s cries grew louder, sending stabs of pain through Chen Lun's eardrums.
A rippling ring of black light passed through the priest and Chen Lun, making both of them shudder.
It brought an agonizing, tearing sensation, as though their souls were being dragged out, accompanied by a profound emptiness that threatened to stop their hearts.
Chen Lun dropped to his knees, head lowered as he gasped like a fish out of water.
"Aah-!"
Froy screamed.
Chen Lun's heart clenched, and he looked up.
The countless branches of the [Sun-Averting Potted Plant] had woven themselves into two "giant pythons" and plunged straight into Froy's eyes!
The petite girl had already collapsed, helpless as the bizarre plant burrowed into her brain.
The baby face at the center of the sunflower closed its eyes in sleep, yet a sweet smile appeared on its lips.
The sight was utterly grotesque!
Chen Lun gritted his teeth and was about to rush forward to save her, but a massive body blocked his path.
"Where are you going?"
With the blazing sun at his back, the priest looked down at Chen Lun, his shadowed eyes ice-cold.
"I told you that you couldn't escape!"
He slammed his palm down, driving a gust of wind before it.
Anxious but helpless, Chen Lun could only dodge to the side.
Boom!!
The blow punched a crater into the ground. Flying fragments of stone struck Chen Lun, stinging fiercely.
Froy's body trembled faintly, as though she were enduring unimaginable pain, and her life was slowly slipping away.
"Brother..."
Froy murmured softly, then lost consciousness completely.
Chen Lun stared at her and clenched his fists.
"I said I would change her fate..."
Since arriving in this world, Chen Lun had come to know this girl anew.
She was not yet the chillingly cold figure he remembered, the villainous boss who, in the future, knew only slaughter and regarded people as ants.
Chen Lun had arrived before the Red Apple Church completely transformed Froy into a soulless, human-shaped blade. She still retained her humanity, her warmth, and her innocence.
He would not allow his arrival to cause Froy's premature death.
This was not the fate he wanted to change!
"If you make me fail the grade A hidden quest chain I worked so hard to obtain, I'll show you what cruelty means..."
Chen Lun spoke without expression.
Boom!!
The priest grinned with a hint of madness and drove a fist into Chen Lun's face!
"Cruelty? Does your idea of cruelty mean tickling me?"
The priest spoke slowly in his deep, hoarse voice.
A second later, Father Carter narrowed his eyes and looked down at the black-haired young man beneath him, who had not budged an inch.
At some point, Chen Lun had raised his arm beside his face, blocking the priest's heavy punch.
Dark golden scales covered his entire arm. Each spindle-shaped scale fit neatly against the next like pieces of a puzzle, displaying an exquisite beauty in the sunlight.
[Animal Mimicry LVMAX] [Pangolin Armor] [Skill description: You have learned to grow scales like a pangolin's, temporarily gaining powerful physical protection.]
Chen Lun slowly raised his head, revealing pale yellow serpentine pupils and a vicious expression.
The scales slowly spread, covering half his face and half his neck in dark gold.
[All sacrifices have escaped. You have completed the grade C quest: Mercy] [You have received quest rewards: 500 experience points and 800 Copper Crowns] [You have killed the supernatural creature Rotting Hound, gaining 70 experience points] *4
Chen Lun had received the notifications just before the priest attacked. The two sets of rewards arrived one after the other, as though they had coordinated their timing.
Just in time, he thought, immediately spending all the nearly one thousand experience points he had accumulated to gain five levels.
While his stats improved across the board, Chen Lun also invested all 14 of his saved attribute points in strength. His strength surged to 22, putting him on par with the priest in his current state, or even slightly above him.
"What about now?"
Chen Lun twisted the arm blocking the fist and activated Serpent Body Transformation. His scale-covered arm wound around the priest's thick arm like a golden python.
Then he gave a vicious twist!
"Aaargh!!"
The priest let out an inhuman scream as Chen Lun tore his entire arm apart and ripped it off at the shoulder!
Pangolin scales had formidable cutting power. Combined with the constricting grip of a serpent's body, they were practically a living meat grinder.
Father Carter staggered back several steps, howling and clutching the stump as blood gushed from it, gradually descending into madness.
Chen Lun knew such an injury was not fatal to a [Flesh Faction] supernatural being.
Perhaps before long, the priest could even grow a new arm.
So he unleashed the hypnotic power of [Siren's Song] again, directing it at the priest.
The Golden Apple Pendant on the priest's chest automatically protected him, once again emitting a warm golden glow that canceled out the hypnosis.
"Stop wasting your effort... scum..."
The priest panted heavily and mocked him in a low voice.
"It can resist most supernatural mental powers and keep me lucid at all times."
But Chen Lun was not discouraged. This was not a desperate attempt after running out of options. He had never intended to control the priest with hypnosis again.
Everything was going as expected.
"Waaah!! Waaah!!"
The [Sun-Averting Potted Plant] was finally enraged. The baby face in the sunflower abruptly opened its pitch-black eyes, and a branch shot through the air.
Like a sharp spear, the branch struck faster than the priest could react, piercing through his chest from behind.
Squelch!!
Blood sprayed!
"What...!?"
The priest's eyes widened, his mouth hanging slightly open.
The branch curled around the Golden Apple Pendant on his chest, then whipped back and dropped it into the baby's mouth, where it was noisily crunched into nothing.
A valuable [anomalous item] was devoured just like that.
The priest had no time to lament the loss, because his heart was now quite literally aching!
A gaping hole had opened in his chest, through which his damaged heart could be seen stubbornly beating.
At the sight, Chen Lun gave a cold smile of triumph.
The poor fool of a priest knew nothing about the [Sun-Averting Potted Plant].
Before you continue