The moment the special individual spoke human tongue, the entire void fell briefly silent.
The next moment, everyone's breathing grew heavy.
Because a ghoul was actually able to speak human tongue.
This was virtually impossible. Until now, other than transcendent-tier special individuals, not a single eerie entity could speak human tongue; they could only beguile human minds or communicate in other ways. Unless... it was already some kind of forbidden existence.
Everyone realized this at that very moment.
In less than half a breath, Kraus's bone ring finished transforming. A bone-colored longsword surged from between his fingers, the green light on its spine flowing wildly along the patterns. His figure vanished from where he stood.
As he charged forward, his other hand reached inside his coat and pulled out a small object.
It was a small, copper-cast bell—the Ghost-Dampening Bell.
Green light flashed in Kraus's hand, and the Ghost-Dampening Bell rang out.
The ring was not loud—exceedingly faint, in fact—but the quality of the sound was heavy and lingering. The moment it reached their ears, it felt as if someone had struck deep inside their heads, leaving them momentarily dizzy.
The instant the sound rippled out, the special individual's figure shuddered violently. Its muscles went rigid, and its fingers resting on the bronze pillar splayed slightly, clearly frozen in place.
Kraus instantly understood that this thing was no transcendent-tier entity, nor had it reached the forbidden level, let alone Rank 5. It was merely a special Rank 4.
In that case, there was no reason to wait.
The moment Kraus dashed forward, his bone sword swept out, and dark green light erupted from the bone blade. Several afterimages burst forth behind him, overlapping and crisscrossing as his true self arrived right in front of the creature.
As Kraus brought his bone sword down, the hands of his afterimages fell in unison, targeting the hand the creature had pressed against the bronze pillar.
The split second the bone sword descended, the special individual finally reacted. Its other hand slammed violently against the pillar, and the roots coiled around the bronze pillar tightened in unison, as if receiving a command.
The next moment, the inscriptions on the bronze pillar suddenly lit up. Dark gold light erupted from every single line, so bright it was almost blinding. A wave of invisible pressure rolled out violently in all directions with the bronze pillar at its center—the raw majesty of the bronze pillar.
Lu Yuan's entire body tensed, but he was not restricted by the pressure. This kind of pressure was highly effective against eerie and mutation transcendents, but had virtually no effect on Knowledge transcendents, who possessed almost no pollution. Moreover, Lu Yuan was only Rank 2, so the pressure's suppressing effect on him was extremely weak, which could be considered a minor perk of being Rank 2.
But it was a different story for the others in the team.
Adrian, being a Believer transcendent, did not feel a particularly strong impact, but the tome on his chest still gave a sudden jerk. The attendant was the same; he let out a low grunt as the purple light around him tightened slightly.
Margaret, however, found it rather uncomfortable. Her body, poised to charge forward, stiffened slightly, and the water she had summoned vanished into air.
On the contrary, the Great Ascendant's legs and body emitted creaking sounds of overload, and steam hissed from the joints, yet he was virtually unaffected.
As for Kraus, he did not halt under this immense pressure.
There was not a shred of hesitation in the speed of his descending bone sword. As the dark green light erupted along the blade, something at his chest began to emit a very thin silver glow.
It was the inscription silver plate tucked inside his coat—one of the three inscription silver plates Bolen had left for Lu Yuan.
During the dive, Lu Yuan had handed the plates to Kraus and the attendant, one for each of them, as they were the primary damage dealers against the special individual. As for Margaret, Lu Yuan did not really want her to fight... her body seemed to be undergoing erosion by something, and if this continued, she might be the first to succumb. He himself did not mind, and indeed had little use for them anyway.
Empowered by the silver plate, Kraus's sword slashed violently into the special individual's right wrist. He felt the bone sword slice into the flesh, followed immediately by a very faint hissing sound. Green crystals instantly overflowed from the edges of the cut, showing a faint tendency to spread along the entire arm.
The special individual did not seem to notice that it had been struck by the sword.
Its body suddenly ballooned. Its original adult-sized frame swelled by a full size in an instant. Its flesh writhing and churning, ribs pushed out from within its body before snapping back in. Its entire body twisted and contorted, like a reshaped clay figure.
The next moment, it crashed into Kraus in this bizarre posture.
At the exact instant the two figures collided, a dark red blood mist exploded violently with the creature at its center.
The dark red blood mist expanded to seven or eight meters, forming a spherical shape that enveloped both Kraus and the creature inside.
And at this moment, the grey-white text before Lu Yuan finally surfaced.
【Target Detected: Ghoul (Atavistic) (Catalyzed) (Forbidden)】
【A ghoul chosen by a special existence. After surviving countless grueling trials, it has finally grown into its current form. Perhaps it has the potential to become an Ancestral Ghoul.】
【Weakness: Limited energy.】
The moment Lu Yuan saw those lines, he raised his voice and shouted.
“Kill it a few more times! It can't hold out for long!”
Its weakness was clearly stated: limited energy. Whether it was its self-healing or the exploding blood mist, both required the consumption of the same resource. If they killed it enough times, it would eventually be drained dry.
No sooner had he spoken than Lu Yuan crushed a ghoul brain core in his hand. The greyish-brown shell shattered, and an even denser ghoul aura enveloped him, masking his movements. Using this cover, he quietly crept toward the bronze pillar.
And the very moment Kraus was completely enveloped by the blood mist, the Blue Knight also vanished from her spot.
Carrying the giant silver sarcophagus on her back, her movements were not restricted in the slightest. Several blue threads coiled around the sarcophagus, securing it tightly so it wouldn't slip off. Her red rapier was already unsheathed.
The Blue Knight excelled in physical techniques to begin with. The moment she neared the blood mist, her rapier wove a dense rain of strikes, forcefully carving a path through the blood mist domain as she charged straight inside.
The next moment, a burst of green light erupted deep within the blood mist, forcefully dispersing the seven-to-eight-meter blood mist domain.
In that instant, Lu Yuan also saw the situation inside clearly.
The special individual was now covered in green crystals. Meanwhile, one of the afterimages behind Kraus had shattered.
Clearly, in the clash just now, Kraus had sacrificed one afterimage to deal a heavy blow to the creature.
The special ghoul let out a wail of agony.
This time, it was different from all the heavy blows it had suffered before.
Kraus's ability carried an extremely potent pollution and corrosion. Even a ghoul, which was renowned for its own corrosive properties, was instead being slowly covered by the green crystals.
This alone was enough to show how formidable Kraus's transcendent pathway was.
The Blue Knight closed in.
Yet the special individual showed no intention of retreating. Instead, it madly drove the Forest Seed, its roots gnawing fiercely at the bronze pillar as the pressure radiating from it grew heavier layer by layer.
The light from the silver plate on Kraus's chest had dimmed to the point where it was about to give out.
Utilizing the thick aura covering the ground, Lu Yuan quietly edged a few steps closer to the bronze pillar.
The attendant did not rush forward. Channeling his purple light, he sealed all the openings around the void. He set up defenses while keeping a watchful eye on every gap, waiting for the blood mist to disperse before stepping in to slay the creature.
The Great Ascendant had already glided to the edge of the blood mist, poised and ready to deliver a finishing blow at any moment.
Adrian and Margaret stayed together. Margaret did not charge forward immediately. Instead, she stood beside the old bishop, her expression unchanged but her gaze constantly scanning the surroundings—she was shielding Adrian, guarding against any sudden sneak attacks.
While Lu Yuan suppressed his aura and crept toward the bronze pillar inch by inch, the battle between Kraus, the Blue Knight, and the special ghoul on the other side of the pillar had reached a fever pitch.
The special ghoul's flesh writhed and contorted continuously as it tried desperately to suppress the layer of green crystals on its body, but with little success.
It did not give up there. Instead, it lunged madly at Kraus.
But Kraus was completely unfazed. The Blue Knight stood right in front of him.
The red rapier in the Blue Knight's hand clashed head-on with the ghoul's attacks. Those hands, capable of corroding almost anything, could not leave even a single scratch on this unremarkable rapier.
Even Kraus, standing nearby, could not help but steal a few glances. His own gear had cost him a fortune to acquire, yet the Blue Knight's rapier showed no obvious signs of greatness, yet its resilience was absurdly high, completely blocking all corrosion and pollution.
The red rapier collided with the ghoul's palm, plunging directly into its flesh.
The special ghoul also seemed to realize that head-on clashes would yield no benefit, so it attempted to bypass the Blue Knight for close-quarters combat, intending to force a mutual kill by trading blow for blow.
But the Blue Knight was not an easy target to approach. Every single one of its offensive intentions was thoroughly dismantled by her rapier. In the end, hundreds of wounds were added to its hands, yet it could not get even half a step closer to her.
The special ghoul finally sensed that something was wrong.
Its body ballooned once more, and countless blood-colored bubbles bulged across its entire form.
As if she had long seen through its plan, the Blue Knight spun her blade, weaving an impenetrable sword web in front of herself and Kraus.
The next moment, all the bubbles burst, spraying a massive amount of blood in all directions, but every drop was intercepted by the Blue Knight's sword techniques.
The Great Ascendant nearby was not as fortunate.
He was only about ten meters away from the special individual. Although he dodged the sudden rain of blood quickly, a few droplets still splashed onto him. The left chest plate where the blood landed corroded instantly. The Great Ascendant's expression shifted, and he immediately tore the entire armor plate off.
His body, which was supposed to be entirely mechanical, actually revealed a faint trace of flesh underneath once uncovered, with the flesh still partially fused to the silver metal.
Lu Yuan observed this scene from a distance... The Great Ascendant was actually not fully mechanical?
After spraying those blood bubbles, the special individual did not retreat but instead surged forward, its hands of mangled flesh slamming down violently.
Or rather, they were forcefully parried by the Blue Knight's rapier.
The Blue Knight took a rare two steps back, her blade emitting a faint tremble. She had blocked it.
The next moment, the special ghoul's attacks rained down like a torrential downpour. Surrounded by swirling blue threads, the Blue Knight clashed her rapier against its fists again and again, filling the entire void with the thunderous din of blade colliding with flesh.
Rate on N.U.
