Chapter 160
Divine Evil
Connie could feel the dark power trying to enter into her consciousness. She could feel it as if they were little worms trying to burrow into her mind. Quickly she spoke a few lines of the Soul Reversing Sutra to reverse the effect.
When that feeling of violation of her mind was gone, she opened her eyes and saw that she was falling down. Her eyes darted around and saw his disciple had fainted and was falling freely down with her.
“Gagh!”
Connie whipped her tail against a falling column and shot toward Martell, catching him as he fell.
“Chen!”
The Poison Slime fell onto the ground first before enlarging himself to act as a cushion for the two. Yao-er fell after them and burrowed into Connie’s hair as she reoriented herself.
Connie, with Martell in her hands, rolled to the floor. She then realized that they had fallen a few hundred meters down into a large chamber that could fit a whole village in it.
“Annoying little gnats! It seems that you are more tenacious than I suspected.”
Connie looked at the direction of the voice and saw Bet-Zebek, standing next to the statue of Junnaveil. With a face full of hate he crushed the statue into smithereens.
“But that boy has succumbed to my illusion. And soon he will die.”
“He will survive,” Connie said as she took her stance with Crimson Serpentbane at the ready. “…Because he’s my disciple.”
“Then I will destroy that hope.” Bet-Zebek breathed out black fog, from which came skeletons of various monsters, their eyes glinting red.
“Now, you will join him in death.”
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“Uggh…”
Martell got up from the ground and blinked. All around him was darkness. Even with eyes that could see as well in the night as during the day, he could see nothing. So, he tried blinking again, thinking that something was wrong with them.
No Demon. No Connie. Not even the ground.
All he could see was darkness.
“Mistress!” He shouted as he looked around, expecting the now familiar voice to call upon him, but that expectation was not met. There was no answer, only silence.
He then decided to walk, only to hear an unpleasant sound of something squished under his shoes. Then he felt a strange sensation, like something was crawling over his leg. But that odd sensation suddenly turned into pain. Pain as if he was being bitten by something small and ferocious.
Then he heard them, sounds of countless small legs moving back and forth. His furry ears twitched uncontrollably as he heard the sound coming from everywhere.
In panic and surprise, Martell kicked his legs around. But it was to no avail, as hundreds more came up his defenseless body and began to get under his clothes and biting into his tender skin. Martell’s breathing grew ragged in panic as he tried to use his Telekinesis. But he could not use it. He tried to use the Buddhist Art, but he was also unable to use it.
“Aaah!!! AAAHHH!!” he screamed as he could feel their little legs on his skin and trying to get into his orifices.
“Help!! Help me!! Mistresss!! I don’t wanna die!!”
Despair came over him. All the Skills and Techniques he had learned betrayed him. And he was once again left to die alone.
…
No. Not alone. I am no longer alone.
With the thousands of small mouths biting and crawling into his ears and mouths he began chanting.
“Gate Gate Paramgate Bodhi Svaha. Gate Gate Paramgate Bodhi Svaha.”
As he chanted, a light appeared from his chest, growing with every passing moment and finally exploded, cracking through the darkness.
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Martell opened his eyes and spat as he there was dust and sand in his mouth. Remembering what transpired before he was plunged into the darkness, he rubbed his tongue with his sleeves vigorously.
“Took you long enough!” he heard the voice of his Mistress and saw her kicking a four-legged skeleton before using the same leg to deliver a crushing blow against another one coming from her left side. Behind her, Chen was doing his best fending off the enemies by grabbing and throwing swathes of them against each other.
Her body was battered and wounded. Many of the scales on her body had been peeled; her pristine white robe had blotches of red upon them, and parts of her crimson hair had matted from blood and gunk.
All around them were crushed skeletons of monsters. “Best way to stop them from waking up again is by purifying them or just crushing them outright.”
He heard her say, but he noticed that Connie was breathing heavily.
“Mistress! T-those wounds! You’ve been protecting me?!”
Connie crunched on a handful of Pills and slowly regained her strength. “You’re one of my people. It makes sense that I’m protecting you,” Connie grinned as she spat black blood to the ground. “But you woke up on your own. Seems I didn’t teach you wrong.”
“Where are we?”
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“When that bastard used his Skill, the impact of his power destroyed the ground below us. We fell with him.”
Then they heard a roar that echoed within the chamber that rattled their bones. “So, the boy wakes from his dream! I have to admit, I envy your luck in finding underlings, human. But it makes no difference. You will eventually succumb to my power!”
The Demon Bet-Zebek gloated. His giant skeletal body was emitting murky, black fog that tainted the ground it touched with a curse of madness. And from this black fog, skeletal monsters of many types and sizes were born. Each one stronger than the ones they fought before.
Individually, they posed no problem. However, they swarmed upon them with no regard of their selves. As they were nothing more that dead bodies reanimated for the sole purpose of killing their master’s enemies.
“Another wave is coming!”
“This isn’t good. We can’t last in a battle of attrition. And I cannot do enough damage to him to take him down fast!”
Connie steadied her breathing as she slashed through a wave of skeletons coming at her. Martell too, even though he had lost all the swords in his Sword Box, he still had many stored within his Item Ring. He took out ten of them and shot them at his enemies.
“Bet-Zebek in his current form far outclasses his past self. Based on our few exchanges, I’d wager he’s as strong as, if not stronger than Sergio,” Connie laughed derisively. “It’s fortunate that he didn’t have a complete transformation, otherwise we’d be screwed.”
“But we can win this, right?”
“It isn’t hopeless, Martell. At least, it still isn’t hopeless. You see his body? The parts above his torso are far larger than his legs. That’s why he hasn’t moved from his location. His lower body was too weak to carry his whole body. However, he could summon skeletons to take us down bit by bit.”
“Do you have a plan, Mistress?” he said as he fended off a skeleton by crushing its head with the back of Wild Geese.
“Unlike that time when we met that Unrestrained Candidate Sergio, I have a trump card that I can still use.”
“This…” Connie showed him a Pill with a strong scent of animal blood and flowers. “This is the Burning Blood Pill that I made while we were in Cairula a few weeks back. Like the name said, it will give me double the power I have now, but it has a strong side effect.”
“At least it’s better than nothing! Let’s do it then!” Martell said without waiting for an explanation.
“Then, I need you to hold him off for five minutes.”
“F-five minutes? How am I supposed to do that?!”
“Believe in yourself. I know you can do it!”
“Mistress!” But his words fell into deaf ears as Connie had withdrawn behind a large headless statue, eaten the Burning Blood Pill and sat down in a Lotus position.
“Dammit!!” Martell cursed as he took out his reserve swords and Wild Geese.
“Chen!! Take care of Mistress!!”
He shouted angrily.
“Taste the teaching of my Master!!”
As Martell brought his fingers across the board, a cacophonous mix of sounds became blades of wind that pushed the skeletons back. His fingers alternated between different songs and melodies, abrupt and forceful.
He managed to fend off the current wave of enemies, but soon he was at a disadvantage and he cut his fingers on the thin silk strings. Ignoring the pain, he kept on playing while controlling the swords to target those who managed to dodge his attacks.
Eventually, despite his best effort, a few got through and attacked him. He dodged the attack but the sharp bony fangs of the skeleton managed to bite off a layer of skin from his shoulder. In retaliation, Martel reversed Wild Geese in his hand and swung it at its head, pulverizing it. Another one had bitten his leg, with a swift hit of Wild Geese’s tough wood, its head was crushed.
“Chen, Watch out!”
The Poison Slime shot its tentacles towards the rest of the Skeletal monsters that had gotten through and slammed them onto the ceiling, turning them into bone scraps.
“AAAH!”
Martell stood Wild Geese on its side and played a harsh melody that created a shockwave which stopped the surging wave of monsters. And while doing so, he made a Vajra Mudra with his left hand, ready to release Buddha Questioning the World.
He squeezed the remaining bit of power that he had left and fired hundred of swords of light at the oncoming wave of death.
“DIEEE!!”
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Pain. Pain. Pain.
Bet-Zebek groaned as every move he made stung his soul. Because of the incomplete fusion, he could only use parts of the Skills Bet-Huda had. Mainly his madness inducing Skills. It was all because he underestimated the human.
She was crafty and clever, the type of enemy he usually would be glad to trod upon. Unfortunately, she was also strong. And the light that was emitted by both her and her servant made him feel threatened. It had not the grace of the Gods and Goddesses of Grea, but he could feel its divinity eroding his power every time they used it.
However, that was all they could do. No matter how strong individually they are, when faced with the sekeletal servants that I can summon using my new power, they will eventually succumb!
BOOOM!!
Suddenly, Bet-Zebek saw the sight of his skeletal servants disintegrated from a rain of sword attacks. The Beastfolk boy knelt in exhaustion and the swords he was controlling fell onto the ground. The dark purple-colored slime’s moves had also become sluggish.
The Demon saw this and realized that it was time. He raised his arms and clasped his hands together before slowly separating them. As he did so, a black ball crackling with black lightning was formed.
“Begone, in the name of the Seven Eyed One! Dark Lightning Sphere!”
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Martell was gasping for air. His clothes had become tattered and bloody from his effort. He was also feeling lightheaded from the overuse of his powers that he felt like he could fall at any moment. But he refused to back down.
When he saw Bet-Zebek, he noticed the ominous looking sphere being formed and realized that it was an attack aimed at them. He could feel that the attack was far above his capability to endure and panicked.
Then, he saw the giant statue to his left with a rotted foundation. In desperation, he shouted. “Telekinesis!! Control!!”
With his Unique Skill, he tried to pull the statue down. As the statue fell, the Dark Lightning Sphere hit it. The Spell exploded, destroying everything within ten meters.
Pillars and pieces of the ceiling fell onto the ground, adding to injury.
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“Finally, they are finished,” the giant skeleton said proudly, assured of the end of his enemies. “Though they caused more problem that I have suspected, they are still nothing more but inferior creatures.”
Then, Bet-Zebek heard the slightest sound of a pebble moving and directed his attention towards the large debris piled on the corpses of his irksome opponents.
Suddenly, one of the fallen pillars within the pile was thrown at him. Bet-Zebek swatted the broken pillar with his massive hand, breaking it in two.
He looked at the pile of rubble and saw something long, thick and red.
And then, the pile exploded, revealing thick, scaly tail coiled around Martell.
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“Yin Gu Body. Full Incarnation,” Connie said as she uncoiled her tail. Her forked tongue tasted the air as she rose from the wreckage.
“What is this? What in Sud-Ghazid are you?!” Bet-Zebek roared in confusion when he saw the newly transformed body of his enemy.
“M-Mistress?” Martell gasped in awe.
Connie removed her robe and inspected her change, quite surprised by her new form.
Everything under her waist had been replaced by long, snake-like tail was much longer than the first transformation he saw before. It was now longer than ten meters and covered with scales that shone metallic red and sharp, blade like spikes covered the back of her tail. The end of her tail ended with a cold, iron-like blade that reminded him of a mythical sword Martell once saw in a book.
Her arms and neck were covered in scales that was thicker than before, with more metallic sheen. Dark spikes had also grown on the back of her arms; with larger, more pronounced spikes growing from her elbow. Strange lines could also be seen upon her exposed skin that did not have scales on them, running from under her eyes down to her chest, glowing gold.
A large halo of gold depicting a centipede eating its own tail with nine golden swords surrounding it appeared on her backside. Their sharp tips pointing outwards in defiance of the Heavens.
Her red hair floated freely in the air as she opened her mouth filled with sharp fangs.
Despite the feeling of divinity radiating from the halo, the appearance of this new form could only be described as sinister.
“Divine…Evil,” Martell whispered as he watched Connie slithered towards the massive Bet-Zebek.
“Chen,” Connie called upon the Poison Slime, who instantly transformed into a sword once it touched her hand. The Energy flowing into Chen’s body invigorated his body as if his exhaustion before was a lie.
Connie slammed her hand into the ground, then two shadows of giant centipedes burst from the ground. Their legs were as sharp as renowned blades and their fangs tough enough to destroy steel.
“I will carve my name into your bones, Bet-Zebek!”