As Valen's voice fell, a sudden silence enveloped the Banquet Hall.
The other three, who had been fighting so hard, whipped their heads toward Isolde. Their expressions looked as if they had just been slapped across the face, filled with utter disbelief.
Zheng Chuan pushed himself up using the broken long table, completely losing his mind. “You weren't captured?!”
Luo Qi's fingers trembled, holding his bowstring only half-drawn. “She's with the BOSS! She's been lying to us this entire time!”
Recalling everything that had happened since they entered the castle, the muscles in Zheng Chuan's face twitched. Gripping his iron axe, he charged straight at Isolde, roaring, “Goddammit! I'll kill you!”
But the moment he took a step forward, the Blood Banquet Mark beneath his feet suddenly flared to life.
An invisible force pressed down on his knees, forcing him right back to where he stood.
【The Blood Banquet's rules have taken effect.】
【Warning: Guests are not permitted to leave their seats without permission.】
【Attempting to leave by force will trigger execution.】
Zheng Chuan's knees buckled. He hastily propped himself up with the handle of his axe, the veins on his neck bulging, his eyes bloodshot and filled with murderous rage.
“Get over here if you have the guts! See if I don't chop you in half!”
Meng Yinyin's face was incredibly pale, but she regained her composure much faster than the other two.
“Idiots!” she hissed. “Ignore her for now! Kill the BOSS first!”
Zheng Chuan roared, “She lied to us!”
“We have to get out of here alive first before we can chop her to pieces!” Meng Yinyin grit her teeth. “If you waste your strength now, do you want to die even faster?”
Isolde ignored them entirely.
She looked up at Valen, the panic on her face vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, suppressed completely.
It wasn't time to show her hand yet. If she exposed herself now, all her efforts would go down the drain.
Isolde took a hurried half-step toward Valen.
“Father, you misunderstand. I was not helping them.”
Valen's massive form leaned forward slightly.
The stench of rot rushed over her, and the blood on the carpet squeezed out in a dark red ring under his immense weight.
“Then why did you let that woman live just now?”
Isolde looked down at the severed rotting arm on the floor and said earnestly, “Because she is still of use.”
Meng Yinyin cursed in sheer anger.
Ignoring her, Isolde continued, “These three are all Descenders and possess high utility. It would be a terrible waste if you were to smash them to pieces all at once, Father.”
She raised her eyes to look at the furious trio in the middle of the Banquet Hall, as if sizing up meat on a chopping block. “An intact skeleton, a living heart, and a struggling soul... only those hold the greatest value.”
The candlelight above the Banquet Hall flickered. Isolde could feel Valen's scrutinizing gaze still weighing heavily upon her.
She calculated rapidly in her mind.
Valen was suspicious, but he was also greedy.
As long as she played on his obsession with 'perfection' and 'materials,' he would grant her a little more time.
Just a little was all she needed.
Valen lowered his bloated human face until it was almost pressed against hers.
“Since you are not helping them,” he rasped, “then prove it to me.”
Isolde's fingertips froze as she watched a hideous smile spread across Valen's twisted face.
“Dissect one of them for me right here. Let me see whether what you brought me are materials, or accomplices.”
Luo Qi immediately cursed, “If you dare lay a finger on me, I'll pin you to the wall first!”
Isolde stood in place, not replying immediately.
Then, she suddenly let out a low chuckle.
The laugh wasn't loud, but it sent a shiver down the spines of the three anxious players.
Isolde slowly drew the bone knife hidden on her person, an eager excitement gleaming in her eyes.
“My beloved Father, to tell you the truth, I have wanted to do this for a very long time.”
Isolde turned her gaze toward Luo Qi, who took a fearful step back.
“Let's go with him. I watched him when he drew his bow earlier. The muscles in his arms are very firm, and his heart is beating rapidly. Once sliced open, he should be exceptionally fresh.”
Luo Qi roared in fury, “You bitch! Why me?!”
Why you?
Because you're the loudest, of course.
Isolde ignored him and tilted her head to look at Valen.
“However, my strength is too weak, and I am afraid I won't be able to hold him down if he struggles too violently. Father, could you secure him for me?”
These words pleased Valen immensely; this was exactly the kind of Isolde he liked.
Obedient, cruel, and knew how to select materials.
Valen's massive tail slammed violently into the ground.
The long table in the Banquet Hall split down the middle, and the scarlet tablecloth writhed like a living creature, rising to form a blood-red barrier.
Zheng Chuan and Meng Yinyin were forced back to the other side.
The Blood Banquet Mark beneath Luo Qi's feet expanded rapidly. Dark red threads erupted from the carpet, wrapping around his body and hoisting him into midair.
【Duke Valen has cast: Blood Banquet Partition.】
【Luo Qi has been bound.】
【Movement restricted.】
Meng Yinyin's expression shifted. Without a second thought, she began casting 【Blessing】 on Zheng Chuan to restore his status.
Taking advantage of the gap, Zheng Chuan immediately activated 【Guardian's Heart】 to boost his dual defenses.
Immediately after, he slashed frantically at Valen, who was still locked in his post-cast animation. In an instant, the battlefield descended into a fierce, chaotic struggle once more.
Seeing this, Luo Qi screamed, “Fuck! Save me first! If I die, none of you are getting out alive!”
Clutching her bone knife, Isolde slowly walked toward Luo Qi.
Suspended in midair, he couldn't move his hands or feet, leaving him with nothing but his voice to twist his neck and curse at her.
“Stay back! If you dare touch me, I'll fucking kill you—”
Isolde stopped in front of him, raising her bone knife until its tip pressed against his arm.
She desperately wanted to plunge the blade straight in.
Ideally, she would carve his flesh and scrape his bones piece by piece, letting him experience the true meaning of despair.
Luo Qi's voice trembled as heavy gasps squeezed out of his throat. He even closed his eyes in terror.
Isolde's knife paused. Suppressing the urge in her heart, she leaned in closer and spoke in a voice only he could hear, “I can help you kill Valen.”
Luo Qi froze. He recovered quickly, his face twisting into pure anger.
“You think you can trick me again?”
Isolde pressed down on the bone knife. The blade sliced through his skin, and beads of blood instantly welled up.
The pain made Luo Qi's shoulders twitch, but Isolde did not stop, lowering her voice even further.
“The Blood Banquet Array Runes require fresh blood to activate. Valen relies on this to regenerate health and to control you.”
Luo Qi grit his teeth. “You lunatic, what are you trying to say?”
Isolde looked up slightly. “I know his weakness. I can counter him.”
【Witch's Mask】 quietly activated.
Her voice slowed down even further. “You have no choice right now. Besides, it doesn't look like your teammates have any intention of saving you. Do you want to let me rip your stomach open and die here, or take a gamble on me to kill Valen? Who knows, maybe afterward, I can even help you kill them.”
Cold sweat poured down Luo Qi's forehead.
He hated her—hated her enough to chop her into mincemeat.
But he had also realized that Zheng Chuan and Meng Yinyin truly did not care whether he lived or died. They were even using him to draw away some of Valen's skills.
He couldn't let those two get off so easily.
Luo Qi's Adam's apple bobbed. “What do you want to do?”
Isolde smiled. “Just a little bit of blood is all it takes.”
With that, she sliced down hard with the bone knife.
Luo Qi screamed in agony, “Are you fucking serious?!”
Blood gushed out, trickling down Luo Qi's arm and dripping into the dark red array runes beneath the carpet.
Like a starved beast, the array runes flared to life instantly.
Lines of blood crawled along the patterns toward the center of the Banquet Hall, flowing all the way to Valen, who was locked in combat.
Valen's health regenerated slightly, and the smile returned to his face. “Very good, my daughter.”
Isolde bowed her head, her voice submissive, “As long as it pleases you, Father.”
In the next second, she flicked her wrist.
The bone nail, which had long since been bleached white from being soaked in Degraded Purifying Holy Water, appeared in her palm.
Without a shred of hesitation, she raised her hand and drove it fiercely into the formation core on the floor.
The moment the bone nail pierced the ground, the Blood Banquet Array Runes shuddered violently. Within the dark red light, fine white threads exploded outward like electric currents.
The smile on Valen's face froze.
“Isolde?”
Isolde whipped her head up and shouted to Zheng Chuan, who was still utterly confused, “Now! Keep attacking!”
The white light crawled along the floor toward Valen, who began to shudder violently as if struck by lightning.
The Blood Banquet was supposed to transfer the players' blood to regenerate his health.
But after the holy-water-soaked bone nail was driven into the formation core, the corruptive power within the array runes was forcibly purified for a split second.
In that exact instant, the health-regeneration channel reversed.
The blood that was supposed to flow into Valen transformed into searing electricity that scorched him.
Valen let out a blood-curdling shriek.
Large chunks of rotting flesh sloughed off his body, twitching even as they splatted onto the floor.
【Duke Valen has been subjected to Blood Banquet Purification.】
【Decay Protection weakened.】
【Decay Protection: 60% → 20%.】
【Luo Qi's bind has been released.】
Luo Qi crashed heavily onto the ground. Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to grab his bow and arrow and fired at Valen.
He had no idea what Isolde was planning.
But the system prompts didn't lie—Valen's defense had dropped.
If he didn't attack now, he would really lose his life.
Meng Yinyin also snapped out of it. Channeling almost the last of her mana, she raised her staff to attack.
“I'll chop you to death!” Zheng Chuan roared. His axe glowed with a crimson light as he swung it savagely at the weakened Valen.
The iron axe bit into the rotting flesh far more easily than before, shearing off massive chunks of meat.
【Duke Valen's Health has decreased.】
【Current Health: 60%.】
Valen's body began to writhe violently.
The entire Banquet Hall shook in tandem. Above them, the candles flickered out one by one, and a furious roar echoed throughout the entire castle.
Isolde seized the opportunity and issued a command to Lia, who had been on standby: “Lia! Do it!”
Lia, who had been hiding in a corner of the Banquet Hall all this time, raised her head.
She dashed forward, stepping onto a capsized long table, and leaped into the air in the next instant. In her hand, she tightly clutched the bottle of Degraded Purifying Holy Water that Isolde had given her beforehand.
Aiming for the exposed third vertebra of Valen's spine, she threw the glass bottle with all her might.
Crash—
The glass shattered.
The white liquid seeped into the crevices of the rotting flesh, causing Valen's massive body to convulse uncontrollably once again.
【Valen has been corroded by Degraded Purifying Holy Water.】
【Flesh-stitching speed decreased.】
A silver-white light flashed deep within the rotting flesh, causing Isolde's heart to skip a heavy beat.
But it wasn't enough. They were still one final blow away.
The battered and disheveled Valen suddenly whipped his head around, his bloated human face finally twisting completely out of shape. Gritting his teeth, he roared in fury, “Isolde—! How dare you betray me—!”
The floor of the entire Banquet Hall cracked from the sheer force of his voice. The skeletal hands on Valen's body splayed out one by one, like the bones of countless dead crawling out from their graves.
【Duke Valen's Health has dropped to: 30%.】
【Warning: The BOSS has entered an enraged state.】
【Phase transition in progress.】
Isolde's fingers clenched around the final bone nail. Even though its sharp tip pierced her palm, she still held it steadily.
Valen's voice boomed through the Banquet Hall as he furiously activated the 【primary contract】 to suppress her.
In the next second, Lia's body suddenly stiffened.
The moment she landed on the ground, her knees slammed heavily onto the floor, looking like a puppet that had lost its life force.
Lia struggled to lift her head, her hollow gray eyes staring in Isolde's direction, “...My lady.”
She only had time to utter those two words before being swatted away by one of Valen's long, rotting arms.
Lia crashed into the wall, fracturing it with spiderweb-like cracks. She slid down the wall, her fingers twitching, but she was unable to stand back up.
Zheng Chuan, Meng Yinyin, and Luo Qi were also blown away by the shockwave. The three crashed into the debris, their health bars visibly plummeting.
The sloughed-off rotting flesh around them began to squirm once more, severed arms plugging themselves back into his body. More unfamiliar corpse parts crawled out from the cracks in the floor, forcibly stitching themselves into Valen's form.
The silver-white glow of the third vertebra was completely exposed. Valen's bloated human face ripped open bit by bit, revealing rows of densely packed teeth beneath.
His voice sounded as if it came from the depths of hell: “I will stitch every single one of you into my body.”
Scarlet system warnings flashed frantically before everyone's eyes.
【Warning!】
【Valen's Near-Death Rage triggered.】
【Valen's Blood Banquet: Entering Phase Two.】
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