"Pfft!"
The dull sound of a sharp blade piercing through flesh rang out abruptly.
Everyone turned their heads sharply, only to see Black Scorpion, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly stiffen.
He looked down in disbelief at the dark, blood-red tip of a dagger protruding from his chest.
The black runes on the dagger began to squirm, radiating a chilling cold that made one's soul tremble.
He struggled to turn his head to look at the expressionless Cold Face, who had appeared behind him at some unknown point.
A hoarse, rattling sound came from his throat: "Wh... Why...?"
There was no fluctuation in Cold Face's gaze.
Only a sort of determination that bordered on martyrdom.
"Sorry. It won't be long before I join you myself."
His voice was low and calm, as if he were stating an established fact.
Before he had even finished speaking, he jerked the dagger back.
As the dagger was pulled out, a thing like an invisible, greyish-white mist was forcibly dragged out from Black Scorpion's seven orifices and his wound.
It let out a silent shriek before being sucked into that dark, blood-red dagger.
The light in Black Scorpion's eyes instantly dimmed.
His body slumped to the ground, silenced forever.
And that dagger, after absorbing Black Scorpion's soul, saw the black runes on its blade squirm even more violently.
The chilling aura it radiated suddenly surged.
It even let out a faint, teeth-grating hum, like a hungry beast being awakened.
Grabbing this lethal blade that seemed to have come to life, Cold Face turned his icy gaze toward Viper on the ground.
The moment Viper saw Black Scorpion backstabbed and his soul absorbed, his pupils constricted to the size of needle points.
A terrifying thought flashed through his mind, making him understand everything instantly!
"You... you sacrificed Blood Rat and the others to this dagger to cripple the duke?!"
Viper's voice carried an uncontrollable tremor, filled with both rage and a helpless chill.
Cold Face nodded silently, gripping the humming dagger as he approached Viper step by step.
"Sorry, the minimum requirement to activate it is two Transcendent souls... we're still one short."
He stopped wasting words and moved.
The Soul-Slaying Blade in his hand, carrying a deathly aura that swallowed everything, lunged straight for Viper's heart.
The speed and ruthlessness of this strike far surpassed any of his previous attacks.
Everywhere the dagger passed, even the air seemed to be frozen and torn apart!
Viper endured the erosion of the poison and relied on his Transcendent instincts to retreat rapidly toward the side.
But Cold Face's presence had already locked onto him firmly.
That dagger was like a maggot in the bone, seemingly about to pierce through him at any moment!
Right at this critical juncture, a tiny speck of light suddenly appeared before Cold Face's eyes without warning, less than half a foot away!
It was the Flash spell.
Lin Gui was using the same trick again.
Cold Face's movements experienced an extremely subtle hitch due to this sudden interference from the intense light.
It was only a negligible moment!
But Viper seized this fleeting opportunity.
His body twisted at an incredible angle, narrowly avoiding the vital area of his heart!
"Rip!"
The Soul-Slaying Blade grazed his ribs, taking away a large chunk of flesh.
No blood flowed from the wound; instead, it instantly turned a withered grey, as if his life force had been drained away in a flash.
Viper let out a muffled groan and stumbled back, his face as pale as paper, having already suffered a heavy blow.
Before he could continue to dodge, a black shroud enveloped him.
A hand rested on his shoulder.
"Don't move if you don't want to die."
Cold Face's strike had missed. He suddenly looked around, but there was no one there.
He wasn't surprised that Viper had been rescued.
Instead, he looked as though he had fulfilled some kind of mission.
He suddenly turned toward Caesar, who was being held by Theia, and roared with every bit of his strength:
"Leader! The debt of kindness has been repaid; I have nothing left to give! On the Netherworld Sea, I shall come find you once more!!"
Before his roar had even faded, and under the horrified gazes of everyone, he unhesitatingly plunged that ominously humming Soul-Slaying Blade deep into his own chest!
"Ugh—!"
After a suppressed grunt of pain, the light in Cold Face's eyes quickly faded, and his body slowly fell to the ground.
And the Soul-Slaying Blade, having absorbed the souls of two Transcendents, seemed to have fully awakened now.
It levitated in mid-air, its dark blade turning blood-red.
Those twisted black runes on it squirmed frantically.
A pressure ten times more powerful than before—chilling, deathly, and filled with pure malice—erupted, enveloping the entire mine.
Faint black ice crystals even began to condense in the air.
As Caesar watched Cold Face fall, a brief flash of sorrow appeared in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a pathological excitement.
He felt the terrifying aura radiating from the Soul-Slaying Blade, one that was enough to instantly kill a Legendary powerhouse.
Turning toward the still-dazed Elvia, he hissed with a laugh,
"Princess Elvia! You should be fortunate! I only sacrificed the Saintess's hair to the artifact!"
"Otherwise... there would definitely be several more fresh corpses here today!"
At that moment, the air beside Elvia rippled.
Lin Gui, Holy Saintess Eve, and the heavily wounded, dying Viper all manifested their figures at the same time.
Lin Gui looked up at the Soul-Slaying Blade levitating in the air and radiating a horrifying pressure.
Feeling the soul-locking chill, he frowned deeply.
He spoke to the Saintess beside him.
"Holy Saintess, pray."
"Pray that this artifact really functions as this man says, using hair as the medium to lock onto a soul and launch its attack."
"Otherwise, no one will be able to save you."
Holy Saintess Eve, upon hearing this, only offered a shallow smile.
Her purple eyes were calm and undisturbed, even carrying a hint of subtle mockery.
"I... do not believe in God."
Lin Gui's eyes were full of bewilderment.
A Saintess who didn't believe in God?
And Caesar, seeing that Lin Gui and the Saintess could still have such a "composed" conversation even at this point, felt his unease reach its peak, almost swallowing him whole!
And at the very moment his unease peaked, the levitating Soul-Slaying Blade moved!
It did not instantly pierce through the Saintess's chest as Caesar had expected.
Instead, with a "vrum" hum of vibration, it instantly vanished from its original spot!
In the next moment—
"Boom!!!"
A rock wall on the eastern side of the mine suddenly exploded, sending debris flying!
"Bang!!"
Immediately after, an abandoned mine cart on the western side was torn to pieces by an invisible force!
"Crack—!"
A protruding stalactite from the ceiling above snapped and came crashing down!
Triggered by this activity in the silent mine, a series of loud bangs erupted continuously within the tunnels!
And the sounds of those attacks were actually moving further and further away, getting more distant from the Saintess.
The madness and excitement on Caesar's face instantly froze.
"Why?! Why isn't it attacking the Saintess?! Attack! Kill her!!"
Behind him, the dying Viper provided the answer in a weak and guilt-ridden voice.
"It's... the hair... Every place the artifact is attacking... has the Saintess's hair hidden there..."
Caesar felt like he had been struck by lightning. He turned his head sharply, his blood-red eyes fixed on Viper, as he roared in a violent rage.
"Why?! Why didn't you say so earlier!!!"
Viper gave a miserable smile, his breath growing even weaker.
"Sorry... Leader... I couldn't... make a move against a mage who gave me hope... And... even if I had said it... would you have... given up on this assassination?..."
He gasped for breath with difficulty before finally saying,
"There's no time left... Leader... We don't know... exactly how many strands of hair... he hid..."
"Clearing them would take a great deal of time."
"Furthermore, even until now, we haven't seen who it was that helped the Saintess conceal her tracks."
The madness, anger, and resentment in Caesar's eyes ultimately transformed into a dead, ashen despair.
All of his schemes, and all the power gained through the sacrifice of his companions, had turned into an utter joke in the face of those insignificant strands of hair scattered throughout the mine.
It was over.
Everything was over.
Rate on N.U.
