Lin Gui rushed out of the mine pit. With a guide of his staff, his figure completely merged into the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 as he ascended, vanishing into the night sky.
Immediately after, he violently flung the nearly one thousand clay dolls mixed with the Saintess's blood in all directions across the wilderness!
Under the precise control of his max-level 【Levitation】 and the temporary attachment of the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】, these clay dolls scattered and sped toward various parts of the vast wilderness.
In an instant, within Caleb's soul perception, the entire sky seemed to be filled with countless "Saintesses," densely packed and dazzling to the eyes.
“Hmph, a deathbed struggle.”
Caleb sneered, standing at the entrance of the mine pit.
Yet, a trace of doubt crossed his mind: Where did that kid get so much of the Saintess's blood?
Suppressing his doubt, he willed it, and the 【Soul-Slaying Blade】 that was plunged next to the hourglass inside the mine let out a hum, transforming into a streak of bloody light that flew into his hand.
Without even giving it a second look, he casually threw the murderous blade into the sky!
“Hum!”
The 【Soul-Slaying Blade】 erupted with a brilliant bloody light.
Red lightning surged wildly through the air.
Wherever it passed, those clay dolls were instantly crushed into dust as if run over by an invisible, massive force.
Even the faint soul fluctuations contained within them were completely devoured and annihilated.
In just a few breaths, the sky full of "soul starlight" was swept clean, and the night sky returned to silence.
A smirk of absolute control appeared on Caleb's face.
One minute and thirty seconds remained.
“The game is over,” he muttered.
All the decoys had been cleared.
Next, it was time to drag out that little mouse hiding in the dark, and... the Saintess's true body.
However, the curl of his lips had only just begun to rise before it suddenly froze.
Beneath the night sky that had just been cleansed by the 【Soul-Slaying Blade】, another anomaly occurred!
The soul dust that should have been completely annihilated seemed to be forcibly gathered by an invisible giant hand, actually condensing and reorganizing in the air once more to transform back into hundreds of soul light orbs in the blink of an eye!
“How... how is this possible?!”
Caleb's dim, old eyes widened in genuine shock for the first time, filled with utter disbelief.
【Levitation】 could indeed manipulate objects, but it had a limit to its range.
Let alone simultaneously controlling so many falling fragments and precisely reorganizing them—just what level of meticulous and immense control over mana did this require?
High in the sky, Lin Gui, who was hidden under the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】, was currently radiating a black energy that was entirely different from mana, carrying a faint, violent aura.
This was precisely the Novice Demon Magic, 【Enchantment】.
Under the enhancement of 【Enchantment】, he felt his control over 【Levitation】 reach an unprecedented level.
His original maximum control range of nearly a hundred meters had actually been forcibly extended by more than double!
A Novice Demon Magic... its boosting effect is actually not inferior to a Transcendent spell...
Lin Gui was deeply shaken.
Rather than a magical boosting effect, it was more of a fundamental upgrade brought about by "demon energy" as a power source.
He dared not delay, putting all his effort into controlling the hundreds of newly reassembled clay clumps.
He turned them around, sending them flying back toward the massive mining area.
He knew very well that this simple decoy reorganization could no longer deceive Caleb.
The other party was bound to be certain that the Saintess's true body was not among them.
Logically speaking, if the Saintess were dead, her soul would have already returned to the Netherworld Sea, making it absolutely impossible for so much of her soul to remain.
Sure enough, Caleb only cast a cold glance at those clay clumps flying toward the mine, ignoring them completely.
His objective was clear.
The "true body" inside the mine pit, shrouded by the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】, whose soul fluctuations had weakened to the point of nearly being extinguished!
With a shift of his body, he was about to head back into the mine pit to conduct the final sweep.
However, at the very instant he turned around.
“Swoosh!”
An exceptionally "massive" soul fluctuation moving at remarkable speed suddenly shot out from another exit of the mine, fleeing toward the depths of the wilderness away from the pit.
Its intensity far exceeded any of the previous clay dolls. It was even larger than the Saintess's true soul that Caleb had seen earlier?
“???”
A strange feeling of being deceived welled up in his heart.
A cold light flashed in Caleb's eyes, and without a second thought, his High-tier Legendary power erupted as his figure tore through space to give chase.
His speed was pushed to the absolute limit, closing the distance in an instant.
Yet, when he caught up to the target and saw the true face of this so-called "Saintess," a wave of furious rage at being toyed with instantly flooded his mind.
That was not the Saintess at all.
It was merely a large pouch of blood carried by an arrow flying at high speed, radiating intense soul fluctuations!
It belonged to that half-demon ranger who had already left!
Caleb whipped his head around, staring back toward the mining mountain.
There, atop the entire massive mountain, hundreds upon thousands of soul light orbs, matching the soul weight of the Saintess, were silently hovering like a field of stars, enveloping the entire area.
Caleb stood in place, looking at the mountain that was once again flooded with decoys.
He remained silent for a long moment, finally letting out a slow breath.
Only half a minute remained, but this three-minute game... he had lost.
Five minutes passed.
Caleb leaned against the cold rock wall, his dim, old eyes looking not far away.
Saintess Eve lay slumped at his feet, her face as pale as paper, her breathing so faint it was barely perceptible.
Excessive blood loss had already brought her to the brink of death.
Although blood could temporarily carry the aura of a soul, it could not sustain it for long.
It could not last for half a year like hair did.
In just five short minutes, the soul decoys that Lin Gui had painstakingly created had their soul fluctuations flicker like candles in the wind, dissipating one after another.
With all interference gone, Caleb's soul perception once again clearly locked onto the true source of the soul in the depths of the mine pit, which was slightly stronger than the hair imprint but still incredibly weak.
This time, there were no more fancy tricks.
He found the Saintess with almost no effort.
He brought the dying Saintess here.
The air rippled slightly, and Lin Gui materialized not far away.
He looked at the dying Saintess and the calm Caleb, his face expressionless.
He had won the three-minute bet.
But he never believed that the killing intent of a High-tier Legendary assassin would easily dissipate just because of a game.
“Kid,” Caleb said raspily.
“I do not wish to violate the bet I made with you.”
Lin Gui said flatly.
“Can you tell me why you absolutely must kill her?”
Caleb remained silent, the gaze in his dim, old eyes as deep as an abyss.
Lin Gui prodded softly.
“Is it because of... the Tomb of Queen Catriona?”
In an instant, a murderous intent erupted in Caleb's eyes, causing the surrounding air to freeze.
Understanding dawned on Lin Gui, and he continued.
“You are afraid that the Saintess will use Prophecy to find the location of the Tomb of Queen Catriona, so you plan to kill her to eliminate the threat once and for all.”
Prophecy might have massive deviations when targeting an individual's fate, but when it came to specific geographic locations, its accuracy was often astoundingly high.
This was also why Lin Gui had believed the Saintess without hesitation when she said she knew the location of Avalon.
It seems this Tomb of Queen Catriona is even more complicated than I thought.
Lin Gui thought to himself.
However, his system quest had already been completed.
The 【Eyes of the Netherworld】 was in his hands.
No matter what massive secrets were hidden in the tomb, they had nothing to do with him, nor did he want to get involved.
“How about this,” Lin Gui proposed.
“I can monitor the Saintess on your behalf and ensure she does not cast Prophecy on the Tomb of Queen Catriona.”
Caleb remained silent, but he did not immediately object.
Lin Gui seized the momentum to press on.
“I will take her away, and she will never step foot in the Royal Capital again.”
“As long as she does not get close to the target location, even the Great Prophecy would be unable to pinpoint the exact position.”
Caleb's eyelids twitched slightly. He finally looked up, casting a sharp gaze at Lin Gui.
“I need to use her heart's blood to place a soul mark.”
Lin Gui relaxed slightly.
Willingness to negotiate meant there was a turn for the better.
A heart's blood mark used the essence blood of the heart as a medium to implant deep into the soul.
Once planted, no matter where the Saintess went, Caleb would eventually be able to find her.
Just like... the Hall of Heroic Spirits of the Holy Church of Light.
It could be said that from the moment the mark was completed, the Saintess's life was completely in Caleb's hands.
And Lin Gui also understood that this was already the greatest concession the Legendary assassin could make.
Surely, the Saintess would not refuse.
After all, she already had an even more ridiculous soul mark on her body.
Under the Eyes of the Netherworld, a clearly visible, thin thread of a soul extended from the Saintess's chest, stretching all the way up into the sky.
“Deal,” Lin Gui nodded in agreement.
Rate on N.U.
