Ethan reached his right hand toward Leah.
Just then, an emerald-green palm descended from the sky.
It struck Ethan squarely on the top of his head.
BOOM.
Two-thirds of Ethan's head disintegrated.
His skull shattered and brain matter splattered; his left eyeball flew out of its socket, while his right eyeball dangled outside.
Everything above his mouth vanished, leaving only half a face still attached to his neck.
His body maintained its forward momentum, taking two more steps.
Then it stopped.
【Death confirmed. Consuming 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
Ethan's head regrew.
He stopped in his tracks and turned around.
Zhuoya stood thirty meters away.
She was hunched over, hands on her knees, her chest heaving violently.
The hand holding her short staff trembled; the emerald-green light on its surface flickered, mostly dimmed.
Her amber eyes were bloodshot, and a pale green liquid seeped from the corners.
For the first time, exhaustion showed on her wrinkled face.
Ethan looked at her, his lips slowly curling into a grin.
"Old hag, you're running out of energy, aren't you?"
"Hahaha."
Zhuoya stood her ground, her chest heaving and her hand on the staff shaking.
She looked at Ethan's half-smiling face, a look of ruthlessness flashing in her amber eyes.
Her left hand reached into her robes.
She pulled out an emerald-green crystal.
The crystal was the size of a thumb and transparent throughout, with countless fine specks of light flowing slowly inside, as if it contained a condensed forest.
Zhuoya tilted her head back and swallowed the crystal.
BOOM!
Green light exploded from Zhuoya's body.
The light was a blinding emerald green, gushing from her skin, eyes, mouth, and nose, sweeping in all directions.
Wherever the light passed, countless fine roots sprouted from the cracks in the stone ground, new buds appeared on the walls of the wooden houses on both sides of the street, and the ball-shaped tree crowns grew wildly, their branches and leaves doubling in size within a few breaths.
In the center of the green light, Zhuoya's body was transforming.
Her wrinkled skin smoothed out at a visible rate.
Her withered, curled pointed ears filled out again, their emerald-green edges glowing brighter.
Her gray hair turned deep green from the roots, like withered wood reviving in spring.
Her hunched back straightened.
Her mostly cloudy amber eyes cleared, with emerald flames burning in her pupils.
In the blink of an eye, her old age completely vanished.
In its place stood an Amons woman just over three meters tall, with smooth skin and cold, sharp features.
She stood in the center of the green light, her dark green robes fluttering loudly in the shockwave.
Ethan's pupils constricted slightly.
"Crap, I taunted her too hard."
Before he could move, Zhuoya pointed her short staff forward.
A beam of emerald-green light shot from the tip of the staff.
The beam was as thick as a man's arm, moving so fast its trajectory was invisible.
Ethan only saw a flash of green light before his chest was pierced.
The beam entered through his chest and exited through his back, opening a fist-sized hole in his torso.
His heart, lungs, and spine were vaporized in that instant.
The force of the impact lifted Ethan off his feet, sending him flying backward.
While still in the air, his consciousness plunged into darkness.
【Death confirmed. Consuming 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
The darkness lasted only a moment.
Ethan snapped his eyes open.
His body was still flying backward through the air.
He exerted force through his core, twisting in the air and landing on his feet. He plowed two half-meter-long furrows into the stone floor as he pulled out the staff he hadn't used yet.
As mana surged within him, another beam of light arrived.
This time, it was aimed at his head.
BOOM.
His head exploded.
【Death confirmed. Consuming 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
Just as the resurrected Ethan opened his eyes, a third beam of light pierced his abdomen.
Then came a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth.
Zhuoya stood her ground, her staff pointing forward repeatedly. Emerald-green beams shot out one after another, each striking Ethan's vital points with precision.
Head, heart, throat, spine—the beams hit their marks without a single deviation.
Ethan's body was continuously pierced, blown apart, and sent flying.
With every resurrection, he only had time to open his eyes before the next beam reached his face.
Ten seconds.
Three hundred and twenty-seven deaths.
Including his previous deaths, it was nearly four hundred years.
Well, that was only about a day's worth of longevity gains anyway.
Of course, what bothered Ethan was that the staff he had bought earlier disintegrated under Zhuoya's assault before he could even use a single cantrip.
What a total waste.
Leah stood where she was, watching the scene with tear-filled eyes.
Pale blue tears gushed from her eyes, streaming down her cheeks and pooling at her chin before splashing drop by drop onto the stone ground.
"What are you waiting for?" Zhuoya's voice came from ahead, piercingly sharp. "Run! I won't last long after consuming the Divine Crystal. Go to the secret room, and after closing the shield, let everyone escape on their own. Go find Sivida; your father will avenge me."
After speaking, Zhuoya stopped looking at Leah.
She pointed her staff forward, and the frequency of the light beams suddenly increased.
Leah opened her mouth. Her amber eyes reflected Zhuoya's back, the figure continuously firing emerald beams, and the outsider who was pierced over and over, yet stood up every time.
She wiped her face.
She turned around.
And ran toward the center of the city.
Ethan died and resurrected repeatedly.
Every time he resurrected, he didn't even have time to take a step before the next beam arrived.
But Ethan could feel it.
The frequency of the attacks was dropping.
From more than a dozen times per second at the start, to ten, then to seven or eight.
In less than a minute, the frequency of the beams had fallen to three or four times per second.
"Old!"
Death, resurrection.
"Hag!"
Death, resurrection.
"You!"
Death, resurrection.
"Can't!"
Death, resurrection.
"Hold!"
Death, resurrection.
"On!"
Death, resurrection.
"Any!"
Death, resurrection.
"Longer!"
Zhuoya's face was ice-cold. "Vile thief, I can still kill you ten thousand times."
She pointed her staff forward, and the beams continued to fire.
The frequency held for another ten seconds.
Then it began to plummet.
Ethan seized an opening.
The moment a beam grazed his right ear, he didn't retreat.
His body lunged forward.
He raised his right arm, shielding his face.
The beam struck his right arm.
Piercing through from wrist to shoulder, his entire arm exploded into shredded meat, his shoulder was blown apart, and half his face was torn open by the shockwave.
But he broke through.
【Death confirmed. Consuming 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
After resurrecting, Ethan's right arm was intact and his face was whole.
"Hiss... old hag."
Before he even regained his footing, he raised both hands.
The ground exploded.
Dozens of wooden stakes erupted from beneath the stone slabs.
Each was as thick as a man's waist, their surfaces covered in rough bark patterns. The stakes fanned out from Ethan in a semi-circle, with the furthest one striking directly at Zhuoya.
Zhuoya swept her short staff horizontally.
An emerald-green light shield expanded in front of her.
Rate on N.U.
