Shut Up and Watch Me Work

“Is there no... more dignified way to do this?”

Elias looked up at the towering mountain of flesh, then at Guss's massive, dark red hand, and couldn't help but ask.

“No,” Guss replied, sounding perfectly justified.

“I will not lie to Your Excellency; I truly do not know any flight spells.”

The demon's tone was candid, his self-awareness on full display.

Forget it, Elias sighed inwardly.

If it was undignified, then so be it.

As long as he could cross this deathly distance, successfully reach the top of the mountain of flesh near John's head, and blow this heap of rotten meat to smithereens, it would be worth it. The tactical objective always took precedence over style.

From the moment Guss had stepped out of the spatial rift, Elias had suddenly become keenly aware that the depths of his mind had grown exceptionally quiet.

At some point, Old Ed had silently cut off the mental channel.

Elias didn't even need to think hard to guess why.

He remembered the time back at Hastings Port when Old Ed had proactively cut the mental channel and played dead because they were facing the Ascetic Society's bishop, Raymond.

This was enough to prove one thing: the old man had an almost instinctive wariness toward creatures with an extremely high existence level who could keenly perceive soul fluctuations.

If there was one thing about this old fellow, it was that he was truly afraid of death. Once there was a risk of exposure, he ran faster than anyone.

As these brief thoughts flashed by, Elias and Guss charged forward side-by-side, having completely closed in on the mountain of flesh's fifty-meter danger zone.

The foul aura of death felt like a physical wall slamming into his face.

“Is Your Excellency sure you don't need me to handle this?” Guss maintained his charging stance, turning his head to give Elias one last business confirmation.

“Not for now,” Elias flatly refused, holding the line on his wallet.

“But if I need it, or if I'm about to die, then you step in immediately.”

He established a fallback contract.

“We'll settle the payment afterward.”

“Very well.” Guss nodded, satisfied with this flexible add-on service.

As they spoke, the corpses in the mountain of flesh's abdomen suddenly contracted and exerted force.

A massive maw literally tore open in its center. A glob of viscous acid, emitting a pungent odor, sprayed out, hurtling toward the two of them.

Guss didn't even look.

The greatsword burning with raging flames traced an arc through the air, slashing directly at the glob of acid.

Sizzle—!

The moment the acid neared the Ever-Burning Sword, it didn't even touch the blade. It was instantly vaporized by the terrifying heat, turning into a wisp of white smoke that dissipated in the night wind.

“Then I'll gift Your Excellency one more layer of protection!” Guss announced generously after blocking the attack.

He swung his empty, massive hand, and an invisible arcane ripple instantly enveloped Elias.

Elias felt his body suddenly become light. The sensation of sinking caused by gravity was weakened by more than half.

“【Slow Fall】,” Guss explained.

“It will help Your Excellency land a bit more softly when you come down from up there.”

There was no need to worry about being smashed into meat paste.

Expensive for a reason! That was Elias's only thought as he felt the practical buff on his body.

The service attitude and after-sales protection were truly impeccable.

“Thanks,” he thanked him briefly.

“Your Excellency need not mention it!”

Guss's gaze moved past the mountain of flesh toward the stone wall of the convent in the distance. There, the alchemy puppet that had been slammed into the wall was slowly emerging amidst falling debris, raising its silver knight's sword once again.

“Good luck, Your Excellency.” Guss withdrew his gaze and looked down at Elias.

“Now then, shall I throw you up?”

“Do it!” Elias took a deep breath and nodded heavily.

He quickly stowed his loose items, ensuring only his revolver and The Roaring Cane were on his belt, along with that looted dark red dagger in a position where it could be drawn at any moment.

He made full preparations for the impact.

In the next second, Guss's thick, demonic hand grabbed Elias's belt. The demon's arm muscles swelled instantly, accompanied by a terrifying, irresistible burst of power.

Boom!

Elias was launched into the sky like a cannonball fired from a barrel!

The fierce wind instantly filled the gaps in his mask.

“Holy shit!” Mid-air, Elias couldn't help but swear.

His damn pants had almost fallen off!

He spent all day in his head threatening to make Old Ed fly, but he hadn't expected to be the one to experience it this way first.

The wind shrieked in his ears.

The moment he left Guss's hand, the spirituality within Elias's body flowed rapidly, immediately draping the 【Moonlight Veil】 over himself.

His figure vanished into the night sky, his presence reduced to a minimum as he merged with the surrounding darkness.

The parabola reached its peak.

Gravity began to take over his body again, though with the aid of 【Slow Fall】, his descent became very slow.

By now, he was nearing the very top of the mountain of flesh. John's head was less than five meters above him.

A layer of white frost quickly spread over Elias's hands. 【Frostbite】 activated.

Extreme cold energy gathered in his palms. He needed to use the adhesive power of this frost to stick his hands firmly to the corpse armor on the surface of the mountain of flesh the moment he made contact.

He needed to fix his position on this giant pile of shit.

However, even with the cover of the 【Moonlight Veil】, the mountain of flesh possessed an almost beast-like intuition for changes in the surrounding airflow and slight spiritual interference.

It seemed to sense something.

The mountain of flesh, which had been on guard against Guss, suddenly began to writhe violently.

“You... are... here!”

The head let out a wheezing roar.

Along with that roar, a massive arm stitched together from countless torsos swung toward Elias in mid-air with a whistling, foul wind.

It was like swatting a fly. There was no way to dodge.

Elias's eyes sharpened, his reaction lightning-fast.

He didn't try to tank it. His free hand reached for his waist and threw out a repulsion charm.

The charm traced a path through the air, activating instantly in the direction of the mountain of flesh's incoming giant hand.

Boom!

Violent repulsive force exploded in mid-air. The massive pushing power collided head-on with the physical kinetic energy of the giant hand.

The strength of a Scale Five was too brutal; the repulsion charm couldn't possibly push it back. However, that repulsive force still caused the giant hand to stall for a negligible second in mid-air.

And that one second was enough for the current Elias.

Within that frozen second, Elias performed a high-stakes maneuver he had never dared to attempt in both his lives combined.

Relying on the powerful coordination and explosive power brought by the all-around physical upgrade of reaching Scale Two, he forcibly twisted his torso in mid-air.

His feet accurately kicked into the gaps and depressions where the corpses were joined on the surface of the mountain of flesh.

Leverage!

In the split second before the giant hand broke free from the repulsion and was about to hit him, his legs snapped straight—a double jump!

His body performed a limit-break twist in the air, narrowly avoiding the direct impact of the giant hand.

He traced a short arc through the night sky, then landed steadily on the very arm of the mountain of flesh that had just tried to swat him.

His feet hit solid ground. As soon as he landed, the flesh beneath his feet began to roll violently, trying to buck him off.

Elias didn't give the opponent any time to react. He quickly drew the looted dark red dagger from his waist with his left hand.

Gripping the handle with both hands in a reverse grip, he aimed at a gap in the mountain of flesh's arm and plunged it deep into the muscle!

Spirituality surged frantically along the blade, and the supernatural property within the dagger was instantly triggered.

【Thorn Spell】!

Psh! Psh! Psh!

A series of tooth-aching sounds of tearing flesh rang out. Thick red thorns burst out from beneath the skin of the mountain of flesh's arm!

From the inside out, they grew and pierced frantically.

Using this perfect anchor, Elias took advantage of the residual 【Frostbite】 energy in his left hand to freeze his hand to the dagger's handle.

Like a nail, he completely secured his position on this wildly thrashing arm.

“Roar—!”

A more shrill scream erupted from the top of the mountain of flesh.

The pain brought by the internal destruction of the 【Thorn Spell】 was clearly no less than the five fire rays Guss had used to vaporize its outer shell earlier.

Because of the way the 【Thorn Spell】 functioned, it directly bypassed the thick corpse armor and pierced through the most fragile tissues beneath the skin.

This inside-out magical strike also perfectly proved Elias's earlier judgment.

The plan to destroy this monster from the inside had an extremely solid foundation for success.

As long as the damage was dealt to its core, this monster would feel pain and would die just like anything else!

“Why didn't you just spend a little more money and let that infernal demon handle it!”

Just then, Old Ed, who had been playing dead, suddenly spoke up in Elias's mind again. His tone carried obvious lingering fear and confusion over Elias's death-defying behavior.

“Oh, the King of Disconnections is back?”

Elias looked at John's head, which was now just inches away.

“Shut up and watch me work!”