I Should Have Asked for More...

“Then how do you plan to handle the Soul Screams brought by the ten resonance stacks?”

Old Ed asked relentlessly in his mind.

“Are you just going to tough it out?”

The old man was clearly full of doubt regarding this crazy, suicidal plan.

At this very moment.

Elias didn't have the luxury of calmly explaining it to him.

He was right in the eye of the storm.

The massive body of the mountain of flesh writhed violently, and the giant arm Elias had pinned down was thrashing and struggling wildly in mid-air.

Violent air currents formed a hurricane around them.

That was 【Gust of Wind】.

Don't forget, before his death, John had been a spawn of the Raging Sea, so he could still use his related spells.

Elias was like a tattered flag, swaying frantically in the strong winds conjured by the mountain of flesh.

The gale tore at his trench coat.

If he hadn't anticipated this and used 【Frostbite】 to freeze his gloves to the handle of the dagger he’d plunged into the flesh...

With those thrashing movements that could snap tree trunks, he would have likely been blown away by the wind pressure long ago.

“Do you really have to ask that right now, you old fossil?”

Elias roared in his mind.

“Don't forget, I have the Scale One spirit vision potion!”

He directly revealed his trump card.

“What are you afraid of?”

Elias gripped the handle tightly, enduring the tearing force of the gale.

“Either way, it won't work. Isn't it better if I save some soul coins?”

Asking that demon to make an extra move cost a fortune. Saving wherever possible was the core of his tactics.

“Oh!”

Hearing this explanation, Old Ed suddenly realized.

“I see, oh!”

The old man immediately understood Elias's tactical loop, and his tone instantly became relaxed.

“You carry on!”

“I won't disturb you. I'm going now!”

Before leaving, Old Ed didn't forget to leave a perfunctory blessing.

“Don't die!”

“Go take a rest, you stupid old geezer!”

Elias cursed unceremoniously in his heart.

Just then.

The thrashing of the mountain of flesh's arm finally reached its limit. Due to the continuous destruction caused by the 【Thorn Spell】 beneath the skin, the giant hand's muscle tissue experienced a brief moment of stiffness.

The massive wind field finally went still.

Taking advantage of this gap, Elias exerted force with both feet and landed steadily on the foul-smelling arm of the mountain of flesh.

He looked down.

It was covered in corpse fluids and minced meat.

“Looks like I won't be able to keep these clothes.”

He complained with disgust.

Without pausing, his hands moved like lightning.

Before the mountain of flesh's next attack arrived, he quickly channeled the spirituality within his body.

Several bursts of blinding fire erupted from around him without warning.

【Hexfire】!

For a moment.

The intense light pierced the darkness, illuminating the area around the mountain of flesh as if it were broad daylight.

The monster, accustomed to the dark environment, visibly stiffened as it was blinded by the sudden glare.

That high-and-mighty head also instinctively recoiled.

But the monster reacted quickly.

The chunks of corpses on the surface of the mountain of flesh writhed violently, rolling upward like living things.

In just a second or two, John's exposed head was covered by a layer of armor stitched together from corpses.

At the same time, its giant arm began to swing again with a whistling wind.

“You damned bastard!”

Elias cursed as he stabilized his stance on the swaying arm.

He quickly released his left hand and skillfully drew the revolver from his waist with the other.

With a flick of his thumb.

He rotated the cylinder to bring a pre-prepared thunderclap bullet into the firing position.

He raised his hand.

He aimed the barrel at the corpse armor protecting John's face at the top of the mountain of flesh.

And fired.

“Bang!”

The gun roared, spitting fire.

His original plan was simple: use the powerful shockwave of the thunderclap bullet to directly blow apart or push away the obstructive corpse armor, exposing John's head once more.

However.

The mountain of flesh seemed even more cunning than he had anticipated; it had taken an extra defensive step.

The moment before the bullet was about to hit.

The massive negative spirituality within the mountain of flesh surged frantically.

Within the dark green aura of death, a turbulent air current flickering with violent lightning suddenly manifested.

This layer of air clung tightly to the corpse armor, forming a visible energy barrier.

When the thunderclap bullet hit the layer of corpse armor...

The absolute repulsive force accompanied by the roar was significantly weakened.

It was like a stone sinking into the ocean; the effect was negligible.

It didn't create the massive thunderous wave he had expected to push away the corpse armor.

Elias realized something was wrong.

He recognized this eerie energy.

Just last night, while chatting with Old Ed, they had discussed the spell composition of a Storm Judge.

Since the old man had frequently encountered Storm Judges in the Moon Bay area, he was most familiar with their spell system.

At the time, the two of them had discussed the casting methods of many spells in detail.

For example, the Scale Three spell the mountain of flesh was currently casting—

【Heart of the Storm】.

It allowed the caster to selectively increase their resistance to either “lightning” or “thunder” energy.

With lightning now flickering all over the mountain of flesh, it had clearly put all its resistance into thunder energy.

This meant a fatal tactical deadlock.

If he were to detonate the things buried inside the mountain of flesh—within the living corpse Finn—at this moment...

Among those fuses, whether it was the thunderclap bullets or the resonance of The Roaring Cane, they were all thunder energy.

Under the resistance suppression of this 【Heart of the Storm】, those explosions probably wouldn't achieve much.

They might not even be able to heavily wound the monster.

And with the mountain of flesh's current total amount of negative spirituality, which was as vast as the sea...

He feared that even if he stalled until dawn, until the moon set and his own spirituality was completely exhausted, the opponent's massive negative spirituality might not even hit the bottom.

A battle of attrition was absolutely out of the question.

He had to find a way to break this defense.

He had to make it change its resistance!

The most direct way was to force this damn monster to actively switch its resistance.

Once it switched its resistance, the internal detonation of the thunderclap bullets and resonance would be able to unleash one hundred percent of their destructive power.

But.

How was that easier said than done?

Elias was well aware of his own assets; he didn't have any lightning energy equipment or spells that could hurt the mountain of flesh.

Without a lightning attack, how could he force the opponent to switch resistance?

Wait.

A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Elias's mind.

If he didn't have it, what about John's own hands?

Just as the idea began to form, the mountain of flesh's tentacles slammed down again.

Elias was forced to roll and dodge on the arm.

He was being pinned down, with no way to free himself to carry out his risky plan.

Meanwhile.

On the other side of the battlefield.

Guss, the demon fighting the alchemy puppet, was in a state of extreme frustration and suppressed anger.

He swung his flaming greatsword while moving toward the mountain of flesh.

It wasn't that he wanted to get close to that disgusting behemoth.

It was because the alchemy puppet was desperately trying to move toward the position where the mountain of flesh was storing the pendulum.

Since Guss had taken this job, he had no choice but to follow it and conduct a close-quarters interception.

Initially, Guss hadn't taken this iron block seriously.

He had thought it was just a rigid alchemy puppet; even if it was strong and had a hard shell...

With the eeriness and high-dimensional suppression of infernal spells, he could easily deal with it.

Thus.

After a few rounds of exchange, Guss found an opportunity and directly channeled his power.

He raised his hand, intending to use 【Banishment】 to throw this obstructive iron block into the depths of the chaotic spirit world to gather dust.

Simple, fast, and efficient.

A spatial rift opened behind the puppet.

The energy of banishment instantly enveloped the brass body.

However.

A jaw-dropping scene occurred.

The moment the spell touched the puppet, it had no effect.

The puppet only paused for a fraction of a second before continuing to swing its sword as if nothing had happened.

Guss was shocked to discover that within the puppet's alchemical core, there was actually a complete resistance to 【Banishment】!

Physical immunity was one thing, but what was with this spell resistance?

Was this something a Scale Four puppet should have?!

Guss's demonic vertical pupils were full of confusion and shock.

How much money had the humans dumped into this thing?

Before Guss could try any other spells.

The puppet suddenly stopped.

It gripped the silver longsword that had belonged to Finn with both hands and raised it high.

Next.

An incomparably holy light, carrying a pure aura that dispelled all evil, emitted a halo that radiated outward.

It rapidly condensed on the blade of that longsword.

Guss was all too familiar with this aura.

This was power specifically designed to counter infernal creatures like them!

This was fucking 【Divine Smite】!

This damn alchemy puppet was not only immune to banishment, but its core actually had spells from the Dawn Church recorded in it?!

Looking at the holy light that was getting brighter and brighter, almost blinding him...

Guss's eyes widened like copper bells.

“Dammit, I'm losing out!”

“I should have asked for more...”