Foolish Game of the Chapter 321: [Decay]'s Fall?!

The perspective returns to inside the Septic Final Tomb.

[Decay] bore Cheng Shi no grudge—for reasons Cheng Shi couldn't fathom. On the contrary, He'd even bestowed a reward upon him.

Not verbal praise—a genuine divine gift!

The withered giant pulled off His own fingernail, dropped it at Cheng Shi's feet, and then feebly closed His eyes without another sound.

Watching this unfold, Cheng Shi's brain went BOOM—and exploded.

His mind blanked. His awareness blurred. He couldn't even control his own body as he staggered two steps backward.

[Decay]'s aura was dissipating...

'He couldn't have... kicked the bucket, right?'

'What?'

'WHAT?!'

'I didn't do anything!!'

'Heavens as my witness—I don't even know how I got in here!'

'The mont I arrived, He was already on His way out!'

'Besides, I'm just a player—a mortal! There's no way I could kill a god, right?!'

'You'll all believe ... RIGHT?!!'

Cheng Shi went ashen, drenched in cold sweat, heart hamring, feet tripping.

He could barely believe he'd just witnessed the passing of one of Them.

'Wait—They weren't fighting just now, were They? How did He just... die?'

But the next instant he figured it out: well obviously, a clash between gods wouldn't be sothing players could see.

Yet understanding this only made him more lost.

So what was [Decay]'s intent?

He'd died on the battlefield of the Gods, then used a humanoid vessel inside what seed to be a tomb of His own making to summon Cheng Shi and... leave His last words?

What were those last words again?

'Stay far from [Prosperity]?'

'Huh?'

'Bro, I feel like You're trying to screw

over.'

'I was literally the "inside man" who helped [Prosperity] take You down, and sohow I'm the one who should stay away from [Prosperity]?'

'You're not playing mind gas to drag

down with You before You go, are You?'

'That doesn't track either—at the rate You're going, a single sneeze from You would have

reporting to that Gentleman's Bone Throne. Why bother with sothing this convoluted...'

Cheng Shi's mind was in total chaos. So confused he couldn't even tell what he was thinking anymore.

He stared at the "gift" at his feet, then at the now-silent giant, his heart in absolute turmoil.

Honestly, given Cheng Shi's personality, he desperately wanted this "God's fingernail" that looked like a rotting twig. But he also feared it carried the massive karma of a Fallen Deity. So he was torn.

He wondered: if he took this thing, could his two Benefactors wipe the karma for him?

Yes—not once had he considered leaving it. The only question was how to dodge the karma.

But while he hesitated, the giant at the center of the tomb opened His eyes once more, slowly turned His head toward Cheng Shi, and spoke in exhausted weakness:

"The gift has been given. What else do you want?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Cheng Shi went completely blank. For one delirious instant, he thought [Decay] had co back from the dead.

But realization hit him like a freight train, and he slapped himself hard across the face, internally screaming:

'I'm an IDIOT! I'm an IDIOT! I'm a goddamn COLOSSAL IDIOT!'

How could one of Them possibly fall right in front of a re player?!

'Cheng Shi, you've lost your damn mind!'

The mont he realized [Decay]'s demise had been nothing but his own delusion, he picked up the fingernail without another word.

'He's not even dead. Why the hell would I leave it?!'

But the shock-addled Cheng Shi had overlooked one thing:

This was a gift from a Deity. A gift from one of Them who wielded countless Authorities of [Decay].

So the instant he grasped that fingernail, his entire right arm along with his chest began to rapidly rot and decay.

Cheng Shi jolted in horror. Without a second thought, he grabbed several bottles of Prosperity of Yesteryear with his other hand and began frantically chugging them, his expression deadly grave.

And so, the day's most blasphemous scene was born.

The second God of the [Descent] Path—[Decay]—sitting right there in His own Temple, inside the mausoleum He'd built with His own hands, watched helplessly as the player He'd just praised guzzled bottle after bottle of [Prosperity]-infused Potion, trying to counteract His divine gift.

The absurdity of the image was such that the giant's barely-open eyes widened... and widened further... until they glowed with an angry crimson light.

And when [Decay] grew furious, the tide of septic blood erupted.

Countless streams of black blood gushed from His eye sockets, drowning the entire tomb in the blink of an eye. Before Cheng Shi could even cry out, he was reduced to a handful of rotten flesh and bleached bone, thoroughly dissolved into the sea of blood.

The cataclysmic disturbance was violent enough to draw the attention of "every living person" in the Sighing Forest.

The Historian and the Puppet Master, standing at the edge of the dried-up Blood Lake and trying to regroup with their [Decay]-betraying teammate, watched as the Septic Final Tomb—now wrapped in countless verdant branches—suddenly erupted with horrifying crimson light. Then a Sighing Sorrow Tide several tis more concentrated than anything before exploded without warning from atop the tomb!

This tide of [Decay] skipped the Blood Lake entirely, carrying untouchable black blood in every direction!

"Holy shit! RUN!"

Zuo Qiu went pale. Without a word, he hurled every defensive asure he had behind him. An Jing's gaze hardened—she abandoned her Ranger puppet, converting it into a silk-thread barrier, scooped up little Cai Wei, and sprinted for her life.

Zhen's position was worse—he was practically still at the lakeside.

Seeing the most concentrated Sighing Sorrow Tide he'd ever witnessed crashing down on him, his heart clenched. He could only pray that his new Benefactor—who'd overwhelmingly dominated this clash—would show him so rciful shelter.

So he spread his arms wide and raised his voice:

"All things grow, flourish and prosper!"

But to his horror, the instant his prayer echoed out, an even more devastating [Decay] tide erupted from the Septic Final Tomb!

The plumting fog was solid as ice, frozen and corporeal. Zhen stood dumbly at the lake's edge, watching this thing—too substantial to be called fog—plunge straight down onto his head.

BOOM—the ruins were leveled flat.

Nearly half the forest was engulfed by [Decay] once more. Trees in the rainforest withered and died, all green vanished, and the entire ground was flattened by the "weight" of the fog to the sa level as the Blood Lake's bed.

Hong Lin sensed the terrifying tremor and peered toward the distance, frowning. 'What happened over there?'

And at the sa ti, those pairs of divine eyes above the canopy turned in unison toward the Septic Final Tomb.

"Foolish. Why provoke Him at a ti like this?"

"I sll [Death]'s aura. He certainly is impatient."

"Letting [Fate] and [Prosperity] fight forever is a waste of ti. [Truth]—when do you intend to make your move?"

"Oh?

Relax. There won't be a part for you in this play. Supporting roles belong in the audience. Only the leads should take the stage. Isn't that right, [Truth]?

Your Experint may have failed, but superior material is laid out right before you. What are you still hesitating for?"

A pair of eyes radiating the light of knowledge and infinite laws gazed toward the space above the canopy. After a brief silence, they vanished.

Imdiately after, the spatial disturbances above the canopy grew even more violent.

Another pair of pitch-black eyes—eerily similar to [Void]'s—tried to follow. But a pair of pale, disdain-filled eyes swiftly blocked their path.

"I told you—you're just a supporting role. You don't deserve to go up there."

"So He sent you to block ."

"Block you? Heh. You think too highly of yourself."

"Sigh..."

As the sigh faded, a new battlefield opened beneath the canopy.