Ch.68 Why Does Everything Have a Second Phase?
Based on the information regarding Jeraf Goldenhamr that Luo Nan had obtained in advance from Serela, he knew this fellow was an individual of extre arrogance — yet equally extre caution.
It was precisely this personality that had allowed Luo Nan to be certain: when he revealed his true face, Jeraf would not co charging at him directly, but would instead show off by producing the Soul-Devouring Curse, and activate it while basking in the "despair" in his eyes.
Now that he had escaped the three-sided enclosure, he was even more confident he had read Jeraf's calculations correctly.
'Weave the web to snare the moth — and end up the one cocooned.'
"The Cheat Device Miss was right after all — this fellow…… will ultimately be bound by his own web."
"Luo Nan von dillion, what did you just say?!" Jeraf was visibly caught off guard by Luo Nan's breezy, unhurried reply.
"I said, hurry up and activate that Soul-Devouring Curse of yours already. Stop dawdling."
"……I understand now. You believe you have sothing on you — so safeguard that can block my Soul-Devouring Curse, don't you?"
"Care to guess?"
Luo Nan tilted his head slightly, radiating the air of 'this young master does have a safeguard, and has no fear of whatever curse you care to throw.'
Jeraf let out a vicious laugh. "Then you're in for a disappointnt. This Soul-Devouring Curse is a blessing I beseeched from the great Lord — the Archlord of 'Nature,' Saoken! It is an erasure directly descended upon you by the Lord, channeled through the very essence of the Abyss!"
"Even if you possess so-called protective treasures from those false gods, they cannot obstruct an erasure carried out by the Abyssal essence!"
Watching the frenzied, fervent Jeraf, Luo Nan found his thoughts drifting back to the lore of The Shining Myriad Trails.
The Seven Abyssal Great Lords were the outward manifestations of the Abyssal essence. Speaking strictly in terms of divine rank, they were indeed considered more 'exalted' than the existing true gods.
But unfortunately for Jeraf, they were still evil gods — because this world was judged by power, not bloodline, and that held true even among deities.
The thing was—
Your Soul-Devouring Curse may be formidable. But the Counter-Ritual is a chanical counter.
Why was he so confident, one might ask…… Because The Shining Myriad Trails contained a side quest that used the Counter-Ritual to counter an evil god's curse. Although it was not a curse from the Archlord of 'Nature,' given that the Seven Great Lords shared the sa root in terms of divine rank, the Counter-Ritual would certainly be effective against this Soul-Devouring Curse as well.
"So then, Mr. Jeraf Goldenhamr — after all that hot air, why aren't you making your move? Surely you're not afraid of so supernatural counterasure artifact on this young master's person?" Luo Nan continued to provoke.
"Slippery tongue! You…… clearly have no understanding whatsoever of the greatness of our Lord!!!"
"Go repent before our Lord in person!"
With that, Jeraf hesitated no longer. He extended his hand, pressed his finger to the Curse Skull, and began to murmur sothing in Abyssal Script in a low voice.
"……"
The black Curse Skull in Jeraf's hand began to glow with a dim, murky radiance, and viscous black liquid started to seep from the skull's eye sockets, nasal cavity, and even its mouth.
He prostrated himself on the ground, raising both arms high. "O my most magnificent Lord! Please bring Your erasure down upon Luo Nan von dillion!"
"So that's it…… that inexplicable palpitation I felt earlier — it was connected to this Soul-Devouring Curse."
Luo Nan pressed a hand to his chest, sensing the faint palpitation surfacing once again, and a look of comprehension crossed his face.
"But what a sha — the Counter-Ritual is the hard counter specifically for crooked curses like yours, crawling out of every dark corner!"
With that spoken, Luo Nan reached into his coat and produced the other black Curse Skull, the magical runes carved across its surface blazing brilliantly as Luo Nan activated it.
"Jeraf — look at this. What do you see?"
"That's the Curse Skull I sold to Hulos Exchange?! Why is it in your hands?" Jeraf's pupils contracted sharply, his gaze locked onto the skull in Luo Nan's hand.
"Hmm…… how to put it — the Exchange, in the spirit of making friends with this young master, simply gave the thing to
for free."
As the ritual activated, the skull in Luo Nan's hand gradually began to rise into the air, floating up to the sa height as Jeraf's skull — the two facing each other eye-to-eye.
"This young master's foresight is impeccable. I predicted long ago that this beast of a man would try to play dirty with
— and as it happens, I had the very thing to counter him right in my hands. How's that for coincidence?"
"Heh…… and what of it, even if you have a curse dium? Do you truly think you can…… contend against the power of the Lord?!" Jeraf showed no anger; his gaze simply settled on Luo Nan.
He rose back to his feet and spread his arms wide. "The curse is fully activated. Unless you can summon a Holy Descent from a false god…… death is your only destination!"
Luo Nan waved a hand with complete indifference. "I obviously lack the ability to summon a Holy Descent. But…… who said anything about needing to stop your curse from activating?"
The mont those words fell, the two Curse Skulls floating in the air flared with brilliant light simultaneously!
One surged with a tide of black mist; the other blazed with magical radiance.
Had a Demigod-tier powerhouse been watching from the sidelines, they would have felt it — a peculiar, inexplicable fluctuation erupted from the skull wreathed in roiling black mist, and in an instant it was descending upon Luo Nan.
And at that very sa mont, the skull blazing with magical radiance responded in kind, its intricate and exquisite ritual construct manifesting with precision, intercepting that bizarre fluctuation and reversing its 'target' entirely.
"What?! ……"
Feeling his own soul being frantically wrenched, pulled toward departure from his body, Jeraf stared at Luo Nan with an expression of total shock. "You…… what did you do? How could this……"
"Didn't I say so? I can't stop your curse from activating — I simply used a certain technique to…… ever so slightly redirect the target the curse takes effect upon."
"Which is to say, the one now bearing the Soul-Devouring Curse — is you, Mr. Jeraf Goldenhamr."
Watching Jeraf ahead of him, his features contorted, his soul seemingly on the verge of departing his body, Luo Nan found himself reciting once again the second hint the Cheat Device Miss had given him:
'Weave the web to snare the moth — and end up the one cocooned.'
"What do you think, Mr. Jeraf — does this little verse…… suit your end rather well?"
At this, Jeraf — enduring the Soul-Devouring Curse through sheer force of will — mustered his last reserves of strength and struggled out these words: "Luo Nan von dillion! Don't think for a mont…… that I'm going to make my exit like this!"
"Even if my fate is already sealed, a mutual loss is always preferable to a one-sided victory!"
"O my most magnificent Lord, the Archlord of 'Nature,' Saoken! I offer up everything of myself to you here — flesh and soul alike! I beseech my Lord…… to bestow upon this place a single mont of Your Gaze!!!"
Jeraf Goldenhamr, Secondary Priest of 'Nature,' in this mont chose to offer up everything he was to the Abyssal Great Lord 'Nature,' in exchange for one instant of power.
"Luo Nan von dillion — now bear witness to — the Gaze of 'Nature.'"
After uttering that final sentence still comprehensible as human speech, the black tide engulfed Jeraf in an instant.
"Holy sh—, this guy is going for a self-sacrifice!" Luo Nan grasped his intent.
He reached into his coat, seized a fistful of Purifying Light crystals, and hurled them toward Jeraf Goldenhamr — who was in the midst of the sacrificial process — like they cost nothing, using them as coordinates to shout up at the two ladies above, their perception blocked by the Black Mist with no view of what was happening below:
"Anya, Miss Tanya — strike now! This fellow is sacrificing himself to summon so sort of forbidden power!"
"Starfall Sword Art, Fifth Form: Falling Star!"
A girl's clear battle cry rang out in an instant, and a streak of crimson stellar fla tore through the Black Mist, plunging down from high above in a sudden, devastating descent!
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