515: Chapter 515: Rosy Light (Extra Large Chapter for Monthly Tickets) 515: Chapter 515: Rosy Light (Extra Large Chapter for Monthly Tickets) World Tree Rodan Branch
He Ao watched the figure downstairs, touching the Miracle Wand belted at his waist.
Mountain Collapse Tsunami: 8/5
After the incident on the Velora, the progress of Mountain Collapse Tsunami was 3/5.
Upon arrival in Rodan, He Ao had killed two C-levels from Moonlight, as well as Rose, who had been contaminated by the World Tree—making three C-levels.
And among those counterfeit C-levels whose strength had been artificially boosted and beco corrupted, the stronger ones were also acknowledged by the Miracle Wand as C-levels.
Including the Black Shadow He Ao killed when rescuing Elfia, as well as Leanna, who He Ao had just slain.
Therefore, He Ao had accumulated a total of five ‘C-level’ kills, which raised the progress bar of Mountain Collapse Tsunami by five points, aning that He Ao now had another chance to unleash a B-level ‘Miracle’ Mountain Collapse Tsunami.
At the sa ti He Ao was observing the shadows below, squeaking footsteps sounded from behind him.
One by one, distorted and cold figures stumbled out of the semi-open offices on the fourth floor, converging toward the office where He Ao was.
He Ao briefly activated Super mory to glance at these figures.
Their souls had dissipated; their entire bodies were controlled by pitch-black shadows.
Puppeteer.
This was the opponent’s ho turf.
He Ao’s gaze moved away from these figures, looked at the shadow under the window in front of him, and then leapt forth.
His figure cut through the pitch-black shadows, slanting downward.
At the sa ti, another figure dashed out from the corridor at the entrance of the courtyard, bypassing the blurry figure, and threw a punch toward He Ao in midair.
A pure white bone sword appeared in He Ao’s hand, and he raised the sword, bringing it down onto the oncoming fist.
Bang—
The sword’s light collided with the fist, emitting a crisp sound.
Using the rebounding force of the attack, He Ao flipped through the air like a fluttering leaf, landing on the steps in front of the building.
His gaze turned to the figure who had just blocked his attack.
It was a young man with a straight posture, soone He Ao knew—Gade.
At this mont, Gade was staring stiffly at He Ao, his hand covered with a thick layer of severed bone armor, and shadows from around the courtyard continuously poured into his body, enveloping the rest of it in a thick layer of bone armor.
Due to the constant influx of these shadows, the visibility around had actually increased.
He Ao’s gaze moved from Gade and turned to the person standing behind him.
It was an old man with silver hair, a handso beard, and a pair of dark silver pupils.
He leaned on a jeweled cane, dressed in a well-fitting tailcoat, looking as if he had just returned from a noble evening party.
He Ao looked at the old man and asked softly in Tia language, “Puppeteer?”
“I have heard that Central Earth sent a powerful C-level to Rodan, I presu it is you, my young friend,”
The Puppeteer watched He Ao, “I did not expect you to be so young.”
He had a kind and amiable appearance, and his tone was gentle, just like a benign elder.
Bang—
Just then, a crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, and a huge Black Shadow plumted from the sky, smashing the thick concrete ground into a depression, none other than Andrew, whom He Ao had just killed.
At that mont, his waist, which He Ao had severed, was being covered and stitched together by a slick black skin.
Following that, a figure with spread wings, covered in fine scales, also landed behind the old man.
Leanna.
These two no longer possessed the vitality they had before, their movents slightly stiffer and less perceptible.
“It seems you had prepared a contingency on them to turn them into puppets,” He Ao remarked, looking at the Puppeteer while clutching the bone sword, his voice calm.
“It is all in service of the Mysterious Shadow.
It was their duty to perform,” said the Puppeteer without any change in expression, as if everything was as it should be.
He watched He Ao as the shadows kept flowing into three people surrounding him,
“Rose should have extended an invitation to you, young friend.
With your strength, after becoming a believer of my master, you are bound to gain a broader future.”
He Ao’s gaze returned to Gade.
Theoretically, after he killed Rose, the out-of-control Gade should have been retrieved by Moonlight.
It would seem that the Puppeteer’s ‘outing’ was to reclaim Gade’s body.
Gade’s condition was very similar to the other controlled puppets.
According to the records Gade left, he intended to seek help from Moonlight.
Perhaps, on his way to seek Moonlight, he encountered the Puppeteer and was turned into a puppet.
He Ao also had a Puppet Crystal Ball in his hand that could control puppets, and he didn’t know whether the Puppeteer’s ability was much different from that of the Puppet Crystal Ball.
The Puppet Crystal Ball’s control over puppets was not limited by distance, and if the puppets controlled by the Puppeteer were also not limited by distance, then that ant Gade, who had been guarding the door at that ti, was under the Puppeteer’s control.
This could also explain why the Puppeteer knew He Ao had been to the Molt Shadow Club that day.
The Puppeteer should still be maintaining contact with the World Tree, so he would be aware of the information about ‘Hao Yi’.
Therefore, after Rose lost control, the Puppeteer imdiately gave up manipulating Gade, letting him revert to a ‘corpse’ to avoid attracting He Ao’s attention, thus sacrificing Gade.
In fact, that was indeed the case.
For He Ao, who possessed the Velora, ‘Gade’ had no ans of escape; the Puppeteer ‘playing dead’ could also preserve Gade’s body intact, with the opportunity to retrieve it from Moonlight later on.
However, the Puppeteer’s abilities still had certain gaps compared to the Puppet Crystal Ball; the number of puppets the Puppeteer could control seed to far exceed that of the Puppet Crystal Ball.
But the ‘puppets’ he controlled couldn’t, like the Puppet Crystal Ball, maintain the ‘life’ of the puppets, allowing them to exist like living people.
After quickly reviewing the information in his mind, He Ao looked at the Puppeteer with a smile, “Sorry, I don’t have the intention of turning into a monster for the ti being.”
“Oh?”
The Puppeteer also smiled slightly, “Then, old man will have to borrow the body of young friend here.”
Both n smiled at each other, and the next second, a massive figure appeared in front of He Ao.
Andrew, clad in black skin, charged over and threw a punch at He Ao’s forehead.
He Ao dodged to the side and swung his sword toward the wound that had been severed on Andrew’s waist before.
Just at that mont, Leanna, standing behind the Puppeteer, let out a scream, and a wave of ntal influence invaded He Ao’s mind, attempting to hinder his movents.
Gade, his body covered in bone armor, also arrived in an instant, throwing a punch at He Ao’s back.
The Puppeteer showed no rcy; he knew He Ao was strong, so he had three puppets attack at the sa ti.
These three, after being transford into puppets, received a greater enhancent from the surrounding shadows and still had an endless stream of shadows pouring into their bodies.
Even though they were not as agile as when they were alive, in terms of sheer strength, they had gained even higher enhancent.
He Ao took a deep breath, and, inspired by what he learned from Elfia, gathered all the strength in his body into his hands.
Powerful force fiercely infused into his hands, and then he shifted his weight, threw a punch with his left hand, directly at the punching Andrew.
At the sa ti, his sword, originally aid at Andrew, spun with the motion and slashed back at Gade behind him.
Divine Sense flowed out along his fingertips and entered the blade.
Bang—
The two fists collided, and the intense force was conveyed outward from the point of impact.
Boom—
The cent floor under He Ao erupted with a violent sound, cracking open in an instant like a spiderweb.
On the other side, Andrew, who had exchanged punches with He Ao, was sent flying into a building, and his arm went limp like cotton.
Simultaneously, as Andrew was sent flying, He Ao’s other sword stroke also passed Gade’s incoming arm, slicing easily through the hard bone armor like a blade through modeling clay, severing his arm and slashing open his throat.
However, He Ao’s actions did not cease there; he leapt up, directly aiming a slash at the Puppeteer, who was not far in front of him.
The Puppeteer propped up his Magic Wand, sidestepped, and then watched helplessly as He Ao’s sword light pierced through Leanna, the puppet standing behind him.
He Ao tossed Leanna’s corpse into the shadows, raised his bone sword, and looked towards the Puppeteer who had moved to one side.
“Young friend, your strength is quite an eye-opener.”
The Puppeteer let out a light smile.
The three incomplete puppets crawled out again, and inky black shadows like a tidal wave surged out from the building, the piercing screams reaching He Ao’s ears.
Those were the screams of the unspeakable monsters living in the shadows of the yard.
They gathered together and crowded around the three puppets.
The wild wind of shadows covered He Ao’s vision in an instant; he raised his sword, cautiously capturing the sounds within the pitch-dark shadows.
The shrill cries gathered quickly and eventually fused into a single, massive sound emitter.
The grating sound was mixed with twisted ntal Power, trying to invade He Ao’s consciousness.
And in that instant, the surrounding Black Shadows suddenly contracted; for the first ti, He Ao clearly saw the entire courtyard, as well as the monster emitting the distorted, strange sound before him.
It was a creature over ten ters tall, vaguely humanoid in shape, with countless twisted and strange mouths covering its body.
Terrifying pressure emanated from this monster.
“Young friend, you have one more chance, to submit or die; the choice is yours.”
The Puppeteer stood atop the giant monster’s head, leaning on his Magic Wand, with everything below his calves subrged in the creature’s flesh.
He Ao calmly observed the Puppeteer, having feinted an attack earlier to probe the Puppeteer’s strength.
The Puppeteer’s physical fitness was at the top of C-level, not as potent as Rose who suffered a Backlash mutation.
The Puppeteer’s strength lay in his ability to manipulate puppets, as well as the twisted shadow power in this building.
He Ao used his Divine Sense and Super mory to take a quick look at the monster before him.
Countless twisted, dim shadows clung to the body of the monster, with massive green energy rampaging within it.
More shadows continuously erged from the building, flowing into the monster’s body and enhancing its strength.
In terms of energy intensity alone, this monster was stronger than the one He Ao had encountered that had transford from Rose but weaker than the B-level body cultivated by Janos in the Copy World with the aid of the Fountain of Youth.
In energy intensity, it had already crossed the threshold of B-level.
Like Rose, this monster also had dozens of energy cores packed closely on its body, and it didn’t have the obvious weakness of a soul-body mismatch due to backlash from the ritual as Rose had.
This was a bona fide B-level.
Even if it might be among the weakest of the B-level, it was still B-level.
He Ao looked at the enormous creature, a smile spreading across his face, “I think I have already answered that question.”
“I choose,” he suddenly activated his Super mory, leaping up, his body hugging the wall as he aid straight for the Puppeteer atop the huge monster’s head, “to live!”
Strictly speaking, the monster did have a weak point, and that was the C-level Puppeteer standing at the very top of the monster.
“Obstinate fool.”
For the first ti, an ugly expression appeared on the calm face of the Puppeteer.
The giant opened its mouth, spewing forth ink-black smoke in a torrent, rushing toward He Ao in the air.
He Ao thrust his sword into the wall next to him, exerting force to drastically change his original direction.
The pitch-black smoke stread past him, shooting into the cent wall, and in that instant, it was like hot iron sinking into foam, as the black smoke corroded a large hole in the solid cent wall.
After the attack missed, the monster quickly twisted its head, powerful black smoke slicing across the wall, assaulting the place where He Ao had plunged his sword into.
He Ao gripped the hilt tightly, flung himself forward with effort, and then let go, allowing his body to swing over the top of the black smoke toward the Puppeteer’s position.
Then he reached out his hand.
Retrieve objects from the air!
The sword on the wall, about to be consud by the black smoke, instantly appeared in his hand.
The vigorous black smoke also ceased at that mont, as if the duration of the attack had ended.
He Ao, holding the bone sword, descended from the sky, swinging towards the body of the Puppeteer.
“Child’s play.”
A huge hand suddenly swung, attempting to swat He Ao like a fly.
He Ao reversed his grip on the sword, piercing through an energy core in the palm of the hand, and then using the hand once more, he leaped, landing on the giant’s shoulder.
And in the mont he landed on the giant’s shoulder, a massive ntal Disturbance suddenly affected his body.
It seed as though the Puppeteer, realizing that attacking He Ao’s mind was ineffective, tried to use ntal power to influence his body instead.
He Ao’s body stiffened, swayed, and he tumbled toward the slanting space in front of him.
“Overestimating yourself.”
With a sneer, the Puppeteer looked on.
The giant stretched out its hand, reaching for He Ao as he fell through the air.
At the sa ti, its massive mouth opened once again, dense black smoke gathering within.
The Puppeteer intended to finish He Ao off in one blow.
However, the extended hand grabbed at empty air.
He Ao’s fall was directed right towards the Puppeteer’s blind spot, making him rely on the speed of He Ao’s descent to anticipate He Ao’s moves.
But obviously, he had miscalculated.
anwhile, He Ao, who had managed to hang himself mid-air by stabbing the sword into the giant’s shoulder, had already climbed atop the hilt plunged into the giant’s body.
He gathered all his energy in his legs, and like a cannonball, he burst from the void, leaping forward.
When he had pierced through the giant hand, the Puppeteer did not react in any way under the observation of Super mory, and at that ti, He Ao realized that the puppet giant being manipulated might not be able to feel pain and could only detect certain things through a large area of tactile skin sensation.
The narrow tip of the sword did not fall within this range of sensation.
So, he decided to take a calculated risk, pretending to be hit, putting himself into the Puppeteer’s blind spot to secure enough ti for an attack.
By the ti the Puppeteer realized the catch had failed, He Ao had already appeared by his side.
Retrieve objects from the air.
He Ao’s hand opened, and the bone sword once again appeared in his grasp.
His Divine Sense attached to the bone sword, energy converging in his hands, the sharp light of the sword slashed down.
“You’re not even wielding a Transcendent weapon.”
With a disdainful smile, the Puppeteer watched He Ao at his side, seemingly unruffled, then suddenly drew out the wand that was embedded in the giant’s head.
The pitch-black Shadow enveloped his body like a storm, wrapping around the ornate and elegant staff, which was held out in front of him, blocking the sword light from He Ao.
The pure white bone sword struck the staff, covered in shadows, without making a sound.
The seemingly ordinary blade of the bone sword, like a bamboo sword slicing through mud, gradually cut through the sturdy staff, the shadow ensconcing it, and towards the Puppeteer’s body.
The Puppeteer’s face changed dramatically as the flesh beneath his feet swiftly parted, propelling him to dodge He Ao’s attack.
ntal Disturbance!
His movents instantly stiffened.
It’s not like you’re the only one with thods of ntal attack.
He Ao continued to swing his sword forward.
The sharp sword light touched the Puppeteer’s exquisite tailcoat, cleaving his body aslant.
Purple-green blood spurted out.
And just as He Ao severed the Puppeteer’s body, the remaining shadows in the nearby building suddenly went berserk.
Layer upon layer of green radiance started from the first floor and gradually ascended until the fifth floor, with each level’s brilliance stronger than the last.
The Puppeteer’s eyes widened as he stared at He Ao, “You can’t kill ; nobody can stop the Advent of my lord.
Death will only bring back in a more powerful form.”
The once-majestic giant lost its support and tipped forward.
Countless pitch-black shadows escaped from the giant’s body.
Under the Super mory’s vision, the Puppeteer’s Soul rapidly peeled from his body and rged into the pitch-black shadows.
The glow from the green building grew more intense, and a huge shadow slowly erged in the air.
It reached out its hand towards the Puppeteer’s Soul as the murky sky began to ripple, and the surrounding darkness suddenly boiled as if so vast and brilliant Power was about to Descend and reshape the Puppeteer’s body.
The Soul of the Puppeteer, surrounded by pitch-black shadows, turned to look at He Ao, its soul pulsating and flickering incessantly.
It seed to be scoffing and mocking, mocking He Ao for overestimating himself, mocking the futility of his efforts.
He Ao looked at the pulsating Soul, shrugging his shoulders, “Are you sure?”
He clenched the Miracle Wand at his waist.
The roaring sound of a train’s whistle suddenly resounded around him.
An old-fashioned classic train burst forth from the void, crashing through the third floor’s wall before exiting the other side, leaving a trail of railway tracks extending from the air to the ground.
A young man with glasses stood in front of the open train door, glancing at the shadow in the sky.
Mountain Collapse Tsunami!
The reason He Ao had not used Mountain Collapse Tsunami against the giant was that he was waiting for this mont.
The range was set: the courtyard, the primary target, the Sacrificial Array on the fifth floor.
No matter how much the Puppeteer babbled about gods, all Divine Power’s Advents required a ritual and sacrifices.
This was basic mystical knowledge.
Clearly, this building was the site of the Ritual Array, and the most radiant fifth floor was where the core of the Ritual Array resided.
The rumble of the earth reached He Ao’s ears, and the seemingly sturdy five-story building began to tremble violently, fierce winds sweeping past He Ao’s garnts.
The green radiance of the fifth floor flared up, as if trying to resist the overwhelming attack, but in an instant, rapidly dimd.
The giant’s collapsing body once again transford into twisted monsters, who tried to flee but were quickly torn apart by the raging tempest.
Sure enough, the attack’s power increased as its range narrowed.
He Ao quickly retreated, leaping beyond the confines of the courtyard.
The skill was indiscriminate in its attack, and he too would be wounded if he remained within the attack’s radius.
He returned to the small iron gate, passed through it, and just as he moved through the gate, a colossal roar ca from behind him.
Endless dust tumbled down the courtyard, a broken chunk of concrete splashed out and struck the half-closed iron gate, creating a fierce noise.
The towering old building, shaking, dropped tiny stones and, finally unable to hold on, collapsed with a mighty crash.
The green glow that had enveloped the old building shattered in an instant, and the large shadow in the sky lost its passageway and coordinates, gradually fading away.
It raised its hand, and the sky around it rippled violently one last ti before slowing to a halt, returning to tranquility.
As the shadow in the sky completely vanished, the swirling pitch-black shadows also fragnted, turning into scattered shards.
The Puppeteer’s Soul trembled violently.
He looked in the direction of He Ao, howling as he tried to rush towards him, but without the shadows to sustain him, he completely dissipated before reaching He Ao.
The shadows enveloping the Firmant faded away slowly, and the bright twilight spilled onto the quiet streets.
The fiery sunset rested on the edge of the city, its resplendent glow rippling across the buildings in the twilight.
A breeze lifted the curtain of a shop’s door.
The roaring train ca to a stop beside He Ao.
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