Chapter 92: Boss – High Priest Dilas (5)

“Urghhh!!!”

Thud!

Cat’s Step, with the lingering healing effect of the Fruit, carried me safely to the ground.

No, to be precise, there was no way I could have landed unscathed from the bottom of a hollow dozens of meters deep. I only survived because the vast cavern had already begun to collapse. With earth and stone cascading down, the roots all snapped apart, and the ground caved in beneath them. Rubble piled thick below, cutting the hollow’s depth down to only ten meters or so. From that height, Cat’s Step could negate the fall.

In that case—

Dilas slowly pushed himself upright. The Branch of Loving Kindness glowed faintly where it pierced his chest. He tried several times to wrench it free, but failed. Once the branch fused with the Tree of Life tissue in his body, the damage became irreversible. This once-arrogant Mist King had already stepped onto the final countdown of his life.

【It was my carelessness. No, to make me careless, that itself is your agility.】

Abandoning the effort to pull the branch out, he straightened and looked at me.

Without his mask, his face—handsome, but pallid as a corpse—was utterly expressionless. No fury. No sorrow.

【In my homeland, countless mighty ones were born.】

“And you bring this up now, why?”

【Those who could rend heaven and earth with a single hand… now they exist only in legend. What we wield today… are nothing more than remnants of that era.】

“…”

【The Primordial Goddess of Magic… the Dragon War and the Flame Emperor… the World-Ending Insect Lord and the Plague King of Lies… the Maiden of Destiny, Queen of Heidrich… That was an age of calamities… and of myths.】

He lifted his hand, staring at the Darkness that continued to seep from his skin.

His constitution left him unable to store power. Even the raw Darkness he drew in from outside slipped away.

【I yearned for that age… I craved that power. I had… my goal, my ambition, my… choice.】

I could feel the weight in his words.

This wasn’t stalling for time. He was speaking to me, his enemy, from the heart, revealing thoughts buried deep within.

“That is… impressive.”

A faint resonance stirred within me. Not an illusion, but something real.

Once, I too had yearned for the heroes of epic tales.

Those were the bedtime stories my mother told me each night. Beautiful ideals woven into childhood dreams.

Perhaps it was the same for many boys.

Yet somehow, rather than the radiant heroes adored by all, I always favored the lone wanderers. Heroes who could settle everything with their own strength, who caused no entanglement and brought no trouble to others. Even if the masses never praised them—so what?

【The system of Dark Arts has only just taken shape. My great endeavor has barely begun… no, one could say it hasn’t begun at all. I have only just set it on the right path.】

“Only just set on track?”

【Yes… I poured out every ounce of wit, every scheme I could devise, to finally lay the foundation. At last, I could draw close to my goal. And then I was cast into the wastelands of another world. Ah, the gods truly are creatures of malicious humor.】

His mouth curled. It twitched. The corners hooked up, shaping a scornful smile.

【If this is my fate, then I have no choice but to accept it. However…】

Dilas flicked up his hand, the edge of his ritual knife leveled at me.

【As the final foe fate has delivered to my feet, are you worthy of the role?】

“Whether I’m worthy, you’ll know once you try.”

【Ha. Refreshing. Unexpectedly, I don’t dislike you.】

The Darkness clinging to his ritual dagger grew thinner.

The silver sheen on my rune-etched dagger was fading as well.

He had entered the countdown to death.

I, wracked head to toe by the backlash of the Fruit of the Tree of Life.

Which of us would fall first?

We leveled our blades at each other’s faces, closing the distance step by step. When less than a meter remained, the tips of our knives kissed.

Clang!

His wrist snapped; the ritual dagger twisted at a perfect angle, almost prying my runic dagger from my grip. I slashed with the Lustrous Core dagger and fired a point-blank Aether Arrow that scraped his skin—only for his Darkness-wreathed left hand to seize it. His fingers clenched. The Aether Arrow shattered, and that hand flashed for my throat with blinding speed.

【Dark Claw!】

Huge gouges ripped out from his palm, leaving black scars scorched across the air itself. The blow hurled me back several meters; blood sprayed from my arm. The wound was shallow—Lustrous Core had absorbed most of the Darkness. The once colorless stone had turned a dull black, as if countless inky flames licked within.

“Returning your property!”

I whipped the Lustrous Core dagger. The stored Darkness sheared free in a razor arc, howling toward Dilas. His expression turned strange. Darkness condensed in his palm into a sphere; at the instant it met my dark edge, it detonated—neutralizing the strike.

【A stone that can store energy? It can hold raw Darkness as well. Interesting. Dark Abyss!】

He stamped the ground. A dense black surge exploded from beneath his foot; the moment it spread under mine, my body sank with sudden weight. Gravity spiked severalfold. I reacted on instinct, springing back out of the Abyss’s range.

【Shadow’s Touch!】

“!?”

Dilas’s left hand flicked. This time I saw it—the shadow clinging to his hand peeled free, forming a hand-shaped mass of Darkness that shot for me too fast to evade. I brought the runic dagger up to block, bracing for impact.

Snap!

“Huh?”

No impact. No piercing pain.

Shadow’s Touch closed over the runic dagger. Before I could even react, my right hand was empty, and a silver flash was already in Dilas’s left hand. His right still held the ritual dagger. His left now held my runic dagger. It wasn’t an attack—he had disarmed me!?

It was the first time I’d faced anything like it; I failed to react at all.

【Cut off from the tree, I can’t toss out large-scale Dark Arts as casually as before. But…】

Dilas flexed his left hand. The hand-shaped Darkness wavered there like an extension of his arm.

【Shadow’s Touch is my most complete Dark Art. As you can see, it’s extremely fast, and anything it seizes can be transferred straight into my hand. Very convenient.】

He toyed with the runic dagger, studying its make with a glint of appreciation in his eyes.

【The craftsman who forged this dagger clearly had talent. At any other time, I’d take it apart and study it carefully. But right now…】

Threads of Darkness coiled about the runic dagger. Not merely coating its surface, but weaving themselves into the engraved runes in some intricate pattern. The silver gleam dulled at once. Darkness seeped through its channels, rewriting.

“Wait! What are you doing!?”

【The special inscription technique, these runes—they make it hard for outside force to destroy. But to one of my own trade—】

“Stop!”

I fired an Aether Arrow straight at him, but he tilted his head and let it whistle past. By then, Darkness had already penetrated into the dagger’s core.

Crack!

【Analyzing, inverting, then breaking it from within. No great challenge.】

“Ah…”

My body locked. I couldn’t even scream.

With a sharp, crystalline snap, the dagger that had carried me through countless battles against the fog fiends shattered in Dilas’s hand.

Unmendable fissures webbed across its surface.

Then the silver metal fell in shards to the ground.

It felt as if a hole had been torn open inside me.

【Now then…】

Dilas sneered, dropping the glittering fragments at his feet.

【Let us continue, Zhou Yuhong.】