Chapter 41: Underworld Crow Crossing |
"Hey, now isn''t the time to space out." Nemus''s sharp reminder snapped Isabella out of her daze.
Only then did she realize that Big Black had not retreated after having its claws completely severed by his sword strike.
On the contrary, the crippling injury only further provoked its ferocious nature.
Moreover, not a single drop of blood flowed from the severed stump. Instead, a massive, grotesque cluster of snapped "hair" protruded outward.
These hair-like threads constantly writhed, eagerly intertwining with the strands extending from the severed hand before violently snapping the limb back together.
In the blink of an eye, Big Black''s hand appeared exactly as though it had never been cut off in the first place.
The blood vessels throughout Big Black''s entire body had undergone an aberration, granting it active, conscious control over its own vile physiology.
Simply severing its limbs would never be enough to inflict true harm.
''The attribute value of this body is still a bit lacking. I can''t freely execute my Secret Sword techniques.''
The glaring issue with Nels''s current body was its severe deficit in attribute value.
An attribute value of thirteen was simply far too low. Furthermore, while its traits were decent, they were merely decent—nowhere near sufficient to truly unleash Nemus''s techniques, which vastly exceeded his current physical limits.
Back when Nemus was still mankind, he hadn''t forged his legendary reputation purely through his Secret Sword techniques. His fame was equally anchored in the formidable attribute value granted by the Breath of Holy Precepts, pushed to a phenomenally advanced stage through his Dual-Rule Synergy.
During that era, Nemus was widely heralded as the Holy Knight most destined to ascend to the Golden Rank within his generation.
''To completely obliterate this thing, it seems I''ll need to resort to the variant technique—Secret Sword: World-Swallowing Whale.''
Sword arts were inherently disadvantaged when battling a monster that possessed the nightmarish ability to instantly reattach severed limbs.
A sword primarily relied on slicing and piercing, making it devastatingly effective against enemies incapable of regeneration.
Among Nemus''s wide-range, area-of-effect sword arts, the World-Swallowing Whale was the only move he could barely muster in his current weakened state.
However...
''Executing that strike brings me no tangible benefit.'' Nemus certainly wasn''t here to fight a desperate, mutually assured destruction battle—or at the very least, he couldn''t afford such a luxury right now.
"When dealing with a monster of this caliber, spells are infinitely more practical," he suddenly called out. "Isabella, it''s about time you revealed some of those hidden trump cards of yours!"
While Nemus had fed Isabella sensitive information to goad her into testing the old priest, he was naturally testing her mettle at the exact same time.
Back in the cemetery last night, Isabella hadn''t trusted him much at all. Yet, she had readily agreed without hesitation to his proposal for a perilous outdoor search.
This wasn''t out of naive, childish innocence; rather, she possessed an unshakeable confidence in her own ability to flawlessly handle any sudden, treacherous attack Nemus might launch.
That very same confidence was proudly on full display today.
Big Black possessed horrifying strength, capable of exerting an oppressive, suffocating force even against someone like Nemus. However, Isabella had somehow managed to face the monster''s vicious ambush and fiercely entangle it in combat for an extended period, all without suffering a single scratch.
This definitively proved that Isabella was far from simple.
Sure enough, as Nemus''s Secret Sword failed to yield any decisive results, Isabella quickly realized just how intensely troublesome the situation had become.
With such a massive commotion violently echoing through the area, the old priest could potentially return at any given moment.
If she desperately wanted to avoid fighting an Iron Rank priest simultaneously with this grotesque monster, she absolutely had to pull out her ultimate, bottom-of-the-box techniques.
With this grim thought in mind, Isabella briefly locked eyes with Nemus. Having basically confirmed that Nemus—who had successfully executed the Thousand Moon Extermination Flying Bird Transcendent Sword—was at least somewhat trustworthy, she shouted, "Buy me some time! I need to prepare a highly destructive spell that doesn''t belong to the holy system."
Hearing this, Nemus gave a firm, curt nod before decisively unleashing the Secret Sword: Spinning Swift once more.
He expertly harnessed raw rotational force to drastically amplify the piercing and slicing power of his vicious sword art.
Moreover, this devastating strike was no longer aimed at Big Black''s thick claws, but directly at the creature''s head.
Abandoning all defense, Nemus fully intended to trade injury for injury. Sensing the instinctual threat, Big Black noticeably slowed its frenzied assault. Even though the blood vessels throughout its body had undergone an aberration, having its skull brutally cleaved in half would still undoubtedly prove fatal.
Acting purely on survival instinct, Big Black frantically shrank its head back while simultaneously throwing its massive, bulky frame sideways to aggressively ram into Nemus.
The fiercely spinning blade edge merely shredded a small clump of black hair as Nemus''s frail body was violently sent flying to the side by the heavy collision.
The mystical power of the Grace of Absolution successfully shielded him from the brunt of the crushing damage.
This astonishing level of physical damage tolerance far exceeded Big Black''s rudimentary expectations.
The exact moment Nemus''s feet touched the ground, the gleaming sword in his hand had already seamlessly undergone another profound transformation.
Gripping the hilt in a firm reverse hold, he pressed the blade edge flat against his forearm and lowered his stance. His precise breathing rhythm entirely shifted. Viewed from the front, the deadly sword had practically vanished into thin air.
Secret Sword: Underworld Crow Crossing!
Nemus abruptly lunged forward, fiercely closing the distance until he was practically buried within Big Black''s broad chest. The deliberately concealed blade edge abruptly materialized, ruthlessly thrusting upward into the monster''s dense torso in a blinding flash.
With just a single, heaven-defying strike, Big Black''s entire massive body was nearly bisected.
However, Big Black had long been ominously prepared for this exact scenario. Massive, writhing clusters of thick black blood vessels shot out from both sides of the gaping wound, violently lashing themselves together.
Its entire body grotesquely stretched open like dark, viscous taffy, clinging desperately together through an infinite number of sticky, sinewy black threads.
Under the intense, nauseating tension, the split body rapidly merged back into a single cohesive mass. Throughout the entire nightmarish process, countless black blood vessels reached out hungrily toward Nemus, maliciously attempting to drag him into its torso and completely engulf him within its flesh.
After flawlessly completing his vicious upward slash, Nemus immediately seamlessly transitioned into his subsequent move without a fraction of hesitation.
It wasn''t another complex Secret Sword technique, but a spectacularly fundamental maneuver—a leaping downward slash.
Slightly twisting the sharp blade edge so it was no longer perfectly vertical, he ruthlessly brought the sword down in a vicious diagonal arc from right to left, aiming squarely at the foul creature''s head.
His previous calculated probes had absolutely confirmed it: the opponent''s head wasn''t immune to fatal damage. If its skull was violently split open, it would undeniably perish just the same.
But the cunning creature itself was keenly aware of this glaring weakness. Consequently, in the very next heartbeat, its head completely and sickeningly snapped off.
The wildly mutating blood vessels within its own body viciously tore its sturdy cervical spine apart and ripped open its thick flesh, forcibly yanking its heavy head far off to the side.
A dense, horrific web of pitch-black threads sprawled out from various parts of its mutilated body, gradually and firmly attaching themselves to the dangling head and severed spinal cord.
This deeply grotesque reconfiguration didn''t hinder the monster''s supernatural ability to control its body in the slightest.
In fact, if not for the lingering, stubborn habits of its past existence as mankind, completely hiding its vulnerable head deep within its torso and securely controlling its body from the inside would have been its most functionally optimal state of being.
And the adaptive monster swiftly realized this exact tactical point.
After narrowly dodging Nemus''s devastating leaping slash, it hastily retreated backward as its entire hulking body underwent a deeply terrifying metamorphosis.
The bulging eyeballs violently popped out of its exposed skull, trailing long, grotesque, squelching tethers of black blood vessels firmly behind them.
The two bloodshot, frantic eyes then sickeningly anchored themselves atop its massive shoulders, while its actual severed head was brutally yanked inward by a massive deluge of black veins and completely submerged deep into the protective confines of its torso.
By the end of it, a towering, headless monstrosity completely cloaked in coarse black hair, with a single twitching eye deeply embedded in each broad shoulder, stood ominously before Nemus.
Contorting its horrifyingly altered frame, the abomination lunged at Nemus once more with unbridled fury.
''Its strength trait is excellent, and it possesses a certain degree of intellect, but its combat experience and technique are strictly mediocre,'' Nemus coldly analyzed internally.
Big Black''s severely lacking technique fundamentally prevented it from fully capitalizing on its immense attribute value and powerful traits.
If Nemus possessed the exact same raw attribute value and traits, he reckoned he could utterly annihilate the creature within three simple moves.
It was precisely at this critical juncture that Isabella completely finished preparing her long-awaited spell.
Thrum...