Chapter 273: Sword of Lingering Flame

Xia Nan had, of course, noticed this mummified priest kneeling under the statue, praying devoutly.

But to be honest, at the time, he was actually like those few adventurers; his attention was basically drawn by the staff on the altar, so he hadn't observed carefully, and the figure's back really had nothing worth noting.

It wasn't until the mummy was shot dead by the human ranger later and the adventurer squad had an internal conflict that he completely stopped paying attention to this corpse.

But he hadn't expected...

"Hum."

The iron-grey sword light flashed in the air, and the decapitation longsword returned to its sheath in an instant.

The scorching heatwave rushed the surrounding fog to both sides, and the sudden temperature difference caused tiny water mists to condense around his body.

A crimson firelight traced an arc like a setting sun in front of him, and the wooden sword 【Pine-Green】 was already held in his hand.

The sense of danger erupting from his heart made Xia Nan subconsciously lean back, keeping his distance from the corpse in front.

In the corner of his eye was an unprecedented, dazzling light that almost formed a substantial flame flow on the surface of the wooden sword, scorching and explosive.

He couldn't help but feel puzzled in his heart.

In such a state, judging solely from its appearance, it was no longer something that could be explained by a simple "15% Sunfire Damage."

"What on earth is this?"

His pitch-black eyes, reflecting the firelight, stared at the corpse lying quietly under the altar.

His whole body was taut, and his breathing became slow and heavy.

He was already prepared for battle.

"Hiss..."

It was still that dry, raspy throat sound squeezed from deep within the throat.

Dark purple fingertips, resembling withered wood, twitched slightly on the ground, and the filthy priest's robe, full of holes, heaved and wrinkled.

Swaying, the thin, emaciated figure was like a patient who had been bedridden for years, slowly climbing up in a weak, difficult, and somewhat twisted posture.

It didn't even look back at Xia Nan standing in the distance, maintaining the same posture it had before being pierced by the arrow.

Xia Nan, however, didn't dare to lower his guard.

Even if the opponent appeared harmless at this moment, the wooden sword in his hand, which was so hot he could barely hold it, already indicated a danger level far exceeding that of an ordinary mummy, and even higher than that of the obese knight from before.

Perhaps it was because 【Pine-Green】's reaction was too intense that the crimson flame light, which illuminated almost half the church, was finally noticed by the dull, slow mummy.

It moved its feet and slowly turned around.

Xia Nan was thus able to glimpse the reason why the wooden sword burned so intensely it almost ignited the air.

It wasn't just its identity as an undead creature; it was layer upon layer of dark green, murky scales that shimmered with a greasy luster under the flame light—

Snake scales!

They weren't evenly covered; these snake scales were like some kind of active fungus, embedded and growing in clusters on the shriveled skin surface of the mummy.

They varied in size, were arranged chaotically, and their edges were sharp, especially at the joints where they bent.

They looked like armor, but the gaps between the scales revealed deep purple, cracked skin, giving one an extremely uncomfortable, mottled feeling.

The mummy itself was not particularly different in appearance from the few Xia Nan had seen before.

Only below the neck and on the left shoulder were there huge, hideous lacerations that hadn't healed; the wounds were just frozen at a certain moment, and one could see the purple-red rotting flesh inside turned over and hardened.

The dark green snake scales seemed to originate from these two wounds, with the scales becoming sparse and twisted as they moved away from the tight, dense area near the wounds, as if it were truly infected with some strange disease, causing the fungal-like snake scales to grow out from within.

"No wonder..." Xia Nan thought to himself.

No wonder 【Pine-Green】 reacted so intensely; the mummy in front of him was no longer just an ordinary undead creature. The dark scales on its body surface and the pair of turbid, lifeless slit pupils in its hollow eye sockets already indicated the snake bloodline within its body.

And this meant...

"+15% Damage to Undead (Sunfire)" and "+20% Damage to Snake/Scorpion-type creatures (Sunfire)."

Two types of damage bonuses, superimposed at this moment!

If it weren't for its special identity as coming from an exotic secret realm, and its blue quality as the base of the equipment.

Xia Nan even suspected that the scorching flame flow lingering on the surface of the sword could almost ignite the entire wooden sword.

In fact, 【Pine-Green】 at this moment was no different from being ignited.

Those hot, scorching flames covered the entire sword body from the hilt downwards, and even the originally black and flexible texture of the wooden sword revealed a hint of brownish-red that was almost scorched.

"Looking at it this way, there were still some oversights."

Feeling the scorching heat in his palm, Xia Nan stared intently at the snake-scaled mummy in front, whispering in his heart.

If he had discovered the strangeness of this corpse earlier, he should have kept Marcus for a while longer, not appearing and attacking so early, but letting him use his physical body to help him probe the opponent's true strength.

Replaying this in his mind, he didn't have any look of regret on his face; things had reached this point, and regretting it now was meaningless.

Right now, there were only two paths in front of Xia Nan.

Fight, or flee.

For the latter, he might be able to take all the spoils he had acquired on this trip and safely withdraw from Gray Valley.

But it also meant he would miss the most precious treasure among them and lose the staff.

Xia Nan didn't consider himself an extremely greedy person, but when such a treasure was truly placed in front of him, it was unrealistic to ask him to just retreat without doing anything.

At least... try to test the opponent's depth first. If, under the blessing of 【Pine-Green】 with double damage bonuses and full firepower, he was still not the opponent of the enemy in front of him.

Then he naturally wouldn't stubbornly waste his life here, but would wisely retreat.

The thoughts in his mind were only for an instant.

Having turned around, the priest mummy facing Xia Nan directly didn't look at this uninvited guest who had broken into the church with its pair of unfocused, solidified snake eyes, but just stared blankly at the ground in front of it.

This gave one an extremely strong sense of deception, as if it hadn't noticed the presence of the intruder.

But if you were truly fooled by it, the next second, that palm, which looked thin and fragile like a withered branch but was actually harder than steel, would pierce into your chest and crush your heart.

"Boom!"

The marble floor of the church, covered with a thick layer of dust, suddenly showed cracks.

The strong wind whistled and stirred the fog, and the shriveled figure disappeared from its original spot in an instant.

Always maintaining vigilance, Xia Nan's extremely keen perception allowed him to detect the danger the moment the opponent stepped back to exert force.

Ang—

With a ghostly wolf howl, as the pitch-black mane swayed, the huge, twisted black wolf phantom leaped to the side with a light and swift posture.

"Bang rumble!"

It was the noise of the ground collapsing and gravel splashing.

The priest's robe, full of holes, swayed violently due to the air currents around it, and the shriveled, emaciated figure stood in the position where Xia Nan had just been standing.

Its figure swayed as if it were as dull as before, but under its feet was the church floor that had already turned into powder and sunken downwards.

Under the blessing of the max-level 【Tooth Hunt】, Xia Nan, who had leaped into the air to dodge, swept his gaze over the exaggerated traces caused by the opponent, and couldn't help but feel surprised in his heart.

Its strength far exceeded any enemy he had encountered in Gray Valley; it was an exaggerated combat capability far beyond that of an ordinary professional.

Perhaps nervous, and even more cautious, but at this moment, he felt no fear in his heart.

He was just following the combat instinct formed by the combination of this body with his soul and memories.

The wooden sword wreathed in flame light swooped down in the air, and the black wolf beast's lingering fire teeth fell suddenly with a swift and explosive posture!

Hum— ===== CHAPTER 274 =====