Chapter 453: Change and Vibration

Cambion Boden grunted.

He saw black tendons and blood vessels spreading from Virgil's knee gap.

They thrashed wildly along the bone spines piercing his body, like living things.

Boden even saw clear tooth-like mouths at the tips of several tendons, resembling horrific cosmic demonic worms.

"What the hell is this!? This isn't 【Biological Weaving】!"

His usual smirking, devilish face twisted in horror as he flared his massive bat wings to flee.

But a duck already in hand doesn't fly away—that's impossible.

Virgil lunged forward, his thick hand spewing pus and blood like a dying beast, strength undiminished, gripping the base of the bat wings tightly.

Crack. Rip.

It tore clean off.

Boden shrieked in agony, sulfur stench surging as he tried to summon again that orange flame resembling the 【Spirit Overload】 technique.

But the blood-vessel worms on the bone spines had already burrowed inside him.

Instantly, his spiritual energy froze, unable to flow.

His face turned ashen, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Spirit energy? Aether? What is this!? You madman, you absorbed a cosmic being?!"

Upon hearing this,

Virgil stiffly lifted his head.

A bloodline split down the center of his face—from forehead, across the nose, straight to the chin.

The left side of his skin tore open.

No flesh, no eyeballs, no meridians—only hollow half-skull bones filled with thick, fat, wriggling worms the thickness of a wrist.

The fat worms were covered in yellow bone spines, slick with nauseating stinking slime.

Though faceless and eyeless, they locked onto Boden instantly and spat a thick glob of foul fluid onto his face.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh—"

Boden screamed again.

His voice tore raw, desperation and terror reaching their peak.

Yet the foul fluid had no power—not even corroding his skin.

Virgil seized the moment as Boden screamed.

His right hand gripped the swollen seam on his belly and yanked upward—the seam widened again.

The black, broken sutures began to writhe, turning into sharp, grotesque teeth. Click. They chewed Boden whole, grinding him like an ox chewing grass.

"Ugh."

Luo De was nauseated.

This was brutal.

From Cambion Boden's fragmented words, it was clear Virgil the half-elf had absorbed a cosmic being in these five days.

Recent astral winds have been dangerous; daily newspapers warn all mages to avoid entering them.

The battle for the Blood Drops of Hell still rages; every ninth-rank expert on the continent has rushed to join the fray. Axe Beach isn't Deepwater City—there are no powerful mages here.

No one knows how he got this cosmic being.

【Biological Weaving】?

Luo De has met few half-elves—four at most.

One was from Bahadur Magic Academy studying Biological Weaving; one was the illegitimate daughter of Elder Manla of the Magic Control League; one was an old half-elf woman who founded a survivor camp during the Beast Mutation outbreak on the Ke Plains; the last was this thing before him.

Three of the four had made his life difficult.

Half-elves clearly have questionable quality.

The commotion in midair once again drew the attention of the crowd below Axe Beach.

Earlier, some had suspected the private militia colluded with demons; now, this spectacle left them confused.

The puppet lord Bugo Torres spoke first, staunchly defending his master's honor:

"Mr. Virgil acts with great righteousness—he sacrificed himself to seal the demon!"

The Scattered Tower personnel among the private militia paused, then quickly agreed.

They were far away, and the sun blazed brightly—they hadn't clearly seen Virgil's transformation.

Scattered Tower agents mixed among the militia and adventurers began stirring public opinion.

"It's clearly a three-way battle—the giant-sword man, the devil, and Mr. Virgil each on their own side. Lord Bugo governs diligently—how could he collude with Hell?"

"Where's the other man? That looked like old Ed from the militia. When did he get so strong?"

"Didn't you see old Ed team up with Lord Virgil against the giant-sword man? You may not know Lord Virgil, but old Ed has been captain here for over thirty years—you know his character."

"Yeah, I heard old Ed was chosen by the Half-Deers as a 【Hero Candidate】. You don't need me to explain how prestigious that is."

"Pfft. Being chosen as a 【Hero Candidate】 doesn't make you good. I heard some corrupt Half-Deers, when they already have a candidate and spot a promising person, kill them to prevent others from recruiting them."

"You're talking about exceptions, right? Don't generalize from outliers."

"Even ignoring the Half-Deers, old Ed spent his life faithfully serving—he teamed up with Lord Virgil to protect Axe Beach. The devil and the giant-sword man? They're both enemies of Axe Beach."

The man spoke loudly—he'd used 【Illusory Sound Technique】 to amplify his voice.

Combined with preconceptions, one was from the private militia, the other from the militia—they naturally sided with their own.

They all began cheering for Lord Virgil.

Luo De didn't care.

He was just going with the flow—if it failed, so be it.

Wen Na's patricide case had been long ago, and with Scattered Tower in power, all evidence had been erased.

Even if he killed every Scattered Tower member here, people would still believe her guilty.

Forcefully elevate her?

That's even less likely—once Luo De left, Wen Na would be dissolved by a pack of schemers.

The best outcome is that Wen Na obtains proof of the private militia's collusion with Hell, then regains trust and support from her father's old allies and the militia through negotiation and promises, only then might she reclaim her position.

As he pondered,

Virgil underwent a more violent change.

His once exaggerated muscular form now saw subcutaneous fat grow wildly; soon, he became a giant fat man.

His enormous, sagging belly folded into three or four layers; his chin was stacked with fat; his initial cold gaze vanished, buried under thick forehead flesh—even his eyes were hidden.

The only thing remaining was his swollen, purple-black skin.

Splash!

The giant mouth on his belly opened, oozing thick, stinking saliva; a pink, blistered, swollen tongue slithered out, and at its tip sat a fleshy head resembling a dragon's skull, opening wide to roar at Luo De again.

The cheers from the private militia, militia, and adventurers at Axe Beach died instantly.

Gazing at the monstrous creature in the sky, they felt panic, despair, and terror rise in their minds.

Luo De froze too.

Not because of Virgil's transformation—but because the Dragon-Slaying Great Sword in his hand had begun to vibrate faintly.

(End of Chapter)