Chapter 540: Mistra and the Request

He still didn't know why, even now that Rod had reached his current rank.

After using 【Berserk】, just as before, his consciousness vanished in an instant.

Almost the very moment the spiritual essence of 【Berserk】 surged to his brain.

Rod's vision went black, as if plunged into the same darkness as that black orb ritual before.

Every sound vanished in an instant.

No more thunder of magical power, no more crackling roar of boiling flames.

Silence.

Only a faint, lingering hum of emptiness.

"Seems a little different from last time."

Rod raised his brows.

The last time he had used 【Berserk】 was in the Dreadscape of the other-dimensional space, against the Great Cultivator grievously wounded by Spider Queen Ross.

He had also relied on 【Berserk】 and Pan Ni's shared skill 【Paralysis Claw Strike】, stacked over a thousand layers, to forcibly pin down that other-dimensional creature of the ninth rank, buying time to flee with Sharon.

"【Abyssal Throat】 absorbs ranged magic, the standing effects of Dragon Scale Art and Power Release, plus the stacked layers of Blood Detonation and Paralysis Claw Strike. Asmodeus's status is locked in stun—by the time I come to, I shouldn't be torn in half, right?"

【Berserk】 is fierce, all right.

But every time he used it, his heart hammered uneasily.

Still, when has any battle ever been foolproof?

Berserk releases all attention into the body's instincts, pushing passive skills to their absolute limit.

Just trust it and be done with it.

Rod shook his head with a wry smile and stopped thinking about it.

Suddenly.

The darkness before him flared bright once more.

As the scene shifted.

Came the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet.

Only now did Rod realize with a start that his eyes had been closed.

His eyelids lifted.

What met his gaze was a ghastly, terrible battlefield.

A blood-like dying sun, shattered and collapsed city walls.

Broken spears jutted at angles from scorched earth; tattered banners flapped in the reeking wind.

Corpses strewn everywhere; across the plain, mound after mound of bodies stacked into victory towers stretched beyond sight.

Blood, fury, ruin.

This was neither Coral Bay nor anywhere Rod remembered.

【Wrath +135】

【Wrath +127】

【Wrath +138】

The Wrath points on the panel were climbing madly.

"What's going on?"

Just as he was puzzling over it.

The dying sun in the sky suddenly erupted with a blood-red light, shooting straight at his chest.

Within this consciousness space, Rod had no time to dodge.

The light slammed into his chest.

But 【Will of the Firmament】's extreme spiritual resistance seemed to take effect, isolating it two or three centimeters from his body.

At the same time, he finally saw clearly what it was.

—A crimson 【Ke Yin】 shaped like a skull.

Similar to the 【Wen Yi Ke Yin】 and 【Lust Ke Yin】 on Sharon and Vivian.

But what it contained was utterly different: a 【Savage Ke Yin】 brimming with endless frenzy and blood-colored killing intent.

Rod's face shifted slightly.

Based on what the bone dragon Megan had told him before.

【Ke Yin】 were enhancements bestowed by certain top-tier cosmic beings to screen their followers, meant to siphon the target's spiritual desires.

Did that mean a brutal, bloodthirsty cosmic being had set its sights on him?

On what grounds?

Was he that bloodthirsty?

The 【Savage Ke Yin】 hovered before his chest, unable to advance.

Just as Rod was fretting over what to do.

A soft call drifted to his ear: "Rod—"

The voice was gentle and mild, carrying a faint coolness of distance.

The sky began to crumble.

The scene shifted once more.

"Again?"

In the blink of an eye, Rod found himself atop a vast blue web.

And directly ahead.

Standing there was a tall, elegant, and beautiful woman with black hair like a waterfall cascading to the floor.

Her skin was snowy white and luminous, her pupils a strange blue magical vortex, difficult to look at directly.

Three teardrop moles in a row beneath her left eye, radiating a silver-blue glow.

She wore a star-sand robe of blue and white, embroidered all over with spell runes.

The robe and her black hair both trailed to the ground, the collar slightly loosened.

Yet propped up by her towering chest, revealing delicate, flowing collarbones.

Behind her floated a divine halo radiating a special brilliance.

Rod was stunned:

"Mystra?"

The Magic Web Massacre involved the death of a ninth-tier mage, so naturally it had been reported in all the major newspapers.

The photographs and appearance of the Magic Web's creator, Mystra, thus became widely known to the public.

Only the Mystra in the newspaper photos was far more unkempt, even a bit slovenly, nothing like the clean and beautiful woman before him now.

"Hello, Mr. Rod."

Mystra bowed slightly.

The slightly loosened collar exposed a faintly visible cleavage.

"You were ascending to godhood by borrowing the spark of divinity and Asmodeus's magic power; the fall of the divine blood into the Infernal Realm was your scheme."

"Worthy of you, Mr. Rod, and thanks to you destroying Asmodeus's staff, I had enough strength remaining to manifest."

Mystra wore her hair combed fully back, revealing a clean, smooth forehead, lending her a few more degrees of capability and cool beauty.

But she seemed to be constantly on guard, her brows furrowed for long stretches.

Rod, unafraid, plopped himself down right on the spiderweb-like magical web in front of her.

Swaying back and forth, like a hammock.

"But at this moment, you've come to see me, and pulled me out of that consciousness-space-thing, so I suppose you have a problem."

He said.

He glanced at the 【Ke Yin of Cruelty】 on his chest.

No major problem — 【Will of the Firmament】 was quite reliable, holding steady.

"That is a plane within an other-dimensional space, Mr. Rod, ruled by a certain violent, warlike cosmic being. Once that Ke Yin is injected into your body, that being will follow the trail here."

The lady with the divine halo behind her suddenly stiffened.

"Your mental resistance is unexpectedly good — you could actually withstand it."

"Mm, follow the trail here?"

"Yes, because of the war between the Kingdom of Etherlon and the Celestial Court Flower Kingdom, the current material dimension is in a period when destruction and slaughter are at their peak. This projects into the other-dimensional space, greatly empowering all beings that feed on slaughter. Even if they return to reality, they may still have the ability to exert influence."

Rod had already suspected as much.

If the storm of lust stirred up by his 【Alluring Bodily Fluids】 could empower lust-aligned cosmic beings,

then once plagues and diseases swept the continent, or large-scale warfare and slaughter broke out, the same would hold true.

Sigh.

What a mess.

"So, Mr. Rod."

Mystra's eyes, like blue vortexes, looked straight at Rod.

"My ascension to godhood carries an irreplaceable importance. The magical web will resist the other-dimensional space's influence on the material dimension, buying more time for the coming terror and chaos."

"Just say plainly what you need, my lord Mystra. I might not even live until then, and I don't see how a little seventh-tier like me could help you. But for now, I'd rather you win."

"No, Mr. Rod — just call me Mystra. You can do far more than you imagine. If I'm not mistaken, your 【Alluring Bodily Fluids】 should have evolved, haven't they?"

"."

Rod suddenly had a bad premonition.

Mystra's brows remained furrowed; no other expression could be read.

"It is a spell called 【Dewdrops of Creation】. In those days, Lilith relied on it to give birth to the succubus race."

"And you, Mr. Rod, being male, do not possess Lilith's 【Womb of Revelry】, so naturally you cannot bear life. But the fluid you produce contains the purest, most vital energy for newborns."

"Hold on!"

Rod's face had already gone rigid.

"I understand the rest — you want me to give you the released 【Dewdrops of Creation】, right? I've already been through this kind of plot; it's no surprise.

But the problem is!

You're just a drop of blood right now, and you're mixed in with Asmodeus! You can't expect me to go… uh…"

(End of Chapter)