Chapter 660: Blood of Falsehood

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Rod's soles dragged up patches of black-red blood mud.

Lightning surrounded his whole body, thunder leaping.

His legs exploded with power, leaping aside to dodge a sudden flame chain.

He flipped his body in midair, narrowly avoiding the 【Trembling Knight】 wielding the 【Dark Sword】.

The long sword composed of negative energy carried not only powerful dark erosion damage, but every successful attack weakened a portion of resistance.

For Rod, the weakening was not too severe.

But accumulated, it was enough to put his next resistance check at a disadvantage.

Black negative energy constantly seeped from the gaps in the silver-white full plate armor.

The second and third 【Trembling Knights】 advanced with immense momentum, slashing horizontally with black afterimages.

Rod had seen this kind of summon before.

During the Fear Arena, used by a sixth-tier student from Bahadur Magic Academy.

Its strength was not on the same level as one cast by a ninth-tier mage.

Before him.

Between the residual friction of the spell and the crater blasted out by immense force.

A low-lying area entwined by huge pale tree roots.

The ground sank like a bowl, surrounded by twisted thorny vines.

And in the low-lying spot stood a circular stone hall half-buried underground, only the edges of its top arched structure exposed.

The entrance was a staircase extending downward, vaguely visible as being built from piled pale bone fragments.

However, now.

The exposed dome was covered in cracked patterns; the massive masonry stones had collapsed at the entrance staircase, completely buried.

The ground trembled slightly, as if something beneath the surface was breathing slowly.

The Moon Shadow duplicate of the Return-Home Prophet Motas held a pitch-black staff taller than himself.

Floating on his outstretched left palm was a dark red crystal, occasionally displaying a blood-colored human face with constantly changing expressions.

The duplicate turned his expressionless face over, lips moving as he continued chanting.

Another spell flashed past.

【Greater Hold Person】.

Rod stiffened slightly, forcibly breaking through the paralysis.

He twisted his body and delivered a heavy, powerful hook punch to the face of one 【Trembling Knight】.

Boom!!

The head exploded into a cloud of negative energy.

The Dark Sword in its hand did not stop its momentum, still slashing horizontally.

Behind him, the Astral Ambusher War Spirit's black figure flashed; Rod seemed to become its afterimage, vanishing from the spot in an instant as well.

The next moment.

A fist wrapped in black fluid metal slammed into Motas Moon Shadow's defensive shield.

Crash!

The shadow scattered.

Regrouping, it was already far away.

"Annoying."

This ninth-tier mage's Moon Shadow duplicate was not strong.

First, it could not use domains; second, for some unknown reason, the Ring of Truth behind it was in a void state, meaning it had exhausted its 【Spell Metamagic】 and 【Truth Immunity】.

But.

Rod stared at the red crystal in its hand.

""Blood of Falsehood.""

This blood body of the Moon Goddess Lu Ka possessed the ability of 【False Egg Incubation】, meaning it released blood droplets while constantly moving and performed spatial shifts without cooldown.

Even when struck, it enjoyed a period of invincibility in a blood-mist form.

One must admit, it somewhat countered Rod.

The lack of spell knowledge also left him without a plan to deal with such an enemy.

Under normal circumstances, Rod would probably just brawl it to the end, or forcibly accumulate 【Yulia's Blood Explosion】 to blow it up in one shot.

But then there would be no token left to use.

However.

Now Rod was not alone.

"Hum—"

Magical light suddenly flashed; the lines of the ritual began sliding and combining on the ground at visible speed.

Amidst the high-intensity magical roar, even the mist was evaporated clean.

The Moon Shadow duplicate at the center of the ritual froze entirely; even the constantly shifting human face on the "Blood of Falsehood" in its hand became ferocious and violent.

"Now! Rod!"

Haley's voice appeared from behind the forest.

After the mist was slightly dispersed, it was she and Medlin who were fully controlling the spell ritual.

"Well done."

Rod smiled.

A black longsword swiftly condensed on the inner side of his wrist and sprang out; his arm caught it in a flash, blurring beyond recognition.

The next instant.

The three 【Trembling Warriors】 beside him exploded with a boom into countless segments; negative energy spread, and recovery speed slowed drastically.

The longsword dispersed, rewrapping itself around his arm—in the blink of an eye, no one saw it clearly.

Zzzt—

In the flicker of lightning.

Rod dragged along a thick, bursting plasma, trailing sparks and lightning the whole way.

The magical shield shattered once more, brittle as paper.

Disarm, shoulder charge.

It burst apart into a spray of ink-black entrails and severed limbs.

All in one fluid motion.

Before Rod could get a clear look at the "Blood of Vanity" in his hand.

He saw Layla Star-Tongue skipping over, holding a recording stone, and shining it right into his face.

She excitedly began the interview.

"Say a few words! Quick, say a few words—I want to put them in the lyrics."

Rod raised a hand and pushed her away: "Don't block the way."

"'Don't block the way'—that's a good one!"

With that, she scribbled and doodled furiously in her little notebook.

Rod paid her no mind.

He went to Medelin and Hailie, who were nearly drained of strength, intending to pour restorative potions down them.

"We can't drink any more—recovery potions build up resistance if you drink too many in one day. Now that we have the token, there's no need to rush."

Hailie said, panting, cold sweat already beading on her forehead.

Medelin was in much the same state:

"This ritual drained far too much magic, nearly to the bone. We need to rest and recover. Mr., could you please keep watch for us?"

At the same time, she cast a wary glance at Rod.

She really had no idea where Hailie had picked up such a rich patron—two hundred thousand Jin Along given away without a word, and terrifyingly strong to boot, able to suppress even ninth-tier foes with ease.

Rod, Rod.

Seems like that ranger from Shi Ying Town was called Rod, wasn't he?

But she heard that guy was a handsome devil, as good-looking as an elf, and a sword expert to boot—doesn't really seem like him.

"Meditating in a place like this—is that even an option?"

Rod had no idea what Medelin was thinking.

After all, these two weren't his girls; contact was limited, and 【Green Vine Mutual Healing】 couldn't exert its full effect either.

He pondered for a moment.

He drew two vials of pale-white potion from his spell pouch.

—A potion crafted with 【Genesis Dewdrop】 as its primary ingredient.

It was mainly used to suppress the deformed bodily conditions of the 'Mis-Cast Bodies' rescued from the Campbell family labyrinth; after Lady Kali's reasonable compounding, the charm effect within had been greatly suppressed.

【Genesis Dewdrop】 possessed vast, pure energy—easing the aftereffects of magical exhaustion was an absolute cinch.

As for the ingredients, well.

Their mages' potion main ingredients weren't necessarily as clean as his, that's all.

Hailie stared at the two vials in astonishment: "Such pure energy? What potion is this? How have I never seen it before?"

Medelin was a little wary: "Does it cost money? This stuff looks expensive at a glance—I can't afford it."

"It's a gift to you; just don't turn your noses up at it."

Rod said with a smile.

Hailie stumbled—unclear whether on purpose or by accident—and somehow lost her footing and tumbled into Rod's arms.

Soft flesh against his chest, fragrant and yielding.

While taking the potion, her fingers hooked and traced inside Rod's hand, somewhat contrived.

"Sorry. I've always believed in you."

"."

She pulled out the cork and downed it in one gulp.

Scalding energy slid down her throat, madly nourishing her nearly depleted magical circuits.

Hailie couldn't help but let out a sound of bliss.

After a brief pause, she opened her eyes, and the look she gave Rod carried a faintly unnatural daze.

(End of chapter)