Chapter 41: Ascending the Summit

Intense pain struck; Ding Mo lay on the ground, for a moment feeling only darkness before his eyes, his entire body convulsing uncontrollably!

If not for the Mask strengthening him, he would likely have already breathed his last by now.

Yet even so, he lacked the strength to approach the throne, which was only a few steps away!

This short distance now seemed like a natural chasm!

"Ding Mo!!" Dong Xiaoyu's startled cry reached him.

Ding Mo turned his head; with his vision growing increasingly blurred, he saw a figure rushing toward him.

It was Dong Xiaoyu! As long as I can touch her, I can continue to fight... he thought to himself.

But the next second,

Swish!

Simple deerskin boots blocked his view,

A red and blue figure appeared between the two of them!

Ding Mo immediately felt himself being flipped over, face upward, as a hand reached toward his face.

No... Ding Mo, relying on his fading consciousness, tried to reach out to stop it, but felt a sharp pain in his arm.

With a flash of sword light, his severed arm flew several meters away.

Having chopped off another of Ding Mo's hands, "It" finally reached out without obstruction, its fingertips making contact with that Mask.

Instantly! Wisps of dark energy flowed along its fingertips! As if something were about to happen!

Yet, "It" did not know that behind "It," in a place no one noticed,

Dong Xiaoyu was gritting her teeth, suppressing the fear in her heart! She drew the sword that had been knocked from Ding Mo's hand earlier!

She ran, lifting it up, and thrust the tip of the sword toward "It's" back.

Pfft!

Perhaps the "Prince's" Mask had attracted all of "It's" attention; Dong Xiaoyu actually succeeded!

Using the speed and momentum of her sprint, the sword was driven fiercely into "It's" back, knocking the half-crouching "It" over beside the throne; using her body weight, Dong Xiaoyu tackled "It" to the ground and pinned it there!

Sizzle—"It" flickered and struggled frantically, but the sharp sword connected "It" to the ground, causing "It" to be unable to break free through this ability no matter what.

Trapped "It" for now!

"Hoo, hoo, hoo!!" Dong Xiaoyu panted heavily, let go of the sword, and moved away from 'It',

Feeling somewhat incredulous!

She hadn't expected to succeed either; she just felt that if Ding Mo lost, everything would be over, and she had to take a gamble.

After doing all this, she realized her adrenaline was surging wildly; her wrists and ankles seemed to have been sprained from the previous movements, and now her whole body was shaking violently, unable to even stand steady.

But she quickly regained her senses, gritted her teeth, persisted, came to Ding Mo's side, and lifted him up with both hands.

"Hold on, Ding Mo!" Dong Xiaoyu looked anxiously at him, his body left in only a half-section, his eyes tightly shut.

She had seen it just now; even when Ding Mo's neck was half-severed, it could heal; it must be an ability granted to him by the Mask... she wasn't very clear about it.

In any case, she did not believe Ding Mo had died just like that!

Ding Mo, in fact, was indeed not dead yet, but he was close to it, with only one breath left. At this moment, being lifted by Dong Xiaoyu, as the healing power surged in,

He finally regained consciousness.

But opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was Dong Xiaoyu aging at a speed visible to the naked eye!

"You... you!"

"What's... wrong..." Dong Xiaoyu had been pleasantly surprised to see him wake up, but immediately felt her body growing increasingly exhausted.

"Strange, it was clearly only a few steps away, why..."

Thump! Walking toward the throne, Dong Xiaoyu's legs went soft, and she knelt before the throne, causing Ding Mo in her arms to jolt, and blood flowed out again.

There had been too many things along the way, the impact too great, and Dong Xiaoyu had not brought a mirror, so even now she still had not noticed her own 'decay'!

"Dong Xiaoyu!

"You, you lift me... up there!" Ding Mo gasped, struggled to look away, and spoke.

His eyes gazed toward the throne.

The only way now... is the throne!

In fact, Ding Mo was doing it on purpose, deliberately not telling Dong Xiaoyu about the changes in her body. And the price of this power.

It sounds cruel, but it is also very realistic; there is nothing to justify—it was just to use her, to let himself ascend the throne!

Even if the price paid was her lifespan.

Ding Mo didn't want to be this kind of bastard either, but in this situation, he had to sacrifice everything: lies, lifespan, blood, slaughter... anything would do!

He had to reach the top of the throne and become the "King" in the Human Face's words!

Only then would the two of them have a chance to survive!

Dong Xiaoyu,

Hearing this, she subconsciously did it—she couldn't stand up, so she knelt where she was, used both hands to lift Ding Mo, and sent him toward the throne that was within reach.

And that red and blue costumed figure, namely "It," pinned beside the throne, seemed to notice this scene and struggled frantically!

If one observed carefully, one could see "It's" body, amidst constant flickering, gradually separating from the sword stuck in the ground, its movements becoming freer!

Time was running out!

Ding Mo looked at the throne getting closer before him and couldn't help but reach out his hand and place it on the seat!

Before the back of the throne, he rested one hand on it, about to sit up. But...

Dong Xiaoyu suddenly stopped moving!

This!? Ding Mo glanced over and saw her complexion was frighteningly gray-white, like a rag squeezed dry of water. Her head full of dry white hair fluttered.

And Dong Xiaoyu, her feeling at this moment was even clearer:

She was indeed exerting herself to lift him, and it was clearly almost finished. Yet her own body seemed to be inexplicably decaying, her strength draining away.

She tried her best to lift Ding Mo, but felt him becoming heavier and heavier; for every bit of force she added, Ding Mo's severed body simultaneously became a bit heavier!

With one addition and one subtraction, in the end, it had all been in vain!

No, it was more than that; she was running out of strength and was about to be unable to lift him...

Feeling her trembling arms behind his back, Ding Mo also knew she had reached her limit. So, he gritted his teeth, determined to squeeze out the last bit of strength in his body!

He gripped his fingers tightly onto the handrest of the throne.

Move! Move!

Ding Mo growled hoarsely, and amidst the large pool of overflowing blood, he finally dragged himself—his half-body that felt as heavy as a ten-thousand-catty boulder!

At the same time, the trembling in Dong Xiaoyu's arms grew more intense.

Once, twice, and finally, Ding Mo crawled up!

He lay prone on the cushion, like a fish out of water.

Almost simultaneously, the moment Ding Mo's body completely left Dong Xiaoyu's hands, she collapsed, falling before the throne.

Wisps of blood flowed down from the throne, yet Ding Mo felt his spirit lift!

The instant he ascended the throne, a surge of power and inexplicable information flooded into his mind.

And... Threshold +100%!

"So that's it!" Ding Mo lay prone, twisting his head in a strange posture,

and thus saw "it," standing by the armrest and staring at him!

A moment later, under Ding Mo's gaze, "it" actually took a few steps back and bowed slightly.

It was as if it were showing respect to a true "King"!

"Heh..." Ding Mo sneered.

He finally understood—the origin of these Guaishou was exactly as he had guessed before; they all came from a Different Space.

What kind of place was that? Ding Mo could not explain, only knowing that it seemed to be a twisted "Tonghua Wangguo,"

or rather, a twisted dimension, because the Guaishou living within it needed a similar shell, so they set their sights on various characters from fairy tales.

The talking wolf in human skin, the girl the size of a thumb, the "beautiful" Princess, and the powerful, heroic, and kind "Prince" were all merely shells and concepts they chose to come to this world.

Thinking this, Ding Mo looked at "it" to the side.

And this fellow was the "Prince" of their world,

powerful, heroic, and fond of worrying about "Princesses." And the person who originally held the Ritual was likely the source of its shell.

But for them to come to this world, there was one more condition—that was the need for the King's recognition!

They needed the recognition of this world's King, and one only had to think to know that was impossible. They and humanity would only ever be eternal enemies.

Thus, they bewitched a madman, wanting to establish a new "Kingdom" in this world—

by way of installing a human as "King"!

So this Ritual, everything was for this very moment, just as written in the final sentence of the original Script:

He shall command the world!

Having finished absorbing the memories, Ding Mo no longer hesitated and declared loudly:

"I announce!"