Chapter 54: Holy Mother Family

[Detected evolution material: Shattered Pseudo-Dragon Soul (Gold). Absorb?]

At that moment, Li En froze.

He whirled around; his Dragon Eyes activated automatically, and only then did he notice a grotesque pseudo-dragon phantom faintly hovering above Kveirduf’s corpse.

“Refuse? Why refuse?” His body and soul instinctively craved evolution; without time for careful thought, Li En had already granted permission by instinct.

Thus, the “Dragon Blood” on the blade he held was instantly drained, becoming the catalyst linking spirit and flesh.

The pseudo-dragon phantom surged forward, absorbed and assimilated by Li En’s physical form.

[Biological Rank: Raw Stone. Status: Strength 6(13), Physique 7(11), Agility 5(6), Spirit 6(16)]

In an instant, his original Raw Stone rank broke through.

The other numbers began to subtly shift, as if about to rise.

Li En felt something beneath his flesh, as if breaking through the soil.

[Please locate a safe zone for Dragon Sleep to facilitate evolution.]

But now was clearly not the time to wait for evolution.

He took a deep breath and turned to his opponent.

Though he couldn’t strengthen himself before battle, this was at least good news.

Yet he still underestimated the Heroic Soul Codex.

[Evolution material: Shattered Pseudo-Dragon Soul (Gold) decomposed. Analyzed materials: “Pseudo-Dragon (Gold),” “Flame (Silver),” “Volcano (Silver).” Materials now added to material library.]

[Material library detected usable evolution material. Automatically applied “Flame (Silver).” Racial talent: Dragon Flame (Scorch the World) activated. Subordinate ability: “Mana Emission (Flame)” activated.]

Then, just as before with “Dragon Eyes” and “Dragon Claws,” Li En instinctively swung his sword.

Faint flames flowed from his palm, coating the blade—thus was born the Flame Sword.

The flame was thin and pale, its intensity even weaker than a barbecue fire, appearing utterly feeble—

“What is this?” Maria, though cornered, had remained calm until now—but she instinctively stepped back.

Looking at that fragile flame, she felt an instinctive terror.

Li En was equally bewildered, but that didn’t stop him from applying verbal pressure.

“Regarding your ability, you don’t seriously believe you’re immortal, do you?” It wasn’t a lie—he truly believed Dragon-type power naturally suppressed beasts.

“That’s too bad… How about you spare me? I’ll pretend I know nothing, and never commit another crime.”

The nun smiled faintly, tilting her head, as if genuinely troubled.

“Heh. Do you think I’d believe a beast’s promise?”

Only instinct-driven “beasts” mimic human speech, even comprehend its meaning.

But to them, language is merely a tool—they care nothing for what they say.

Pretending to cry like an infant is merely to lure delicious prey.

Screaming “It hurts, spare me!” to hunters is merely to make them lower their guard.

If lies aid survival or hunting, then every word they utter will be a lie.

“Heartless beast. Even if I don’t know why you still pretend to be so human, today will be your end.”

“Sigh, I really didn’t want to fight. Wouldn’t it be better if we coexisted peacefully? My appetite isn’t even that big. How about I give you my territory and move elsewhere?”

From the start, their communication existed on entirely different levels.

Li En spoke of societal concepts: crime, promises, justice. Meanwhile, the monster calling itself “Maria” was merely asking why this outsider dared interfere with her “hunting.”

I’m hungry. I want to eat. Isn’t that a normal need?

Previous “retributions” weren’t born of anger, humiliation, or vengeance—they were purely “You invaded my hunting ground. I must assert sovereignty,” to prevent future interference.

All along, monsters wore human skins, pretending to understand humanity—but no one ever discovered it.

“What a revolting monster—to dare speak of justice to a knight.”

Recalling how Larry had once been lectured by her on justice, even taken it seriously, Li En’s mood darkened further.

This wasn’t the “pseudo-thing’s” own thought—it was Maria the nun’s thought.

Maria the nun, perhaps, had long prayed—for righteous heroes to save her and this filthy city.

These thoughts had likely circled her mind countless times, or else the monster wouldn’t have spoken them so easily.

This monster merely uttered these “words” at the right moment—like a reflexive machine, responding instinctively to external stimuli.

Maria craved justice, so the monster wearing Maria’s skin spoke of justice to draw closer to righteous men.

Why did she seek closeness with humans? Of course—for the beast’s instinct: easier hunting.

“No need to wait any longer. Useless.” When she realized combat was inevitable, Maria smiled and tore away the reason Li En had been delaying.

Her gaze turned to Talia behind Li En—her wooden sword still slowly burning.

The entire cave was thick with incense fumes. Li En had been buying time for this.

“Since you knew this was my weakness, do you think I wouldn’t overcome it? I sleep with this scent every night. I got used to it. Heh—I’m not like those insufficiently pure little things.”

The nun’s gaze swept toward the wooden carving that was Tienba—her glittering eyes seemed to hold emotion, perhaps even sorrow.

Disdain for the weak? Sympathy for a fellow? Or a masterfully faked emotion?

No—Li En saw it: it was joy. Joy at having one less competitor for food!

“You say it’s useless, so it is?” At this moment, Li En was momentarily stunned—how could his newly found weakness be rendered useless?

But the incense was so thick he was sneezing—and yet the opponent hadn’t launched an attack. This time, it wasn’t a lie.

“So, it’s come down to brute force,” Li En sighed deeply, sounding both resigned and weary.

But his Dragon Eyes caught it—the instant Maria blinked!

“Exorcise Evil.”

In that single instant, Li En was already within arm’s reach of the nun.

The battle experience from the Heroic Soul granted him a trick that created the effect of a daylight ambush.

And the “Speed Boots” made it possible.

“Clang.”

The sword was blocked.

Unlike before, when she’d carelessly let the flames touch her flesh, Maria now refused to let the blade make contact.

How had she blocked it? Was her black nun’s robe a divine artifact? Everyone was stunned.

The blade’s tip pressed against the outer edge of the nun’s robe—but Li En couldn’t drive it down further!

“Aaah!” Li En gripped the sword with both hands, channeling the brute strength of his Gauntlets, trying to slash the demon to pieces.

But the one being pushed back was himself!

“Flame!”

He gritted his teeth, shifting from a downward slash to a diagonal upward cut, yanking the blade back and then slashing upward.

“Clang!”

But again, something blocked it.

Unable to comprehend what had happened, Li En retreated, maintaining a safe distance.

The next moment, he saw what had stopped his blade.

He involuntarily drew in a sharp breath—the data hadn’t lied. Seeing it firsthand was even more grotesque than he’d imagined.

“Child, don’t wander off,” the nun said, still gentle.

The flame and blade hadn’t harmed her—but they had torn part of her robe, revealing the “thing” beneath that had blocked Li En’s sword.

At her waist was the upper torso of a tiny infant—his small hand had just gripped Li En’s sword!

And on her left shoulder was another…

“Kevin… or was it Brandi? Don’t put everything in your mouth.” The nun “Maria” stopped the head from shoving shredded cloth into its mouth.

“Totally insane. Utterly insane—these human-like abominations!” At this moment, Li En’s inner rage exploded.

Not just at the demon before him—but at the bottomless cultists of the sect.

The creation of Horned Ones was the fusion of “little beasts” with humans.

The cultivation of little beasts came from “little horns” (harvested tails/horns), pure life crystals implanted into the mother’s womb for re-nurturing.

Most little beasts were canine in form—simply because female dogs were easy to acquire, and the resulting beasts were relatively docile, controllable, and of moderate intelligence.

Usually, Horned Ones who absorbed more than one little beast quickly lost their sense of self and self-destructed.

That was why Heike had immediately bitten off his “new head”—otherwise, the beast factor would have rendered him completely uncontrollable.

Even among little beasts, differing genes and instincts caused conflict—and mutual destruction.

But how had Maria done it?

“She turned her own children into little horns.” This was the root of her fall—the reason she’d been persuaded to join this experiment.

“Eternal happiness with my children,” was the sect’s deception to her.

And the bizarre reality? She hadn’t just believed it—she’d seemingly turned it into reality.

“She gave birth to her children-as-horns from her own body, then swallowed and fused them into herself. Since they were all her own genetic offspring, her rejection was low—but how many ‘children’ had she eaten?”

At this moment, Maria no longer concealed her “children.” She let them act freely.

One by one, tiny hands and heads tore through her black robe, writhing skulls and arms emerging—making witnesses lose their sanity, scalp prickling.

One, two… five. Just in this instant, five infants, their pure eyes gazing outward, had revealed themselves.

“Test Subject 113. Internal codename: ‘Holy Mother Family.’ How utterly morbid.”

Sometimes, humans with hearts are far more boundless in their depravity than beasts.

Li En gripped his sword, fire burning in his heart.

This was bound to be a grueling battle, but he looked forward to it.

“Let me bring this all to an end.”

(End of Chapter)