Chapter 104: Transfer (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Ding dang dang!

Ryan kept retreating but blocked Pierre Béry the Shepherd’s furious assault.

Pierre Béry’s eyes were already blood-red, no longer gentle as before, as if he had fully unleashed the ferocity sealed within his heart.

Taking advantage of the black or pale grotesque arms extending from the shadows to grab at Ryan and disrupt his movements, Pierre Béry raised his axe once more and brought it down hard upon his enemy’s head.

This time, Ryan did not parry while retreating to dissipate force; he did not even raise his “Sword of Dawn.”

He merely turned his body aside, letting the terrifying, twisted arms seize his legs, letting Pierre Béry’s axe strike his shoulder.

Clang!

The silver-white shoulder armor instantly cracked like a spiderweb, shedding glowing fragments that dissolved into the air.

Enduring the pain, Ryan knelt on one knee and plunged the “Sword of Dawn” into the second-floor floor.

He believed he and his companions had been separated too long—he must find any way possible, at any cost, to regroup.

The strength of the team surpassed the individual efforts of each member!

In an instant, the two-handed great sword formed of light exploded.

It shattered into countless shards of light, becoming a hurricane that swept toward the Shepherd Pierre Béry ahead.

This terrifying, destructive strike caused Pierre Béry to involuntarily show panic on his face.

He ignored the grotesque arms emerging from the shadows and directly retreated into his own shadow.

The pure light storm that followed swallowed the entire area, cutting all shadows and grotesqueries into fragments.

As a ranged attack ability, “Storm of Light,” though Ryan fiercely controlled its direction toward the enemy ahead, inevitably affected the sides, rear, above, and below.

Without sound, Lu Mi’s bedroom, Aurora’s bedroom, and the walls simultaneously collapsed, reduced to tiny fragments within the terrifying storm.

The region near the balcony, where the black vines hung from the ceiling, instantly turned into fluttering weeds; even the parish priest Guillaume Béne, floating midair, had to hastily dodge.

He flew out of Aurora’s house, his body covered in one bloody gash after another.

Boom boom boom!

Half the roof was ripped away, the second-floor floor became pitted and uneven, with many spots exposing the hearths below.

Lyra was also engulfed by the storm of light, but her figure rapidly thinned and shrank, reduced to powder as a paper doll.

When the terrifying storm subsided, she appeared inside the partially intact study.

Ryan knew she possessed the “Paper Doll Substitute,” which is why he dared launch such a violent, terrifying attack against the Shepherd Pierre Béry in such a confined space.

As for Aurora and Lu Mi in the side rooms, Valentine behind the balcony—the first two had walls absorbing most of the damage, the latter was far enough away, and meanwhile, Ryan had been forcibly controlling the storm’s direction; even if imperfectly, it had some effect.

Having assessed the current situation, he decisively unleashed this breakthrough strike.

Crimson moonlight and faint starlight streamed through the shattered roof. Ryan quickly scanned the area but found no trace of Aurora or Lu Mi—only Lyra, her face bluish, sprinting toward him; Valentine lay unconscious on the balcony, his body bearing multiple wounds from the “Storm of Light,” none fatal.

Seeing his companions’ conditions worsening one after another, Ryan abandoned searching for others, grabbed Lyra’s shoulder, and leaped with her to the balcony.

The warrior scooped up Valentine with one hand and leapt straight down from Lu Mi’s house.

Relying on his still partially intact silver-white “Dawn Armor,” he endured attacks from the shadows, sprinted toward the outskirts of Kordu Village, and fled toward the nearest highland pasture.

This was the prearranged contingency plan: if they could not hold Aurora and Lu Mi’s home, retreat to the pasture.

There, they could use the terrain for defense, or leap off the cliff to trigger the cycle by escaping the area.

Parish Priest Guillaume Béne floated in midair but could not catch up to the “Dawn Knight” at his maximum speed.

Beneath his feet, from the shadows along the house’s edge, the Shepherd Pierre Béry emerged.

His dark longcoat was tattered, his hood gone, his face, chest, and legs covered in countless sword cuts, oozing blood—horrifying to behold.

Had he not swapped his shadow with that of a villager at the critical moment, he would have been reduced to bloody scraps!

That villager, who served as his pawn, had undoubtedly become a pile of shredded flesh.

…………

Because the Abyssal Demon Flower was quickly destroyed by Ryan’s “Storm of Light,” Valentine’s paralysis was not severe—he awoke before leaving Kordu Village.

“How’s the situation?” he asked, mouth already full of wind.

Ryan, sprinting, could not elaborate, only replied briefly:

“Help Lyra first!”

Valentine immediately looked at Lyra, whom Ryan held under his other arm—her face pale and bluish, expression deeply unnatural.

Without hesitation, Valentine painfully extended one hand and pressed it onto Lyra’s shoulder.

“Sun!”

He cried out in Ancient Hermes.

Drops of translucent golden liquid materialized in midair and rained down upon Lyra.

Lyra’s expression twisted, and plumes of greenish smoke rose from her body.

Within one or two seconds, the translucent figure of Sybil separated out, her face filled with unmistakable shock and terror.

She could not believe she had been expelled from Lyra’s body.

Immediately afterward, phantom golden flames flickered into existence from the void, burning the strange spirit like a candle into droplets of liquid.

Sybil screamed and cursed, but could not escape her purification.

This time, she could not “rebirth” within Valentine’s body.

“Abomination!” Valentine muttered.

…………

“Should we pursue?” Pierre Béry the Shepherd asked, looking up at the floating Parish Priest Guillaume Béne.

Though his condition was dire, he refused to give up.

Guillaume Béne pondered for several seconds, then said:

“No. What’s happening here is more important.

“They won’t take any action in the short term—only watch and confirm the situation. That’s enough for us.”

No sooner had he spoken than his brow furrowed, and he murmured:

“Sybil is dead.”

“But she could ‘rebirth’!” Pierre Béry was astonished.

He felt little sorrow over his sister’s death.

Guillaume Béne couldn’t help cursing:

“I told her never to use ‘rebirth’ in front of those three official Exalted Ones—this level of ‘rebirth’ is naturally suppressed by the power of the Sun Path. Yet she never listened.

“Waste! Wasting the Master’s grace!”

…………

Lu Mi suddenly opened his eyes, seeing thin gray mist and the familiar ceiling.

He had awakened in the Dream Ruins after fainting.

He fumbled into a sitting position and gasped for breath.

At the moment Aurora attacked him, he truly lost heart, thinking it better to just give up.

The beautiful life she gave him, the five years of life she gave him—let her take them back if she wished.

Huh… Lu Mi exhaled, two clear thoughts flashing through his mind:

“That wasn’t Aurora—that was her, controlled by a monster!

“If I give up now, I’m handing her over to the monster, extinguishing her last hope!”

Lu Mi stood up, his will hardened once more.

He turned his gaze to the window, where a bottle of strong liquor, a honeysuckle flower, some grapevine, and water fern powder lay arranged.

Had that lady brought these materials in? Had she witnessed our attack? Why didn’t she… Lu Mi shook his head, dismissing the following thoughts.

In this situation, only himself and his companions could be relied upon—no matter how powerful others were, they could do nothing!

Lu Mi wasted no more time. He took out the tools he’d used to brew the “Hunter” Elixir, poured fifty milliliters of liquor into a beer mug.

Honeysuckle, grapevine powder, water fern powder were added in sequence, finally the “stone” emitting a foul odor, its surface as if flowing with deep black liquid.

With a hiss, the “Provocateur” Exalted Characteristic dissolved; the honeysuckle vanished completely.

Inside the beer mug, the originally colorless liquor turned pitch-black, thick and viscous. Merely seeing this elixir made Lu Mi want to throw it away and crush it.

He steadied himself, used shallow meditation—quickly halted—to calm his emotions and regulate his state.

After several seconds, Lu Mi unhesitatingly lifted the beer mug and gulped down the nauseating, foul-smelling “Provocateur” Elixir.

No sooner had he set the cup down than he felt his internal organs grow heavy, sinking relentlessly downward.

With prior experience, Lu Mi sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes, and waited for the next transformation.

His breathing rapidly grew hot; his emotions quickly lost stability—alternating between furious rage, sorrow, despair, and excitement.

Simultaneously, the voice—seeming to come from infinite distance yet right beside his ear—appeared, like an iron spike driven directly into his temple.

Familiar, intense pain filled Lu Mi’s mind, yet certain thoughts refused to vanish:

“I must succeed!”

“I must uncover the secret of the dream!”

“I must rescue Aurora!”

“I must break the cycle of Kordu Village!”

Burning, tearing, hallucinations of imminent loss of control struck in turn. Lu Mi endured them all, eyes shut, posture unchanged.

He felt like a small boat in a storm, tossed by waves and hurricanes, helpless yet not sinking.

After an unknown length of time, the pain rapidly receded; the bloodthirsty, mad thoughts departed from Lu Mi’s mind.

He opened his eyes, knowing he had become the Sequence 8 “Provocateur.”

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(End of chapter)