Chapter 588: Devouring

The thoughts of Lato Giaro, the "Ultraman" whose life was rapidly slipping away, began to blur; even the thought of saving himself became hazy.

Vaguely, he seemed to see Juan Oro, seeing this old man with deep wrinkles standing in the middle of the ocean, waving at him with a face full of joy and mockery.

At this moment, Lu Mian's voice came as if from the edge of the horizon—faint, ethereal, and illusory:

"Did you go to Cordu Village to confirm the situation?"

Cordu Village? That time I went with the "Mad Woman" to find Norphi, and we stopped by? Lato Giaro's unfocused, closing eyes reflected Lu Mian's figure.

With the thought of disgusting the other party, he used the Highland language to stutter out the last sentence of his life:

"I and the 'Mad Woman', went there, purely, for fun, but 'Loki', it seems, had other..."

You want to know what happened back then, don't you? Fine, I'll tell you in Highland; if you don't understand, that's your own problem. Who told you not to study this language seriously in the past!

Lato Giaro actually knew very well that such behavior of his wouldn't have any substantial effect, because after Lu Mian Lee returned, he could find someone to perform "Dream Divination," "Hypnosis" therapy, or conduct a "True Dream" to fully recall the Highland words he had spoken and find a way to translate them into Intis or Ancient Futhark.

But he just wanted to disgust the other party; anyway, he was dying soon, so he couldn't care about what progress might be made in the future.

"Purpose..." Lato Giaro spat out the last word, the candle of his life about to be extinguished.

In this final moment, he seemed to hear Lu Mian Lee saying to him in Highland:

"Thank you."

That "thank you" was fluent and natural, carrying intense mockery.

The one good eye of "Ultraman" Lato Giaro bulged even more severely, his expression frozen on his face, and his breathing stopped completely.

Lu Mian's right hand gripped the "Dirge of Hate" again, while he simultaneously released his left hand, watching the head of "Ultraman," this core member of "April Fools'," rapidly detach from the bone flute with its black base and red holes, revealing a ferocious and deep blood-colored cavity.

Thump!

"Ultraman" fell to the ground, and the blood sticking to the surface of the black bone flute condensed drop by drop, landing on his body.

After the person who "backstabbed" it suffered a fatal wound, the "Armor of Arrogance" ceased its actions, standing nearby like an ordinary, unremarkable silver-white full-body suit of armor.

"Loki" had another purpose? A purpose other than helping the "Sinner" organization and pulling a prank? Lu Mian recalled the statement Lato Giaro made before his death while bending his waist and back, wanting to see what items this core member of "April Fools'" had on him.

Of course, he didn't hold much hope, because "Ultraman" Lato Giaro had disguised himself as the incoming "Viceroy of the Sea," Simon Giaro, to board the Colorful Flower Ceremonial Ship; he couldn't carry any items. His belongings should have all been handed over to the "Mad Woman," letting her carry them and use flesh magic to hide them in her stomach. And just now, the "Mad Woman" clearly didn't have the time or opportunity to return the items on her to "Ultraman."

This was also one of the reasons Lu Mian was able to take down "Ultraman," a powerful Beyonder of two pathways, in such a short time.

—If Juan Oro hadn't greeted the sea kin on the Colorful Flower Ceremonial Ship in advance, Lu Mian would have only been able to use the method of temporarily storing the "Traveler's Bag" with Mr. K.

Just at this moment, Lu Mian saw a strange change in the corpse of "Ultraman" Lato Giaro:

It rapidly faded, presenting a semi-transparent, semi-fleshy state, and then, as if decomposed by countless tiny organisms, it seeped into the silver-white metal floor and gradually disappeared.

Soon, the flesh, starlight, and those sun-like fragments left behind by Lato Giaro were all absorbed by the silver-white metal floor, leaving only a formal suit belonging to the "Viceroy of the Sea" covering the spot, surrounded by faint grayish-white mist.

In the blink of an eye, that grayish-white mist was also absorbed by the silver-white metal floor, by this strange structure.

Lu Mian tried to "rescue" something back, but failed.

Is this what is called "returning to the sea"? But how could this strange structure even absorb the Beyonder characteristic of a "Priest of Light"? Lu Mian had just developed this doubt when he heard the sound of metal friction coming from all around.

The pitch-black holes on the surrounding walls, ceiling, and floor were covered again by rotating, protruding metal, no longer spewing out the pale cyan-blue toxic gas, saving Lu Mian the energy of igniting a layer of crimson-near-white flames on his body.

Amidst the clanking sounds, the metal gates at the front and back both rose, revealing two tunnels leading to different places.

After the object of betrayal died, the silver-gray behemoth returned to "normal," returning to its usual state.

Lu Mian looked into the depths of the tunnel ahead, his heartbeat involuntarily accelerating.

Thump, thump, he inexplicably felt nervous and uneasy.

…………

Sangtagang, inside the apartment where "Loki" was hiding.

As soon as the little boy Ludwig said the words "I'm hungry," he suddenly buried his head low and bit the hand "Loki" was using to hold the gemstone bracelet, gnawing on it just like chewing the marrow inside a chicken wing bone.

Intense pain flooded into "Loki's" mind; his first reaction was to immediately use a "Paper Figurine Substitute" to escape the current predicament.

But he was worried that this would cause him to distance himself from this sealed demigod, losing the possibility of regaining control over him.

Amidst the sound of bones being crushed and flesh being torn, "Loki" caught the falling gemstone bracelet with his other hand and forced himself to open his mouth:

"Bang!"

A mass of air, like a bullet fired from the latest steam rifle, struck the top of Ludwig's head, peeling away the flesh along with the hair and revealing the white skull.

Yet Ludwig was completely unaffected, still eating "Loki's" left hand; he had already bitten off five fingers and gnawed away half the palm.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" One air bullet after another struck the little boy, leaving him a bloody mess, no longer in human shape, but Ludwig still persistently, focusedly, and without the slightest slowing down, gnawed at "Loki."

Crack, crack.

He had already gnawed to the wrist bone of the other party, the crisp sound echoing in the flesh merged between the two.

While "Loki" was almost fainting from the pain, he roughly understood what was going on.

This sealed demigod possessed extremely strong vitality and could not be substantially harmed by ordinary attacks and some Beyonder abilities. In other words, one could put him to sleep, manipulate his "Spirit Body Thread," or find a way to make him faint, but it was very difficult to truly kill him with ordinary means; even inflicting a heavy wound was impossible.

Under such a premise, even if this sealed demigod couldn't use any abilities and lacked sufficient strength and speed, just relying on the conventional act of desperately gnawing on the other party's flesh and bones could make many mid-sequence Beyonders feel extremely troubled.

"Loki" gave up the plan to take out other magical artifacts and directly replaced himself with a paper figurine.

Scrape, scrape, scrape. Ludwig, whose head was covered in the traces of air bullet destruction and who was almost no longer in human shape, raised his head. At the edge of his still-bleeding mouth was a piece of white paper, which was being rolled into his mouth along with bloody chunks of flesh.

Ludwig's eyes reflected the figure "Loki" had outlined in the corner of the room. Under the torn skin and flesh, something seemed to be slowly squirming, wanting to break free, but failing.

"Loki" weighed the current situation and the items on him. With that "Soul Assuager" marionette unable to return in time, he rationally decided not to continue entangling with this sealed demigod creature, planning to escape first and consider the subsequent problems later.

Just at this moment, a patch of crimson moonlight shone in through the window.

This moonlight instantly filled the apartment, enveloping "Loki" within it.

A drifting voice immediately rang out beside "Loki's" ear:

"The thick smell of fresh blood..."

The moonlight faded, and a paper figurine stained with grayish-white and deep black colors appeared on the ground.

And "Loki's" figure appeared several hundred meters away, outside the vine forest.

That was a powerful, near-divine effect substitute he had formed by using a gift descended by that Celestial Worthy, which he had requested during a prayer in a certain week for this operation, and which was attached to a pre-prepared paper figurine.

Drip, drip, "Loki's" severed left wrist was still dripping blood.

He immediately activated the diamond on the bracelet, his figure rapidly fading, preparing to "teleport" and escape.

…………

Sangtagang, Milo Village.

Tap, tap, tap.

The faint sound of footsteps echoed in the "Bard's" ears, making his spirit highly tense.

The "Bard" looked around, but discovered nothing.

He started running, bypassing multiple buildings in succession, but the tap-tap-tap footsteps were still behind him.

The "Bard" tried to push open the door of a certain building, breaking into the home of a Milo Village villager.

But what met his eyes was not a stove, table, chairs, jars, or wooden boxes, but a dilapidated stone platform immersed in darkness.

A stone platform! The "Bard's" pupils dilated; he had a feeling of falling into a hallucination that wasn't real enough.

He had actually returned to the "Viceroy of the Sea's" mansion, returned to the altar where the Milo Village villagers worshipped their ancestors.

Something suddenly crawled out from the cracks of the dilapidated stone platform.

It was a semi-transparent little worm with multiple rings.

The little worm rapidly expanded, turning into a young man wearing the robes of an assistant priest of the Sea Prayer Ceremony and wearing a monocle.

The man sat on the dilapidated stone platform, smiling as he looked at the "Bard" and said:

"Do you understand now?"

The "Bard" suddenly understood what the other party was asking. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty and said:

"I understand."

Since this altar had an owner and a supernatural creature residing in it, the so-called rule that the "Ring of the Sea Queen" could only be enchanted once a year was clearly invalid!

The other party could enchant it as many times as they wanted!

The young man wearing the deep blue assistant priest robes pinched the monocle on his right eye and said with a smile:

"I spent over a thousand years shaping a rule that could only grant 'Theft' once a year, never expecting that the ones I'd eventually fool would be people like you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 589 =====