Chapter 261

Xia De, Miss Anat, Miss Miss Beiya, and the Silver-Eyed One had all entered the range covered by the Words of Sublimation.

With wings on its back and vines wrapped around its body, the alienated monster roared toward the sky in the blood-red twilight. A blood-colored greatsword appeared in its hand. It raised the greatsword high, aiming at Xia De, who had just managed to pull the longsword out of his shoulder.

The Words of Sublimation were constructed, and the blood-colored halo completely swallowed everything around them, as if pulling everything into this blood-red sunset twilight. But strangely, the giant tree and the divine statue's holy emblem further away still existed, as if another work had been abruptly spliced into the oil painting of the blood-red sunset.

This made everything before them even more eerie. The giant tree glowing with dim blue light and the stone divine statue watched all of this quietly under the blood-red sunset.

Blood-red light erupted upward from the blade in the tall vampire's hand, as if to pierce the sky, and the sword slashed toward Xia De's position. Xia De took a deep breath, his eyes reflecting the blood-red color that reached the sky, yet his heart was incomparably calm. He had been prepared for a long time:

"Lagley's Leap."

His figure vanished, and the blood-colored greatsword that seemed to split the heavens missed completely.

The monster dragged the greatsword and turned around, the blade carving marks into the ruined ground. It saw Xia De appear before Miss Anat, and Miss Anat and Miss Miss Beiya were supporting him together.

The three stood in the ruins of the blood-red twilight, the light of the setting sun shining on their faces. At this moment, it felt as if this were the end.

After slashing that sword, the out-of-control vampire's power weakened significantly, but the Words of Sublimation had not yet ended.

"Leaf of Eternal Youth."

Xia De whispered. At the wound on his body, the wooden tentacles were almost touching his face.

"What?"

Miss Miss Beiya asked, then immediately understood and stuffed the leaf she had been temporarily keeping into Xia De's mouth.

His mouth chewed a few times, and the leaf was bitten into pieces by Xia De and swallowed. A cold sensation spread from his esophagus throughout his body. The spirit consumed after the fierce battle was completely replenished, his shoulder wound felt numb and tingling, and the wooden tentacles receded bit by bit.

The 【Leaf of Eternal Youth】 itself had an extremely strong healing effect. It came from the power of the highest-ranking 【Tree】, and naturally, it could suppress the power from the lower-ranking 【Tree】. The World Tree is higher than all trees in this world.

In the hands of the severely alienated vampire, the blood-colored greatsword slashed downward for the second time. Xia De, who had fully recovered, wanted to block it. To compete against the 【Words of Sublimation】, wasting a drop of divinity was not a great loss, but Miss Anat reached out her hand at this moment.

She snatched the holy bell from Miss Miss Beiya's hand and swung it hard, her fingers forming a strange gesture. A pentagram ritual array appeared above the three of them, and the purple light actually suppressed the blood-red twilight summoned by the 【Words of Sublimation】 in an instant.

The greatsword collided with the pentagram, taking a full three seconds to shatter it. In the moment of delay, the three of them dodged in time. However, Miss Anat's face turned pale and she spat out a mouthful of blood. Xia De reached out to touch her, and 【False Immortality】 took effect; that blow just now had not been easy for her.

The blood-red twilight was still continuing; it seemed that a sorcerer in an out-of-control state could maintain the Words of Sublimation for a longer time.

It roared, and amidst the permeating blood mist and under the blood-red sunset, the blood-colored greatsword was raised above its head for the third time.

"I'll solve it!"

Miss Miss Beiya said loudly, taking the holy bell from Miss Anat's hand and shaking it gently. Gritting her teeth, she threw her golden thunder with all her might forward, but it was easily shattered by that blood-colored greatsword:

"Is it the end?"

"Of course not."

Xia De blocked the two young ladies behind him, gritting his teeth as he watched the greatsword about to fall. But he still did not use his divinity, because a transparent, robe-wearing female figure had abruptly appeared beside him.

【It's not me, it's the person who was peeking at you in the tomb chamber just now.】

That figure did not speak, but simply shoved a candle into Xia De's hand and vanished again. Xia De looked at his hand; it was indeed the 【Labyrinth Candle】 that he hadn't known where he had dropped.

"What does it mean... I understand!"

Raising the candle in his hand high, amidst the flickering firelight, the brick-wall labyrinth appeared abruptly around the three of them, as if eroding this dim, sunset-lit place. But this was still not enough; the third sword fell, and the brick labyrinth shattered like foam.

The twilight of the sunset became somewhat blurred; the power of the Words of Sublimation could still support one last sword strike.

"Detective!"

Miss Miss Beiya wanted to pull Xia De, who was almost exhausted, behind her, but she pulled several times and couldn't move him. Miss Anat, whose vitality was maintained by 【False Immortality】, wanted to raise her hand again, but she couldn't even summon her life ring.

Eerie blood-red light flickered under the dim sky, and the sword held high did not fall immediately; instead, it paused as if accumulating power.

"Is there any other way?"

Miss Anat's weak voice sounded from behind:

"If there's no way, you go first. Your spatial jumping ability can avoid it."

"There is a way."

Xia De said, gritting his teeth, and looked down at the labyrinth candle in his hand:

"You said that the labyrinth created by the candle has the nature of a mystery lock."

【Yes.】

"Miss Anat, Miss Miss Beiya, don't be too surprised in a moment."

Holding the last piece of 【Leaf of Eternal Youth】 in his mouth, he took the holy bell in his left hand and shook it gently, while his right hand grabbed the necklace on his neck. In the life ring behind him, the 【Little Match Girl】 spiritual rune flickered with light. Dropping the holy bell, he gripped the long candle, and in the rotating life ring behind him, the 【Little Match Girl】 spiritual rune burst into spiritual light.

The phantom of the brick labyrinth appeared again, but immediately vanished. The labyrinth candle in his hand burned violently, consuming itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It really works! This candle can enhance the mystery lock!"

Miss Anat and Miss Miss Beiya were both confused, but seeing that the candle seemed to be merging with Xia De's hand, they understood that the out-of-control 【Labyrinth Candle】 could actually help Xia De.

"What mystery lock?"

As she asked, she saw snowflakes drifting down in an arc before her eyes.

"Snow?"

The two ladies looked up in surprise, discovering that a part of the sky above them was no longer the terrifying blood-red sunset, but a snowy night sky with a silver moon hanging in it.

The deep night sky and the blood-red sunset were spliced together; the distorted scene made them instinctively feel uncomfortable. Looking down at their surroundings again, behind the three of them were snow-covered streets in the long night, while in front of them were spliced ruins in the blood-red setting sun.

"A mystery lock, so that incident was..."

But even with the combined power of the 【Labyrinth Candle】, the 【Inquisitor's Holy Bell】, and the 【Ancient Witch's Golden Necklace】, the mystery lock still could not fully unfold and could only temporarily suppress the final power of the Words of Sublimation. Instead, Xia De, whose power far exceeded that of a First-Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, already felt as if his whole body was about to be torn apart by the surging spirit and elements.

The firelight of the burning labyrinth candle supported the mystery lock—The Little Match Girl—to appear on such a scale, but it would burn out completely in about thirty seconds. But that was enough; under the huge silver moon of the snowy night, Xia De finally understood where the hope for victory lay.

Behind him, Miss Miss Beiya was somewhat dazed, countless memories from the past flooding her mind at this moment. Almost instinctively, she reached out and placed her hand on Xia De's shoulder, her golden power giving him aid.

This was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. Feeling the power in the blood-colored greatsword about to fall, Xia De suddenly looked up at the night sky above, the silver moon hanging high reflected in his eyes.

At this moment, the dream scene of standing on a ridge and looking up at the silver moon seemed to overlap completely with the present. Very naturally, his right hand grabbed at the air, and his eyes looked forward.

The tall monster held the blood-colored greatsword with both hands, its power accumulated to the peak, and finally slashed forward. This would be the final power of the Words of Sublimation.

"Balance!"

Miss Miss Beiya's voice sounded just right in his ears, and the golden fluctuations touched everyone present:

"Detective, it's up to you this time."

Snowflakes drifted down from the side of his face, and the figure of the little girl carrying a basket flashed past Xia De. He had once wanted to save the innocent, and now, he was still doing the same thing:

"This time, I will save you all as well."

Feeling the enhancement the mystery lock brought to his body, with the silver moon reflected in his pupils, his right hand was glowing.

Miss Miss Beiya and Miss Anat both felt the sharpness of that silver light, and even the monster holding the sword felt suspicious of the ultimate light appearing in Xia De's palm.

After a brief moment, Xia De's right hand pulled a pure silver sword hilt flashing with dazzling luster from the air.

Shining, brilliant, and holy—the two ladies behind him couldn't find a more suitable adjective to describe it. It was as if it were a holy sword used by an ancient hero in a fairy tale, or an artifact bestowed by a god upon a mortal to slay demons.

The silver moon hung high overhead; the leaf, the holy bell, the necklace, the mystery lock, and balance—the enhancement of five powers allowed Xia De to temporarily break free from the shackles of a First-Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi.

The blood-colored greatsword before him had already slashed down. A moment of palpitation made Xia De think of many things.

The sharp temperament of the Thirteenth-Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi "Greatsword of Sunlight," the greatsword before him that seemed to destroy everything, the huge silver moon he looked up at while standing on the ridge in his dream, the moon disk shining on him in the snowy night at this moment, and... her laughter.

Closing his eyes:

"Smile."

Her laughter appeared right against his ear, still as gentle as ever, as if she were embracing him from behind.

Following his inner feelings, Xia De constructed a brand-new miracle. Tonight's long adventure would end here; everything was finally coming to an end.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the blood-red light that was about to split his skull in the next second. His voice was low and steady, but to the two ladies behind him, it seemed as if the Xia De before them had turned into a great mountain.

That sword was finally pulled completely out of the air by him:

"Moonlight Greatsword!"

At the intersection of the blood-red sunset and the snowy night, silver light met the descending blood-red light.