Chapter 497: 【Hundred Aspects Refined into Divine Armament】

Unfortunately, Odin did not know that Li Zeweimu had already been beaten to his knees, and would never have the chance to speak again.

Glancing at the tense-faced Norse gods below, Li Ang said to Scathach, "Please, Lord Scathach, help me look after Orpheus for a moment. As for that bunch down there—"

"Just don't let them enter Niflheim."

Hearing this, Scathach gave a slight nod, then took the black-haired girl's small hand.

Having previously looked after Matou Sakura, she was far better at watching children than the vast majority of the Pseudo-Servants present.

After temporarily entrusting Orpheus to Scathach, Li Ang stepped into 【Huang Quan of Hira】 and vanished.

Seeing her Master leave, Scathach glanced at the black-haired girl beside her, then somehow produced a deluxe ice cream with her free left hand and handed it to her.

The Queen had no idea that Orpheus's true age wasn't actually small—it was only because her mind was so simple that she seemed like a child.

Moreover, this body of the black-haired girl could change at any time; in the original work, for instance, she had once transformed into a tall, imposing older-sister type.

Looking at the ice cream spread with fruit juice before her, Orpheus tilted her head, then let go with one hand to take the ice cream and began eating it in small bites.

Seeing this, a faint smile appeared on Scathach's face.

She had originally expected this child to resist contact like little Sakura, but unexpectedly she was very easy to deal with.

Seeing that Orpheus had already become absorbed in the delicious ice cream, Scathach turned her gaze toward the Norse gods.

She gradually let the smile fade from her face, and said in a voice devoid of any emotion: "Since you have already pledged loyalty to me, my first order is that none of you are permitted to enter Niflheim."

"If anyone enters without permission—"

"Heh."

Hearing that laugh, the Norse gods were instantly seized by a chill of dread.

They subconsciously swallowed, then lowered their heads, not daring to say another word.

But Niflheim was already a godforsaken place to begin with, and it had always been under Hela's jurisdiction, so even if they felt aggrieved, it wasn't their turn to feel aggrieved.

Watching the gods below acting as if it had nothing to do with them, Hela was on the verge of tears.

Although she didn't know what that person just now wanted to do, her intuition told her it probably wasn't anything good.

……

Elsewhere.

Li Ang slowly emerged from 【Huang Quan of Hira】.

The world was a vast expanse of white, and the cold wind cut at faces until they ached.

Li Ang simply stood on the lifeless earth and began flipping through the 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】 in his mind.

Since obtaining this technique from Izer, he had already reviewed it many times and thought about how exactly to optimize it.

The key point of this technique was refining a living organism into a tattoo, and then inscribing it onto one's body.

During this process, a small portion of the target's consciousness would be preserved.

This situation naturally had its pros and cons—the benefit was greater flexibility when using the ability, while the drawback was the possibility of backlash at any time.

Manfred had indeed wanted to solve this problem, but unfortunately, even by the time of his failure, he had never come up with a perfect solution.

More critically, because the biological tattoo retained a trace of self, it was very difficult for the bearer to achieve unity at the consciousness level.

Of course, he hadn't done nothing either—the spider tattoo called 【Spawnweaver】 was the answer he had given.

One had to admit Manfred was indeed a genius, coming up with the "fight poison with poison" approach, but unfortunately he ultimately ran into Li Ang.

Under the effect of 【Theurgy: Infinity】, the system he had so carefully constructed collapsed like a row of dominoes in an instant, with no possibility of recovery.

To prevent this from happening, Li Ang naturally couldn't copy 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】 wholesale; what he intended to do was merely borrow the alchemical techniques within it.

After a brief moment of thought, he began setting up a temporary alchemy workshop with the cooperation of his homunculus maids.

Soon, a massive palace constructed entirely of metal stood tall upon this frozen earth.

With Li Ang's current strength, replicating what Old Tang had done back then was effortless, and his efficiency was even higher.

Then, after confirming there were no idle bystanders in Niflheim, he took out 【Boosted Gear】.

Since this was his first attempt, he naturally couldn't use 【Twilight Spear】, which housed the will of the God of the Bible, so he could only put the Red Dragon Emperor through his paces.

Ignoring the other's unbearably noisy voice, an alchemical matrix instantly unfurled in Li Ang's hand and enveloped the gauntlet.

"Eh?! Buddy?!"

Having received unprecedented special treatment, the Red Dragon Emperor's way of addressing Li Ang had already changed from "kid" to "buddy."

Unfortunately, it was neither a tall, imposing older-sister type nor a flat-chested brat, so Li Ang wouldn't care about its feelings.

Just kidding—he wouldn't care about the first two either.

At this moment, as small alchemical matrices began to appear on the surface of the crimson gauntlet, Li Ang's left hand was seized by a faint pain.

But just then, a sudden sound of shattering rang out.

Bang—!

The massive alchemical matrix dissolved into golden fragments and vanished into the air, and at the same time a few small wounds appeared on Li Ang's left hand.

However, the next moment, these wounds vanished under the effect of 【Reverse Birth: Three Layers】.

Li Ang looked at the crimson gauntlet still trembling in his hand and couldn't help but frown slightly.

The failure was not unexpected—after all, this was still his first time using 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】.

At this moment, the Red Dragon Emperor's listless voice came from within the gauntlet: "Next time you do something like this, could you give me a heads-up first—"

Although he didn't know what had happened, this Heavenly Dragon was still a little scared—god knew what it had just been through.

Li Ang paid no heed to its complaints, and silently thought to himself:

'The rejection is small; it should work.'

Without overthinking, another alchemical matrix identical to the previous one lit up in his hand.

Three minutes later—failure.

Failure, failure, failure.

One failure after another forced Li Ang to stop what he was doing. His reasoning should have been correct—【Divine Abolishing Arms】 could absolutely serve as the base material for 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】.

At this point the Scarlet Dragon Emperor had been tormented to the point he could no longer speak; he only wanted this generation's wielder to spare him, and was willing to unconditionally cooperate with any Pawn or Forbidden Move.

Just then, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Li Ang's mind—he understood why he had kept failing.

In the end, although 【Divine Abolishing Arms】 could be counted as a biological weapon, it was ultimately not a true lifeform, so it clearly could not perfectly fit 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】, which had been created on that very premise.

And solving this was simple: combine it with the alchemical art 【Concept Armament】.

Thinking this, an alchemical matrix slightly different from the previous one instantly materialized in Li Ang's hands.

Upon close inspection, one could see this alchemical matrix was formed by nesting two smaller alchemical matrices together.

Sensing the familiar fluctuation coming from outside, the Scarlet Dragon Emperor closed his eyes with a look that said life held no further meaning.

Only, the expected pain did not arrive; instead, he felt his soul beginning to grow lighter.

Before the Scarlet Dragon Emperor could react, a burst of light suddenly erupted before his eyes.

The next moment, a tattoo resembling a gauntlet appeared on Li Ang's left hand.

【Successfully secondary-developed an alchemical art. Professional experience +45323】.

'Success.'

As the thought rose in his mind, a crimson gauntlet suddenly enveloped Li Ang's left hand, and immediately after, an illusory red dragon appeared behind him.

The Scarlet Dragon Emperor stared blankly at his own slightly blurred form, momentarily unable to grasp what had happened.

He... was free?

Just as the Scarlet Dragon Emperor was thinking this, a command abruptly appeared in his mind.

【Roll over.】

"."

One of the Two Heavenly Dragons, Tangtang, just rolled around on the ground once.

Li Ang looked at the scene before him, and an expression of extreme satisfaction inevitably appeared on his face.

Compared to the original 【Hundred Aspects Refinement】, his newly developed 【Hundred Aspects Refinement: Divine Armament】 could be said to have completely solved the pain point of alchemists being affected by biological tattoos—the reason being, naturally, that there was still a layer of 【Divine Abolishing Arms】 in between.

And compared to the original 【Divine Abolishing Arms】, 【Hundred Aspects Refinement: Divine Armament】 not only retained every ability, it could even call out the soul residing within the weapon to assist, drastically boosting combat power.

Clenching his fist slightly to feel the tremendous power within, Li Ang stored away 【Cage Gauntlet of the Scarlet Dragon Emperor】, then peeled this tattoo off his left hand.

The only problem he currently needed to solve was that his body could not bear too many tattoos; fortunately, he had long since had a solution for this.

'It is also time to rebuild 【Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Hi】.'

With this thought, Li Ang gently exhaled, then walked out of the temporary alchemy workshop.

……

Meanwhile, the Sixth layer of the realm.

A handsome man with twelve golden wings saw the information displayed in the system before him, and could not help but knit his brow tightly: "【Cage Gauntlet of the Scarlet Dragon Emperor】... has vanished?"

The 【System】 was a legacy left to them by the Lord, generally used to answer the prayers of believers, automatically counterattack heretics, and lock onto the wielder of Divine Abolishing Arms.

However, after the Lord departed, the 【System】 ceased to operate.

In the end, it was the handsome man who gathered the power of most of the angels in the realm to restart the 【System】, though its functions had declined drastically, and bugs would sometimes even appear.

Precisely because of this, the 【System】 had become extremely difficult when locking onto this generation's wielder of Divine Abolishing Arms, and could only barely reveal the other's existence.

Naturally, this included 【Cage Gauntlet of the Scarlet Dragon Emperor】.

But just now, this powerful Divine Abolishing Arms had suddenly lost its signal, and never reappeared.

After a brief consideration, the handsome man prepared to inform his companions of this matter.

However, before he could summon the other three Seraphim, a twelve-winged angel with a stunning figure took the initiative to come here: "Lord Michael, the Lord God of Mount Sumeru has contacted us."

Hearing this, Michael immediately swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue: "You go first, Gabriel."

Although somewhat puzzled by her companion's attitude, Gabriel did not pay it much mind, and instead said with some panic: "That Infinite Dragon God has been taken away by an unknown existence, who calls himself her brother."

"And according to Indra's judgment, the other party is likely also a Dragon God."

Hearing these words, a question mark slowly popped up above Michael's head.

"... Dragon God!?"