Chapter 55
As blood splattered all over, the younger-looking Negary tossed the severed head of the Knight of Divine Grace into the air, through the fog created by the Smoker Grass into the flock of crows above.
〖 One 〗Negary declared joyfully. For him, the two fighters who didn’t have any intention of fighting he killed earlier didn’t count.
When his previous head exploded, what it scattered were acute germs. Once infected, a person would feel sick almost immediately, symptoms being dizziness, sluggish limbs, sudden shortness of breath and various others.
However, Myerson had the Grace of Protection so those germs were blocked out by the white barrier around him, while Chris managed to avoid them thanks to his heightened senses when using [Respiratory Art].
Several arrows quickly came flying, but Negary lightly swatted them away with his arm. The outer ‘shell’ that he just shed turned into a black liquid that quickly moved and attached itself onto the body of the headless Knight of Divine Grace.
Soon enough, a black headless knight stood back up and charged towards Myerson.
Myerson was completely shocked and couldn’t do anything but defend himself against the corpse of his previous comrade.
This was another corpse manipulation skill he created, a different and more advanced form of what he did to make the dead speak for him.
A human body naturally contained many reflexes and instinctive movements, and if they practiced something frequently enough, it would form muscle memory.
Negary manipulated the germs to cover the Knight of Divine Grace’s body and use their feelers to pierce through his corpse, constantly mimicking muscle stimulations to make the body move according to muscle memory.
The headless knight that was fighting against Myerson was using the same swordsmanship taught in the Divine Grace’s knight school, causing Myerson to feel as if he was fighting against his comrade, thus unable to fight with his full strength.
“You are desecrating the body of the dead! Negary, you truly are a devil that needs to be eradicated!” Augustin furiously shouted.
〖 What ‘desecrating the dead’, it’s nothing but some boring spices, but if it can make you humans exert even more of your potential, then even boring things have their value 〗Negary spoke with an excited tone: 〖 Give me everything you’ve got, humans. Otherwise, more of you shall die as time passes 〗
〖 Come, come, come! Let this battle be a bit more interesting! 〗Negary’s figure swiftly charged towards Chris, the germs in the air were constantly funneling towards Negary to make his figure grow and expand.
There are completely no openings within his rhythm!
Chris gritted his teeth. A normal person’s rhythm usually followed their own natural patterns, which would include their own weaknesses, Chris’ Rhythm Punch took advantage of the weaknesses within that rhythm to attack.
For example, if a person’s dominant hand was their right hand, in an unexpected situation, they would subconsciously use their right hand, which made the areas where their right hand can’t reach the weakness within their rhythm. Rhythm Punch took advantage of that to only attack such awkward positions.
But despite Chris having closely observed Negary’s rhythm, he couldn’t find the weakness within his rhythm at all. Regardless of where he attacked, Negary would still be able to easily deflect it.
〖 Not enough, not enough, not nearly enough! 〗Negary’s hand pierced straight toward Chris. As he was about to parry it, Chris noticed in shock that Negary’s fingers had begun to shrink, the tip of his finger was now pulled back to where the middle part was.
With an almost intelligible noise, his five fingertips detached from his hand, each flying at high speed with razor-sharp nails on top of them. Chris barely managed to avoid them by tilting this head, but his expression suddenly became warped.
Immediately behind where Chris stood, the metal-mask man who was about to fire his arrow fell backwards. On the forehead portion of his mask, a boney black finger was sticking out with blood dripping down from it. This father’s wrath still wasn’t able to save his sons to the very end, he couldn’t even save himself.
Jason breathed heavily as he rolled on top of the bones on the ground, some of his silver-white hair was still fluttering down from above, if he hadn’t been maintaining vigilance, he would’ve had his head pierced through as well.
“Are you ok?” the other remaining archer, who was also a masked fighter who volunteered to join them in Reya, approached Jason and offered a hand to help him stand up.
Jason was about to accept his help, but suddenly felt a sense of danger. The masked fighter abruptly smiled cruelly, drew his short sword and thrust it straight at Jason’s stomach.
“My Lord had all of us learn temperance, forbid all acts of evil!” Augustin’s voice resounded, some sort of power had acted on the masked fighter and made it so that his short sword couldn’t move any further.
Jason then reacted, grabbed the hand of the masked fighter, pulled him down and used the momentum to stand back up, kicked the masked fighter’s stomach and threw him over his shoulder straight into the pile of bones below.
The masked fighter immediately coughed up blood. Jason was renowned because of his cruel methods, so with those two exchanges just now, the masked fighter was already close to death, his skin gradually turned black, then melted away into black liquid, revealing him to be the Crowmen Garnan.
〖 Useless to the very end, I had hoped he would be able to at least achieve something 〗Negary spoke with an unchanged expression on his face as his fingertips gradually grew back.
〖 If the Grace of Temperance could restrict an enemy’s movement, why haven’t you tried it on me? 〗Negary shifted his body, moved away from Chris and approached Luen Donner.
Luen hurriedly retreated, if it was possible, he really wanted to use the Grace of Temperance on Negary, but the Grace of Temperance could only restrict actions that carried ill-will, and there was a layer of something around Negary’s body that completely blocked out his will.
As Negary reached his hand out towards Luen, he felt a crushing sense of death clutching his throat, greatly hindering his breathing. He was the eldest son of the Donner family, having received an elite education since birth, he joined the Church of Divine Grace, relied on his own efforts and achievements to become Cardinal Augustin’s disciple, solidifying his position as a future high-ranking member of the Church.
He still didn’t want to die, he still wanted to become a high-ranking member of the Church, or perhaps even the Pope. He wanted the Church to grow and develop even more under his guidance, spreading the teachings of his Lord far and wide. Even with his hopes and grand vision, when he faced Negary, he felt his entire body stiffen from fear, unable to move even a finger.
Negary had already devoured the Soul Essence of too many humans to count, so whenever he concentrated his attention on a single person, they would feel the immense pressure of Negary’s will. Luen was an excellent man and a genius in his own right, but he was still too young.
“My Lord’s greatness spreads all over the lands, granting the Courage to face all opposition!” Augustin once again used another Grace, the Grace of Courage. This power could be used to reinforce other people and allow them to resist mental-type powers.
Luen finally regained his senses and quickly moved away, Chris also managed to catch up, took a deep breath and used Silent Punch to attack Negary.
On the other side, as Myerson saw how badly the situation was becoming, he muttered ‘sorry’ under his breath and raised his sword. The glow of the Grace of Justice became bright as he sliced the headless knight’s body part.
Seeing his comrade’s disfigured, tattered body, a sense of guilt panged Myerson’s mind. Suppressing this guilt, he charged towards Negary again, but his fighting spirit was clearly dwindling.