Chapter 554

Chapter 76 Gray Scale 1

…Dead?

The moment that thought flashed through my mind, a flash of red light appeared, and the half-beast colossal body buried in the pit suddenly vanished, reappearing dozens of meters away in the darkness as if by teleportation, hovering in mid-air. The flames spread along the protruding vertebrae, engulfing the still expanding body, burning fiercely.

The dim sky was instantly turned blood-red, and amidst the surging flames, the crimson hair grew rapidly, the grotesque deer head regenerated, and the wounds on its body healed in an instant. The broken arm was also recovering. The red flames dispersed the swirling black smoke, and the man called Clown transformed back into a terrifying monster, with a wave of scorching air coming towards me.

…Not dead yet.

I stood in place, looking up at the scene, pouting my lips, blinking my eyes: “You’re quite troublesome.”

“I told you, I’m good at escaping.”

A hoarse and strange voice drifted out, carrying a casual teasing tone, sounding confident, but there was a slight tremor in the voice. Although the trembling wasn’t obvious, the monster was trying hard to hide it, but I could still tell right away.

“Is that so?”

I couldn’t help but smile.

It seemed that the chaotic power of the abyss had already invaded his body, and Clown must be suffering greatly. Although his injuries were healing at an astonishing rate, which wasn’t obvious from the surface, resisting the dead smoke wasn’t so easy. He should be in great pain, with the power of the infernal fire quickly dissipating; he was just holding on…

Huh, kind of fun.

Thinking this, I didn’t rush to launch another attack. I threw the blood bead up and caught it again, jumping out of the deep pit, surrounded by the pitch-black dead smoke, and started walking towards the monster. I walked slowly, leaving a black footprint with each step, with wisps of black smoke rising from the footprints. The abyssal mud slowly spread outward from the footprints.

As I walked, I casually shouted to the monster in a negotiating tone: “Hey, Clown, are you still conscious? Tell me what this thing is, okay? I’ll return it to you.”

“Sure.”

The monster’s response was also casual.

He seemed distracted, his huge deer head looking around, perhaps searching for something or confirming the direction to escape next. I couldn’t help but laugh, my blood-red eyes curving into crescents: “Don’t bother, you’re my food. Once I set my sights on you, you can’t run away anymore~”

Feeling excited, I spat out a mouthful of blood and lightly sniffed the air, fidgeting with the bead in my hand, smelling the fishy-sweet aroma emanating from it, making my finger twitch with hunger.

“Tell me, tell me! What exactly is this thing used for? I’m very hungry now, but I can eat you later~”

I shouted again, wanting to eat the bead in my hand first, but I didn’t know how to start. The bead was too big, and my mouth was too small to fit it in…

This could be considered a divine relic, right? Unlike ordinary creatures, it doesn’t have a soul-like white light to fill one’s stomach. The chaotic power doesn’t seem to affect it much… It’s hard to erode…

Before, Nero’s relic, that ring, I swallowed it directly. How do I eat this one?

I tried biting it with my teeth and found that it was indeed unbreakable, as hard as a stinky stone, round and difficult to bite into. Feeling displeased, I frowned.

The floating monster in front of me was silent for a moment, then suddenly lifted its large head and said: “Those people ran far away. Listen to their shouts, they fear you.”

The monster’s tone sounded quite happy.

Behind me, the panicked shouts were gradually fading away. Of course, I could hear those voices—”demon,” “abyss,” “terrible monster”—mostly these words. The surviving townspeople had all fled. They weren’t afraid of just Clown, but…

Let them run then, anyway, they don’t taste good.

And all that chattering, chattering, chattering—annoying enough to drive one mad—Clown.

Why not continue killing them? It would be better to just kill them all.

This thought flashed through my mind and was quickly discarded. I didn’t want to bother with those voices, nor did I have the interest to look back and confirm. Their lives or deaths had nothing to do with me. Whatever happened was fine; it wasn’t important. Those silly clowns couldn’t divert the topic and waste my time eating…

Gulping—

My stomach growled again.

How exactly should I eat this blood bead?

I wiped away the saliva, furrowing my brows in impatience, and urged, “Are you going to take this broken bead or not?”

“Hahaha—”

The monster laughed wildly, his voice excited, “Miss Silviga, you no longer care about them? What will you do, they all saw you like this.”

“So what?”

I stopped more than ten meters from the monster, pointing at the bead and lifting my head, my impatience reaching its limit. “What is this thing?”

“Will you return the Goddess’s Tear if I tell you?”

“Yes, I don’t need it.” I lied to the monster.

Actually, I was just curious.

Before I figured out how to eat it, I wanted to know what kind of magic it held that made both the Gate of Truth and the Church fight over it, costing so many lives… and those children from Cataroma… They… uh…

I thought of their withered faces, thin and small bodies, brutally beheaded and bled to produce this bead…

“Mmm…”

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a sharp headache and couldn’t help but rub my temples.

…What am I doing…

Olivia and the others were still fighting that woman outside the town. If I delayed any longer, they too would die… I must quickly kill the clown and hurry back… Why should I go back… I… I can’t eat this bead… It’s made from the children’s blood… I have to destroy it… I have to…

Whoosh—

A golden light came from behind, the resplendent holy spear whistling through the air, suddenly passing by the side and shooting towards the floating monster in the sky.

It’s a miracle…

At the moment the wind whistled, the sharp holy spear shot toward the clown, but he merely flipped sideways. His massive body swung rapidly, like a nimble fish in water, easily dodging the attack. The light grazed his fur and soared into the night sky. Next, both the monster and I turned our heads simultaneously, looking behind us where the golden light came from.

In front of us was the long-burned and collapsed church ruins.

On the remains of the walls, crimson fire was still burning, albeit sparsely. Blackened wooden beams crumbled, and most of the walls had melted into red liquid, flowing down the slope along the original stone path. An old man in a robe with a faint light shield emerged from the ruins, his left hand hanging unnaturally, right hand pressing against his chest, his face and body covered with burn marks, looking extremely weak, barely breathing.

“Old man, you’re not dead,” the monster said, somewhat surprised, “after being hit by such hellfire, you’re still alive… an old skeleton like you, hard to believe, you’re quite something.”

The old man staggered forward, almost all his white beard and hair burned off, half of his face blackened and charred, nearly unrecognizable. I couldn’t identify who he was, but after firing that shot, he ignored the monster and instead glared at me with bloodshot eyes, tightly watching me: “You… are… cough, cough…”

As he spoke, blood kept coming out of his mouth. He seemed incredulous, “Miss Silviga…”

Hmm?

Does this old guy know me?

The headache seemed to ease a lot. Looking at the staggering old man, almost unable to stand, I raised my eyebrows: “Who are you?”

“Silviga… You actually… you are… why do you have… the power of the abyss…”