Chapter 196 - Feigning Death
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Although there were two options, [Salvation] was actually greyed out!
Red Hood explained: [Only mages, as well as creatures who received powers granted by the Holy Grail, can be granted salvation. If ordinary people die in the temple, they will turn directly into monsters! Sacrifice him now!]
The other Xuan Nation warriors also noticed that their comrade was on the brink of death. One of the soldiers closest to Zhong Zhou ran over to take a look at the tragic state he was in, but eventually gritted his teeth and continued in the fight instead.
At that point in time, the lives of everyone were at stake. Given that the death of their comrade was now unavoidable, and knowing that the silver-haired Mage had been helping them all along, they naturally did not question what he was doing with their dead comrade.
Ren Suo asked Red Hood: [Would recovery offerings not work either?]
She replied: [It would work, but he won’t be able to survive through your treatment process!]
He said: [In that case, I just need to ensure he can pull through for the time being.]
Offering [Heart-Strengthening], activate!
On the screen, Mage applied pressure on Zhong Zhou’s heart. With the life-preserving energy which was formed since 2000 years ago by the Ren family of Practitioners, Zhong Zhou’s life was prolonged.
Gradually, the black vortex beneath Zhong Zhou dissipated. After Mage continuously shot Holy Light bullets at him and finished the initial stage of the treatment, his body had been rejoined together and blood loss was reduced. At the least, he had been pulled back from death’s door.
“The effect is pretty amazing,” Ren Suo muttered to himself. He was also quite surprised, for he had actually only been experimenting.
Who would have known that the Heart-Strengthening ability would still be able to retain its effect of prolonging lives in the game?
At that moment, Ren Suo thought of something. He swapped [Unlimited Fried Chicken Set] for [Jade Pendant of the Goddess of River Luo], then returned immediately to the battlefield to continue the battle.
By that time, the Xuan Nation warriors had almost run out of ammunition. All of them were attacking the monster with their own abilities—flames of fire and crystals of ice were flying across the battlefield, and only Cheng Wenchao was able to use his Sonic Dagger to attack the monster at close range. Although his movement speed was not slow, he could barely manage to avoid being hit by the monster.
Subsequently, even though the attacks of the monster were able to injure everyone on the battlefield, the injuries were not so serious as to cause the loss of limbs or impending death. They could be healed in time by Mage’s accurately-aimed Holy Light bullets, and there was no further reduction in strength.
When the monster’s health dropped to 25%, the iron skull mask screeched yet again: [I used so much blood for you.. Why are you not drinking it?]
With that, the monster ran back to the blood pool. The viscous blood wrapped around the monster like wrapping paper, turning it into a gigantic Blood Monster! The vines on the wood were bleached in an even deeper red color, and its armor was further strengthened by the viscous blood!
[Hoo, Haa!]
Red Hood shot over to the foot of the monster in a flash and swung her Giant Flame Axe at the monster’s waist. Previously, the attack would have been able to ignite the wood on the monster’s body and deal great damage. This time, however, the attack only caused a small portion of the wood on its body to be chopped off!
The monster no longer had a weakness to fire, and all of its Defense-related attributes rose sharply! Red Hood’s attacks could no longer deal great damage to the monster, and at the same time, the monster turned around to reveal a blood-colored whip as its right hand—it was no longer just a wooden stick. The monster swung the whip as if using a broom and Red Hood, who could not dodge the attack in time, was swept into the air!
The monster’s speed also increased. Even Ren Suo, who was equipped with the Secret Records of Glorious Xuan, was unable to react in time to dodge the attack!
The difficulty of the battle instantly became much harder, and when the effect of Secret Records of Glorious Xuan on Mage wore off, the monster still had 20% of its health remaining!
Furthermore, with the change in attack method from wooden stick to whip, which had an extremely large area-of-effect, at least one person would be injured following each attack of the monster. Even if they were equipped with [Clothes], that protective layer would be shattered instantly, and at best, it greatly reduced the damage dealt to them.
If not for Mage’s Holy Light bullets, most of the Xuan Nation warriors would have bled to death!
However, even so, the remaining health of Mage and Red Hood was also decreasing gradually. The recovery rate of Mage’s mana could no longer keep up with his mana depletion rate. He had to recover some of his mana from the dead bodies of the monsters lying around at the side!
At a critical juncture of the battle, Red Hood suddenly said: [I will restrain the Evil Demon in a moment, take the chance to attack him!]
Restrain the monster? Ren Suo immediately replied: [Your attack damage is higher than mine, let me do it!]
Red Hood said: [You still have a future ahead of you, but I am about to die anyway. It would be most rewarding if I die in battle while fighting the monster! When the restraining effect wears off, I will use Breath of Fire Skin to end this nightmare!]
At that moment, Cheng Wenchao, who was already extremely exhausted from the fight, failed to dodge the monster’s attack in time. He was swept into the air by the broom-like whip, and his [Clothes] instantly shattered. He fell to the ground, groaning in agony.
The next second, the monster raised the iron skull mask in its right hand. That was its most powerful attack—even Mage had most of its health depleted upon being hit by it!
There was almost no doubt as to what would happen to Cheng Wenchao, whose [Clothes] had already been shattered previously!
However, the next moment, Mage teleported over to Cheng Wenchao and stretched out his left hand!
For the second time, Forbidden Skill, [Iron Chain Fingers], activate!
It was not only that: intense orange-red flames suddenly emerged from Mage’s body and devoured him completely! He let out a deep cry of anguish as if it radiated out from the depths of his bones!
[Breath of Fire Skin], activate!
Red Hood did not say anything, but took the opportunity at that time to attack the Evil Demon of the monastery with her Giant Flame Axe as much as possible!
After a short casting period, a gigantic Flame King rose above Mage’s head. The Flame King was even larger than the headless monster, and a massive wave of heat swept across the entire monastery!
At that juncture, another group of Xuan Nation Practitioners appeared at the entrance of the monastery. They witnessed the exchange of blows between the Flame King and the monster.
[Be dead, you parasite!]
Flame King held the restrained monster tightly. Endless flames filled the monster, baking its body and vaporizing all of its flowing blood!
With just one attack, the monster’s remaining health dropped all the way down to 3%!
Fire King dissipated immediately, but at the same time, the side effects of using the Forbidden Skills emerged—Mage was now a burnt piece of charcoal with not even an inch of skin on him. Traces of blood were still seeping out of his scabbed flesh; it was an extremely horrifying sight.
Nevertheless, Ren Suo did not have the time to pay attention to Mage’s appearance. After the restraining effect on the monster wore off after 20 seconds, it swept Mage into the air with its whip. It was only after Mage almost died as a result when Red Hood managed to chop the monster, who had barely any health remaining, to death.
The monster shrieked in anguish. Most parts of its body turned into a black mist and dissipated into the air, leaving behind only a girl wearing brown-colored clothes, kneeling on the ground.
Red Hood stood next to the girl and waited to see what Mage would do.
Red Hood said emotionlessly: [It does not matter whether you choose ‘Salvation’ or ‘Sacrifice’. As long as the mage has subdued the Evil Demon of the monastery, it will never be able to resurrect. At the same time, this evil fruit.. will also be purified.]
Ren Suo controlled Mage—who was barely left with any physical body apart from his bones—to walk towards the girl. The girl turned to look at him, and he saw her freckled face which was covered with blood.
Naturally, he did not hesitate and chose [Salvation]. He had already chosen that path anyway.
The ‘Salvation’ of the Evil Demon of the monastery was completely different from that of ordinary human-form monsters. On the screen, flashbacks of the life of the ordinary girl were shown:
[An ordinary-looking gardener girl fell in love with a handsome knight. However, she knew that she was just an ordinary girl and so, she only loved him secretly. Once, the knight returned from a war with serious injuries. He was being treated in the monastery that she was in, and the girl felt that it was an opportunity for her.]
[However, there were also many beautiful girls close to the knight, who were fighting to take care of him. The gardener girl did not have any worthy treasure to bring with her to meet the knight, so she picked the most beautiful flower she had ever grown and brought it with her.]
[Be that as it may, when she met the knight, she saw a woman, who was even more beautiful than her flower, taking care of him. Upon seeing that, she stepped on and destroyed the beautiful flower that she spent a long time growing.]
[She hated herself even more. She hated her ordinary self, her inferiority to others, and her incompetence.]
[She merely hoped to be able to give a little help to someone she secretly loved.]
[At that time, the Holy Grail appeared.]
[She gave her everything to the Holy Grail. One day, when she was taking care of her garden, she accidentally cut herself with the thorn of a tree. Her fresh blood trickled down to the soil and then, golden flowers began to bloom.]
[Indeed, what better treatment was there to patients, other than help and care?]
[Subsequently, she found instruments used for torture in the monastery and used them to squeeze out her own blood. She poured all of her thoughts of love into the blood. It seemed to her that the more blood she squeezed out, the greater her love, and the greater the love she would receive in reciprocation.]
[The huge loss of blood made the girl’s face extremely pale while staining it with blood. She did not want the person she loved to see her appearance in such a state, so she put on an iron mask and carried her bucket of blood to meet the knight.]
[When the knight saw the girl, he was so terrified of her creepy appearance and gift. The knight, who was on his bed, immediately pulled out the longsword beside him, chopped her head off, and fled through the window.]
[The girl held on to her head as she chased the fleeing knight. Now, the wounds on the girl must still be shedding tears of blood as she continues running.]
A message popped up in the game: [The Iron Virgin has been successfully granted salvation.]
As the girl on the ground turned into light and disappeared, Red Hood turned around and said: [I will be waiting for you in the next arena.] With that, she left.
Ren Suo heaved a sigh of relief after finally clearing one checkpoint.
[Lie down quickly, we will find someone to treat you!]
The Xuan Nation warriors crowded around Mage and helped him to lie down on the ground. Ren Suo was slightly amused.
At that juncture, Cheng Wenchao brought a Practitioner who had just entered the monastery over. The Practitioner crouched down to survey Mage’s injuries and said: [99% of his body has been burnt, and most of his internal organs are..]
After casting the Forbidden Skills and then being swept into the air by the monster, the final result of Mage was horrifying. Nonetheless, he had a health bar, and he would be fine after recovering to full health.
However, in the eyes of normal people, what the Practitioner said equated to death.
Zhong Zhou asked the other warriors to help him over to Mage. He looked at the almost unrecognizable Mage and could not hold back his tears. He exclaimed: [My savior, if you have last wishes, feel free to tell me, I will definitely help you to fulfill them!]
Zhong Zhou had witnessed with his own eyes how Mage saved him even though he had been cut into two. Especially since he was from the military, he definitely wanted to repay Mage’s kindness for rescuing him from death’s door.
At that point in time, the option [Leave Checkpoint] appeared on the screen, so Ren Suo let Mage reply: [It’s alright.]
Yuan Dang, Cheng Wenchao, and the rest of the warriors also said: [Mage Sire, you protected us throughout the previous battle, and even debilitated yourself to kill that monster. For that, even words cannot express our deepest gratitude towards you.]historical
[Without you, we would definitely have been killed very early by that monster.]
[Regardless, you are our savior who saved all of our lives. If you have any last wishes, we will definitely try our best to help you fulfill them!]
Ren Suo thought that it would ruin the atmosphere if he said that he could still be saved then.. A thought struck him, and he let Mage reply:
[We are mages under the world tree. From the moment we were born, we dedicated our lives to the world tree. It is our duty to eliminate disasters and save humans. I will not die, for there are many others like me who are fighting in silence. They will inherit my will, and we all have the same name: Mage..]
When Ren Suo finished his sentence, he quickly controlled Mage to leave the checkpoint. Incidentally, the way in which Mage left the checkpoint was unexpectedly like his passing—inch by inch, his body vanished into light.
Seeing the screen finally returning to the checkpoint selection page, Ren Suo could finally relax.
The boss battle was extremely exhausting for him—both mentally and physically. After saving the game and turning off the game console, he fell asleep on the couch.
While Ren Suo was still in dreamland, he heard the doorbell ring. He rubbed his eyes in his sleepiness and proceeded to open the door.
“Good morning.”
It was Dong Chengling outside the door. She handed him a thermos flask and said, “I made too much red bean soy milk today, do you want to try it? I added brown sugar, honey, and milk, so it may be slightly too sweet.”
“Oh.. thanks,” Ren Suo replied.
Since he had already been awoken, Ren Suo proceeded to brush his teeth and wash his face, then opened the thermos flask to take a sip of the soy milk.
Mmm, the texture was very smooth, and it was very sweet.
It was freshly made and it tasted delicious indeed.
Ren Suo smacked his lips as he drank the soy milk. Then, he looked down at the thermos flask.
Under the light, the dull red color of the soy milk in the thermos flask became more appealing, and his appetite grew dramatically.