Chapter 1022: Killing Companions

The mermaid looked over the king and declared: “Descendant of the God of Life, I am a servant under Her Grace, the Tide Caller”

“If you want me to serve you, show me your proof”

The king raised his hand: 「 The ring of descendant is in my hand, surely you can see it 」

He was showing the golden ring on his finger.

The mermaid’s gaze focused on the ring and nodded:

“Sure enough, it is the God of Life’s ring, that is indeed true, please hand it over”

The king took the ring off, then suddenly recalled something and shook his head: 「 I don’t remember such a step from my unsealed memory 」

He continued: 「 Now, please take us all—– 」

A black flash of light.

The trident pierced through the king’s body and pinned him closely on the ground.

Coughing up blood, the king cried out in desperation: 「 No! 」

The souls in his body had all been taken away by Ye Fei Li, so he only had one last life.

The mermaid displayed a cold expression and declared: “Hand over the ring, exchange it for your life”

Right after she declared so.

A gust of wind emerged.

Her head was severed and blown away by the wind.

The mermaid had a shocked expression on her face but was swiftly diced into pieces by another sword that had been waiting in the air.

“What’s the matter?” Gu Qing Shan walked up to the king and asked.

The black trident seemed to have some sort of mystical power, after stabbing the king for just a few seconds, his face had already sunken in so much that he looked almost like a skull.

The king seemed to have realized something.

He put the golden ring up to Gu Qing Shan’s face and said: 「 Help me pass it to—— 」

Clink clank!

The golden ring fell to the ground.

Before he could finish his words, the king was already dead.

Before anyone could even react to what just happened, the ruler of Calming Soul Country meaninglessly lost his life.

Gu Qing Shan waved his hand to take the golden ring into his hand and told everyone: “Prepare for battle”

“Hm? Didn’t you already kill that mermaid?” Zhang Ying Hao asked in confusion.

“No, it’s not dead” Ye Fei Li appeared to be listening as he continued: “I can’t hear any souls”

The group looked towards the water fountain.

Only to find the headless body swiping the void of space and taking out a small crimson shield.

The shield had a single vertical pupil that stared straight at the group.

A set of skin-colored armor filled with vertical pupils then slowly manifested on the headless body.

『 Fresh food… you’ve disturbed my slumber…』

A frigid voice resounded from the headless body.

Laura shrunk behind Gu Qing Shan and nervously said: “Gu Qing Shan, that thing is causing me to feel numb to my core”

Gu Qing Shan asked in return: “Boss, do you know what’s going on here?”

“This is a kind of spirit within the space vortex, an Occultism entity that cannot be defended against—— it has the ability of parasitism. It can burrow inside the body of any creature, then transforms that body into a weapon and defensive equipment through consuming the entirety of that creature’s flesh and soul!” Boss hurriedly explained.

“Why didn’t you say that sooner!” Zhang Ying Hao shouted.

——-can’t be defended against, leeching the body of any creature, then consume their flesh and soul

How can anyone fight against that?

Its enemy wouldn’t be able to do anything but wait for their death!

“I’ve only ever heard of it before; this is the first time I’ve ever seen it!” Boss answered.

Gu Qing Shan quickly asked: “Does its ability have any limits? Or is it simply a parasite that can leech any creature just by thinking about it?”

Boss replied: “I don’t know either!”

Everyone’s heart sank.

Gu Qing Shan abruptly grabbed the Earth sword from the void of space and swung it towards the black trident.

The Earth sword’s ability——- [Sanctuary] was instantly activated, combined with Gu Qing Shan’s full-power strike.

Kih!

An intense ring resounded throughout the surroundings.

The black trident turned into a black streak of lightning that ripped through the void of space and vanished.

『 Despicable! My Divine Armament! 』

A frigid and vicious cursing sound emerged from the headless mermaid body.

Originally, the black trident would have gotten extremely powerful from absorbing the king’s soul and power.

But now, it had been sent flying into oblivion.

Gu Qing Shan shrugged: “I’m sorry, but I felt like it would be best to prevent you from being able to completely overpower us if there’s going to be any hope of achieving an agreement”

『 Agreement? 』

The voice paused briefly, then chuckled:

『 You misunderstand, there will be no agreement, and I don’t want to waste any words on any of you 』

『 You are nothing but my food 』

Gu Qing Shan was surprised.

An enemy who wasn’t even willing to talk was quite rare.

The headless mermaid raised its vertical pupil shield and howled: 『 Even without my trident, I can still massacre you without any efforts! 』

Countless black shadows abruptly poured out from the shield that went into everyone’s bodies like a sudden lightning strike.

Zhang Ying Hao, Ye Fei Li, Laura, Boss, and even the black cat all froze.

They quickly lost all signs of life and collapsed on the ground.

Only Gu Qing Shan remained.

The frigid voice resounded again: 『 You sent my weapon flying, that is a Divine Armament I spent countless years to craft 』

“And you killed my companions”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan showed no emotion on his face.

Holding the Earth sword tightly in hand, he slowed his breathing down and carefully recalled the attack he used to kill the mythical [Chaos] creature.

Everyone else was already dead, he was left alone.

And he could feel the shadow of death over him.

Over his long years of fighting, this would turn out to be the most dangerous battle yet.

The monster slowly and mockingly spoke: 『 Coming here as a team, the difference in your strengths must be not that great 』

『 To make sure that you suffer the greatest degree of pain and torture, I shall have your companions band together and kill you 』

Black strings appeared from the vertical pupil shield and attached to the corpses of Zhang Ying Hao’s group.

Zhang Ying Hao, Ye Fei Li, Laura, and Boss stood up.

They were all staring blankly at Gu Qing Shan.

“Die, Gu Qing Shan” Zhang Ying Hao muttered.

“We shall kill you together” Ye Fei Li called out.

“Do not resist, we’ve been your trustworthy companions for so long, after all” Laura said.

“You won’t be able to win against the four of us” Boss declared.

They all headed towards Gu Qing Shan.

A chilling cold chuckled resounded from the shield:

『 Come, struggle against your companions, die in your despair, this is the end that I’ve arranged for you! 』

A second later.

Gu Qing Shan let go of the Earth sword and grabbed the Chao Yin sword from the void of space.

The sword swung forward.

Secret Art, [Life Seeker]!

Secret Art, [Crescent Slash]!

Both Secret Arts were performed at once, a crescent-shaped sword phantom flashed into existence for a split second and vanished.

His four companions collapsed at once.

——-before they even got close, their limbs had already been completely severed by the multitudes of light blue sword phantoms that manifested from thin air.

The voice from the vertical pupil shield turned frigid again:

『 To kill your allies without a single bit of hesitation, what an iron will you have 』

Gu Qing Shan’s expression remained emotionless.

He mused briefly before speaking: “And you still haven’t killed me… it seems you’ve made two miscalculations”

Gu Qing Shan’s eyes faced the vertical pupil head-on and continued:

“First of all, my companions are actually quite weak, I’m the only one that actually knows how to fight”

“Secondly, I’m sure that you didn’t hold back just to torture me”

While saying so, he raised his finger that was wearing the golden ring for the other side to see.

The monster spoke: 『 This is the first time I’ve ran into an insect that is as arrogant as you are. I will have you understand that death isn’t the end, but merely the beginning 』

Gu Qing Shan chuckled, then lightly stated: “You only attacked the king after he took off his ring”

He paused and glanced over the other party.

The monster didn’t say a single word.

Gu Qing Shan continued: “It seems that you received quite a bit of recoil when you devoured the Tide Caller, then became trapped here by the oath of the servant of Deity”

Hearing that, the monster abruptly shouted in response, clearly angered:

『 Within this infinite void, nothing can restrain me! 』

Gu Qing Shan let go of the Chao Yin sword and let it hover in midair, continuing:

“Is that so? But you only demanded that the king remove his ring in the beginning, it wasn’t until afterwards that you attacked and threatened him to exchange for his life with the ring”

“The ring is a crucial part of the God of Life’s oath, and you seem to be affected by that oath”

While speaking, Gu Qing Shan continued to stay on guard.

However, aside from taking control of his companions to attack him, the monster hadn’t tried to directly harm him yet.

Gu Qing Shan’s tense heart slowly relaxed.

——-seems like my guess was correct.

After devouring the Tide Caller, for some reason, they took over an oath for the Tide Caller.

Since I’m wearing the ring, it couldn’t attack me.

What a dangerous situation that was——-

I was literally a split second away from death.

Gu Qing Shan sighed and stared closely at the shield:

“So, you clearly understand what the ring is and what it does. And here I thought you were a straightforward monster, who knew you’d be so full of lies?”

The vertical pupil on the shield stared straight at him, then abruptly questioned: 『 Why is it that when I took control of your companions and forced them to kill you, not only did you kill them so easily without hesitation, but you could still also keep this insignificant matter in mind? 』

“Insignificant? What do you mean?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

『 The ring 』the monster replied.

“Ah, so that was what you mean. Simply put, there’s no such thing as an insignificant detail in a battle”

Gu Qing Shan slowly replied.