Lord of Prayer - Chapter 106 - 91: A Sniper Rifle Opens Your Mind, a Shotgun Opens Your Heart

Chapter 106: Chapter 91: A Sniper Rifle Opens Your Mind, a Shotgun Opens Your Heart

What can happen in fifteen seconds?

In fifteen seconds, a normal person’s heart will beat fifteen times, pumping one thousand milliliters of blood throughout their body.

In fifteen seconds, a cheetah can sprint five hundred meters across the plains, and a hummingbird can flap its wings a thousand times.

In fifteen seconds, five hundred trees are felled in the rainforest, and two hundred forty million tons of water evaporate from the planet’s surface.

In fifteen seconds, sixty human babies are born across the globe, and thirty people die.

In fifteen seconds, four hundred fifty stars explode in the cosmos.

And Zhou Chen had to use every means at his disposal to stall the Gentleman for those brief yet eternal fifteen seconds.

He felt that with his current abilities, stalling the injured Gentleman for fifteen seconds shouldn’t be too difficult. But the Gentleman had a clear objective: capture Li Xiaoxiao and find out the whereabouts of “that thing” from her. Everything else could be put aside; he might not waste any time on Zhou Chen.

And that was exactly the case. Faced with Zhou Chen’s provocation, the Gentleman showed no anger, only a deep curiosity about where Zhou Chen’s confidence came from. However, this curiosity wasn’t enough to make him act, as he had a more important goal.

The Gentleman’s arm moved slightly, and the tip of his magical Magic Wand was about to touch the ground.

BANG!

The roar of a gunshot echoed as a flash of light erupted. A freshly-formed heavy-caliber bullet shot out from Zhou Chen’s palm, striking the Magic Wand with perfect accuracy.

The bullet failed to cause any real damage to the wand, not even leaving a scratch. But its immense impact knocked it aside, preventing it from touching the ground. If the Gentleman hadn’t been gripping it so tightly, the entire wand might have been sent flying from his hand.

Of all the martial arts, this was Modern Martial Arts fused with Alchemy—the Bullet-Pushing Palm!

Every time the Magic Wand activated an Ability, its tip had to touch an object. Zhou Chen guessed this was the condition for using this Forbidden Object. In other words, as long as he prevented the tip of the wand from touching anything, the Gentleman couldn’t use the Great Transformation of Living People Teleportation Skill or his other abilities.

After knocking the Magic Wand aside with a Bullet-Pushing Palm and catching the Gentleman off guard, Zhou Chen quickly put on Forbidden Object C-027: Blindfolded Sunglasses. He enhanced his other four senses fivefold and simultaneously made a wish in his heart.

’I wish to have my vision restored!’

And so, light tore through the darkness and returned to his field of view.

Just like that, the negative side effect of Forbidden Object C-027: Blindfolded Sunglasses was nullified.

The Gentleman’s abilities were of the highly stealthy Shadow Type. Wearing the C-027 Blindfolded Sunglasses in front of him, effectively blinding oneself, was practically suicide. But if one could regain vision while the other four senses were enhanced fivefold, the situation changed entirely.

With his vision restored, the objects he saw now had rich details like shape, light, shadow, and color. When interwoven with his other four senses, the “three-dimensional image” in his mind became even more real and detailed, allowing him to guard against the Gentleman’s elusive abilities.

Zhou Chen contracted his perception range to ten meters; otherwise, the amount of information would be too much for his brain to handle. Within this range, however, nothing could escape his senses.

In an instant, his body was covered in tattered Alloy Armor as he charged the Gentleman. A sharp Long Saber shot out from his right palm, a white flame flashing along its edge before erupting into a roaring blaze.

Three steps away, he swung the saber without hesitation.

The muscles all over his body contracted in unison, focusing his explosive power into a single point—a perfectly honed vertical slash aimed at the head!

It all happened in a flash. A piercing screech tore through the air as the blade descended, forcing the Gentleman to raise his wand like a longsword and meet the strike head-on.

CLANG!

Zhou Chen felt like he had struck a stone fortress. The force of the impact vibrated through the steel of his blade. He turned his saber sideways and slid it down the wand, but just as it was about to touch the Gentleman’s fingers, the Gentleman flicked his wrist. The wand deftly parried the blade and thrust its tip forward.

It shot out like a venomous snake, piercing the air with the ferocity of a Western Knight’s lance.

Bolstered by his five-fold senses, Zhou Chen leaned back sharply to dodge. Cyan Flame erupted from his palm as he grabbed the Magic Wand and yanked hard, trying to wrench it from the Gentleman’s grasp.

It didn’t budge.

’I wish to contain this Forbidden Object!’ he yelled in his mind.

Still no effect. He didn’t know if he lacked enough “wish value” or if the Forbidden Object had already been contained.

Instead, the wand reacted by erupting with brilliant lightning. Arcs of electricity crackled against his Battle Armor, leaving behind scorched black marks and numbing his hand, forcing him to let go.

The Gentleman pulled his wand back and assumed the stance of a Fencing Master. His arm vibrated at high speed, unleashing a flurry of thrusts that rained down like a sudden storm.

As a former elite Operator of the Star Association, the Gentleman’s combat skills were honed to perfection. Against a rookie apprentice like Zhou Chen, he gained the upper hand within seven or eight moves.

But the Gentleman was surprised. ’He can last seven or eight moves?’ He decisively sped up his assault, his movements creating a shriek of tearing air and kicking up a fierce wind.

Zhou Chen scrambled to dodge the wand’s thrusts. Just then, a spark of light ignited on his chest. It began to swell violently, as if it were boiling.

BOOM!

Along with the explosion, a powerful torrent of incandescent Fiery Fire surged forth, unleashing its full power in a blinding flash of light. This was an attack he had prepared by pouring in all his Extraordinary Essence.

“Eat my Demon-piercing Light Killing Cannon!”

The Gentleman was well aware of the power of this strange flame—it could inflict spiritual damage. He had no intention of taking it head-on. But just as he tried to use Shadow Shifting to move into Zhou Chen’s shadow, he froze for a moment in disbelief.

’I can’t get through…’

That single moment of hesitation was all it took for the Gentleman to be swallowed by the tsunami of incandescent light.

This was all because of the second wish Zhou Chen had made.

’—I wish that my shadow cannot be invaded by any outside power.’

Previously, when fighting the Shadow Demon Wolf, Zhou Chen had noticed it loved to move behind its enemies to launch surprise attacks. After watching the Gentleman fight Li Xiaoxiao and the Ghost Wolf, he was even more certain that the Shadow Demon Wolf’s habits were related to the Gentleman’s—they both liked to attack from their enemy’s shadow.

It was, indeed, a highly effective method of ambush—unpredictable and nearly impossible to defend against.

So, Zhou Chen had been on his guard and made a small prediction. He deduced that the moment the Gentleman saw the cannon blast, he would try to move into his shadow for a sneak attack, which is why Zhou Chen had made the wish in advance.

Sure enough, he had clearly sensed the Gentleman’s momentary stiffness when his Ability failed to activate. So, he hurriedly made a third wish.

’—I wish for the damage this cannon blast deals to Corrupters to be super-multiplied!’

As for how much it would be multiplied, that was a matter of metaphysics, but it definitely wouldn’t be pleasant for the Gentleman.

At that moment, the light on the entire floor dimmed. The Gentleman was sent flying by the vast, surging cannon of fiery light. It was like snow meeting the blazing sun, or ice on a hot stove; his spirit sizzled, the burning causing him unbearable agony.

The flames of vengeance burned ferociously!

The external Essence Conversion Device on Zhou Chen’s back hummed at maximum power. His depleted Extraordinary Essence was replenished, and his “mana bar” was instantly full.

Ten seconds.

He had stalled for ten seconds so far.

Zhou Chen reached out. The armor on his arm stretched out as if he had eaten the Gum-Gum Fruit, while the Battle Armor on other parts of his body rapidly contracted to compensate for the extended length of his alloy arm.

The next second, the alloy arm grabbed the Gentleman, who was still flying backward, and quickly retracted. The Alloy Armor gradually covered Zhou Chen’s body once more.

Pulling the Gentleman in front of him, Zhou Chen’s armor transformed into a Long Saber. Amidst the rising flames, he thrust it toward his opponent without hesitation.

But he felt no solid impact.

The Gentleman’s form had become dark and ethereal. He had entered a Phantom State and escaped from his grasp.

But just like the Shadow Demon Wolf, their Phantom State could grant them a degree of immunity to physical attacks, but not to a special Spiritual Attack like the Cyan Flame.

As if a bucket of fuel had been thrown on it, the already raging Spiritual Fire flared up once more. The Gentleman screamed, losing all his elegant composure. He staggered and fell, rolling in agony amidst the dust and rubble, clawing viciously at his face and leaving behind ghastly bloody scratches.

’The effect is this good…’ Zhou Chen knew the cannon blast alone couldn’t have been this powerful; it had only gained such terrifying destructive force after being enhanced by his wish.

He was about to move forward and try to snatch the Magic Wand from the Gentleman’s hands when, to his surprise, the Gentleman pulled a Silver Knife from his pocket and unhesitatingly slit his own throat.

’What the hell?’ Zhou Chen was stunned, flabbergasted. ’Did the boss just kill himself halfway through the fight?’

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The Gentleman’s corpse began to shrink rapidly, turning into a tattered cloth doll that looked just like him. The doll was even holding a tiny wand. After revealing its true form, it quickly burned to ashes.

“A substitute doll to cheat death?”

Zhou Chen recognized what it was, but where was the Gentleman?

His senses flared, and he whipped his head around to look at a dark corner beneath the distant ruins.

The Gentleman emerged from the shadows. He appeared completely unharmed, his clothes not even torn, but his face was as pale as paper, utterly devoid of color.

“You have angered me,” the Gentleman said, his expression grim. “You will know fear, constant fear. I will come for my revenge at any time.”

’Damn, this isn’t a second stage, it’s a second life!’

Zhou Chen cursed inwardly. The good news, however, was that his teammates had arrived.

The bad news was that he was too far from the Gentleman to stall him effectively. The man only needed to tap his wand lightly to use Great Transformation of Living People and disapp—

Before he could even finish the thought, a heavy-caliber Alchemy Bullet moving at Rapid Speed appeared in his perception.

BANG!

The Alchemy Bullet struck the Gentleman’s head with perfect accuracy. It was so fast that even the Gentleman didn’t have time to react.

By the time he did react and tried to enter his Phantom State, it was too late. Half of his head exploded like a watermelon, and a viscous mixture of red and white matter splattered everywhere.

One kilometer away from the manor, aboard a helicopter that had just found the perfect angle.

Smoke rose from a sniper rifle that gleamed with a cold, metallic luster. Yang, still holding his sniping position, let out a cheerful whistle. “Bullseye!”

As an ace sniper with the “Wind Manipulation” Ability, his control and Sensing of the wind had reached a new level after advancing to Tier Two. Forget one kilometer; he could guarantee a hundred hits out of a hundred shots with no misses within a five-kilometer range.

Even if obstacles were in the way, he could imbue his bullets with Essence and activate it at the critical moment to change their trajectory, creating a bizarre technique similar to the “Gun Fighting Skill.”

If he wanted, he could even make a bullet trace a Cartesian curve through the air.

Yang watched the scene through his scope, gloating a little.

“Well now, that’s a lot of brains.

They say a sniper rifle opens people’s minds and a shotgun helps them open their hearts. There’s really some truth to that, you know? It’s just… I don’t think I’ll be in the mood for watermelon for the next couple of days.”

But just then, he cried out in utter shock and disbelief, “Huh???!!!”

It wasn’t just Yang; Zhou Chen, who was on the scene, was also dumbfounded.

Corrupters have incredible Life Force, so the Gentleman was still stubbornly alive even after having his head blown open.

Zhou Chen and the others rushed forward, ready to finish him off while he was down.

But then, the unexpected happened. A strange man suddenly appeared as if by Instant Movement. Before everyone’s eyes, his full head of black hair turned white, and his face became covered in wrinkles and age spots, as if he had aged several decades in an instant.

Immediately after, the strange man grabbed the Gentleman’s shoulder, and the two of them vanished into thin air.

From start to finish, the entire event took only 0.73 seconds.

“What just happened?” Zhou Chen was dazed and bewildered. ’Who was that strange man? Why did he suddenly age several decades?’