Lord of Prayer - Chapter 290 201: Torment (2)

‘The Saw Murder Association is that infamous, huh…’ Zhou Chen grumbled internally.

“I… I recently obtained a Cursed Artifact. It gave me great Power, but it’s like a parasite, constantly draining my Life Force. I’m only twenty-two this year, but I’ve ended up looking like this…”

‘Twenty-two?’

Zhou Chen sized up the old man in the patient gown, who looked to be eighty-two. The side effects of this Cursed Object were truly terrifying.

“Only by offering it a blood-food tribute every month can I save my own life. Part of the tribute’s Life Force is then fed back to me. So, as long as I provide the Cursed Object with more blood-food, I can gradually return to my original appearance…”

“So, this Nightmare provided the perfect hunting ground for you. It locked you in here with a group of ordinary people, like walking into an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Zhou Chen sneered. “Your strength seems decent enough, or you wouldn’t have dared to make a move on me.”

The old man in the patient gown didn’t answer, only gasping in pain. “Just give me a quick death.”

“We’re not done yet. What’s with the coughing sound? And how can you turn invisible?”

“The coughing is a Skill from the Cursed Artifact. It can drain the Life Force of its targets from a distance. The Invisibility is my Extraordinary Ability,” the old man answered truthfully, not wanting to suffer that inhuman torture again.

Zhou Chen nodded. ‘So that’s it. This guy thought he was strong enough to take me on—an Ascender’s Life Force is on a completely different level from an ordinary person’s.’

He pondered for a moment, then waved his hand, extinguishing the Soul-Burning Flame that had been raging in the old man’s Spiritual World. “Alright, you can go.”

The old man in the patient gown looked utterly shocked, unable to believe his ears.

‘I… I can go?’

‘Right, that’s right. This guy’s a member of the Saw Murder Association, so he’s no saint either. We’re the same kind of people, both evil Ascenders. Maybe it’s a sort of camaraderie between villains… But I attacked him, and he’s just letting me go?’

Seeing that Zhou Chen had even dispelled his handgun and showed no intention of attacking, the old man in the patient gown, though utterly baffled, didn’t dare to linger. Regardless, this was a rare opportunity. Having just walked the line between life and death, all he wanted now was to survive.

Afraid that Zhou Chen would change his mind, the old man ignored the gunshot wounds in his legs, forced himself to his feet through the searing pain, and staggered away. He glanced back once and saw that Zhou Chen was already gone. Only then did he finally relax, the shadow of death that had loomed over his heart gradually fading.

‘It’s good to be alive, it’s good to be alive…’

Just then, from a distance, Zhou Chen watched as ten Stars materialized in his Wish Bottle, a smile playing on his lips.

‘The will to live in the face of death is truly powerful…’

He mused, then detonated the Cyan Flame lingering in the old man’s Spiritual World.

BOOM!

The world went black for the old man. His mind, already ravaged to the brink of collapse, was utterly incinerated by the eruption of the Spiritual Fire. His body fell stiffly, like an empty shell devoid of a Soul.

Only then did Zhou Chen walk over to loot the body. In the jacket pocket, he found an old hospital ID tag. The writing on it was faded, and it was suffused with a venomous, cursed aura, faintly tinged with black. This was clearly the Cursed Object.

Zhou Chen had no interest in a Cursed Artifact with such extreme side effects. Selling it would only bring harm to others, so he simply used Destruction of All Things to obliterate it completely.

Then, he fell into thought as he looked at the old man’s corpse.

This guy’s Extraordinary Ability was Invisibility, and a highly effective version of it at that. Even he hadn’t been able to detect him.

The old man’s mind and Soul had been completely annihilated, but his corpse still contained a considerable amount of Extraordinary Essence…

To be honest, Zhou Chen coveted this Invisibility Skill. It would be top-notch for escaping, infiltration, or even peeping.

After a moment of deliberation, he decided to give it a try. He ignited the corpse with his Furnace Fire to extract the residual Extraordinary Essence. Next came Purification—colloquially known as sterilizing and disinfecting—to return the Essence to a pure, uncontaminated state. After that, he began the extraction, refining the core Extraordinary characteristic from within the Essence…

The entire process took only a few seconds. Soon, all that remained in Zhou Chen’s hand was a transparent mass of Essence enveloped in Furnace Fire, containing the characteristic of the “Invisibility” Ability.

According to the procedure, the next step was to either fuse the Essence with an item or directly forge the Essence into an Extraordinary Artifact. This, as it happened, was the most difficult part.

Now was obviously not the right time for Forging, so Zhou Chen transferred the “Invisibility Essence” to the Round Table Hall, sealed it in a container, and planned to process it later when the time was right.

With that done, he returned to the battlefield, a storm of bullets and blades. The ground was piled high with the corpses of Skinless and Soul Eaters, forming rivers of blood, yet more monsters continued to emerge.

Further in the distance, the rumbling grew more intense. Buildings collapsed amidst the ruins as the battle between Nidhogg and the Illusion Dream Flower reached a fever pitch.

The three-minute duration of the Fear Clone was also about to end.

“Zhou Chen, there’s no end to these monsters! We need a plan, fast!” Li Xiye shouted.

“As long as those humans are feeding the Nightmare with their Fear, we’ll never be able to kill all these monsters unless we deal with the source,” Angela explained. As a Cursed Artifact capable of Entering the Dream to kill, she was quite knowledgeable about the Rules of the Spirit Realm.

“Then let’s not waste any more time on these monsters.”

As he spoke, Zhou Chen walked to the ruins where the crowd was hiding. A metallic light shone from his palm, gradually outlining a complex Alchemy Matrix. The Matrix fell into the ruined room, flared with light, and spread out into a Barrier that enveloped everyone inside.

Although his skill with the Matrix wasn’t particularly strong, the Nightmare’s Power had already been significantly weakened. The Nightmare Monsters wouldn’t be able to break through the Matrix Barrier in a short amount of time.

“You’ll be safe hiding in here. Don’t go anywhere, unless you run into an Ascender from the Star Association.”

After giving these simple instructions, Zhou Chen signaled for Li Xiye, Doggo, and Angela to leave. The group hurried toward the battlefield of Nidhogg and the Illusion Dream Flower.

During their journey, the Fear Clone dissipated, and Nidhogg’s Power weakened abruptly. Fortunately, Zhou Chen quickly used Emotional Outburst to fuel the Nightmare again.

BOOM!

Nidhogg sent the massive Illusion Dream Flower flying with one swipe of its claw. The giant, budding flower crushed several ruined houses as it fell. Its petals were covered in burns, claw marks, and bite marks. A few petals had been violently torn off. Its overall aura had weakened significantly, affecting the entire Nightmare.

Nidhogg was in bad shape as well. Its dragon wings were tattered, its body was drenched in blood, and its chest and abdomen were riddled with bloody holes so deep the bone was visible.

Both sides had entered a state of exhaustion.

Zhou Chen leaped nimbly across the tops of the ruins, his Body Technique agile. Cyan electric arcs flickered around him. Boosted by “Aspiration of the Blue Clouds,” his speed far surpassed what it was before.

He arrived near the Illusion Dream Flower and took a deep breath. His gaze turned as stern and cold as iron, his fighting spirit soaring. The cyan lightning around his body flared violently, and pale white flames, interspersed with fine cyan arcs of electricity, wreathed his fists.

Charging… charging… charging…

Essence surged wildly. The searing Soul-Burning Flame gathered on his clenched fists, the immense power poised to strike, like an active volcano on the verge of eruption.

Li Xiye copied him, clenching her fists and charging her own power. Cyan electric arcs and pale white tongues of flame intertwined as she felt an unprecedented Power gathering in her hands.

Through the Soul Link of the Contract Ring, the two of them were of one mind.

The instant their stored Energy reached its critical point, they simultaneously activated Flame Jump and vanished. Reappearing to the left and right of the Illusion Dream Flower, they threw their punches.

The immense, tyrannical Essence roared. Pale white waves of fire, like a gushing torrent mixed with twisting cyan lightning, erupted forth. The two attacks slammed solidly into the Illusion Dream Flower, causing the giant flower to let out a resounding, ravaged shriek as the entire Nightmare shook violently.

“ROAR!”

Nidhogg seized the opportunity to spew out black Chaos Dragon Flame, burning a large hole in the Illusion Dream Flower’s body.

The Illusion Dream Flower collapsed into the ruins, looking utterly wretched. It was as if it had been through a massive forest fire. Its body had three searing holes of varying sizes, and its petals were charred black and withered, emitting black smoke.

Its petals trembled lightly. It struggled for a moment, then went still.