The Innkeeper - Chapter 2242: Change of plans

Chapter 2242: Change of plans

Daekol’s setup was not complete. More than preparing to face the human Lex, his preparations focused on the Dao Lord backing Lex. The prep involved hiding their location from tracking so that once he made his move, and the specific Dao Lord detected something amiss, they wouldn’t be able to find Lex and Daekol.

Moreover, he had to make sure that there was no interference from the Dream realm, which was expensive but not impossible. The area needed to be kept safe until his operation was complete, which may be short or long. He also needed to be sure that Lex wouldn’t be able to escape using the Midnight Inn’s famous teleportation abilities.

Thus, it was obvious that there were many things that needed sufficient preparation. Fighting, subduing and then subsequently defeating the human were actually the least of Daekol’s worries.

When he felt Lex approaching, forcing his way through the barriers Daekol had erected, he silently acknowledged that this opponent was not bad. But that was it. That was the extent of the impression he made on Daekol.

That is, until Lex appeared in his line of sight. For a while now, Daekol was altering his plan to accommodate the continuous changes he was facing. This was nothing new, he was already used to it. Plans hardly ever played out perfectly.

The gist of his current plan was to seal off this area once Lex arrived, cut him off from his system so he couldn’t use it at all. Although he hadn’t been able to get his hands on a system dormancy token of sufficient grade, his broker only able to arrange an A+ ranking dormancy token, he had gotten a Host Isolation token at the SS rank, as well as a Disable Network token.

The Host Isolation token isolated a targeted host from his system, a System dormancy token put a targeted system into dormancy, ceasing all activities, and a Disable Network token would disconnect a system from the overarching System Network. Daekol would make do with these for now.

They would be more than sufficient for the few seconds it would take him to kill the human. Even as formidable as he was, up against a peak Celestial the likes of Daekol, he could do nothing. All the Celestial Apex Lex had seen so far were nothing compared to one such as him.

That plan changed, though, when Daekol saw Lex. As a system owner, he was familiar enough with systems and their hiding methods to recognise Lex’s system was far better than Daekols. As if that was not enough, it was not even bonded to Lex’s soul!

At that moment, Daekol had an idea he could not dismiss no matter how he tried. What if, instead of absorbing Lex’s system to strengthen his own, he acquired and used two systems? After all, much like Lex, Daekol had not fused the system with his soul!

Was owning two systems possible? Ordinarily, it should not be. But Daekol was in a unique situation in that, not only was he a Sovereign, which made all systems very susceptible to his commands, but he was also exceptionally knowledgeable in how systems operated.

He had hunted down enough system users, and had studied enough systems in depth to know how to manipulate and trick them. Heck, he even knew how to alter the inner mechanisms of systems, though making any lasting change would have to wait until he became a Dao Lord.

Daekol made his decision, and acted swiftly. Since he was already ready for the arrival of the human, he was acting at a far greater speed than the human.

Lex merely arrived, noticed Almira and Damian’s clone, yet that was enough time for Daekol to seal them off. He’d even used a special tool so that Lex wouldn’t even notice that he had been cut off from the outside world until he tried to interact with it.

Daekol could see that Lex was making heavy use of karmic laws. While he may not be an expert in karma, he understood perfectly well how to use his own advantages to hide his own.

Lex moved to pick up Almira, causing a ripple in the karma of this region. Daekol imposed his will upon the universe, hiding himself within those ripples as he appeared behind Lex. He picked up the baby, all his focus on securing the child from any potential danger.

It was not quite an opening, but his defense wasn’t at its peak at that moment, so Daekol struck. As he tore a hole through Lex’s shoulder, he also activated the Host Isolation and Disable Network token, activating them within Lex’s body for maximum effectiveness.

Although humans were known to have powerful instincts, Daekol had commanded the universe not to communicate with Lex’s instincts, delaying their reaction. Heck, he even forcefully made it so that Lex didn’t even sense the attack until it was already over.

Of course, in the meantime, he’d also made sure to grab Lex’s Dragonheart, and remove it from his body! While the absence of a heart would not kill Lex, it would greatly weaken his dragon abilities, as Lex had been reported to show from time to time.

It was only after his hand erupted from Lex’s chest did the human’s senses kick in, and he realised what had happened, but by then it was too late. Daekol had not just planned for before the fight. He had even made several contingencies for the fight itself!

Without dropping the heart, Daekol aimed his left hand at the baby and fired a powerful beam that would eradicate her!

Lex finally reacted, erecting a powerful shield around her, for that was the only thing he could do in the split second – after all, everything was happening too fast!

Yet that was another mistake – at least as far as Daekol was concerned. In the moment of distraction, where Lex focused on protecting the child, Daekol’s right hand tore through Lex’s spine, right in the center of his chest. Though, admittedly, this time he felt a bit of resistence while ripping a hole in Lex’s body.