The Invincible Full-Moon System - Chapter 1642: The Faceless Reaper

Chapter 1642: The Faceless Reaper

Rick drew a sharp breath.

He didn’t know when it happened, but he could feel the poison hitting him like lightning.

It was sharp, merciless, and immediate.

Inside, his pulse thundered once, twice, then every nerve seemed to ignite at once before collapsing into numbness. Rick’s hands were halted—above his head, stiffening like stone, while the Faceless Reaper was moving faster and faster.

Slash!

Rick blinked his eyes, then his pupils narrowed.

A single second in battle could spell the difference between life and death.

Despite the poison reeling inside him, infecting every part of his body, this wasn’t his first time dealing with a situation like this. Knowing that he needed to react quickly, he circulated his life energy to at the very least, delay the effect.

But he underestimated the poison.

Ruthlessly, the Faceless Reaper’s sharp arm clawed his chest.

Its slash crashed against the protective sheen of Rick’s armor, halted with a screech of steel on steel.

For a heartbeat, Rick was thrown into confusion—blood splattered across his vision, yet now he saw the scythe-arms hadn’t pierced the armor. Then the question struck him dead: If not from the slash, where was the blood coming from?

Strapped on the Faceless Reaper’s waist, there were numerous crimson pouches.

Rick noticed that the blood came from there.

It was only then that he realized the pouches were the Faceless Reaper’s Soul Artifact.

And the blood was an extension of its power.

Regaining control of his body, Rick swung his sword downward—but the Faceless Reaper was faster.

In an instant, the blood arcing through the air coalesced into several crimson beads, each one drawn to its scythe-arms. Once they fused together in a grotesque shimmer, the scythe-arms blades sharpened to an even deadlier edge.

Unlike earlier, the blades cut through the armor as Rick was hurled away, rolling across the ground.

He knocked away multiple soldiers and monsters that were on his path before slamming into the wall.

Crash!

Rick spat blood to the side and raised his gaze as he climbed to his feet.

Each movement was now a struggle as exerting himself earlier caused the poison to spread faster, and now he was more sluggish and weaker. “Tch! It should be a mere Voidal Knight—how did this creature have a comparable strength to a Special Voidal Knight?”

“Sir Rick, are you alright?!” A soldier came to his aid—concern could be heard in his voice.

Rick waved his hand.

He was not alright, but he couldn’t possibly tell that to the soldiers.

It was still early, and he couldn’t afford to show any sign of weakness and disrupt the soldier’s morale.

Looking over to where Rick came from—the soldier frowned at the sight of the Faceless Reaper amidst the horde, standing like a statue, towering over the others. Even then, he gripped his battle axe, ready to attack this abomination.

“Don’t,” Rick grabbed his shoulder. “It’s not something you could handle. It’s abnormal.”

Just as the soldier was about to answer, the Faceless Reaper disappeared from its spot.

Both blinked, and the creature disappeared.

“Where is it?!” The soldier looked left and right frantically. “How did it disappear like that?!”

Rick was also frowning as he, too, couldn’t understand how it disappeared.

Other than both of them being on the same level of power, the Faceless Reaper stood out too much to simply vanish—its towering height alone made it impossible to miss. And even if it somehow managed to slip away, finding it again should have been all too easy.

But there was no sign of it anywhere.

“Hmm?”

A tug in his gut pulled Rick to look down, and his eyes locked on a small marble rolling towards them.

It stopped right before them and glistened with a red sheen.

“Watch out!!”

Shingg!

Rick seized the soldier by the collar of his armor and vaulted upward with speed, narrowly escaping as the small crimson marble, one he instantly recognized as the Faceless Reaper’s blood bead, detonated into a storm of razor-edged blades.

Just from the glowing tip of these, being stabbed by them would be nothing but bad news.

From above, Rick’s gaze swept the battlefield in a desperate search.

But the Faceless Reaper was still nowhere to be found.

No trace of its aura lingered, not even the faintest whisper of its presence.

Rick, however, did notice that the Black Rift’s dark smoke was creeping closer, spilling across the land.

It was slow, but it wouldn’t take long until it reached the wall.

’If it’s already this strong outside of the Black Rift, outside of its natural space…’ Rick’s chest tightened, his thoughts edged with dread as he acknowledged the fact. ’Then I don’t want to know what it’s really capable of inside. I have to finish this now before it’s too late.’

At that moment, his and the soldier’s eyes widened when they sensed something behind them.

Still mid-air, the two glanced over their shoulders and sucked in a cold breath.

As they feared, the Faceless Reaper was already right behind them.

Even though it had no lips to smirk at them, the creature tilted its head as it raised its blade arm.

It was almost as if it was questioning whether these two really believed they could fight against it.

Rick tried to raise his sword to block even though he knew that he was going to be too late, while the soldier twisted his body around instinctively, but he was even slower, as the scythe arm was already upon them.

Crash!

Before the scythe arm reached them, a thunderous crash resounded.

Debris flew, forcing them to raise their arms to shield themselves.

Though the expected slash never came, Rick reacted on instinct.

He detonated a surge of life energy from his hand, blasting himself and the soldier back before landing in a controlled arc. Dust swirled thick around the wall—where they were earlier, but as it cleared, both he and the soldier sucked in a cold breath.

Surprisingly, they saw that the Faceless Reaper was planted into the wall.

Its body was pinned in place by a figure whose hand was clamped firmly around its face.

Rex stood on the golden halo and pressed the Faceless Reaper harder, deeper into the enchanted wall, almost as if he was trying to bury the creature in it. He came right on time, tackling the Faceless Reaper as it was about to land a devastating blow on Rick and the soldier.

Naturally, the wrathful monster tried to stab Rex with its scythe-arms in retaliation.

But Rex easily shoved the scythe-arms away.

He slipped past the sweep of the scythe arm and clenched his fist.

Ruthlessly, he drove it upward in a crushing blow that smashed into the monster’s jaw.

Crash!

Rex kept going.

Blow after blow hammered into the Faceless Reaper, each strike deepening the crater and widening the cracks across the wall. Realizing the structure itself was beginning to give way, that he was decimating the monster at the expense of the wall, he seized the Faceless Reaper by the face again—and hurled it down toward the ground with brutal force.

It slammed onto the earth like a comet, quaking the ground around it.

All that happened under the watch of Rick and the soldier.

“Are you guys alright?”

His voice snapped Rick and the soldier out of their dazes, realizing that he had landed beside them.

Saluting instantly, the soldier thundered, “I’m more than alright, Sir! Thank you for saving my life!”

“Go and help the others.” Rick nudged his chin, gesturing for him to go.

Even though the area around them was contained, the other areas were being overrun by voidal monsters.

The Faceless Reaper was neutralized, but the situation was still dire.

Once the soldier rushed away to help his comrade, Rick walked towards Rex and stood by him.

“I’m poisoned.” He whispered.

Rex’s brows dropped down into a frown as he knew that if Haxel was prepared for this mission, then the Faceless Reaper wasn’t the only thing for this attempt. As it turned out, Rick was poisoned, and that was a big problem.

Despite his unnatural strength, he needed help to make sure the mission went smoothly.

“Can you still fight?” He asked, worried.

“Yes,” Rick nodded, pivoting towards the horde again. “But I can’t deal with anything that strong.”

It was quite a surprise to hear Rick say that.

Considering that the first knight he encountered was Gallick, someone who was incredibly prideful and confident in himself, he had assumed all knights carried themselves the same way. Yet, hearing Rick admit he couldn’t stand against anything near the Faceless Reaper’s power because of the poison inside him revealed a humility and integrity that spoke of true nobility.

No pride, only the silent acknowledgment that his fighting prowess was impaired.

I can handle the Faceless Reaper, but it’s going to be hard right now.

Rex could feel exhaustion taking a toll on his regeneration.

Even though he was abnormally strong, saving three bubbles consecutively was too much.

He couldn’t fight as freely as before.

He has to be careful.

Being wounded too much would spell his doom, especially when he still has to reserve some energy to fight Haxel in case he was going the desperate route later on. But can I even kill that thing while playing defense and stay in my Human form?

Ahead, the Faceless Reaper climbed to its feet and instantly fixed on Rex.

It has no facial features, but Rex could feel the bloodlust and anger radiating from the monster.

Rex contemplated telling Rick the truth about this monster and Haxel.

As the leader of the knights for this mission, Rick was both reasonable and perceptive, which is how he decided to make the first move to inspire the soldiers earlier. So, he should already have harbored suspicions about Haxel, especially now that he was poisoned.

But telling it to him could still backfire.

Rex decided that he’d keep it to himself for now, not wanting to take the risk at this moment.

“Get ready,” Rex muttered, noticing the elevating dark purple aura of the Faceless Reaper, a sign that it was preparing to attack. “I’m going to be the one to face it head-on; you stay on the side and help me. Both of us combined, I’m sure we can take it out.”

“That’s a plan I’m not against.” Rick nodded, placing his sword before him.

Rumble!!

The Faceless Reaper threw back its head as if it was about to roar, but no sound came, only the sudden surge of power that shook the ground. It burst from its body in a violent wave, pushing any monsters or soldiers around it.

Dust shot into the air, and for a heartbeat, even Rex and Rick felt the weight of its fury.

<Notice: the Faceless Reaper is using its Spirit Genesis and Echo!>

Seeing the notification, Rex anchored himself in preparation.

All pouches at the Faceless Reaper’s waist split open, and beads spilled forth like a crimson storm. The blood that already painted the battlefield shivered, pulled as though by invisible stings, before rushing into the pouches.

The beads swelled, pulsed, and multiplied—each one a condensed shard of slaughter.

Rex’s jaw tightened, and Rick’s expression darkened.

Both could feel the incoming catastrophe.

Above, the soldiers unleashed hell.

Arrows whistled down like rain, cannons thundered, steel and fire hurtled toward the beast. But none found their mark. A translucent barrier shimmered into being around the Faceless Reaper—deflecting every shot as if the projectiles struck solid stone.

And then, the horror unfolded.

Each blood bead lifted into the air, drawn to the creature’s sides. Dozens at first, then scores more, until the air around it seemed alive with orbiting spheres of red. They descended in unison, splattering against the earth, and from the blood, shapes rose.

Monstrous shapes.

One after another, they took form: pale, jagged, faceless—each crowned with those merciless scythe-arms. The stench of iron thickened, choking the lungs. Rick’s grip on his sword tightened as the clones finished materializing, not illusions, not shadows—but perfect phantoms.

Nearly a hundred of them.

All breathing.

All reeking of the same murderous aura.

All indistinguishable from the original.

Beneath their presence, the battlefield seemed to shrink.

Silence fell as Rex looked at the line of a hundred Faceless Reapers drawing in the same breath.

“Phantoms?” He smirked. “You’re in for a bad matchup.”