The Invincible Full-Moon System - Chapter 1682: Reveal of the Trap
Chapter 1682: Reveal of the Trap
A monarchy is the representation of a Voidal Monarch’s might.
It’s the clearest and most practical method to determine how strong a Voidal Monarch was.
Upon settling on a particular spot and going through the Monarchy Conquest—a monarchy will finally be formed, which was the sign of the Voidal Monarch’s establishment within the Black Rift. And from that point on, the Voidal Monarch would be cultivating the monarchy to grow stronger.
Of course, since there are two Voidal Monarchs within the empire’s territory, they need regulations.
As such, the Spirit Emperor had already formed Hollowed Pillars surrounding each monarchy.
An important and powerful structure, which was closer to being an artifact than an actual structure, originated from the distant past. Only a few knew where these Hollowed Pillars came from, but almost everyone knew that they were there to suppress monarchies.
Each one was empowered by multiple Obelisks of Life.
It radiated superheated air that was resistant to the Black Rift and also acted as a repellent for the ever-expanding monarchies. However, there are only a few Hollowed Pillars remaining. And to preserve the remaining ones, the monarchies weren’t fully surrounded on all sides.
Naturally, this gave the monarchies a path to expand into that unprotected direction.
So, seeing that the Shattered Bones Monarchy was reluctant to expand forward was an odd sight.
No Hollowed Pillars in sight, so it should be able to expand.
It didn’t—not that it became docile, but because something caused the monarchy to recoil back in fear.
Something was preventing it from expanding.
And now, Rex realized what was causing this kind of reaction from the Shattered Bones Monarchy.
Immortal Slugs.
Upon that realization, Prince Edward’s voice crept into Rex’s mind.
’Immortal Slugs are immortal. Nothing can kill it, not even the emperor himself.’
’But what made it really scary wasn’t its immortality, but its corruption and inability to feel pain.’
’It latched onto anything that neared it. And anyone who got touched for too long would be corrupted and pulled into a world of pain, until eventually, it devoured you.’
’You won’t die. You will stay alive inside it for eternity.’
Recalling what Prince Edward said, Rex’s heart skipped a beat as being caught by the Immortal Slugs is way worse than dying. If multiple nobles fell into its grasp—Empress Morgana’s name wouldn’t only plummet, but she would even be punished.
Death is a lot better than being caught by the Immortal Slugs.
Rex’s leg muscles bulged as he leaned forward to dash straight at where the nobles were ahead.
His heart was pounding inside as he fixated his gaze on the Immortal Slugs’ stat panel.
At that moment, he realized that he had no time to reach the nobles.
Instinctively, his lungs expanded as he sucked in a deep breath to warn them one more time.
“IMMORTAL SLUGS!!”
Despite the Black Rift surrounding them, shrouding and muffling everything like the vacuum of space, Princess Davina instinctively looked over her shoulder. Her eyes flickered as she heard a distant scream, but she couldn’t make out what it was saying.
“It sounded like Rex’s voice…” She mumbled as unease crept into her heart.
Even though she didn’t know what Rex was saying, the simple fact that he was screaming said a lot.
Swish!
Princess Davina felt an unnatural shiver when she brushed past a crack on the ground.
She turned to look at the crack—and realized that it stretched far to either side, even beyond the Seeker Flare than she was in right now. And though it was fleeting, she vaguely caught sight of something that was residing in that crack.
“What is that?” She frowned.
But then, Esmeravon’s thunderous chirp echoed throughout the sky.
Princess Davina looked up at the sound before her expression turned pale in shock.
“IMMORTAL SLU—!”
Boom!
Before she could warn the others about the Immortal Slugs, the thin crack from earlier exploded.
It exploded the moment it was right at the heart of the Seeker Flare, directly beneath the serpent’s center body. The earth trembled violently as the thin horizontal crack split open and spread outward, catching not only the nobles but also the serpent and White Mask.
None of them had time to react as the blast hurled up a storm of dust, expanding in all directions.
It clouded their vision in a choking blur.
Princess Davina steadied herself quickly, stifling a few coughs behind the crook of her arm—as she shielded her mouth and nose from the dust. Her gaze swept the surroundings, sharp despite the haze, and to her relief, she found the others shaken but unharmed.
But at the same time, her eyes stopped at the crack that was now big enough to swallow multiple people.
Ink-black ooze seeped from this widening crack, not in sluggish drips but in a steady, molten crawl, like magma forced up from the earth. However, the way it moved was anything but lifeless; slender, clawlike tendrils writhed upward, groping at the air as though testing, searching, hungering for something to hold onto.
Her eyes raced along the stretch of the fissure, and to her horror, every inch of it bled the same thing.
Every inch of the fissure has had ink-black ooze coming out of it.
At that moment, Princess Davina realized that this wasn’t a trickle or a pond.
It wasn’t some shallow nest.
One look was enough to make her blood run cold, as this was no mere pond of Immortal Slugs.
Instead, this was a lake.
Bad luck or not, they stumbled across a lake of Immortal Slugs!
Almost instantly, without wasting a single second, power burst from Princess Davina’s body as she was the one who reacted first. Her emerald and gold eyes glowed brilliantly, while her body sparked with the emerald power of the stars.
She levitated like a war-goddess.
’I need to buy time!’
Swoosh!
In quick succession, she grabbed the edge of her ethereal cloak and swiped it forward.
Obeying her command, the ethereal cloak—her Soul Artifact—unfurled and wrapped around her like a living cocoon of light and shadow. Within its shroud, shapes began to burn themselves into existence, a ghostly map etched itself across the inner surface.
Every ridge, every fracture of the land appeared in glowing lines until the fissure’s full shape was laid bare before her. When the map was complete, Princess Davina pressed her finger against it and dragged it along both sides of the fissure, tracing its path with deliberate intensity, as though marking the wound of the world itself.
Like drawing things into reality, two shimmering emerald lines appeared across the fissure.
And from each, a column of translucent emerald wall sprouted.
However, her attention was pulled elsewhere when she felt a rush of wind coming from behind her.
Her eyes flew wide as a black, translucent sphere swelled at the heart of the fissure, its surface crawling with writhing arcs of dark lightning. ’What…?’ Her thoughts raced. ’An Immortal Slug should take at least a minute to charge its Spirit Genesis, which was called the golden minute for anyone who stumbled across it to escape. But this… it’s already complete?’
A cold realization struck her like a blade, ’Haxel… He awakened this thing ahead of time for us.’
“Damn it,” Princess Davina hissed, teeth clenched, dread surging through her chest. “We can’t escape!”
Boom!
Rex threw his arm up instinctively as a thunderous shockwave tore through the air. The force slammed against him like a wall, but he held on. Static hissed immediately after—the sharp crackle of lightning sizzled through the atmosphere.
System, nothing happened to them, right?!
<Scanning…>
<Notice: No, the nobles are still alive, but are in the process of being devoured.>
<If a noble falls, there will be a notification that will notify the user.>
Rex lowered his arm the moment the rush subsided and froze.
Both of his eyes widened.
A dome had formed ahead at the heart of the chaos, vast and colorless, its surface shimmering faintly like glass that wasn’t there. It bordered the Seeker Flare that Rex was in right now, and inside, all the auras coming from the nobles were silent.
No matter how hard Rex focused on his senses, he couldn’t sense their presence anymore.
Clearly, the dome has a suppression ability.
Above, the inverted ocean conjured by Marquess Darius to hold the White Mask’s soul vanished into nothingness as though erased from existence. Even the very bound soul of the White Mask, chained by Empress Morgana’s might, was gone.
Every power. Every ability. Every Spirit Genesis was wiped from reality.
Cancelled.
Rex’s breath hitched, fury and dread tangling in his chest—but as he looked around, he realized that he was no longer standing within the Seeker Flare. Seems like, without him realizing, the shockwave from earlier had pushed the horde and legions back, leaving him standing alone.
All of them were not that far from him, only pushed about a hundred meters back.
Following his instinct, he launched forward in a blur.
His vision tunneled, eyes bulging with urgency as he went closer to the dome to see what was happening inside. From behind, he could hear April’s and Ethan’s voices calling his name, but he ignored the shouts and kept rushing forward.
“Move closer to the dome! Support Sir Rex!” Ethan commanded thunderously.
And without hesitation, the legions did exactly as they were told.
As soon as Rex reached the dome, he pressed a hand onto its edge as he peered inside.
Finally, his eyes fell upon the nobles inside.
…
<Spirit Genesis: Desolate Zone>
Description: An Immortal Slug has the trait of immortality, but also possesses a unique body and power to adapt to anything that it touches. But in order to fully adapt and devour its prey, it needs time. This Spirit Genesis created a dome that would increase the odds of the Immortal Slug absorbing its prey.
Power: Nullify all forms of energy-based abilities.
Limitation: Becomes more susceptible to physical attacks from unlinked prey.
Neutralizer: A massive amount of life and voidal energy.
…
Rex reads the description until the very end in silence.
It was the description of the Spirit Genesis called the Desolate Zone that formed this colorless dome.
System, how come I can scan the Spirit Genesis without a backlash?
Considering the Immortal Slug was capable of ensnaring even Marquess Darius—whose power eclipsed Princess Davina, someone Rex couldn’t even begin to scan—it was shocking that he could peer into the creature’s Spirit Genesis without suffering so much as a twinge of mental strain or backlash.
<Notice: the Immortal Slug is a special Voidal Pawn that has an innate ability of adaptability. Its base power will always be that of a Voidal Pawn, weaker than the Immortal Spirit rank, but it could adapt to anyone it touches.>
Upon reading this, Rex’s lips curled into a smile.
Since the Immortal Slug has the base power of an Immortal Spirit and would only adapt to the power of anything it touched, Rex could basically scan it no matter what. It wasn’t a loophole for anyone else, but it was for Rex, who has the System.
Now that he knew exactly what the dome does, he could deal with it.
From behind, Haxel approached and stood a good distance away beside Rex.
He also peered into the dome as if he was inspecting the situation, when in reality, he wanted to see the face Rex was making right now. “Once the Immortal Slug grasps a prey, it will never let go. Not even you can save them now. All of them will die.”
“Aren’t you doing this for Empress Morgana?” Rex asked without turning to look. “What gives?”
“She can escape. She has the emperor’s life-saving trinket. But the others… they will all die.”
“Hmm, I don’t think so.”
Rex combed his sweat-slick black hair back with his hands, and as he did that, his hair began to change, fusing into his skin and becoming more lustrous than before. Slowly, the strand of hair became black fur that seemed to blend with the Black Rift.
Seeing this, Haxel was startled.
He didn’t know what Rex was doing right now.
“It’s a shame that you prepared this trap before you met me,” Rex finally looked at Haxel, his eyes glowed with a crimson, deadly hue. “I’ve told you what I am earlier… Did you forget? I’m made for this.”
