Chapter 197: Third Time's the Charm
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 197: Third Time's the Charm
In an instant, Xie Bai’s figure flashed before Charon, her blade, Funeral Rites, carving through his body.
In that heartbeat, hundreds of attacks rained down, and Charon’s HP plummeted by over sixty quadrillion.
Charon was utterly blindsided by Xie Bai’s appearance.
He had been locked in a confrontation with the Imperial Guard when a strange young girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hacked at him hundreds of times without saying a word.
What was even more bizarre was that despite the various defensive treasures he had activated in advance, none of them had mitigated the damage.
Normally, this amount of damage should have been negligible to him—something he could recover from in less than a moment.
But for some reason, his vitality felt as if it were being strangled by an unseen force; there wasn't even a hint of regeneration.
Combined with the Imperial Guard on the other side, who was currently bolstered by a series of exclusive buffs, Charon realized that if he couldn't escape this place, these two might actually kill him.
"No, what the hell is this? I finally finished scouting the place, so how did I end up in a life-or-death struggle like this?"
Looking at the two ferocious figures before him, he felt a flicker of genuine fear.
Escape seemed impossible now. Under these circumstances, his only choice was to force a confrontation.
Just as Charon aimed an attack at the close-range Xie Bai, her figure vanished into thin air.
"Invisibility?"
No, it wasn't invisibility.
As the God of Theft, even if his Authority was temporarily sealed, he was intimately familiar with concealment abilities. That disappearance just now—leaving behind not even a trace of presence—was a total severance of oneself from reality.
In other words, no matter how he attacked, he wouldn't be able to hit her. He could only counter-attack at the exact moment she struck.
With his stats as a True God, reacting to her attacks should have been simple. The problem, however, was that he wasn't facing just one opponent.
The Imperial Guard, whose entire being was practically a specialized weapon against gods, was the one he dreaded most.
Swish—!
The Imperial Guard’s spear lunged at Charon in an instant.
By the time Charon parried the spear, the guard’s blade was already whistling toward his face.
Clang!
Moment of Glory was caught between two curved daggers.
Just as he prepared to counter, Xie Bai appeared beside him once more.
In that split second, Charon had to make a choice between two fronts.
"Forget it, she can't kill me instantly. I'll deal with this Imperial Guard first."
With that thought, Charon shoved Moment of Glory aside.
The Imperial Guard’s buffs prioritized offense over defense. Relying on his True God stats, Charon easily broke through the guard’s defense, preparing to take the man's head.
The next second, Xie Bai’s attack swung from behind him.
"It's just one slash, I should be able to tank it..."
To Charon’s surprise, what greeted him wasn't a blade. It was a space rift.
"A space rift?"
Charon froze.
Before he could process the situation, shadows manifested into tentacles, erupting from the rift and binding him tightly.
"Wait, shadows?"
Seeing this, Charon’s panicked heart suddenly calmed.
As the God of Theft, concealment was his specialty, and shadows were an indispensable element of that craft.
Within the shadows, not only would he suffer no negative effects, but his combat power would actually increase to a certain extent. One could say that shadows were one of his subordinate abilities.
He could use this to escape the Imperial Guard’s pursuit.
Thinking this, Charon immediately stopped struggling and allowed the shadows to drag him in.
Seeing Charon being pulled away, the Imperial Guard’s face paled.
"You bastard, don't you dare run!"
With a roar, he swung his arm and hurled Moment of Glory with all his might.
Boom—!
The palace wall was pierced by Moment of Glory, leaving a three-meter-wide crater.
The moment the Imperial Guard’s attack landed, the space rift had already closed. Xie Bai had followed Charon into the shadows.
"Dammit, he got away!"
The Imperial Guard punched the ground, lying there with a face full of frustration.
At that moment, Brandon stepped forward and said tentatively, "Um, Senior... perhaps you don't need to worry about him escaping. Those shadows just now... they were likely that girl's doing."
Hearing this, the Imperial Guard looked up in confusion.
"That girl? Who is she? Doesn't she know that shadows are the God of Theft's home turf!?"
Facing the guard’s questioning, Brandon thought back for a moment and said, "Well... I'm not sure if you've heard of the title 'Lord of Myriad Darknesses'?"
*
"Lord of Myriad Darknesses?"
Charon looked at Xie Bai’s silhouette and asked skeptically, "Since when did a 'Lord of Myriad Darknesses' who governs shadows appear?"
The moment he entered the Shadow World, he had received a warning from the realm itself.
It told him that the white-haired girl who followed him was the legendary Lord of Myriad Darknesses, that her strength was immense, and that he should flee immediately.
"But even if you can control shadows, you shouldn't be able to deal any effective damage to me, right? You should know that this place is my domain."
Charon completely ignored the Shadow World’s warning.
Faced with Charon’s sudden, mysterious confidence, Xie Bai calmly sheathed Funeral Rites.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Seeing Xie Bai’s indifferent expression, Charon suddenly felt a chill of horror.
"Could it be... you can actually use shadows to kill me?"
In response to Charon’s question, Xie Bai shook her head.
"I can't."
Charon breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew, I thought so..."
But what Xie Bai didn't tell him was that the reason she couldn't kill him with shadows was simply because she didn't have any large-scale Shadow Department damage skills yet.
By now, Charon had regained his confidence.
"However, considering you proactively pulled me into the Shadow World to help me evade that Imperial Guard, perhaps we could be friends. Since you're quite skilled at manipulating shadows, we could team up and go—"
"No."
Xie Bai interrupted him abruptly.
"Becoming friends with you to go stealing or whatever is a bit too much of a luxury. I can't grant you those three wishes. It’s much more convenient if you just die."
As she spoke, a spark of light gathered at her fingertip. She then addressed the Shadow World behind Charon.
"And you—you actually dared to offer help to someone else? It looks like I'll have to discipline you along with him."
With that, the spark of light suddenly detonated.
[Radiant World Lv.13]
In an instant, a blinding, supreme radiance blanketed the entire Shadow World.
"Wait! Isn't that Gliese’s power? No, aren't you the Lord of Myriad Darknesses? Why would you—?!"
Before he could finish, Charon’s form was completely swallowed by the light.
[-150,000 Quadrillion!]
[-225,000 Quadrillion!]
[-337,500 Quadrillion!]
[-506,250 Quadrillion!]
...
[You have slain the God of Theft, Charon Lv.246]
[Gluttony's Blessing triggered: Strength +109 Trillion, Constitution +852 Trillion, Intelligence +463 Trillion, Agility +442 Trillion]
When the light finally dissipated, Xie Bai was the only one left in the Shadow World.
Behind her remained a massive rift, still shimmering with the remnants of the light.