Chapter 28: Finer Than Mincemeat
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: Finer Than Mincemeat
In a familiar setting, Xie Bai saw a familiar face.
However, this familiar person really shouldn't have been in this familiar setting.
"Edward, what the hell are you doing here?"
Xie Bai wasn't in her Spirit Form at the moment.
Seeing Xie Bai suddenly appear, Edward’s brain instantly stalled.
Before he could even find his words, Xie Bai spoke first.
"Didn't I tell you to go borrow a book? How did you end up in a place like this?"
Xie Bai’s tone didn't betray much emotion, yet it sent a chill straight to the marrow of Edward’s bones.
At that moment, old memories came rushing back like a tide.
He vaguely remembered that not only had he failed to complete Xie Bai’s task...
He also seemed to have forgotten to prepare food, leaving Xie Bai to starve all by herself.
Gulp.
If it were just the first issue, there might have been room to beg for mercy.
But if it was the second... then there was no way out.
That was a capital offense.
Utterly unforgivable.
Seeing Edward break into a cold sweat, Xie Bai didn't say much more.
At this moment, all the anger she had accumulated in the Abandoned Village, along with the share meant for Edward, surged back up within her.
In the next second, a man wearing a vintage gray tailcoat appeared behind her.
If one ignored the man’s two-meter-tall, muscular frame that looked capable of killing someone with a single punch, he actually looked quite elegant.
"My Master, what are your orders?"
This man was the miniaturized avatar of Thanatos.
Even though he had tried his best to shrink down compared to his original, massive Gray Horse Knight form, he was still a towering two meters tall.
The pressure he radiated was in no way inferior to Julius.
Looking at Thanatos’s new image, Xie Bai was slightly taken weapons.
Why does he feel a bit like Julius?
After adjusting her tone, Xie Bai pointed at Edward and asked Thanatos:
"You possess the Authority of Death. Do you have a way to make sure this guy can't die?"
Thanatos hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I have not yet returned to my Demigod status, so I can only mobilize a portion of the Authority of Death."
"However, if it is merely keeping someone in a temporary state of immortality, I can manage that."
Xie Bai nodded. "Good."
Thanatos bowed. "As you command."
Upon receiving Xie Bai’s instructions, Thanatos raised his hand and pointed at Edward.
"In the name of the Death Knight, I grant you amnesty from death."
[Death Amnesty Lv.1]
[Designate one unit; their HP will remain at a minimum of 1. Duration: 300s]
[Cooldown: 1h / Cost: 100 million Mana]
Sss—
A faint black mist rose from Edward’s body.
The effect of Death Amnesty had taken hold.
Although Edward felt a surge of powerful energy within him, his heart felt no joy.
He saw Xie Bai raise a scythe.
"You know, I've yet to meet anyone who can withstand a second strike from me."
Xie Bai leaned forward slightly.
"And you... you're the first."
Swish—!
In an instant, twenty-eight slashes fell in a single second.
*
"Edward, I'm back! Look at what I foun—"
An indescribable mass of... something appeared before Cecilia.
"Eeeeek—!"
Cecilia was so terrified she fell right onto her backside.
The documents in her hands scattered across the floor.
"What... what... what on earth is that?!"
Before Cecilia could recover, that indescribable mass reshaped itself back into a human form.
"Ed... Edward?"
In the next second, Xie Bai’s figure blurred as she followed through.
Just as she was about to swing her blade again, Thanatos stepped in front of her and blocked the strike.
"My Master, the effect of Death Amnesty has expired."
Seeing this, Xie Bai lowered Funeral Rites.
"Whew... fine."
Xie Bai sat down to the side to rest.
In just five short minutes, she had slashed Edward over ten thousand times.
Relying on the health-locking effect of Death Amnesty, Edward had been hacked into an "indescribable form" that was finer than mincemeat.
After venting some of her anger, Xie Bai looked at the trembling Edward and asked:
"Start talking. Tell me everything that happened during this time."
*
Ten minutes later, Edward had spilled everything he could.
He even blurted out the things he wasn't supposed to say.
"Miss Bai, that’s everything that happened! I swear, it was all an accident! I definitely didn't mean to forget about you!"
Xie Bai gave him a look of pure disgust.
Ignoring Edward’s self-justification, Xie Bai began to think.
In the experiences Edward described, he had a powerful teacher and a childhood friend who always supported him from behind.
He frequently entered dangerous places and survived against all odds, occasionally stumbling upon great opportunities.
There were even segments where he interacted with other girls.
On top of that, this village had even prepared a powerful piece of Singularity Technology for him.
Hiss, this feels so familiar. Isn't this the classic 'protagonist treatment'?
Backing, women, and fortuitous encounters.
It was as if the world revolved around him.
"Dammit, I was wondering why I've been so unlucky lately. Was my luck being sucked away by this kid?"
Then he deserves to die even more.
Xie Bai looked at Edward.
"I don't care if you did it on purpose or not. For now, get this person off me."
At that moment, Cecilia was clinging to Xie Bai’s head, sniffing her frantically.
"Mmm-hmmm!"
"It's a fragrant, soft little loli!"
"And a super rare white-haired, red-eyed type! She's just too precious to pet!"
"This little sister is so cute, how could Edward ever have the heart to bully you?"
"Tell me, little sister, how did Edward upset you? Big sister can help you teach him a lesson!"
Xie Bai impatiently swatted away Cecilia’s ill-intentioned little hands and said crossly:
"Get off me, right now."
Hearing this, Cecilia instantly looked heartbroken and said in an affected tone:
"Little sister is so cute, how can you have the heart to drive big sister away? Big sister is going to be so sad."
Despite her words, Cecilia saw the coldness in Xie Bai’s eyes and reluctantly let go.
"Phew..."
Xie Bai breathed a sigh of relief.
She had finally escaped the clutches of this perverted lolicon.
If it weren't for the fact that Cecilia was also a Child of Fate—an extremely rare SSR—Xie Bai would have long since drawn her blade to drive her away physically.
Having gained a moment of peace, Xie Bai used the Dungeon's automatic display feature to check the pair's status panels.
[Edward Lv.15]
[Class: Alchemist]
[HP: 26 / 51,000]
[Mana: 42,000 / 42,000]
[Strength: 80]
[Constitution: 510]
[Intelligence: 4,200]
[Agility: 210]
[Talent: Star of Destiny - Alchemist]
[A being protected by the world, possessing a turbulent fate. As a Child of Fate on the Alchemist side, you can easily learn all alchemical knowledge. However, your alchemical refining will always have a 50% chance of failure, and both your misfortune and luck are greatly amplified.]
[...]
[Cecilia Lv.82]
[Class: Shadow Assassin]
[HP: 2.273 million / 2.273 million]
[Mana: 122,000 / 122,000]
[Strength: 206,400]
[Constitution: 22,700]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Agility: 412,800]
[Talent: Star of Destiny - Assassin]
[A being protected by the world, possessing a unique fate. As a Child of Fate on the Assassin side, you can trigger sneak attacks unconditionally, and you are more skilled at acting and disguise.]
[...]
These panels usually wouldn't show up in the open world.
In the open world, only monster panels were visible.
If you wanted to check an NPC's panel, you had to use an inspection skill or initiate a fight to trigger a hostile state.
However, inside a Dungeon, those restrictions didn't exist.
Looking at Edward’s panel, Xie Bai suddenly remembered the Singularity Technology he had described.
It could trigger a series of chain reactions through the rapid dissipation of a singularity, causing terrifying explosive damage.
Isn't that just a nuke? And the spatial rifts left after the explosion are basically the setting for nuclear radiation, right?
Complaints aside, this so-called Singularity Explosion was indeed terrifying.
It was hard to imagine that such a horrifying technology was mastered by a guy who was only Level 15.
Tsk, so this is the cheat the world gives its protagonist.
Being able to hand-craft a nuclear explosion at Level 15 was definitely overpowered.
Of course, that was assuming one ignored the minor drawback of blowing oneself up in the process.