Chapter 135
Chapter 135
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: Transcendent Cult, High Priest Gulian
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Transcendent Cult, High Priest Gulian.
He mainly wielded his fists.
If asked why fists instead of a weapon, Gulian would give the absurd answer that using a weapon without affection for it wasn't right.
The real reason he didn't use weapons was simple.
Gulian could burst a human body with a single swing of his fist.
At that point, there was no need for a weapon.
He had massacred countless humans with those fists.
About ten thousand.
The number of humans Gulian had sent to the side of the Evil Transcendent Being.
Now, he kicked off the ground once more to add to that count.
His opponent was the necromancer who had appeared before his eyes.
Gulian shot forward at a speed his eyes couldn't track.
At the same time, Gulian's pupils split into dozens.
"Huhng."
With a strange grunt, Gulian's waist twisted in an instant.
Then, he repeatedly twisted it while swinging his fist.
Clang!Clang!Clang!
What Gulian blocked were the shadows that surged up the moment he charged.
He swatted away every shadow rising from the ground while rolling his eyes.
Shadows filled every direction.
It was night now.
Darkness was the perfect playground for shadows to rampage.
Not a great situation for Gulian.
The shadows rose from the ground, rippling.
Yet Leyzon, the one controlling them, stood perfectly still.
He was overflowing with composure against him.
Gulian raised the corner of his torn mouth.
Before long, Gulian clasped his hands together and began to pray.
"A master of shadow magic, I see. I'm pleased."
Jet-black masses of evil began rippling along his arms.
The Evil Transcendent Being had granted him power in response to his prayer.
"Ah, such grace."
Gulian responded to the grace by pulling his hands back to his waist.
Thump—
With a small sound, Gulian vanished.
Boooom!
A ferocious roar echoed soon after.
The shadow rising like a wall before Leyzon rippled with the blast.
Screeech!
Gulian soon tore a gap in the wall with both hands.
Gulian poked his head through the gap and rolled his dozens of split pupils.
He stared at Leyzon standing inside, his eyes darting wildly.
"But what now?"
Gulian's arm muscles bulged.
"You're not the only one who can handle shadows."
Screeech!
He began prying the shadow wall wider with his hands.
What Gulian had wrapped around his arms was shadow itself.
By making contact with the same shadow and pushing at the surfaces, Leyzon's shadow had no choice but to yield.
Leyzon smirked at Gulian, who seemed ready to invade at any moment.
"So what?"
Clang!
The shadow wall Gulian had pried open slammed shut in an instant.
Gulian yanked his head back and retreated.
He had nearly been decapitated.
Gulian kicked off the ground and fell back.
In the meantime, Leyzon enveloped himself in shadow like a perfect sphere.
Soon, shadows began swirling around the entire shadow sphere.
"Oh."
Gulian, witnessing this, covered his entire body in the same shadow.
Boooom!
The shadow erupted spikes in all directions like a sea urchin.
The densely packed spikes, without a single gap, had enough power to riddle a body with holes if they hit.
As proof, a nearby apostle keeled over dead, perforated in several places.
"Such a heinous act!"
But Gulian shouted unscathed.
The shadow spikes had been shaped exactly like him.
By wrapping his entire body in shadow, he had erased the points of contact where the spikes touched.
Thanks to that, he emerged completely unharmed.
"Shadow magic doesn't work on me."
Just erase the area of contact with his own shadow.
Gulian was invincible against shadow attacks.
Thump!
Gulian kicked off the ground once more.
The shadow cloaking his body transformed him into the form of a black beast.
Every time he charged, Leyzon's shadows were erased.
Thump!
Gulian had already reached the shadow sphere.
The moment he pierced inside.
He blinked.
The interior was empty.
On top of that, a acrid scent stabbed at his nose.
Poison.
The instant Gulian realized it, he kicked off the ground.
Thump!
Soon after, his body slammed into the sphere's wall, and he rolled across the ground.
"Ugh?!"
Gulian clutched his forehead, eyes widening.
He stood and hurriedly touched the shadow sphere's wall.
His hand didn't pass through at all.
Gulian realized the shadow was now mixed with something different from before.
It was blood.
Gulian's shadow could only push away points of contact with pure shadow.
Thus, the moment blood mixed in.
It meant he could no longer push the shadow away to escape.
He was trapped.
Realizing this, Gulian's eyes flew wide open.
'I've been had.'
Ting!
At that moment, a wooden box inside the sphere popped open, and a single crystal rolled out.
A crystal compressed using Blood Crystal [A], fusing poison and various magics.
From the moment Leyzon obtained the Blood Crystal [A], he had been crafting it inside Syria's shadow wolf.
Enemies never waited patiently for him to complete a fusion spell.
So he had prepared.
Fusion MagicAbyss Crystal
⟨ Abyss Crystal ⟩
The crystal emitted light.
At the same time, the poison filling the interior flashed all at once.
Boooom!
An explosion erupted inside the shadow sphere.
Smaller in scale than Leyzon's usual fusion spell Abyss, but its power was undeniable.
Outside the exploded shadow sphere.
Leyzon slithered up onto the shadow casually.
He twirled the Staff of Abundance with ease.
From the moment Gulian charged, Leyzon had already planned this.
During Dungeon Replay, Leyzon had fought countless Transcendent Cult followers.
Many of them used shadow and darkness skills.
So he knew that if he pulled out shadow magic, they would counter with the same.
As Syria said, Leyzon had cornered Gulian using only his own abilities.
Syria's other new skill acquired through evolution.
Plus Demoralize [C] and Curse Engraving [C].
The result of enhancing it through attribute fusion with Dragon Scale [Special].
Leyzon could match Gulian with Shadow Execution [A] alone.
Leyzon was, after all, merely an 11th Ascension pioneer.
Yet he had fought on equal terms with High Priest Gulian.
Uncanny ploys that pierced the opponent's psyche.
Perfect simultaneous skill usage on top.
The culmination of it all.
But Leyzon knew.
'This won't.'
Be enough.
Boom!
Leyzon turned toward the sound from behind.
There stood a man who had burst through the blood-mixed shadow.
His body was scorched and mangled in places.
Yet the thick evil emanating from him signaled he was still very much intact.
'Transcendent Cult priests possess two distinct levels.'
One is the normal Ascension level.
The other is the Demonic Ascension level granted by the Evil Transcendent Being.
Demonic Ascension levels rise solely based on the number of lives taken.
Transcendent Cult followers kill to raise their Demonic Ascension levels.
In exchange, they gain immense power.
'To become a High Priest requires Demonic Ascension level 15.'
Demon King grade, the antithesis of Ascension.
Gulian was a High Priest.
That meant he had long surpassed it.
Gulian was at Demonic Ascension level 17, Iron Demon King grade.
On top of that, Gulian was originally a 16th Ascension Bronze Hero-grade monster.
16th Ascension Bronze Hero stats.
17th Demonic Ascension Iron Demon King stats.
Possessing both simultaneously was.
The Transcendent Cult's High Priest, Gulian.
No wonder he didn't fear the Sword Saint.
He was just one step shy of the Sword Saint's caliber.
This was why Transcendent Cult followers had to be eliminated on sight.
Otherwise, they kept stacking Demonic Ascension levels and became a hassle.
"Heh heh heh heh, that surprised me. To think I'd take this much damage. Can't remember the last time I was this embarrassed."
Gulian clapped his hands in admiration, his clothes torn to shreds.
"And I deserve to be punished for underestimating you. My thinking was too complacent."
Perhaps his brain had been rattled by the explosion.
Gulian let out a cackling laugh.
"I savored your trump card. But alas."
Gulian openly flexed his massive muscles.
"It doesn't work on me."
Those contracted with the Evil Transcendent Being had naturally high regenerative powers.
His wounds were already healing.
'As expected, the Abyss Crystal lacks sufficient power.'
It was somewhat anticipated.
Still, he had gathered valuable data.
Leyzon smiled gratefully at Gulian.
Next time, he could unleash something stronger.
Gulian tilted his head at the serene smile.
"You laugh a lot. Got more tricks up your sleeve?"
"Obviously."
Leyzon snorted.
Gulian halted his tilted head.
"Then."
In that instant, Gulian moved at a speed beyond Leyzon's perception.
Before he knew it, Gulian was bringing his fist down toward Leyzon's head.
"I'll end it before you can use them."
Boom!
And Gulian went flying.
He groaned, embedded in the crater wall.
Gulian felt his vision spinning.
He had clearly been about to kill Leyzon moments ago, yet now he was the one lodged in the wall.
'What.'
Unsure what happened, he rolled out.
Soon, he spotted the rippling shadow beside Leyzon.
But its color was different from before.
The pitch-black shadow now tinged red.
Within the red shadow.
A single eye opened.
The moment he met that red-glowing eye matching the shadow.
Gulian felt his insides churn.
A chill!
From his toes to his scalp.
Goosebumps erupted across his entire body.
This was a first for him.
Crack—
Below the engraved eye of the red shadow.
A mouth sprouted, lips parting.
"I let you rampage because my master wanted to test something."
The voice from that mouth was utterly seductive.
Cold sweat beaded across Gulian's face before he knew it.
"You don't know your place and cross the line."
In that moment, Gulian realized his surroundings had been dyed red.
Gulian immediately shadow-formed himself and swung his fist.
Clang!
But his fist didn't advance an inch, blocked solid.
The red shadow wasn't repelled even by shadow contact surfaces.
Gulian's eyes bulged.
His own shadow couldn't interfere with the red one at all.
Lord of Blood and Shadow.
Vampire Queen, Syria Nosferatu.
Her shadow was in a realm Gulian couldn't even touch.
The moment Gulian tried to kick off and flee.
Something grabbed his ankle, sending him sprawling.
There was a straw curse doll.
The doll clamped down tightly on Gulian's ankle.
"Pests get exterminated properly."
With Syria's voice.
The red shadows swarmed the fallen Gulian all at once.
"Aaaah!"
Gulian thrashed wildly.
He swung his arms and legs desperately, screaming in agony.
But the shadows relentlessly tore into him.
Wrists snapped.
Arms ripped off.
Legs torn away.
Chest shredded.
Head severed.
Heart pulverized.
Eventually, the shadows that engulfed Gulian shrank completely.
Burp—
The shadow let out a digestion-like sound and vanished.
Leyzon turned away leisurely from the sight.
Iden settled on Leyzon's shoulder, and Shiraa followed at his side.
"You have to gauge your opponent before charging in."
A necromancer was never a class that fought alone.
The undead comprising him were the true core of a necromancer.
The pinnacle of such necromancers.
The Abyss.
It was the moment that reaffirmed exactly what he was.