Chapter 296

Chapter 296 - "Angel"

Zen saw enormous wings.

Each feather was as pristine as snow, radiating a gentle glow that exuded grandeur and beauty.

An angel?

Strangely enough, an idea that defied the norms of this realm emerged in Zen's mind.

His gaze continued downward, and he witnessed an inconceivable sight.

The breathtakingly beautiful wings, each feather shimmering with holy light, were indeed attached to the body of an incredibly grotesque... "entity." It was impossible to tell where the voice had come from, for this "thing" was severely decayed all over.

It resembled a chunk of rotten flesh mixed with blackened bones—rotten as if it had been corrupted. Yet, amidst this putrid mess, a pair of wings blossomed like a flower from mud.

It appeared surreal.

Then, Zen noticed an eye amidst that decayed "mass."

Eyes of burnished gold, enormous, and strikingly beautiful against the flesh they were set in.

As Jin looked in its direction, those vast golden orbs also turned to meet his gaze.

"You've come," the creature spoke again, its voice equally peculiar.

Indescribable in tone, genderless, it seemed to be both a single voice and many voices at once, an eerie auditory spectacle.

"Once so weak, you have now grown strong enough to perceive my presence," the voice continued.

Expressionless, Jin took another step forward.

With just that single stride, he was engulfed by an endless weight!

The oppressive aura here surpassed that of the ocean floor! More intense and suffocating than the pressure of the deepest sea, it felt as if he was stepping into an unyielding solid where no respite could be found!

Each step brought with it a horrifying pressure that seemed to squeeze half of his being out of his body, beads of cold sweat forming on Jin's forehead.

By now, he had fully understood Snow's actions:

Snow was pulling out that sword-like black weapon from the body of that unimaginable monster!

That creature, whose flesh resembled a slurry – let's call it a monster, despite its seemingly normal appearance and ability to converse with Jin – was actually pinned to the frozen spring by that black weapon!

Its decay seemed to be a result of the black blade piercing through it.

Snow intended to extract the black sword from the "thing's" body, to free it –

This thought immediately flashed across Jin's mind.

He couldn't allow Snow to succeed!!

With all his might, Jin took another step forward, preparing to move in Snow's direction!

Snow instantly detected him.

With widened eyes, he glanced at the intruder. However, he could only watch, for at this moment, all his strength was concentrated in the hand holding the sword, leaving him no extra energy to attempt any form of intervention.

Still, the "monster" impaled by the sword snorted coldly. Without any visible movement, an icy wall rose, instantly sealing off Zhen's every escape route.

"Not done yet?" the "monster" lifted his gaze to the silver-haired one.

"Apologies, it seems... I'm... still... lacking..." The silver-haired monster was drenched in sweat, his beads of perspiration rolling down amidst the blood droplets and landing on the other "monster" below.

The immense power he had absorbed at once was too much for his body to bear. Under tremendous pressure, the blood beads within him boiled, spilling out of his body, causing rapid blood loss and a decrease in body temperature. He had reached his limit.

The sword in his hand seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, making it impossible for him to lift it even an inch more.

Just a little more, just a bit more!

"Apologies, but I can serve you no further," he whispered softly.

And then—

A faint green light spot emerged from within him, quickly seized by the silver-haired monster, who poured it into the hand attempting to pull out the sword. In the moment he transformed into his monstrous form, he finally managed to extract the black weapon from the other "monster's" body.

The gathered force in the silver-haired monster's right arm dispersed throughout his body. Now in his demonic state, the monster could no longer withstand the power far beyond his level. Like a balloon stretched to its limits, there was a violent explosion after a deafening noise—

This was no ordinary explosion; the detonation of countless nuclei was utterly staggering, causing the earth to tremble and mountains to crumble. The entire cavern – no, the entire mountain, even the entire northern region – was ripped apart!

The explosion was horrifying beyond measure.

Yet, for Jin, who had grasped secrets transcending this world's concept of speed, evading such an explosion was by no means an insurmountable task.

Similarly, for the "monster" that had been trapped within the cave before, it posed no significant challenge.

"Useless creature."

"Still, at least you've let me out."

He heard that peculiar voice once more.

But this time, as the voice echoed, Jin felt a chill run down his spine, a sensation he hadn't experienced in a long while.

An oppressive force, a thousandfold greater than what he'd sensed in the cave, suddenly descended upon him!

His upright posture buckled under the sudden weight, and he knitted his brows, looking up through the billowing smoke. As the haze cleared, what he saw this time was a sight thousands of times more surreal than anything he had witnessed previously!

The spring that had once been confined within the cave now surged forth, its frozen crystals layering upward in a tumultuous dance. The monster, impaled on a weapon in the center of the water, was lifted to the surface by the surging ice.

He finally beheld the true visage of that abomination.

It was a decaying corpse.

A massive, decaying, humanoid corpse.

Having lived this long, Jin Murphy Felzahar believed he had encountered numerous monsters, from colossal to diminutive. He had seen countless varieties.

Even Roim's enormous frame didn't register as the most extravagant size in his memory.

Until he laid eyes on this monster's remains.

Remains, wasn't it?

Its decayed black arms resembled lengthy mountain ranges, one stretching southward, the other northward.

And its torso was even more imposing, spanning the ridgelines of those mountains, connecting and dividing them.

The remains still had hair, and it was, unbelievably, golden.

That golden hair resembled a vast forest, an expanse that seemed endless.

It was an utterly inconceivable creature.

The overwhelming pressure that filled the sky originated from this corpse-like being.

Countless specks of light scattered in the air, motionless, as if they too had sensed this terrifying pressure and were paralyzed with fear.

Then, he witnessed something surreal.

The rotten "meat paste" suddenly stirred.

The black, seemingly still reeking of decay, "meat paste" transformed into black mud. With his keen eyesight, he could even discern the dark red particles continually churning within. Suddenly, a white arm protruded from the "black soil."

Followed by another arm, a head, a neck, a chest... and then, two legs.

The entity swiftly transformed from a mass of meat into a perfect male form.

With golden hair and piercing golden eyes, his chiseled features were profound and three-dimensional, and his skin was as white as snow. Every inch of him seemed to be composed of luminous dots representing power. The man who now stood before the monster named Jin exuded breathtaking beauty, as if he carried an aura of holiness. Coupled with the massive, snowy-white wings at his back, he resembled an angel straight out of Hei Dan's storybooks!

But only half of him was angelic.

The damage inflicted by that black blade seemed irreversible. Even in human form, as he reconstructed his body with "power," his pristine white figure remained perfect for only a few seconds. In the blink of an eye, black corruption crept across the white half of his body. From the very beginning, only one of his wings was feathered, while the other was a bony wing.

The black, pitted, and decayed bone had not a single feather attached to it.

Raising his newly blackened right arm, the half-angel, half-demon visage cracked, and an ear-piercing shriek escaped the unknown creature's lips.

In that instant, the black-haired monster lost sight of the man before him!

It was a scream that could shake one's "essence."

Not a tangible sound, but more damaging. It resembled a sonic wave, yet its destructive force surpassed that of sound waves.

Reacting swiftly, the black-haired monster erected a black barrier around himself. His psyche oscillated for a moment before finally settling.

However, the surrounding dots of light fared much worse.

Unfathomable as to what the creature had done, Jin noticed that many of the floating orbs of light began to waver and dissipate.

In this situation, the standing black-haired monster seemed to have become the last refuge for the light points, which flocked towards him, even vying to enter his body.

When these light points reached a certain density, they formed a veil of light, ethereal like smoke, causing the figure of the black-haired monster to gradually become indistinct under the "light mist."

The air trembled violently, revealing the creature's raging fury.

Jin kept hearing eerie sound waves, akin to some kind of signal, rhythmic yet chaotic. He guessed it was a language – the "angel" with the decaying body was speaking.

The tension in the air intensified. As all the light points converged around him, the creature finally looked at him again.

With a gentle lift of one bony wing, the black-haired monster sensed the air compressing into a blast. In the next instant, he was struck, yet after a brutal impact, he managed to regain his balance. A thin trail of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Incredibly powerful!

It was clear that the creature had just attacked him, but at a speed too swift for his eyes to track!

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, the black-haired demon steeled himself, forcing calmness upon himself. He then endeavors to discern the other's movement pattern.

Throughout this, he was struck several more times, bleeding profusely. When he noticed his blood turning ashen, he began to perceive the arc of the attacker's strikes. Upon witnessing his blood return to its liquid state, he finally made out the attacker's figure and their method of attack.

Simultaneously, he heard the other's voice again.

"The little demon whose hair I once cut, look how much you've grown."

"And how do you like the hairstyle I designed for you?"

He heard the other speak with a singer-like melodious voice, laced with malicious intent.