Chapter 1968 - 1967: The Grim Reaper’s ’Gaze

Inside the Floating Warplane

"Can you see what happened?" The airport staff looked towards Mark, who was supporting the open hatch of the warplane and gazing out.

"I can’t see," Mark withdrew his hand and stood on tiptoe, "I just heard it seemed to go behind the villa. Raise the warplane a bit, and we should be able to see it."

"Okay, okay," the airport staff nodded quickly, then paused and asked cautiously, "We won’t get close, right?"

"We won’t get close, we won’t get close," Mark shook his head quickly, "They have a divine clash, we better not join the commotion, just watch from afar."

——

The Forest Corridor is a geographical term.

It is located at the southernmost tip of the Federation, with the north being the north-south orientated central mountain range, and the south being Lava Canyon, providing the southernmost passage connecting the east and west of the Federation.

So what do these words mean, the east of the Forest Corridor?

He Ao raised his bracelet and glanced at the map on it.

To the east of the Forest Corridor, there is only one city, which is Visenkro, a nodal city for southern trade.

However, Visenkro is far less prosperous than Ilotan.

After all, the south side of the central-western Federation is the Gobi Desert and desert areas, with few cities and low population, supporting minimal trade.

Moreover, according to He Ao’s previous roles’ memories, the accessibility of the Forest Corridor isn’t very good, with many strange exotic beasts and plants attacking passersby randomly, making it much less friendly for large trade caravans than the central corridor passage of Ilotan.

But besides being sparsely populated, the Forest Corridor is quite vibrant for ordinary animals and plants.

It sounds just suitable for the headquarters of the Life Church.

Unfortunately, the Life Church in the dungeon world has no headquarters.

So, is the term in Vikael’s memory implying that the Life Pope is in the east of the Forest Corridor? Or in Visenkro? Or even further east?

However, Bod’s daughter seems to be the target of that Pope.

And as He Ao contemplated, the body of Vikael embedded in the ground beneath him began to tremble slowly.

Buzz——

He Ao heard a sound and looked down.

Then in an instant, a giant flesh-and-blood hand came slapping at his body.

The speed of that hand was several times faster than Vikael’s, like a flash passing by, yet it still did not touch the hem of He Ao’s clothes, scraping past in front of him.

He Ao also took a few steps back, pulling a little distance, raised his head, and looked towards where he had just been standing.

Vikael’s corpse, embedded in the ground, somehow stood up, with its hand already grotesquely swollen, and its entire body rapidly inflating at a visible speed, like a quickly inflated balloon, instantly rising to over thirty meters tall.

"Damn!" Mark, standing on the Floating Warplane, opened his mouth.

"What happened? Did you see it?" The airport staff controlling the warplane turned back and looked in Mark’s direction.

Then he froze, "Damn, what is that?"

"Quick, ascend! Quick, ascend!" Mark immediately rushed to the control desk, starting to rapidly elevate the Floating Warplane.

At this time, the giant over thirty meters tall also noticed this Floating Warplane.

Whoosh——

He blew a breath towards the warplane, and the violent gust swept up the entire warplane, causing it to wildly sway in the sky.

But the giant did not further attack the warplane, instead, he lowered his head to look at the top of the villa.

At this moment, He Ao had already jumped to the top of the villa, gazing at this enormous giant.

The giant’s essential structure was actually quite simple, just a massive monster filled with Gifted Power.

The soul was gone, yet it could mutate.

What is this principle?

Dots of purple glow spread in He Ao’s pupils, and the giant’s flesh and power, like an ever-unfolding fan, spread out in his field of view.

Tiny soul fragments hidden deep within the giant’s flesh slowly emerged in He Ao’s view.

Those soul fragments were obviously pieces of Vikael’s shattered soul, and the moment it shattered, some power extended from his body, preserving parts of his soul, and these souls became the cornerstone of the giant’s ’Spiritual Wisdom’.

Similarly, they are also the key to maintaining the Grace.

After all, Gifted Power usually requires a stable trade target and wouldn’t recklessly pour power into a corpse.

However, while the principle of this method is easy to decipher, the implementation process is probably extremely complex and profound.

After all, Vikael’s essence was already dead, and getting a Divine Being to trade with a ’residual soul’ is extremely difficult. Moreover, this fragile residual soul must be able to support the enormous power of the Gifted Power without exploding, which is also a technical skill.

Even with the Secret Wizard’s comprehension, He Ao couldn’t figure out the specific structure of this technique in a short time.

The person who crafted this technique, be it in mysticism attainment or in the study of the soul and flesh, is unfathomable.

Is it that Life Pope? Or another unknown Higher Being?

He Ao retracted his gaze, staring at the huge giant, who now had faint streams of purple shimmering pathways flowing within his body like a dancing soul.

Or perhaps, the Grim Reaper?

Although Vikael belonged to the Life Church, the power of the ’Pope’ he interacted with also seemed related to the path of life.

But this Grace was bestowed by the Grim Reaper.

Is the supporter behind the Life Pope the Grim Reaper?

"Death——"

As He Ao pondered, the terrifying gigantic giant also lowered his head, glaring furiously at He Ao, raising his hand.

He had little Spiritual Wisdom left, but from the twisted anger on his face, his hatred for He Ao was always present.

The fierce palm sliced through the sky, carrying some thunderous power, striking towards He Ao below.

Purple smoke and faint glow intertwined on that palm, carrying a bit of chilling and cold aura, as if it could devour one’s soul in an instant.

Bang——

That palm smashed through the entire rooftop of the villa, creating a huge hole, with scattered rubble flying out with dust.

But it did not hit He Ao, instead, it grazed past his body. At the last moment, He Ao’s body flashed away from his slapping zone, appearing beside it.

He Ao still stood calmly, gazing at him.

As if what he was aiming for was not He Ao, but the rooftop beside him from the beginning.

"Ah——"

Having missed, the giant seemed even angrier, roaring violently with beast-like furious sounds.

Dazzling purple brilliance erupted in his hand in an instant, transforming into countless slender rays, piercing towards He Ao’s body, targeting He Ao’s soul.

The surrounding void was ripped apart under this brilliance, creating some kind of dark void cracks.

The atmosphere here is already mixed with the aura of high positional grade.

He Ao quietly gazed at everything, slightly furrowing his brow.

Has the Grim Reaper descended with so much power?

He lifted his gaze, looking at the giant’s angry and twisted face.

He sighed lightly and raised his hand slightly.

A brilliant purplish-grey light illuminated his pupils.

The surging light instantly covered the entire sky. He Ao lightly clenched his hand forward. Although he touched nothing, it seemed as if some invisible force grabbed the giant by the throat, causing its entire body to stiffen abruptly.

Then He Ao withdrew his hand, tightly clenching his fist.

Boom——

The giant seemed to be crushed by a tremendous force, exploding into countless purple-white lights. Intense airwaves carried fierce winds, sweeping across the nearby area.

The tall villa collapsed like a paper house in an instant, the serene garden’s ground was even uplifted, the surrounding gleaming surveillance cameras rapidly shattered, and several retractable turrets emerged from the ground, yet failed to light up before being torn apart by the storm.

In the distance, the deputy mayor had just gotten into his vehicle and started it but hadn’t yet stepped on the accelerator when he heard the violent explosion. He turned his head to look at the villa.

The fierce wind instantly tore apart the courtyard doors, lifting his sedan, which rolled several times in midair before crashing down heavily.

Meanwhile, above in the sky, the two who had just stabilized the floating warplane witnessed a sudden flash of intense light, and the entire world fell silent.

They gazed at the dazzling light, momentarily losing the ability to speak or think, only able to fixate on the brilliance.

As the light receded, it left only a figure in silk formal attire, head lowered, gazing at the ruins beneath his feet.

A sweet metallic taste surged in He Ao’s throat, which he swallowed back down.

In that moment, he had transferred some power from his soul, obliterating the giant into which Vikael had mutated.

However, this also inflicted harm and burden on his physical body.

The situation seemed worse than he had imagined; the Divine Being’s willingness to intervene was far stronger than he had previously anticipated.

The high positional grade gift power bestowed by the Grim Reaper had surpassed the normal level of a divine blessing. Normally, such power would not descend upon a heretic.

This indicated that, for some reason, the Grim Reaper might be very concerned about this matter.

What reason? Could it be that the old codger Grim Reaper already knew he had descended and got involved in this matter?

The moment this thought surfaced, He Ao’s expression paused slightly, becoming a bit peculiar.

With the methods of a Divine Being, it indeed seems possible.

However, since the Grim Reaper hasn’t torn through the void and descended from the heavens, it means He still doesn’t know, or isn’t sure, that He Ao is here, so the situation hasn’t reached the worst-case scenario yet.

Yet, that old codger Grim Reaper was too crafty, directly absorbing Vikael’s Talent Sequences, leaving He Ao with no chance to seize them later.

Whoosh——

The whistling wind sounded behind He Ao, as a simply adorned floating warplane rapidly descended behind him.

"Mr. Bod, are you okay?" Mark’s voice came from behind He Ao as the sound of someone jumping down from the floating warplane accompanied it.

"I’m fine." He Ao shook his head.

"Has that giant already left?" Mark stood beside He Ao, nervously looking at the surrounding ruins.

From the perspective of the floating warplane, they couldn’t see He Ao’s battle, only the brilliant explosion and then everything around had turned into ruins.

Mark turned his gaze, scanning the edge of the ruins.

Yet the light seemed to have some consciousness, only destroying this villa and courtyard, while the surrounding buildings, even the low hedge separating the buildings, remained unscathed.

"Dead." He Ao said casually.

Then he lifted his foot, gently stepping on the ground. The ground beneath him directly cracked open, and accompanying the sound of stones clattering down, a staircase leading underground was revealed.

"What’s this?" Mark looked at the passage somewhat puzzled, having not yet returned from He Ao’s earlier casual remark, ’dead’.

"What’s this?" At this moment, the young airport staff member also approached, looking curiously at the open passage.

"If you want to know, you can go down and take a look." He Ao turned and walked toward the floating warplane behind him.

Mark hesitated for a moment, then stepped onto the staircase leading down the passage, with the young airport staff member following them.

As soon as they descended, a thick stench of blood assaulted their nostrils.

Mark realized something and quickly headed downward.

Soon, a vast underground space appeared in his field of vision.

Countless rusty iron cages filled the entire underground space.

Each of these cages was about a meter long and half a meter high, containing an emaciated figure, whether male or female, old or young.

Two tubes extended from the cage, connected to their necks, one inputting liquid, the other extracting something.

Behind Mark, the young staff member also descended, raising his head to look at the densely packed cages, momentarily dazed.

The figures in the cages also lifted their heads blankly, looking at the torn-open staircase and the light descending from it.

The bright light seemed to make it difficult for them to open their eyes, forcing them to squint at the two figures standing under the light.

The young staff member opened his mouth, swiftly scanning over all the cages.

His gaze landed on a figure in a cage on the outside, a hint of surprise surfacing on his face, "That’s the guy who was wandering under our building. I haven’t seen him for half a month. I thought he was dead..."

Standing at the front, Mark took a deep breath, "Call the police."

He turned around, heading up the stairs, passing by the young staff member.

The young man paused, then followed Mark upward, quickly dialing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s emergency number as he walked.

Soon they climbed back to the floating warplane, and He Ao was already seated inside.

"Vice President," the young staff member raised his head to look at He Ao, hoarsely asking, "what are those?"

"Experimental materials," Mark glanced at the silent He Ao, raised his hand to close the floating warplane’s hatch, and continued, "Medical experiments require some materials. Isn’t this a normal thing in the Federation?"

Hearing these words, the young staff member was slightly stunned, momentarily unsure of what to say. He wanted to argue but couldn’t come up with any words.

Mark walked to the control console and started up the floating warplane, looking at He Ao, "Mr. Bod, should we return to the airport?"

He Ao nodded slightly.

Buzz——

Accompanied by a faint vibration, the floating warplane slowly took off.

The atmosphere inside the warplane was eerily quiet.

Mark reached out, turning on the warplane’s radio.

"The Federation Army and the rebels engaged in fierce battles on the eastern coast and achieved a large-scale victory..."