Chapter 70: Act 10: Beneath the Armor, a Boy Roars

Herbie nervously clasped her hands over her chest. Having never prayed before, she now desperately begged God not to let Blaze fall. A sudden gasp of surprise beside her made her realize that Audrey and Juliet had arrived.

"Blaze!"

Audrey, who should have been comforting Juliet, had all her attention stolen by the sight of Blaze fighting a bloody battle at the ancient altar. She anxiously rushed forward, but a murky fog blocked her path. No matter how much she pounded on it or shouted, her voice could not pass through. The [Singer] Skill was useless! She could do nothing but watch helplessly.

Blood splattered, bones shattered, and Wild Beasts roared. Two Wild Beasts were locked in a tragic, brutal slaughter in the middle of the sacred altar.

From within the silver Wild Beast, the boy, bogged down in a deep mire, looked at the black Wild Beast and asked, "Why go to such lengths for someone you’ve known for less than two days? Is it because you are a Blessed and therefore not afraid of death?"

"I don’t know."

The black Wild Beast stepped on the flowers that bloomed from the seeds sown by the Death Druid, drawing Life Force from them to sustain the seemingly endless battle. He gazed at the boy, as if answering him or merely muttering to himself.

"I just couldn’t stand it.

"I just couldn’t turn a blind eye.

"I just felt as if I could personally experience that pain.

"I just did it because I wanted to."

Greenland was suffering unspeakably. Without a doubt, if Blaze fell, the mission would fail. Yet, Blaze was continuously provoking Werewolf Romeo, madly raising his own aggro. Because of this, she used an area-of-effect healing Skill, [Prayer: Evil Life Flower], which involved scattering seeds that absorbed the enemy’s Life Value to bloom and then restored her ally’s Life Value. The terrible part was that this Skill’s healing amount was determined by the quality of the seeds. What kind of good seeds could a Vice player like her possibly obtain?

"Screw it! I don’t care anymore!" Although she didn’t know the backstory, Greenland felt a certain emotion from Blaze’s roars, and her eyes uncontrollably turned red. "[Prayer: O Life, Reverse into Corruption]!"

This Prayer had an intimidating name, but in reality, it merely executed an Exchange between the probability of triggering an Effect and not triggering it. Her level and equipment were both subpar, and because she had taken the Vice route, her hidden luck stat was also low, making her critical hit rate abysmally poor. Conversely, however, after reversing the probabilities, she essentially had a 100% critical hit rate!

Blaze and Greenland roared as they launched a barrage of alternating combo attacks. Werewolf Romeo’s level was already much higher than theirs; they were like tightrope walkers thousands of meters in the air, where even the slightest mistake would plunge them into the Abyss.

Blaze twisted his body to dodge Werewolf Romeo’s arm, gripping Silver Needles in both hands and unleashing fierce Piercing strikes. One after another, the Silver Needles stabbed ruthlessly into Werewolf Romeo’s body. Greenland was stunned. The spots Blaze was attacking were the exact locations of her previous Acupoint Strikes. She had only demonstrated it a few times—had Blaze completely memorized them already!?

But this moment of shock was seized by Werewolf Romeo. The beast, who should have collapsed to the ground, lunged forward viciously, its dual claws closing in like cold stars.

"Oh no," Greenland thought. She subconsciously closed her eyes, knowing her health wasn’t enough to withstand this attack. She wondered what she should do next and who could possibly come over to assist Blaze.

SQUELCH!

It was the sound of claws piercing through flesh, but she did not die. Greenland opened her eyes in disbelief. A tall figure stood in front of her, shielding her. Without any censorship filters for minors, she could clearly see a ghastly white claw piercing straight through his body, dripping with bright red liquid.

"In this kind of mission, players should be... should just be consumables used to achieve the final goal. Why did you come over to save me?"

Blaze heard Greenland’s murmurs, but he had no spare energy to reply as Werewolf Romeo closed in, looking down and mocking him.

The sacred silver had already exerted its maximum Effect, which also meant it would not have any further use. Merely piercing its body with Silver Needles no longer had any Effect on it. Even if 99% of the Filthy Blood had been subjected to Purification, it was meaningless. Only the victor in the tug-of-war between souls could gain control of the body, and that coward could never win against it.

"This is the destiny God arranged for Arcadians, you meddlesome fool." Werewolf Romeo’s speech became increasingly coherent, resembling a Human wearing the skin of a Wild Beast. It pressed its face close to Blaze, reveling in the uncontrolled, low groans of pain Blaze let out.

Blaze struggled to raise his hand, throwing a punch like a final, dying struggle. The punch carried absolutely no Power, but Werewolf Romeo felt something extra in its mouth—an aconite seed housing the soul of a Werewolf.

CRUNCH!

Werewolf Romeo bit down and crushed all the seeds in one go, turning a massive amount of Werewolf souls into its food.

It gained an extraordinary amount of Experience Value. Its physique grew taller, and its Life Value recovered; aside from the lingering stinging where the Silver Needles had attacked, it was in perfect condition. It didn’t matter if the Filthy Blood had undergone Purification—it had already completely taken over this body!

"Have you succumbed to Madness? To actually do this right now... Ugh..."

It grinned, just about to sneer at Blaze’s stupidity, when a wave of Dizziness suddenly swept over it. Its legs gave out, and it nearly fell to its knees.

"Are the seeds poisonous?" it wondered. No, it already possessed extremely high Poison Resistance, so what exactly was it?!

"It’s best... not to absorb... souls with identical forms. Do you not even know this basic common sense?" Blaze gripped Werewolf Romeo’s shoulder, his fingers sinking into the fur like iron tongs, snapping the bones underneath.

[Adrenaline F]: The lower the health, the higher the Power.

[Leo F]

[Reduces Slash and Pierce damage by 50%]

The damage dealt by Werewolf Romeo was controlled perfectly!

"Your souls are identical Wild Beasts. While you were happily absorbing those souls, those souls were also inflicting Erosion on your very existence!"

"You bastard—!"

Werewolf Romeo was enraged by Blaze, but beneath that Anger was a deep-seated terror welling up from the depths of its soul. This was a Resistance that could never be obtained no matter how much Power one amassed—the uniqueness of the soul. It struggled desperately, wanting to tear Blaze in half, but Blaze remained entirely unmoving, even forcing it down into a half-kneeling position on the ground.

"Why?! Turning into a Wild Beast is a destiny decided for them since birth—no, decided hundreds, even thousands of years ago! Why go against destiny?!"

"The person you want to save has already given up! He has accepted his destiny!"

"Destiny, destiny... Is that the only word you know?"

Blaze leaned back, glaring at Werewolf Romeo, roaring at the boy in the darkness as he violently slammed his own head forward in a vicious headbutt.

"Giving up is the only true way to go against destiny!"

Even a helmet made of Soul Steel shattered in that instant. The massive recoil Impact forced Blaze’s head back. Audrey was stunned. She saw the face beneath the helmet; it was merely the face of a young boy who had only slightly shed his childish features. The one roaring like this, the one enduring such immense pain, was not a battle-hardened Warrior, but simply a young boy wearing Armor, forced to appear burly.

He was reckless and impulsive, screaming and charging head-on against a destiny that had been silently accepted for hundreds and thousands of years. The Silver Needles had all completely pierced into Werewolf Romeo’s body; there was nothing left to cause Purification in the Filthy Blood. Yet, the boy’s blood was hotter than silver, stinging Werewolf Romeo so intensely that it madly shoved Blaze away.

"Danger!" Greenland instantly lunged out, grabbing Blaze’s back to act as a human cushion. But even this was not enough to guarantee their survival.

"[Prayer: O Life, Reverse into Corruption]!"

Greenland used her very last bit of Magic Power to activate the Prayer, stacking the probability-reversal Effect onto Blaze.

[Adrenaline F]

[*When HP reaches Zero, 95% chance to lock HP at 1.]

Blaze and Greenland tumbled across the ground a few times before struggling to stabilize themselves. He had one point of health left, but the duration of [Adrenaline] had ended. Behind him, Greenland gradually turned into virtual blocks and vanished. She had absorbed the vast majority of the damage for Blaze.