novelzi Chapter 533 523: The Gifted One
Chapter 533 523: The Gifted One
Side jump, turn around, both hands quickly reach behind the waist!
At the moment the abnormal noise came, Aurora's body instinctively reacted, trying to pull out those poisoned Cross Thorns.
However, the outcome was that she couldn't even touch the weapon.
The Sword Saint, already knowing her strength, lost interest in her.
Aurora only felt a breeze brush past in front of her, followed by a strange light sensation on her shoulder.
She looked down, catching a glimpse at the edge of her vision of two familiar arms leaving her, tracing an arc in the air, with two "plop" sounds landing in the damp mud, the fingers even twitching slightly.
After a brief moment of dead silence, pain and realization exploded simultaneously.
"Ahhhhh——! My... my hands!" Her piercing scream echoed in the basement.
Aurora staggered backward, her arm-less body losing balance, crashing heavily into a pool of blood. She was constantly struggling, but without support, could not even get up.
The Sword Saint Puki's tentacle wrapped around the drawn sword, the tip unstained by blood. It didn't even look at the woman on the ground, just casually made another slash in the air, releasing the bondage of the captive man.
The sudden change left the man, who was just immersed in deadly hatred, somewhat stunned.
He stood there in a daze, looking at his newly freed hands and feet, then at his enemy screaming on the ground, and finally at the four-sword Puki sheathing its sword, as if it only did something trivial.
Not knowing whether to kneel in gratitude to the miraculous Puki or rush up to kill Aurora on the ground.
Clearly, the Sword Saint did not care what he was thinking,
With a short leg push, it shot out from the basement, chasing after the cult's main force sensed in his perception.
It wasn't until the figure of Puki disappeared that the man snapped back to reality. He panted heavily, his gaze falling on the woman struggling in the pool of blood, then looked at the Cross Thorns dropped on the ground.
He picked up the bloody weapon, turned away, stepping toward the armless, pale-faced Lavina, a heartfelt happy smile slowly squeezing out on his face.
...
The scouting team paused on the forest path.
"Is it really okay just letting Fourteen go alone?" Inanna looked towards where the Sword Saint disappeared, her brow revealing obvious worry.
Ten showed no concern, even somewhat disgruntled: "It's that guy who can't distinguish task priorities who acted on his own. Our primary duty is to guard you, eradicating the cult is utterly irrelevant!"
Four, held in Inanna's arms, didn't speak, just squirmed restlessly.
Inanna sensed its thoughts, released it, and said: "Little Four, I'm not very reassured about Fourteen. Can you go check it out for me?"
"Yay... Oh, no." Four instantly bounced up, then pretended to be serious, tapping Inanna's shoulder with a tentacle like an old sage, "Don't worry, Pink Puki, leave this trivial task to this mushroom."
After speaking, it eagerly chased after the direction the Sword Saint Puki departed earlier, leaving a trail of cheerful "Puki" sounds.
Seeing this, Ten said no more, just moved closer to Inanna, magic power ready to burst.
...
Elsewhere, at the time Four set off, the Sword Saint Puki already caught up with the cult's convoy.
The two black robed followers at the end sensed the change, turned abruptly, their hands poised with poisoned short blades and conjured spells yet to be released, suddenly froze, their heads slowly severing from their necks, falling to the ground along with their bodies.
"Puki again!" Charon turned, about to deal with the Sword Saint Puki.
A hand clad in armor blocked him.
"Sir?" Charon was dumbfounded.
"You're not a match. Command the convoy to disperse and retreat, I'll handle it."
"Disperse and retreat?" Charon couldn't hide his shock, because this meant Lord Seral didn't have absolute confidence in victory.
Wasn't the opponent just a Puki?
"Hurry up!" Seral growled quietly, no further explanation.
He reversed his grip on the black greatsword carried, left the team, blocking the Sword Saint Puki's pursuit path.
In the forest clearing, soon only the confrontation between man and mushroom remained.
Elvyn now felt terribly uncomfortable.
Using Qi Sensitivity, it wasn't difficult to detect that this guy right in front was the strongest among these cultists. He could show off a bit.
Normally at this time, he'd ask a question or two.
But Puki couldn't speak, and the opponent wasn't within the Fungal Network.
Uncomfortable.
Thus, without much words, there was only swordplay.
Its tentacle cleverly wrapped around the scabbard, drawing out a sword continuously dripping with flowing water.
The tentacle flicked, a nearly invisible water line sliced through the air, shooting towards Seral!
Seral's massive form exhibited unexpected swiftness, suddenly evading to the side.
Yet the water line appeared gentle, but was actually extremely fierce, its speed exceeding expectations.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal being easily sliced, Seral's hefty shoulder armor was precisely cut off at the corner, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.
Such terrifying attack.
Seral realized, the expensive armor on his body, in front of this Puki, probably offered no advantages other than slowing him down, yet now was not the time to take off the armor.
Seral summoned all his Level 12 strength, however, the four-sword Puki opposite had shrunk its body into a sphere?
[Rolling Charge Level 10]
[Extreme Sword]
The tentacles holding the sword danced wildly, and even the leaves where Sword Saint Puki rolled past were sliced into countless pieces.
However, Seral didn't suffer much damage; he managed to evade in time, blocking two swords at the edge, and Sword Saint Puki flew straight across.
Sword Saint Puki halted in the distance.
It's quite difficult to make turns while swinging the sword...
On his first attempt, the Sword Saint showed little emotion despite failure, contemplating numerous combinations.
Elvyn just hoped this opponent wouldn't die too quickly!
Seral's black greatsword frequently collided with Sword Saint Puki's four swords, creating a sharp metallic clatter as dense as a downpour!
However, a feeling of humiliation arose within Seral's heart.
With continued clashes, he clearly sensed the opponent still held back.
He, Seral, the blessed one, was being used as a living testing post by a mere Puki!
Yet the cruel chasm of strength lay brutally before his eyes.
When the Puki wielded only one sword, he had to exert all his strength just to maneuver.
And when another three tentacles wielded sword hilts, the inhuman, bizarre sword paths completely disrupted his rhythm; if the opponent hadn't been in no rush to kill him, he would have been torn to pieces already.
But, he was not without the power to resist; he was waiting...
It's coming!
The Sword Saint Puki contracted his body and swiftly shot forward like a spring; meanwhile, the tentacles themselves demonstrated stunning elasticity, transforming into a barely discernible rapid thrust, directly targeting Seral's chest!
This strike combined the explosive power of a leap and the eerie trajectory of a tentacle thrust — fast, accurate, and fierce — blocking most evasion angles.
Although, he never intended to evade!
Two longswords pierced into his chest, the impact damaging internal organs, pressing him backward relentlessly.
However, beneath Seral's faceplate, an eerie blue flame ignited, and virtually at the same instant, such flame surged from the blade of the black greatsword.
The flame had no temperature, yet emanated a chilling aura of life-devouring.
The blessed one!
The Sword Saint immediately recognized this entity before him.
A ponderously heavy horizontal slash, sweeping at the airborne Sword Saint Puki!
But Puki still had two swords.
Crossing sword edges, leveraging the force of recoil, Sword Saint Puki released the two swords still embedded in Seral, escaping the sweep's range.
However, it wasn't without result.
One of Sword Saint Puki's short legs still caught this flame; mycelium was withering and burning at a visibly rapid pace...
Yet, before Seral's face beneath the mask could show a hint of a smile, Sword Saint Puki chopped off that part of the mushroom body.
At the severed portion, the mycelium squirmed, recovering at a visibly rapid pace.
Temporarily balancing on one foot, Elvyn grew increasingly satisfied with this Puki form.
Besides being somewhat short and inconvenient for carrying swords, it was nearly all advantages.
If a human body had come into contact with this blue flame, it would have been quite troublesome.
Puki was much more convenient; wherever the flame touched, just cut it off, since it would grow back in no time.
Moreover, Puki's body was light; even if both legs were cut off, it could still move freely with tentacles.
But this is a tough situation for Seral.
Intending to kill with injury, only to achieve loneliness.
Seriously wounded, he couldn't even serve as a proper punching bag.
As expected, Sword Saint Puki no longer held back, tiptoed across the ground, spinning like a top past Seral.
"Death is nothing but a return... to the afterlife..." The head of this blessed one fell to the ground.
A decent punching bag; its feel almost matched Shi Wu's, thought the speechless Sword Saint Puki, silently appraising in his heart, then proceeded to chase the remaining cultists.
...
...
...
Sword Saint Puki and Number Four returned to the envoy team in succession.
The Sword Saint Puki's mushroom cap stretched open, four tentacles mimicking the trajectory of sword moves, seemingly retaining the lingering charm of its previous sword swing — it had already begun contemplating new maneuvers.
Number Four, however, wasn't happy.
It flung itself into Inanna's open embrace, its mushroom cap drooping listlessly.
After sprinting the entire way, it didn't encounter a single enemy; the slow-running cultists had been thoroughly cleared by Fourteen, while the fast-running ones couldn't be caught by its short legs.
Falsely excited, it ultimately brought back only a bellyful of frustration and could now only nestle in Inanna's arms, tentacles casually curling her hair ends, sulking alone.
Beside the envoy team, over a dozen disheveled figures appeared.
They are the survivors, each dazed, evidently greatly frightened, but except for the leading man, none suffered visible injuries.
They expressed tearful gratitude to Inanna: "Thank you, my lord, thank you... warriors of the Mushroom Race..."
Eugene first kowtowed to Sword Saint Puki, then turned to Inanna: "I am Eugene, a poison master, rescued from the hands of the Death God by you and this warrior of the Mushroom Race. If you do not mind, I am willing to devote this body and remaining years entirely to you. No matter your orders, even if the path ahead is burning thorns or a frozen abyss, I shall not hesitate!"