Vol 2 Chapter 175: The Death Hand’s Weakness
Continuing deeper into the Blood-Limbed Forest, Sylutia began encountering all kinds of strange lifeforms, including single-winged leaf-like birds, eight-legged ground crawlers, and black-red one-eyed serpent creatures. The sheer biodiversity was eye-opening.
At this mont, a monster happened upon Sylutia in the forest; the creature was also Third Tier.
Child of the Abyss (Third Tier·Nightmare)
Its appearance resembled a dead human infant, with tattered fleshy winged appendages on its back that allowed it to fly slowly over the Twilight Sea. It specialized in terrifying enemies and used ntal-type attacks. Its skin was purplish-red, limbs thin and bony, facial features cramped together; when it opened its mouth to scream, sharp teeth showed. The mont this "Child of the Abyss" saw Sylutia, it charged at the girl viciously and let out an insidious laugh.
That laugh carried a psychic attack that caused surrounding creatures to panic in fear. So Third Tier monsters hearing it withdrew, unwilling to approach, and so lower-tier creatures fainted outright.
On the other side, Sylutia felt an evil ntal shock hit her mind. Although she resisted it, she still felt a bit nauseous.
This thing was indeed dangerous. Her gaze fixed on it, golden light appearing in her pupils.
Gaze of Awe
In her golden irises, layered afterimages seed to erge, breaking through the Child of the Abyss’s ntal defenses. Its brain instantly short-circuited, and it fell out of the sky, crashing to the ground, dizzy and unable to stand.
When it finally regained enough clarity to try to flee, its body suddenly stiffened as if frozen.
Lock Within the Pupil
Invisible chains appeared in Sylutia’s sight, pinning the Child of the Abyss in place.
Evil Eye Shot
One by one, purple eye-patterns hovered in the air, firing brilliant beams that pierced the child’s body and tore it apart.
Afterwards, a black crystal orb rolled out of the Child of the Abyss’s corpse.
Soon, a gloved hand carefully picked the orb up from the dirt.
Sylutia examined the orb closely, analyzing its function.
Nightmare Crystal Orb (Third Tier·Rare) — an item infused with Nightmare Aspect, usable for curses and ntal-corrosion tools, or as an offering in rituals. Although the orb contained the Nightmare Aspect, it was unstable and difficult to make into lasting equipnt; it was suited only for one-ti consumable use.
Sylutia shook her head. Even though it was Third Tier, the orb’s value was only about two hundred gold coins.
She stored it away in a special sealed stone box for isolation, then continued onward.
Her eyes blinked; one iris shifted from blue to verdant green, and a strange spectrum appeared in her vision.
It was the trace of a Blood Fruit; from afar she saw a faint special red spectrum that carried both the alluring maturity of fruit and the viscous warmth of blood.
Let’s go see, the girl quickened her pace.
The closer she got to the Blood Fruit, the more monsters she encountered. She even saw so creatures fighting along the way. At that mont, two Third Tier monsters were struggling right in front of her.
Star-Spotted Leopard (Third Tier·Alien Star)
A leopard harnessing Alien Star power, its coat speckled with starlight that shimred. It could slip through folds of space, and its claws had a slight space-rending effect.
Death Hand (Third Tier·Dead Embers)
A monster born from the resentnt of death creatures, it harbors inexplicable jealousy and hatred toward the living. After grabbing a target with its fingers, it greedily absorbs the victim’s life force, converting it into Dead Embers power, then fills itself with the corpse.
On the left, the leopard leapt onto a rock to avoid the Death Hand’s attack. It was two sizes larger than any tiger Sylutia had known, but its build was nimble rather than brute-force. A faint white light shimred on its sharp claws, giving off a dangerous impression.
On the right was a gigantic palm as tall as an elephant. Its main palm had seven thick fingers, and multiple small palms were attached to its side in a grotesque assembly. Each finger moved independently, as if searching for prey by so sensory instinct. Judging by the thickness of those fingers, escape would be nearly impossible if it grabbed soone.
Once again the leopard attacked. It stepped into the fold of space and vanished in place, then suddenly reappeared at the Death Hand’s side-rear. Its sharp claws tore four long gashes into the palm, exposing twisted dark-red muscle and pale bone.
After being struck, the palm retaliated quickly, but the leopard vanished again and dodged the counterattack, then reappeared on the other side and struck anew.
After several such exchanges, multiple wounds had appeared on the palm, and the leopard was starting to breathe heavily.
The giant Death Hand did not react slowly; the Star-Spotted Leopard had to use spatial traversal every ti to avoid being hit, but that ability consud a lot of energy. It also had to use its space-rending claws to tear through the opponent’s thick leathery dead skin.
Unfortunately, the Death Hand was not a living creature; it had no flowing blood. Superficial wounds were not fatal.
After multiple clashes, the leopard’s stamina was greatly depleted and it noticeably slowed down.
Judging it might lose, the leopard gave a low cry, then turned and fled, soon vanishing into the Blood-Limbed Forest.
With the prey gone, the giant Death Hand beca unbearably enraged, especially at the various tear wounds of different sizes on its body, as if they were an insult.
It turned and grabbed several hiding lower-tier creatures nearby. The palm crushed their bones; at the mont of their deaths, as if completing a ritual, the 'Bloodline' Aspect contained within them instantly converted into Dead Embers Aspect, which it absorbed.
After repeatedly feeding like this, the wounds on its body gradually healed.
Although it showed no obvious intelligence, this instinct was terrifying, Sylutia observed from a distance with awe.
If she were to fight this monster, what approach should she take?
"Parasitic plants of the Verdant Nectar Aspect? No. This thing has no blood; its body is filled with dead power veins and bones. Any seed entering would likely be corroded and destroyed.
"Spiral Spear piercing attacks? They would have so effect, but not great. Its massive fra and dead nature an being pierced through the heart wouldn’t stop it from moving.
"Giant vine binding? Difficult. Its size and strength would require enormous energy to restrain, making it an inefficient tactic.
"It seems many Verdant Nectar thods are ineffective against a Dead Embers Aspect creature; they feel countered.
"If I switch to the Scorching Sun Aspect, I might gain so advantage, though not decisively. Worse, a lower-tier Scorching Sun could be absorbed and converted by it.
"The Dead Embers Aspect in this world isn’t just plain death; it contains the concept of burned remnants. It’s what remains after life has been burned away. It does not directly conflict with the life-vitality represented by Scorching Sun; rather, it’s the continuation and inverse of life’s future.
"What truly opposes it? How can one restrain Dead Embers?" Sylutia pondered.
If Dead Embers creatures were lives that had gone astray, then restoring them to proper repose—returning them to tranquil death—might be their end. Who, then, wielded that power?
The answer was the serene, clear Luminous Moon.
As the soft, calm side of light, the Luminous Moon is especially pure and clear. It lacks the mixed life heat of the Scorching Sun and does not interfere with a thing’s developnt; it simply reveals things in their true form. Used as an offensive thod it might be weak, but in certain domains it was exceptionally powerful.
Calm and focused, Sylutia summoned a long spear carved from a verdant tree branch. Its tip slowly twisted, faint lightning flickering across it. Then the spear shot forward, piercing through the giant palm’s center and exposing a hollow wound full of bone and twisted veins.
Sylutia pressed her hands together. An enlarged silhouette identical to her posture rose behind her, ford from countless light motes. The girl wore flowing garnts and held a water vial in one hand, standing with closed eyes in prayer. Clear water poured from the bottle’s mouth.
A crystalline stream traced a spiral path, washing across the giant palm and entering through the pierced hollow into its interior. The palm, previously furious, trembled with terror; its body seed to co apart and slowly collapsed, finally breaking into countless shards of white bone and raglike veins.
The embers were extinguished by pure water, finally returning to tranquil dust.
Afterward, Sylutia stepped slowly among the shattered bones and followed a faint sense to a single remaining special bone.
Its appearance had shifted from pale to a faint translucent jade color, and its aura was especially peaceful.
Tranquil Bone Jade (Second Tier·Rare); an uncommon special jade piece imbued with a calming aura, usable to soothe certain frenzied souls. It can also be fashioned into a unique ornant to increase ntal stability.
Most of the Dead Embers Aspect power had been purified and disintegrated into dust; only this refined remnant remained. Its tier was below Third Tier, but its quality had improved significantly.
Sylutia wiped the dirt off, carefully touched the warm jade bone, and put it away.
As others had said, this area was indeed dangerous, but it also contained resources hard to obtain elsewhere.
Keep moving. She still had many abilities left to test and try.
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