Chapter 17 Fallen Species of the Dark Level! Holy Sword Upgrade, [Holy Grail] and [...]

Following Chen Xingzhi's words, Du Yu was suddenly startled.

Mingming You Shi's origins were highly suspicious, but she hadn't even remembered his existence until Chen Xingzhi spoke up!

Her perception has been distorted!

Even without considering the enhancement of her divine status, her mental strength is still at level A. In the system's words, she has already reached the pinnacle of mortals. Just how powerful must her mental strength be to deceive her perception?

[Gurgle! It's the scent of ￥…*…%#.]

166 seemed to have just noticed You Shi as well. The feathers on the back of his neck bristled, and when he realized that the prompt he had given had turned into gibberish, his voice even carried a hint of anger:

[Guh, players, please spread your faith as soon as possible, upgrade your altars, and smash...*...%#!!!]

It's astonishing that 166, who's usually treated like a tool, could get this angry. Du Yu imitated that strange voice: "What is that ￥…*…%#?"

[It's just ￥…*…%#, please upgrade your altar as soon as possible!]

After listening to that strange gibberish for a while, Du Yu got a little dizzy and didn't ask any more questions. Sometimes, not being able to answer is also an answer.

"Dali! Stop her!"

When Lao Cai saw You Shi's current appearance, his pupils contracted sharply, and cold sweat poured down his face.

Without needing any further instructions from Lao Cai, Alia's finger was already on the trigger, and the dark red illusory flames in her palm burst into flames, making the bullet fire with the force of an artillery shell.

You Shi paused for a moment, then slowly turned around. An amber vortex occupied most of his face, leaving only a smiling mouth. What was revealed when the mouth opened and closed was not teeth and flesh, but a dark void that seemed to lead to nothingness.

"Sister Chen."

Yu Shi seemed to sigh, and gently placed his hand on the closed iron door. "Although... but you know I don't want to go against you. We have different goals, so why don't you just pretend you didn't see it?"

"boom--"

The shell exploded in the confined space. Yu Shi stretched out a hand, and the shockwave made her clothes rustle. Her hand, with barbs on the fingertips, floated quietly in the air.

With a slight bend of his finger, he flicked it like a duster, and the bullet, radiating terrifying heat and light, instantly collapsed into a piece of scrap metal, falling to the ground with a crisp sound.

"The scent of war is perfect for exploring the fog, but unfortunately, my sister was a bit unlucky to run into me here."

A half-smile played on her lips beneath the vortex, which, like her eyes, curved slightly. Her outstretched hand fell, and Yuuto turned her face away. A twisted light flashed beneath her hand resting on the door, and the black vortex rapidly expanded, engulfing the five-meter-high alloy iron door in mere moments!

"grumble!"

A familiar, but sharper, cry emanated from within the vortex. Yuuto stepped aside, making room for him.

First came a dense array of thick tentacles, then crawled out of a slippery, giant chunk of flesh, and a ferocious monster couldn't wait to squeeze out of the vortex!

The monster was somewhat similar to the one they had killed at the entrance of the research institute, but it was larger, had more ferocious tentacles, and what hung from its tail was not a fleshy ball, but three huge human heads facing different directions with different expressions!

Through the monster's translucent flesh, three thick, wriggling white maggots could be seen, their shape somewhat resembling a human spine at first glance.

You witnessed the existence of [ ][ ], your mind was shaken, and you are forced to undergo a willpower test...

[The talent [Golden Will - K] is active; you save this Willpower roll!]

[As a god, you are forced to strengthen your will. This experience has humiliated you greatly, and you have been given a limited-time buff, [Divine Humiliation, Subject's Death], which reduces the believer's sanity by 3 points and increases the amount of faith points gained by 30%.]

Du Yu:?

What humiliation? Why is the system that's been secretly spying on her giving her more screen time? But judging from the effect of this buff, the game system is clearly urging her to level up, just like 166.

Du Yu's mind raced, and he suddenly crouched down to dodge. A tentacle more than a meter thick slammed heavily behind him, piercing half a meter away with a "thud".

Without bothering to think about why the monster wasn't attacking Chen Xingzhi and You Shi, Du Yu manipulated "Xiao Ran" with amazing agility, dodging the tentacle attacks one after another, and rushed towards Cat Beard and the others.

These are all her precious potential followers; she can't afford to let anything happen to them!

Unlike Du Yu, who had a willpower exemption, they froze in place the moment the monster appeared.

The first to regain her senses was Shen Xijing. She had just escaped the terror when the monster's tentacles were already within reach!

Having no other choice, she gritted her teeth, clasped her hands together, and then quickly separated them. A pink bubble trembled and flew out from her hands, enveloping everyone inside. With a "smack," it was whipped away by the tentacles!

The bubble trembled violently, and after rolling once upon landing, the pressure seemed to reach a critical point, causing it to burst with a "pop." Shen Xijing's face turned pale, and a trace of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"cough……"

Old Cai spat out a mouthful of bitter, powdery liquid, and was the second to regain consciousness. Her eyes were unfocused for a moment, and after recognizing the monster, her face turned extremely pale:

"【Twilight】! It's a Twilight-level monster!"

"What?!"

Shen Xijing opened her eyes wide in horror, feeling a tightness in her chest, and almost vomited blood again.

A monster of the "dusk" level means that the creature has completely gone astray, embraced madness, and has completed its fall, utterly altering its old life form!

Those with weak wills are prone to madness simply by facing the Fallen Ones. Even the lowest level of the Fallen Ones, [Drowsy], requires at least three A-rank ability users working together to defeat!

Aren't these monsters only supposed to appear in rifts far removed from civilization? How incredibly lucky must they be to encounter them here!

There was no time for shock now that things had come to this. Shen Xijing barely managed to calm the tremors in her mental space, staggered to Cat Whiskers' side, and a light pink halo appeared in her palm, slowly covering the girl's eyes, which were wide open and only the whites of her eyes were visible.

"Heh, heh..."

Cat Whiskers seemed to wake from a deep nightmare, gripping Shen Xijing's hand tightly. He sat up abruptly, his pupils rolling back, the cold sweat still clinging to his forehead. Sensing the sudden gust of wind, his voice sharp:

"good luck!"

"Thump!"

The monster seemed to stumble slightly, and its tentacles, which were originally rushing towards the two, veered off course for a moment, crashing to the ground less than half a meter away from them.

Shen Xijing picked up the weakened cat whiskers, turned around and her eyes widened suddenly: "Watch your back!"

Old Cai woke Aliya up, and the two of them were trying to shake the unconscious Wenren Qiu when several tentacles attacked them!

Even though Alia had already blown up three, there were still too many! The monster seemed to have its sights set on them, and dozens of tentacles were attacking them!

Caught off guard, a tentacle slammed into Alia's back at a tricky angle. The force of the tentacle was so great that even an A-level ability user probably couldn't withstand it!

Old Cai also noticed Alia's danger, a black light flashing in his eyes, but he was a step too late—

"Whoosh!"

A bright golden longsword slashed down from the void, the blade flashing and severing one of the monster's tentacles!

"Great stuff!" Du Yu's eyes lit up, and he quickly put the tentacles into his backpack.

During the Spirit Realm roaming, most of the system's functions are available, except for the backpack, which has a restriction: during the Spirit Realm roaming, the backpack can only store and retrieve items with "spirituality".

The definition of "spirituality" is very vague. Du Yu tried everything in his backpack, but the only thing he could take out was the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade.

The only difference is that the name of the sword has changed after it is taken out: [Name: Bloodthirsty Holy Sword → Soul-Stealing Holy Sword (Spiritual State)], and the "Blood Drinking" trait has also been changed to "Spirit Stealing": it can steal the spiritual energy near the wound to repair itself during battle.

Can a knife also have a spirit form?

Du Yu stroked the Soul-Stealing Holy Blade, its blade now gleaming gold. Several thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. At the same time, he and Aliya worked together to slash off several tentacles and put them into their backpacks.

The longsword hummed softly throughout the battle, its hilt growing increasingly hot. As if sensing this, Du Yu, after severing another tentacle, did not put it back in his backpack but instead inserted the sword into it.

The tentacles, like oranges placed in an oven, quickly shriveled up. In contrast, the blade of the Soul-Stealing Holy Blade grew brighter and brighter, as if it had broken through some critical point. The light instantly subsided, and a row of intricate patterns was engraved on the back of the blade.

[Ding! Congratulations! Your synthesized item [Spirit-Stealing Holy Blade (Spirit Realm State)] has absorbed enough extraordinary elements and completed its upgrade! Level E→C]

Jumping two levels in a row! Du Yu was overjoyed, feeling that the longsword had become even more comfortable to handle. Was it because the enemy's level was too high this time?

"Huh?"

The upgrade to the longsword took only a few seconds, yet it still attracted unnecessary attention.

Leaning lazily against the outside of the vortex, as if waiting for something, Yuu suddenly straightened up, looking at Touyu through the vortex. "It's the aura of the Holy Grail, but it's incomplete. Interesting. So the clue to the Holy Grail is with you?"

Chen Xingzhi finished his cigarette and didn't smoke another. He put his hand on the fire to warm it, paying no attention to the hideous monster.

She glanced at the golden knife, then turned to look at You Shi, her tone indifferent: "Don't do anything unnecessary. What you just did was already bordering on the wrong thing."

"Hmph, Sister Chen, am I that kind of person in your heart?"

Yu Shi looked away, twirling a strand of hair between his fingers, his tone ambiguous: "Why should I help those idiots find something? It'll be more fun if they can't find anything~"

They didn't lower their voices as they spoke, and both frowned as they glanced at the knives in their hands. What was the Holy Grail? It shouldn't be a C-grade item that had caught their attention.

Is it related to the dark gold metal fragment added during the synthesis?

Noting down this method that might help the Holy Blade evolve quickly, Du Yu took advantage of the monster attacks being less frequent and looked at Shen Xijing, who seemed hesitant to speak: "Is there something you want to say to me?"

Although the unknown entity that created the container added the effect of "easily overlooked anomalies", Du Yu is now completely unpretentious. She's practically making a sign that I have a problem and putting it on her forehead. If they can't find out "Xiao Ran's" problem, they won't accept any more commissions.

"You...you are Bishop D?"

Are believers really that sensitive to the aura of deities?

Du Yu raised an eyebrow, determined to play the role of a riddle master, and controlled "Xiao Ran" to smile and say, "Yes and no."

"ah……"

Shen Xijing scratched her head, her gaze blank, clearly unable to understand. An aged voice came from her arms:

"You've been following us ever since we entered the rift?"

After the anomaly was exposed, the disordered memories returned to normal. What disobedient intern? They didn't even have that person!

"Xiao Ran" appeared suddenly after they entered the rift and joined their group very naturally.

Du Yu, under the suspicious gaze of the cat-whisker, offered no explanation, but instead pointed to the still unconscious Wenren Qiu, and said meaningfully:

"I entered this container because I heard the cries of the lost along the way... It was she who had been following you with ulterior motives all along."

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Author's Note: Dudu: To question riddle makers, to understand riddle makers, and to become a riddle maker.