Chapter 68 The Bones of God (2) I neither want to die, nor do I want to change...
This time, Xia Ying didn't hesitate any longer and decisively drew out the [Dragon Slayer Pact] and slashed at Lilith.
The longsword shattered the round table, destroying the scene depicting the death of the god. Lilith flapped her wings, but was slapped down by the giant dog before she could take flight.
Cerberus pinned down one of Lilith's wings with his claws, and Xia Ying stepped forward from behind him, her sword tip hovering over Lilith's chest.
"You're being very rude," Xia Ying said, frowning. "I almost forgot my purpose... Don't you have a magical artifact called the 'Broken Key'? Hand it over now."
Lilith fell to the ground, gave her a slightly embarrassed smile, and pulled a metal fragment from the void: "Is this what you mean?"
Xia Ying looked closely and said, "That's right, it is..."
Before she could finish speaking, Lilith tossed the shards at her. Xia Ying's attention shifted slightly, and she instinctively raised her hand to catch the shards. A notification sound immediately followed:
"Beep! All the [Broken Keys] have been collected... You have lost the [Broken Key]... Beep! You have obtained the [Complete Key]!"
At the same moment, Lilith rammed into Xia Ying's longsword, tearing her wings at the blade's edge, breaking free from Cerberus's claws, and pounced on Xia Ying.
"!!"
The shadow beneath Cerberus's feet swiftly pursued Lilith, but it was still a step slower. Lilith's fingertips had already touched Xia Ying, and the spatial magic she released engulfed Xia Ying and herself, escaping the prison space.
Xia Ying felt as if she had been lifted up by a gust of wind, and then Cerberus's shouts suddenly faded away. She was thrown into the air and then fell downwards.
She quickly summoned wind-attribute magic to lift her body, finally landing safely at the last moment. Then she raised her face, surprised by the scene before her, and asked, "What's going on?"
Before Xia Ying were not only the Demon Lord and four Ring Domain Kings, but also three other unfamiliar abyssal creatures. She fell into the center of the circular conference table in full view of everyone, completely bewildered by the current situation.
Before anyone could answer Xia Ying's question, Lilith appeared in the moonlight, her damaged wings completely healed under its glow.
Lilith's appearance seemed to herald some kind of omens. The cycle of March took an unusual turn, with the Bloodscar Moon replacing the Necromancer Moon as the dominant force. The moonlight suddenly turned from blue to red, and numerous holes appeared in the sky from which countless viruses poured down.
Just before chaos erupted, Xia Ying heard a familiar snap of fingers, and then everything was frozen in the instant the building was about to collapse.
In the unsettling silence, Xia Ying watched as the Demon Lord approached her, her expression remaining calm.
Before he could speak, Xia Ying suddenly said, "I hate that expression of yours."
The Demon Lord paused slightly, and Xia Ying continued, "It's as if everyone is your puppet, and everything is under your control."
“Lilith has probably already told you part of the truth.” The Demon Lord was not angered by her and maintained a fairly calm attitude, which Xia Ying found extremely annoying. “Then, still out of goodwill, I will give you a chance to choose.”
Xia Ying asked him, "What choice?"
“First, you can accept your fate here, which is to merge with the fragments that Lilith represents and resurrect the last god,” he said. “Second, you can choose to continue struggling, but that means you will face endless battles and death, and the outcome will not change.”
Xia Ying stood up, carrying the Dragon-Slaying Sword: "You know which one I'll choose."
The Demon Lord nodded slightly, indicating that he understood her decision.
“You knew all along what was going to happen tonight,” Xia Ying said confidently. “You could even say that you deliberately orchestrated this situation, whether it was putting Lilith in the underground prison or allowing me into Cocytus.”
The Demon Lord remained silent. Xia Ying gazed into his beautiful diamond-shaped pupils, but perhaps the long years had left a deep enough accumulation in those eyes, as Xia Ying still could not find any trace of emotion within them.
“Abyssal creatures usually have very straightforward desires, but you are different from them.”
So she continued to ask.
"Tartarus, do you want to resurrect the god to atone for your sin because you regret killing him? If not, what is the point of everything you have done?"
This time, Tartarus finally responded to her words.
“I have never regretted killing the gods,” he said. “The reason I brought all this to fruition is because I once signed an extremely unfavorable contract.”
Xia Ying wanted to ask more questions, but Tartarus suddenly stretched out a finger and gently pressed it against Xia Ying's forehead.
“Alright, my dear lady, I have one last piece of advice.” Tartarus’s voice was gentle. “Get to the Secret Room before you are torn to pieces.”
Xia Ying looked up at him and nodded.
"Okay." He counted down, "Three..."
Xia Ying's gaze passed over him, looking at Lilith and the virus in the air, then quickly returned to observe the expressions and states of the abyssal creatures in front of the conference table.
"two."
She gripped her longsword tightly, and the magical artifacts on her body began to glow.
"one."
Time began to pass again, and Lilith gave orders to her army of viruses: "Seize the [container], and destroy Cocytus."
The virus fell in the blood-red moonlight, and Xia Ying shot out like an arrow.
The instant she moved, Nidhogg's fangs clanged together, striking empty air where she had been standing. Xia Ying turned around and met the black dragon's eyes, which had lost their rationality under the influence of the Bloodscarred Moon.
The thrill of chasing its prey made the black dragon even more ferocious. With a speed disproportionate to its size, it rapidly closed the distance between itself and Xia Ying, uttering heavy whispers from its throat as it chanted dragon magic.
As the terrifying energy beam surged forth, a pale flame suddenly illuminated the sky. Fafnir stood resolutely in front of the black dragon, blocking her path of pursuit.
Fafnir interrupted her: "Don't look back, run!"
Fafnir was right; she truly had no time to hesitate.
Seizing the precious window he had gained, Xia Ying jumped from the Demon Lord's conference room to the ground. As she fell, she used every second to open the map function of the [Student Handbook] and search for the [Library].
The search results appeared quickly, but then came the message: "You have not yet obtained space teleportation permission."
Since I can't get there by teleportation, I'll just have to go there myself.
Xia Ying confirmed the location of the [Library] on the Cocytus map, quickly changed the wind direction, and sped towards the marked location.
Charybdis's gaze never left Xia Ying, and even as she walked away without looking back, he continued to watch her retreating figure.
Nevertheless, he did not stop writing runes. Finally, just as Xia Ying's figure disappeared, he withdrew his gaze and made the last stroke in an extremely complex magic circle.
A hemispherical protective barrier rose above Cocytus, blocking the viruses that had not yet entered. Charybdis continued to pour magic into the magic circle, and runes climbed up the barrier to the top, launching them at the virus swarm, instantly shattering it and creating an opening.
However, the virus surged in relentlessly like a tidal wave, quickly filling the gaps.
As the magic circle continuously drained Charybdis's magic power, on the other side of the conference table, Lord Yaksha observed his actions and asked with great interest, "Very effective magic. Is this a law you created to target the weaknesses of the virus?"
“Mostly yes, but the Demon Lord added a crucial element.” Charybdis turned to her. “And you, Lady, what are you observing?”
“I am still searching for the most suitable position in this chaos,” Yaksha replied. “In my opinion, it is best not to make any rash moves before the objectives of both sides are fully clear.”
Charybdis smiled and said, "A very wise move..."
Yaksha then said, "However, the other two lords don't seem to think so."
Charybdis suddenly noticed that Yaksha was the only lord remaining at the conference table at that moment.
Nidhogg the Black Dragon is engaged in a fierce battle with Fafnir... but what about the other one?
Where did that most terrifying Typhon go?
####
Damn, Cocytus is so big.
Summer fireflies thought as they flew.
The location of the library is diagonally opposite to her current position; to get there, Xia Ying would have to cross almost half of Cocytus...
Wait a minute! It's not like there's absolutely no way to take a shortcut!
Xia Ying chose the teleportation point closest to the [Library] within the Crimson Crown Ring, immediately shortening the distance to her destination. As she landed, a voice rang out in surprise.
"Xia Ying!!!"
"Cerberus!" Xia Ying immediately looked in the direction of the voice and saw Cerberus and Fenrir running towards her together. "Ah, Fenrir is here too!"
“We just happened to run into them.” Cerberus explained simply, “Xia Ying, the moon phase has turned into blood scabs for some reason, and the other abyssal creatures also look very strange… Even on the Night of Slaughter, they are not usually this irrational.”
He glanced at Fenrir: "However, neither I nor this guy were affected."
Looking at the commotion in the distance, Fenrir suddenly said, "They seem to be being consumed by desire."
Cerberus paused, then asked, "Why? Isn't this only something that happens when someone is about to die?"
A vague guess formed in Xia Ying's mind: "Could the moon... be the Bloodscarred Moon absorbing the life force of the abyssal creatures? And then using it to revive something?"
Fenrir did not understand what she was saying, but Cerberus, who had witnessed the death of the gods with her, vaguely understood her meaning.
He asked eagerly, "Then what will you do?"
"I don't know," Xia Ying answered honestly, "but I don't want to die, nor do I want to become someone else."
Cerberus made up his mind: "Then, I..."
Black flames suddenly erupted, enveloping the three of them. Xia Ying asked in confusion, "Ke'er, what's wrong?"
The demon hound didn't answer, but instead stared intently at the black flame beside it with wide eyes.
"Not Cerberus."
Fenrir struggled to remain calm amid the resurfacing nightmares, yet he still felt his very strength to stand eroded by fear.
"Typhon is coming."
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