Chapter 352: The Choice

Chapter 352: The Choice

“Huff… Are these people trying to wear us down?” Carlin leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. He knew very well what effect panting had on an Infiltrator during combat, but he could not control his state right now. True, there were many non-Demon Sword Cultists in this Town, but… the number of Demon Sword Cultists was also considerable!

Besides the few power ful Demon Sword Cultists earlier, dozens more not-weak ones had appeared one after another. They were extremely cautious and never acted rashly. They had basically pushed him step-by-step to this point. Annoyingly, he had not achieved any real results. It was as if something was specifically guiding their real-time combat tactics.

Several perfectly executed attacks in a row yielded disappointingly poor results; he had only managed to severely wound a few Demon Sword Cultists. Yet, these wounded Cultists quickly recovered after their companions performed Blood Essence sharing. Even if not fully healed, their mobility was largely unaffected. This was pure cheating! Carlin never imagined that Demon Sword Cultists could be so troublesome when fighting collectively!

He had also never seen them use Blood Essence sharing to rapidly heal their comrades. Thinking about it, since Demon Sword Cultists could absorb and perfectly digest the blood of other creatures, absorbing the blood of their own kind—especially Blood Essence that was transformed and not used for attack—should be even easier for them.

Facing a siege of dozens was already pressure enough. Now, these people could even share life to some extent. Unless an attack was instantly fatal, killing an enemy was basically out of the question. Wounding them? Utterly pointless!

What puzzled Carlin was that these people’s attack intent was not strong. They seemed more focused on draining him… Stalling for time?

Snapping back to reality, Carlin realized a long time had passed since he was surrounded…

“Alright, everyone withdraw,” a steady voice said. In Carlin’s perception, the figures that had gradually closed in around him, squeezing his movement space, all left at the same moment. Only the speaker remained. “You may leave and continue your business. Remember, do not leak any information about this Town. It will bring no benefit to the target you are protecting.”

As soon as the words fell, the last figure in Carlin’s perception also vanished, leaving the area.

“Huff, huff… So humiliating.” Leaning against the wall, Carlin let out a slight sigh of relief and pulled his left hand, which was pressed against his back, free. Leaning against the wall did protect him from attacks from behind, but it was also a weakness. Not many could attack through walls, but facing him, anyone who dared try would definitely pay the price.

“Let’s go,” Karin said, without criticizing Carlin for being useless. The two of them were essentially one being. Being able to hold out until now was the result of both their efforts. The reason for their poor performance was simply due to unfavorable conditions. This place was the Demon Sword Cultists’ home turf, and their teamwork was indeed nearly perfect. Being dragged into this state was not strange.

“Tch, feel a bit irritated,” Carlin said, touching the Ring he wore. It contained two vials: a Fixation Potion and a Paralysis Potion. Using these potions, Carlin could definitely employ some self-damaging forbidden moves to take down… a portion of those Demon Sword Cultists. But Karin did not let him gamble with such things. She had sensed that the hostility of these Cultists was not intense.

They were specifically fighting to stall for time. Otherwise, if dozens of them charged together, just the effect of the coalescing Blood Essence mist—resembling a Containment Barrier—could cut off all his escape routes. Even if he could explode with power and take out ten or twenty then, how would that change the final outcome?

“No need for displeasure. We are not invincible,” Karin stated.

Carlin curled his lip, opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, bought a Magic Potion for accelerated stamina recovery, and gulped it down. Feeling his lead-heavy body ease significantly, he swiftly left the area. When he opened the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, he saw a message from his Boss: the protection target had long since left the Town!

“Hmm? It really is just an accessory?” Zheng Yichen, projected beside Lily, narrowed his eyes slightly as he examined the Magic Sword accessory he held. When active internally, his Assimilation Ability constantly took effect. Zheng Yichen was now quite familiar with this ability; his claws had become controllable, so he would not just assimilate anything he touched without thinking.

Through direct contact, Zheng Yichen could sense the power contained within it, but it was just that—a highly refined, special power. This power somewhat resembled the Evil God Essence he had encountered before; it should belong to the Evil God Apophis. In short, plunging this accessory-state Magic Sword into one’s body would indeed grant the power of the Demonic Sword Evil God. Furthermore, this power was extremely pure. Upon use, Lily could directly obtain Evil God’s Power far stronger than that of a Demon Sword Cultist!

This power… was not inferior to that of a High-tier Professional! The sheer quantity of power within already surpassed Carlin’s, and its purity exceeded Carlin’s Mana Quality. Even with some extra consumption, Lily could directly gain power comparable to a High-tier Professional after using this. It was no exaggeration. Power typically required hard training to obtain, but an Evil God’s Power was another matter!

If an Evil God was willing to bestow it, its followers could soar instantly. If an Evil God was willing to pay a heavy price, even to the point of severely weakening itself, it could create a follower with strength comparable to its own… After all, the initial purpose of those who created Evil Gods was to master a power akin to that of a god. They just bit off more than they could chew, leading to the current situation where Cults spread like weeds.

People seeking power are never few, and obtaining power from an Evil God is the fastest route. An Evil God’s growth is too easy. Under the right conditions, a few months could match decades, or even a century, of arduous training by others.

Thus, the Demonic Sword Evil God designating her as its Saintess was not an empty boast. At least, the pure power within this accessory proved the Demonic Sword Evil God had invested substantially… Zheng Yichen did not doubt whether Lily would have difficulty absorbing all this power… Let’s just say, followers empowered by an Evil God never died from overeating; they only became warped and unrecognizable from excessive influence by the Evil God’s Power.

Uh, to avoid that, better to be cautious.

“This thing can make you very strong… Well, at least it can save you five to ten years of training time,” Zheng Yichen said after some thought. Lily’s aptitude was not high. Without a Soul, her current aptitude was only reflected in her body. Her advantage lay in her body’s method of strengthening. Others relied on cultivated special power to enhance their bodies, while she did the opposite.

Even so, reaching the so-called ‘High-Rank’ was no joke for her; it required a very long period of accumulation. After all, phases recognized as ‘breakthroughs’ in this world were very, very few. Reaching the Tier for ordinary Professionals was one. After that, even if strength increased to ‘High-Rank,’ there was no such thing as a breakthrough; it all relied on one’s own hard work and innate aptitude for accumulation. Therefore, progressing from Reaching the Tier to High-Rank required even geniuses to grind their way up slowly.

This highlighted the importance of a good family background. At least, those from good backgrounds could begin Professional training from childhood. If luck and aptitude were both excellent, reaching the Tier around age eleven or twelve, then achieving High-Rank before thirty… someone like Carlin was not a rare case.

Regardless of the nature of the power inside, Zheng Yichen could remove any potential backdoors within, just like with the Undying Witch’s Power. After his assimilation, it was no longer her power. The Undying Witch could no longer control Lily through any homogenous power within her body because of its shared origin.

“If there’s anything dangerous hidden within, I can help you remove it too. So, do you choose to keep it?” If she were a child without her own opinions, he would have decided for her. But Lily had strong opinions, so Zheng Yichen left the decision to her.

“…Okay.” Lily hesitated for a while, then nodded.

“Good then.” Zheng Yichen channeled Mana into this Magic Sword accessory. This thing was itself a crystal formed from extremely pure, condensed power. Upon use, not even a trace would remain. Therefore, no invasive method was needed; simply pouring Mana in sufficed. It had no protective measures at all. Perhaps because the Demonic Sword Evil God’s origin was connected to him, the process went extremely smoothly, without the slightest interference…

There were no backdoor powers within the Magic Sword accessory either. It was simply a high-purity Power Crystal possessing the characteristics of an Evil God’s Power, essentially the same nature as Evil God Essence. Was the Demonic Sword Evil God truly planning a self-sacrificing act of cutting its own flesh?

This was a Magic Sword, not a holy sword. The Evil God born from it, even if different from other traditional Evil Gods, could hardly be expected to be a saintly, merciful type of Evil God. What a joke… However, confident in his own abilities, and given that ownership of this item had completely transferred, Zheng Yichen was not worried about any issues.

“Alright, you handle the rest yourself,” Zheng Yichen said, glancing into the distance. Carlin was approaching and would soon notice the situation here. Zheng Yichen shook his head, controlled this Projection, and dived into the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, dismissing the Projection.

He was also very curious… in what manner Lily, who lacked a Soul, would wield this power.