Read Novel Full Chapter 742 - 48: A Step Too Late?
Chapter 742: Chapter 48: A Step Too Late?
Lynch did not hesitate for a moment. With a flash of his figure, he pierced through the "Dark Prison Sky" barrier, which had become extremely unstable due to the destruction of the core array, and chased into the vast and dangerous outer region of the 95th floor.
Upon breaking through the barrier, what lay before him was not a plain path but three divergent roads leading to entirely different dangerous environments:
One road led deep into a twisted forest that was dark and silent, as if capable of devouring all light; another meandered into a shattered ruin exuding an ancient and decayed atmosphere; and the last descended into a swamp churning with foul toxic gases.
What was more alarming was that at the entrance of each path lurked a dense, identical black mist with nearly the same energy fluctuations and spirit imprints!
These mists resembled loyal guardians or venomous baits, emitting a distinct air of Cyrus, which, though weakened, still carried the lingering resonance of rules.
This was clearly a blinding technique set up by Cyrus in his panicked escape, willing to expend what little remaining strength he had to confuse the trackers, buying himself precious time to flee.
"Pathetic!" seeing this, Lynch responded with nothing more than a cold sneer.
If it were anyone else, even another strong individual at the rule level, facing these three meticulously disguised black mists infused with the same source of rule power, they would likely need to expend significant effort and spiritual power to carefully discern Cyrus’s true path. After all, each bore Cyrus’s spirit imprint, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake in a short time.
However, aside from conventional spiritual perception, Lynch possessed a unique perspective beyond the reach of others!
He slowly closed his eyes and then reopened them. Deep within his gray eyes, an ancient and mysterious imprint silently emerged, emitting a faint light capable of piercing falsehoods and seeing the essence—the Eye of Death God!
Under the unique soul vision of the Eye of Death God, the layers of illusion were peeled away to reveal a deeper reality. The three black mists, which seemed indistinguishable, now appeared to him in a completely different light:
Among them, two, though energy-filled, lacked the critical "trace" left by Cyrus himself, fleeing in panic.
Only at the leftmost road, leading to the dark forest, behind the black mist at its entrance, was there a clearly imprinted trace, like that of a panic-stricken beast fleeing through the snow, exuding intense soul waves! This trace was fresh and unmistakably pointed toward the forest’s depths!
"This way!"
A cold glint flashed in Lynch’s eyes, and without hesitation, he transformed into a stream of light, instantly rushing into the leftmost path leading to the dark forest, following the direction marked by the soul trace!
After traversing a distance through the dense, twisted, and dimly lit forest, the escaping figure of Cyrus finally appeared ahead!
At this moment, Cyrus’s state was even more deplorable than before. The backlash from the complete dismantling of the pseudo-rule grafting array had begun to show, and his aura, like a leaking balloon, plummeted rapidly, hovering on the edge of the rule level. His rejuvenated skin started to wrinkle and grow sallow, nearly impossible to maintain the temporary "pseudo-rule" state.
"Cyrus!"
Lynch’s voice was like a thunderclap, echoing through the deathly silent forest, carrying a chilling intent to kill, "Your time has come!"
Cyrus, fleeing for his life ahead, froze upon hearing the voice, his face instantly turning as white as paper! He dared not look back but frantically pushed his remaining strength to the limit, accelerating as much as possible while swinging backward, releasing a large cloud of black mist, thinner but still imbued with residual rule power!
The black mist twisted and deformed rapidly, once more transforming into screeching banshees, wailing harpies, and shuffling zombies, overwhelming in their approach toward Lynch! These creatures had recently driven eight domain powerhouses into a corner.
However, what a difference a moment makes! For Lynch, who retained the full power of rules, these impotent demons were no more than clay chickens and porcelain dogs!
"Trivial tricks!"
With a cold snort, Lynch’s Ifrit’s Sword blazed fiercely in his hand. Without dodging, he boldly charged into the demonic tide sword in hand!
As the great sword swung, the scorching rule flames and the sharp sword aura weaved into a net of death. Wherever it passed, ghosts howled and vanished, harpies were cleaved in two, and zombies turned to ash in the flames! As if slicing through butter, he easily tore open a path through the seemingly overwhelming demonic tide!
In the next moment, Lynch accelerated again, turning into a stream of light too swift for the eye to capture, instantly closing the distance! With a precise short-distance space shift, he appeared like a phantom behind Cyrus!
"Cyrus!"
Once again, a commanding shout, like a death god’s proclamation! The flaming Ifrit’s Sword, carrying an overwhelming rule power, sliced through the air, and slashed down mercilessly towards the back of Cyrus’s head!
Cyrus’s soul was utterly petrified with terror! Driven by the instinct to survive, he mustered his last strength to urgently condense a thick, almost tangible black fog wall behind him, hoping to block this fatal strike!
"Clang—Boom!!!"
The great sword collided fiercely with the fog wall! The clash of rule powers triggered a violent explosion! The fog wall that Cyrus had formed shattered instantly, and he himself was sent flying by the terrifying impact as if struck directly by a siege hammer, blood spattering as he was launched like a kite with a broken string!
Flying several thousand meters away, he crashed through countless twisted grotesque trees, finally landing heavily in an open space. His wizard robe was in tatters, his body covered in wounds deep enough to show bone, and blood had nearly turned him into a figure of gore, his aura dwindling to its last breath.
Yet, at this moment of near death, Cyrus struggled to lift his head and realized his surroundings. On his despair-ridden, ashen face, an incredulous, nearly crazed look of delight suddenly emerged!
This... this was already at the very edge of the Purgatory Magic Array he had set up back then! Just a few hundred meters more, and he’d be completely out of the residual energy’s range!
He was very aware that once he left this range, the power he gained from the Array would vanish entirely, and his strength would instantly fall back to his original level in the Late Domain. But at the same time, Lynch would also lose the enhancement from the Rule Grafting Array, and his power would fall to his own level in the Middle Domain!
"Hahaha!"
Cyrus laughed crazily in his heart. Despite being gravely injured and near death, even with his condition, a Late Domain fighter still has absolute confidence to battle and win against a Middle Domain opponent, or at least... find a chance to escape alive!
Hope, was right in front of him!
A gleam of frantic joy surged in Cyrus’s eyes as he held back the excruciating pain tearing through his body, squeezing out the last ounce of energy within him, boosting his speed to the maximum. Like a blood-colored aurora burning through life itself, he flew out of the area covered by the Purgatory Magic Array’s residual energy!
The moment he completely left the Array’s range—
"Buzz!"
A strong sense of exhaustion suddenly seized him! The borrowed, intoxicating Rule Level power within him ebbed away like a receding tide, disappearing without a trace. His breath plummeted instantly, his realm stabilizing again in his original Late Domain level—still powerful, but worlds apart from the previous "Pseudo-rule" state.
However, instead of feeling dejected by the loss of power, Cyrus’s face flushed with a nearly delirious excitement of survival against the odds!
He stood outside the Array’s range, whirling around to gaze at Lynch, who lagged behind by mere hundreds of meters yet halted at the Array’s edge without stepping out, and let out a hysterical mocking laughter:
"Hahaha! Fool! Idiot! In the end, you were still one step too slow!"
He pointed at Lynch, his voice filled with post-calamity jubilation and venomous malice: "What’s wrong? Afraid to come out? Outside that damned Array, you’re nothing more than an insect I can crush at will! Where’s your arrogant bravado now?!"
"Next time! The next time we meet, I will repay today’s humiliation a hundred times over! We’ll settle this score slowly!"
Having hurled this hateful threat, Cyrus dared not linger any longer. He gathered his Domain Power to turn around, intending to flee further into the darkness.
However—
Just at the instant his body was about to move—
"Rustle... rustle..."
A gentle yet spine-chilling scraping sound suddenly emanated from the depths of the dark, deathly silent forest beside him. It was as if countless tiny feet were creeping over fallen leaves, or some gigantic creature was moving quietly.
Cyrus’s hair stood on end instantly! A death crisis far colder and purer than what he faced with Lynch soaked him like icy water, spreading over his entire body!
Before he could react—
"Roar!"
A massive claw composed entirely of dense shadows and suffocating darkness suddenly shot out from the nearby darkness! The claw blocked out the sky, its palpable aura of death swirling around it, moving faster than vision could capture!
"Splurt!"
The sharp claw closed, effortlessly crushing the severely injured and defenseless Cyrus, along with the Domain Shield he hastily erected, tightly in its grasp! The harsh sound of bones splintering rang out clearly. Cyrus couldn’t even let out a scream before being crushed nearly out of shape by that horrifying power, his blood spurting out from between the claw’s gaps!
Right after, a shadowy figure shrouded in a gray cloak, whose build seemed slightly frail, silently floated out of the shadowy forest like a ghost, hovering beside the massive shadow claw.
When Lynch saw the face beneath the gray hood, even with his willpower, his pupils contracted sharply, and alarms blared in his mind!
Beneath the hood was a young and pale face, and a pair of cold, indifferent gray eyes... exactly like his own!
It was none other than the one with whom he had a fateful entanglement, who also possessed the Eye of Death God, and whom he had been cautiously guarding against ever since entering the 95th Floor—
Alfred!