Chương 263: Unforgiven (IV)

He was... handsome? I think? Sharp jaw, thin, star-like eyes, with flat and low noise hanging over unhealthily blue lips. The head was resting against comically large paws, its eyes staring at us silently. The fur was a mix of muddy brown and moon silver, with one extra oddity besides the human head: it had two tails, one fully black and one fully silver.

"... what the hell?" Lao Shun mumbled, at a loss for words. The rest of us weren't any better off, especially me. I'd expected to find pretty much anything in this place, but certainly not this. A massive, fleshy amalgamation of growths and tumors pretending to be a sentient life that's hellbent on consuming all life to just grow? Sure. A mad scientist or something that's been creating these monsters in an attempt to create a cure for death because his beloved wife is dying from some incurable disease? Of course.

A toxic spill gone bad--okay, I'm just rehashing superhero origin stories at this point. Though, I suppose, I should have expected it. An idea immediately came to my head, one that sort of explained a good number of the seemingly incomprehensible things that we've seen in this place.

"Stay here," Long Tao said as he stepped forward. The ground beneath us was dead--dry, cracked, and bereft of life. Each one of his steps kicked up a few pebbles, though not much else. The kids lined up around me and watched with expectant looks in their eyes, and even I couldn't help but wonder what his approach to this would be; if my guess about this place is true, the correct course would be to try and 'communicate' with the beast-- --and he swung his sword.

It was a sharp swing, one that I barely caught the tail end of; the human-faced wolf raged out with a howl that shook the world as it stood up, towering over eight feet, at the very least, and bending sideways, using his black tail to deflect the sword array. Long Tao didn't stop, though; he became a ghost, shooting forth and causing a strong wind to whip up behind him, the sheer propulsion of his movement enough to leave an indentation in the ground.

He appeared by the wolf's head--or, well, by the human head—and took a stab toward the latter's eyes. A white sheen interrupted it, and he used it by kicking his leg against it, propelling himself back and avoiding a swipe of a massive paw that caused such a strong wind that I actually had to use a bit of Qi to stabilize myself. Long Tao landed squarely, though, without skipping a beat, and moved forward immediately. I'm a bit confused, as well as shocked, that I'm capable of following it so clearly.

Whether it's because I've grown that much stronger, or because Long Tao was holding back a bit to show off, or because of some entirely different reason... I don't know. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Well, I do know. As soon as Lao Shun opened his mouth, I knew.

"Uh, can anybody see where that kid is?" With all the kids replying 'No', it was then that I realized he was, somehow, only showing this to me. Perhaps to assuage my fears and to tell me that his ability to handle things far outweighs what I think of him. [--Creator's Eyes used] [The host's cultivation isn't enough to see the target's status. Spend 100 CP to unlock it?] In the midst of their back-and-forth, I remembered to use my eyes and spent the required points in a heartbeat.

In part to see just how strong he really is, and in part to see whether my theory is correct. In the meantime, Long Tao shuffled sideways, using the 'worse' version of Shadow Steps so perfectly it made my improved version look a little bit like a joke. He darted between three set positions expertly, dodging swipes and bites and making it seem as though the gigantic man-faced beast was fighting air itself rather than someone.

Each time he'd appear from the shadows, he'd swing his sword acutely at one exact spot, I've noticed--the beast's neck. The fur was rather thick, and he didn't seem to be able to get a clean hit in, so he'd position a few feints before slashing at the beast's neck. It stopped falling for it soon enough, and it slowly began adjusting to his breakneck speed, even forcing him to deflect once rather than dodge.

I say deflect and not block since he let himself go with the flow of the swing, basically--taking in the energy and rather than trying to block it all at once, he let himself be flung some forty feet back, dispersing it all over the course of the flight. Seeing my moment of temporary peace, I quickly glanced at the rather thin-seeming status window.

[Creator's Eyes used] [Target: Nameless] [Age: 83, 093] [Talent: N/A] [Cultivation Realm: Early Void Transformation (Quasi-False)] [Cultivation Method: None] [Cultivation Arts: None] [...] [Traits] [Chimera (???) -- a forsaken creature, abhorred by the very Heavens who created it, is a bizarre concoction of at least two species. Though it lives, it was never alive] [Progenitor (???) -- a creator of its own species, it stands tall as the leader of the innumerable] [Dying (???) -- in a perpetual state of dying, though never able to die] [Grudge-Bearer (???) -- within its misshapen heart resides hatred that pumps the blood through its veins. Extreme chance of becoming a Malignant Spirit upon death] [...] [Assessing Suitability...] [...] [Anomaly Detected] [Revising...] [...] [Chimera (???) --> Death-Made Chimera (???) -- a failed experiment of '???'; was once a human in the Divine Court] [Special Physique Detected: Death-Touched (???)] [Death-Touched (???) -- as a creature that has been experiencing death for tens of thousands of years, it has developed a physique thought of as impossible. The creature's comprehension of the Laws of Death borders on unnatural, but it can never be utilized to command the Laws of Death; understanding of Life is necessary] [...] [Recommendation: put the creature out of its misery] [...] [Final Assessment: a reviled creation hidden away from the eyes of the world, where millions of lives were sacrificed in pursuit of artificial perfection. Where tens of millions failed, the creature marginally succeeded; however, its success only revealed the depths of malignance that lie at the end of the pursued path. It endured the longing for nothing, all so fueled by the hatred toward its creator, '???'] [...]... huh. Huh. Huh. Huh.

Okay, so, I was partially correct, at least--I did figure that this was a chimera, but I didn't really think of much beyond it. And yet, despite that, the cogs in my brain worked overtime to connect yet another unsaid dot--there were a lot of question marks where names and identities ought to be, and considering the sheer span of time and perhaps the strongest-worded window system ever produced, it just as strongly leads me to believe this is connected to one of the Seven Divine, of whom I know next to nothing.

Which also means... It's deeply connected to Long Tao, one way or another.