Chapter 484: Slipped Up
Sylas' head whipped toward the portal. If there was going to be an escape made, it would be toward there. If not, that would mean that he escaped outside of the city.
However, this sudden movement caused him to fall to a knee. His vision swam, and he almost blacked out. If it wasn't for a quick bite to his tongue, he would have.
Although he had swallowed a Transmutated Beast Pill, it was one, not a miracle drug, and two, because he used ice to slow his bleeding, that ironically slowed his healing as well. It was a double-edged sword.
Well, in the right circumstances, a Transmutated pill could work like a miracle drug. But the problem was that he hadn't run into nearly enough beasts that were both compatible with him and powerful.
Obviously, the stronger the beast, the stronger the pill would be.
'There's a large number of Ice affinity beasts here. I need to take advantage.'
His Skills collapsed in on themselves, and he closed his eyes shut. He squeezed his eyelids tightly as though he was trying to regain control over himself.
"City Lord!"
Finally, the Generals had already rushed over.
"... Bring me the strongest beasts you've killed," Sylas said in a voice much too steady given his current situation.
...
It was several hours before Sylas' situation had stabilized, and the sharpness returned to his gaze.
He had known that there were all sorts of shocking abilities in this world, but knowing was one thing, and being prepared for them was another. If not for his Luck stat today, he would have died.
The man was too quick and ferocious, and now he was aware of all of Sylas' trump cards on top of making one entirely useless.
Sylas looked over to the corpse of the Arctic Emperor Cobra. He truly hadn't expected that it would die just like that.
It had been cut in half, but Sylas had been too caught up in the battle to possibly waste the time he would need to put it into the Hibernation Realm. He thought that it could at least withstand the wound for a while since it had been cut down its thickness and not its length, but he had underestimated the insidiousness of Grin's blade.
There was definitely something special about it. But for whatever reason, that specialness hadn't affected him.
'No... it should be that when he stabbed me in the neck, he didn't use a technique for the sake of stealth. By comparison, there was a huge flash of Aether when he attacked the Arctic Emperor Cobra. Whatever that skill is, I'll have to be wary of it in the future.'
Sylas shook his head, but he didn't mourn the death of the Arctic Emperor Cobra for long. He simply did the most logical thing and turned it into a new trump card.
Soon, the Arctic Emperor Cobra's remains had become the strongest Transmutated Pill in his possession. It should be able to help him at a critical point.
'There's still some time before the egg hatches. I will look into that odd sense of <Madness Control> I got when the Quicktime Event first started... it might be the breakthrough I need.'
He originally hadn't wanted to because of the time, but in the battle against Grin, the core Flag had been destroyed. He couldn't continue along the path he wanted anymore. For now, he would just have to hope the lead he built up was enough.
After ordering the Generals to keep a sharp eye out around the city limits and to restrict any new entries, he left again.
...
Grin watched the state of the city from a distance, his gaze flickering. His stats weren't what they used to be, but there was a pulse of light coming from the dagger in his hands that almost felt alive.
His veins pumped with that vitality, and his pale expression was slowly recovering. 'He's sharp...'
Seeing the movement of the Generals and the lockdown of the city, Grin knew that he wouldn't be able to sneak back in easily.
Sylas was right. There was no way for Grin to instantly teleport all the way back to the Celestial Republic. He would have to rely on the portal for that.
In truth, he hadn't absolutely needed to die. He just used his substitution Skill because it was the most convenient given the situation. He knew that the Generals were on their way, and he didn't want to expose too much of himself too soon.
As such, he chose to appear outside the city instead of near the portal. It was the lowest risk. After all, there were still Generals on the other side of the portal as well.
Now, Sylas had grasped onto his weakness.
That said... that didn't mean that he couldn't do anything to target Sylas.
'He abandoned that black snake without much hesitation. It's unlikely that it's important. But... the real question is whether that Professor knows or made an honest mistake...'
It seemed like he was here to support General Song, but only he knew that his real mission was related to Morgan.
There was speculation that the Professor had stumbled onto a very rare Profession, but there was no guarantee just yet. They still had to keep the propriety of a government, however, so they couldn't just lock Morgan up just because.
Or rather... the reason they couldn't was because Morgan was too smart. It didn't take much time after he returned from the Trial to make a big show of his reappearance. He even released a paper about his experience in the Trial as though he had only gone for educational purposes.
He was a very tricky man to deal with, and when there were tricky things to deal with, Grin and those hidden in the shadows along with him were the ones that dealt with it.
After all this time, it seemed that Morgan had finally slipped up a little bit...