The sky-reaching steel tree rose from the ground.
The Soul Eater’s body was sealed within the solidified steel. The weight of the heavy steel column had pressed on the Soul Eater at the bottom.
“It’s over, senior.” Annan reached out and held Salvatore’s headless shoulder, motioning him to end the terrifying taboo refinement technique immediately.
Annan didn’t know what spell it was.
But just by looking at this special effect after chanting the spell, he understood it was a destructive skill that cost a heavy price.
After all, they came here to defend, not to demolish the place.
But Salvatore still hesitated. He was still chanting the spell in a low volume, not daring to move.
The demon-like shadow immediately realized what Annan meant.
“Let what lay atop return to the ground and put its weight beneath the earth.”
She chanted a short cancellation spell, causing the sphere of shining golden brilliance to collapse and extinguish quickly.
After that, she directly retracted the oily arm back into Salvatore’s body.
Because the ritual was canceled halfway through, there was no need for Salvatore to continue chanting.
“Wait, why cancel it?” Salvatore immediately asked Annan, “I only have three minutes left. After that, I don’t have enough time to do it again!”
“We have won, senior.” Annan said softly, looking at the steel tower.
Salvatore followed his gaze and hesitated, “But the Soul Eater seems to know teleportation.”
“That’s not spatial teleportation, but it dives into the immaterial world, you idiot. Your memory is getting worse.” Deep, hoarse, and rumbling echo sounded from the head on Salvatore’s other shoulder, “Think about it, if it’s teleportation, why does it close the third eyelid?”
Salvatore opened his mouth but didn’t speak out anything.
The head turned around and explained to Annan, “The Soul Eater’s first eyelid is used to adjust the focus. It is used at a close distance so that it won’t lose sight of the enemy. The Soul Eater’s usual hunting method is to use the “Silent Spear” to penetrate the enemy from 800 meters to 1000 meters. This also makes them unable to see the enemy when approaching the target within 30 meters. Therefore, they must rely on the focus adjustment function of the eyelid for close combat.
“The second eyelid is used to protect itself against wind and pressure. They sprint faster than the sound. A harder eyelid is a must to protect the delicate and important first eyelid.”
“What about the third eyelid?” Annan asked curiously.
“Great that you asked.” The shadow’s deep and hoarse voice praised, “You don’t understand the Soul Eater’s abilities, but you can guess its weakness.
“The existence of the third eyelid is to isolate the light completely. If you can’t isolate the light, it will inevitably produce strong dizziness when you travel through the world. This is called ‘vertigo.’ This is also one of the reasons why one must be asleep to enter the nightmare world.”
Immediately after, the shadow asked, “How did you guess that my attack could seal it?”
“Because I guessed that the Soul Eater’s teleportation has a trajectory.”
Annan smiled, “I noticed that the Soul Eater tends to attack from the back. But in the previous few instant movements, it didn’t move directly to the back but moved close to the previous position, not far from the blind spot.
“After I realized this, I observed several unnatural momentary movements and landing points after you put pressure on the monster. Those weren’t the best attack position, let alone its habitual position. It’s more like the ‘recent safety point.’
“So I speculate that there are only two possibilities. Either the total distance of its teleportation is limited, so it should be used sparingly. Otherwise, this isn’t complete teleportation but a special ability that grants giga-speed mobility and stealth.
“Finally, I observed that every time the Soul Eater uses this mobility ability, it doesn’t observe the surrounding environment at the point of landing but immediately launches an attack. But what convinced me is that after I stopped it and it saw your attack, it tried to continue walking forward instead of instantaneous movement.”
No matter what the principle was, the Soul Eater’s instant movement must rely on “walking” to trigger it.
“You don’t delve into the principle, but summarize what you saw.”
Shadow smiled and whispered a malicious tone, “Okay, that’s also a way of thinking, but it doesn’t suit me.
“Let me introduce myself. You can call me “Vatore.” Or, you can also call me shadow.”
(TN: From here onwards, the Author tends to refer to Salvatore as Sal.)
As the shadow spoke, a demon’s hand with oily sticky protruding joints reached out from Salvatore’s abdomen toward Annan, “I have been paying close attention to you for a long time, Annan.”
Salvatore, who was stunned by listening, realized something.
He couldn’t help but scold, “Go back! Don’t stir up trouble!”
But facing the shadow of his body, he could not resist for some reason and had no control over the other party’s behavior.
He could only reach out and grab the demon’s forearm protruding from the abdomen, trying to pull it back.
But his strength was so weak compared to the demon.
He tried his best to push away the reached-out arm.
“Ah, wait a minute.” Annan didn’t care much.
He just tore the pair of Elven’s Skin Glove from his hands like peeling off the adhesive tape that had been pasted for a long time. Even Annan’s hands seemed to be much whiter because of this.
Salvatore vaguely saw that the inner layer of the glove seemed to have a layer of fluffy, pink, and creeping granulation, which gradually retracted inward.
Annan put his gloves into the bamboo tube around his waist. He then generously shook hands with the shadow.
“Annan Austere-Winter, hello.”
Feeling the cautious force, Annan couldn’t help but raise his mouth, “We’re not seeing each other for the first time, skip the pleasantries. I have roughly guessed your relationship, so you don’t need to explain anything to me for the time being.”
This thing would appear after Salvatore becomes a Gold Rank.
It meant that she belonged to Salvatore’s core ability.
Coupled with Salvatore’s fluctuations in performance, unfounded inferiority complex, and the way he made Sage’s Stone that he didn’t explain clearly, Annan probably already guessed the truth.
He had a cheat-like thinking pattern.
The “entity” can probably be regarded as a portable hard drive. That’s why the senior’s memory is poor.
However, if the shadow’s talent and strength are so overwhelming, why does the senior control the body?
How did the senior control her?
What is the senior’s talent?
Many questions flashed through Annan’s mind.
But, of course, he understood the priorities.
“You are running out of time.” Annan replied, “If you have nothing else to say, I will send the Soul Eater back to its world first.”
Otherwise, something terrible might happen later and even allow the Soul Eater to flee.
Annan had no hatred against the Soul Eater, but he wanted the experience points.
He walked forward without hesitation, took out the knife, and cast Frost Sword.
Elemental attacks were considered true damage to enemies with no elemental power below the Gold Rank.
Frost Sword with frost element naturally followed that rule.
Facing the immobilized Soul Eater, who was powerless and unable to evade, Annan adopted a relatively gentle attack pattern. He slashed the Soul Eater twice and rested for a while to ensure that his health wouldn’t drop too much from over-exerting his ability.
After he hacked the monster for the eighth time, the system prompt finally appeared in front of him.
[You have abolished the Silver Rank summon “the Soul Eater” in the battle and granted 1500 Shared Experience points.]
That’s a lot of experience, which is enough to upgrade myself for one level!
Annan’s eyes lit up suddenly.
At that moment, there was an evil thought in his mind.
Can I summon the Soul Eater myself and kill it myself?
But he quickly controlled his greed.
If he did that, he would catch Silent Lady’s attention.
It’s better to have others do the summoning.
I have decided. When I encounter false deity believers in the future, I will pressure them to summon entities for me to kill if the situation isn’t urgent.
Three minutes soon arrived. The shadow retracted into Salvatore’s body again. A black curse mark appeared on his body and retracted into the vessel again.
Salvatore curled up on the ground, shaking his knees.
It seems that a considerable part of this pain is chill?
“Are you cold?” Annan walked over, squatted down, and asked with some concern.
“I’m still fine.” Salvatore insisted and replied, “But afterward, I may not have much combat power left.”
“But, I think it should be over.” Annan looked at Yiyi, who had resurrected five times under three minutes, and Delicious Wind Goose, who hadn’t even lost a single health point next to him. Then, he asked, “How is the situation over there?”
“They’re almost done. It’s all going well, my lord.” Lin Yiyi died and respawned without any psychological trauma.
When she stood up from the ground, she held the new solid steel pipe happily, glanced at the forum, and replied casually.
She intended to paint the steel pipe after the mission. With that, it could be considered as a luxury weapon with skins. (TN: Referring to in-game premium skins.)
Should I apply red paint in the middle and gold paint on both ends?
At this time, Annan suddenly heard a loud and clear baby cry, resounding from all directions.
The child was born.