ATAPOW Chapter 134
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Chapter 134: Subsidence
“Human, you!” The battered troll’s eyes were full of disbelief.
Its head was bleeding and an unceasing sensation of lightheadedness rose up inside. Disbelief filled its face as it saw the dark-silvery helmet before it. It was hard for it to accept the fact that it had been severely injured by a human, a lower-tier species.
“Ahh! Despicable low-tier scum! What sort of trick did you use?” The troll foot soldier, whose scalp has been split open, flew into a great rage.
“I’ll pulverize you, worm!”
“Varabus Garculais。”
[Destructive Class— Devil’s1 Hunting Claw]
As a spell in Deepspeak reverberated outward, five talons surrounded in poison appeared. At the tip of its bulky fingers were sharp and long nails that extended outwards into the air.
“Screee…” It then scratched against the armor, generating an ear-piercing screech and a large number of sparks in the process.
“Boom!” The dark-silvery armor staggered and retreated a few steps back.
“Meet your grave, frail worm!” The troll foot soldier didn’t intend to give their opponent even the slightest chance to readjust himself. As it dragged its enormous body forward, the claw that emanated a purplish [Magic] hue took on an aggressive aura.
Ji Bai shot a glance at the five purplish-black claw marks on his chest.
‘Is this [Magic] turned into a vicious poison? If one were to be directly hit, it would probably drain them into human jerky.’
Black smoke rose from the surface of his Radiant armor and very soon, the cracks recovered.
“Creak-creak!” A darkish-silvery vambrace grabbed the troll’s vein-filled arm in a deathly grip.
“Crack!”
“Aahh. H-How can this be?? How did this happen?” Astonishment and shock were written all over its lion-like pupils. How could this human before it— whose head didn’t reach its chest— match it equally in a direct contest of strength?
“Crack!” The sound of a joint being twisted in the wrong direction sounded.
“Aaahhh!” The troll foot soldier gave out a miserable shriek.
“You dare… Worm!” Enraged, the remaining trolls picked up their weapons and moved forward.
In response, Ji Bai unleashed a sweep with his sabatons, causing the troll’s lower body to lose its balance. Making use of the second when his opponent’s body was floating in the air, he exerted strength in his pauldron and ruthlessly sent him flying upwards.
“Aguhguh…” The impact smashed the troll’s viscera and inner organs to pieces. Spitting out a mouthful of bloody foam, its eyes rolled over and it fell unconscious.
Its massive body knocked over one of its companions that were launching an attack against Ji Bai.
“Let’s use our [Magic Skills] and get rid of this darn vermin!”
“Diebeles PetestEtem GiRnt DAligit MEi！”
[Destructive Class—Magic Gathering Balls2
“Whoosh!” Vigorous magic balls that were formed by condensing small amounts of [Magic] flew towards Ji Bai like a group of shooting stars.
“Rumble!” Following a howling wind, a large amount of smoke enveloped the battlefield.
Gordon shielded his eyes, trying his best to look through the smoke.
Before the smoke could even disperse, a sliver radiance sparkled like the break of dawn.
White smoke emitted out from the cross in Ji Bai’s pauldrons adorned by silver and gold. He continued to stand sideways in a crouching position, his body protected by his pauldrons. From the shoe track marks, one could tell that the impact received had been enormous and taxing, to say the least.
“What??”
Several destructive-class skills were unable to blast a single human being into pieces?
The troll foot soldiers gritted their teeth in hatred. Due to the [magic] remaining in their bodies reserves, it was impossible for them to chant out two destructive class spells in a short period of time. Despite that, the fact that the human was still standing caused them to be shocked, while at the same time, filled them with weariness.
‘It’s highly probable that this seemingly human-like guy before isn’t a human at all… Did he disguise his appearance by using some incantation or magic skill? Could he possibly be a shaman…?’
The legend of the radiant knight had long since become a thing of the past. It had turned into a topic of idle conversation by the older generation of trolls during leisure time and a joke for the younger ones.
Every demon species wanted to publicly downplay the heroic tales of this legendary human knight, with the sole exception being the human race, who widely publicized it out of societal necessity.
After summoning his radiant armor, Ji Bai’s body, elbows, fists, knees, pauldrons, and everything in-between were all extremely threatening weapons.
“Woahhh!” A troll foot soldier intending to mount a sneak attack was struck in the abdomen. Immediately after, its body felt light. As it turned out, it had already been lifted up by the seemingly smaller guy while it was dazed by the hit.
“Ee-ahhh!” The troll foot soldier was thrown backward flying, knocking two of their comrades down like a bowling ball.
Ji Bai pinched the bones in his hands. The feeling of hitting someone directly like this was truly subpar.
“Human, what exactly are you…” The two troll soldiers that remained stood in complete astonishment. The helmet-wearing man before them had shown strength that made them doubt his humanity.
“Gurgle…” Suddenly, the soft meat walls began to lose their stability, beginning to bubble up like boiling oil surging in a fryer.
“This is bad.” Shooting a glance at the liquefied meat wall below his feet that was incessantly softening and bubbling, Gordon put on an artificial air of solemnness as he fished out his lighter, lit up a cigarette, and took in a puff of smoke.
“What do you mean?” Ji Bai cast his eyes aside and turned towards him.
“Mr. Knight, I’m afraid the odds are against us this time.” Gordon blew out a smoke ring in an indifferent manner.
Ji Bai silently looked at Gordon and waited for him to explain.
“According to the deeper analysis and research I’ve conducted from some samples, these meat walls are probably some kind of hybrid created from [Witchcraft] and [Magic]. Even though I only dabble in spells and can’t investigate its purposes… I was able to come to the conclusion that this object isn’t that stable… What’s more, according to the data received, the proportion that the magic was mixed in and its distribution ratio is still pretty crude. This instability was probably not man-made.” Gordon looked into the distance and tightly held his gaze there, unwilling to divert his eyes even for a second.
“Can you say something that I understand?” As someone illiterate when it came to spells, Ji Bai expressed his complete inability to comprehend a single of Gordon’s sentences.
“You said you sank into the meat walls before dropping down here, right?”
“So?”
“I’m afraid the two of us won’t be that lucky this time.” Stated Gordon calmly.
“It is already the best imaginable scenario if we’re sent into the deepest depths, but in the worst scenario… Well, the two of us will probably drown in a pile of meat.”
“We’re not going to make a run for it?”
“I would have tried it already if it could work.”
“So you’re smoking?”
“My life is near its final moments, is it wrong to indulge myself in a few puffs? Wouldn’t you agree, your highness the knight king? Well, I’ve never thought that my last moments would actually be me dying in a pile of flesh… But with a knight king accompanying me to the grave, it doesn’t seem that bad at all.”
“Gloop, gloop…” The next instant, Ji Bai felt his stance soften. In a blink of an eye, his ankles had already sunk inside the liquefied meat walls.
It wasn’t just him and Gordon either. The meat walls couldn’t distinguish between friend or foe; Several trolls struggling to find their balance had gradually sunk into the ‘meat fluids’ as well.
“Can you please think of something, sorcerer?” Ji Bai crossed his arms in an unperturbed manner, as he looked at the incessant bubbling meat wall that already reached his waist.
“My venerable highness, Mr knight king. Your humble self has already expanded all of his spells. It’s hopeless.” Gordon shrugged after taking in a mouthful of smoke in an unperturbed manner.
“…Can you tell me what exactly happened here now? In the remaining time we have left.”
“Gurgle…”
“Huff…” Gordon indifferently inhaled a mouthful of smoke before throwing away the cigarette.
“Do you know about the Ancestral God Cult?”
“No.”
“You can treat it as an evil cult then, however…”
“You’re not very competent as a knight king, aren’t you… But that’s to be expected. After all, you’ve faked your death for such a long time. Did you go on a holiday in the demon territory?” Said Gordon with a trace of sarcasm in his tone.
“I’ve no time to explain the rest. I can only tell you that a local high official in the Border Town is in cahoots with the Ancestral God Cult and they are planning something.”