Book 4, 66C

Embracing Fate(3)

“Heisa, what are you trying to do?” Balibali roared, “You cannot kill Richard, Her Highness ordered it!”

“What order?” the ugly barbarian asked with a sneer, “As long as I kill you both and destroy all traces, who’ll know that I did this?”

Balibali was extremely shocked, “You... You’d dare kill me?”

“Why not? If I didn’t, you’d just tattle on me to Mountainsea.” Heisa’s snicker was like two pieces of rusted metal scraping against each other.

“Hmph! You want to get Her Highness? Even if I die at your hands, you’ll be destroyed if you try to compete on the day!” Having said this, Balibali closed his eyes and resigned himself to death. There would be no surviving at this ruthless murderer’s hands, so at least he would die with dignity.

“What’s the use of talking so much? You’re not a match for me even at your best, wimp! I just have other things to do now and don’t want to waste any more time.” Heisa suddenly stretched his foot under Balibali’s body, flinging him over ten metres away.

In the meanwhile, Richard who was sitting on the ground swayed slightly, a trace of pain flashing on his face. Just the act of trying to move made him feel like his organs were being flipped around. However, his breathing immediately grew steady once more as he leant against the Twin of Destiny, slowly standing up as he glared at Heisa before him.

The terrifying barbarian was almost three metres tall, bent bristles growing on the knotted flesh of his skin. It was obvious with a single look that his forte was pure strength, but that wouldn’t have been enough to support his claim of being able to defeat a well-rounded warrior like Balibali.

A faint light shot out of his eyes, revealing the ugly brute’s secrets. The level 18 barbarian’s body hid a powerful aura of death and corrosion that was only enhanced by a powerful bloodlust picked up over many massacres. People like this normally acted as they wished, unreasonable monsters who could not be bound by laws.

Heisa felt a sudden wave of panic out of nowhere when Richard’s eyes shot out the light, as though all of his secrets had been exposed. He felt a wave of uncertainty wash over him, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Still, those who killed day and night had their senses clouded by overconfidence and bloodlust. Balibali had physically reacted to Richard’s scanning, but Heisa just frowned while oblivious to the fact that basically all of his cards had been exposed.

“So you’re that promised person? The tooth of the Beast God really is in your possession...” The barbarian stared at Richard, eyes glowing with brutal excitement.

Richard calmly gripped the Twin of Destiny, “You want to challenge me as well?”

“Challenge? Hahahaha!” It was as though the fellow had heard the most ridiculous thing in his life, bursting into a manic laughter that wet his eyes.

Heisa seemed to force himself to stop laughing, pointing at Richard with his hand filled with black hairs, “I’m not as foolish as the rest. Heh, I’ve come up with another idea. I’ll kill you and Balibali and stuff the tooth of the Beast God in his hands. That way, it will look like you two perished together. All of your wounds were from him anyway.

“I’m not going to give you any chance to waste time. If others get here, they’ll definitely follow Mountainsea’s words and stop me from killing you. Haha, prepare for death!”

Richard seemed eerily calm, supporting himself with one hand as the other grasped at the last destiny crystal on his body. This was a divine item that could bring about miracles; as long as he could feel its existence, he would never lack courage. However, he definitely wouldn’t use it until the very last moment.

Heisa walked towards Richard, “Right, I want to let you see something before you die. That way, your death will be more painful!”

He paused mid-stride and dry heaved, seemingly in great pain as he spat out a little snake covered in yellow slime. The snake was completely black in colour with a pair of transparent wings still pressed into its body, lazily coiling around in the palm of Heisa’s hand and sticking out its tongue repeatedly as crimson beads for eyes surveyed its surroundings in confusion.

The barbarian chuckled, “This is a viper I found deep inside the Wildpoison Pond. It’s unbelievably quick, and its poison is amazing. Most powerhouses can’t endure a bite. I’ll put it on your corpse when you die, the simplest and best traps. I know the doll is rushing here right now, and she shouldn’t be far.

“Well, a bite won’t kill her, but she’ll grow weak enough that I can take her down and ravage her in front of your corpse. I don’t want any glory, just to be the father of her first child. Let me tell you one more thing; as long as I take here, she’ll definitely have my child! This is a special power of mine! Isn’t this exciting? Don’t worry, after I’m done with her I’ll make it up to you. I’ll use your body too before eating you.”

Watching Heisa who was laughing madly, Richard’s anger faded into a cold serenity, “This snake of yours looks rare and precious.”

“Of course! To think a kid like you had such a great eye. I nearly lost my life back then to catch. It. Tch, it’s too late for you to beg for your life. Whose fault is it that you’re whatever damned promised person?”

“Such a pity for it to be gone, then.” Richard suddenly smiled.

“What did you say?” Heisa suddenly felt a strong sense of unease, unwittingly taking a step forward. A light breaking sound rang out underneath his foot, startling him into retracting it and gazing downwards.

A pure white flower had been crushed under his large foot. However, the moment he saw it the barbarian felt his heart stop for a moment. He knew very well that there were few flowers in the wasteland even when there wasn’t a drought.

More wild flowers suddenly appeared in his field of vision, blossoming up from the ground with a strong aura of life that left him feeling a sharp pain in his body. Time seemed to slow down in that moment. A voice roared a warning in his mind, but his reaction was incomparably slow.

“You talk too much,” a quiet voice rang by his ear.

Heisa’s bestial eyes immediately landed on the little snake in his hands. Green light was flickering on its body as it rolled around in great suffering, mouth open wide to reveal a dark green liquid condensing at the tip of its fangs.

He could feel the potency of the life energy twined around the little snake’s body. There was a trace of mysterious moonforce within that amplified the life aura a hundredfold, surpassing even that of a divine spell!

The third sword of Silvermoon, Devout Prayer. The power of the jade moon surpassed most divine spells in terms of healing, but this power was completely antithetical to a creature who lived off the power of death and corrosion. The little snake cried out like a little child, quickly turning into a puddle of black water in Heisa’s hands.

The threads of green moonforce didn’t let go even then, weaving in and out as they boiled the black water to clear it of the toxins. All that was left was completely harmless liquid. The powerful healing of the jade moon also transmitted into its purification ability.

“NOOOOO!”

Heisa immediately charged towards Richard, large hands raised as he swatted towards Richard’s head. The simple attack left Richard suffocated without the space to dodge. Winds of corrosion started blowing out as Heisa exhibited his true strength, trying to overwhelm with force. This was a strength that far surpassed Balibali’s.

There was no way to run, so Richard didn’t even try. He instead looked up, blowing a translucent flame in Heisa’s direction. The whirling winds of death could not obstruct this wisp at all, failing to even deflect it. Heisa’s brows furrowed as he expelled an inky black gas from his arms with a cry, forcefully smashing apart the near-invisible flame.

*Rumble!* The wisp immediately scattered but most of the sparks stuck to Heisa’s body, especially his fist. The sparks began to blaze the moment they made contact, the steel-like body unable to stop pits from forming in his skin. The flames continued to dig in, almost all of the skin on his right hand burnt to nothingness before the fire started on his flesh.

The powerful barbarian had never expected the flames to be so terrifying. Still, as someone with ample battle experience, he immediately started pounding his fists into the ground as energy surged out of his pores, crazily consuming the flames. With the help of the surging black winds, he finally managed to put them out.

Heisa then stood up, sweat pouring down his face as his expression turned incomparably grim. It had taken more than ten times the energy he had expected to use to consume the flames, practically a third of his reserves wiped out in one shot. He glared at Richard who had been sent flying, currently lying on the ground a dozen metres away without the strength to stand.