Super Righteous Player
Chapter 903 - 440 The Triple Greatness of Hermes’s Poison Dust

Chapter 903: Chapter 440 The Triple Greatness of Hermes’s Poison Dust

Nicholas II’s body began to emanate faint golden smoke.

The poison dust he created differed considerably from the one Isaac had summoned in front of Tower Master Hugo.

It did not transform the surrounding air into poison dust, but directly used his "Dragon Body" as a semi-finished material, skipping most of the incantation.

Moreover, after some recent research, Nicholas II had progressed in his understanding of the "Hermes Faction poison dust." Since the transformation target had completely changed, so had its name.

"——Triple Great Hermes’ poison dust. It’s the new name I’ve given it, a gift specially prepared for you."

Nicholas II let out a low laugh while complex Dragon language spilled from his throat, "Soul from the Otherworld, Annan... Do you know who Hermes is?"

Annan kept silent, his nerves taut as he rapidly retreated through the sky.

The question posed by Nicholas II was precisely what puzzled Annan.

The so-called "Hermes Faction Philosopher’s Stone" exists because the True Philosopher’s Stone is not of this world, absolutely uncreatable by artificial means... hence the existence of the man-made "beggar’s version" of the Philosopher’s Stone.

Like the Nicholas of the past, once called "the Second Hermes," he was a man who, in human form, had accomplished the "Work of Creation" enough to ascend, "the greatest alchemist in the world."

Then came the question.

——So, who is Hermes?

He was not some deity, for his name in itself should represent mystical knowledge; even Nicholas, a genius, was only known as "Hermes the Second." Whether it was Hermes Faction poison dust or Hermes Faction Philosopher’s Stone, both were named after him...

But on the other hand, since he had completed the "Work of Creation," he should naturally have also completed the "Crown of the Supreme." Such a genius’s soul would likely be chosen by the Book of Truth.

Yet, he did not become a deity...

While Annan was deep in thought,

The players had already rushed over.

More than half of the players, noticing Annan’s sudden retreat, realized something and slowed their advance.

However, less than one third of the players, either missing Annan’s withdrawal or taking for granted the "players enter, boss appears, NPCs exit" scenario...

In short, they didn’t stop, or even slow down—they charged right up to Nicholas II.

Annan didn’t call out to warn them.

Instead, as he retreated, he opened the resurrection permissions and the background panel... ready to observe the damage and specific effects of this "Triple Great Hermes’ poison dust."

By now, nearly all players had reached the silver rank, and the cost of resurrection was no longer negligible as it was at the start. Every resurrection of a player consumed a visible amount of resources from the Book of the Celestial Chariot.

Although those resources recovered quickly over time, broadly speaking the storage was only enough for one full group resurrection of the players. After that, it would restore resources at a rate of about one person per second.

So the permission for "infinite resurrection" that Annan granted was increasingly sparingly used.

It wasn’t that he was stingy about those ever-replenishing resources... but rather, he was concerned that players, relying on infinite revivals, would recklessly use death to reset their abilities. If there were hiccups in reviving, it could spell trouble.

——That would mean the players would realize the person who brought them here wasn’t as omnipotent as they imagined.

Annan always believed hearts should not be tested, for they are not resilient enough against testings.

Once a player advanced to gold, they would first see how much resource a Transcendent’s resurrection at gold rank would occupy. Depending on the situation, he might decide whether to increase the wait time for resurrection...

"...Hmm?"

But when that group of players charged into the golden poison dust, Annan paused for a moment.

It wasn’t because the players disintegrated instantly from the poison dust.

Had that happened, Annan would not have been too alarmed.

The "Hermes Faction poison dust" was primarily a targeted weapon to eradicate creatures from other worlds. For people of this world, it was completely harmless; but for creatures from otherworlds, it was the equivalent of relentless and inescapable strong acid.

The reason Nicholas II was "resurrected from the coffin" back then was to develop a more potent poison dust to combat the wandering demons that would fall from the Void World into this world.

Therefore, the new poison dust he researched, briefly called "Triple poison dust,"... it wasn’t surprising that its effects became stronger.

But the issue was, the damage was too low.

The players entered the range of the "Triple Poison Dust" and were not instantly corroded or melted; in fact, they almost lost no health at all... The burning of the poison dust merely caused their skin to turn red and crack, without their health decreasing even after two or three seconds.

If they wanted to be scorched to death by the poison dust, standing within it for three minutes probably wouldn’t be enough, as long as they received a casting of healing divine arts, their status could be easily replenished.

—What exactly is this thing for?

Why did Nicholas II say... this was specifically designed to restrain him?

Or does it mean he accidentally researched in the wrong direction—-is this thing actually useless against Annan?

Annan became doubtful.

But he always felt that Nicholas II would not commit such an error...

"Face of the Sun, Force of Azoth—"

Before the first wave of attacks from the players hit him, Nicholas II began chanting again.

The gold smoke emanating from his body suddenly burst into light, forming a substantial, semi-transparent, splendid gold force field.

Like a huge, blossoming lotus.

Layers upon layers of gold force fields, like petals of a lotus, separated the players who had rushed into the gold smoke screen into different levels.

The Black Dragon lay in the center of the lotus, and all attacks, both internal and external, were dispersed and absorbed by this suddenly emerged multi-layered gold force field.

"Garrote of Orchids, Transformation of the Lotus—"

As the chant from the Black Dragon concluded.

The splendid golden lotus that had absorbed numerous attacks suddenly blossomed.

Naturally, the surrounding players were not crushed beneath it due to their inability to dodge... but the players who were previously trapped within this force field lotus could only watch as the petals bloomed and began to spin, brutally flattening them.

Even if they didn’t die immediately, the crystal-like force field lotus suddenly emitted intense heat.

Splendid golden flames spread rapidly along the ground’s "silver," outlining a massive alchemical array.

And before that, approximately sixteen players had been trapped within the lotus and were killed instantly by the mechanism as soon as the battle began.

But at that moment,

Annan discovered that, although he had granted resurrection permission, they did not respawn from the surrounding area.

Their "resurrection" button simply dimmed.

When Annan forced a resurrection, he saw a prompt appear on his system side:

"Resurrection failed because the Book of the Celestial Chariot cannot accurately express this soul."

...Could it be their souls were utterly destroyed?

Annan paused for a moment.

He quickly checked the "monitor room screen" backstage and found that the players’ perspectives had not switched to a "black screen" but had directly returned to the real-world view.

When they tried to return to the Mist Continent, they saw a new prompt:

"Soul expression blocked, 17:59:50 remaining to repair this soul expression logic."

The number behind this message was decreasing at a steady rate.

It was then that Annan breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the person isn’t dead...

As long as their accounts aren’t deleted...

In other words, the players who came into contact with the "Triple Poison Dust of the Great Hermes" had no option to resurrect upon dying but were directly kicked back to another world.

Annan involuntarily gasped—

Is this what’s known as a disconnection punishment??