The Gentleman at the End
Chapter 357 - Chapter 357 Chapter 356 Attention Outside the Field

Chapter 357: Chapter 356: Attention Outside the Field Chapter 357: Chapter 356: Attention Outside the Field Eyes and beveled lines,

Blood Sword and tentacles,

Death and battle horses,

The three were engaged in mortal combat in the pit between the hills, causing the depth of the pit to steadily decrease due to the majority of the attacks being destructively powerful,

The vertical height from the original hillside had now reached the bottom of the mountain, making the small hill look almost volcanic from the outside.

Throughout this battle, Yi Chen had consistently maintained a “Floating State.”

Due to the temporary abandonment of the main Attribute “Physique” upon Restriction Removal, Yi Chen’s body had become abnormally frail, weighing merely about thirty kilograms,

Many unnecessary bones had been shaved down and replaced with Skin, and the Iron Chains were minimized and stored between the Madness Brain.

At the same time,

Using the Physical Skills he had learned from teacher Zede, he predicted the opponent’s next move by perceiving and capturing data on the opponent’s Physical body.

And following the “Star Nebula Body” techniques he learned from Desline.

Whenever an axe swung at him, or a Death Beam was spat from beneath the Black Wolf Helmet, or an assault from the Death Horse and so on,

Yi Chen was able to foresee them in advance, thus pulling back early to minimize risk.

Due to the limited space in the pit, he occasionally fell into a passive situation, where attacks that seemed sure to hit were dodged by Yi Chen after a flurry of stars.

The whole person was like a flickering yellow robe, elusive and hard to pinpoint, seemingly present in the midst, yet as if distant from it.

While maintaining the “Floating State,” he continued to attack with the eyes floating behind him,

One of which, belonging to the Eye Collector Gemhar, was fully activated and posed a significant threat with its sinister beams, whereas the remaining three inactive eyes were weaker and served more as a distraction.

Jin’s style also changed,

Still employing a robust and open combat method, but becoming more nuanced internally.

This nuance, while sacrificing some lethality, allowed her cells to align neatly, optimizing energy output to sustain a prolonged head-on confrontation with this being from the Old World.

Since the tumor tentacles were ineffective in inflicting damage, they were used more for assistance, such as shooting towards the ground or walls to drag the body for rapid movement.

As for the opponents,

The completely beastified Desolate Knight Balte, leveraging his pure animalistic nature and well-honed combat instincts, ignored the mental influences and faced the two as a Berserker without faltering.

His Death Horse, too, affected by its master’s frenzy,

Transformed into thick fog to conceal among the surroundings, occasionally charging from different directions or emerging directly from the ground, trying to devour living enemies,

Even though by capturing the direction of the Death fog to locate the horse, one could dodge in advance, this still somewhat disrupted their own rhythm.

The situation was at a stalemate.

Down at the bottom of the mountain, Reagan noticed this and immediately retracted the magnetic field barrier into his body.

“To avoid mental influences brought by William, the opponent has wiped out its own rationality and closed off its Vision with Death. With this setup, it naturally won’t run away and will fight until one side is completely dead.

Ah~ I had planned just to assist from outside the ring, not to take this risk, but now I must go down to help.

Faye, just stay close to me for defense and counterattack later; there is no need to strike proactively,”

Miss Faye, her tongue structured like a telephone receiver, stuck close to her ear, responded, “Okay~ I will only protect you.”

As Reagan hurried to the top of the mountain, approaching the edge of the pit, an odd sensation came from above… The moonlight that had once covered the mountain area vanished completely, plunging it into darkness.

Looking up,

A dense, indescribable black fog had accumulated overhead,

Churning, stirring, and even from within, the bone-deep roar of the dead could be heard.

Suddenly, a black bolt of Thunder Light cleaved through the black fog above, startling Reagan into stepping back and fully activating his Force Field.

However, the Thunder Light was not aimed at him but struck deep into the pit, targeting the being from the Old World… a deeper level of Death Transformation was occurring to it.

By the time Reagan stepped forward to the edge of the pit to look down,

Ah~ ah~

A faint chorus of human voices lingered by the ear, containing deathly stillness and wails, including moments of frenzy.

“Epic Sound,” although subtle, does indeed exist.

Generating such a melody during the Open Source Stage undoubtedly signifies that his Rank is beginning to transform. Once this battle concludes, he will ascend to a level above Open Source.”

Reagan looked up at the sky again, his gaze fixed on the depths of the dark mist,

where he envisioned an ancient, profound cave, a city of yore constructed with bones as its foundation, and an army of the dead, cloaked in hoods and wearing skull masks.

And deep within, belonging to the Old World, existed the first ‘Absolute Death.’ Because of His demise, the concept of death emerged in the Old World.

Cold sweat slid down Reagan’s face,

though the figures he saw through the dark mist wouldn’t come over to their side, nor pose a direct threat to them.

But since he could see this spectacle, it indicated that the Original Tomb was also observing the events unfolding here, watching the three humans daring to challenge Death.

“If we defeat this suspected knight of the dead, our names will likely be added to the Original Tomb’s ‘Hunting List’… The moment we step into the Old World thereafter, we will be pursued by the Death Plague Knights.

Once the Grey Zone achieves a world possession rate of 100% and completes World Assimilation, we will have nowhere to hide.”

Reagan clenched his teeth, his least desired thing was to put Faye in danger,

“No… I must use my spiritual power to forcibly sever the battlefield and take Yi Chen and Miss Jin back to Zion.”

Just then,

Faye, who had developed self-awareness, whispered in Reagan’s ear, her voice like a radio transmission directly into his brain, “Reagan~ remember our past ordeal? We tried to avoid danger by escaping the village early and fell completely into Grey Zone.

Since the other side is watching here, even if we escape, we might still be marked and hunted down, right?

Why not prove our strength to them? Besides, you have your own organization in the Old World, so it wouldn’t be easy for the Death Plague Knights to hunt you, right?

William and Miss Jin also have their own forces to protect them.

Why not try facing the danger this time? Perhaps it will lead to a different outcome.

I have died once already and don’t mind dying again with you, Reagan.”

…

Deep in the ravine,

The gathering of the death fog and the descent of black thunder, as well as the attention of the Original Tomb, were all due to the changes happening to Apprentice Knight – Balte, changes that were enough to gain formal qualifications.

During the battle,

Yi Chen, to minimize the risk of injury, concentrated his Death Attribute between his eyes, releasing a distinctly different Death Beam, piercing the charging horse.

The already severely injured Death Horse, suddenly struck by an unexpected penetration and even devoured and suppressed on the level of death, collapsed to the ground, gasping for life.

The irritable Balte unexpectedly calmed down at this moment and slowly walked towards his battle horse.

As Jin and Yi Chen, who had been fighting intensely, finally got a moment to breathe, they hurriedly replenished their physical energy and adjusted their condition, quieting the crater battlefield down.

As a creature of the dead, Balte showed no signs of fatigue,

he gently caressed his disintegrating former companion, undergoing some kind of transformation at the level of consciousness… Suddenly, he raised the Spine Bone Battle Axe in his hands high and ferociously chopped down.

The horse’s head was cut off, and thunder fell.

Boom!

Billowing black smoke rose with the thunder, entwining around him.

Faint human voices echoed in the environment,

and when the dark mist dissipated, the battle horse was no longer visible,

Balte stood alone at the center, his body, black armor, and weapons all wrapped in black thunder light, and on his right shoulder, a dark, bone-made Horse Head Shoulder Armor had appeared.

Above his head, the brass Frame had gained a touch of silver.

The Epidemic Value Liquid, previously half-depleted, was now fully replenished.

Seeing this scene, Yi Chen took a deep breath and then said, “Jin… pull out all the stops, we must face this enemy without reservations, or we might die here.”

“Yeah.”

Upon receiving Jin’s response,

Yi Chen placed his fingers on his face, pulled down… and “Dead Man Makeup” began.