Chapter 398: Warm Blood [Bonus]

Sylas' <Chilling Scythe Mutant> rushed forward, cutting through the air. And yet, it wasn't aimed at one of the apes at all. Instead, it suddenly curled, exploding on the ground beneath them and kicking up even more fog.

The Ice-Poison erupted along the ground and the number of Ice-Poison Runes in the atmosphere multiplied several times over. Sylas poured it all into his <Arctic King's Domain>, pumping both apes with a continuous series of Damage.

They both were so locked in combat and so foolish they didn't understand that the Damage was coming from an external source.

They fought valiantly, but the first ape was likewise the first to fall, veins of blue poison pulsing in its eyes as it collapsed.

The second ape's eyes snapped toward Sylas.

By this point, Sylas was standing just 20 meters away, a matter of a second or two to this beast.

It took a step toward Sylas, lunging at him.

A shadow cast over Sylas' body as he looked up and into the maw of the beast, its sharp canines protruding to take a bite out of his face.

Sylas took a single step back.

BANG!

The second ape collapsed to the ground, a swirl of ice kicking up around it and buffeting against Sylas' face. However, Sylas didn't so much as blink, his breathing being left as the only noise other than the howling wind.

He looked toward the second stair. It rose high into the skies and must have been at least ten meters in height.

That was right... this was just the first staircase... there were still eight more to go.

Sylas looked toward the Gene he had Extricated. It had already begun to dissipate in the air as he hadn't been able to pay any attention to it, and taking it into his body would have certainly put him in a daze he couldn't afford.

However, now that he could focus on it somewhat, the dissipation process stopped.

In the end, his Taboo Bond Talent had saved his life.

He racked his brains trying to understand what the hint might have meant, but in the end, he concluded only one thing: the system was just trying to inform him about the apes he was facing off against and it was up to him to find their weakness.

Some of those weaknesses were obvious. They were dumb creatures, for one. That meant that his Madness was super effective on them, but that wasn't nearly enough.

Even if he used his Madness to make them fight it out against one another, one of them would definitely survive.

Sure, a one-on-one battle against an injured opponent would be easier. But... he was alone and likely to be even more heavily injured. Plus, he would then be up against an opponent that could copy his skills and gain immunity against them.

The odds of victory even in that case were nil.

Then there was the problem of the later stairs. Without Lolaleen, he would be alone, so that would presumably mean that there'd be just one ape to face off against in the later rounds. At that point...

Who would he be making it fight against? If anything, his Madness would only make things more difficult for him, not easier.

That was when something stuck with him... the malleability of the apes. They changed their Genes and affinities practically mid-battle as though they were all-consuming sponges.

So was the reverse also true? If they could accept things so easily, was it likewise possible to take things away from them?

In the end, his gamble had worked. He used Extricate on the core Gene they were using to copy his abilities and ripped it out of their bodies.

According to their description, this shouldn't be an ability they had naturally, or else it wouldn't have taken the Clandestine Scholar to observe this. There would have already been a bunch of Clandestine Apes running around, copying everyone's abilities.

Instead, they should just have a very unique body composition that allowed this to be

possible. This Gene should have been added to them after the fact.

Looking at it, although it was impossible for Sylas to analyze fully, it made his heart tremble somewhat.

This could hardly be called a Gene, it was more like a cancerous tumor. In fact, if he was correct, having this Gene in them probably severely cut down the lifespan of these creatures. Sylas was more right than he knew. If a Clandestine Ape was used properly, it probably wouldn't live more than three years at the very most. Some had especially pitiful lives, only living a handful of months before they were run into the ground.

This Gene took advantage of their unique characteristics, but there was a reason it only worked on them and no one else.

Sylas' breaths continued to heave. 'There's no other choice. If I don't take a break here, I will lose my life.'

He decisively gave up on trying to get first the rest of the way, looking down at his body. He wasn't even sure if it was possible to heal all of this.

According to the rules, he would only have 50% more than the time of the second last to arrive at the end of the stair challenge. Otherwise, he would be disqualified. He had no way of knowing how the others were doing, but he doubted they had faced the same struggles as he had.

Whoever targeted him would be willing to sacrifice Lolaleen because she was already his slave, but would they sacrifice all the other Sylphs as well? Sylas doubted that...

Shivering, Sylas walked forward and cut open the bellies of the two apes. Struggling, he barely managed to prop them up with a combination of his feet and his telekinesis to form a barrier around him.

Unfortunately, the cold hadn't disappeared... and his challenges were only just starting.

Even so, there was an equally cold light in the depths of his indifferent eyes as the warm blood of the apes coated him.