Chapter 861: The Berserk Puppet

In an instant, the entire world shone in brightness.

A scarlet radiance permeated the sky and land, which blended into one. There were writhing tentacles everywhere. Rhode's group had as though entered the body of a deep sea animal and they were food that was wrapped by tens of thousands of tentacles. No matter the sky or ground, everywhere was as though moving, rippling waves and what disgusted them was that the lower-half of these tentacles were blood-red in color. On the other hand, their upper-half was entirely pitch-black and rotten, where repulsive stench exuded from their opening tip.

"Toxin removal!"

Lize ordered the Clerics. Shortly after, light halos erupted, spun, and expanded outward, eradicating the dark green mist. At this moment, Rhode no longer had the time to care about what was happening on the surface. He turned around and gazed above him.

Two deep blade scars had slashed across the gigantic eyeball with putrid liquid spurting from within. The flesh around the wound trembled and the tentacles quickly gathered around the eye, protecting the most fragile and important area.

"Tsk, I missed."

Rhode gnashed his teeth and muttered under his breath. His all-out attack didn't do as much damage as he had hoped. Instead, he merely slashed it across and even though most living creatures would turn blind no matter what, the problem was that this creature couldn't be considered one of them.

Do I only have to rely on them now?

Rhode knitted his brows and scanned the holy sword spirits who darted across the path which his blade rays had opened. Perhaps being overly panicky, the tentacles instinctively protected their owner and it became the best opportunity for Celia and Celestina to strike.

Celia clutched the sword and silver-whitish flames erupted on the blade and even her wings. She soared into the air with her sword like a dazzling lightning bolt, darting into the enemy like a meteor. In an instant, she crashed into the defense layer of tentacles. However, at the next second, she burst through and displayed her powerful might.

Boom!

The tentacle barrier was completely broken through while rotten flesh was mercilessly upturned and ripped apart. But even so, the tentacles continued to pounce on their prey.

If Celia was said to be a one-hit bomb, Celestina would be the incendiary bomb. She bound herself in her chain sword entirely and dark flames erupted to form an indestructible barrier that burned every invader into ashes.

Shira sat on Celestina's back, clinging tightly onto the steel chain that had punctured the demon young lady's wing. She brandished the huge blade in her right hand—it seemed like Celestina had completely become her mount.

No, maybe they were already in such a relationship a long time ago.

But this wasn't the time for that.

Rhode clutched the daggers and spiritual power once again coalesced on their blades. He glared at the positions of the two enormous eyes, waiting for the best opportunity to strike. Currently, the tentacles had formed layers of protection over them. All he could do now was to wait for Celia and Celestina to widen the opening until the target reemerged.

Boom!

The silver-whitish and pitch-black flames erupted simultaneously. The glaring radiance enveloped the entire scarlet space. At this moment, Rhode set eyes on the target he needed to eliminate.

"Go!"

Rhode hurled the daggers in his hand through the paths Celia, Celestina, and Shira had opened, aiming at the eyes. But the dazzling flashes lasted for a few seconds before disappearing entirely.

"———!"

After a blood-curdling screech, the entire space trembled. The tentacles that were attached to the wall of flesh fell off in large chunks. The dark, green blood had turned dark blue spurted from the wound and sprayed from above like rain. The layers of tentacles that were protecting the eyes were quickly collapsing. The entire revolting space of black and red dried up and lost its form, shedding off layer by layer. After a few moments, the two eyes revealed themselves before everyone.

"... Tsk!"

However, Rhode knew that this wasn't a good sign.

The right eye was completely destroyed and Rhode was sure from the darkening, dead flesh around the eye socket. But, the reason why Rhode sulked was due to its left eye. Even though the left eye was pierced, it was apparent that the most vital core wasn't damaged. Although one-third of the eye had been damaged, countless tentacles could be seen writhing and restoring the wound.

How troublesome!

At this moment, the tentacles around them spotted Rhode and struck at him from all directions. Rhode swiftly retreated and dodged their ambush while the three holy sword spirits returned to his side.

"Sorry, Master. I was too slow."

Celia said guiltily. It seemed like it was too demanding of her to accomplish this task alone, despite the Taboo Halo. On the other side, Celestina's and Shira's combined forces were sufficient to destroy the right eye.

"It's not your fault. We're just unlucky."

Rhode looked at her. However, they didn't have much time to worry about this anymore. Currently, Serras had set Rhode as the main target to eradicate. The tentacles merged to form a thick, enormous weapon that widened its terrifying mouth and would pounce on him anytime. If they didn't act quickly, the creature would swallow Rhode and the holy sword spirits and 'dissolve' them slowly like food.

Should they blast the Order Bombs again?

But everyone only had four shots. If they were to blast one more time, he couldn't guarantee that the remaining Order Bombs could last them until the end of the adventure. On the other hand, if they didn't use them, they also didn't have enough time to coalesce the strength of Order to launch another attack! Besides, he lacked the spiritual powers to activate the Legion Horn. This was getting really tricky.

Damn it!

Rhode slashed the daggers at the dozen tentacles striking for him and sliced them into halves.

At this moment, he heard a creepy laughter.

"Hahaha... Master, it's time for my show... Hahaha... Such Chaos trash shouldn't make you so miserable, Master..."

"Shira?!"

Rhode turned to her abruptly as he felt that the spiritual powers in him slowly depleted. At the same time, Celia and Celestina returned to their cards without any reason. All the energy had as though been absorbed by this young lady before him. He didn't have any other choice. Before he could question her, he expanded the Spirit Bird's wings and dove. Even though he had improved his talent tree through leveling and the amount of spiritual powers in him was about the same as player Mages in the Legendary Stage, he had consumed a huge amount of them after launching two massive attacks previously. He purposely kept the remaining powers for the most crucial moments, but now he felt his strength quickly depleting, which forced him to deal with the tentacles then dive into the Order barrier.

"Hahaha..."

But at the same time, the odd, twisted laughter sounded and the tentacles striking for him suddenly came to a halt. Then, the tentacles turned around abruptly as though receiving a signal and launched their attacks skyward. On the other hand, Rhode crashed into the Order barrier.

"Mr. Rhode!"

"Leader!"

Everyone shrieked. Rhode lifted his head and gazed at Shira in midair. At this moment, the huge blade in her hand emanated a scarlet radiance. Not only that, but everyone also witnessed scarlet rays rippling from the blade. It was this strange phenomenon that attracted the attention of all the tentacles, including those on the surface and all of them swiftly pounced on her!

COMMENT

Boom!

But at this moment, Shira raised her arms and dashed into the gigantic golden eye floating in midair. The three bloody steel chains on her body shot up and penetrated the creature's skin while her shimmering blade pierced into it.

A little bit more!

At the crucial moment, Shira's attack suddenly came to a halt as the bloody tentacles had arrived and bound her tightly. But even so, she tilted her head and revealed a crazy smile, continuing to swing her blade down. However, at this moment, one of the tentacles flew across in the blink of an eye.

"————"

Shira's head was instantly cut off and it spun in midair. Her petite body swayed and was immediately punctured by the tentacles at the next second. Her limbs and body had been shredded by the razor-sharp teeth from the tentacles as though they were munching on their prey and extracted her flesh and blood for nutrients.

"T-This is...!"

Everyone turned ashen. Even though Shira was Rhode's summoning spirit, the thought of them possibly ending up like her struck them into silence and despair. However, Rhode didn't feel the same way as them. He puckered his brows and sighed helplessly while looking at the chunks of her floating in midair. Although it seemed like Shira had died, the huge sword in her hand was still flickering in a scarlet radiance.

Stop playing, Missy. Do it now.

"Hahaha...!"

As though responding to Rhode's lament, Shira burst into a sinister laughter. But this time, the tentacles that were devouring and ripping her apart suddenly trembled insanely.

"——!"

At the next moment, countless huge blades burst out of the tentacles.

"Hahaha. Chaos trash will always be trash. It's so painful. Shira is feeling so painful. Aren't you feeling pain? I don't allow you to say otherwise, okay?"

Shira spoke like a playful child and the world began collapsing at the next moment.

Six huge, scarlet blades burst out and slashed through the surface ruthlessly, revealing the rotten flesh and putrid blood within. At the same time, blood splashed from the wounded flesh wall above. Then, the six blades aimed and struck at the core target.

Upon sensing the arrival of danger, the remaining tentacles hurriedly blocked the attack. But...

"Don't you know it's useless? Die."

The six blades merged into one and broke the final defense of tentacles.

Kacha... Kacha...

At the next moment, the world finally collapsed.