Chapter 573: Have You Heard of the Grocery Store?

Chapter 573 Have You Ever Heard of the Grocery Store?

Valotti raised his right hand, pressing his palm flat against his forehead.

From beneath his feet, a layer of yellow sand began to swirl and rise around him, continuously falling into his wounds to fill them, much like a master sculptor repairing a damaged statue.

Soon, the wounds on his body were completely covered, and as his palm lowered, the original discoloration was blended into harmony.

After completing this, a depression appeared at the center of Valotti's brow.

"Splat!"

A black, leech-like object dropped from within, dissolving into a pool of foul, reeking pus upon hitting the ground.

Immediately following came a second, a third, a fourth... they were numerous, falling without pause.

Not until a pool of filth had formed at Valotti's feet did this action finally cease, and yellow sand quickly filled the hole at his brow.

Then, a light cough issued from Valotti's throat, his chest heaved, and the exhaustion in his eyes receded, replaced by tranquility.

Finally, his left hand reached downward, the palm splitting open as a black crystal extended from within like a growing vine, bending and materializing after reaching a certain length to form a black scimitar.

At his right arm, bone began to protrude, and a layer of gelatinous substance seemed to secrete, coating the entire right limb.

Valotti raised the scimitar, striking it against his right arm.

"Clang!"

A dull ring echoed out, serving as a reminder to the one opposite him that he was ready.

...

Pu'er remarked with sigh, "This fellow's combat will, combat experience, and combat mindset are all truly top-tier."

Valotti's initial actions were repairing his body; his subsequent actions were severing the injuries to his soul.

Without hesitation, he chose the method with the greatest side effects—overdrawing his body and the future development of his soul—to maintain his current self in a reasonably good state for this stage.

This was a very wise choice, yet also a very difficult one, because most people find it hard to wager everything by overdrawing the future when hope still glimmers before them.

Rasmar gently twirled the quill in his hand, teasing, "It seems he is well aware that I am not Tycen."

Pu'er rolled her eyes at Rasmar and said, "He isn't deaf. I shouted for Rasmar to beat him so many times just now, how could he not have heard?"

"But who can truly face death with total composure? One still clings to a shred of hope, more or less."

"True." Pu'er nodded. "I don't believe he doesn't know what the name Rasmar represents, but he never used that title with you, which proves he still harbored a tiny hope in his heart."

Even within church circles, most people could not possibly remember the names of all the top leaders of every sacred religion, but the vast majority knew the name of the High Priest of the Order.

Because the Church of Order was the number one sacred religion in the world.

Yet, Valotti had not cried out to Rasmar in shock: "What, you are the former High Priest of the Church of Order?"

Pu'er felt that Valotti's heart must be incredibly bitter.

In this world, assassins as excellent as him were truly rare; at the same time, assassins as unlucky as him were also truly rare.

He had run onto someone else's territory, assassinated the entire family of the local regional leader, and then plunged straight under the nose of that organization's former supreme leader.

When others were bullied, they would look for the bigger or older ones to help reclaim their honor;

He achieved it in one single step—after bullying the small one, he immediately and voluntarily reported to the old one.

In fact, if Valotti had simply killed everyone in the Funeral Society, he would not have fallen into such a predicament now. To put it plainly, it was still due to greed.

He insisted on fleeing while holding Pu'er, and because he held Pu'er, Karen was able to track him using the Frost Giant Dragon and pursue him to the death, finally forcing him to choose this ultimate escape route;

He originally had the chance to stay in Wien and play hide-and-seek with the forces of the Church of Order, yet he insisted on running away with a cat.

If he had carried anything else instead of a cat, nothing would have happened when he passed through here.

Although this was a forbidden zone, it only prohibited the forces of the Church of Order from entering; people from other sacred religions could enter and leave as usual. Even if he had streaked across the sky, he would have just passed by.

Dis would not have bothered with him, and he possessed nothing worthy of Dis's attention;

Rasmar would at most look up, and cut off from external news as he was, he wouldn't know this person was a wanted fugitive of Order. He would likely just continue drinking his wine and eating his canned herring.

Perhaps, this was destiny.

Just as he had told himself when he first captured Pu'er: I feel a trepidation from destiny.

"I now feel my weakening of Valotti wasn't enough, but it seems inappropriate to call a halt and strike again, otherwise it would appear too undignified. To see true caliber, there must be a proper level of difficulty and risk."

Pu'er said, "I suggest you beat him until he's paralyzed on the ground, then let Karen deliver the final blow. That way, everyone is happy."

"Then it would be too boring." The quill in Rasmar's hand began to draw circles casually as he said, "Karen's psychological fortitude is quite good."

While Valotti was adjusting his physical and soulful injuries, Karen focused on his warm-up exercises.

Flames rose from the palms of both his hands, and he began to stroke and pat his arms, neck, chest, and knees. This was a "real warm-up."

With Karen's current mastery over power, it was naturally impossible for him to burn his clothes or scald himself. Doing this was mainly to quickly disperse the chill of the Frost Giant Dragon that had permeated his body during the pursuit.

He certainly knew what Valotti opposite him was doing, but he did not intend to step in early to stop it.

Rasmar was right beside him, his grandfather was lying nearby, and Valotti had already been weakened by Rasmar in advance. What he needed to do was simply not give the opponent a chance to instant-kill him in the upcoming duel;

These were already overwhelmingly advantageous conditions, so there was naturally no need to haggle over such minor details. One could afford to have a broader mindset.

"The way he acts is truly very similar to the old Dis. No matter the time, he likes to go about his business as if there is no anyone else around."

Pu'er said to Rasmar, "He is Dis's grandson, after all."

Rasmar shook his head and said, "Such words can be said sometimes, but are inappropriate at others. The sacred religion's historical records contain no shortage of cases where the successors of 'great figures' encountered problems during their growth phases.

Even if he is Dis's grandson, the path must still be walked by himself;

On the day Dis fell into slumber, I saw him. Compared to his past self, the current him is clearly much more mature. He must have experienced quite a lot during this period."

Pu'er said, "It's certainly more than just a lot."

"In truth, for someone of this background, there is usually no need to worry about aptitude and resources. The greatest concern is temperament. Temperament often becomes their weakness, stemming from the negative impact brought by their relatively superior family environment."

"It's fine," Pu'er said. "On this point, he has no issue."

Pu'er had witnessed the scene where Karen roasted his own soul with the Fire of Light to resist the hunger addiction, and later even progressed to the point of hacking himself with the Scythe of War.

In Pu'er's perspective, Karen had already ascended to the tier of a truly "ruthless person." Being ruthless to oneself was true ruthlessness.

"This is also why I want him to rid himself of Dis's influence. I hope his future can be walked even better."

Rid himself of Dis's influence?

Pu'er blinked, holding back from laughing out loud.

Although Dis did it for his family, in essence, he still chose to compromise with the Church of Order; he was unwilling to truly go to war with the church.

But Karen... Pu'er knew that the path Karen wished to walk would ultimately lead to the complete overthrow of the current Church of Order.

Compared to Karen, Dis was actually conservative. It could even be said that it was precisely Dis's influence that kept Karen from appearing so extreme, yet little Rasmar was now plotting to strip away Dis's influence from Karen...

Pu'er tilted her head and thought to herself: As long as you are happy.

"Swish..."

Rasmar drew a line with his quill. Valotti's figure vanished from his original spot, while Karen remained where he was, holding the Sword of Diamance, alertly watching the surrounding changes.

"Hehehe..."

Rathma smiled, and as his quill began to sketch endless circles, he spoke, saying, "Well now, in my eyes, he is completely different from Dis."

Rathma knew all too well how Dis used to fight in his youth, and in his memory, he had never seen Dis respond to a challenge in such a conservative manner.

"There is nothing wrong with being cautious," Purr naturally spoke up for her own Karen, "I happen to admire my Karen's cautiousness."

Rathma said dismissively, "I truly have no desire to see him resemble Dis anymore; it is only in the difference that I find hope."

...

Valoti's form had long since vanished into thin air, and rather than choosing to release his consciousness to probe the surroundings, Karen set about raising his own defenses:

Three layers of crystal-clear protective barriers had already been erected on the periphery, forming the first line of defense;

In the middle position, nine black spheres floated, encircling Karen, harboring within them the Fire of Order, which was the second line of defense Karen had arranged for himself;

Qianmei's wings were pulled taut, ready at any moment to assist Karen with movement and protection, constituting the third line of defense;

The final line of defense was the Armor of the Sea God upon Karen's own body.

This was precisely why Rathma had let out a chuckle, for it was hard to imagine Dis draping himself in so many layers of tortoise shells before a fight.

A single grain of sand fell upon the outermost protective barrier.

Karen's gaze narrowed slightly.

In the next instant, countless grains of sand materialized on the surface of the barrier, permeating it in a flash, shattering the outermost defense directly, as the abruptly rising yellow sands swept toward Karen as if to grind away every sharp edge in the world.

"Boom!"

The Fire of Order erupted directly, and the sand grains enveloped in the flames were quickly stripped of their power, causing the onslaught to weaken instantly.

The Purification Spell was the simplest of techniques, yet it was also the most practical, for it could render the most dazzling array of magic common and ordinary in its presence.

But just then, the soil beneath Karen's feet turned to sand in a flash, and a giant maw surged up to envelop him.

Karen did not choose to strike back directly; instead, as the wings of Qianmei behind him unfurled, they bore him away from the area.

However, Valoti seemed to have anticipated this long ago, the heritage of the "Clarifier Miliorai" granting him the wisest perception, having discerned Karen's combat habits well before the clash even began.

Valoti's silhouette appeared in the very airspace where Karen was ascending, his black scimitar slashing down toward him.

Qianmei's wings instantly wrapped around Karen, intercepting the blow.

"Bang!"

A black steel ball was hacked down from the heavens, rolling rapidly upon hitting the ground, before the steel ball unfurled to become wings once more, while Karen himself retreated several paces.

By all accounts, according to the natural flow, the first phase of tentative probing should have reached a temporary conclusion here, but the spot where Karen landed and retreated happened to be the very place where Valoti had stood earlier to heal his wounds.

Before he had delivered that slash to the steel ball, he had already calculated the angle and the force.

"Crack..."

The stain upon the ground and the thin layer of scattered yellow sand transformed in that moment into a pair of colossal arms, clapping together toward the position where Karen stood.

Karen felt as though the surrounding space had been entirely sealed off, and at this moment, he felt like a fly trapped in glue, unable to move.

And right before him, Valoti closed in with extreme speed, his scimitar slashing down once more.

Qianmei wrapped her wings around Karen again to block the strike, but Valoti's blade veered sharply to the side, replaced by his right arm swinging heavily to smash against the steel ball.

"Buzz!"

No dull thud of impact resounded; instead, the gelatinous substance upon Valoti's right arm began to melt rapidly, spraying onto the steel ball.

Qianmei immediately let out a howl of agony to Karen, for it was obvious this gelatinous matter possessed an immense, suppressive lethality against spiritual entities.

Following that, the steel ball opened involuntarily, like a clam parting its shell, revealing Karen who was protected inside.

And at that moment, the black scimitar originally held in Valoti's left palm retracted rapidly—it had grown out of his body in the first place, and now it seemed to be drawn back—only for the scimitar to regrow in his right palm at an unimaginably swift pace.

The scimitar slashed straight down toward his face.

The Armor of the Sea God upon Karen's body began to expand, pushing outward, but upon making contact with the scimitar, the internal workings of the armor seemed to be mixed with sand, and its operation grew sluggish.

The water armor, which originally possessed excellent defensive properties, now resembled a large piece of jelly, through which the scimitar sliced with great ease.

The skin of Karen's face could already feel the sharp, cutting sensation.

Valoti was, after all, an assassin who dared to assassinate the entire family of a Chief Bishop single-handedly, choosing a time when the Chief Bishop himself was at home; even though he was injured because of Rathma and his strength was greatly impaired, one still could not deny his prowess in the way of the assassin.

Had it been Philomena in the same environment, she would have had to withdraw after breaking through three layers of Karen's defenses at most, unable to strip away every single layer with remaining strength like Valoti did.

Rathma lifted his head, his grip tightening around the quill in his hand, preparing to intervene, because though this grandson of Dis was cautious, he truly looked as if he were about to be killed in a single exchange.

If that happened, he would have truly ruined everything, letting Dis's most beloved grandson die "before" Dis's very eyes?

Too terrifying!

However, just as Rathma was about to step in and disrupt the fairness of the duel, he suddenly noticed something, his figure freezing as he chose not to intervene.

Valoti's scimitar sliced into Karen's face, the sensation of entry akin to cutting through a soft egg cake.

Yet, the pupils of Valoti's eyes contracted instantly as a fracturing sound echoed from the figure before him, and not just his vision and hearing, but even his perception plunged into a distorted, chaotic mess at that moment.

The silhouette of Karen that had been right before him dissolved, and a Gate of Samsara stood in its place, collapsing under the assault of the scimitar.

And behind Valoti, another Gate of Samsara manifested, and the true figure of Karen emerged, though he no longer bore Qianmei's wings upon his back, nor did he hold the Sword of Diamans; there was only a Rubik's cube spinning rapidly before his chest.

The "Key of the Magic Cube" had always been used by the Guman family as a hereditary auxiliary tool for array masters, but in reality, its deductive capabilities were not limited to the operation of arrays alone.

Just like Karen at this moment, who was using it to deduce Valoti's methods of attack and his own ways of counteraction.

One possessing the heritage of the Clarifier Miliorai, and the other possessing the Key of the Magic Cube, a duel that should have been a violent collision was turned by the two of them into a contest of sheer intellect.

When an assassin exposes his back to an enemy, it is often his most perilous moment.

Yet Valoti did not choose to turn around, nor did he choose to resist; instead, he accelerated as much as possible, wishing to use this direction to widen the distance from Karen first.

And at that moment, Karen also raised his right hand, pointing directly at Valoti.

This was the first time since his promotion to Inquisitor that he used his current strongest offensive spell while his body was still in a relatively peak state.

"Order — Storm!"

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! ..."

In an instant, dozens of incredibly thick Chains of Order flew out from beneath Karen's feet, intertwining and spinning rapidly to form a terrifying black hurricane before Valoti, grinding straight over him!

"Boom!!!"

Rumbling all the way, the dust exploded.

Before Karen, a trench nearly a hundred meters long appeared, and at the very end of the trench stood a tall tower accumulated of sand.

"Crack... Crack... Crack..."

Accompanied by the falling of sand, the high tower subsequently collapsed, revealing Valoti standing inside; he gently wiped away the blood oozing from the corner of his mouth with the back of his right hand, an excited smile appearing on his face.

Karen reached out his hand, and Qianmei returned to his side bearing the Sword of Diamans; re-gripping the greatsword, Karen once again assumed a defensive posture.

...

"The Key of the Magic Cube?"

The Guman family's position was not considered top-tier in York City, but the status of special departments could not be measured by that; as a former Great Priest, Rathma was bound to be extremely familiar with the internal affairs of the Church.

"Why can Karen use this? Does he possess the bloodline of the Guman family?

"Ah... Delong Guman's eldest daughter died in the line of duty long ago during a mission, damn it!!!"

Lathma stood up abruptly in a fit of rage, cursing furiously at the space behind him:

"So it turns out she was rescued by you and brought home to be your daughter-in-law!"

One had to know that the eldest daughter of the Guman family had once been groomed as the most outstanding youth of that generation within the Church, and the high-ranking officials had felt immense regret over the loss from that failed mission.

Who could have known that such an excellent prospect had actually been whisked away by that fellow lounging at home? After saving her, he even kept it a secret so she could bear him a grandson!

"Dis, have you no shame!"

Purr hurriedly explained on Dis's behalf: "That was a case of free love. Dis went to save his son that time, and just happened to save Kaelen's mother along the way."

"Along the way? Then why keep it a secret?"

"Well, after all, the Inmmeles family is just a minor Inquisitor household; under normal circumstances, they couldn't possibly climb high enough to match the Guman family.

This is like those romance stories where two young people truly in love want to break free from the shackles of family and worldly eyes, finding a small place to quietly enjoy their lives.

Kaelen's mother made the choice herself, no one forced her. Alas, who told the men of the Inmmeles family to be so good-looking, always pleasing to women."

"What kind of nonsensical reason is that?" Lathma questioned.

Purr sighed and said, "You investigated so many things about Dis, including the matter of the Fischer family, but you seem to have missed this one. The failure of that mission was not truly an accident."

Lathma frowned slightly and said, "I wasn't the High Priest back then, so I didn't have the authority to see the deepest investigative reports."

Purr countered, "Even if you were the High Priest back then, do you really think you would have seen the true report?"

Lathma did not answer Purr's question. In truth, his decisive decision to vacate his position for Norton was itself a declaration of his stance.

He did not want the position of High Priest, which was nominally the absolute highest authority in the Church of Order, to continue being a mere puppet in the hands of the Temple. Since he couldn't change the situation, he stepped aside for someone who could.

However, Lathma was unwilling to discuss these matters in detail with a cat here, so he shifted the topic:

"Heh, so Tangli is Kaelen's maternal grandmother then?"

"Exactly, meow."

"She didn't marry Dis, yet her own daughter married Dis's son. How truly fascinating."

"Uh-huh, that must be fate, meow."

Lathma picked up his quill again and drew a gate on the paper, a gate brimming with the aura of Order, though something about it made him feel distinctly uncomfortable.

Purr glanced down at it and immediately averted her eyes, offering no explanation.

"Is this a spell Dis created himself?" Lathma asked.

"Ah, I created that one myself," Purr said. "Little Lathma, do you want to learn it? If you catch some fish for me, I'll teach you."

"It can perfectly replicate a person's aura to create an illusion, even mimicking the soul's aura so flawlessly that I didn't even notice it at first glance. No matter how I look at it, its function resembles a colossal gate standing upon an island."

"I like eating Squirrel Fish and Fish with Sichuan Pickled Cabbage..."

"Are you trying to tell me that you stole the Gate of Reincarnation from the Church of Reincarnation?"

"Carp with baked noodles is also very nice, I like that too."

"Heh." Lathma shook his head. "What a pity. Kaelen didn't seize this opportunity to inflict a heavy blow on him. In their next clash, Kaelen will still find himself at a disadvantage. Because that assassin is very clever, once a brilliant trick is used in front of him, it won't work a second time. And such wondrous, ace-in-the-hole spells become one fewer each time they are used, and will soon be exhausted."

"Um, Little Lathma, have you ever heard of a grocery store?"