Chapter 456: Chapter 454: The Gift

[Memory Palace]

The aquarium, which had just been repaired not long ago, was once again suffering from a severe leak.

But this time, the leak wasn’t caused by the death immersion of the Original Tomb, but rather because William, the main host, had sustained critical injuries and was on the brink of death.

Impaled on the Spiral Giant Sword, this direct threat of death forcibly sucked William’s consciousness into the depths, coming face to face with another original entity within his body.

The symbolic library of the Memory Palace was filled with the scent of sebaceous black flames burning flesh. Even the walls seemed to leak black gas, as if the fire might spread here at any moment.

William had passed through seven dark doors of the library and was standing in the corridors of the aquarium. The surface of the water tanks was riddled with holes, and large amounts of liquid were seeping out.

The exchange that was about to take place was actually a kind of “Split Thought Activity” and did not fall within the scope of time.

Even so, ‘Yi Chen’ was still confined within it, incapable of escaping on his own unless the glass shattered completely.

Yi Chen, with half of his head exposed, stretched out a tongue to lick the shattered glass surface. Unconcerned even as his tongue was cut, he licked and spoke:

“Quite dangerous, this Skin Bag Apostle is very powerful! The Black Flames, fuelled by the burning of his sebaceous oil, must be an advanced illness realized during his travels, capable of completely crushing you by rank.

Surely you’ll die if this continues.

Switch with me, William! If it were me, perhaps we could fight to a mutual defeat, and in the end, little Grape could escape with our body.”

However, William’s expression was stern, with no intention of switching, “No… I’m just here to borrow something. Give me the face, quickly.”

“Are you really not considering it, William? This is a powerful entity capable of breakthroughs in the path. Are you really up to it now? You haven’t even practiced with the new weapon, you must be very unaccustomed to it.”

“Stop the nonsense and give it to me! Otherwise, we’re both going to die here… And even if you could fight to a mutual defeat, it’s completely in vain. The opponent’s purpose is clear, to capture me and take me to the Skin Factory. Judging by this Skin Bag Apostle’s condition, we probably wouldn’t end up with anything good.

Considering the current situation, I have already thought of the best method, and with your intelligence, Yi Chen, you should be able to figure it out too.

So stop playing games; now’s not the time to switch. Hurry up and give me the face skin!”

“Haha, ha~hahaha!” Yi Chen inside the tank covered his face with one hand, laughing uncontrollably, “You really are a high-level imitation of me, have you already come up with the best course of action in such a critical confrontation?

Alright, alright~ then I’ll watch your performance, but don’t disappoint me.”

As the words fell, Yi Chen grabbed a corpse inside the tank and with just his nails, sliced off the corpse’s entire face skin.

With a convenient hole in the glass, Yi Chen reached out with the face skin in hand.

“Come on, I’ll apply a face mask for you personally!”

William wasn’t resistant, drawing his face close and as the facial skin adhered to his own, the ‘Dead Man Makeup’ was initiated.

…

Impaled on the Spiral Sword and roasted until his body was nearly just a skeleton, William suddenly began to tremble,

His right hand holding the Hand Axe swung fiercely at himself, severing his already skeletal body at the waist in order to break free from the impalement of the Spiral Sword.

Whoosh! His body split in two.

The head flew through the air,

While the lower body plummeted to the ground,

Despite freeing himself from the Spiral Sword, the Black Flames engulfing his entire body continued to burn without cessation, further consuming the skeletal remains. Some bones were severely carbonized and were now relying on Iron Chains for support.

This action even took the gatekeeper Pim by surprise; he didn’t quite understand the purpose of the other’s actions, but quickly realizing the opponent was a Death Plague Knight, he had no intention of letting his guard down.

Uplift!

Black Flames drew a splendid arc through the air, Crack! The Spiral Giant Sword struck and shattered the upper half of William, thrown into the air, the pieces all burned to ash.

Another downward strike followed, and the lower half, which had just landed and was still burning fiercely, was crushed and burnt to nothing.

“Target eliminated!”

Pim muttered mechanically, devoid of any sense of victory.

His gaze immediately turned to the remaining Candle Puppet, continuing to advance with the Spiral Sword in hand,

However, this Candle Puppet, which seemed old and incapable of resistance, made a gesture with both hands outstretched.

Hum!

A force of attraction came into play.

The Black Flames wrapped around the body of the Spiral Sword were being directionally absorbed. In a mere three seconds, all the sebaceous Black Flames had been sucked into the Candle Puppet.

This forceful, overloading absorption nearly caused number thirteen to combust completely. The White Candle atop its head developed dark cracks and almost collapsed.

But soon enough, those black flames were suppressed, overtaken by the residual white flames, indeed the flames from the Bonfire Mountain Range, bequeathed by the second son of the Evil Sun.

“Hmm?”

As Pim once again showed a puzzled look, tilting his head slightly to look at the Candle Puppet in front of him, Thirteen whispered softly, “Teacher, this is all I can do for you. The rest is up to you.”

No sooner had the words left his lips than an unusual movement came from the Spiral Sword in Pim’s hand.

Looking down, he saw a large amount of black liquid and flesh gathering around the blade of the sword, already forming a human silhouette.

That’s right!

William’s self-inflicted Waist Cutting was merely a ‘diversion’,

to concentrate all of Pim’s attention on the two halves of the body, when in reality there was a rib that had been placed in a gap of the Spiral Sword, quietly waiting for its chance.

By the time the upper and lower halves were completely crushed and burned, the sole remaining rib bone automatically became the primary subject of the resurrection.

Although relying on a single rib bone to accomplish resurrection required a lot of Black Liquid and shortened the duration of the Dead Man Makeup, the current stage of William could completely afford this ‘resurrection fee’.

What William didn’t expect was that Thirteen was actually able to absorb the Black Flame, and it was the Black Flame from the entire Spiral Sword.

Without the threat of the Black Flame, the regeneration speed doubled.

As a pale face with red underpinnings of Dead Man Makeup reemerged, before Pim could react… Bang! A bullet, wrapped in a pattern of Iron Chains and covered with bumps, was already fired.

The nearly point-blank shot hit directly into Pim’s brain.

Though the bullet’s power was not enough to pose much of a threat to Pim, the pain it contained was remarkably effective.

Whoosh!

Pim’s head sprouted many spikes, causing agonizing pain that made him clutch his head and scream in frenzy, unable to act normally for a short time.

Without the slightest delay,

William crouched and lunged upward, stretching his right arm to its fullest extent, twisting his waist and turning his back… The Hand Axe swung down like a decree of judgement. Crack! The black Axe Blade cleaved into Pim’s head, splitting it open completely.

With that blow, the silver Frame atop Pim’s head diminished by one fifth.

However, William did not continue to attack, nor did he trigger the ‘Execution’ effect of the Hand Axe. Instead, he carefully observed Pim’s split-open brain.

Inside the brain, wrapped and protected by the Skin layer, grew many blood vessels, teeming with Blood Plague viruses living as Parasites.

“Little Grape!”

William shouted, the Ash Eye at his brow shooting out a light with the effect of the Evil Sun, shining on the inside of Pim’s split brain.

The scorched blood vessels were extinguished instantly, but the brain itself remained undamaged.

At that moment, an immense pressure struck from the side! It was Pim’s instinctive swing of the Spiral Sword in his hand.

Snap!

The Spiral Sword without the Black Flame struck William hard, sending him flying. Even though it was a swing in disarray, William was still hit so hard that several of his ribs broke, and he rolled on the ground several times before stabilizing.

Hiss, hiss~

Threads of Skin stretched out from the fissures in Pim’s brain, swiftly stitching it back together and repairing it.

As the brain mended, his gaze became clear,

and the eyes that slowly regained focus looked towards the young man before him, and at the Skin Sack Bible tied around the young man’s waist, finally recognizing the other’s identity.

“You’re not the Death Plague Knight, you’re an Outsider Skin Slave… What in the world is going on with me? Why can’t I even tell this apart… The Skin Factory has been tainted with blood; everything’s in chaos.

Outsider Skin Slave, although I don’t know your name, your ability to fight me to this extent with an Open Source body speaks volumes of your exceptional nature!

Now is not the time for you to return to the Skin Factory,

with your current Rank, entering the Skin Factory would be a dead-end! Leave this place, seek out the other Skin Slaves scattered about, gather them… Consider this a meeting gift from me.”

No sooner had he finished speaking,

Pim moved at Superfast speed to William’s side, grabbed both William and Thirteen,

and with a backward stretch of his arms… threw them with all his might!

Whir!

William was thrown hundreds of meters away, landing on a nearby Connecting Mountain Peak, still holding a special Skin Sack in his hand.

“No!”

The flying noblewoman saw the ‘container’ leave, immediately showing a Fierce Appearance and emitting a heart-wrenching scream!