novelraw Chapter 255-2: Healing Skills of the True Shrine Maiden, Weak Point Ninja Kill (2)
Chapter 255-2: Healing Skills of the True Shrine Maiden, Weak Point Ninja Kill (2)
After waiting about an hour, the transplant surgery was successfully completed.
The Ninja Master now had the new skill Weak Point Insight.
[In the main hall, only the occasional sound of chains rattling and the monster gnawing on torn flesh could be heard…]
[You peer out from behind a pillar and see the monster still devouring Nurarihyon’s corpse. Its once-shriveled belly was now swollen high, as though pregnant, in grotesque contrast to its withered limbs and body.]
[Perhaps it was just your imagination, but the creature seemed even larger than before…]
[Will you approach the monster to fight it, or try to stealth past it and open the main hall doors?]
Lin Xun frowned.
Could this monster really strengthen itself by consuming corpses?
If so, he needed to finish it off as soon as possible.
The safest approach, of course, was to wait for the senior sister to wake up so the two of them could team up to take down the boss.But time waited for no one. Lin Xun could both deal damage and heal himself now, he could be self-sufficient, and soloing the boss was no problem.
[You possess the Fire-Worshipping Ninja Master!]
[You open a pair of dim eyes, turn lightly, and your figure disappears…]
[Remaining in stealth, you silently move behind the giant monster. Engrossed in its feast, it doesn’t notice you at all…]
[You open a pale eye, instantly perceiving the enemy’s weak point!]
[Your next attack has a high chance to strike the enemy’s weak point, inflicting massive damage!]
Lin Xun activated the Ninja Master’s Epic+ skill, Moonlit Sixteenth Night.
[You hold the scabbard in your left hand and grip the Dragon Sword Masamune in your right, gathering power as the energy known as Qi surged through the shell…]
[Because of the effect of Diabolos’ Mask, your stealth attack is guaranteed to deal 150% critical damage!]
[A brilliant sword flash illuminated the entire main hall!]
[Black blood splattered everywhere. The Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine let out a piercing, miserable scream…]
[A short figure appeared before the monster.]
[You exhale, sheath your blade, and turn around. A huge bloody cavity had opened in the creature’s chest, so large you could see right through to the space behind it!]
[Its enormous body crashed to the ground, sending torn meat and chunks of corpse flying.]
Yet even this result wasn’t the Ninja Master’s strongest state.
After all, the Dragon Sword Masamune had currently fallen to Epic+ quality, and Lin Xun only had four stacks of Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire, the added properties were still quite limited for the shell.
If he fully charged the Dragon Jade and restored the Dragon Sword Masamune to Legendary quality, then increased the Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire stacks, this shell would wield even greater power!
[Black miasma surged over the collapsed colossal ‘corpse,’ and the hole in its chest rapidly knit back together. In no time, the Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine stood up again, not a single wound on its body.]
[It roared in fury, shaking dust from the hall ceiling. The monster lunged toward you, but the binding chains prevented it from moving its legs, causing it to collapse again.]
[…]
Lin Xun frowned and continued using Moonlit Sixteenth Night in stealth.
Every time the Ninja Master struck, the monster would be temporarily ‘killed,’ but then dark malice would rise to mend its injuries and revive it.
However, this wasn’t useless, he noticed that each time the monster expended malice to heal, the black miasma around it grew noticeably thinner.
In other words, the malice was being depleted through the regeneration!
He continued directing the shell to attack…
[…]
[You exhale and sheathe your blade, already feeling extremely fatigued.]
[Looking at the Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine, you saw it rise again, the black miasma swirling around its body.]
[The shroud of black miasma had now thinned by about one-tenth or two-tenths.]
[You realized that before you could exhaust the monster’s malice entirely, the Ninja Master would collapse from exhaustion.]
[Will you persist in attacking, or try another method?]
Lin Xun tried switching to the True Shrine Maiden shell to heal the Ninja Master once.
The game did not show any text indicating the shell’s fatigue had recovered, so it seemed that healing skills could only restore health, not stamina or mental energy.
He opened his inventory and looked at the special item Withered Flower of Evil.
“Maybe I should just try it first?”
Lin Xun clicked the item to test it.
[Do you wish to use this special item to absorb the enemy’s malice as nourishment for the Flower of Evil?]
[The Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine has not yet lost the ability to act. You cannot use this item!]
Lin Xun narrowed his eyes.
He once again controlled the Ninja Master to stealthily backstab.
[…]
[The monster’s enormous body crashed to the ground, sending torn flesh scattering everywhere. The gaping cavity in its chest was starkly visible…]
“Now!”
Lin Xun used the item again.
[The withered black flower suddenly erupted with a powerful invisible suction, absorbing the black miasma from the monster’s ‘corpse’ like rivers pouring into the sea.]
[During the absorption, the Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine could no longer wield malice to heal its injuries, and could only watch helplessly as its malice aura continuously gathered into the Flower of Evil.]
[Absorbing malice…]
[Current malice reserve: 3% ()]
[…]
[Current malice reserve: 8% ()]
[…]
[…]
[Current malice reserve: 29%]
[The black miasma surrounding the Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine dispersed, entirely drained by the Flower of Evil.]
[The enormous wound through its chest could no longer heal, causing its life force to drain rapidly until at last it fell silent forever.]
[The black flower in your hand no longer looked withered, growing more lush and striking than before.]
[You have defeated the Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine. Experience greatly increased!]
[You have obtained Faint Spirit Essence of Sanctity x1.]
[You have obtained Divine Art: Karmic Fire Scorching Heaven (Epic Item).]
[You have obtained Secret Passage Map to the No-Illusions Shrine Mountain Belly (Map).]
[You look at the enormous deformed corpse lying on the ground…]
[Extreme Evil Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine: As the Chief Priest of the No-Illusions Shrine, guarding the great yokai sealed in the mountain belly was one of its duties. But during what should have been a routine inspection, it allowed Nurarihyon to break free. Not only that, the Chief Priest was vengefully filled with excessive malice, becoming this grotesque, revolting form. It died from a lethal weak-point ninja kill through the chest. Compatibility: 69% (+55%).]
Lin Xun quickly opened his inventory to check the map item.
[Secret Passage Map to the No-Illusions Shrine Mountain Belly (Map): This map depicts the location of the hidden passage beneath the shrine. The mountain belly has long been hollowed out. It is both the place where the great yokai Nurarihyon was sealed and the vault where countless offerings from the faithful are stored.]
Offerings, in other words, all the incense money.
His eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in delight. “I’m about to get rich!”
[A/N:
The text below would feel like padding in the main story, so I decided to cut it and put it here in the author’s note instead.
Lin Xun had once thought of trading shells… but it was obvious this infernal game would never allow such a balance-breaking exploit.
After joining the Thunder Tribulation Squad, his forum permissions were greatly elevated.
He learned that official apostles had conducted a series of related tests, for example, high-difficulty apostles killing a humanoid monster so a low-difficulty apostle could invade and grab the shell; or dropping a shell in-game to let someone else possess it…
But not a single one of these tests ever succeeded.
During multiplayer sessions, the infernal game restricts invading apostles from exploring, fighting monsters, picking up shells, collecting loot, and so on, they can only engage in PvP combat.
As for discarding a shell… whether in the game or in reality, any discarded shell instantly dissolves and disappears.
Only when standing next to a Resting Page in the game can you ‘glitch’ to preserve a complete shell, but even then, there is no way for a multiplayer apostle to obtain it.
And in the real world, only those with a soul talent like Thousand Faces, Ten Thousand Forms can bypass the game’s restrictions, allowing them to seize a shell in the split second before it vanishes after killing a rival apostle…
Ordinary apostles obviously don’t have such heaven-defying talents, so the idea of trading shells could only remain a fantasy, impossible to realize.]