“When did you…?” Hel’s expression suddenly twisted into a grotesque mask, his arm folding back at an unnatural angle, his tone tinged with fear.
“Hel… you’ve been corrupted for a long time, haven’t you?” Mu Xuan didn’t answer Hel’s question, but instead asked in return.
Though weak, his voice struck directly at Hel’s mind. Hel’s lips trembled, and pitch-black darkness rapidly flooded his eyes.
“Run…” As soon as Mu Xuan spoke those words, Hel could no longer maintain his form. Grinding his teeth nearly to pieces, he managed to squeeze out a single word.
What!?
Just as Mu Xuan’s doubt surfaced, he saw Hel’s body begin to twist grotesquely from the waist, winding up like a piece of braided dough.
Chilling white bones pierced through skin, eyeballs—still attached to nerves—fell from their sockets, and a thick, rotting arm forced its way out from Hel’s mouth, dragging the twisted limbs with it. Like a crawling corpse, the mass “wriggled” along the ground.
“Your Eminence, this…” As soon as Hel began to mutate, Buzachi had already withdrawn, coming to Mu Xuan’s side. Staring at Hel’s form, Buzachi suppressed the nausea in his stomach and warned, on guard.
“Go!”
Mu Xuan shouted in a low voice.
All the faith power in his scepter had been spent on resolving the statue; now, he couldn’t even treat his own wounds, let alone deal with the mutated Hel.
Buzachi had only a single wisp of faith power left—barely enough to cause real harm to such an abomination. They had to flee while Hel was still changing.
Only Griffinde could handle Hel after this mutation.
At Mu Xuan’s command, Buzachi didn’t hesitate at all. He helped the weakened Mu Xuan up and rushed quickly toward the edge of the courtyard.
But Hel’s mutation progressed even faster than Mu Xuan had anticipated.
Within just half a minute, Mu Xuan heard that eerie “wriggling” sound.
“Hel” was approaching at a terrifying speed!
But the spike in his abdomen relentlessly stabbed at Mu Xuan’s nerves, and combined with severe blood loss and the corruption carried by the spike, it was impossible for him to run any faster.
If only I’d saved a wisp of faith power!
To set up the barrier in the village, Mu Xuan had given most of his accumulated faith power to Griffinde, and now he deeply regretted it.
There was still a long way to go before reaching Griffinde, and in his current state, Mu Xuan simply couldn’t move fast.
Glancing at Buzachi beside him, Mu Xuan hesitated inwardly.
He wanted to ask Buzachi to help delay their pursuer, but he knew Buzachi always put his own interests first. It was very likely he’d rather abandon Mu Xuan and run than follow orders to hold off “Hel.”
That was normal—he himself was selfish, so how could he expect others not to be? Everyone had their own thoughts and priorities. Some might sacrifice heroically, but certainly, there were those who would cling to life and fear death.
Supporting Mu Xuan, Buzachi also sensed “Hel” drawing near. He looked at the weakened Mu Xuan, then at the dagger in his hand. His eyes rolled twice before he spoke in a deep voice to Mu Xuan, “Your Eminence, I’ll go stall it! You must find Griffinde quickly!”
With that, he carefully let go of Mu Xuan’s arm, then turned resolutely, holding the dagger defensively in front of himself, and produced the tainted blade.
Mu Xuan staggered when Buzachi released him, but steadied himself and turned to glance at Buzachi, his expression complex. Yet he didn’t hesitate further. Clutching his abdomen, he forced himself to head toward Griffinde’s location.
If someone is willing to buy time, what else is there to say? If you linger with an emotional farewell, you’ll only give “Hel” the chance to catch up and kill you.
Mu Xuan truly was the type afraid of death—otherwise, he wouldn’t have worked so hard to solve these crises.
Once he’d moved beyond sight of Buzachi, the black mist thickened around him. The previous glow had only dispersed it near the courtyard; further out, the darkness remained dense.
From Buzachi’s direction, there were now sounds of chaos, and Buzachi’s curses could be faintly heard.
After catching his breath twice, Mu Xuan didn’t linger but continued to hurry toward Griffinde.
“Your Eminence!”
Soon, Mu Xuan saw Griffinde’s armor, glinting with silver light. Griffinde’s voice also reached him.
Seeing the spike in Mu Xuan’s abdomen, Griffinde rushed over at once, helping him to sit at the threshold of a house.
“Your Eminence, your wound…” Staring at the spike and the black blood oozing continuously, Griffinde was deeply worried, but the words died in his throat.
He had no idea how to treat this wound.
“Don’t worry about the wound for now… Did you finish the task I gave you?”
“Rest assured, Your Eminence, there’s absolutely no margin for error!” Griffinde answered with confidence.
“Phew…” Hearing Griffinde’s certainty, Mu Xuan breathed a long sigh of relief, then said, “Hurry and help Buzachi… On the way here… Hel mutated…”
Griffinde didn’t answer at once, instead gazing with concern at Mu Xuan’s injury. But meeting Mu Xuan’s eyes, he finally replied promptly, “Your will be done!”
He then rushed off toward Buzachi’s location.
At that moment, Beckerze emerged from the house, immediately noticing Mu Xuan’s wound. He knelt respectfully before Mu Xuan, saying, “Your Eminence, let me treat this wound…”
“You… know medicine?” Mu Xuan asked weakly.
“I was just an apprentice before… but I followed my teacher for a year, so I’ve learned some ways to treat wounds…” As he spoke, Beckerze’s expression grew both excited and devout. “And with the goddess’s blessing, I have mastered Healing Light!”
So that’s it, Mu Xuan thought. Beckerze has basically obtained the priest template…
He nodded, signaling for Beckerze to help.
Leaving the wound untended would only make things worse, and Mu Xuan currently had no faith power left to heal himself. Letting Beckerze treat him was clearly the best choice.
Having gained Mu Xuan’s approval, Beckerze carefully lifted Mu Xuan’s robe, revealing the abdomen pierced by the spike.
His whole abdomen was penetrated by the spike. If it were pulled out, massive blood loss would be inevitable, and the spike itself carried corruption.
Beckerze’s gaze grew grave. He flexed his fingers, calling forth the Sacred Tome. A faint glow spilled from the Sacred Tome onto the spike-pierced wound.
As soon as the black blood touched the glow, it swiftly reverted to a bright red.
But it seemed the glow had also stirred the spike, reactivating some of the flesh around the wound. The pain caused Mu Xuan to let out a deep groan.
“Numbness!”
Sensing Mu Xuan’s pain, Beckerze moved his palm and softly uttered two words.
In an instant, Mu Xuan felt no pain at the wound.
Then, Beckerze carefully pinched the spike with his fingers and slowly pulled it out.
There was no pain, but Mu Xuan still felt an itch deep in his belly.
Watching the spike slide out of his body, Mu Xuan remained silent. The last thing a doctor wanted during surgery was the patient making noise—and this was no exception.
Soon, the spike was fully withdrawn. As blood spurted out, Beckerze immediately used the soft glow to staunch the flow, preventing further blood loss.
He then tore a long strip of cloth and wrapped it tightly around Mu Xuan’s waist, sealing the wound completely.
Seeing that the wound was taken care of, Mu Xuan tried to stand with effort, but Beckerze stopped him at once.
“Your Eminence, your wound hasn’t healed yet. You mustn’t move!” Beckerze’s stern face made Mu Xuan open his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.
After helping Mu Xuan into a more comfortable position, Beckerze again let some of the Sacred Tome’s light fall on Mu Xuan’s wound.
“Healing Light!”
The soft incantation escaped Beckerze’s lips, and visibly, his face turned deathly pale as sweat dripped from his brow.
When the Sacred Tome finally vanished, Beckerze slumped weakly to the ground, panting as he said to Mu Xuan, “Your Eminence, I’ve accelerated the healing of your wound, but it still needs time…”
“Mm… Thank you for your trouble…”
Mu Xuan felt a bit dazed… In his vision, Beckerze’s wisp of faith power had split into two…