Chapter 140 : You Even Have a Turtle Shell?
Chapter 140: You Even Have a Turtle Shell?
But at that moment—
Garrod, who had been on the defensive the entire time, suddenly made an extremely bizarre move.
He deliberately took Lilia’s kick head-on, using that massive impact to send his entire body flying backward like a kite with a snapped string.
That direction was—
The core?!
Alarm bells rang wildly in Lilia’s mind.
What was this guy trying to do?
Run?
No.
There was no panic on Garrod’s face—only a desperate, all-in madness and twisted ferocity.
Mid-air, he forcibly twisted his body, his intact left hand reaching swiftly toward the storage pouch at his waist.
A crystal bottle appeared in his hand—ancient in design, sealed with complex incantations.
The liquid inside wasn’t holy water, nor any kind of healing potion.
It was a viscous substance of eerie purple-black, and even through the crystal, one could feel the nauseating, violent aura contained within.
“Since it’s not ripe yet, I’ll help it mature!”
Garrod let out a hysterical roar.
At the final moment before landing, he used all his strength to hurl the crystal bottle toward the beating “Old God” embryo core.
“Stop!!!”
Lilia tried to intervene—but it was too late.
Crack!
The crisp sound of shattering echoed sharply through the silent space.
The purple-black liquid splashed across the surface of the massive black heart.
Like pouring cold water into boiling oil—
Sizzle——!!!
A corrosive sound that made teeth ache rang out.
The core, which had been beating rhythmically, suddenly convulsed violently.
A terrifying energy fluctuation—so intense it warped the air itself—instantly swept through the entire flesh cavity.
The blood vessels clinging around it burst one after another, and countless dark red tentacles began thrashing wildly like they had gone mad.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
Lilia was blown back by the shockwave, only managing to steady herself by stabbing her daggers into the ground.
She stared at the grinning Holy Knight in disbelief.
This thing already grew by absorbing life force.
Now, stimulated by such a high concentration of corruption—if it went out of control, all those laborers and children outside who hadn’t fully died yet would be drained dry in an instant.
“I told you—this is the price.”
Garrod gazed at the rapidly swelling core, its surface now beginning to reveal countless agonized human faces. The fervor in his eyes was enough to chill one’s bones.
“Only the deepest darkness can highlight the greatness of light.”
“Only by slaying the most terrifying Demon King can one become the most legendary Hero.”
“Look…”
Garrod spread his arms, as if embracing the impending disaster.
“The stage is set.”
At this moment—
The core, once only the size of a millstone, had expanded to the size of a house.
The purple-red crystal on its surface cracked apart inch by inch, revealing within a mass of black substance that seemed to be pure condensed malice.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Each heartbeat struck like a hammer against the chest.
The entire underground space—even the whole Dark Moon Canyon—trembled in sync.
Lilia felt her vision blur.
A sign that her sanity was rapidly dropping.
And the instigator of all this—
That damned “canned man”—
Was actually still laughing?
“Laugh your ass off!”
Lilia bit down on the mint candy in her mouth, forcing herself to stay conscious.
She pulled out her daggers and was about to rush forward to stab that bastard through the heart.
Suddenly—
A massive crack split open on the swelling core.
A gigantic arm, covered in black scales with claws over a meter long, burst out from within, carrying a suffocating stench.
And it appeared—
Right behind Garrod.
Yet the self-absorbed “Hero candidate” seemed completely unaware.
The pounding of the massive black heart was like war drums against the eardrums.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
With every beat, the surrounding dark red flesh walls contracted violently, squeezing out large amounts of sticky, foul-smelling fluid.
The black claw that emerged from the crack, its meter-long nails sharp like freshly honed sickles, slashed around wildly.
The previously resilient cavity was torn open with ease, revealing the gray, murky sky outside—and…
Piercing screams.
Not just one voice, but a chorus of thousands wailing together. Even through the thick flesh membrane, the sound made Lilia’s head buzz violently.
“Do you hear it?”
Garrod stood beside the nearly exploding heart, wearing that nauseating, deranged smile.
One of his hands hung uselessly after being crippled by Lilia, yet he seemed to feel no pain at all. Instead, he closed his eyes in intoxicated delight.
“This is the prelude to the descent of a New God.”
“Those lowly ants outside are paving the way for this great moment with their flesh and blood.”
Lilia had never seen someone this disgusting in her life.
If this guy represented justice, then the world’s justice was probably made from the Old God’s excrement.
Lilia took a deep breath, the muscles in her legs tensing instantly.
No matter what kind of thing this would hatch into—
She’d deal with the idiot causing the disaster first!
“Die!”
Lilia’s figure vanished instantly.
No fancy techniques—just pure speed and power.
One strike.
All she needed was one strike.
As long as she cut off this madman’s head, the world would at least be half as quiet!
However—
Just as her blade was about to touch Garrod’s neck—
The man who looked half-crippled suddenly snapped his eyes open.
No panic. No fear.
In those bloodshot eyes, there was only an absolute confidence, as if everything was already under his control.
“You can’t kill me.”
He didn’t even dodge.
He simply spoke those words calmly, with a superior tone.
Buzz——!!!
A blinding golden light suddenly erupted from the distorted sun emblem on his chest.
Lilia felt as if she had struck a diamond weighing tens of thousands of tons.
The immense recoil traveled through her arms into her entire body. Her grip split open instantly, and she was sent flying seven or eight meters back. When she landed, the flesh beneath her feet burst open into two craters.
“Cough…”
Lilia swallowed the metallic sweetness in her throat, staring fixedly at the man within the barrier.
Even after being beaten into such a miserable state, he still had this kind of life-saving turtle shell?
“Save your effort, traitor.”
Garrod stood within the barrier, using his intact hand to tidy his tattered collar. His gaze was filled with contempt, like he was looking at a grasshopper hopping at his feet.
“This is the ‘Sanctuary Barrier’ personally bestowed by the Pope. Unless you’re a Grand Magus-level powerhouse, don’t even think about harming me before its energy runs out.”
As he spoke, he stepped forward.
That golden radiance looked utterly out of place within the dim flesh cavity.