Chapter 70
Ch.70 Ascension
"Thunderflash Step — activate!"
Before the words had fully left his lips, every thread of Battle Aura in Luo Nan's body gathered below his waist — into his legs, his feet, and even his hips.
The Meridians, broadened again and again by Thunderflash Step and high-grade Body-Tempering Potions, were now like wide open channels; Battle Aura surged through them like a river, vast and thundering.
Luo Nan instantly felt his mastery and command of Thunderflash Step rise to an entirely new level.
Thunderflash Step Lv.3 → Thunderflash Step Lv.4.
He sensed it somewhere deep within — his proficiency with this martial technique had advanced.
Once a martial technique was learned, levels one through three constituted the Novice stage, four through six the Proficient stage, seven through nine the Expert stage, and level ten represented the Master realm — the highest level of mastery over any given technique.
And Luo Nan's Thunderflash Step, in the very instant it activated just now, had crossed from Novice into Proficient.
He transformed into a silver bolt of lightning, moving with the form of a tiger or leopard, arriving in the blink of an eye.
'I was still thinking about hiding my identity as a supernatural practitioner from Anya, but now…… forget it, there's no room for that anymore!'
'If she dies, the impact on the original plot and the Worldline would be far greater than her finding out ahead of time that I'm a supernatural practitioner!'
'Between two evils, choose the lesser.'
'I just hope the Thousand-Scale Radiant Shock Robe in combination with the Purifying Light can hold against this strike.'
'I am Luo Nan, the Pay-to-Win Warrior!'
In less time than it takes to say so, Luo Nan — moving with the swiftness of a startled hare — positioned himself in front of Anya in under half a second. He shrugged off the outer coat from his shoulders, revealing the silver Shock Robe beneath, clinging tightly to every contour of his frame.
Beyond that, with a flicker of intent, Luo Nan yanked out the bronze pocket watch that served as his Spatial Storage Magic Device, and sent over a dozen Purifying Light crystals arcing through the air — placing them precisely in the path between 'its' face and himself and Anya.
‘Cheat Device Miss, can I really block this? I…… genuinely have no confidence!’
[Luo Nan, you can do it.]
Although his head had just run hot a moment ago — goaded on by the Cheat Device Miss into playing the hero — the instant Luo Nan came face to face with the black desecration condensing inside 'its' skull, fear flooded through him in an instant.
‘Forget it. It's come to this, so I'll just leave it to fate!’
Hisssss —
The black desecration condensed into a beam and erupted from the blood-colored fissure split open across 'its' skull.
Without a shred of surprise, it pierced straight through the dozen-odd activated Purifying Light crystals — and, amidst that blaze of radiance, struck Luo Nan square in the chest.
"What the f—…… cold?"
The agonizing pain he had braced for never came. Luo Nan felt only cold — a hollow, empty, void-like cold.
As though his very existence were on the verge of being erased.
‘Is this…… an Abyssal creature's method of attack?’
Luo Nan glanced down at his own chest. The silver Shock Robe had long since been corroded and eaten through by the jet-black desecration. It hadn't been punched clean through as he had feared, but he sensed that his back, right now, was likely covered in the same spreading blackness as his front.
As for his internal organs — emmm…… well, they were certainly no better off than the surface.
Luo Nan felt control and sensation over his body being stripped away. His breathing grew gradually still. His body temperature ebbed away. Even his sense of self was being melted down, bit by bit.
‘I…… I am…… who am I?’
‘What am I…… doing here?’
His thoughts were on the verge of decay. The black eyes that held stars within them were being stained through with the jet-black of desecration.
"Luo Nan von Medillion, what are you doing, you fool?!"
In a haze, he thought he heard an urgent shout, seeming to come from somewhere behind him.
‘How strange. Do I still have something called 'hearing'?’
‘Behind. What is behind?’
‘I…… why do I……’
[Infinity, please act.]
[He and You are, in truth, one.]
Whoooosh —
A gentle breeze drifted past. A stream murmured softly. The blazing midsummer sun and the drone of cicadas remained as harmonious as ever.
In a space of utter nothingness, Luo Nan 'saw' the 'Point' that belonged to him.
Touch……
He was back in that starfield once more.
He opened his eyes. The Infinite Tree at the center of the starfield stood eternal and unchanging.
‘I am…… who?’
‘I am Luo Nan.’
‘I am Luo Nan von Medillion.’
‘Tree-sir, why have you summoned me here?’
Luo Nan found his mind entirely adrift, his memories fragmented and patchy. He had forgotten what he had been doing before he came in.
[Luo Nan, your soul is being eroded by the Abyssal Great Lord 'Nature.']
‘What?’
[Have you forgotten why you came here?]
‘I…… why did I come here?’
Luo Nan furrowed his brow. He truly had lost the cause and context of how he had arrived here — just like that time at the beginning, when he had been framed at Serela's return banquet…… a loss of memory.
‘Wait! Serela…… the return banquet?’
Luo Nan seemed to catch hold of something crucial. Shattered memories began to reassemble and restore themselves, starting from that key point.
The return banquet…… the Duke Manor…… Apartment No. 23…… the Whisper Market…… the Limestone Mine Shaft……
‘I should currently be at the bottom level of the Limestone Mine Shaft.’
‘I think I…… played the hero, trying to shield the protagonist Anya Sivans.’
‘But I overestimated myself. It seems I couldn't withstand that killing blow.’
[Luo Nan, you can do it.]
‘I didn't do it.’
[Luo Nan, you can do it — and you did do it.]
Hearing the Cheat Device Miss's words, Luo Nan gave a wry smile. "I'm very grateful for your faith in me, Cheat Device Miss, but I've remembered now — I really…… didn't do it……"
"My soul and body are both shattered right now, aren't they?"
"That black desecration…… that must be 'the Abyss' itself, right?"
[You did do it.]
"I……"
[Your sense of self remains intact. Your perception remains clear. Your memories…… have not been lost.]
[Therefore, you did do it.]
"I did it? But before I came in, I could clearly feel my body being gradually swallowed and dissolved."
[That is a minor issue.]
"Huh? My body is nearly gone…… and that's a minor issue?"
[Naturally. Due to certain reasons I cannot explain to you — but please trust me. I told you that you could do it, and so…… you can do it.]
[Now, please call upon It.]
"Well, if the Cheat Device Miss is giving me that kind of guarantee, I have no choice but to trust."
Luo Nan shrugged, closed his eyes, and extended his right hand.
It sensed Luo Nan's intent. Among those countless branches beyond all reckoning, one slender, soft bough responded to Luo Nan's call.
The bough came to rest across Luo Nan's palm, and a profound, wondrous ripple surged toward him from the depths of the cosmos.
***
"Luo Nan von Medillion, what were you thinking, playing the hero like that?! Do you have any idea that I could have clearly……"
The instant Luo Nan was struck, Anya Sivans broke free of 'its' control and reclaimed mastery over her own body.
"Flashstep!"
The girl activated her martial technique in an instant, surged forward, seized Luo Nan around the waist, and flashed sideways out of harm's way.
Looking at Luo Nan — his entire chest cavity nearly pierced through and saturated with blackness, his life or death unknown — Anya's mouth twitched. She said nothing more, rose to her feet, gripped her sword, and turned to face 'it' as it crawled along the ground on four arms.
"Hey, ugly. You seem…… rather full of yourself." The girl's voice was cold enough to cause a chill.
"Do you think that just because you took down one worthless degenerate noble, you're something remarkable, something invincible? Is that it?"
Anya Sivans's golden eyes blazed with fire. The silver-grey longsword in her hand ignited with a solemn, killing sword radiance.
The girl stepped forward, raising the longsword in a slow, sweeping arc, her momentum surging like a rainbow.
"Starfall Sword Art, Opening Form: Ascension!"