Chapter 221
Neo watched as the woman grinned and said the man she liked was still ahead of them. The rest of the group moved on without slowing. He felt the weight of the quest timer pressing harder with every step. At this pace he would fail. The realization hit him clean and sharp. He could not let that happen.
He turned and reached Zita and Delta in a few long strides. Both women looked up at him, tired but still ready. Without a word he bent, slid one arm under Zita’s legs and the other under Delta’s, and lifted them onto his shoulders. Their weight settled against his broad frame. His muscled arms locked them in place. Then he ran.
The ground blurred under his boots. He carried them past broken pillars and the scattered remains of earlier fights until the priestess’s position came into view. Dead adventurers from her own party lay in twisted heaps around her. Blood still looked fresh on the stone.
Neo slowed only long enough to set Zita and Delta down behind a large rock. He crouched so they could see his face.
"Stay here. Do not come out. If you do, you die. I will handle the priestess."
Both nodded. He patted the tops of their heads once, firm and quick, then turned and sprinted toward the enemy.
He took a deep breath and forced torch-man mode to the surface. Heat flooded his veins. Holy pyro mana flared along his arms and legs. He knew what she was—a demon worshipper who controlled puppets with dark magic. Holy fire was the cleanest answer.
Neo launched himself forward like a bowling ball. The sun-falls move exploded from his body. Three of her minions shattered on contact. The rest staggered, armor cracked and smoking. The force of the strike rolled through the floor and made the entire chamber shake.
The priestess spun toward him. Her white mask split down the middle and fell away. An old, ugly face stared out. She cursed, ripped the white dress open, and revealed the black one underneath. From her sleeve she pulled a small black puppet. Needles slid into its joints one after another. Instantly Neo’s limbs locked. It felt like hundreds of ants crawling under his skin and biting deep. Every muscle burned with the false paralysis.
He kept moving anyway. Holy pyro mana pushed against the curse. He closed the last few steps and smashed his fist into her face. Bone gave under the blow.
The old woman staggered, blood on her lips. She stared at him.
"How are you still moving?"
"Holy pyro mana," Neo said. His voice stayed flat.
She reached into her sleeve again and drew out a dark box. The moment it touched the ground the box expanded. A huge figure climbed out—an armored knight in black plate, holding a long black sword. The woman laughed.
"This is the corpse of a swordsman who reached saint rank. I was saving it for my master so he could raise it to emperor level. You left me no choice. Dalis, attack him!"
The black knight moved. One blink and it stood in front of Neo. The sword came down with full force. Neo raised his arm and caught the blade. Pain exploded through both arms. Bones cracked. The impact drove him into the stone floor. The sword slid free, cut through his hand, and bit into his shoulder until white bone showed.
Neo forced himself up. He shouted the words for lord-of-the-end mode. His skin hardened into black diamond. The next cut stopped short of going deeper.
He jumped backward and ran. The knight stayed glued to his back. Every swing of the saint sword carved deep trenches in the ground. Neo kept leaping sideways, boots scraping rock, buying inches of space.
A plan formed. He pulled void energy into one hand and EN energy into the other. The two forces met and formed a small green ball—Nature Embrace. He stopped, turned, and fired it straight into the knight’s chest.
The black armor locked in place. The figure began to shrink. In seconds it was the size of a child, then a baby, then nothing. It ceased to exist.
Neo’s system window opened. The description was clear: the power reversed the target’s life. Even an ancient dragon or demon that had lived for thousands of years would be undone in thirty seconds.
He looked at the old woman. Shock had frozen her face. She cursed, yanked a red puppet from her sleeve, bit the head clean off, and threw the body aside.
Her own body changed at once. Muscles swelled like a hulk’s. Her hair turned black and thick. Years fell away from her face until she looked young again. She laughed, the sound raw and hungry.
"I’m burning through every puppet I have, but this power is addictive. Too bad I can only do it once or I’ll die next time."
She dropped into a stance, tensed her legs, and vanished. Neo had no time to react. Her fist slammed into his face. Sound cut out. His vision swam. The blow launched him across the chamber like a missile. He hit the cave wall hard enough to crack the stone.
He pushed himself off the ground and ran the other way, trying to put distance between them. She stayed on him. Even in lord-of-the-end mode he was losing. Her punches broke bones through the black diamond skin. She grinned, grabbed his collar, and lifted him off his feet. Then she slammed him into the floor again and again until a Neo-shaped hole opened in the rock.
He cursed and forced torch-man mode back to the surface. Heat flared. She let go at once—her body still carried the same sensitivity as a human’s. Neo shot into the air, hovering above her. He opened his palm. A thick beam of pyro energy blasted downward and struck her. She blocked it with both arms but kept advancing. Light swelled inside her body. She opened her mouth and a second beam erupted, rushing upward. It hit Neo full force and began to burn him away.