Chapter 34: Goddess of Dawn
At the stairwell entrance between the fourth and fifth floors of Saint Liment Fortress, Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash, sliding the scabbard into his waist. With the long blade secured, he raised D·Assassin and began ascending the stairs.
The little assistant cautiously followed behind Su Xiao. With a gun in hand, she had been bold and reckless, but without it, she instantly cowered.
As Su Xiao stepped onto the stairs, the burnt smell from the fifth floor grew stronger.
The fifth floor was now charred black. Several walls had collapsed from explosions, and a few charred corpses lay on the ground.
Su Xiao fired a shot into each corpse. No matter how expensive D·Assassin's bullets were, this was not the time to conserve ammunition. If any corpse suddenly sprang up, even if he could deal with it, he would waste precious seconds.
[You have killed High Priest·Bilbo Baggins. You gain 5 Reincarnation Paradise Merits.]
As expected, an enemy had been playing dead on the ground. After Su Xiao's follow-up shot, it died on the spot.
Su Xiao had already activated the reconnaissance function attached to his mission. At this moment, Divine Envoy Dubois was located in the innermost room on the fifth floor.
To kill Dubois, Su Xiao needed to cross the entire fifth floor and reach that innermost room. This sounded simple but was actually very difficult.
The fifth floor housed the living quarters of Sun Kingdom officers. Anyone above the rank of High Priest possessed inhuman combat strength. Among the three ranks—Bishop, Dawn Bishop, and Divine Envoy—not everyone was a formidable fighter, but over 60% had considerable combat power.
For example, Dubois, the target Su Xiao needed to kill, was a Divine Envoy. In the military, his status was second only to the Grand Divine Envoy.
There were two types of Divine Envoys. One type attained the position through seniority. These Divine Envoys excelled in leading troops and had strong command and leadership abilities.
The second type rose through personal martial prowess. They held official positions but had no real power, yet they were still respected. They were responsible for solving very tricky problems—in other words, they were the face of the Divine Court.
Su Xiao was not yet sure what type of Divine Envoy Dubois was, but he knew one thing: the officer dormitory on the fifth floor was not easy to breach. No one knew how many Sun Kingdom officers were stationed here.
An Apollo appeared in Su Xiao's hand. Earlier, the little assistant had not known what Apollo could do, but after the previous incident, she had personally experienced how terrifying it was.
"Not again, you can't be serious."
The little assistant groaned. She even considered jumping out of the fortress's observation window.
Just as Su Xiao took out the Apollo, consecutive door-opening sounds came. Seven Sun Kingdom officers stepped out of their rooms, each wielding various melee weapons. They bore varying degrees of blast injuries, and the unluckier ones were missing limbs.
From Su Xiao's initial observation, only four officers might still be at peak combat strength. The rest were either maimed or on the verge of death.
"Goddess of Dawn, we gather here. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The morning light is holy, driving out all evil on the ground..."
The seven Sun Kingdom officers chanted in unison. Their expressions were vacant, their tones uniform—it was impossible to tell that seven people were reciting at the same time.
"Kill them!"
The little assistant shouted. Since meeting her, Su Xiao had never seen the cheerful assistant wear such an expression.
Actually, Su Xiao didn't need her to yell. He had already raised D·Assassin.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
Bullets shot toward the officers' heads. After a few crisp sounds, three half-crippled officers had their skulls shattered. A silver barrier appeared in front of the remaining four, trapping the bullets.
"With our blood as the medium, we beseech you to descend in true form, to defend your divine might and shelter those who are devout to you."
The four officers simultaneously raised their weapons and slashed at their own throats.
Their throats were cut open, but no blood splattered. Instead, pure white light particles drifted from the wounds—some kind of energy.
Su Xiao emptied D·Assassin's magazine. He put away the gun and drew his blade, stepping forward.
[Tip: The Hunter has entered the domain watched by the Goddess of Dawn. Your Strength -20, Agility -20, Stamina -20, Charm -20.]
[Detected that the Hunter's Strength, Agility, and Intelligence attributes are True Attributes. This debuff is exempted.]
[Your Charm attribute is temporarily reduced by 20 points.]
[Due to strong gravitational suppression, your movement speed will be reduced by 50% to 60%.]
[Due to unknown energy erosion, you will lose 6% of your Health Points per second (originally 12%; Azure Steel Shadow energy exempts part of the energy erosion).]
...
Su Xiao leaped back repeatedly. The heavy pressure disappeared, as did the stinging sensation across his body. His Health Points stopped dropping.
In midair, a mass of pure white energy gathered together, eventually forming a heart.
Thump~
The heart beat, and the surrounding light flared intensely.
Moments later, a four-meter-tall white phantom appeared on the fifth floor of the fortress. It was the phantom of a woman. Her features were blurry, and the clearest part of her manifestation was her hands.
"It's over."
The little assistant stepped back two paces. Gritting her teeth, she rushed in front of Su Xiao.
"Sir, I'll cover you. Judging by its transparency, this thing won't last long. Its weakness is shadows. I have a way to hold it off. After it disappears, go back to the fifth floor to complete the mission."
Clearly, the little assistant had seen this white phantom before. She had once developed depression—not because of her partner's death, but because all her squadmates had died at the hands of this phantom.
"This thing... about how long will it last?"
Su Xiao sized up the phantom, a smile appearing on his face.
The little assistant was clearly surprised that Su Xiao could even smile. Her mouth opened and closed, and for a moment, she didn't know what to say.
"About... three to five minutes."
"Is that so? Then we need to hurry."
"Right, the mission is the most important..."
Su Xiao pushed the little assistant aside and stepped toward the phantom.
"Hey~"
The little assistant's expression was complicated. She had mustered great determination to cover the rear.
Thud, thud...
The four officers collapsed, blood spurting from their necks. The phantom turned its head to look at the fallen officers. With a wave of its hand, the wounds on their necks were wrapped in white light and slowly healed.
Su Xiao's pace quickened, and soon he was sprinting at full speed.
As he charged forward, Su Xiao felt himself pass through a thin membrane. After crossing it, a stinging sensation spread across his entire body, and his speed plummeted.
The phantom turned its head and sighed, as if pitying Su Xiao. But the way it looked at him was like looking down on an ant.
The phantom's mouth opened and closed silently. Its entire body emitted white light, like the rising sun at dawn.
A scorching burning sensation came from his skin. Several Counter Shields floated around Su Xiao. He slashed forward with his blade, and a blade aura flew out.
The blade aura passed through the phantom's neck without any resistance, going straight through. It seemed to have no effect on the phantom at all. This thing was nearly impossible to damage with physical attacks, unless the attack's intensity exceeded a certain limit.
Su Xiao's Health Points drained like water, dropping to 70% in less than three seconds. This was considering his survivability. An ordinary fourth-rank contractor would die within five seconds of getting close to this thing.
This phantom was summoned by the four Sun Kingdom officers. Judging by the four light chains connecting them to it, its range of movement was very limited.
The reason Su Xiao charged forward was not because his berserker soul was burning fiercely, but because he sensed that this phantom was a massive concentration of life energy gathered together.
If it were any other type of enemy with this level of power, Su Xiao would never fight head-on. But an enemy formed from life energy...
The phantom had little emotional fluctuation. It was a vessel for some consciousness. In this world, that consciousness was called the Goddess of Dawn, the deity worshipped by the Sun Kingdom.
The phantom seemed indifferent to Su Xiao. When he reached five meters in front of it, it waved its hand.
Swish—a dense array of light blades swept past Su Xiao. The Counter Shields shattered instantly, and seven deep, bone-deep wounds appeared on his upper body.
Su Xiao's figure suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, he was right in front of the phantom. Blue smoke wrapped around his left arm as he pressed it against the phantom's lower abdomen.
The phantom's body stiffened. Its fingers curled into claws, intending to grab Su Xiao, but it froze, completely motionless.
"I heard... you are the Goddess of Dawn?"
Red light gleamed in Su Xiao's eyes. His left side wrapped in blue smoke, he looked up.
"Ah!!"
A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the fortress. The phantom no longer resembled a deity—the 'god' was screaming.
A blue phantom appeared behind Su Xiao. This thing almost represented the Blade Demon.
The Blade Demon phantom's eyes were blood-red. Its mouth opened to an exaggerated extent, larger than its head.
The Blade Demon phantom bared a mouthful of sharp teeth, took a bite at the white light phantom, and directly bit off its head, swallowing it.
The 'god's' phantom convulsed once more, then stopped moving.
PS: (Today's update is a bit late, mainly because writing six chapters a day is extremely stressful. I'll resume the 6 PM update tomorrow.)