Chapter 525 - [Kindling]’s hostility
Proofreader: Arya
The howling snowstorm.
Across the frozen wasteland, groups of people were moving forward without stopping.
This place was simply too cold, and occasionally there would be unpredictable battles.
So everyone wanted to get out of here as fast as they could.
Su Xue Er was now at the very back.
She stood in front of the corpse silently observing it.
About half of the corpse was already buried under the ice and snow.
As Su Xue Er saw the corpse slowly sinking down, she felt suspicious.
She stepped on the ice surface.
A hard and smooth sensation was felt from her feet.
Strange, if the ice was solid, then how is the corpse sinking in?
Su Xue Er swung her hand to summon the Scepter of Law.
Pointing the scepter at the corpse, Su Xue Er chanted: “Soul Points Deprivation”
The scepter stayed still.
The corpse also didn’t react at all.
Su Xue Er silently sighed.
Every living creature has Soul Points, but this corpse does not.
Following that vein of thought, this person did not actually die, but returned to Aboul.
Su Xue Er felt assured so she wanted to quickly move forward again.
The icy winds of the frozen wasteland were getting stronger.
She needed to meet up or stay close with the large group again, since that made battles much easier.
As she took a few steps, Su Xue Er hesitated.
An uneasy feeling remained in her heart without going away.
As the heir of the Blood Sea, having received Lord Bloodcloak’s careful teachings, she understood life especially well.
…something is still off.
Su Xue Er stopped and returned next to the corpse.
In just a few breaths, the corpse had almost sunk entirely into the frozen wasteland.
Looking at this strange scene. Su Xue Er grinded her teeth a bit.
If I already took the time to do this, I might as well do it thoroughly.
She raised her scepter again, pointing at the corpse: “Servant of blood, rise and serve the master of the Blood!”
This was a high-levelled Blood spell, it used blood to reanimate and control a corpse to fight again.
However, due to not having a soul, a servant of blood doesn’t have many memories, they are only able to use a few random skills from when they were still alive.
The scepter lightly vibrated.
The spell was cast.
The sinking corpse started to move again.
It struggled a bit, quickly managed to break the ice around itself and crawled out.
The corpse slowly stood up, walked in front of Su Xue Er and knelt down.
From this moment onwards, it was loyal to her.
“Attack behind yourself”
Su Xue Er stared closely at the corpse and silently gave an order.
The corpse raised a battlecry before turning around and punched, producing a faint dark flame from his fist.
The flames only flashed briefly before being extinguished by the snowstorm.
As Su Xue Er silently watched this, she felt a chill rushing to her head.
This person has been sticking quite close to her since they entered this world, they even cooperated to defeat a boss once to reach this frozen wasteland.
She recognized this Fire Elemental striking technique to be his.
According to the rules of this Blood spell, false bodies are unable to be controlled.
Only corpses of once-living beings could be controlled by the Blood Sea.
——-in order words, this corpse was actually that man from before.
He died here, he did not return to Aboul.
But then what about the Soul Points?
The Soul Points formed from the crystallization of his life force, where did it go?
Su Xue Er suddenly remembered the pinkish glow that flowed into those people before.
“How warm” they laughed as they marched deeper into the frozen wasteland.
Su Xue Er went silent.
Something isn’t right.
When he was still alive, this person was quite strong.
It was only after going through a series of tough battles that he was heavily wounded and collapsed in the frozen wasteland.
But the people who killed him only received a tiny amount of Soul Points.
There should have been a lot more.
Who took those Soul Points?
Su Xue Er silently thought about this.
“Girly, it seems you’ve noticed something”
A voice came from the icy winds.
Su Xue Er abruptly turned.
The people who were here just now had come back.
The same people who killed him.
Their coordination was skillful and quick, enough that they managed to kill a defenseless person before anyone even reacted.
Su Xue Er cautiously stared at them as she raised her scepter in front of herself and silently stepped back.
“Tsk tsk tsk, how cautious. I must say, you really are a beautiful and smart little lady, I like you” another voice spoke.
They scattered and quickly surrounded Su Xue Er.
A masculine bald man came forward facing Su Xue Er.
“Actually… I’m very curious, why does the System not register on such an excellent person like yourself” he said.
Su Xue Er stayed silent and said nothing.
Her gaze was focused on her retina.
A few lines of glowing text were blinking there.
[Attention]
[Attention]
[As you’ve declined to register Kindling over and over again, Worlds Apocalypse Online: Kindling has designated you its enemy]
[You are under pursuit by carriers of Kindling]
[Furthermore, Kindling is specifically targeting you to corrupt]
[Using the amount of Soul Points you have, the System will be able to resist Kindling’s corruption for a certain amount of time]
[Remaining time: 19 minutes 57 seconds]
That isn’t a lot of time.
Su Xue Er silently asked: “System, what happens if I run out of Soul Points?”
[The System will be unable to protect you. Kindling will take over the System, and you will be demonized] the System replied.
Su Xue Er froze.
I will be demonized as soon as I run out of Soul Points?
“Is being demonized the same state they are in?” she asked.
[No, they are in a state of pseudo-death, because Worlds Apocalypse Online still has not been activated, Kindling temporarily allows them to live and help Kindling gather more energy]
[Once the Demon King Order is awoken, these people’s souls will become food for the Order]
“Why is that the case?”
[Because Kindling looks down on them. It thinks that they lack the qualifications to be granted demonization]
[However, do pay attention, as they are helping Kindling gather more Soul Points, their fighting capabilities are still greatly boosted by Kindling]
Su Xue Er looked back at those people.
They all seemed so very excited—– as if the current state of being filled with killing intent and lust was actually their true selves.
And in truth, their behaviors already made one thing abundantly clear.
That they themselves were already demons, there was no such need to be demonized.
Sensing the power exuding from them, Su Xue Er couldn’t help but sigh.
It has been so long since she was in such a dire situation.
At this time, the masculine bald man shouted: “Everyone go, kill this girly!”
“Hold back a bit, capture her first if possible”
Someone couldn’t help but shouted back.
“You got horny again huh, ya bastard?”
Laughter erupted all around.
As they did that, they were observing Su Xue Er’s reaction.
Sometimes, the simple advantage of numbers and psychological attacks were enough to break the spirit of female Combatants.
But they were disappointed.
Su Xue Er just silently stood there, as if she hadn’t heard anything at all.
She only glanced at these demonized individuals with cold eyes.
Wielding her scepter, Su Xue Er whispered a chant: “Protection of Blood”
A pool of blood manifested below her feet, continually forming wave after wave that condensed into bright red lines.
These blood-red lines twisted around Su Xue Er’s body, forming a barrier.
——while the enemy was attempting a psychological attack, Su Xue Er had taken that chance to fortify herself with a close-ranged defense.
She continued to chant spell after spell, preparing to activate a series of techniques in a row.
The people around stopped laughing.
They also noticed that this girl was level-headedly preparing for a battle.
“Everyone, now! She seems to be a caster-type, do not give him enough time to prepare!” the masculine bald man shouted.
“Go! Kill her!”
Led by the bald man, 7-8 people all dashed at Su Xue Er.
Without noticing any of that, Su Xue Er only continued to chant her incantations to prepare her countermeasures.
Following her chant, faint light began to flow from the scepter a bit at a time, sinking into the frozen wasteland beneath Su Xue Er’s feet.
It wasn’t until these demonized people got close to her that Su Xue Er swung her scepter again.
Her faint whisper could be heard in the screaming winds.
“Blood Waves, I summon thee”
Then she stabbed the scepter into the ground.
Ooom!!!
The waves of blood rose all the way to the sky.
The people around reacted very quickly, already stepping back as soon as the Blood Sea fully manifested.
They stood on a large rock a bit further away, observing Su Xue Er.
With a 20-meter radius around Su Xue Er, the snowy frozen wasteland was turned into a boiling pool of blood.
Su Xue Er lightly hovered at the center of the blood pool, staring coldly at them.
“We here are all the best of our respective worlds, having been through more battles than you can count, you’re too na?ve if you think we’d be fooled that easily, girl” an older man with scars across his face mocked her.
Su Xue Er ignored him.
She grasped her scepter tightly, chanting to the boiling waves of blood below: “Where I stand be the endless Sea of Blood”
Every spell before that was just preparations, as this incantation was her ultimate goal!
Following Su Xue Er’s chant, a gigantic head started to emerge from beneath the sea of blood.
This was a crimson giant.
But it seemed he found it hard to leave.
The 20-meter radius caused his head to be stuck.
Roar!!!
The crimson giant roared.
He dipped back into the pool of blood, reached out with both hands to grab either side of the pool and pushed.
The pool of blood slowly expanded.
Soon enough, the entire frozen wasteland had been turned into a lake of blood.
It was now that the crimson giant majestically rose up.
He was wearing blood-red armor, his gigantic figure eclipsed even the howling snowstorm around, his towering body stood gallantly within the lake of blood as a deep red mist drifted from him.
He looked exactly like a legendary monster in the myths.
“Astaroth, why have you come here yourself?” Su Xue Er asked.
The giant blocked in front of Su Xue Er, answering her with a booming echoing voice: “Death and madness is coming, Su Xue Er, they are watching you from the void”
Su Xue Er’s heart suddenly sank.
Astaroth was one of the major Blood Sea cards with a mystical premonition ability, his warnings were never groundless.
He must’ve felt a sign of danger.
Will I die? Or become demonized?
Su Xue Er’s heart was beating faster.
She couldn’t help but look a bit further.
Where her group of enemies stood, they all gathered in place, attempting to do something strange.
Everyone had put their hands on the masculine bald man’s hand.
“Quickly, there’s no need to hide it anymore at this point”
The bald man stared at the Blood Giant Astaroth nervously.
Right after, as if he was aware of something, the bald man started shouting: “Not enough, it’s still not enough! Give me all the Soul Points you collected or I can’t summon a Demon Lord through [Kindling]!”