Chapter 730: Ashen 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
One had to know that when an Upper-Level Blood Breed was wounded, his blood would flow back into the wound to prevent him from losing strength due to blood loss.
However, as a Death Apostle, Castine didn’t manage to activate this regeneration trait at all. One could only imagine how overwhelmingly powerful Garen was. Not only did he have a ridiculously large attack range, he also had a very delicate technique to make his opponent felt hopeless.
Castine stared at the center of the explosion quietly as the white gas dissipated slowly to reveal a bulky humanoid monster at its core.
It was Garen!
Castine’s pupils contracted in disbelief, as he couldn’t see even the slightest trace of injury on Garen at all.
“You…” Castine tried to speak but he realized that his body was wracked with pain.
Boom!!!
He immediately exploded. His upper body turned into minced meat instantly and splattered everywhere on the empty field, staining the newly created crater with red b.l.o.o.d.y meat bits.
Castine’s lower body took a few steps forward before dropping down to the ground.
This was the horrifying part of the Waterbird Fist. One wouldn’t be safe even after completely blocking their opponent’s attack. What made it so lethal was the explosion after the contact.
Castine’s b.l.o.o.d.y mist swiftly dissipated and turned into white vapor as it diffused into the air. Then, the white vapor condensed into one location and formed into his body once more, including the white s.h.i.+rt he was wearing.
Castine regenerated back once more and now he had no visible injuries. Even so, he knew that if he couldn’t even injure his enemy while fighting to his death, then that death would be meaningless.
A Death Apostle too would experience a reduction in regeneration rate when he died too many times in a very short span.
There was a secret that was known only by the Death Apostles, one regarding the mystery of the Death Apostle’s immortality. It was true that a Death Apostle was immortal; as long as their dream world was not discovered, they could always resurrect.
However, one would require physical energy to resurrect in the material world. One would require some form of energy to restructure the blood and meat of their body.
If one was to die for more than ten times in a month, then one would wait for a certain amount of time before one resurrected once more. As one’s dying streak grew longer, the duration to be resurrected would grow longer as well.
In the beginning, it would require a few minutes and from then on, it would keep doubling up. For each death afterward, one would require twice the amount of time as the previous death.
Initially, one would require one minute to be resurrected. Then it would require two minutes and the next would be four minutes, eight minutes and it would keep going in such a trend. It would require very little iteration for the time to be extremely long.
In history, there were Death Apostles who had been dealt with in such a manner.
There were countless Death Apostles that were kept on the killing list by other Death Apostles. Eventually, the Death Apostle would spend all of his energy and be trapped inside the dream world, unable to return any more.
His resurrected point had been thrown into the core of a volcano, which had a great temperature. Furthermore, there was powerful witchcraft inscribed and witch weapons were used as well. At the moment he was about to resurrect, he would immediately be burned to death by the high temperature alone. Afterall, his body was extremely weak when he was just resurrected. Hence, no one had remembered the existence of that Death Apostle. Perhaps now, he would require a few thousands or ten thousand years to be resurrected. No one would know as he would be considered non-existent at that point.
Castine clearly understood the current situation he was in. His Blood Nucleus had been exhausted by the Secret Party and he had almost exhausted his blood essence as well. Even if it wasn’t spent, he was no match for that monstrous human before him.
The situation was very detrimental to him.
He stood inside the huge crater which spanned a few hundred meters long in radius. It was a smooth, white crater formed by the multiple explosions, and the surface at the bottom was completely flat.
Castine stared quietly at Garen. He knew that his opponent wouldn’t be able to last in this state for long, hence it was a battle to see who could last longer.
Garen stared back at Castine too.
The opponent was no match for him, but…
He couldn’t be in the fifth star’s state for too long. Although he had obtained the Demonic Book’s power and the blessing of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, he could only be in this state for five hours. It would be troublesome for him if the opponent were to drag the battle for more than five hours. This was due to the fact that his body and aura would regress into a weak phase after activating the fifth star for five hours. If he were to not save some of his energy then, he would be in grave danger if he couldn’t activate his Seven Star Life’s Secret Point at all.
Although he was much stronger than the opponent when he was in the fourth-star state, the power that Castine had revealed thus far was powerful enough to injure him at the fourth star. While it may cause just a very small injury, it may pile up over time and become serious as well.
Afterall, he was not a Death Apostle and wouldn’t be able to resurrect indefinitely. If the opponent refused to give up and kept giving him these small injuries, it would acc.u.mulate to the point where it would be serious…
Garen started to feel frightened. While his opponent was not as powerful as him, the perseverant att.i.tude was too much for him. If Castine were able to catch him off guard and injure him slowly, the injury would acc.u.mulate to the point that it would be troublesome.
“We really have no need to keep fighting,” Castine’s voice rang from afar.
While the two of them were hundreds of meter apart, they spoke as if they were right beside each other. This was technically true as this distance could be covered by them in the blink of an eye.
Garen changed his gaze slightly and stomped his leg out of the blue. With that stomp, a stone popped up and he sent the stone flying out with a punch.
Pew!!
The stone moved so fast that a streak of red sparks followed behind the stone. It was caused by the friction between the stone and the air. The stone was shot into a layer of dirt inside the crater the right behind him.
A cry came from the layer of dirt and it was the voice of Wellington. He wasn’t able to evade Garen’s senses and died once more at his hand.
“Stop it!!” Castine tried to stop him but it was too late. His face was filled with anger. “I’ve said it before. There’s not much hatred between us and this battle is completely unnecessary!”
Garen turned his head and stared at him.
“We can stop the battle but I need you people to reach an agreement. The Holy Fist Palace and the people from the Blood Breed shall never interfere with each other.”
“No problem,” Castine agreed without any hesitation.
“I have another additional request,” Garen lifted up his index finger.
“What is it? Speak up.” Castine didn’t like to battle and truly hated war deep down. From his perspective, it meant nothing to him if he had to sacrifice a little bit to stop the war.
“I can stop killing the Death Apostle, but I’ll bring her along with me!” Garen pointed to the left at a weak presence far outside the crater.
The owner of this presence was surprisingly Tu Lan!!
“No way!!” Castine rejected immediately. The aggressiveness showed by his opponent was a sign that he was a cruel and torturous man. If Tu Lan were to be under him, she wouldn’t be able to escape from his grasp anymore. Garen was a person whose strength had reached an overwhelmingly powerful level, so much so that Castine wouldn’t even judge him as a standard human being. Who could be sure of how long he will live? What if he was the same as the Blood Breed? Her entire life would be over if that were the case.
“You don’t have to worry that I will torture her. I’m just interested in the Death Apostle’s resurrection mechanism. I would not purposely torture her at all. In fact, I will treat her as a member of the Holy Fist Palace and you can observe for however long all you like,” Garen seemed to have predicted Castine’s thoughts. Although his opponent was a very old man who had lived for a long time, he too was no oil lamp as he had lived through three lifetimes. The things that he had experienced couldn’t be compared with others.
Castine pondered quietly for a while. In the past, he had also met a very powerful witch who had tried to research the Death Apostle’s immortality but to no avail. Against this overwhelmingly powerful enemy, this meant that he had been given a chance to infiltrate into the inner circle of his enemy’s base. This way, he would able to learn the secret of him being so powerful.
If he could determine the source of his overwhelmingly powerful strength, then it would be considered a huge victory for the Blood Breeds.
Castine started to feel excited as he thought of this.
“It depends entirely on her whether she wants to become your underling,” he purposely diverted his voice towards Tu Lan who was far away.
“I accept!! I accept!!” Tu Lan immediately replied loudly from afar and she seemed to be crying.
Tears were all over her face as she huddled on the ground. Her whole body would s.h.i.+ver whenever she saw Garen. It was obvious that she had been traumatized by his attacks. Garen’s cruelty had shed a new light on her as she died a few times.
She was currently placed in the same mindset as Dahm, in which Garen was a person they could never hope to win in their mind. Even if there came a day where they surpa.s.sed Garen in terms of force, the mindset would cause them to unable to perform fully in front of Garen. Hence they would be defeated easily.
It had taken a lot of effort for her to be promoted to a Death Apostle. Never had she expected that she would experience such a tragedy the moment she became a Death Apostle. Garen had indeed carved a deep impression on her.
It wasn’t just her that was afraid of Garen, even the Dream Creature that had merged with her was afraid as well the moment it saw Garen. Their fusion was never stable to begin with, and after she’d been defeated a few times, she was at death’s door. If not for Castine’s timely arrival, history might have been made where a Death Apostle would die for the very first time.
“I accept!!!” she cried loudly as if she was afraid that Garen would punch a hole through her hand again.
She had originally been a normal woman from a n.o.ble household. She had been turned into a Blood Breed when a dying Blood Breed injected his Blood Nucleus into her. After entering the household, she’d slowly gathered her strength to become an Upper-Level Blood Breed and now a Death Apostle.
Tu Lan always had a sense of insecurity with her deep down in her heart. This strange insecurity was kept her from improving her battle strength and persevering in practicing the Holy Technique. She could only suppress this insecurity deep in her heart by constantly improving herself.
She’d thought that she could simply kill anyone when she had become a Death Apostle, as she would be one of the strongest beings in the world no matter how one looked at it. However, never did she expect that she would meet this freak, Garen. After she realized that it was futile to defend against him, the insecurity deep inside her was out of the bag. This was especially true when she saw Ashen Castine, the first Apostle helpless against that man. She gave in to her fear and fell into despair.
“I’m glad you accepted the offer!” Garen smiled satisfactorily as he cancelled his fifth-star state. His body starting shrinking and returned to normal in a few moments, no longer looking like a monster.
He jumped out of the crater and stood beside Tu Lan. He then gently grabbed her by the neck as if he was picking up a kitten.
“First Apostle, we shall meet if we have the chance.”
After that, Garen picked up Tu Lan and sprinted swiftly into the sea of forests, disappearing into it.
Castine stood still and gave off a long sigh as he looked at Garen’s shrinking figure.
He knew that after this battle, the Holy Fist Palace would become a powerful force that could rival the Blood Breeds!