Chapter 269 - 180: He Doesn’t Want to Live Anymore?_2
The Bone Priest’s wisdom was not high, this could be sensed when communicating with it. But as a thousand-year-old Silver Skeleton Priest, its wisdom couldn’t possibly be low. It seemed that it was proficient in other areas, such as fighting.
Under the Bone Priest’s Soul Impact, King’s Arrival, and Oke’s Burning Vision, the swarm of bugs that surged like a tidal wave couldn’t come close for quite some time.
Hermorthos grew anxious. The entire space emitted a hissing sound, spreading like ripples. Instantly, the bugs went mad, accelerating frantically, even stepping on their own kind. If their peers were in the way, they wouldn’t hesitate to bite them down.
In this all-out frenzy, the bug wave surged to within ten meters of Oke, threatening to engulf him.
If Oke was submerged by the bugs, his death would be certain. Although he was protected by Ange, he was still a mere human. The Barrier of Light couldn’t last forever.
Oke was fearless and shouted loudly: “Master Ange, grant me divine power. I am willing to offer everything in exchange for your arrival!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a fierce fire of life ignited on Oke’s body.
“Kvada, a sacrifice? What kind of bloody fanatic is he? Is he trying to die? Even if he wins, he won’t survive,” Negris said with a mix of envy, jealousy, and incomprehension.
Ange had no time to pay attention to him. From the moment the fire of life ignited on Oke’s body, Ange felt the opening of an unobstructed energy pathway between them.
Watching his devout follower being swallowed by the bug swarm, how could Ange not be anxious? He was so anxious that he wanted to break through and reach out to him. But the contact between Ange and Oke was like a small pipe, constantly supplying, but at a minimal flow rate.
Finally, through the sacrifice, the small pipe crackled and turned into a high-speed highway. All of Ange’s power flowed over at once.
Oke let out a horrible scream. His body couldn’t withstand the massive power and felt like it was about to tear apart.
However, the next moment, the Purification Technique’s light enveloped him, healing the injury of his body.
Then, he stepped on the ground, spreading the Instant Death Halo. At the same time, layers of dragon scales emerged from his skin, his body rapidly grew, transforming into a three-meter-tall Dragon-Man, uncontrollably rushed out.
In the first second, he completed the transformation. In the second second, he plunged into the bug pile like a high-speed object crashing into it, causing bug juice to splash everywhere. In the third second, he pounced on the piece of biological tissue and punched it.
The biological tissue exploded, with ripples exploding from where his fist landed.
But he tilted his ear sideways in doubt, as if he was listening carefully. At the same time, the dragon scales on his body were changing, blue, red, yellow, representing Time Dragon, Space Dragon, and Prophet Dragon respectively.
Only when it settled on the brass color, did he suddenly spring up, slashing his claws at a seemingly empty space.
Just as his claws were about to strike, a shadow appeared there, his claws cut into the body of the shadow. With a tight grip, he pulled out its heart.
By then, within the fifth second and before he even landed, his head slumped to the side, losing consciousness, and his body swiftly reverted from the Dragon God Transformation back into a human.
Ange was able to endure for a full fifteen seconds without a scratch, but Oke, who offered his life as a sacrifice, could only bear it for five seconds.
Although he lost consciousness, but the hand holding the heart did not loosen. He plunged forward stiffly, using the impact of the Dragon God Transformation to land, but he had to bear it with his human body. Undoubtedly, Oke’s brain would burst from the impact.
Luckily, at the moment of landing, a hand suddenly appeared and yanked him backward, pulling him away.
The endless bug wave immediately lost all momentum and fell to the ground with a thud.
The Bone Priest looked confusedly at the bugs on the ground and then at the place where Oke disappeared. He stood there dazedly for a while then, as if recalling something, he switched his machete back into a broom, and began sweeping the floor.
The sound of brush strokes echoed through the empty cave, reminding one of the Undead Temple that had been silent for a thousand years.
Using the Boundary-crossing Hand to forcibly yank Oke back from death, Ange collapsed onto the ground, wracked with an intense sense of fatigue.
Pushing his power forward didn’t tire him, and catalyzing Oke’s Dragon God Transformation wasn’t exhausting either. But using the Boundary-crossing Hand for the first time to breach a place other than the Resting Camp had nearly exhausted Ange to death.
Upon seeing Ange, a thrill Oke, his hand clutching a heart, ecstatically cheered, “Lord Ange, I have completed your command.” He didn’t notice that, like the Little Angel after releasing the Holy Light Flash, his body was gradually turning to ash.
Oke was no Little Angel, his ashening was irreversible, even his soul would burn away. This was the result of his life sacrifice.
“This foolish child…” Negris watched him, heartbroken and helpless, unable to react. As the God of Knowledge, the more he knew, the clearer he understood the irreversible nature of this situation. Life’s sacrifice was something even the Gods of Light could not reverse.
Ange took the heart and nodded at Oke: “Good.”
He casually threw the heart into the Resting Camp and dragged out a large barrel filled with Essence Bug Ash Liquid.
Ange quickly immersed Oke into the insect ash liquid, protecting his soul and soaking his entire body in it.
The red light of the Face Purification Technique flowed ceaselessly from his left hand, purifying the impurities in the liquid.
Even the water was impure, as it reduced, the concentration of the insect ash liquid increased. During this process, Ange continued to scoop out the purified insect ash liquid and pour it back into the barrel.
Three barrels were purified into one, with the concentration of the ash liquid tripled.
The left hand purified while the right hand alternated between Face Purification Technique and Rebirth Technique. Eventually, Ange realized that the Rebirth Technique was more effective for this situation and decided to only use the Rebirth Technique.
Watching Ange’s movements, Negris shook his head, “It’s useless, life sacrifice is a process of burning one’s entire life story in an instant. It’s a process that even Gods cannot reverse because the life flame has already burnt out.”
“If life could be reversed, the World Tree wouldn’t only have more than nine thousand years of lifespan left. Even the God of Life himself couldn’t reverse this process. Don’t waste your energy. Wait, what?” Negris stopped mid-sentence, surprised by the situation within the barrel. Had Oke’s ashening process actually stopped?
The surrounding onlookers silently bore witness to the miracle, watching the previously ashening Oke audaciously stop the process within the barrel. At this point, more than half of his body had turned to ash, exposing his skeletal structure and organs.
But he didn’t die, he just stared blankly at Ange, as if understanding something: Lord Ange was saving him?
The process lasted for a whole day and night, during which Ange added six more barrels of insect ash liquid, causing even Negris to wince in sympathy.
If it were the past, the insect ash liquid, which was only used as fertilizer or for the hatching of stone eggs, wouldn’t have been a big deal.
But now, the purified insect ash liquid could reverse life — a treasure which might even tempt the Gods themselves with its unimaginable value.
“Oh my, didn’t you just kill Hermorthos? Wouldn’t that mean there will be no more bugs in the future? Wouldn’t that mean what we have is all we have? That’s no good, I think I’ll go cover up the barrels to prevent any evaporation. If I had this stuff back in my day, I wouldn’t have died at ten thousand and two.”
The process of greying had been stopped, and all that was left was the healing. Oke, who was left with only bones and some organs, was moved into the Holy Essence Liquid. He then miraculously regrew all the missing parts of his body.
But the newly regenerated Oke was somewhat different. His youthful face, having the appearance of a young teen, was coupled with a distinctly muscular body. A scan of his soul revealed him to have a bone density even higher than Luther, a high-level Sword Saint.
“In future, anyone who sees your face and thinks you’re easy to bully, then tries to punch you… your body must have been born to withstand divine power,” said Negris.
This was common. Many magicians would wear loose robes, not because they were weak, but because their bodies were so muscular that if they ripped their robes, they would reveal bulging muscles. That’s because only strong bodies could withstand greater power.
Oke scratched his head innocently, then knelt down fervently in front of Ange, bowing deeply: “Thank you, my Lord, for granting me a new lease on life.”
Ange just nodded, then said to Negris: “I need to sleep.” He found a shady spot, dug a hole, crawled into it, and buried himself.
Negris looked at Ange with concern, he was going into hibernation? Looks like the exhaustion was extreme, would he be alright?