Chapter 2384: Clash Of Venerables II [20]

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BANG! BANG! BANG!

Chris’ gun fired three bullets at the thing in front of him as explosions of electricity and fire erupted through the aberration’s body, tearing it apart and sending its charred remains crashing into the tatami floor.

He looked at the creature for only a second, glancing at its shape. It resembled a strange humanoid, snake-like man with a long neck and an ugly hybrid face—part human, part reptile—but its body was covered in wiggling tentacles, jaws, and tiny eyes.

These were the Yokai Soldiers that had come after Chris Bluefield’s group only a few minutes ago. As they fled and made their way closer to where Jake and Lucia could sense the missile Helena was, these soldiers began showing up weirdly mutated, infected by the Uroboros Parasite.

Naturally, this made them more resilient while stripping away any independent thought or personality they once had. They all acted together like a swarm—or rather, a hive. They constantly worked to stop the group from reaching their destination, as dozens of infected soldiers appeared every now and then while they ran through the corridors of the Endless Castle.

As tremors spread through the castle and space itself began to crack apart, Chris Bluefield quickly realized something was happening—something big.

"We have to keep moving!" he said. "Jake, how close are we to that thing?"

"Very close!" Jake said. "There’s infected everywhere for a reason!"

Jake spoke while fighting, leaping to avoid an attack from a long, sharp tentacle before shapeshifting his arm into a blade made of bone, slicing his attacker apart.

"I can’t hear her anymore, but I think she’s somewhere close to us!" Lucia said.

She unleashed spiraling tornadoes of flame from her hands, while shields shaped like dragon scales protected her, Chris, and Jake from most sneak attacks—including long-range assaults like bone bullets loaded with parasites or acid vomit from the infected.

"Go, go, go!"

Chris kicked one infected and charged forward, clearing the path as Lucia and Jake ran beside him. Lucia pointed her hand forward and released a giant blast of crimson flames, burning and disintegrating several infected in front of them and opening a massive tunnel through dozens of rooms.

At the end of that tunnel, they could already see something strange—a suspicious mass of red, pulsating flesh, tentacles, eyes, and jaws, slowly crawling through the Endless Castle’s maddening layout while releasing infected beings from its body.

"It’s there! I can see it!" Lucia said. "We gotta hurry! Come here!"

The Esper swiftly unleashed her blazing aura, shaping it into two giant flaming hands. They didn’t burn her friends, as they now had magical properties capable of choosing what to burn or not. Then she released an explosion of flames from her legs, propelling herself toward the gigantic monster.

BOOOM!

The flames scorched everything behind her. Dozens of infected Yokai Soldiers were roasted into barbequed corpses, dropping through the floor one by one, while dozens of rooms beneath them exploded, sending burning rubble flying everywhere.

"We finally found you, monster!" Lucia roared.

"Wait, Lucia! Don’t be reckless!" Chris shouted, grabbing her and quickly kicking the air, using his powerful strength to slam her head-first into the floor.

"Uwaah!" Lucia cried, her face hitting the tatami floor a second before a sharp black needle nearly pierced her skull.

CLAAASH!

The needle flew past them, piercing through dozens of rooms before exploding into black, poisonous smoke and acid.

Lucia coughed, glaring into the distance and realizing Chris had just saved her life—even though she was about to scream at him for being so rude.

"Lucia, you have to be more careful. You almost got your head pierced!" Chris said. "Your protection techniques are strong, but we can never be too sure!"

"That’s right. That thing is not normal," Jake said. "I can’t believe it’s even alive right now. It was supposed to have died with my father... I can already feel it within me—my own Uroboros, the clone made from the original—it’s trembling in fear. That thing, that monstrous thing is still alive..."

"So it’s really the thing that was inside Ivan?!" Chris asked. "But wait, how is that even possible?! I killed Ivan! I shot his entire body and filled it with the antidote until he turned white and crumbled to dust..."

"Uroboros must have reproduced. Mine isn’t mature enough, but this type of being reproduces through mitosis..." Jake explained. "It most likely separated a small part of itself, copied its original memories, and left it somewhere else... it probably was the thing that kickstarted the zombie apocalypse."

"What?! But that’s—"

"It seems that my maker attempted to recreate me, even though I am already perfect in every sense of the word."

TRUUUM!

"Ungh?!"

"Wha...?!"

"Aaaagh!"

Chris, Lucia, and Jake suddenly felt like throwing up as a powerful, all-encompassing voice echoed through their minds. A Psychic Power stronger than anything they had seen Drake unleash before suddenly emerged.

The pressure alone was immense, forcing them to their knees as they glared at the giant mass of tentacles and eyes in the distance. It had stopped moving, staring at the trio with all its malignant eyes and cancerous, pulsating tumors.

The surroundings twisted, becoming a warped landscape of dark colors bleeding and swirling together. Red eyes appeared everywhere, glaring down at them and judging their very souls.

"I-I can’t believe it...! That thing has such an enormous quantity of Psychic Power?!" Lucia thought, panicking. "I can feel Helena’s power! That girl was the most talented Esper... is he using her as a literal Psychic Battery?!"

"Indeed."

Lucia gasped, falling silent even in her mind, as she realized the monster could read her thoughts without any effort.

She, already a powerful Esper... her thoughts were nothing to him.

"Give back Helena!" Chris roared. Though he couldn’t stand, he screamed.

"Give her back...! Now!" Jake said, standing up, resisting the psychic pressure better than the others.

The power of the Uroboros clone within him overflowed from his body. He had only recently awakened his Psychic Abilities, but they were strong enough to push back against the original—if only a little.

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