Chapter 363: Aftermath of Heaven's Spear, The Moon Apostle's True Form
[You have slain "Clever", gaining 120,000,000 experience points!]
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Your level has increased to level 124, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]
[Your level has increased to level 125, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]
.
.
[Your level has increased to level 129, granting you five skill points and a boost in stats.]
A six level increase was pretty good, but the amount of experience added between each level was now 1 million.
[Experience: 545,000/24,000,000] (level 129)
Only one more level, and he would be able to get a new skill!
But for now, he had to face what was coming.
"..."
Lilith, Sora and Follower were out cold from the attack.
Though he didn't know how Follower could ever survive this, he would just kill him now.
Spear of Judgment!
Stark wasn't dumb, and so he just summoned his long range weapon, throwing it at Follower to kill him while he could.
Fwish... BAM!
But right as it was about to hit, a dark figure emerged from Follower's body and tanked the attack, placing its hand forward to destroy the spear.
"..." it looked directly into Stark's eyes.
"..." and Stark looked back at it, "Alright."
That thing must have protected Follower from dying.
Was it his talent? Or something else?
But in the end, he was stuck in that giant crater.
Every other participant was dead, Lilith and Sora unconscious, and Follower was being protected by whatever that thing is.
Which means that he was stuck in here alone.
"What's my next move…" he muttered.
Then, suddenly, the air shifted and the sky above began to darken.
"...?"
Stark looked up, his eyes narrowing.
The moon seemed to glow brighter, casting an eerie light over the destroyed trial.
Clouds swirled violently, creating a vortex above the crater.
And from the center of it, something emerged.
A figure descended slowly, shrouded in silver light.
"..."
As the figure came closer, the light dissipated, revealing its form.
The Lord of the Moon had arrived.
"You..." Stark's eyes widened.
Its appearance was terrifying.
A humanoid figure with pale, luminescent skin.
Its body was thin but unnaturally tall, towering at over three meters.
Long, flowing hair, silver like starlight, trailed behind it.
Its eyes glowed with a cold, lunar brilliance, locking onto Stark instantly.
A long robe covered its body, decorated with intricate patterns of moons and stars.
Behind it, eight crescent-shaped blades floated in perfect symmetry, spinning slowly.
The atmosphere grew heavier with every passing second.
[Aphex, Lord of the Moon, Level 600, Immortal-Level]
"…"
This was the true form of the [Crimson Moons Trio].
"You're lucky, human, you get to see my true form before dying," he laughed like a maniac, "The moon is calling for your soul."
"Shut the fuck up," Stark glared at him.
He could sense that this thing was stronger than he was, he could sense its stats and skills were way better than his.
And yet... he didn't feel like backing down.
Because everything they went through in this trial was because of him.
So if he wanted to finally get out of here, and also complete the second line of the [ApostleDex], he needed to get rid of it.
The first thing he did as he saw Aphex slowly descend toward him was point his fingers at him.
"Flow..." he decided to instantly use his perk
[Flow: Your focus is unwavering, and by focusing on an enemy for 10 seconds, grasping their movements and flow of aura, you are able to see their attacks coming at least a second before they come.]
If its speed was overwhelming, then all he needed was to give himself a chance to counter.
[Flow initiated.]
[1...]
"Do you really believe anything you do matters, human?" Aphex glared at Stark after stopping his laughter.
[2...]
"In the end, Lord Godless will soon descend, and humanity will be doomed!"
[3...]
"With your current strength, I can assure you that you can't beat me."
[4...]
"And neither can you beat any of the apostles ranked above me."
[5...]
"In less than a year, I can assure you that the world will be ours."
[6...]
"Don't worry, I respect your powers, after all you still managed to defeat nine of the fifteen apostles, that isn't no easy feat."
[7...]
"But unfortunately, all Lord Godless needs to do is replace them, and with a bit of help from corrupt humans, Rheria will be finally be destroyed."
[8...]
"So now, Chosen," Aphex said his name, "What will you do?"
[9...]
Glaring at him, Stark couldn't help but smirk, after all, his flow was about to end, and thanks to it, he would gain a massive advantage.
"I think..." Stark started, "I think you're an absolute fucking idiot."
"So be it," Aphex pointed one of his crescent blades at Stark, "You're about to die."
[10...]
[Flow has been activated!]
Stark's vision became clearer when he saw Aphex, and whatever the apostle did, he could see an afterimage of what he did before it even happened.
"But unfortunately for you," Aphex laughed, floating above ground, "I'm not going to be your opponent."
"Huh?" Stark was confused.
There was nothing else in this crater.
Maybe [Follower] was going to wake up?!
But as he turned around, Stark didn't see any signs of him moving, the black creature still defending him.
It seemed to glare at Aphex too.
"You need to be more open-minded, Chosen," Aphex laughed again, his laughter echoing throughout the entire trial.
"Then come down if you're not scared!"
"I don't need to, as I said, your opponent isn't me right now, oh, it seems like they are here."
"What the fuck are you talking about-"
But as Stark shouted these words... a hand emerged from the ground and grabbed him from below.
"Huh?"
As Stark felt the hand gripping his ankle, a chill ran down his spine.
He looked down and saw the source of this unexpected assault—a grotesque, disfigured hand, darkened and warped, clawing its way out of the broken ground.
"This is...!?" Stark tried to punch the hand, but it didn't let go of him no matter what.
Crimson Ball Transmission!
But as he was beginning to be pulled down by the hand, which was impossible to liberate himself from, he simply threw a crimson ball.
Snap!
Then snapped his fingers to teleport away.
He had thought that everything had died, since a spear of this power should be enough to instantly make anybody evaporate.
But he hadn't taken into account one thing...
Because as the figure emerged, revealing its disgusting red body, he finally saw who it was, confirming his suspicions.
It was the [Tormented One].
"He cannot be harmed by physical attacks," Aphex kept laughing, "So that spear of yours was useless!"
As the burly creature got up, Stark needed to make sure, and just as expected, that thing in front of him was wearing a cloak made out of its skin, and it had no mouth.
It was truly the [Tormented One].
Which is why he also didn't get a notification about his death.
"So what are you gonna do now, Chosen?" The moon apostle grinned, "You're their last hope, but you cannot deal damage to that creature, what is your play?!"
"..."
Stark's face darkened.
Was this the end?