Chapter 166: A decisive battle with the God of Death

Translated by: Reiji

“Skunk Devil Summoning!”

Ayrin's hands were already in motion the moment Lotton lifted his head. A giant striped skunk fell from the air and released a cloud of stink.

“Just how much do you love this skill?!”

Charlotte was soon going to become crazy, but then she immediately came back to her senses. Ayrin could let Audrey and Ivan and the others find his position like this.

Only, even if Audrey and the others could rush over, would they be his match?

She was so nervous she couldn't breathe at all, even if Ayrin hadn't launched his skill,

The aura of death surrounding Lotton was really too terrifying. She'd never met an existence with such a fearsome aura even while undergoing missions in the army.

“It's no use,” Lotton suddenly said just then, looking at Ayrin.

“What the hell is this bloody thing!”

Ayrin suddenly felt Lotton's gaze hit him like something tangible. In this instant, he felt Lotton's eyes become wholly dark gray.

And in the same instant, he felt many cold streams of air suddenly flowing inside him. They even made his heart bang fiercely in his chest, and his body feel heavier and heavier.

A terrifying feeling, as though he was going to die at any moment, grew increasingly bigger inside him.

However, his subconscious mind didn't want to yield to this feeling. He roared wildly in his heart of heart, “Get lost! Why would someone die so easily?!”

The inexplicable feeling of fear instantly crumbled inside him.

“Ah!” Charlotte exclaimed.

She opened her eyes wide in fright. She saw a shadow seemingly emerge on Ayrin's back like a monster drilling out of his body, crushing him beneath it. But in the space of a blink, this shadow immediately vanished.

“Evil Flaming Eye!”

An Evil Flaming Eye shot at Lotton with a rumble.

Under the contrasting born from the light of the fire, Lotton's face seemed more emaciated than a few days ago, his eyes a little more sunken, the atmosphere coming from his face even more frightening.

“Twine of Death—Shadow Coffin.” Lotton lifted his head, a peculiar expression once again flashing across his lifeless eyes. His arms hung immobile at his sides, but countless black, grain-shaped shadows rose from his back, forming a coffin.

The shadow coffin directly swallowed the blazing Evil Flaming Eye.

Lotton didn't act immediately after withstanding Ayrin's attack with a casting speed far exceeding Ayrin's own. He merely looked at Ayrin and said in a cold, deep tone, “You can actually free yourself from the influence of my Death God's Dread Seal? You're going to be killed soon, aren't you afraid at all?”

“I'm a brave warrior. No matter how strong my enemy, I'll still fight with my life on the line. What's there to be afraid of?” Ayrin looked at Lotton, his face brimming with a will for war, loudly saying, “I think you're the one who should be afraid. Your plan to make Eichemalar crash on the ground has already failed. There are so many powerful arcane teams inside the city, there's no way you can escape.”

“No, the reason you don't feel fear is because you don't know what true fear is yet.” Lotton shook his head, the aura of death thicker and thicker in his eyes.

With Ayrin acting as a shield in front of her, Charlotte's fear had imperceptibly been cut by more than a half. She immediately shouted when she felt the intense undulation of arcane particles on Lotton, “Be careful!”

All the remaining arcane particles left inside her surged on and out. A silver-white metallic war avatar appeared near Ayrin and her.

She'd already lost one war avatar beforehand. With her current arcane level, combining her particles once again with arcane energy to form another avatar was already the limit for her

“What's he doing!”

His face grave, his fighting spirit burning even fiercer, Ayrin saw several black orbs suddenly shot out from Lotton. But what made him startled was, these orbs rippling with mighty undulations of arcane energy weren't flying at him and Charlotte.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” ...

Several loud rumbles exploded in succession. These black orbs had actually gone into every outbound passage and produced continuous detonations. Section by section, all those tunnels crumbled, section by section, who knew how deeply through.

The three of them, as well as the passed-out Chirade, seemed to have been buried alive somewhere deep underground. Even the air clearly seemed to be more turbid.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“The sewers under Eichemalar are already in a mess because of the outpour. Who knows how much of it has been damaged. Now, even if several arcane teams conducted an all-out search, they still wouldn't quickly find your existences.”

Lotton looked at Ayrin and Charlotte. “From now on, you can slowly start to taste fear and despair.”

“Are you an idiot?” Ayrin suddenly said.

Charlotte blinked.

Lotton obviously blinked as well.

“Isn't it all the same, what's there to be afraid of?” Ayrin looked at Lotton and said in derision, “Even Stingham would probably think you're an idiot if he were here.”

“Does Ayrin really not feel even a bit of fear? We're trapped here... He can restrict Audrey, Ivan, and Joyce even just by himself. The two of us couldn't possibly be his match. Is Ayrin really not afraid at all he'll kill us?” Charlotte looked blankly at Ayrin, her mind filled with this kind of thought.

“Charlotte, don't be afraid. His arcane skills should be ones disrupting the nerves to enlarge the feeling of fear countless times over, then causing you to lose control of your own body. As long as we fight bravely, his most powerful skill will lose all effectiveness!” Ayrin shouted at her just then.

“The true fear of death, it's completely impossible to escape from it by deceiving yourself.”

Lotton shook his head when he heard Ayrin's shout.

“Swish.”

A familiar cold and gloomy atmosphere once again rose from his heart, as though he were seeing the god of death's evil grin right in front of him. He was once again filled with the feeling he was going to die very soon.

“Get lost! You won't scare me!”

“Idiot, you already failed once, but you still want to try!”

Ayrin roared wildly once again. He suddenly put his hands on his chest as though he were holding an invisible ball. Dazzling arcane particles clashed against each other between his palms, then countless black bats flew nonstop in Lotton's direction.

Lotton's eyes widened.

The shadow coffin swallowed the black bats one after another; it was still impossible to break through his defense with the power of Ayrin's skills. But Ayrin's attitude was hard to understand for him.

“Is he truly a fool?”

“Or is it because he still hasn't tasted pain and despair?”

Lotton shook his head again.

“Death God's Coffin—Burial!”

An extremely deep and gloomy chant came from his mouth.

Along with his chant, the shadow coffin that was still floating above him suddenly vanished, while countless twisted shadows shaped like angry spirits appeared around Ayrin, immediately forming an even bigger coffin.

“Charlotte, mind your own defense, don't come over!”

However, facing this shadow coffin suddenly appearing in front of him, not only Ayrin gave no thought about fleeing, he even directly charged head-on at the huge coffin instead after a yell.

“Ayrin!”

Charlotte shouted loudly. She didn't think Ayrin could withstand this blow, because she clearly remembered that this was precisely the skill that'd killed Dylan Nuop, one of the two twin stars of Hornwood Academy. Even an arcane master from the Office of Special Affairs like Kleis couldn't stop it in time. However, there was something in Ayrin's shout that brooked no defiance from her. She subconsciously obeyed Ayrin, stopping in her tracks.

Ayrin's silhouette suddenly found itself in the center of the coffin.

A huge shadow lid was slowly closing.

Countless sand-like grains of shadow crashed against Ayrin, carrying mournful whizzes with them.

“What?”

However, Lotton blinked again at this time.

A layer of golden light suddenly appeared on the surface of Ayrin's body.

This golden light solidified into huge scales. These scales were so thick and heavy even Ayrin looked like he couldn't control his own body anymore, like he were a lump of gold, unable to move.

“Puff puff puff puff...”

The countless sand-like grains of shadow crashed on his body flashing with golden light; they made him shake nonstop, and he also seemed in great pain judging from his expression. Still, they couldn't penetrate inside his flesh.

“Dragon Scale Assimilation? This is Holy Dawn Academy's Dragon Scale Assimilation. Isn't it a skill only those with dragon bloodlines can learn? How can Ayrin also use a skill like that... Don't tell me, does he really have dragon blood?”

Charlotte froze and stared. Then she shouted loudly, happily surprised, “Ayrin, do your best!”

“What?”

An expression of confusion once again flashed in Lotton's lifeless eyes.

In his opinion, with Ayrin's arcane particles' present level, he should only be able to endure after launching Dragon Scale Assimilation, unable to retaliate. Also, he shouldn't be able to endure for too long either.

But right now, he could clearly feel he seemed to have a little trouble maintaining his Death God's Coffin instead.

“How can it be like this?”

He felt he didn't make any mistake.

Golden light still shone on Ayrin's skin. There scene of carnage, no flesh and blood spraying away to be seen.

Meanwhile, the Death God's Coffin around Ayrin still couldn't close. It was collapsing much faster than it usually would. With a boom, it scattered into countless black shadow fragmented particles, quickly vanishing.

Just then, Lotton even had the feeling Ayrin had “eaten” his Death God's Coffin.

“That won't do, I can't follow his movements and his skill-launching speed!”

“I need to be faster, I must see clearer. That's the only way I can be a threat to him!”

At the same time, just as Lotton's arcane skill eroded away, Ayrin silently roared these things to himself, even though his body was hurting as though it had been torn.

“Eyes of the Dark Goddess!”

A black spot suddenly appeared between Ayrin's eyebrows.

There was no choice left. Ayrin could only attempt this secret skill he'd still never succeeded with during training.