Chapter 144 (1): If You’re Bad, Practice More

Bullets clinked against Dunn’s body, only tearing his clothes before bouncing off like they’d hit steel. He growled, his body swelling as his height shot up to two and a half meters. Bulging muscles stretched his suit taut. With one arm raised like a shield in front of his chest, he charged toward the mine entrance like a cannonball.

What kind of magic is that? Deflecting bullets? Some sort of iron skin?

Wayne looked at the tears in the suit and, with the dim yellow light from the mine lamps, vaguely saw the gleam of what looked like white metal. He had no time to be surprised. Sliding over to block the mine entrance, he curled his fingers slightly, and numerous vines shot up from the ground.

The vines coiled around Dunn’s feet like venomous snakes. Though they got torn apart by his brute force, the resistance still affected his balance. Dunn tilted forward, his momentum suspended despite his best effort. He stumbled a few times, nearly falling to the ground.

Wayne raised his fingers together, and a vine as thick as an arm shot out like a serpent, wrapping around one of Dunn’s ankles and slamming him hard to the ground. Wind howled before Dunn’s eyes. Several thunderous crashes followed, and the mine lamps flickered. The rock walls trembled, raining down debris.

Thud, thud, thud!

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Wayne had no intention of engaging in close combat with Dunn. One shouldn’t fix what wasn’t broken, so he controlled the vines to slam Dunn around continuously, each impact leaving a human-shaped crater in the ground.

The mine’s ground wasn’t just packed earth, but also wooden planks and metal rails. Dunn roared, holding his arms up to protect his front, but that left his back vulnerable. The back of his head ended up getting up close and personal with the metal rails.

Clang!

The clear and melodious sound echoed with a distinct crack of bone breaking.

“Hey, don’t kill him! Leave him alive for interrogation,” Kael called out. Dunn treated Eclipse Town like a bank, withdrawing large amounts of cash through Mayor Wales on a monthly basis. It was clearly an organized and pre-planned operation backed by a group of professionals.

Holy light magic excelled at healing, but couldn’t bring the dead back to life. Given how Wayne was smashing Dunn around, his brain would be scattered everywhere by the end. Kael wouldn’t be able to do anything.

If the lead went cold, it would become much harder to follow the trail.

“At most, he’ll be seriously injured,” Wayne said. “He won’t die so easily.”

Still, he held back somewhat, loosening the vines and slamming Dunn into the wall for one last time.

Not far from them, the obese, grimy Mayor Wales raised a pistol, pretending to be calm but failing to stop his teeth from clattering.

“Don’t come any closer! I have a gun!”

Wayne didn’t even glance at him as he waved his hand to send spores over. The mayor was quite cooperative, immediately collapsing and falling into a deep slumber.

Sir, though time has changed, a single pistol isn’t going to intimidate a mage. Remember to use a submachine gun next time—no, use a heavy machine gun. It’s said to work better!

Dunn climbed up from the ground shakily, dizzy and lightheaded. It didn’t feel like he was standing on solid ground, and everything was spinning before his eyes. He was thick-skinned and tough, with resilience beyond that of normal humans. It was absurd even by a mage’s standards.

Wayne narrowed his eyes, once again catching the gleam of white through the torn suit. It wasn’t metal, but bones. Dunn had extracted his own bones to armor his body.

It was a literal exoskeleton!

Dunn supported himself against the wall with one hand while raising his other arm high, glaring viciously at Wayne. “Heretic, return to death’s embrace!”

His bones were thick and sturdy. His raised arm was even thicker than an ordinary person’s thigh, covered in black tadpole-like symbols. As he injected mana into it, the tadpole symbols swam along his skin, transforming into a black crow with spread wings.

The Goddess of Death had three subordinate gods. Since the goddess remained untouchable in Her Divine Realm, outside of Her chosen knight, even the most remarkable disciples rarely heard Her divine oracles. To approach Death, they could only go through the three subordinate gods.

Therefore, the three subordinate gods were also known as Her three avatars, the Observer, the Judge, and the Executor.

The Observer, the Misfortune Spider Grau, had once invited Wayne to join the Death faction. The black crow on Dunn’s arm symbolized another of the three avatars: the Judge, also known as the Soul-Devouring Crow Saigner.

The black crow symbol lit up, and a grey swamp of Death swept down. The deathly cold wind blew, instantly killing the spores floating in the air. The vines also withered and rotted the moment they made contact with the wind.

Roaring, Dunn charged toward the mine exit, surrounded by the aura of Death. His mana made his bones grow and harden further, bursting through his skin. He turned into a three-meter-tall white hedgehog with a metallic shine, dripping with blood.

The sight disturbed Wayne. He had considered many possibilities, but not the scenario that the inhuman dark mage would turn out to be a devotee of the Goddess of Death.

It made sense, though. He understood Death as an eternal serenity, but it didn’t mean that it was all there was to Death. In most cases, it was synonymous with evil.

It made perfect sense for a necromancer to control the mayor and, through him, exploit the people and use the dirty money to subsidize the Church of Death. However, as a Death Knight, Wayne felt deeply ashamed and glared viciously at Dunn as he charged at him.

Return to Death’s embrace!

Wayne spread his arms and pushed. The earth rumbled and shook as countless vines burst from the ground. Hundreds and thousands of spikes protruded, piling up to form high walls. They rolled forward like chariots.

Boom!

The grey swamp of Death collided with the vibrant vines. Like fire and water, the two forces were incompatible. The opposing forces clashed and entered a fierce battle.

Kael reminded him, “He’s summoned the divine power of the avatar Saigner. If this drags on, you’ll stand no chance. Don’t waste your mana. Make space for us to attack together.”

When dealing with evil villains, there was no place for honor. Attack with a number advantage!

“It’s fine. I can handle him alone.” Wayne’s eyes blazed with green light. Under Kael’s incredulous gaze, he blocked the divine power Dunn had summoned with a massive amount of mana. It far exceeded the limits of a Silver-rank mage in both quality and quantity. It could even overwhelm regular Gold-rank mages.

If Dunn hadn’t summoned the divine power of Death’s avatar, he would’ve been defeated promptly.

This monster...

Kael was dumbfounded. He suspected that the Church of Heavenly Father had sent Mona to approach Wayne in order to steal him from the Church of Nature. If they couldn’t poach him, they could still win something by taking him hostage.

Boom!!

Incomprehensible murmur arose, low, eerie, and incredibly ominous. Death energy surged instantly, corrupting the walls of vines and rushing straight toward Wayne. The dense Death wrapped tightly around him, and then...

Nothing happened. The effect was lackluster.

From Kael’s perspective, it seemed that the Death energy couldn’t even harm Wayne. He was covered in green from head to toe, and no matter how Death hit him and how forceful it became, it couldn’t break through the faint layer of green light.

“Heretic, happy death day!” Dunn’s angry and anguished roar swept out of the mine, resounding across the night sky. His body grew even bigger, with white bones spiking out, tearing through his skin and muscles while splattering a mist of blood. The macabre, bloodied monster occupied the entire mine tunnel.

Frightening air currents swirled around him. Following a heart-wrenching wail, the white bone gathered and converged, merging seamlessly into what looked like a massive knight’s lance. With impossible force, the abomination charged out of the mine.

Death energy gathered, disturbing the air and coiling around the tip of the lance, turning into a violent hurricane that advanced like a drill. Kael yelled and hurriedly conjured a solid white wall before Wayne, but it crumbled as soon as the spiraling Death made contact.

Wayne, on the other hand, didn’t attempt to dodge it. He spread his feet to go into a stable horse stance. His fist, drawn to his abdomen, shot out so fast that it left afterimages.

Meeting brute force with brute force!