Chapter 421 - Conscience As Clear As A Mirror

Boom!!!

A ten-meter-long mutated tree trunk slammed into the green hag like a massive metal lance. Her two green arms, held out in front, were shattered inch by inch; scales, muscles, and bones were all obliterated into fragments that flew everywhere.

The trunk smashed into the green hag's body, slamming diagonally down into the floor with such massive force that it drove her straight into the ground. The gray stones that formed the street were flipped and shattered, leaving behind a deep trench two people wide and over twenty meters long in the middle.

Debris scattered in every direction, and several pieces struck Solomon's stunned face. He silently opened his mouth and looked at the end of the furrow carved into the ground.

His target, the green hag, had been pinned to the ground by that wooden column. She had been completely forced underground from her knees upward, including her head and entire torso. All that remained visible were two quivering, badly mangled lower legs, looking as though they might snap off at any moment. One could only imagine how gruesome the green hag's upper body must have looked after being crushed head-on by that mutated trunk. It was likely flattened.

Solomon could vaguely see blue blood seeping through the surrounding soil. His heart sank at once, and a wave of frustration surged straight into his mind.

This was the second time! Every time he encountered this White Aster, nothing good ever happened!

The first time, his mission target, the invisible assassin, was mistaken by White Aster for his own ghoul target and had been hauled away. Now, his second target, the green hag, had been crushed to death right in front of him.

Solomon was furious. He began to feel like Cassius was deliberately targeting him, but he dared not reveal it because Cassius's combat strength was rather frightening. He had not witnessed the earlier battle, yet he had seen the entire scene of Cassius using a tree trunk to brutally crush the green hag a moment ago.

His earlier assessment of the other man had been correct. Cassius was indeed a Great Soss! His explosive power and lightning speed both hinted at how formidable his body truly was.

Judging by Solomon's past bouts and interactions with Soss, Cassius's prowess clearly surpassed Soss. Hence, Solomon forced down his fury; his already sour face took on an even more constipated expression.

He took a deep breath, about to speak, when a cold gaze suddenly locked onto him.

"Do you need something? If not, please leave. I need to deal with my spoils now..." Cassius said impassively, twisting the trunk back and forth.

A sickening squelch of flesh came from the hole, and blue blood spurted out. Solomon's fist tightened slightly as the Sinful Thorns within him stirred, its barbed vines rasping along his veins. Yet in the end, he turned and left as he gave Cassius a long look.

"

Heh heh heh

... I really love that look." Cassius revealed an unnervingly twisted smile.

When he had been weaker, he had relished wiping out threats to the root. However, after entering the ranks of top-tier powerhouses, his nature had grown increasingly treacherous. He was rather like the villain in stories who enjoyed toying with prodigies by repeatedly granting them opportunities, only to see them undone in the end.

Of course, Cassius did have a streak of dark whimsy, but he would never give a genuine threat a chance. Anyone who tried to harm him faced only one outcome: death. Cassius believed that only the dead were truly trustworthy.

A few minutes passed swiftly, yet dark creatures still poured in from all directions, as though half of Florence's monster population had woken up. So many dark creatures would have given even a seasoned, formidable Dark Gold Hunter a serious headache and forced them to be extremely cautious.

Yet, Cassius turned none of them away, for no one could break his defenses or harm his steel-like body. As a result, there was no chance of "countless ants devouring an elephant".

As for stamina, Cassius could stand here slaughtering them for three days and nights without issue. He needed only a brief rest before he could kill for another three days and nights. Therefore, the dark creatures swarming him were fated to their demise.

Come to think of it, Florence's entire official administration would have reason to thank Cassius for what he was doing. If he ended up slaughtering every dark creature drawn by the black-bait wood's scent, it would be as good as eradicating ninety percent of the monsters in this great city. Not only would this grant the common folk and nobility a long spell of safety, it would also ease the pressure on public security.

Naturally, Cassius did not care about these empty distinctions. He only sought to lure out the ghoul. Whatever good or ill he inadvertently did in the process was of no concern to him. In his eyes, his conscience was as clear as a bright mirror—it reflected only himself. Everything he did was for himself!

The rampant bloodshed soon coated the central garden plaza in a thick layer of blood. The stench of gore mixed with the strange odor of burning black-bait wood, making it almost unbearable.

In one corner of the plaza, dark creatures' corpses piled up so rapidly that they formed a small mountain in just ten minutes. Cassius had slain a multitude of Wild Beast level dark creatures, and quite a few ferocious Savage Beast level ones had turned up out of nowhere. Yet, he still could not find the ghoul that was rumored to be hiding in Florence's District Four, which made him frown slightly. Could that ghoul have fled to a more distant part of Florence? Or had it already left Florence altogether to hunt elsewhere?

***

Meanwhile, in the foul-smelling sewers of Florence's District Four...

A creature with shark-like grayish-white skin emerged from the dark brown sewage, its bony spikes extending from its spine all the way to its tail. Its tail lashed the water forcefully aside as it followed the sewer passage and finally climbed out of one of the exits.

As soon as it stuck its head out, it caught a whiff of a scent. It was faint but incredibly enticing. The ghoul flicked out a forked, narrow, crimson tongue. It sprang forward, darting along the corner shadows at high speed toward the source of that aroma.

***

In Florence's District Four on the eastern side of the central garden...

A grim-faced young man, eyes twisted with rage, reached into the darkness and seized the head of a humanoid dark creature. Black, tendril-like barbs of thorns flared at the tips of his five fingers. They burrowed into the dark creature's body like parasites, grinding its flesh to pulp.

There was even a dreadful poison injected as they ravaged its life force. Within moments, the thrashing dark creature had dissolved into a puddle of bloody remains.

Solomon lowered his arm, withdrawing the thorns back into his palm. He stepped forward, but then he spotted a figure with golden hair. It was Soss, who appeared to be on the hunt for something.

From the direction he was heading, it seemed he too was bound for the central garden. Solomon quickly deduced that Cassius had employed some special method to lure all the city's dark creatures toward the central garden. That way, he could wait at ease for his targets to come to him and finish them off.

Still, was he truly unafraid of being torn apart by the swarming monsters? If he miscalculated, he could face a terrible end. He gave it some thought.

Solomon watched Soss approach at high speed, trying to guess what he was up to. Recalling the setback he had just suffered, a sinister idea arose in his mind.

If I failed my mission, then you can forget about succeeding!

His gaze darkened, he tapped his foot lightly, and his body flickered forward.

***

By the time Soss broke free of Solomon's entanglement, two or three minutes had already passed. They had not actually fought but rather stood at a distance, releasing their Qi in a standoff.

During the first phase of the trial, they were not yet in direct competition, so fighting would not benefit either of them. An ill-intentioned Solomon merely hoped to delay Soss for a while.

Soss, on the other hand, simply wanted to gauge his old rival's strength, for it had been half a year since they had last crossed paths. He would not have known if he had not tested him; once he did, he was startled to discover that Solomon's Qi had significantly improved from six months ago.

He could vaguely stand on nearly equal footing with Soss now, even though Soss was holding back some of his power. Though Soss remained confident, he could not help but grow wary.

He halted his original plan for the night and patiently tangled with Solomon for two or three minutes. And that suited Solomon's purpose perfectly.

When both withdrew their Qi and were about to brush past each other and leave, Soss suddenly asked, "How's the first phase of your trial going?"

Solomon's face remained impassive, half of it veiled in shadow. His dark eyes glanced at Soss. "Probably about the same as yours."

"Oh? The same as mine? That's pretty quick... I'll be done with my target soonest by today, latest by tomorrow. I look forward to your good news at that time..." Soss taunted, staring intently at Solomon.

He snorted coldly, then leaped proudly into the air and vanished. Behind him, Solomon quietly watched Soss disappear down the far end of the street.

"Idiot. About the same as yours means we're both back at the same starting line! Start your mission again tomorrow, you fool..." He felt noticeably better at heart and took a single step into the darkness.

***

Three minutes later...

"You!!!" Soss's furious shout echoed through the central garden.

He stood at the peak of a set of steps. In the center of the plaza stood a tall, muscular blond man, exuding a commanding presence.

He was stepping on a large, basketball-sized head with matted hair, while he held a half-human, half-elephant dark creature in his left hand. His right arm, seemingly forged of steel, clutched a bizarre four-meter-long snake. The snake's upper half was human-shaped and originally had a strange, wicked grin. However, at that moment, it exuded only the despair of suffocation on the brink of death.

Boom, boom, boom...

The powerful arm contracted bit by bit, like a hydraulic press, crushing the Laughing Nightmare's bones with ease.

Its muscular serpentine tail thrashed wildly, leaving half-human-sized craters in the plaza, yet when it lashed the blond man's body, it produced only dull

thuds

and no real effect. It was as if it was just scratching an itch. It did nothing whatsoever to stop the man from tormenting the Laughing Nightmare.

"Arrghhhh!" The Laughing Nightmare died swiftly and cleanly. Its intestines were squeezed out by the immense pressure, flooding half the plaza with blood.

Cassius glanced at the long, serpentine creature in his hand and casually tossed it on the mountain of corpses beside him. He applied a bit of pressure with his left hand, ripping off the other dark creature's head as well. After a brief moment's thought, he tossed that aside as well.

In one corner of the plaza lay various severed limbs and headless torsos, giving the scene a notably savage look. Cassius was not actually a bloodthirsty man; he simply wished to test the effects of his platinum sacred marks, which was why the place ended up looking like a slaughterhouse.

He felt his reasoning made perfect sense, although he always seemed to find a plausible excuse whenever he turned enemies into shredded limbs.

In the center of the plaza, Cassius cast a glance at the enraged Soss.

"Why are you just standing there? Go wherever you need to go, and don't block my path." He raised a hand to wipe away the blood from the side of his face.

Soss let out a heavy snort through his nose, clenching his fists tightly. He was itching for a fight. Last time, Cassius had sent him flying with one punch, but this time was different. The power boost from the sacred marks had given Soss a great deal of confidence. He began to move forward as he decided to clash with Cassius.

Suddenly, the sound of frantic running echoed from the left side of the central garden. Both men turned their gazes in that direction.

A half-wolf, half-human monster bounded onto a rooftop of a nearby building and howled at the moon. Its entire coat of fur had turned a translucent, moonlit hue. The werewolf leaped downward, heading straight for the black-bait wood in the center of the plaza.

Almost immediately afterward, Claire emerged from a nearby alley. She froze upon seeing Cassius and Soss, then her expression shifted drastically. The overpowering stench of blood streaming into the alley was beyond belief.

Swish...

Yet another dark creature burst forth from the eastern side of the central plaza. Cassius paid no heed to the charging werewolf and instead turned to look in its direction.

His eyes lit up—wasn't that grayish-white shark-skinned figure the ghoul he had been searching for? It lurked in the shadows of one of the two streets behind Soss, clicking its teeth together.

"You finally showed up. I nearly wiped out all of Florence's dark creatures waiting for you! You sneaky pest, you're nothing if not cautious." Cassius moved so quickly that he seemed to vanish, shouldering Soss aside as he closed in on the ghoul like a predator.

His intentions were unmistakable. Soss staggered two or three steps to the side in shock.

Cassius's explosive burst of speed was too great; Soss had no time to react before the man was upon him. Fortunately, it was just a shoulder bump. Had Cassius launched an actual attack aiming for a vital spot, Soss might have paid a dire price!

The brief encounter felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over him. Most of the confidence inspired by his newfound strength vanished.

Perhaps, maybe, likely... he and Cassius were not on the same tier of strength at all. What should he do? Maybe he ought to lay aside his pride and ally with his two old rivals against this newly emerged, formidable foe...

Howl!

A wolfish roar echoed across the plaza. It was the enraged cry of the dark creature werewolf, who was furious at having been ignored by Cassius. However, the howl soon gave way to the sounds of battle.

Claire, who had followed the werewolf all this way, finally decided to make her move. In an instant, the plaza was filled with haunting chanting sounds. Meanwhile, on the other side, the ghoul had only just shown itself.

It was instantly herded into a dark alley by a burly six-foot-three man, whose golden hair framed an emotionless face as he advanced step by step. Slowly, his lips curved into a slightly savage grin.

"You've cost me nearly all of my black-bait wood. Do you realize how expensive you are?"