Chapter 754: Not Right

“Finish off these beetles! Don’t chase him!”

Seeing Horus rushing towards Chen Xiaolian, Riche, who had been feeling terribly anxious earlier, grew calm. He then directed his guild members to focus on dealing with the beetles.

After dispersing their formation, the number of accidental injuries was greatly reduced. Everyone had equipped themselves with explosive-type weapons with area-of-effect damage. The number of gold-coloured beetles was very high and they were capable of blowing up on contact. However, they lacked long-ranged attacks. Thus, it did not take long for the participants to finish all of them off.

As for Horus…

If he had run in a different direction, Riche would naturally have given it his all to try and stop him. If Horus were to succeed in running away, he feared that the earlier scenario with Anubis would repeat itself and their entire guild would face extermination.

However, Horus was so blind as to rush towards Mr Moonless instead. Thus, there was nothing to worry about.

“Ghostfox, chase him! Do not stop!”

Terraflame’s hands did not stop moving once. In just an instant, he had removed the bullet magazine for the Gauss sniper rifle and replaced them with spirit-type bullets.

The spirit-type bullets for high-end energy-tier weapons were extremely expensive, even for veterans. They were things of luxury. One spirit-type bullet for the Gauss sniper rifle came at a whopping 100 points. As the Manager for Africa Region’s Starfall Guild, Terraflame only possessed 20 of those bullets. Not to mention, those were the bullets he had saved up back when he was still with Thorned Flower Guild.

Naturally, the power of the bullet was worth the high price.

Terraflame raised the Gauss sniper rifle and aimed at the faraway Horus. Holding his breath, he felt as though the whole world had become slow.

He pulled the trigger and a beam of light drew an arc through the sky. It felt as though no time was lost during its flight as the bullet struck Horus’ back.

Horus’ spirit body released a sharp cry. When the bullet struck him, his figure flipped a few times through the sky. The green light from his body grew dimmer. And yet, the attack had seemingly failed to stop his flight.

Terraflame gritted his teeth and pulled the bolt again.

The others from the guild had stopped chasing Horus. Only Ghostfox, who was the fastest amongst them, continued to follow Terraflame’s instructions to pursue Horus without pause.

“Never, never allow him to reach Mr Moonless!”

Terraflame aimed the Gauss sniper rifle at Horus and fired another spirit-type bullet. At the same time, he shouted at Ghostfox using their guild channel.

However, the very moment before he pulled the trigger, Horus’ body suddenly twisted, having seemingly predicted that a bullet fire was incoming. Thus, the spirit-type bullet only grazed him and he continued charging towards Chen Xiaolian.

As for Ghostfox, he had only just made his way around a clumped-up mess of participants, reduced to a sorry state by the self-destructing beetles.

On Chen Xiaolian’s side, he continued holding his knees as he sat on one of the metal boxes. No emotions could be seen on his face as he watched Horus charge at him.

Inwardly, however, he was in a state of turmoil. 

He knew why Horus was running towards him.

Horus’ objective was not him. It was the metal boxes.

More accurately, he was after the people inside the metal boxes.

After his arrival, Horus immediately realized that the sacrificial offering had been tampered with. An aged body could not allow him to display his full power.

As a God, Horus could clearly sense that there were four more sacrificial bodies suitable for him.

Although they were both sons of Osiris, it was clear that Horus was of a higher rank than Anubis. In the myths, the cross with an oval loop on top that Horus held in his left hand was known as the Ankh. It represented the power of life.

After getting smashed by Chen Xiaolian, Anubis died when his body burst apart. However, with the blessings of the Ankh, Horus could abandon his fleshly body and transform into a spirit body to find a new sacrificial body to continue on.

Now… what should I do?

Seeing Horus on the verge of arriving, the gears in Chen Xiaolian’s mind kept spinning. Several ideas rose to the fore, but none of them were useful.

Summon the Four-eyed Cute Cat and Taishi Ci?

Are you joking? The Four-eyed Cute Cat’s level was too low. And while Taishi Ci possessed a decent level of strength, he had zero skills that would be effective against a spirit body. Thus, a summoned Taishi Ci could only hold Horus for a moment.

Open fire?

Chen Xiaolian did have some spirit-type bullets in his possession. However, the grade of the bullets was not high. Even if he managed to hit Horus with them, he would be incapable of dealing too much damage to Horus. The bullets could not stop Horus.

Run?

If he did that, the image that he had been putting on all this time would go down the drain. He would be suspected. Although he was wearing the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour, a sacred artefact, he was incapable of controlling it. It was just like an incomparably hard shell. Given the hundreds of people on the other side, they would surely have some fellows with the skills needed to pull the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour off him without having to deal with its defensive power. Rather, they might even be able to kill him.

Countless thoughts flashed through Chen Xiaolian’s mind in a flash. However, no matter how hard he pondered, there was only one way to maintain his act, and that was… … to kill off the charging Horus’ spirit body in one hit. However, he was simply incapable of doing that.

Wait!

A thought suddenly flashed through Chen Xiaolian’s mind.

…

Horus felt as though the rage within his heart could burn the whole world.

When he arrived, he had promptly realized that there was something wrong with the body he entered.

According to the rules set down by his father, Osiris, in order to summon him, the body of a young and healthy adult male must be used. Additionally, that person must also possess the blood of the Pharaoh.

However, after he was summoned over, the body he took over was an old man with barely any time left to live. He could not even display one tenth of the power he should have possessed.

Before he could understand what was going on, a series of attack landed on his face.

Originally, he would only require a wave of his hand to kill off these insect-like mortals. At present, however, they had severely wounded him. He even had to destroy the Ankh so that he could escape his fleshly body using his spirit body.

In his spirit body state, he could not access all his divine powers. Thankfully, Horus could sense that there were several bodies with the Pharaoh bloodline not far away. These bodies met the necessary conditions for him.

Additionally, there was more than one available.

Although there were pursuers after him, he was already close to reaching the boxes. So long as he could reacquire a new body, he could return to his peak state.

At that moment, everyone here must die.

However, just as Horus was about to charge into one of the boxes to fuse with the body inside, those boxes – lying right before his very eyes – disappeared into thin air.

“Damn it!”

Horus screamed out in anger.

…

Chen Xiaolian stood upright. He gently tapped the storage watch on his wrist and cast a ridiculing look at Horus, who had jerked to a halt.

“My body! The body with Pharaoh blood! Where did you put them?!”

Horus’ spirit body suddenly flared with green light. He raised the sceptre in his right hand up high and a ball of light shot towards Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian held his ground, not moving at all. The ball of light struck him only to instantly disperse. It had failed to even give rise to a swirl of dust.

“Hand over… … my sacrificial offerings!”

Horus’ face was greatly contorted. Even so, he kept howling and he clutched his sceptre with both hands, treating it like a spear as he stabbed Chen Xiaolian with it.

The sceptre stabbed towards Chen Xiaolian’s heart with lightning-like speed. However, it failed to harm him in the slightest. Instead, light burst out before the sceptre – starting from its tip – began disintegrating at a rapid rate.

“You… what kind of monster are you?!”

Horus was stunned.

In order to escape earlier, he’d had to destroy the Ankh in his left hand, which represented life. And now, the Was Sceptre in his right hand, which represented power, was actually destroyed?

Moreover, it was not destroyed in an enemy attack. Rather, it was destroyed from a backlash after he had attempted to attack his enemy.

Horus had never imagined that something like this could happen before his eyes.

This was an impossibility. Even if his opponent was one of the Nine Chief Gods with a higher rank than him, he or she could not possess the ability to destroy the Was Sceptre when getting struck by it.

“Sii…”

Feeling his heart aching, the distant Terraflame sucked in a breath of air.

He happened to know of some Egyptian myths. Naturally, he also knew about the two items that Horus was holding in his hands.

Although there was no prompt from the system, it was logical to deduce that the Was Sceptre and the Ankh were both props that can be taken away under the instance dungeon rules. Additionally, the class of those items were surely not low.

Earlier, however, Horus had personally destroyed the Ankh. And now, Mr Moonless had destroyed the Was Sceptre. 

At present, the only thing he could possibly obtain was the rewards for killing Horus. Thankfully, it would appear that Mr Moonless had zero intentions of attacking.

“If you want the rewards, finish him yourself. Don’t make me do it.”

As Horus was feeling flabbergasted, Ghostfox finally caught up to Horus. There, he saw Chen Xiaolian, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes not even looking at Horus. Instead, he was looking at Ghostfox.

He had killed off Anubis with a single blow. And now, he had chosen to remain immobile, allowing Horus to attack him only for Horus’ weapon to be destroyed as a result. 

Additionally, he was generously leaving the rewards to these weaklings.

This was truly… … the actions of a grandmaster-level expert!

At that very moment, Ghostfox was once again left astounded after seeing the bluffing act that Chen Xiaolian was putting on.

“Thank you, Mr Moonless!”

Ghostfox shouted gratefully. At the same time, the Dojigiri Yasutsuna swung out with lightning-like speed at Horus, who was still stunned.

Purple flames accompanied the katana as it slashed down forcefully against Horus’ body. A miserable shriek rang out as the slash caused Horus to roll a few times on the ground. As for Ghostfox, the rebound forced him to take a few steps back.

“Aliosha, follow me! We’ll support Ghostfox! The rest of you, those who have spirit-type bullets, change to spirit-type bullets. Be on standby! Do not open fire without my command!” 

Terraflame kept the Gauss sniper rifle and brought his war hammer and shield back out before rushing alongside Aliosha towards Ghostfox.

Although Horus was already greatly weakened, a BOSS was still a BOSS. His other guild members were too weak. Recklessly approaching the BOSS would only bring about unnecessary casualties. Even when using spirit-type bullets to attack from afar, it was also possible for them to accidentally wound their own members in any ensuing chaos.

After a brief moment of shock, Horus finally realized the dire situation that he was in. There was no new body for him to use. Additionally, he was presently in spirit form with no fleshly body to rely on. His powers would gradually weaken until he finally dissipated away. Like a trapped beast, he actions took on a mad fervour.

After getting slashed by Ghostfox, Horus did not back away. Instead, he turned around and pounced at Ghostfox, a hand clawing at him.

Although Horus only had a spirit body at the moment, the swing from him seemingly possessed a tangible quality to it. Ghostfox hastily raised his katana to block the move. However, the attack sent him and his katana flying away.

“Manager! This guy is still very strong!”

Ghostfox cried out as his figure hurtled through the air. As for Terraflame, he had already led Aliosha into the fray.

Aliosha was right behind Terraflame, a scimitar in her right hand while a green ray of light shone out from her palm towards Terraflame. Immediately, Terraflame’s speed rose several times.

Shield strike!

Terraflame positioned the shield before his chest before slamming against Horus’ body. The electrical currents on the shield electrocuted Horus, causing him to shudder. Next, the war hammer smashed heavily against Horus’ left shoulder, causing Horus to stagger backwards.

Horus released a peculiar cry before pouncing at Terraflame, intending on using the earlier spell to turn Terraflame’s body into a seedbed for his self-destructing beetles. However, the ray of light shining out from Aliosha’s palm had turned golden in colour and it caused translucent, gold-coloured flames to envelop Terraflame’s body. When Horus made contact with Terraflame’s body, after slipping past Terraflame’s shield, he immediately reacted like one who had just gotten scalded by a searing piece of iron. With a wretched scream, he tumbled backwards.

“Mr Moonless…”

Far in the distance, Riche, who was leading the others to clear up the self-destructing beetles, had a frown on his face as he observed the distant battle.

Terraflame and Ghostfox were engaging Horus in a melee fight while Aliosha was behind them to provide support.

Horus, who had lost his physical body, had grown much weaker. Thus, those three were able to suppress him.

However…

Horus had clearly arrived before him. Why did Mr Moonless not take action? Why was he just standing aside, watching Terraflame and his team fight Horus?

Riche suddenly felt something amiss.

It was true. For these experts who were already beyond worldly affairs, the rewards for completing instance dungeons were not something that they would go all out to obtain.

However… no matter how small a fly may be, it was still food. Besides, that was a food which chose to deliver itself to his mouth. He had actually chosen not to open his mouth to bite?

When Riche saw Horus rushing in Mr Moonless’ direction, he had originally assumed that the third phase of the quest was as good as done. Thus, he had stopped his guild members from giving chase. Unexpectedly, Mr Moonless had only stood there, not making a single move. He had simply utilized his storage equipment to collect the metal boxes, allowing Horus’ attack to land on his body without even counter attacking.

Riche believed that there were indeed good people in this world. However, this Mr Moonless seemed far too good!

Furrowing his brows, Riche turned around.

For now… I’ll put this aside. At the very least, I cannot let Starfall Guild get all the rewards for killing Horus!

“Hillghost, you no longer have your mech and you also do not have any attacks that are effective against spirit bodies. You stay behind. Myriad Baiter, follow me!”

Myriad Baiter darted forward and nodded his head. He stood beside Riche and they began chanting a magic spell together.