Picking Up Attributes From Today - Chapter 226
Chapter 226: The Swirling Snow Sword Saint, A Human Half-Deity
“Ahhh!”
A shrill cry resounded throughout the underground as Baxter the Black Dragon struggled madly.
Everywhere its cry passed through, the earth shook, and the mountains swayed. Large rocks rolled off and fell as dust and earth flew about!
“W-what kind of fire is that?”
Bubbles shuddered, somewhat frightened, as he watched Baxter, who was struggling in pain and agony amidst the black flames.
No matter how wretched Baxter might be, it was still a Black Dragon that had already manifested a divine core and whose strength reached the heights of a mid-level half-deity. Yet it was actually powerless against the black flames!
This was practically inconceivable!
“S-spare… Spare my life!”
At last, Baxter could no longer stand against it, and it began to beg for mercy loudly.
“Offer your divine spirit origin energy and submit to me!” Meng Lei said aloofly, “Only through submission will you be able to live!”
“I…”
Baxter hesitated at once. Handing over its divine spirit origin energy implied that Meng Lei would end up taking full control of its life. How would that do?
“Unwilling to submit? Die, then!”
Meng Lei shrugged, his expression one of indifference. Then he ordered, “Let’s go, Bubbles and Little Gold!”
Little Gold nodded hurriedly. Somewhat in a state of shock, it wished only to leave the area at the moment.
With a complex look on his visage, Bubbles asked, “Master, what will happen to Baxter?”
“The Netherworld Divine Fire is an everlasting flame. It’ll never extinguish before it burns everything away.”
Meng Lei said aloofly, “Baxter is destined for only one outcome, and that is—to be burned alive into ashes by the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
“Burned into ashes?!!”
Bubbles swallowed hard, a hint of abject fear flashing across his eyes.
“Let’s go!”
Meng Lei waved dismissively. Then, he wrapped Little Gold in God’s Domain and flew into the distance while Bubbles hastily followed after him.
At the sight of them leaving for real, Baxter panicked at once.
What am I gonna do if you leave?
“S-submit… I’ll submit!” Baxter bellowed.
“It ultimately didn’t manage to restrain itself after all!”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly and teleported over to where Baxter was. He asked, “Do you need me to repeat what you should be doing?”
“Well-played, human!”
Indignation filled Baxter’s eyes, but it still released its divine spirit origin energy in the end.
Unexpectedly, a few terrifying auras suddenly descended at this point and swept through the entire underground space!
Upon sensing the auras, Baxter instantly retracted its divine spirit origin energy and glowered furiously at Meng Lei instead.
“My friends are here, you lowly human! Extinguish the flames on me at once! Otherwise, I’ll definitely give you a tragic death!”
“You’re hopeless, Baxter!”
With a slight frown, Meng Lei turned to the few that had just descended upon the area. There were four new arrivals, and every one of them gave off vast, mighty divine power and were all half-deities!
The first half-deity had a head of red hair and gave off a vast, ancient Dragon might—it was a Fire Dragon.
The second had a peculiar appearance. Instead of a human, he looked more like a robot constructed from metal.
The third was a human. Dressed in a knight’s armor and holding a knight’s broadsword, he had mighty, imposing, and squarish facial features and emanated a righteous aura around him.
The last half-deity was an octopus. With more than a dozen tentacles, it gave off a bloodthirsty and brutal aura!
“Baxter, my friend, what happened to you?”
The Fire Dragon half-deity’s countenance turned grim right away as it gazed at Baxter, who was shrouded in black flames and struggling fiercely.
“Kill him, Klaus! No, don’t! Capture him instead!”
A somewhat hysterical Baxter pointed at Meng Lei and said, “Yes! Capture him and make him remove these goddamn flames first! I’m close to being burned to death!”
“Black flames!”
The octopus half-deity stared at the Netherworld Divine Fire around Baxter. Then, it suddenly exclaimed, “That’s the Netherworld Divine Fire! Oh my god, that’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The Fire Dragon half-deity, robot half-deity, and human half-deity quickly asked, “Mervyn, what’s the Netherworld Divine Fire?”
In a low, deep voice, the octopus half-deity explained, “The Netherworld Divine Fire is an everlasting flame from Hell. Capable of burning everything, it’s said to be able to burn even a true god to death!”
“An everlasting flame from Hell?”
“Capable of burning everything?”
“Able to burn even a true god to death?”
The three half-deities’ countenances changed drastically, deep restraining fear forming in their eyes as they watched the black flames. Those flames could burn even a true god to death, but they were only half-deities…
“Damn! To think it’s actually the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
Baxter’s face had completely darkened. It roared hysterically, “Quick! Take him down! Make him extinguish these goddamn flames! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be burned to death!”
Knowing that they mustn’t delay this any further, the four half-deities’ gazes fell onto Meng Lei. In icy-cold voices, they ordered, “Put out the Netherworld Divine Fire at once, human!”
Meng Lei gave them a leisurely smile. He didn’t take their threats seriously. Instead, he looked at the human half-deity among the four and asked in puzzlement, “I didn’t sense any other auras from you. Are you human?”
“My name is Galen Bonaparte!”
The human knight’s eyes bore into Meng Lei as he gave his name.
“Galen Bonaparte? You’re the Swirling Snow Sword Saint?”
A jolt went through Meng Lei as he asked, “Aren’t you the sword saint of humans? Why are you here?”
Galen Bonaparte, the Swirling Snow Sword Saint!
To every human, that was a figure of grand reputation. One of exceptional aptitude, he made a name for himself at a young age and, as a human, crushed innumerable Dragon geniuses. His name was known throughout the Dragon God Empire and was an extremely rare genius and powerhouse among the humans. He was also the idol and pride of innumerable human boys and men alike.
Yet to think that a figure like that was actually lurking in the underground world and associating with evil deities of the underground!
This was practically inconceivable!
“The Swirling Snow Sword Saint has ceased to exist a long time ago!”
Galen Bonaparte shook his head slowly. “The one standing before you now is but just an ordinary half-deity.”
“Even human Saint Domains are extremely rare, let alone half-deities? Stand aside. I won’t kill you!” said Meng Lei with a shake of his head.
“How presumptuous!”
Galen Bonaparte gave an icy snort as he formed a sword with his fingers and let out a furious shout. “Divine Technique: Judgment!”
Clank!
A dazzling, gigantic golden sword of light descended from the sky and cleaved toward Meng Lei lightning-quick, its speed reaching the extremes!
“Such agility! What a shame!”
Meng Lei quietly appeared three meters away and said, “You’re no match for me. Don’t bother wasting any more effort!”
“He’s actually dodged it?”
Astonishment came over Galen Bonaparte’s features. The speed of his Divine Technique, Judgment, was close to teleportation. Ordinary half-deities couldn’t dodge it in time at all, yet Meng Lei had actually managed to do so!
“Take him down! Quick, take him down!”
Baxter, the Black Dragon, began to urge them again. “Stop freaking dilly-dallying! If you tarry any further, I’m going to burn to death!”
“Attack!”
Upon hearing his words, the four half-deities promptly launched their attacks!
“God’s Domain!
The four of them cast God’s Domain simultaneously in an attempt to suppress Meng Lei. However, what disappointed them was that Meng Lei had vanished into thin air!
“He’s gone?”
“Where’s he?”
The four of them widened their eyes in astonishment.
“You’re too slow!”
Behind them, a mocking voice rang out, and the four of them looked behind them in horror. Meng Lei had appeared behind them at some point, and four black spears were floating above his palm.
“Go!”
With a flick of his fingers, the four black spears shot out at once!
Splurt!
Splurt!
The distance between the spears and the four half-deities was simply too close. Unable to dodge in time at all, all four were unsurprisingly hit by the spears. The black spears struck them in the chests before bursting into flames—they were actually spears of flames manifested from Netherworld Divine Fire!
“Damn! It’s the Netherworld Divine Fire!”
The octopus half-deity’s countenance changed dramatically, and it actually attempted to valiantly cut its losses by using a dagger to shave off the flesh at its chest and, in turn, remove the Netherworld Divine Fire on its chest.
However, the miserable thing was that its divine body was fairly tough and durable, so the broken dagger simply couldn’t pierce through its skin! When it finally did, after much difficulty, it actually couldn’t shave off even a piece of its flesh after half a day of going at it.
With one thing leading to another, not only was the Netherworld Divine Fire not removed, but it even spread swiftly throughout its body!
The other three were pretty much in the same situation. They either cast Divine Techniques or swatted at themselves, but the final outcomes were all the same—the more they swatted, the bigger the flames became and the fiercer they blazed.
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Why do you even put yourselves in such a situation?”
Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he retracted the Netherworld Divine Fire on Galen Bonaparte with a casual move and said aloofly, “Leave!”
“You’re not going to kill me?”
Disbelief was written all over Galen Bonaparte’s countenance.
“On account of how you’re a human, I’ll let you off, but I’ll only do it just this once,” replied Meng Lei dispassionately.
“Who exactly are you?”
Galen Bonaparte watched Meng Lei closely.
“Human! The one standing before you right now is my great and noble Master, Meng Lei!”
Bubbles said, “The new emperor of Dragon God Empire and the strongest half-deity of Heaven’s Vault Continent!”
“The emperor of Dragon God Empire? You’re a Dragon?”
Fury appeared on Galen Bonaparte’s face as he spat, “I am mortal enemies with Dragon God Empire. Even if I were to die, I’d never accept the Dragons’ kindness! You’d better just kill me instead!”
“Are you misunderstanding something, human?”
Displeased, Bubbles said, “Master Meng Lei is pure human. He has overthrown the Dragons’ reign and slain the Dragon Island half-deities. He has no connection whatsoever to the Dragons!”
“What did you say?!”
An astounded Galen Bonaparte exclaimed, “Overthrown the Dragons’ reign? Slain the Dragon Island half-deities? How can that be?”
“The great Bubbles never lies. Would I deceive you?”
Bubbles was rather dissatisfied. “Ask around if you don’t believe me!”
Galen Bonaparte’s mouth opened and closed. After a long while, he finally said, “If you’ve really overthrown the Dragons’ reign and taken revenge for me, I am willing to become your follower! I swear on my honor as a knight!”
“You can go and verify this for yourself!”
Meng Lei gave him a slight smile.
“Goodbye!”
Galen Bonaparte gave Meng Lei a long, deep look. Then, he glanced at the four other half-deities struggling in the black flames before turning and leaving.
Although they, the underground half-deities, were extremely united against outsiders, the friendships among them didn’t go that deep. In fact, there was dissension and brutal competition among them!
And now, since he was heading to the surface, his worshipers in the underground were already no longer of any importance!
“Master, are you allowing him to leave just like that?” Puzzlement came over Bubbles’ features as he said, “He’s probably not going to come back after he leaves!”
“It doesn’t matter even if he doesn’t return. There aren’t many human half-deities. It’s a shame to kill him!”
The four half-deities were initially able to persevere through the burning of the Netherworld Divine Fire, but toward the end… None of them could persevere any longer!
“You may live on if you submit to me!”
This was still the only choice that Meng Lei gave them.
Without any surprise, the Fire Dragon half-deity, the octopus half-deity, and the robot half-deity hesitated. In contrast, Baxter, the Black Dragon, didn’t hesitate any further this time and promptly begged for mercy.
It was just a shame that Meng Lei rejected it this time. “I gave you a chance, but you didn’t cherish it. Yet you’re begging for mercy again now? It’s too late!”
“Noooo!”
In the end, Baxter the Black Dragon was burned into ashes amid several screams of pain and regret and paid a heavy price for going back on his word.
“Submit! We’re willing to submit!”
