Wu Ling's words sounded impressive, but the man and the monster still remained locked in combat for nearly an hour. There was no helping it. The monster's skin was simply too thick.
One sheet of human skin might be fragile. But nearly a hundred sheets of highly resilient skin, each still carrying a thin layer of flesh and blood, had been stacked together and compressed into a humanoid body. The monster's physical density was even greater than that of an ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.
Against a monster like this, ordinary Spirit Leaders could not even break its defense. A Spirit Daoist could break through, but if they failed to peel away all the skin before exhausting their Spirit Power, they would still die.
Wu Ling had not reached Spirit Daoist, but with Rose enhancing his blade, he could indeed harm the monster. As for Spirit Power, with Spirit Power Circuits supporting him, Wu Ling had almost forgotten what consumption meant.
And so Wu Ling displayed his three Spirit Rings, each stranger than the monster itself, and fought with everything he had. Layer by layer, he cut. By the end, his hands were nearly numb. Fortunately, Azure and Ember helped restrain the monster for a while, giving him brief chances to rest.
Hah... hah... hah...
Wu Ling stood there, panting hard, as he watched the monster explode for the tenth time.
After the explosion, the monster's body had shrunk to less than two meters. Every part of it had become far thinner.
Wu Ling looked at the skin-and-bones figure and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Before he could think deeper, the monster no longer even pretended to roar. It shot toward Wu Ling in a single step.
What?
Seeing the monster about to reach him, Wu Ling was startled by its speed. He immediately swapped places with Azure.
The instant Azure appeared, he saw a large hand about to cover his face.
Hmph. Damn main body. Me again? I really cannot do anything about you.
With a boom, the monster grabbed Azure by the head and smashed him into the ground. As Azure scattered into particles, Wu Ling quickly blocked the shared memory from reaching him. He had no desire to experience that impact himself.
Its strength has dropped slightly, but its speed increased sharply? That violates conservation of energy way too much!
Originally, the monster had only been flexible. Because it was already a corpse, it could perform many movements no human body should be capable of. Some even shocked Wu Ling, such as a one-hundred-eighty-degree backbend that pressed its spine almost against its thighs. At the time, Wu Ling had wondered whether it would burst its own skin if it kept that posture too long.
Now, however, the monster had shifted from flexible to agile. Its speed had already caught up with Wu Ling's. That gave him a serious headache. The previous method would no longer work. He needed a new approach.
Azure's return gave Wu Ling an idea. No matter how strong this monster was, it was still dead matter. The Spirit Power driving its body had to have been transmitted by the mastermind. If that was the case...
As the outer skin exploded away, the Spirit Power inside the monster became possible to sense. Wu Ling had Ember move in to restrain it while he and Rose searched for the monster's core.
At last, they found the core at the monster's navel. A black Spirit Ring flashed, and a purple lightning-shaped dagger appeared in Wu Ling's hand.
Rule Breaker. After being reinforced into Soulbreaker, it can break any Spirit Power. I almost forgot about it because I rarely use it.
Wu Ling sent Ember forward at the cost of his body to force an opening. Purple light flashed. Soulbreaker stabbed into the monster's abdomen.
The next moment, the monster, which had just raised its arm to strike Wu Ling, shuddered from head to toe. Then its whole body went limp and collapsed.
Without Spirit Power supporting it, the monster had only a few layers of skin left and could no longer stop a sharp blade. Wu Ling swiftly cut it apart.
Then he pulled Soulbreaker free. The monster's body parts began to wriggle, but after a few moments, the culprit behind the scenes sensed its condition and directly severed the link.
My lord! My lord, you really defeated it! We can live! We can really live!
Before Wu Ling could step forward to inspect the remains, the woman who had been hiding behind a wall rushed toward him.
Wu Ling looked at the woman running his way. Through her torn clothing, he saw her body again, and his eyes narrowed.
Stop. Stand right there.
Wu Ling had already suspected the woman. The fact that the monster attacked him but never attacked her deepened that suspicion. What truly bothered him, however, was her body.
According to her, everything had happened seven days ago. But in only seven days, if she had some food and water, how could she have become that thin?
What is wrong, my lord? Perhaps because she was too excited, the woman slowed after Wu Ling's shout, but she still kept moving toward him.
Wu Ling had just placed his hand on his sword hilt, already thinking that if she took another step, he would cut off both of her legs. In the next instant, a sense of danger descended.
In the original story, Sasaki Kojiro had used Mind's Eye to predict the length and width of Artoria's hidden sword, and even saw through the weakness in the Noble Phantasm attack she had not used because of insufficient mana.
Now, that same ability warned Wu Ling again.
Wu Ling turned and dodged violently. A heartbeat later, six bone spikes pierced the spot where he had just stood.
He followed the bone spikes with his eyes and saw terror on the woman's face. Those six spikes had stabbed out through her chest.
I knew it, Wu Ling thought. But then he noticed something wrong with the woman's expression. Confusion, terror, fear. It was as if she did not understand any of this herself.
Fast reaction, kid.
A different voice came from inside the woman's body. Then, under Wu Ling's puzzled gaze, the woman tremblingly raised both hands to her face.
Rip.
Starting from the head, the woman slowly peeled off her own skin. Beneath that skin was a clean skeleton.
After stripping off the skin from the entire body, the skeleton casually tossed it aside. Then the bone-only thing spoke in defiance of reason.
That skin was really uncomfortable to wear. But you, little brother, you have such lovely skin.
Wu Ling completely ignored the talking skeleton. His attention was fixed on the sheet of skin.
After being stripped off, the skin could no longer move. Only the eyes still stuck to it held a sudden look of understanding.
As if using the last of her strength, the woman's lips moved faintly. When her eyes finally slid off the skin, all life left her.
Wu Ling read the shape of her lips.
Sorry...