Life Game In Other World
Chapter 792: Collapse of the Inner Church, Return to the Surface World (Super Long - for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 792: Chapter 792: Collapse of the Inner Church, Return to the Surface World (Super Long Chapter for Monthly Votes)

The dazzling radiance exploded throughout the pitch-black space, those entwined arms shredded with ease like thin paper, turning to dust scattered in the darkness.

The light that originally illuminated the ’platform’ suddenly dimmed, and the platform under the light began to disintegrate from the edges like melting snow as the radiance faded.

In that instant, the whole pitch-black space began to shake violently.

During this shaking, Serat revealed a look of dismay for the first time as he turned his head toward He Ao, his eyes filled with disbelief.

At this moment, his waist and abdomen had completely turned into a void, the dazzling golden radiance targeting him and, after piercing through his body, also piercing through the twisted luminance within that dark mass of arms.

Although the great hollow wound caused by the Corona of Radiance weakened much of Serat’s power, it had not killed him.

However, in He Ao’s Divine Sense vision, the energy circuits in that hollow area had completely shattered.

This meant that Serat had lost his so-called ’immortality.’

He had exposed his life force.

"Aaaaah!!!"

Serat roared in anger and without hesitation raised his left arm, slamming it toward He Ao’s face.

Both men had little strength left; this was the final battle between life and death.

He Ao rolled to dodge but was struck by Serat’s elbow, flying backward toward the platform that had started melting.

Serat leapt forward, slamming a charged punch toward He Ao again.

He Ao dodged to the side and then, clenching his fist, struck a blow on Serat’s shoulder. Serat staggered, and He Ao seized the opportunity, doubling his fists and striking with both.

Serat immediately brought his hands back to block, and at that very moment, He Ao leaped into the air, landing a right hook on Serat’s left temple.

Amid flying blood, He Ao quickly withdrew his hand and changed his strike, landing a straight punch on Serat’s eyebrow ridge just as Serat reached out to block from both sides.

Serat’s body reeled back with the impact, blood surrounding his eye socket, before he glanced at the sword planted in the ground nearby and, without hesitation, dashed toward it.

When he had wielded the heavy nine-ringed golden saber, his strength and the weight of the blade had given him an edge over He Ao’s Knight’s sword, but now in pure hand-to-hand combat, he was no match for He Ao.

Seeing him rush toward the sword, He Ao didn’t hesitate, leaping into the air and intercepting his path.

They were close to the sword now, as well as to the Coffin placed on the platform after being moved.

Serat swung a punch at He Ao, who sidestepped, and as Serat swung and missed, turning his back to He Ao, He Ao grabbed his shoulders, pushing him forward with the motion.

Meanwhile, He Ao slid his hands down, seizing Serat’s right hand as Serat surged forward.

Then He Ao gripped Serat’s right wrist, straightened his elbow, and using his other arm, delivered a fierce strike to the back of Serat’s elbow joint.

With a sharp crack,

the arm was broken clean through.

"Agh!!!"

Serat cried out in pain.

But He Ao’s movements did not stop; he pulled back, and Serat’s forward-leaning body was forced to fall backward.

At this moment, Serat was very close to the golden saber stuck in the ground.

However, He Ao did not give him the chance to grasp it.

He Ao pivoted and raised his fist, his gaze fixed on Serat, and it was as though he looked through Serat’s body, at his parents’ Coffin placed behind him.

A surge of emotions gathered at his heart and manifested in his deep, dark eyes.

Then, without hesitation, he moved from the waist, driving his shoulder, and the fist followed through, striking Serat’s chest.

With the sound of a crisp impact, Serat’s body jolted, but before he could react, He Ao’s already landed fist twisted, unleashing a second burst of force.

His ribcage shattered instantly, punctured by the punch, which also pierced his heart and the central point of energy in his chest.

The world seemed to fall silent in that brief moment, leaving only the heavy breathing of the young boy.

He Ao slowly withdrew his hand and took a half step back, watching Serat.

"You cannot... stop... the Eternal Divine Nation..."

Blood spilled from Serat’s mouth, the dissipated energy finally destroying his body. His eyes bulged as he collapsed backward, falling beside the golden nine-ringed saber.

He Ao silently watched his body fall to the ground, observed his Soul gradually dissipate, and saw his body rapidly dissolve into the void of darkness.

Serat’s powers seemed closely aligned with the Eternal Radiance, which likely used the force of the Eternal Radiance to bind his existence to the church, ensuring that as long as the church stood, he would never die within its walls.

But now, upon his death, the Eternal Radiance began to take its toll.

He Ao calmly stepped over his gradually disintegrating corpse, pulled the sword from the ground, then lifted his head and looked around at the dark space surrounding him.

In his Spiritual Vision, countless scattered lights wandered wildly, like they had lost restraint, swirling amidst the darkness full of twisted luminance.

With the entire space shaking violently, phantoms of "rooms" appeared in He Ao’s view, the closest of which to him was the "gourmet room" filled with numerous "corpses".

At that moment, the room was shaking fiercely, gradually breaking apart, and the lean bodies hanging from the ceiling were also being devoured by the endless darkness.

Amidst the hazy phantoms in the darkness, those devoured corpses did not struggle but silently awaited the room’s destruction.

Perhaps sensing something, the corpses all turned at the same time, facing the direction where He Ao stood.

Their rotting, grimacing cheeks writhed as they slowly opened their mouths, moving up and down.

Without sound in the darkness, He Ao clearly read their lips.

’Thank you’

He Ao watched them and nodded to them gently.

He watched as the entire room broke apart, as the nooses around the corpses’ necks loosened one after another, with their liberated figures merging into the dim darkness.

And as this room vanished, one after another, more phantoms of rooms appeared, filling the infinite darkness.

Eventually, He Ao lowered his head, slid the knight’s sword back into its well-kept scabbard, then, dragging the golden greatsword, he walked towards the two coffins that had been moved.

This golden greatsword, formed by Serat’s own power, was also slowly dissolving following Serat’s death.

But perhaps because it was designed to be more solid and heavier to increase its quality, it was dissolving slowly.

He Ao placed the greatsword on his father’s coffin and dragged his father’s coffin from the edge of the platform to the very center.

He then dragged his mother’s coffin to the center of the platform as well.

Both coffins were near the edge of the platform, and with the platform "melting," the darkness was about to consume them.

Empowered, He Ao was quick, completing these actions in the blink of an eye.

Then, holding the golden greatsword, he turned and looked toward the man with glasses, lying not far from the center of the space.

At this moment, the man with glasses still tightly held the white Sun Crown, but it could no longer conjure even a momentary brilliance.

He was also wide-eyed, staring at He Ao.

Ever since he pierced Serat but did not harm He Ao, he had realized that it was all over.

He did not struggle to rise; instead, he watched He Ao and said hoarsely, "Kid, perhaps we could cooperate, you see, I helped you deal with Serat, we have a common enemy..."

He looked up and glanced at the red-haired woman, who still lay in her coffin, covering her throat, unable to speak, and his gaze hesitated momentarily.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The red-haired woman suddenly began to cough violently as if the force affecting her throat had been removed, and she took a few deep breaths.

She clung to the coffin that was starting to shake violently, leaped up, and jumped out.

The man with glasses turned his eyes back to He Ao, releasing his grip on the woman’s flying dagger, and an object resembling a phalange fossil appeared in his hand, "I can take you out of here, trust me..."

But He Ao just watched him calmly.

In fact, from the very beginning, he knew the man with glasses was feigning death.

While Serat might not accurately determine whether the man with glasses was alive or dead, it was not a problem for He Ao, who could see energy circuits and souls.

However, He Ao did not directly reveal that the man with glasses was feigning death; instead, he marked him.

After Super Memory was promoted to B rank, Mind Reading became more potent, so many thoughts flashing through the mind of the man feigning death were directly conveyed to He Ao’s mind.

Among these were the effects and abilities of the Corona of Radiance.

So, he deliberately drew Serat into close combat, creating the "opportunity" for the man with glasses to attempt a "double kill," then, during his hesitancy, used Ease Thought to modify his choice.

Afterward, He Ao used the power of the Corona of Radiance to destroy the twisted luminance that seemed to form the core of the church.

Of course, He Ao did not intend to share this with him, and instead, said softly, looking down, "My name is Yiluo."

The man with glasses paused, not understanding why He Ao brought this up.

Then his eyes swept over the two coffins on the ground, and remembering what He Ao had said before, he instantly realized something.

Following that, he heard He Ao say, "That eye-carved token you want, I know where it is."

In that instant, the man with glasses felt as if his heart, which had just been crushed by Serat, resumed beating in a flash.

A myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind, but he controlled his emotions and quickly said,

"Yiluo, I remember now, you’re the child of Novis?"

"What wooden token are you talking about? In fact, I am friends with your parents. We came here especially today because we learnt that your parents had been taken hostage by these heretic faithful, and we intended to bring your parents’ remains back home. We just didn’t expect to encounter you here."

"Kid, we’re on the same side."

As he finished speaking, he looked at He Ao with anticipation.

He Ao’s gaze remained fixed, watching him calmly.

He actually didn’t know what the people from the Eternal Ancient Teachings were looking for, but there weren’t many things that a cult would covet from the Novis family; the most related to the transcendents would probably be the wooden token that saved Yiluo’s life, concealing the Talent Sequences of the Secret Watcher.

Therefore, he directly mentioned the wooden token, feigning a bluff towards the bespectacled man.

Unexpectedly, his bluff directly coaxed out the object.

What the bespectacled man said wasn’t actually important; many of his thoughts had been conveyed back to He Ao through the ’mark’ placed on him.

This meant that when He Ao asked the question, he had already gained a lot of information.

Indeed, the emissary from the Eternal Ancient Teachings had come for the wooden token of the Secret Watcher. However, the bespectacled man didn’t know the use of the token; he only knew it was important, as the ’Leader’ of the Ancient Teachings had ordered him to retrieve it.

However, after the Super Memory advanced, the ’Ease Thought’ manipulation effect seemed even more subtle.

The bespectacled man, distracted by his severe injury, seemed not to realize that the decision he had just made did not stem from his own ’true heart’.

Of course, this might also be related to his own inclination towards ’direct’ attack at that time; Ease Thought had merely nudged him when he hesitated.

While He Ao was pondering, the bespectacled man was feeling uneasy under He Ao’s scrutinizing gaze. Just as he was about to speak again, He Ao squatted down and took the phalange fossil from his hand.

"How does this work?"

He looked at the man and quickly asked.

When he held the stone, he did not get the prompt of information about the transcendent object.

"This item belongs to our organization," the man force a laugh awkwardly, "and cannot be divulged. Moreover, only believers of the Eternal Radiance can use it, but I can lead you out, trust me."

He Ao glanced at him, then took the Corona of Radiance from his other hand, "This, for me?"

The bespectacled man realized that his previous answer made He Ao trust him a little less and his expression changed slightly. In the end, he nodded gently, "Yes."

He Ao looked up at him, surprised that he had agreed so readily, then nodded and gratefully said, "Thank you."

Then he turned around, no longer concerned with the bespectacled man, and moved to place the two coffins next to each other amidst the intense trembling.

The red-haired woman kept her head down, ’watching’ over the bespectacled man lying on the ground.

The bespectacled man watched He Ao’s retreating back, his gaze slightly narrowed.

Countless thoughts flickered through his mind.

He had realized that He Ao did not trust him. Despite his young age, the boy was not easy to deceive.

His gaze swept over the now completely white paper butterfly on He Ao’s shoulder.

That seemed to be the source of the ’power’ the boy was ’borrowing,’ which was now depleted. Moreover, the boy was probably not lightly injured, and as time passed, he would only grow weaker.

If he were the boy, he certainly wouldn’t bring along himself—a dangerous person who couldn’t be trusted—and instead, would do everything possible to extract the usage of the Knocking Stone.

No, if they could come in, they might already have another way out.

The red-haired woman was not strong, and his recent feigned weakness made them think he was very vulnerable now. If he acted fast enough, the red-haired woman would not have time to sound the alarm.

With thoughts flashing by like streaks of light, the bespectacled man slowly reached out and suddenly pulled out the golden spear that Serat had plunged into his body, which had not yet dissipated completely.

Better to strike first.

The golden spear was aimed straight at He Ao’s back.

And at that moment, the red-haired woman, who had been watching the bespectacled man, immediately opened her mouth to speak, "Hea—"

A brilliant flash of golden light streaked past.

He Ao turned around to look at the bespectacled man’s severed head flying through the air, then glanced at the blood streaming down the golden saber, and looked up at the red-haired woman who had opened her mouth but hadn’t finished her first syllable.

The red-haired woman watched He Ao with embarrassment, slowly closed her mouth, and then reached out to pick up her own black throwing knife from the ground.

Bang—

The bespectacled man’s head crashed to the ground, an expression of disbelief on his face, and rolled into the darkness.

Most of the energy gathering points on his body had been destroyed by Serat, with only the last one remaining on his neck, which He Ao severed with a single slash.

"Much appreciated."

He Ao raised his head to look at the red-haired woman, nodded slightly, then placed the golden saber back on the coffin and tore off strips from the bespectacled man’s clothes to create ties. He then turned his back, trying to bind the two coffins together.

The paper butterfly on his shoulder had turned completely white, its wings spread as if it had lost all enchantment.

As the wings of the paper butterfly unfurled, the aura emanating from He Ao also began to rapidly wane, withering away.

He reached out, attempting to tie the straps together, but as he pulled on them, he tilted forward and fell to the ground, his breath faltering and seemingly falling into a coma.

The redhead woman gazed blankly at this scene.

She watched He Ao and, after a short pause, looked up at the two coffins that were to be bound together.

She slowly raised the throwing knife in her hand.

The dark bracelet lit up the screen as she lifted her hand, and a ’note’ pinned to the homepage glowed above the bracelet,

[Two corpses, fifty million.]

Her gaze lingered for a moment, then she gripped the throwing knife in her hand and stepped toward the young boy lying on the ground, his body completely stained red with blood.

······

Bang—

The black metal throwing knife was slapped onto the coffin lid.

"Lena, oh Lena, you’re probably not cut out to be a mercenary in this lifetime,"

The redhead woman bent down, sighed, and with difficulty hoisted the young boy onto her back. She tore another piece from the bespectacled man’s clothing to wrap around her.

Then she reached out and tied the straps that He Ao had not yet fastened.

Next, she took out the disc with an indicator from her pocket.

She was about to turn the disc’s pointer when a weak voice slowly rose from behind her, "Don’t use that, you’ll die."

Her motion to turn the pointer paused slightly.

"You actually get contaminated entering the Inner Church. That disc won’t help you counteract the contamination. I can see that it seems to store the ’contamination’ in a strange way,"

the weak voice behind her continued, "If you turn the pointer back, the stored contamination will erupt instantly along with the new one. You’re not a follower of Eternal Radiance, so you won’t survive the onslaught of contamination."

"Then what should we..."

Lena was taken aback; she had no other way to leave this place.

"Use this."

A small hand covered in blood reached out from behind her, holding a phalange fossil that flickered with a faint golden light.

"Do you know how to use this?"

Lena was startled.

"Mhm."

He Ao raised his head calmly, gazing at the interwoven phantom shadows of the rooms above, their collapse seemingly slowed by some stabilizing mechanism.

When he inquired about the use of this object, the bespectacled man had already recalled the method of using this ’Knocking Stone’ once over.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a real ’Knocking Stone’, but rather a ’child’ copy created by the Eternal Ancient Teachings using the power of Eternal Radiance; hence He Ao hadn’t received information about the Transcendent artifact.

This ’child’ still had one use left and could traverse the Inner Church, bringing them back to the surface world.

The method of use was simple: just influence this Knocking Stone with a bit of power bestowed by Eternal Radiance.

It was akin to a special ’encryption’ that only followers of Eternal Radiance could use.

He Ao was not a follower of Eternal Radiance, but he had a way to obtain the power of ’Eternal Radiance’.

He looked up, watching those room phantom shadows whose collapse was being deliberately slowed down, holding the Knocking Stone in his hand, and slowly spoke,

"Atmolaya!"

Beyond the endless span of time and space, a vast and boundless gaze instantly swept across this dark region.

The child body of the Knocking Stone in He Ao’s palm burst forth with dazzling brilliance in an instant.

In the field of Spiritual Vision, the ’radiance’ wandering through the twisted patterns in the darkness, stimulated by this ’gaze’, suddenly surged violently.

The mechanisms ’maintaining’ the various ’rooms’ in the sky instantly collapsed, and room after room exploded like fireworks in the pitch-black space.

In this chaotic darkness, certain crimson phantoms hidden deep within those collapsing rooms seemed to be drawn out, rapidly converging in front of He Ao.

Then, the radiance entered the paper butterfly on He Ao’s shoulder, flowing naturally, like streaming light.

The Knocking Stone flashed with a golden glow, enveloping both individuals and the surrounding objects before vanishing into the rapidly fracturing darkness.