The Last Gentleman
Chapter 539: 537: The Gap

As Little Grape’s main line of sight lingered on the "Plague Eye" on the forehead across from him, salivating with desire,

William focused his own eyes on Dugall’s lower half, which had been corrupted by the abyss leading to a chaotic split and mutation of internal organs that stuck together, along with various black tentacles wrapping around and piercing through— creating a part monstrous in nature.

It appeared chaotic, but under the influence of the dark, it formed an indescribable structure. Staring at it for a prolonged time might even allow one to discern a face within it, the true face of Dugall.

Rot and pain,

Suppuration and frenzy,

Long lost to oneself yet unaware.

"The innkeeper’s situation is similar, the lower body is completely anarchic... It seems that the Tenth Abyss here has a preference for tampering with individuals’ lower halves, hiss~ it’s quite uncomfortable."

Thinking of this and the Tenth Abyss he would soon delve into to uncover the root, William involuntarily felt a chill down there.

Just as William was distracted, a wave of mad gibberish spilled out from Dugall’s mouth.

All the plague in the Plague Bed area coalesced in front of him, structured and woven into a pair of floating "Plague Arms," with surfaces also entwined with tentacles symbolizing the abyss.

Dugall floated up, supported by spells,

He could control the enormous Plague Arms through thought, or manipulate them by waving his own arms,

However, these colossal arms did not immediately swing back towards William but chose to smash downwards with force!

Boom!

The seemingly sturdy ground was directly shattered by the punches, one would think it was shoddy workmanship... in fact, Dugall had intentionally constructed it that way to cope with such an emergent situation.

William spun around, intending to hold Thirteen in his arms, but was mercilessly rejected:

"Teacher, my body has been enhanced; as long as the height of an unobstructed fall doesn’t exceed 1000 meters, I won’t sustain any damage... How about I hold you instead?"

"Ah?"

Before William could react, two seemingly slender but actually strong and slightly stiff arms scooped him up horizontally.

After a fall of exactly five hundred meters, they landed steadily,

Pop! However, the sound of landing was peculiar, as if something had been stomped and burst.

The air dispersing in this underground cave was exceptionally intense and pungent, mixed with a sticky humidity that drilled into one’s nostrils. Even with the protection of a needle-stitched mask filter, it was still disgustingly unbearable.

Looking around,

This place was an underground rat nest filled with corpses of rats numbering over a hundred thousand, with vast amounts of green liquid flowing among them, creating small ponds in certain areas.

Dugall, who had landed elsewhere, had already pulled away to hundreds of meters out and begun to talk to himself:

"There are too many~ As descendants of rats, after contracting cancer, we can divide infinitely. Normal ratfolk often split once a week.

With the full city’s stimulation by Plague Rain reducing the cycle to three days, and rats associated with the Plague Bed under the catalyst of drugs, they could split once, even twice a day.

The walls were quickly filled, and the corpse grinding room of the Plague Bed reached its capacity too soon,

so I ordered the excavation of a huge cavern to store the surplus bodies. The excess waste from the Plague Bed was also discharged here, soaking and fermenting these corpses for future needs.

I never thought it would actually come to use..."

Dugall pressed his hands together, the floating Plague Arms nearby mimicking the gesture,

As he silently recited the ancient incantations, he pushed his palms downward!

As the enormous Plague Arms touched the ground... buzz! Green light illuminated the expansive underground cave, seemed to activate all the corpses as if the dark power hidden in the abyss below started to stir.

The corpses swiftly assembled and stitched together,

soon forming seven "Plague Giants" comprised of tens of thousands of bodies. Under the influence of the abyssal power, their heads became black tentacles,

The giants’ arms also transformed into tentacles, able to change length and whip or entangle.

They took advantage of the home field, drawing in the surrounding air for an "accelerated" effect. Their flesh, when damaged, could rapidly regenerate by absorbing corpses from around the cave.

Blocked by these seven giants standing before him, it was as if he faced an impenetrable living wall.

Dugall had transformed into a Plague Master, dragging his rotting, corrupted lower half as he floated behind, controlling his Plague Arms to ’dig’ through the corpses below.

Using the bodies as materials and combined with the Plague Secret Technique, he soon rolled out an extremely threatening Corpse Spear in his hands.

With "Plague Eye," he locked onto William, who stood still a few hundred meters away.

"Completely shocked by such a scene and unable to react? Then go die..."

The Corpse Spear, with its impressive length of ten meters, was thrown by the Plague Arm.

Hum! The moment it was thrown, it showed tendencies to break the sound barrier, aiming straight for William’s head.

"Teacher! This attack is different, be careful!"

Despite Thirteen’s concern, William simply lifted his arm, gently tugged at his somewhat loose glove, and indicated for her not to rush.

The moment the Corpse Spear neared, William quickly dodged while grabbing at it with his glove.

Snap!

He caught it firmly in his hand, in the middle of the spear, without missing a beat.

The plague attempting to corrode the glove on the surface of the Corpse Spear found it utterly useless. The glove contained elements of the Apostle Skin, which was not on the same level at all.

At that moment, the veins in William’s arm bulged as he squeezed hard.

Crack!

Pieces of rat spines scattered all over the ground as the Corpse Spear was crushed to bits.

This scene left Dugall completely stunned; he couldn’t understand why this happened, even after reconsidering the young man’s illness rank, yet the latter was indeed only Open Source.

"What’s the matter? Mister Dugall, who is on his Path, is this all you’ve got? If that’s the case, I don’t plan to play along any longer."

William officially unlocked his briefcase, his signature weapons now held in his left and right hands.

The appearance of the weapons brought a completely different atmosphere,

William no longer suppressed his emotions, letting the desire for slaughter release freely,

A primal sense of danger finally made Dugall come to his senses, and he realized that the young man before him had long exceeded the normal bounds of understanding.

"Who... what exactly are you?"

William took off his hood, leaned his gun-bearing left arm behind himself, and placed his axe-wielding right hand on his chest, giving a gentlemanly bow as he announced his name:

"Fear Circus - Chief Actor, William Behrens."

"Circus..."

The mention immediately made Dugall think of an Old World rumor, making his fur stand on end.

At the same time, he also made a decision... a decision from which there was no turning back.

His hands formed a strange lotus-like seal in front of him, as he closed his eyes and communicated with a black existence that had already taken root in the depths of his thoughts.

"I am willing to accept a deeper Abyssal Transformation, and forsake the physical essence of my ratman being."

The moment his words fell—crack!

The ratman’s body exploded at the middle, countless black tentacles crawling out from within the cavities, completely destroying his body structure and making it identical to his lower half.

Only his rat head remained unchanged, his body entirely transformed into a corrupted product.

Even the Plague Arms floating around underwent a transformation, turning black and elongate, each finger as flexible as tentacles,

The carcasses of cave rats underground were affected as well; each opened its mouth wide, protruding black tentacles symbolic of the Abyss that could restrict William’s movements as he passed by.

However,

Watching this unfold, William didn’t feel the slightest sense of crisis; instead, his eyes widened in excitement: "Huh!? This guy has signed some kind of pact with the Abyss, able to sacrifice himself for more power... interesting!"