Eldritch Horror Theatre

”Stubborn, but we have plenty of time. Eventually, you’ll realize what your true self really is.”

Fu Qian’s response didn’t keep Yasui Tokiyuki shocked for long.

”Of course, you can’t be your true self.”

A moment later, the man continued in a gentle tone.

”You’re quite clever, pointing out that Night Watcher’s identity.”

”I actually agree with what you said. In the future, Ye Island will settle into a different, delicate balance, and some invisible restrictions will dissipate along with it.”

”And to show my sincerity toward that future, it truly wouldn’t be appropriate for me to strike a Night Watcher. But what if I’m not the one doing the striking?”

”The art of finding balance lies in knowing where to draw the line.”

Before he even finished speaking, Yasui Tokiyuki reversed his grip on his Shortsword and swung it silently.

The half-collapsed mountain peak slowly sheared away with an ear-piercing grind.Shattered rock flew outward, instantly converging into a landslide that poured into the deep pit and sent up countless splashes of blood.

But in the blink of an eye, the blood was buried beneath the cascading earth and stone.

Less than a minute after appearing, the monster had been successfully buried alive.

”Your swordplay just now was incredibly exquisite, but I’ve always dabbled a bit in the Iai Technique myself.”

Facing Yasui Tokiyuki’s heaven-shaking strike, Fu Qian spoke slowly.

His tone made a sharp light flash in Yasui Tokiyuki’s eyes.

Under his gaze, Fu Qian pressed a hand to his chest. The Dark Red Bone Armor retracted, revealing a bizarre cavity.

Without hesitation, Fu Qian reached inside and pulled out an object.

Exquisite, slender, and entirely silver-white—it was the revolver named Mercy.

Since his clothes had been completely destroyed in the initial ice storm, he had stored all his Items directly inside his flesh.

With incomparable naturalness, Fu Qian aimed Mercy at Yasui Tokiyuki.

This is the Iai Technique you spoke of?

Although Yasui Tokiyuki didn’t speak, his confusion was almost audible.

Bang!

Fu Qian didn’t give him a chance to speak, pulling the trigger without hesitation.

Amid the gunfire, the bullet from Shangjing Chief Yuan Support whistled toward the newly advanced Tier 1.

This time, the protective turtle shell around Yasui Tokiyuki didn’t even appear. It was replaced by a dimensionless mirror of rippling water.

Yet when the bullet crafted from Transcendent materials struck it, it didn’t even cause a ripple, freezing completely in place.

”Your behavior is truly hard to understand.”

Easily defusing the attack, Yasui Tokiyuki sounded genuinely confused.

”You plan to deal with a Deity using this thing?”

”Or did you think a cheap parlor trick would actually work?”

A stream of light flashed across the mirror’s surface as he spoke, as though it were being flipped across dimensions.

With that, the bullet rebounded along its original path, its speed undiminished.

Accompanying it were three other gusts of invisible force.

”Using the gunshot as cover to launch a sneak attack with invisible bullets is a clever trick. But in the face of an absolute gap in power, petty tricks are meaningless.”

Yasui Tokiyuki snorted as he watched Fu Qian casually swat away the reflected attacks.

”If you had used the move you pulled on that serpent, it might have been a bit more interesting.”

...

So it really is just his Rank that increased? he thought. The power of the Air Bullet is still the same as before.

Not surprising. I felt it just now when he unleashed his ultimate move.

If those were truly the myriad tentacles of a Deity, that eight-headed serpent would have been reduced to dust at the very least, right?

Moreover, detached projectiles like these aren’t considered part of my own body, so they can’t carry the Chastisement effect.

Ignoring the mockery, Fu Qian silently analyzed the situation.

That was right—at this very moment, he was in the Pseudo-God Incarnation state.

Wearing the Witch-Bestowed Mask was, of course, not an act of self-deception.

Putting aside whether Nepheli had revealed his true Rank, Yasui Tokiyuki had clearly been spying on him for a while just now. How could he not know he was in the Demigod Realm?

In other words, if Yasui Tokiyuki didn’t know he was in the Demigod Realm, wouldn’t taking off the mask have been completely pointless?

Fu Qian wasn’t entirely certain whether Yasui Tokiyuki could see through the changes to his Rank beneath the mask.

But as a professional, he wasn’t about to pass up any possible advantage—such as an information gap.

This was also why Fu Qian had deliberately refrained from putting the mask back on while waiting in the living room for this man to show up.

The end result was that he had entered this place as someone in the Demigod Realm, and at the perfect moment, he had activated his Pseudo-God Incarnation.

And that perfect moment, of course, was the very second he walked in.

Killing had never been about relying on sudden bursts of power, but about leaving the enemy absolutely no chance of survival.

...

”So, are you planning to sprout eight heads too?”

With his ”sneak attack” seen through, Fu Qian didn’t continue shooting, speaking with a slow drawl instead.

”Me? Don’t be so impatient.”

Yasui Tokiyuki let out a sudden chuckle.

”The eight-headed one is already dead. How about nine tails instead?”

Before Yasui Tokiyuki even finished speaking, Fu Qian smelled a rich, sickly-sweet fragrance.

Looking up, he saw a snow-white Giant Egg pushing its way out of the wreckage of the mountain peak Yasui Tokiyuki had nearly sliced flat.

Within seconds, the Giant Egg was covered in a dense web of cracks, and a body stretched out from inside.

Looking closely, it appeared to be an overly slender fox, its long, boneless tails stretching out in midair like Ribbons.

They just keep coming.

Fu Qian wasn’t surprised by this. With an authority that materialized consensus, playing the role of a summoner was perfectly normal.

”Although it’s a bit lacking in power, it’s not without its uses.”

One of the fox’s tails stretched out in front of Yasui Tokiyuki. He reached out to stroke it gently at first, but the next moment, he raised his Shortsword and drove it straight down into the appendage.

Amid a shriek that mingled pain and pleasure, blood splattered. The fox rose fully to its feet, its bared fangs and the Shortsword impaled in its tail both aimed squarely at Fu Qian from afar.

Fu Qian shook his head and looked around.

Similar eggshells littered the area in every direction. A menagerie of grotesque creations was staring at him in unsettling unison.

...

”Well done!”

A short while later, watching Fu Qian casually yank a Shortsword from his own chest to pin the nine-tailed fox’s head to its tail, Yasui Tokiyuki let out a heartfelt gasp of admiration.

By now, there wasn’t a single patch of earth left in its original color where the two of them stood.

The unrestrained flow of foul blood, combined with the crimson moonlight, painted their surroundings into a veritable ghost realm.

A variety of massive corpses had piled up into a small mountain.

Of course, standing between him and Yasui Tokiyuki were even more living mountains, bristling with an array of divine weapons.

”Aren’t you being a bit too impatient, though? Trading blow for blow isn’t a good strategy. I told you, we have plenty of time.”

”Can’t be helped. Someone is on a tight schedule.”

Fu Qian replied casually to the taunt, raising his right hand high into the air.

Bathed in the crimson moonlight, a bizarrely shaped giant blade slowly took form.

Aimed directly at the still-struggling fox, the massive blade cleaved downward without the slightest hesitation.

However, the instant it touched the fox’s body, that terrifying strike—along with Fu Qian himself—vanished without a trace.