High-speed... Regeneration!
Under the Withered Fruit State, Zoe's body was heading toward an irreversible death within these ninety seconds.
The slime core, which served as his life core, had completely dissolved into his entire body, leaving him with no hope of survival.
But because of this, Zoe had no weaknesses during this minute and a half. His entire body was his core.
In this state, as long as his mana was not depleted, [High-speed Regeneration] could continuously activate. Even if only a single fragment of his body remained, he would not die.
Right now, he had 24,000 mana remaining.
The body fragment closest to Jaden rapidly expanded and lunged at him.
Jaden's pupils contracted as he swung the remaining half of his knightly lance.
“Rose Flurry!”
Blood-red slashes swept toward the falling Zoe.
Zoe spat out a Dragon Flame Bullet, launching it at Jaden.
The red slashes clashed with the Dragon Flame Bullet, sending scorching dragon flames splattering in all directions.
Jaden retreated at extreme speed.
Zoe's body was also shredded into pieces, but the largest fragment rapidly regenerated, absorbing the corrosive gas that was accumulating in the air once again.
“Corrosive Gas Slash!”
Watching the approaching slash, Jaden raised his knightly lance.
“Rose Bud!”
The illusory red flower bud unfurled with the knightly lance at its center, shielding Jaden's body and blocking the Corrosive Gas Slash.
A small opening was sliced into the flower bud.
Zoe's slimy body slammed onto the illusory bud, his mucus seeping inward through the opening.
“Damn you, why won't you just die?!”
Jaden cursed furiously, slicing the parts of Zoe's body clinging to the outside of the illusory bud into fragments.
However, a tiny drop of slime—no larger than a fingernail—had already seeped inside the flower bud.
Without a second thought, Zoe abandoned the body outside and used that tiny drop of slime as his new core.
High-speed Regeneration!
The slime that had penetrated the defense proliferated frantically, wrapping around Jaden's arm as Zoe's mana depleted rapidly, falling below 20,000.
Devour!
His expanding body spread desperately, digesting Jaden's flesh.
“Rose Petal!”
Feeling his body being digested, Jaden swiftly activated the blossoming petals.
Countless flower petals sliced at Zoe, who was attached to his body.
These petals carried the power of withered annihilation. As long as they cut Zoe, that power would rapidly annihilate his body.
High-speed Regeneration!
Devour! Devour! Devour!
Digest! Digest! Digest!
[Skill Devour Lv4 (D-grade), Proficiency +10. Skill Devour Lv4 (D-grade) Proficiency is full. Promoted to Devour Lv5 (D-grade)]
[Devour Lv5 (D-grade) has affected your body: Constitution +3]
Zoe devoured and digested Jaden's body with everything he had. Under the ultimate talent amplification of his Withered Fruit State, he could perfectly execute the full effects of all his skills.
His body would annihilate, only to immediately regenerate again.
Lv5 [Devour] allowed him to freely manipulate his body to spread out and envelop things.
His mana was draining frantically. The body of a living High-tier Monster was simply too difficult to digest, restoring barely any mana.
After regenerating an untold number of times, his mana had plunged below 13,000.
“You... piece of trash!”
Jaden had never experienced such excruciating pain and utter humiliation in his entire life.
A whole layer of skin and flesh had been digested by Zoe, leaving raw muscles exposed directly to the air.
On his sole remaining arm, two fingers had also been completely digested.
Zoe could feel the soul power inside Jaden continuously merging, becoming increasingly stable and synchronized.
No matter how strong Evelyn was, she was still only a Mid-tier. The soul attack she had unleashed with everything she had couldn't delay him for very long.
The wound inflicted upon his soul had already begun to heal.
In Evelyn's current state, it was also impossible for her to execute that move a second time.
If Jaden were allowed to fully merge all the souls and completely master his High-tier strength...
Meanwhile, Zoe only had thirty seconds left of his Withered Fruit State.
Once those thirty seconds passed, he would rapidly weaken and then die.
If that was the case...
Dragon Body Fusion!
Zoe merged his body into Jaden's.
Jaden's face paled in horror.
“How is this possible?! How do you know this?! How could you possibly know this?!”
He had used this exact skill to fuse with the red dragon's egg, changing his class into a monster and collecting life force to promote. How could he not recognize this technique?
“Puji.”
[Why wouldn't I?]
With his talents amplified to the absolute limit, Zoe rapidly grasped the trick of [Dragon Body Fusion]. Little by little, his body merged into Jaden's, doing so even more easily than expected.
Not long ago, Jaden had severed the dragon corpse he had fused with from his body, which left a critical gap in his defenses.
It was precisely because of this that Zoe, now mastering [Dragon Body Fusion], was able to merge into Jaden's body with relative ease.
Having merged into Jaden's body, Zoe began to wreak havoc without a moment's hesitation.
Devour!
At maximum level, [Devour] did not just consume Jaden's flesh and blood from the inside out; it was also swallowing the soul power leaking from Jaden's soul wound.
“My soul power!”
Jaden gasped in horror. This was the source of his promotion to a High-tier, and he had yet to completely assimilate it.
If this power was absorbed, all of his efforts would go down the drain!
“You're insane! You haven't even reached the peak of Mid-tier! If you fuse with this soul power, your soul will be corrupted and collapse!”
Zoe did not care about any of that, devouring frantically.
As the soul power was drained by Zoe, Jaden's aura began to weaken.
He tore at his own body desperately, wanting to slice Zoe out of himself just like he had done with the dragon corpse.
However, Zoe possessed his own consciousness. His body was incredibly slippery, and he could regenerate continuously.
No matter how much of Zoe's body he sliced off, the slime fused within him still kept regenerating over and over.
“Stop! Stop absorbing it!”
Jaden shrieked in terror.
How could Zoe possibly let Jaden off? He desperately absorbed the soul power overflowing from Jaden's soul inside Jaden's body.
With Lv5 [Devour] pushed to its absolute limits under the ultimate talent amplification, Zoe's proficiency in [Dragon Body Fusion] skyrocketed. Within a few breaths, he had already accumulated 100 proficiency points.
[Skill Dragon Body Fusion Lv1 (B-grade) Proficiency is full, promoted to Dragon Body Fusion Lv2 (B-grade)]
At this moment, only ten seconds remained of Zoe's Withered Fruit State.
The crimson glow enveloping his entire body gradually dimmed, and the massive life force inside him was reduced to a flickering ember.
“Get out of me!”
Jaden felt Zoe's sudden weakness.
The [Canon of Withered Life] was a meditation method he had once acquired himself. Jaden was fully aware of its effects.
It burned one's life force in exchange for a fleeting moment of power.
As long as he forced Zoe out of his body, the slime would die on his own!
When that time came, the soul power Zoe had absorbed would naturally return to him.
“Get the hell out of me!!!”
Jaden mobilized every ounce of his power, pushing Zoe out of his body inch by inch.
Under this intense force, fresh blood sprayed from his every pore, quickly turning him into a blood-soaked figure.
Zoe could no longer hold out. His Dragon Body Fusion was peeled away bit by bit, and he was forcibly expelled from Jaden's body along with Jaden's blood and life force.
“Puji!”
I'll be taking that!
[Skill Precision Lv4 (E-grade) Proficiency +100. Skill Precision Lv4 (E-grade) Proficiency is full, promoted to Precision Lv5 (E-grade)]
[Skill Precision Lv5 (E-grade) has affected your body: Agility +1]
Under Lv5 [Precision], Zoe's movements and exactness were immensely corrected.
At this instant, he felt as if every single drop of slime throughout his body had ceased even the slightest tremor, entering a state of absolute stability.
He precisely locked onto the weakest part of Jaden's soul and activated Devour.
At the absolute final second before being completely expelled, he violently ripped away a chunk of Jaden's soul, swallowing and merging it into his own body.
At the same time, Jaden's aura as a High-tier Rose Knight weakened drastically, wavering as he plummeted back to Mid-tier.
“You bastard!!!”
Jaden roared in absolute fury. Staring at Zoe, who had just been ejected before him, he thrust his shattered knightly lance forward with everything he had.
Rate on N.U.
