Volume 6 Chapter 169

Volume 6 + Chapter 169: The Netherworld Envoy

“What? Didn’t I just kill the Death Envoy?”

The inner demon Xia Yi was utterly baffled. She had distinctly felt the Holy Sword Gram’s special affinity strike true, one clean blow should have finished him. Yet why could she still hear the Death Envoy’s mad laughter?

Another thing gnawed at her attention. In the distance, a horse wreathed in ghostly green flames was charging straight for the Death Envoy’s fallen body.

The inner demon Xia Yi focused and saw that the massive warhorse was itself an undead creature, three times the size of an ordinary steed, with hollow, murky eyes, an incomplete black body that exposed bone in places, and white mane streaming amidst the spectral fire.

HIIIISSS…

The undead warhorse let out another piercing neigh, then leaped high into the air like a falling meteor, crashing down toward the inner demon Xia Yi’s head.

Instinctively sensing danger, she raised the Holy Sword to block.

BOOM!

The moment the warhorse struck the ground, it released an explosive surge of power into the earth, like a powerful bomb dropped into deep water. The ground shook violently, and ripples of force radiated outward from the epicenter.

The inner demon Xia Yi was thrown back by the blast; she drove the Holy Sword into the ground to brake, sliding a great distance before stopping. Her internal organs had shifted from the impact, had it not been for her dragon constitution, she would have been pulverized into meat paste on the spot.

“Ugh…!” Her hand gripping the Holy Sword trembled, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

She realized that this undead warhorse was no ordinary creature, far more terrifying than any Calamity Beast, by a wide margin.

The warhorse did not pursue her, however. Instead, it went to the Death Envoy’s corpse and lowered its head. Ghostly green flames flowed from its body and spread over the old man’s remains. In that fire, the Death Envoy slowly rose, his tattered robe burned away, his flesh consumed by the spectral flames, leaving only a skeleton.

“I am different from the Human Envoy, I cannot actively use my Mimetic Divine Authority. But that does not mean he is stronger than me. It is only because my Divine Authority far surpasses his that it cannot be used under normal circumstances.”

The Death Envoy stroked the warhorse, then mounted it. As though unsealing all his restraints, his skeletal frame was clad in jet-black armor, a cape billowing behind him, and ghostly green flames kindled across his body.

“When I die, my Mimetic Divine Authority activates. The warhorse that embodies the Mimetic Divine Authority of Death gallops forth from the Netherworld to greet my soul and allow me to transcend death, its name is the Netherworld Envoy.”

The Death Envoy and his steed seemed to become one, just as he had declared, Netherworld Return.

“Tch, that’s utterly shameless, how can you come back to life after dying?!” The inner demon Xia Yi clicked her tongue in disgust.

Now she understood: just as the Human Envoy had Heaven’s Fall as his ultimate trump card, the Death Envoy’s ace was his mount, the Netherworld Envoy, which was also his Mimetic Divine Authority incarnate.

“In this age, you are the very first to witness my true form. You may take pride in that alone.”

The Death Envoy raised his hand; the shattered fragments of his scythe flew into the air, spun around the Netherworld Envoy, and coalesced into a massive lance, which he grasped as his weapon.

Merely swinging that heavy lance stirred the air itself; every movement reshaped the terrain around him, radiating overwhelming pressure.

“To think that after so many eras, the Holy Sword would fall into the hands of a dragon. The sacred blade that symbolizes humanity’s glory, silver dragon, what schemes did you employ to claim it?”

“Schemes? Ridiculous. I have never needed any schemes with Gram.”

“I see, a true Holy Sword wielder. Then it is understandable that the Human Envoy fell to you. Before I could kill him myself, he ran into such a tough nut.”

“You fear the Holy Sword as well, don’t you?”

“Fear? Hahahaha, HAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA!”

The Death Envoy burst into laughter again, as if she had told a joke.

“Holy Sword wielder of the dragon kind, let me tell you a fact. In the Mythic Age, when I waged war across the land, I fought against a Holy Sword wielder! That generation’s Human King, even with his Holy Sword fully unleashed and fighting with all his might, was still crushed beneath my heel, trampled into the dust!”

“I shall…”

The flames upon the Death Envoy suddenly swelled. He pulled hard on the reins; the Netherworld Envoy reared up and howled at the heavens.

“…command death itself!”

The Netherworld Envoy’s iron hooves shattered the earth, and from the fissures erupted ghostly green flames that raced outward in lines, completely encircling the space, as if carving out a separate battlefield.

Within that arena, only the Death Envoy and the inner demon Xia Yi remained.

The Death Envoy spurred his steed into an unstoppable charge against the inner demon Xia Yi.

“Sever!”

Facing the onrushing Netherworld Envoy, the inner demon Xia Yi raised the Holy Sword and unleashed a blade aura, hoping to drive it back.

“Death Clones!”

Several ghostly green phantoms emerged from the Death Envoy’s body, charging ahead and colliding with the golden sword aura, intercepting her attack.

The Death Envoy swung his heavy lance with the force of a thousand jun, smashing down upon the inner demon Xia Yi’s small frame.

“Soul-Burying Spear!”

The inner demon Xia Yi attempted to counter with her draconic power, but to her shock, the moment she swung her sword, she could not control her own body. She could not even muster her strength.

BOOM!

Under the combined onslaught of the heavy lance and the Netherworld Envoy’s charge, she could not hold. Her arms went numb; her body was launched like a rubber ball and crashed heavily to the ground, her silver hair stained with blood.

“Perhaps you only defeated the Human Envoy by luck. I overestimated you, in the end, you are merely an opponent of this caliber.”

The Death Envoy sneered. His blow should have been enough to end this silver dragon’s life. Anyone struck by the Soul-Burying Spear, even if they did nothing, would be affected by the Mimetic Divine Authority of Death and hastened toward their end, playing dead was useless.

He prepared to ride the Netherworld Envoy away, heading to the Maginot Fortress to reap every life and Calamity Beast, then slay the Dragon Envoy on grounds of dereliction.

But just as the Netherworld Envoy turned, the Death Envoy’s body lurched, his black cape was severed in two and fell to the ground.

“It would be far too dull to fight an enemy who dies after a single cut.”

The inner demon Xia Yi had stubbornly risen again, gripping the Holy Sword once more. She spat out a mouthful of blood and wore a wild, crazed smile.

“You have wounded this body, and you have enraged me, Death Envoy. I admit, you are worth killing twice!!”

[Translator’s Note: Please join the Gravity Tales’ Discord Server, if you want to hang out.]

[https://ko-fi.com/golden_dragon]