Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 903 "Skipping Class"

Boom—!

In an instant, sharp white frost spears and orange flames burst forth from Xin Lailai's body. Her health bar suddenly went black, but then returned to its full brightness red in the next instant.

"Hmm? So he survived thanks to the power of the King Fire?"

A slightly surprised murmur arose from the woman at the far end of the path, who exclaimed in surprise, but then scoffed with a voice full of arrogance and disdain:

"Heh, I thought something gave you that gave you confidence, you fool. You don't actually think that by cowering under the flames you can escape from my kingdom, do you?"

"Too much nonsense."

Faced with the melodious whispers that had been heard but not seen, Xin Lailai simply glanced at the passageway shrouded in white mist in front of her, adjusted all three uses of the Element Bottle to 'Blue Bottle', took out an exquisite iron longbow, drew the bow, and aimed at the exit of the passageway.

Although he didn't know exactly what the "Kingdom of the Dead" and "Mother of Birth" mentioned in the blessing interface meant, those two moments had confirmed three things for him:

1. The opponent is most likely sealed or restrained in the room in front, and is in a state of complete immobility. The source of the sealing power is most likely the fire behind them.

2. The other party was extremely eager for them to enter the room, and even though they had just taken a nap by the campfire, their patience had run out, and they couldn't wait to lure them in using the same method as before.

3. The opponent's strength is extremely terrifying, even more outrageous than the poisonous dragon outside the fortress. They are definitely not an enemy they can face head-on, and theoretically there is no need to waste words with them at all.

Combining these three points, and considering that 'ashes' that have been through fire are not afraid of death under normal circumstances, the opponent's plan is already quite obvious.

"You've been waiting so long for your host, but you still can't get to eat. Does that make you that anxious?"

The calm voice fell, causing the surrounding white mist to pause for a moment, followed by a sound tinged with surprise:
"Heh, interesting. Are there still some ashes that haven't been blinded by Wang Huo?"

"However, even if I let you know, what difference would it make? Ashes, you have entered my kingdom. You have no choice but to submit!"

call out--! !

Faced with the other party's threatening words, Xin Lailai simply released the bowstring that had been drawn to its limit with a blank expression, watching the arrow disappear into the white mist as it pierced the air, interrupting the whispers in her mind.

Ding~!

The next second, a slightly loud clanging sound of metal striking metal rang out, and Xin Lailai, upon hearing the sound, shifted her gaze slightly and fired several more arrows in other directions.

Ding, ding, ding—!

Several thuds of arrows striking hard objects followed, causing the voice deep within the white mist to pause for a moment before chuckling:
"Heh, Ashes One, don't you think that standing there can cause any harm..."

"Is this here?"

A slightly abrupt murmur fell, and before the campfire, Xin Lailai, who had wasted several arrows, muttered to herself as if she hadn't heard him. Suddenly, she raised her longbow, and her magical power surged forth, condensing into a simple crystal arrow on the bowstring. Then...

Boom—!

The sound of arrows piercing the air rang out again, and the crystal arrow, which had consumed nearly half of its mana, flew out from the vibrating bowstring and disappeared into the white mist with a thud.

puff!
The next second, a sound unlike the previous ones of flesh being pierced rang out, causing the whisper in her mind to pause in surprise. It was clear that she hadn't expected Xin Lailai to be able to accurately locate her position despite the great distance and the obstruction of the fog.

"Um?!"

A soft murmur, tinged with surprise, faded away. Xin Lailai, standing before the campfire, seemed to have completely ignored the other's words. With an indifferent expression, she drew her longbow again. The mana within her body, amidst the rapidly decreasing green stamina and blue mana bars, once more gathered in her hand, transforming into a new crystal arrow.

Boom—!

The sound of arrows piercing the air rang out once more, disappearing into the depths of the white mist along almost the same trajectory as before. This time, the voice deep within the mist seemed to chuckle as if amused:

"Pfft, I thought you had some ulterior motive, but in the end, this is just such a weak and feeble resistance?"

The sarcastic words fell, but Xin Lailai seemed to have completely ignored what the other person was saying. She took out the Element Bottle, drank it all in one gulp, and then…

Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!

In an instant, the continuous sound of bows being drawn echoed from the sealed chamber. In front of the passage, Xin Lailai, having found the right angle, seemed to have suddenly become a tireless machine, repeating the cycle of drawing the bow, drinking the medicine, and sitting by the fire again and again.

Upon seeing this, the Mother of Birth, located at the end of the white mist, let out an even more disdainful sneer.

"Heh, how foolish! Do you really think that you can use the power of the King's Fire at will?"

There is nothing truly eternal and immortal in this world. Frequent use of the power of the King's Fire will only accelerate the wear and tear on one's own will.

Over the long years, as the Mother of Birth, she had witnessed countless pitiful creatures who thought they could use the power of the King's Fire without restraint, only to unknowingly lose themselves in the end. In her eyes, Xin Lailai's current actions were simply accelerating the demise of her own will.

"Fine, since you're so eager to rebel, then let me show you just how powerless your strength and will are before the might of the gods!"

Crash——!!

As soon as the words fell, the surrounding white mist surged toward the end of the passage, transforming into solid ice walls that blocked the path of the crystal arrows amidst the mocking laughter of the Mother of Birth.

Ding--! !

The next second, the translucent arrow collided heavily with the ice wall, blasting a gap about the size of a baby's fist into it. But in the next instant, these gaps reassembled under the surge of white mist.

"Heh, do you see? This is the difference between you and me. The wounds you inflicted with all your might are nothing but a speck of dust to me..."

Boom—!

The disdainful jeers fell, and in response was yet another crystal arrow, followed by Xinlai, who sat back down near the campfire to recover her mana.

"..."

"Ha, very well. Since you want to try, then let you fully experience the power gap between you and me."

After being silenced for a few seconds by Xin Lailai's actions, the Mother of Birth sneered, threw down a sentence, and then ignored Xin Lailai in front of the campfire, letting her repeat this meaningless action.

Ten arrows... twenty arrows... thirty arrows... forty arrows...

One minute... ten minutes... twenty minutes... thirty minutes...

Time passed slowly, and as Xin Lailai repeated the ritual, the white mist in the passageway began to thin, and the expression of the Mother of Birth subtly changed.
How can it be? !
Normally, let alone thirty minutes, even a dozen or so times of sitting on fire in one go should cause noticeable wear and tear on the will of an ordinary ashes, but now...

Boom—!

The sound of arrows piercing the air continued from beneath the secret chamber. Xin Lailai, like a tireless machine, frantically repeated the same actions, until she fired her four hundredth arrow:
Click!

With a crisp shattering sound, the last face, too, shattered under Xin Lailai's relentless, persistent grinding, completely revealing the appearance of the Mother of Birth behind her:
ugly.

This was the first impression it gave. Looking around, one saw a hideous creature, over six meters tall, its face severely rotten and peeling away, its flesh covered in countless festering pustules, bound tightly by jet-black chains. Its white eyes reflected Xin Lailai's image, and it screamed in a hysterical, piercing voice:

"impossible!!!"

"It's just ashes left after being scorched by the King's Fire, so why! Why could it withstand the power of the King's Fire so many times!!"

A piercing, mournful scream rang out from the two interconnected secret chambers. Upon hearing the sound, Xin Lailai, who was standing in front of the campfire, simply drew her longbow again with an expressionless face and aimed the crystal arrow, which she had forcibly produced with her mana, at the Mother of Birth, whose mana was almost depleted.

"Wait...wait a minute, Ash! We can talk!!"

"You have seen my power! I can guarantee that I will no longer devour your soul, and I will even lend you all my power, as long as you can help me leave this place. I swear in the name of my birth that I will absolutely…!"

Boom—!

Before the Mother of Birth could finish speaking, the sound of an arrow piercing the air exploded right in front of her face. Without hesitation, Xin Lailai released the bowstring and shot an arrow into her tongue, forcibly interrupting her words.

The second arrow, the third arrow, the fourth arrow...!
Black blood, reeking of decay, continued to drip down, and as Xin Lailai continued to shoot, the panic in the eyes of the Mother of Birth grew ever stronger.

"ash!!!"

"Do you really intend to do this?! My power, my wisdom, the secrets I know!"

"If you stop here, everything will be yours. I can even guarantee that if you assist me, I will reveal Wang Huo's greatest secret to you..."

The anxious shout subsided, and the Mother of Birth, bound by chains, stared intently at Xin Lailai, trying to find even the slightest hint of wavering on her face, but…

call out--! !

The arrow whistled through the air and landed precisely in the face of the Mother of Birth, interrupting her words and plunging her eyes into utter despair. As if in despair, she began to hurl a torrent of insults at Xin Lailai.

"ash!!!"

"I curse you! I curse you to be trapped in a cage of flames for all eternity!"

"I will plunge everything you desire into the deepest, most desperate darkness! I will..."

Hysterical curses and the whistling of arrows echoed from beneath the main hall and the secret chamber. As the arrows fell, the curses emanating from the Mother of Birth, deep within the hall, grew fainter and fainter, until finally—

"Ah... I... I'm not reconciled! It's... this is how it happened..."

call out--! !

The sound of something tearing through the air, signifying the end of a powerful monster, abruptly silenced the curses filled with resentment and bitterness. As the Mother of Birth dwindled to her last bit of health, her entire body exploded with a whoosh, pustules, rotten flesh, and bloody remnants filling half the hall.

[You have defeated the "Mother of Birth" and gained the "Approval of the King's Soul"]

[Due to the death of the "Mother of Birth," currently...]

【…】

【…】

[Because of the death of the "Mother of Birth," the "Kingdom of the Dead" is about to dissipate...]

Buzz, rumble—! !

A large amount of golden-red text appeared, and with the fall of the Mother of Birth, the entire hall and secret chamber began to shake violently. Xin Lailai's expression changed instantly. Without hesitation, she immediately touched the flame beside her. The next second—

Boom!

A tremendous roar subsided, followed by an intense feeling of weightlessness. Almost the instant Xin Lailai touched the campfire, the gravity in the entire chamber and hall seemed to suddenly malfunction. From the floor to the shattered remains of the Mother of Birth... and then to Xin Lailai herself, everything began to fall uncontrollably towards the ceiling, and finally...

Boom! ! !
A massive amount of gray mist surged out, abruptly stopping the violent shaking that seemed to turn the entire world upside down. It took a long time before Xin Lailai stood up from the ruins of rubble and fell silent as she looked at the completely upside-down hall before her.

[With the death of the "Mother of Birth," order has been restored in the current area.]

Very well, now he finally understood why they encountered the Mother of Birth, an absurd boss who clearly shouldn't be here, even though they were heading towards the top of the fortress.

—So from the moment they crawled out of the sewers, they had been unconsciously venturing deeper and deeper into the underground of the entire Frankish fortress, and even made their way to the gates of this super BOSS!

"Hmm, if you think about it carefully, it seems like it's all your fault for picking the lock, Lai Lai..."

"How was I supposed to know that door was designed to prevent people from accidentally entering the BOSS area..."

Xin Lailai muttered to herself, then looked up at the campfire still burning slowly above her, her expression twitching slightly.

897 times.

In order to whittle down Mother of Birth, with an extra mana bar from three Elemental Flasks, they sat on fire 897 times and fired a total of 3592 Crystal Arrows before finally depleting her health without even seeing her health bar.

Not counting the 400 arrows used to deplete the opponent's mana bar, a closer look reveals that each arrow deals less than 0.031% of the opponent's health as damage. Assuming the opponent has 10000 health, that's equivalent to just over 3 points of damage per arrow.

It's fortunate that boss-level units like Mother of Birth only recover their status once when the ashes in the area trigger a 'resurrection' or 'sit on fire' effect. Otherwise, given Mother of Birth's health and mana, they probably wouldn't be able to kill her even if they spent their whole lives grinding her down.

"Speaking of which, Lai Lai, that ugly guy didn't seem to lose any soul points at all, did he?"

"Huh? It really is? Tsk, could it be that after defeating such a huge boss, there wasn't even a single reward..."

Inside the soul space, Ling Yuzi was muttering to himself as he flipped through the history prompts on the blessing interface. Upon hearing this, Xin Lailai suddenly realized that they hadn't gained anything at all. Just as she was about to make a few complaints, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in her field of vision.

Hmm? That's...

"Holy crap, is this for real?!"

Upon seeing this, Xin Lailai subconsciously raised her head, and the next second, her eyes widened in shock, not for any other reason than—

[The "Mother of Birth" has been defeated, gaining 4800000 Soul Points (3200000 + 1600000)!]

Om-! !

The next second, a surge of soul points, like a tsunami, crashed down, engulfing Xin Lailai's unusually bright gaze amidst an overwhelming sense of happiness.

This wave... has taken off!!!

……

(End of this chapter)