Brain bloom

The nine different... ugly and bizarre things had a tremendous impact on her mind.

"Who made this thing? I must kill him. He shouldn't exist in this world."

Sen gritted his teeth and moved forward once again.

Escaping wouldn't help with reality; let the power of the first Pope purify these things, that way she could feel comfortable. Mori had only one unwavering thought in her mind: eliminate these things.

The light illuminated the nine monsters.

From left to right, these nine "things" stand silently in place.

The one on the far left is a monster with a head and lips.

As its name suggests, its entire body consists of only lips, except for a single, enormous eyeball. It's as if the upper lip of a Shi person, along with the surrounding skin and flesh, was cut off and then pieced together with the lower lip of another person to form a small part of it.

The lips on the lip monster's entire body are made up of these randomly pieced-together lips, probably numbering in the thousands.

But they are not lonely, because they are complemented by the eyeballs set in their "faces".

This thing was a humanoid monster about two meters tall. Mori couldn't imagine how many mouths had to be gouged out to create such a horrifying creature.

[Level 88 - The Mouth That Remains Silent]

This is its name, and its level makes Sen Shi's scalp tingle; this is no small matter.

But looking to the side, there were eight more similar monsters... eight!

"...Enough! Your existence is a mistake!"

Sen Shi, steeling herself, charged forward, skull in hand. Her instincts screamed a powerful plea: these monstrous things must find peace!

Sensing hostility or the power of the Holy Skull, the nine monsters finally snapped out of their daze and began to react.

They chose to flee.

They escaped using all sorts of disgusting methods of movement... and they were quite fast.

Mori was somewhat surprised; she hadn't expected such a decisive action. But something was also off. If he was afraid of her, or afraid of the First Pope's divine power, then why hadn't he moved before? Was he observing Mori's attitude?

They only ran away when she showed hostility...

But so what? She came here for only one purpose. Not to mention, these things are disgusting.

She chased after him, but not blindly. She had a plan: to smash one of the first pope's hand bones in front of him, thus blocking his path.

But before she could do so, all nine eyes opened simultaneously, peering intently into the forest. Then, they took countermeasures.

This is enough to prove that the other party has considerable intelligence.

The last lip monster suddenly stopped its rolling escape, kissing the ground, and stood alone in front of Mori.

This is a cannon fodder tactic—using cannon fodder to delay the enemy and buy time, a classic strategy. Mori couldn't help but sigh, realizing he had inexplicably become the target of this tactic…

In an attempt to stop Mori, the Lip Monster launched an attack.

All the lips on his body were stretched into a wide grin.

They weren't trying to make a sound, but rather to exhale wisps of ominous mist. It seemed thicker than the ominous mist they had encountered before, because it also carried a sour, foul odor.

If you were to take this lip monster and place it in any city on the surface, the sheer evil of the evil mist would surely cause devastating damage. Unfortunately, no matter what, it poses no threat to Mori.

The ominous mist was continuously exhaled, and then quickly merged into one. The mist solidified, transforming into the shape of a swordsman, looking quite impressive, robust and imposing.

[Level 88 - An Ancient Warrior That Was Manifested and Devoured]

Without a doubt, this was a powerful being that the Evil Mist had once devoured. Sen Shi could understand; making the appearance of a powerful being was far more efficient than letting a cloud of mist drift around aimlessly.

His superb swordsmanship, coupled with the deadly nature of the Evil Mist, would make it extremely difficult for anyone else to fight him. But Mori Toki was actually looking forward to encountering such an enemy.

She did nothing else but rush over with the skull in her arms.

The divine power overwhelmed the evil, and unsurprisingly, the evil mist was silently purified.

Mori inwardly praised the old man who had found her money, then turned her attention to the Lip Monster. The method was simple: attach the skull of the first Pope to the Lip Monster's body.

One after another, lips of bright red color, whether male or female, kissed the skull of the first pope fiercely.

These kisses of death continued to bloom, causing the monster's body to tremble violently before collapsing to the ground.

Immediately, its body lost its vitality.

Those lips were dry and cracked. In less than a second, they were all reduced to ashes, like books burned by a raging fire.

This was underground, and there was no wind. A thick layer of ash had piled up on the ground; this was their grave. For some reason, Sen felt that this place, after the evil had dissipated, was filled with an atmosphere of peace and tranquility…

"Thank goodness we won." She breathed a sigh of relief; everything had gone relatively smoothly.

However, the experience points did not increase.

Volume 1 #239 · Chopping vegetables and cutting melons is so much fun

Mori's face darkened. He had thought that after defeating this guy, he would at least level up by one or two...

But the result was wrong, which meant that either the monster itself had no experience points, or it wasn't quite dead yet.

Clearly, the latter is more likely. This monster isn't a summoned minion, but a separate, well-formed entity. Sen Shi couldn't help but look around, trying to figure out what went wrong.

All around was quiet—

Suddenly, the holy skull in her hand seemed to have gained its own will and trembled violently.

Mori was distracted at the time and let go of the skull. The first pope's skull fell to the ground without much cushioning, immediately sending up a cloud of ashes. She was feeling sorry for the believer and praying that it wouldn't be damaged, but when her gaze swept over it, her expression immediately brightened.

Because Mori noticed that there was something still existing in the ashes.

It's that eyeball.

It was intact, not killed by the divine power. Instead, it still stared wide-eyed at Sen Shi.

Looking at this thing, Mori's lips curled into a slight smile. Even if she were in Yuan's shoes, she would know that this thing was the key. Perhaps it was something like a core component, but in any case, it had to die.

What happened next was simple: the eyeballs couldn't move, and the person seemed anxious and agitated. Many dark circles appeared in the whites of their eyes, but they couldn't do anything.

It witnessed the entire process—its own death. The process by which Mori gave it its death was quite simple: he simply picked up the Pope's hand bone and pierced it with the sharp middle finger bone, nothing more.

The eyeball finally turned to ashes.

Sen let out a long sigh of relief; this time, she could truly relax. Subtle changes had occurred in her body. Her body was more agile, stronger, and more energetic; even her mental capacity had expanded slightly.

This is the feeling brought about by the upgrade, but unfortunately there is only a level 1 change.

Once you reach level 40 or higher, killing these powerful enemies beyond your level won't give you the same thrill of instantly gaining several levels, which is a bit of a shame. So, let's just make up for it with quantity.

"Thanks, my Pope." Sen Shi praised it, then picked up the skull and carefully wiped the dust off it.

It revealed the key to Sen Shi—this doesn't seem like a coincidence.

The first Pope was indeed not so simple, but Mori didn't have time to ponder it. After all, bones really couldn't talk, and they posed no danger to Mori. And so, Mori silently arranged his schedule.

I thought that once this matter was completely over, I would go to the Kingdom of the Holy Coffin to investigate it thoroughly.

Right now, leveling up is more important. She tightened her boots, which were gradually fitting her feet and becoming more comfortable. Then, with her high agility boost, she dashed forward like the wind.

Those guys won't get far.

Just a few dozen seconds later, Sen Shi saw another monster break away from the group and bravely try to stop him.

[Level 89 - An Ear That Only Knows How to Listen]

Just like the name box Mori saw, this guy was even stronger, and the visual impact was still strong. His entire body was pieced together from the ears of different people, except for the huge eyeball in the middle.

The thick blood vessels covering his eyes were undoubtedly a sign of anger.

Meanwhile, the ears on the monster's body were brewing some kind of attack; judging from the scale of the surrounding spiritual energy, it was a powerful technique befitting the monster's level. But this time, Sen Shi had learned his lesson and didn't give it any time.

Her staff was faster, becoming her starting weapon.

With a brief incantation, an intermediate spell was invoked.

Within the ice element, a powerful single-target spell: [Larger and Faster Ice Arrow].

This somewhat silly name clearly explains its effect: it's just an upgrade to the regular Ice Arrow spell. Although both the name and the effect reek of being perfunctory towards players, the skill's practicality is not bad.

At least in terms of speed and lethality, it is among the best of intermediate-level magic.

His mental energy rapidly transformed into ice, and this ice arrow, as big as half a person and as long as a person, froze the surrounding air before flying away with a "whoosh".

Mori was aiming for the eyeballs—

Sensing danger, the ear-shaped monster was forced to halt its attack. Its ears closed, protecting its eyeballs. It seemed quite composed; each ear piercing possessed a unique gravitational pull.

It actually stripped away the magical components, drawing them away bit by bit, causing the ice arrow to turn into a pile of ice shards...

It seems even advanced magic can be rendered ineffective in this way...

Its defensive measures are quite sophisticated, and those who only know magic would likely find it difficult to deal with. But Mori and the Holy Skull have already approached—and now, that's more reliable than magic.

The ear monster ultimately failed to change its fate, and before it could even display its offensive capabilities, it was purified into a pile of ashes.

And Mori Toki happily stomped on that eyeball and crushed it.

Sen didn't have time to check how much experience she had gained, because more experience packs were waiting ahead, and checking them all at once after finishing the battle would make her happier. At least, this trip was worthwhile.

Soon after—another monster was ordered to stop her.

[Level 90 - Unbendable Fingers]

This thing is even stranger; it's made up of individual fingers, but it's not human-shaped. If it were human-shaped, Mori would feel a bit more at ease...

This guy is very unpleasant.

It's like starting with one finger and sewing another person's finger vertically onto it, making a T shape. Then, you continue sewing other people's fingers onto that finger, eventually turning it into a swastika shape, with the eyeball embedded at the very top.

The battle remained uninteresting, a pure stomp.

But this time, Mori took some time to keep the eyeball in his hand.

Each time she finished one, her doubts deepened.

"Can you hear me? Is someone using your eye to observe me?"

"..."

"Who created these monsters? And what are you?"

"..."