Dark Moon Era

“Fatty, hold it!” Tang Ling yelled.

“What am I supposed to hold it with?!” Fat Finn ran out of tears to cry. Judging from his response, he knew how powerful the black-robed figure was.

Without saying anything, Tang Ling raised his hand and tossed the alloy longsword to Fat Finn. Since Tang Ling had recovered his belongings, he got hold of his own weapons.

The figure in the black robes was powerful, but a Grade A alloy longsword should be able to hold him back. After two close contacts with the black-robed figures, Tang Ling knew that the hand with the black glove was the most dangerous.

Fat Finn got hold of the alloy longsword. The moment he felt the weight of the sword, he knew it was a Grade A alloy weapon.

It seemed like he knew the figures better than Tang Ling did. When the black-robed figure jumped through the window and barged in, Fat Finn swung the sword towards the figure’s head without a second thought.

Bam!

A heavy thump sounded when the alloy sword made impact with the figure’s head. Taking the figure by surprise, the alloy longsword slashed the head, leaving a long cut on the neck. The cut started to bleed, but the blood looked like drying paint.

However, Tang Ling did not have the time to analyze why the figure’s blood looked like dry paint. With the Blood Bulrush Sword in his hand, he looked at Bick as if he was looking at his greatest enemy.

Bick had noticed the unusual condition of his stomach. He was as afraid as Tonnies, but it seemed like he understood things a little more than the dead Tonnies. After his initial terrified expression, he showed a bitter smile as if he had accepted his fate.

He said to Tang Ling quickly, “The church’s real name is the Fallen Start. The headquarters is located at No. 122, Aroma Tangerine Street. It’s located to the left of the castellan’s castle.”

As he spoke, something snapped on Bick’s body. Due to his ever-expanding stomach, the leather strap of his armor was torn by the enlargement.

Maybe because Bick’s condition agitated the black-robed figure, the latter squealed strangely, and as though he had shaken off the dizziness from the slash, he extended his strange hand with the black leather glove.

Fat Finn expected this, so he quickly landed a kick on the black-robed figure’s stomach and shouted, “Get the hell down, you b*stard!”

The figure had a tough body, especially his hand with the black glove. It was so strong that even Tang Ling’s Blood Bulrush Sword failed to chop it off in one slash.

However, it did not mean that the black-robed figure possessed outstanding strength, speed, or balance. Fat Finn kicked the figure down the window and posed cooly to Tang Ling. “Your lousy sword makes a rather useful tool at times like this.”

Tang Ling did not care about the fatty’s comment because Bick’s stomach had expanded to the point that it would burst any moment.

Bick knew his time was running out, so he yelled at Tang Ling, “It’s not ‘help’! It’s salvation! Tonnies must’ve been talking about salvation!”

Right after his voice subsided, Bick’s stomach exploded with a bloody cut in the shape of a cross.

The process was astonishingly fast. It happened within less than half a second. At the very next instant, a black figure jumped out from Bick’s exploded stomach with a sharp squeal as if it was calling out to something. It leaped towards Tang Ling.

Fortunately, Tang Ling was prepared for this. He dashed towards the black figure, and before the black figure could touch him, Tang Ling rammed into the black figure heavily.

The black figure was sent flying towards the south-east corner of the room by Tang Ling’s force and it crashed into an old rack. Tang Ling hurled his knife forward. As soon as the monster crashed into the rack, his knife pierced the monster’s body, pinning it down to the rack.

Everything happened in a flash, but it was a meticulously calculated process. From the moment the cross-shaped wound appeared on Bick’s stomach, Tang Ling had calculated how the monster would jump out based on the position of the wound.

Tang Ling also calculated his force. Because he knew where the monster would land, he hurled his knife out at the precise moment.

It was nothing special to Tang Ling who was used to fighting with Precise Instinct, but in Fat Finn’s eyes, it was impeccable! It was no longer a fight as it seemed like the monster played along with Tang Ling’s performance seamlessly.

The series of movements were enough to expose Tang Ling’s identity.

It was not that the other powerful geniuses could not respond so quickly, but no matter how fleeting their responses could be, they could never reach the level of Precise Instinct at which the fluidity of the movements had no delays or flaws.

However, it seemed like Fat Finn did not know about Precise Instinct, the talent that was the heated topic in recent days because of Tang Ling and Tang Long’s fight at Hell Ledge. He just gave Tang Ling a big thumbs up.

Tang Ling flatly sized Fat Finn up after the approval.

It was then that Bick clutched to the edge of Tang Ling’s clothes. Bick was in a similar condition to when Tonnies had been ripped open. His chest was heaving strongly and his hand that gripped Tang Ling’s clothes was trembling.

“Must…must go to the church. There…there’s se-” Bick failed to finish his words before he spat a mouthful of blood out and welcomed the end of his life.

Similar to Tonnies, his eyes were wide open, but judging from all the details and clues, Bick was not as persistent in his stand as Tonnies. He should have either known more than Tonnies or he must have experienced more, or was it something else entirely?

Tang Ling dared not skip to any conclusions because he had a feeling that Tonnies’ character was clouded in mystery.

With that in mind, Tang Ling walked to the old rack. The monster was still pinned to the rack. It was struggling fiercely and seemed like it had almost freed itself.

“They are coming in. What should we do?” Fat Finn had been paying attention to what was going on outside the window. His worried tone sounded a little distorted. Was it because of nervousness or fear?

“Don’t you get it? They aren’t here for us, but they won’t mind taking us out along the way.” Tang Ling was not nervous at all as he grabbed the struggling monster by its head.

The monster was as ugly as it could get! It was entirely black and, its head was huge like a deformed baby. On top of its big head were two bulging eyes and two holes that could not even form a nose. It had no mouth or the traditional limbs on its body which was similar to an arthropod’s with six wriggling appendages around it. The appendages were short but were sharp enough to cause damage.

The appendages were moving fiercely. They were a lot nimbler than an insect’s appendages as they tried to attack Tang Ling’s hand that was holding its head, but because of their length, they failed to touch Tang Ling.

As its appendages writhed around, it revealed its big mouth on its stomach that looked like a suction cup. Inside its mouth were rows of tiny teeth that looked like grains.

This monster was still in its infancy. If it grew bigger, Tang Ling believed the teeth would not be that kind anymore.

It’s hideous!

Tang Ling showed disgust in his gaze as he raised the Blood Bulrush Sword and wanted to end this monster’s life.

“Hold on!” Suddenly, Fat Finn ran over. Something had caught his attention, so he did not even care about the situation outside the window anymore.

“What?” Tang Ling actually had a rough idea what Fat Finn was trying to say.

“Can we share this? My main mission is to kill five of them. Then, at least, I can stay alive in the Dream Domain,” said Fat Finn bashfully.

It was Tang Ling’s spoil after all, and Fat Finn was crossing the line. Even in the world of the Dream Domain, the competition between Dream Seeds remained fierce, and if profits or interests were involved, killing each other was normal.

“Share?” Tang Ling raised a confused brow as new information popped into his mind.

‘You have discovered Demon Seeds by capturing one. Eliminate Demon Seeds: 0/50.

‘Another Dream Seed has suggested to share it. If you choose to share, your recovered strength will be halved.’

Is this also one of the chances for me to recover my strength?

After reading the information, Tang Ling knew what sharing meant. It actually had the same meaning as ‘offering’.

However, while the rules were fixed, people were not. One side must pay the price for sharing in order for the opposite party to agree.

Fat Finn was sleazy. Although he asked to share, he did not mention the price that he had to pay. As though embarrassed by Tang Ling’s gaze, he said, “If I get my belongings back, I can offer you something except for my weapons.”

Tang Ling did not comment on Fat Finn’s terms. After thinking for a second, he decided to not share it, thus he killed the so-called Demon Seed.

Fat Finn looked disappointed, but he could not be angry about Tang Ling refusing to share. The two of them had no contract to begin with, and Fat Finn’s promise was weightless. Who knew where his belongings were? Even if he wanted to ask Bick about it, he was too late.

In the next moment, Tang Ling said, “It’s not that I don’t want to share with you. I can help you to complete your main mission, but I have to kill this Demon Seed because of my own reasons.”

Indeed, Tang Ling had his own reasons. He wanted to calculate the difference in his recovery when he killed a Fallen Knight compared to killing a Demon Seed.

He had a risky plan in mind that he wanted to carry out next!

After he heard what Tang Ling said, Fat Finn’s disappointment faded and he looked at Tang Ling with slight gratitude. “Really?”

Tang Ling was rather speechless. This fatty did not look or sound like a Dream Seed at all! He might not even be on the same level as those young geniuses participating in the Hell Ledge Challenge. How had he been selected into the Dream Domain in the first place?

One thing worth noting was that the majority of the geniuses out there did not have the qualifications to enter the dream.