Chapter 124: The Great Reversal 1

Next came the brown saliva of the Cerberus.

Not only was the saliva of a Cerberus powerfully corrosive, it also contained an extremely potent poison. Several more materials were thrown into the brown liquid, one of which appeared to be the fang of some unknown beast.

Once the mixture was complete, the Cerberus saliva was spread across Kent’s body.

The instant it touched his skin, clouds of white smoke rose into the air.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The horrifying sound of flesh being corroded echoed through the chamber.

“AAAAAAARGH!”

Kent had known that the pain would be terrible.

But knowing it and actually enduring it were two entirely different things.

The moment the corrosive saliva began eating into his flesh, Kent screamed at the top of his lungs.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the venom contained in the saliva soon began to take effect. As the poison spread through his body, his senses gradually grew numb, and the agony faded.

But at that very moment, a beam of intertwined green and blue light rose from the altar and enveloped him completely.

Under the radiance of the magic array, Kent’s corroded flesh began regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Water magic was capable not only of healing wounds, but also of neutralizing poison.

And as the poison was purged from his body...

the pain returned.

“AAAAARGH!”

The process repeated itself again and again.

First came the dragon blood.

Then came the saliva of the Cerberus.

Strengthening.

Corrosion.

Healing.

And then destruction all over again.

As Kent’s body grew stronger with every cycle, even his blood was gradually being transformed.

That strengthened blood flowed continuously through his organs and brain, slowly reinforcing them from within as well.

There had even been moments when the flesh on Kent’s arms and thighs had been completely corroded away, leaving little more than bare bone behind.

Yet strangely enough, his internal organs and brain had never suffered any real damage.

Neither had his eyes.

At first, Kent continued screaming without pause.

But after countless rounds of torment, he no longer had enough strength even to cry out.

He could only hang helplessly in midair, allowing the mysterious being to do whatever it wished with his body.

At last, the mask-like face appeared again.

“Good. Your physical body has been strengthened sufficiently. Now we move on to the second-to-last step.”

Its voice rang through the chamber.

“Drink the angel blood in this bottle. It will strengthen your internal organs. Once your organs have been sufficiently reinforced, I can merge the Angel’s Heart with your own heart.

“When that is complete, the Body Tempering Technique will finally be finished.”

By this point, Kent had been lowered back onto the ground.

His entire body now possessed a faint metallic sheen. According to the mask-faced being, it would take several days for that appearance to fade.

But the result of the tempering was undeniable.

Even the extraordinarily corrosive saliva of the Cerberus could no longer damage his skin.

One could only imagine how formidable Kent’s physical defenses had become.

Although exhaustion weighed heavily upon him, Kent could feel an astonishing amount of strength surging through every muscle in his body.

He looked at the altar.

Then he looked down at his own clenched fist.

After a moment, he suddenly asked,

“With my current strength... could I smash through this floor with one punch?”

“Yes, you could. But I strongly advise you not to damage the floor, because—”

The mask-faced being’s voice sounded noticeably weary.

Bang!

Before it could finish, Kent slammed his fist down with all his strength.

Bang!

Another blow followed immediately.

“Go to hell, you bastard!”

Kent roared furiously as he continued hammering the altar with his fists.

“No! No! You damned fool! Stop! Stop immediately!”

A shrill, panicked scream suddenly rang through the chamber.

But it was already too late.

Kent had struck the altar several times, and cracks had begun spreading across the magic array engraved upon its surface.

Several of the intricate magical formations were already damaged.

Kent stopped at last.

A victorious grin slowly spread across his face.

“Hahaha! So that’s it.”

He stared toward the golden mist with undisguised triumph.

“I finally found your weakness.”

“Hahaha! You brought this on yourself!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kent was beside himself with excitement.

One punch after another crashed down onto the altar with tremendous force, sending chunks of stone flying in every direction. Each blow left a fist-sized crater in its surface.

And this was no ordinary altar.

It had been carved from top-grade obsidian.

An altar used for magical formations was much like a circuit board: it required a material capable of isolating magical energy while also withstanding the immense forces generated when the arrays were activated. For that reason, the entire altar had been fashioned from a single massive block of obsidian.

Yet this obsidian was unlike the dull black stone commonly seen elsewhere.

Its surface was deep black with a faint blue-green sheen, the unmistakable mark of the highest-quality obsidian.

According to the grading system used in alchemy, it was a Level Five material—the finest grade of obsidian available. Its hardness was already comparable to refined iron.

And yet Kent was now punching holes straight through it with his bare fists.

That alone was enough to show just how terrifyingly powerful his newly tempered body had become.

“You thought mages were nothing but helpless weaklings, didn’t you? I started suspecting you a long time ago!”

Bang!

Bang!

Kent cursed loudly as he continued hammering the altar.

Truthfully, he had simply been gambling with his life.

He had already resigned himself to death, so he had decided to risk everything on one final desperate move.

To his astonishment, he had guessed correctly.

Now that the tables had turned, Kent finally allowed himself to vent all the fear, anger, and frustration that had built up inside him.

“You... You knew this altar was so important to me?”

The mask-faced being’s expression twisted horribly.

“Did someone send you here specifically to deal with me?”

Its golden, mist-like body was beginning to change.

Originally, its entire form had been a uniform golden color. Now, however, countless tiny white specks had begun appearing across it.

“You told me yourself!”

Kent finally stopped smashing the altar and glared at the creature.

“Who the hell would send someone like me to deal with you? Look at your level, then look at mine! I only stumbled into this place because a two-headed Hellhound chased me until I had nowhere else to run!”

He snorted angrily.

“If I’d known you were hiding down here, I’d rather have stayed outside and fought that damned Hellhound to the death!”

Kent looked down at the altar, now covered in deep pits and shattered sections, and finally felt a measure of relief.

Repairing an altar damaged this badly would be no simple task.

He glanced around.

Every step he took left a clearly visible footprint in the stone beneath him. His body had been strengthened so dramatically that he had not yet adapted to his newfound strength.

After searching for a moment, Kent spotted Daphne lying beneath the shadow of the altar.

Her breathing was steady, and she appeared unharmed for the time being.

Kent carefully moved her to one side.

Then he turned back toward the mask-faced being and pointed straight at its barely visible nose.

He began cursing it at the top of his lungs.

The creature’s nose was little more than a vague outline, but Kent hardly cared.

His emotions had swung too violently in too short a time.

Only moments ago, he had been waiting to die.

Now, suddenly, he had survived.

There was no way he could keep all that pent-up emotion bottled inside.

The mask-faced being’s expression grew increasingly distorted.

Its soul had clearly suffered serious damage.

Most of the lower half of its body had already been consumed by the white points of light. Fine particles constantly flaked away from it, scattering downward like grains of sand and falling across the ruined altar.

With a hideous expression, it snarled,

“I told you? When did I ever tell you that?”

“Heh, heh.”

Kent gave it a sly grin.

Instead of answering, he pointed toward the small pile of precious materials that remained nearby.

“Why don’t you tell me something first? Where exactly did you take all those materials from?”

Kent’s eyes were practically glowing with greed.

There were far too many priceless treasures among those remaining materials.

If he did not find out where they had come from, he would never be able to forgive himself.

“I took them from my spatial ring.”

The mask-faced being was now so badly distorted that it barely resembled a face at all, and even its voice had become harsh and unpleasant.

“What? Do you want it too?”

“Heh, heh. I just want to take a look.”

Kent tried his best to sound innocent.

“You know how low my level is. When would someone like me ever get the chance to see treasures of this quality?”

But the instant he heard the words “spatial ring,” Kent nearly lost control of himself.

His heart began pounding so violently that it felt as though it might leap straight out of his chest.

Something suddenly dropped to the ground in front of Kent.

He bent down and picked it up.

It was a silver-white ring.

At first glance, it looked no different from the cheap silver rings sold in ordinary shops for two silver coins apiece.

Kent held it up, turning it over again and again between his fingers. After examining it for quite some time, he finally raised his head and asked suspiciously,

“This thing?”

The mask-faced being’s already distorted expression twisted even further when it heard him.

Unable to contain its contempt, it sneered,

“What would someone like you know? This ring was forged from Star Sand. The amount of Star Sand used to make this single ring would be enough to exchange for several hundred jin of adamantine.”

“Damn!”

Kent certainly knew what Star Sand was.

According to the knowledge stored in his mind, Star Sand was one of the materials used in the greatest quantities when constructing a City in the Sky.

But that only made him even more confused.

Was Star Sand really that valuable?

“Is Star Sand really worth that much?” Kent asked.

“Worth that much?”

The mask-faced being gave another mocking laugh.

“If even a tiny amount of Star Sand is smelted into a weapon, then no matter how worthless that weapon originally was, it can be transformed into what you would call a divine artifact.”

There was another sentence the creature did not bother saying aloud.

A divine artifact by the standards of you mortals, that is.

“I see...”

Kent nodded thoughtfully.

Then, without the slightest embarrassment, he slipped the ring away.

“I’ll study this thing for a while first. I’ll give it back to you in a few days.”

The mask-faced being stared at him.

Kent, however, acted as though nothing were wrong.

Then he looked directly at the creature and continued,

“As for why I said you were the one who revealed your own weakness to me...”

A sly smile appeared on his face.

“There are three reasons.”