The Record of Unusual Creatures

Chapter 1667: Face Plastering

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Time and time again, as long as there was a fight, Nangong Wuyue and Noobie would be able to tear the entire grim atmosphere down. The fact that the poking siren and the “biubiubiu-ing” Noobie just pulled down the severity of the matter by two notches, Hao Ren even started to wonder if the goddess of annihilation would recall those doppelgangers upon seeing how sorry the two of them were; but as things went, it was nonsense.

Aside from those two embarrassments and the weird atmosphere surrounding them, the entire ruins of the Star of Creation had pretty much been blown to kingdom come.

The guardian starships were exchanging salvos with the doppelganger starships while countless droid swarms clashed with other droid swarms. Hao Ren’s teammates were facing off against their own doppelgangers too. The goddess of creation, who was supposed to be the strongest fighting force on his side, was still weak from her awakening, so she was badly wounded by the counterattack. She could only use her divine powers to protect the continent, preventing it from being destroyed by the cannon fire and energy currents flying about. She was in no condition to take the offensive.

To be frank, retreating sounded like a good idea, but now that the entire battlefield had descended into absolute chaos, and the overwhelming doppelgangers had everyone engaged. While the World Tree could forcefully extract Hao Ren and his team out (this would work even without the mark of resurrection), Salaman’s fleet, his droid swarm, and the goddess of creation herself could perish on the battlefield.

Hao Ren’s mind went on overdrive as he tried to figure out a way to break this stalemate as he used Godslayer and his pistol to support his comrades who were faltering in combat. Suddenly, he noticed a key question.

“Eh, where’s my doppelganger?”

Every ally on the battlefield was engaged in a fight again their own doppelganger. Even Noobie had a target to shoot with. But Hao Ren only realized that after spending a good time running about helping others, he did not have a doppelganger.

Lil Pea did not have one too.

Perhaps he could reconcile this with his special position as a pope, but what about Lil Pea?

Yet, Hao Ren did not have the luxury to slowly ponder things out as a bone-chilling aura suddenly locked upon him. Looking up against his tense body, his eyes met the pale goddess.

The latter showed an expression of slight amusement before letting out a chilly smile. “Interesting… You are an interesting fellow. Seems like all these toys won’t work with you. Time for me to assume direct control of the matter then…”

As she finished, the pale silhouette disappeared into thin air. Hao Ren totally could not track or lock on to her aura, and he could only assume a parrying stance by instinct to protect his side, and just as the sword got into position, a terrifying energy slammed against him. It was like being smashed directly by a charging Lily, and he was sent flying!

But just as he flew out, Hao Ren’s mental faculties were more alert than ever, and his mental training had finally paid off as he quickly realized something:

He had used his own strength to block off the evil goddess’ attack, and the divine shield did not even trigger.

Seems like that evil goddess’ power had… somehow weakened?

He swiftly recovered before landing and while it may not look the most elegant, he at least landed on two feet, and the pale silhouette reappeared not too far away, before disappearing again.

Another attack soon came crashing against him, and within it was a corrosive energy attack. Hao Ren was sent about a dozen steps backward by the attack, and before he could recover, another flash blasted out beside him as a follow-up attack came!

“Bloody hell you aren’t following the script at all!” Hao Ren was in a sorry state but he still managed to ward off the third attack. He even had the time to yell out in anger. “Don’t you evil bosses spend two minutes blabbing nonsense before attacking!”

The answer to this question was an exploding energy orb. *Kaboom!*

The goddess of annihilation’s attack was relentless, unwavering and without any restraint. Hao Ren even heard the former’s voice ringing in his head, her voice seething with contempt. “Ah, I heard of those fools you’ve mentioned…”

*Kaboom!*

“They would always like to waste time and energy facing a weaker foe, just to gloat about their strength, and to belittle the opponent.”

*Kaboom!*

“But many times, this foolish action means variables. And I hate variables.”

“Kaboom!*

“You are an interesting person. Yes, enough to pique my interest… but I feel that…”

*Kaboom!*

“Killing you at the first opportunity, totally annihilating you, crushing your spirit, destroying your resurrection methods, sweeping aside your comrades, locking down your reinforcements, removing all variables, this is the most effective way. I hate variables, and I hate my foes making a comeback. I hate heroes resurrecting, and I hate people inheriting a great cause or ways to get stronger. So unfortunately, I cannot fully enjoy studying your secrets.”

In the last attack, Hao Ren was almost blasted away. He was blackened by the blast and his steel membrane shield was almost depleted. Even the Godslayer did not utter a word at all before he went, “I feel like things are looking quite bad.”

And the pale silhouette once again appeared not too far away. Jer hair was not even messed up.

Yet, Hao Ren smiled. It was a genuine smile. “I noticed two things.”

“Hmm?” The evil goddess who bore a similar face to the goddess of creation titled her head as she stopped her attack, seemingly giving Hao Ren some face to speak.

“First, you’ve produced a lot of nonsensical blabbering and flourish, but you won’t admit it yourself,” Hao Ren said as he tried to move his body, the biting pain caused him to hiss. Surprisingly, all these wounds were merely flesh wounds. “Secondly… you are getting weaker, eh?”

The goddess of annihilation did not respond, and only let out a contemptuous smile, seemingly acknowledging the fact.

“Regardless, you are still a being of the same level as the goddess of creation. Even if you’ve recovered much better from your slumber, you will not be able to overrun us directly. So that’s why you’ve summoned so many doppelgangers to fight us.”

Hao Ren took a deep breath as he got there, before silently keeping his pistol back into his dimensional pocket. The battle prior had proved that if he cannot hit the target, his attacks would be pointless no matter how strong was it. And with the goddess of annihilation having an almost prophetic level of precognition and teleportation, the pistol was of little help.

“The doppelgangers are intimidating, but clearly they cannot be relied on to instantly overwhelm everyone here, it will instead by a battle of attrition. This clearly contradicts the ‘efficiency’ you are talking about. There is only one reason: you do not have the ability to wipe everyone out in an instant.” Hao Ren looked at the goddess of annihilation as his damaged body was slowly being restored. “And these doppelgangers seemed to have taken much out of you. Your attacks were much weaker than before.”

“So what of it.” The pale evil goddess was impassive. “You think you are capable of taking me on now?”

“Since you don’t have unlimited energy, means you are a foe that can be slowly chipped away. What is there to fear?” Hao Ren gave a faint smile. “The moment your HP bar starts flashing, that will be the deciding point of this battle!”

The goddess of annihilation did not know what an HP bar meant, and against Hao Ren’s rambling, her answer was a teleport plus leaping slash.

Just as the pale silhouette disappeared, Hao Ren tensed up his entire nervous system. His dimensional pocket was already open, and in his hand, a shimmering metal chain that extended from the pocket.

The experience of being blasted away almost a dozen time seemed to have paid off as with almost intuitive reflex, Hao Ren swung his left hand in a direction, without even looking. An unusually-thick, metal-lined, eight-pointed chained scripture swung out with a sharp shriek. The goddess of annihilation appeared right in the spot he had swung his hand to, almost as if on purpose. For her efforts, the almost diabolic holy scripture plastered her face entirely!

A loud thud rang out as a blinding light orb exploded at the place where the holy scripture and the enemy made contact. Hao Ren felt that a wave of power that he totally did not comprehend was being released, and while its strength was just about normal, there was a ‘force’ that could not be mitigated, defended or avoided. And the seemingly invincible goddess of annihilation was sent flying after eating a face full of an unspectacular book strike!

Not only was she sent flying, but the attack also sent her reeling as her body dug an entire trench across the ground. And by the time she got up her entire aura had diminished as the mysterious energy from the scripture was still afflicting her as it gnawed away at her strength.

“Impossible!” The once haughty evil goddess had finally lost her composure. “What is that thing!”

Hao Ren held on to the chain as he brandished the holy scripture menacingly, “This is called ‘Mother’s Love’, and it is specially tailored for you. This mother may not even be your real mother, but the effect is all the same.”

“Gibberish!” The goddess of annihilation clearly had no idea what Hao Ren was on about, but she could feel that she was being taunted, badly. In her rage, she swept up a pale storm and charged towards Hao Ren like a tornado.

Hao Ren’s response was to launch the edged tome like a meteor hammer. “Embrace your stepmom’s love!”