Chapter 124: Demigod Divinity

"You have successfully crafted and equipped the Heroic Soul Mask: Wine Sword Immortal Li Bai. Your soul pollution level has decreased by 1, and you have shifted slightly toward the Lawful Good alignment."

Whether it is a Persona Mask or a Heroic Soul Mask, wearing one always influences one's alignment. Previously, the 2 points of pollution brought on by the Nightmare and the Minotaur had been balanced out by Guan Yu and Li Bai.

However, Yan Luo immediately discovered that even after a strike comparable to a heavenly thunder purge, the Black Death floating in mid-air was not yet dead. Although its core—the skull—was covered in cracks, the soul fire burning within its eye sockets was merely dimming, on the verge of extinguishing.

"H-how is this possible..." The Black Death seemed shocked. However, it was not human, so Yan Luo could not harvest any intense emotions from it.

Having once instigated an extinction-level catastrophe, the Black Death had caused the loss of nearly one-third of Europe's population, catching a glimpse of divinity and nearly becoming a god of plague and death. After being sealed for over three hundred years, it had finally broken free and was prepared to wreak havoc in this world where mystical power was fading.

Yet, it had suffered a fatal blow.

Green Lotus Sword Song.

It was the strongest skill of the Wine Sword Immortal Li Bai, and it had been executed using a thousand-year-old lightning-struck peach wood sword, triggering the evil-repelling power of thunder and heavenly fire contained within the low-grade artifact.

"Impossible!"

"Awooooo..." The Black Death let out a howl that seemed to rise from the depths of hell.

"Life Devour!"

Visible white energy fluctuations erupted frantically from the evil spirit floating in mid-air. This was an atmospheric vortex triggered by the extreme manifestation of evil energy. A terrifying suction force centered on the entity surged outward in all directions!

The rushing white spiritual light of the evil energy created a gravitational vortex that blanketed a large area. Yan Luo realized with a jolt that his life force was being plundered! Massive amounts of vital essence were being sucked directly out through his pores, drawn into the airflow and converging toward the Black Death.

"This boss is truly formidable to have survived the Green Lotus Sword Song... And now, its ultimate move is to directly drain life force? It’s just like the Star Sucking Great Skill from the movie *Swordsman II*; it’s too bizarre!"

The suction of the Life Devour drained the life source of every living thing within range. Meanwhile, the gravitational effect of the atmospheric vortex made it impossible for anyone to escape, pulling them toward the center where the Black Death hovered.

Yan Luo struggled desperately to hold his ground, even as his life source plummeted. Fortunately, according to the system's character panel attributes, an ordinary person has only one bar of life. Yan Luo, possessing Intermediate Life status, had ten bars—ten times that of an average person!

Using the Li Bai avatar had consumed quite a bit, but his remaining vitality still far exceeded that of a normal person, allowing him to hold on.

Others were not so lucky. Brenda, Catherine, and Jessica were already severely wounded. Now that the Black Death had activated an indiscriminate AOE "map-wide" ultimate, the evil energy was harvesting every living body in the square!

Yan Luo watched as the delicate skin of the three women lost its luster, shriveling and turning gaunt. Brenda, a revenant who relied on drinking blood and consuming flesh to maintain a human-like form, found that she could no longer retain the vital energy within her body as it was sucked away by the boss.

"How can this be? Help me, help me..."

For women, perhaps appearance is more important than life itself. Seeing their arms thinning and feeling their bodies turn into skeletal frames covered only by skin, all three women fell into hysterical terror and madness.

You have sensed intense emotions:
Shock +6
Fear +7
Madness +8
...

Yan Luo still had one trump card: the newly synthesized minion, the Dark Spawn. But his life source was being drained, and he could not maintain the use of a Persona Mask.

"What should I do?"

If it were any other modifier, the boss surviving such an attack and then unleashing an ultimate would have left them mentally shattered, much like a non-swimmer drowning in the ocean—lost and overwhelmed. But Yan Luo remained calm, searching for a solution.

He noticed that at the center of the evil gravitational vortex, the Black Death’s skull was riddled with cracks.

"That is... the core."

"The Black Death is likely only one step away from total destruction. Since that is the case..."

Yan Luo did not use his secret technique, *Eightfold Sakura*; after all, word-bullets were purely physical attacks. He grabbed the thousand-year-old lightning-struck peach wood sword that had fallen when Li Bai vanished, took a large stride, and charged toward the terrifying boss.

He sprinted, then leaped into the air after a few steps. Under the influence of the suction, Yan Luo flew as if parallel to the ground. He gripped the hilt tightly with both hands and thrust the wooden sword straight ahead.

"Bang!"

The peach wood sword struck the skull at the center of the evil energy.

"Crack..."

The already fractured skull was pierced through by the sword and then exploded into countless fragments.

"Aaaaaah..."

A sound like the wailing of countless souls pierced the eardrums. The Black Death’s transparent body, the surging evil energy, and the atmospheric vortex all swirled together, forming a spinning torrent that then... vanished.

A gray, cube-shaped crystal fell from the void.

"Finally dead."

Yan Luo collapsed to the ground, loosening his grip on the hilt. This low-grade artifact, having been infused with sword energy by Li Bai for the Green Lotus Sword Song and then suffering the clash between the internal lightning fire and the evil energy upon destroying the core, was completely ruined. The sword was covered in rot, having lost its inner power and turned into a piece of decayed wood.

However, this sword had fulfilled its mission.

"No title for killing a super boss?"

Yan Luo noted that he hadn't received a single title in this Level 1 supernatural world. It seemed titles were scarce in some worlds, whereas the previous sports-themed sub-world had been full of them. He turned his head toward the ground, where three skeletal remains lay.

Brenda, Jessica, and Catherine.

Under the boss's ultimate, Jessica and Catherine had likely perished. Only Brenda, with her resilient body, seemed to have a faint breath left. *Come to think of it,* Yan Luo mused, *if I killed Jessica, would I get a title for "Slaying the Maiden to Prove the Dao"? If I killed Catherine, would I get one for "Slaying the Wife to Prove the Dao"?*

Yan Luo leaned down and picked up the loot dropped by the boss.

"A Godhead?"

Having read several fantasy novels, Yan Luo was very familiar with the term. It had actually dropped a Godhead! The Black Death hadn't dropped much, but it had yielded an item of immense value.

An epic drop.

In truth, calling this gray crystal a full Godhead was an exaggeration—even at its peak, the Black Death had only claimed 25 million lives in Europe and had only nearly ascended. This was a Demi-Godhead.

"Demi-Godhead of the Black Death"
Material for gene unlocking.