"Ah!"
Barbara and Noelle both yelped in fright as they saw the enormous fanged mouth—shrouded in black mist—lunging to bite "them."
Instinctively, both girls clung to Nolan.
Feeling the soft bodies hugging him from both sides, Nolan smiled faintly, but kept his attention focused on the "Sword God of Lumine."
Faced with the black serpent's sudden assault, he didn't panic.
Controlling the Sword God, he extended the left hand in a light, open gesture. A golden, semi-transparent shield spread out from the palm, quickly forming into a full sphere that completely enveloped the Sword God in all directions.
The intangible black serpent bit down hard—but with a boom like a puff of smoke, its entire head exploded.
Yet the golden shield of the Sword God remained completely intact.
Soon, the scattered black mist recoiled back into its neck, reforming the enormous black serpent's head.
The creature stared in shock and disbelief at the sword-willed avatar in front of it.
"Impossible! Why are you unharmed?!"
For a moment, it began to suspect it had deteriorated far worse than it realized—its power degraded to the point it couldn't even overcome a human avatar?
Damn you, Morax!
The thought of spending millennia sealed in that statue—enduring endless isolation and decay, the torment of losing its power—filled it with hatred.
Now, finally free, it couldn't even kill a mere human?
Its fury toward the Geo Archon who had imprisoned it only grew stronger.
But rage was meaningless now. Nolan chuckled and turned to the two cute girls beside him:
"Relax, it's fine. Now watch how I beat the hell out of it!"
"Mhm... I really thought it was about to swallow us whole just now..."
Barbara, only now registering Nolan's words, realized that what she'd seen was just the perspective of the Sword God of Lumine.
Ugh, the mental synchronization felt way too natural—like she'd actually entered the body of the avatar.
It had startled her more than she wanted to admit—but luckily, it was only an illusion.
Now, realizing not only was she holding Nolan's hand, but also hugging him, Barbara's fair little face flushed even redder.
She pretended not to care, lowering her head to focus on the collar of her boots.
But her pounding heart betrayed her uneasy thoughts—who knew what she was imagining at that moment?
Suddenly, a prompt appeared on Nolan's character panel:
[Barbara Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 220 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (100/700)]
Nolan glanced at Barbara with slight surprise, then turned to look at Noelle.
Noelle looked a bit flustered too, but perhaps because she wasn't overthinking things, her affection hadn't gone up.
Still holding their soft hands, Nolan continued controlling the Sword God, who slashed a golden wave of sword energy at the black serpent.
Sword intent was extremely effective against soul-type enemies—and given how the serpent's previous attack had been effortlessly blocked, it no longer dared take such strikes head-on.
Otherwise, the damage could be severe. So, as the serpent tried to dissolve into black mist to dodge—
—it suddenly noticed that the golden sword energy had vanished into space.
Before it could react, a sharp pain pierced its soul.
Whoosh!
The golden sword energy reappeared directly above its head, slicing down from the forehead and cutting a deep gash across its misty soul-form.
"ARGHH! IT HURTS—IT HURTS SO MUCH!!"
The black serpent thrashed violently in the water, but being a soul-form, its movements caused no ripples or waves.
Nolan wasn't the kind of fighter who gave enemies room to breathe.
After landing that successful hit, he seized the opening—while continuing to launch sword energy strikes, he also conjured golden short swords all around him.
They shot forth like a storm of arrows, homing in on the serpent.
Countless golden blades flew through the water like streams of tiny golden meteors.
"Don't think this is enough to defeat a god like me!"
Despite its current state, the black serpent was once a being on the level of a god. It still had combat instincts and experience.
The reason it got hit earlier was simply because it let its guard down.
When it realized that Nolan's sword intent possessed the ability to traverse space, the black serpent immediately devised a countermeasure.
Before the next attack could land, it swiftly dispersed its soul into particles even finer than dust—rendering itself untraceable and thereby evading any targeted strike.
Or, alternatively, setting itself up for a surprise attack.
This was a divine ability it possessed—an authority-level power inherent to its nature as a former god. With this soul-related skill, the black serpent was even able to penetrate its own seal while trapped inside the statue, accelerating the "wear and tear" of the sealing formation.
However, Morax's seal was immensely strong. Even by leaking part of its power from within, the black serpent had no way of breaking free on its own. It needed far more strength than it currently had.
So, it could only wait—wait for someone to find it and lead it out of the hidden realm.
Then, it would devour the souls of various beings to restore its strength—perhaps even surpass its former power. Once it grew strong enough to rival Morax, it could shatter the seal by its own hand.
To that end, it had invested significant power to create illusions of countless treasures—and even disguised itself as a peerless artifact, lying in wait among them, hoping an explorer would come and take it away.
And today, the adventurer had finally arrived.
What shocked and delighted it was that this adventurer actually possessed the power to break Morax's seal—he had even shattered the statue directly and released it!
But what frustrated the serpent was also this adventurer's strength. Due to long-term "erosion" and splitting its power to disguise itself as treasure, the serpent had fallen below the divine threshold.
And now, thanks to a moment of carelessness, it had been wounded—by a mere human!
Now furious, the serpent—its soul dispersed into microscopic particles—no longer saw any need to maintain its disguise or divide its power any further.
Through the Sword God of Lumine's vision, Nolan saw that the treasure chests he had previously slashed open—along with their glittering contents—were now transforming into fine black particles and converging in midair.
The black serpent reappeared once again, and this time its form was visibly larger—its body more swollen, and the aura it emitted was far more dangerous.
Nolan activated his golden "Eye of Judgment" to reanalyze the serpent's stats:
[Level: 101]
Hissss— What a huge increase! This bastard really knows how to hide!
Nolan sucked in a breath. His grip on the soft hands of the two girls at his sides tightened subconsciously.
As expected, there's no such thing as a simple god.
Now he would have to join the fight himself—relying on the Sword God alone wouldn't be enough anymore.
Then again, the higher the enemy's level, the more Adventure EXP he would gain from defeating it.
That was perfectly in line with his interests. For once, Nolan felt a rare spark of fighting spirit.
"Mr. Adventurer, please don't grip so hard..." Noelle whispered with slight discomfort, feeling the pressure in her hand.
Nolan gave an awkward smile and loosened his grip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"I know," Noelle nodded in understanding, having witnessed the serpent's transformation as well.
"Honorary Knight, same here..." Barbara, feeling her hand being squeezed painfully, had to part her soft lips to speak as well.
Right—he'd forgotten the other side! Nolan looked embarrassed again.
He continued to control the Sword God in battle while thinking aloud:
"How about we switch to a different way of maintaining the mental link? That way I won't accidentally hurt your hands if I get too focused during battle."
"Eh? A different method? What do you mean exactly?" Noelle asked, her fair face beneath her silver-gray bangs showing a puzzled look.
Barbara blinked her beautiful eyes on the left side, her expression mirroring Noelle's.
"It's simple. To establish a mental connection, all that's needed is physical contact—it doesn't have to be handholding."
Nolan released their soft, fair hands—and under their surprised gazes—
He very matter-of-factly wrapped his arms around their waists, pulling them close against him.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment—Barbara and Noelle only reacted after a short pause:
"Eh?!"
"T-this… isn't this a bit too sudden? Mr. Adventurer, you're being far too improper! How could you do something like this to a girl out of nowhere?!"
Noelle's face flushed bright red in an instant.
Just holding hands had already made her feel a bit shy, but now being held around the waist like this—it was so intimate, it was too much!
Compared to Noelle, who could at least stammer out some words, Barbara on the left appeared completely flustered and at a loss for what to do.
She kept her white-tights-covered legs close together, rose slightly onto her toes, and nervously grabbed at the hem of her skirt, resting her hands on her knees in a very reserved posture.
But now that he'd already embraced them, Nolan—as he often did in such moments—let his shameless side show. He didn't let go despite Noelle's rebuke.
Instead, he cleared his throat lightly and said with a straight face:
"Besides holding hands, this is the only other way to maintain physical contact with you. I mean, I can't exactly reach under your skirts and rest my hand on your thighs, right?"
"Ahh! Please don't say such indecent things!"
Noelle's fair cheeks turned as red as a ripe tomato—it looked like even a gentle pinch would make her explode.
Barbara gripped her skirt tighter and instinctively moved to shield her knees, which were tightly pressed together beneath the white stockings, as if she really thought Nolan might touch her thighs.
Compared to resting on the thighs, it turned out hugging the waist was… still acceptable.
The two girls had been completely thrown off course by Nolan's behavior. In truth, they could've just chosen to hold his hands themselves. It didn't always have to be Nolan taking the initiative.
That would've solved the problem just fine.
Nolan was quietly pleased as he kept holding them.
A moment later, two affection notifications popped up on the character panel:
[Noelle Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.9 (670/900)]
[Barbara Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 360 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (460/700)]
Their rising affection meant that both girls already harbored some vague romantic feelings toward him—and now, through this intimate interaction, those feelings were slowly being brought to the surface.
Once they realized those feelings themselves, their affection points naturally increased.
But this wasn't the time to keep celebrating. Over on the "Sword God of Lumine's" side, things seemed to have hit a stalemate—it was time to help out.
"Become my strength!"
In the depths of the underwater domain, the black serpent formed of soul particles opened its massive jaws. A black light point was beginning to gather inside.
This was the black serpent's breath attack, which Nolan had already witnessed once.
That dark beam it was preparing to fire could devour spiritual power. Earlier, when it barely grazed his sword of sword-intent, the entire front half had been instantly consumed.
And afterward, the serpent's aura had grown even stronger.
Nolan wasn't about to let it fire again so easily.
From several hundred meters away, he immediately activated his Lumine's Authority's ability: Starsea Manifestation!
The watery domain vanished, replaced by a vast and boundless starry sky.
The mental pressure of the Starsea Manifestation bore down on the black serpent while empowering the Sword God of Lumine.
With its power suppressed and his boosted, the situation changed instantly.
Of course, the main purpose of activating the Starsea Manifestation wasn't just to weaken the enemy and strengthen allies—but to prevent the black serpent from escaping.
After all, it could turn itself into microscopic black soul particles. If it seriously tried to flee, even Nolan might not be able to catch it.
"What's going on?!"
The sudden change of environment—and the sharp drop in its power—made the black serpent feel like the situation was slipping out of its control. For the first time, it felt the urge to run.
And this was a being that called itself a god!
But by now, it was already too late. Within the endless starry void, Nolan, Barbara, and Noelle remained hidden behind the scenes.
He summoned dozens of massive, semi-transparent psychic threads, which came crashing down on the black serpent from all directions!
"BOOM!!"
This kind of spiritual attack was perfect against a soul-only entity like the serpent—it was a guaranteed hit!
Dozens of psychic threads struck the serpent in a split second, not even giving it the chance to fight back, and shattered it completely.
This was not the same as when it scattered itself intentionally.
Taking that much direct spiritual damage… it'd feel it badly.
"Damn you, wretched human! I'll kill you!!" the serpent's furious roar echoed through the Starsea Manifestation.
But perhaps out of fear of being struck again, it didn't dare reform into a physical body.
That made it hard for Nolan to attack it—but the same applied in reverse: it couldn't touch him either.
Clearly, his decision had been correct. This black serpent—despite all its tough talk—was the type to bully the weak and flee from the strong. Once it realized it couldn't win, it immediately tried to run.
Nolan ignored its raging howls. Now that it was trapped in his Starsea Manifestation, there was no escape. Even in particle form, it couldn't get away.
He closed his eyes and began to sense every black soul particle floating within the Space.
At the same time—
Behind the Sword God of Lumine, faint golden starlight began to shimmer—like the stars themselves being ignited.
These were particles of sword intent—roughly the same size as the black serpent's soul particles.
The more it tried to hide, the quicker it would die.
—
(End of Chapter)
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