Chapter 109: Holy Light’s Judgment, the Plot Disruptor

“Nicely done, Eleven. Keep attacking.”

Lin Xiao praised her loudly. Sure enough, with Eleven having stepped into the rank of intermediate witch, her offensive power had risen dramatically, and her command of psychic force had become far more polished.

Unlike in the original timeline, where she had overused her abilities and ended up losing her powers, she had now fully unlocked her potential under Zoe’s guidance and shone with startling brilliance.

The mind flayer screamed madly. Seeing that Eleven posed the greatest threat, it surged toward her on its limbs.

Michael hurriedly took control of the seven blood shadows and placed them in its path. Though they could not inflict much damage, the seven blood shadows had already taken on a physical form and managed, with difficulty, to hold back the mind flayer’s true body.

Lin Xiao and Erik seized the opening again, rushing in from left and right. The battle axe and the samurai sword slashed into the creature’s limbs, shaving off great sheets of its gelatinous flesh.

Eleven spread both hands. Two streetlamp poles flew up into the air and came crashing down, piercing straight through the mind flayer’s true body and nailing it viciously to the ground.

With that, Lin Xiao and Erik were free to let loose. Axe and blade hacked and hewed in great sweeping strokes, and before long they had severed two of the mind flayer’s limbs. Its enormous body collapsed with a thunderous crash and lost all ability to move.

“Erik, cut off its head!”

Lin Xiao shouted the warning and leapt onto the mind flayer’s back. Erik sprang up as well, and the two of them raced to its neck, raising their battle axe and samurai sword and chopping down with all their strength.

Their weapons were astonishingly sharp, easily slicing through the creature’s resilient gelatin and biting into the bones beneath, where they rang out with a metallic clang.

“No good, my sword won’t cut anymore.”

Erik rose to his feet and looked at the samurai sword in his hand. Several notches had chipped from the blade. The mind flayer’s bones were fearsomely hard.

Lin Xiao was having a hard time of it too, so he simply unleashed the special effect of the Summoning Thunder Talisman. A river of lightning poured down, turning the battle axe into an unbreakable instrument. In just a few swift blows, he severed the bones.

Boom!

The huge head fell to the ground. Lin Xiao had just started wondering why no system notification had sounded when thick black miasma began pouring endlessly from the severed stump. In moments, it formed the shape of a mind flayer made entirely of black vapor in midair.

The mind flayer’s true form had emerged.

“Don’t tell me we fought all this time, and now this is only the beginning?”

Lin Xiao murmured as he looked up. The mind flayer made of black vapor was exactly the form it had taken when it first attacked them, insubstantial and unstable, as though condensed from mist.

“Michael, have your blood shadows attack it.”

He suddenly realized that this form of the mind flayer might fear the blood shadows unleashed by the Blood Shadow Mirror.

Michael snapped back to attention and spun the Blood Shadow Mirror. The seven blood shadows charged at the mind flayer’s true body.

The mind flayer swung its massive limbs, batting away four of the blood shadows, but the remaining three passed through its body in succession. Lin Xiao keenly noticed that its form had grown a little thinner.

“Your attacks are working. Don’t stop.”

In his urgency, Lin Xiao nearly blurted out the wrong thing, but he quickly corrected himself. Nick and the others wore strange expressions. Had they just heard something oddly familiar?

No, impossible. They were all upright and proper men. How could they possibly watch those crude foreign films?

Michael was brimming with excitement. At last it was his time to shine. He controlled the seven blood shadows, assaulting the mind flayer from every direction and forcing it to cry out in pain again and again, its shape becoming thinner and thinner.

Lin Xiao could not help feeling relieved that Lestat had arrived precisely when he did. Not only had he helped Lin Xiao complete his class advancement quest, he had also awakened such tremendous power in Michael and brought a blood-clan holy relic that happened to be the perfect counter to the mind flayer.

What a good man.

“I can’t just stand around either. Take this: divine justice from the heavens.”

Lin Xiao raised one hand. The Summoning Thunder Talisman activated at once, and a serpent of lightning dropped from above the mind flayer’s head, crashing into its body with a deafening boom.

That strike dealt more damage than the seven blood shadows combined. This dark monster from the Upside Down feared thunder far more than the blood shadows did.

A shrill shriek followed. Having been battered repeatedly, the mind flayer went savage in return. Invisible shockwaves surged through the air toward their heads, clearly a psychic attack.

Fortunately, under the blessing of the Revelation Hymn aura, everyone’s magic resistance had risen considerably. Though all of them clutched their heads and screamed, none had been completely seized.

Holy Light Spear!

Lin Xiao raised one hand, and a Holy Light Spear formed instantly before he hurled it viciously at the mind flayer in midair. His class advancement had granted him Throwing Mastery, making his throwing skill rival that of an Olympic champion.

The Holy Light Spear struck the mind flayer’s head with perfect accuracy, interrupting its psychic assault. At the same time, his left hand lifted, and the Summoning Thunder Talisman, freshly recharged, sent down another serpent of lightning.

Bang!

The mind flayer’s body exploded with a thunderous blast. Countless wisps of black vapor, carried by the force, shot toward the direction of Hawkins Laboratory.

The mind flayer was fleeing!

“After it! Don’t let it get away!”

Lin Xiao shouted at once. What a joke. After fighting this long, were they really going to let a roasted duck fly out of the pan?

Just then, Eleven, who had been in Michael’s arms, teleported to the path of the fleeing mind flayer. She raised both hands, and terrifying psychic force surged like a tidal wave into the Budding Staff.

A vast, invisible prison took shape before the tip of the staff, suddenly binding the escaping mind flayer.

The Budding Staff’s special effect: Earth Cage!

“Jonathan, attack now!”

Blood poured in heavy streams from beneath her nose, proof that she had exerted herself to the limit. This was their only chance.

But it was enough.

“Thank you, Eleven!”

Lin Xiao raised his right hand. Magic surged through his entire body as the Holy Light Circulation activated. Radiance blazed within him, and light-element power gathered in his palm, slowly taking shape as a holy spear, brilliant and dazzling.

Holy Light Judgment!

Spear of Judgment!

He stepped back twice, drove power from his waist, and hurled the Spear of Judgment at the mind flayer trapped within the Earth Cage.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed tightly on the spear of light as they watched it pierce the darkness and drive into the mind flayer’s body.

Holy Light Judgment activated!

“Won!”

Lin Xiao was just about to raise a hand and cheer when he awkwardly discovered that the mind flayer was completely unharmed, and the expected notification had not appeared either.

Damn it. The judgment had failed.

The silence that followed was painfully awkward. Everyone stared in bewilderment, certain that the mind flayer had been doomed, only for nothing at all to happen.

“Cough. It’s fine. I’ll fire again.”

Lin Xiao coughed hurriedly, though sadly Holy Radiance was still on cooldown and could not be used.

“I can’t hold it anymore!”

Eleven did not know whether to laugh or cry. Her staff sagged, and her body, suddenly drained of strength, began to fall from the sky. Michael hurriedly flew over to catch her.

With the restraint gone, the mind flayer turned to run at once. Then came another change.

Two powerful waves of psychic force descended from the sky and bound it once more. At the same time, a familiar voice rang out overhead:

“Attack now, Jonathan!”

“Zoe!”

Lin Xiao looked up in delight and saw two figures descending. It was Eleven’s tutor, Zoe.

He had not expected her to return at such a critical moment, but now, in the nick of time, she had.

By this point in the battle, the magic within Lin Xiao’s body had long since been exhausted. Fortunately, the Source Spring had activated just in time, converting nearly four hundred points of HP into MP, leaving him with one last strike.

Spear of Judgment!

Smiling, Lin Xiao raised his hand again. The Spear of Judgment formed once more and shot toward the mind flayer.

This time, it had to work.

The spear, over three meters long and as thick as an arm, overflowing with holy light, crashed through the black-vapor body of the mind flayer. Holy Light Judgment activated for a second time.

Even if luck was poor and both attacks had missed, the probability would only have been twenty-five percent. The chance of success was a full seventy-five percent.

His arithmetic might not have been entirely elegant, but the Spear of Judgment burst apart with a thunderous detonation, and brilliant holy radiance lit up the night sky. The entire town of Hawkins was bathed in holy light, bright as day.

System notification: Congratulations, Host. You have slain Level 13 Mind Flayer. Source power +130 points. You have once again altered the course of the plot. Plot Breaker quest +1. Reward: one advanced three-star pocket jar.

Your Plot Breaker quest has been completed. You have earned the title: Plot Breaker.

Plot Breaker: A mysterious title. When worn, charisma increases by 100 percent, allowing you to gain the favor of the vast majority of story characters and receive their help.

Note: A supreme skill for winning hearts.