Chapter 278: Chapter 233: Obtaining an Unknown Item

A faint golden Spiritual Light glowed at the feet of the man in white clothes. He chuckled as he watched the man in black clothes, who looked utterly pathetic, ensnared by his Superpower.

"In a fight to the death, there’s no such thing as ’despicable.’ As long as you survive, any method is fair game... If you ask me, it’s your own fault for being too naive. You actually believed what I said. You deserve to die."

The man in white’s awakened Superpower allowed him to control vines, but it required some time after activation to subvert the surrounding vegetation and bring it under his command.

This process of subverting the vines wasn’t instantaneous; it required at least half a minute. That was why he’d said what he did to the man in black clothes earlier—to stall for time.

The man in black clothes’ eyes were bloodshot with rage at his opponent’s treachery. Watching the swarm of unnaturally swift and agile vines surging toward him from all directions, he knew in his heart that escape was impossible.

But he couldn’t give up until the very last moment. A powerful survival instinct drove him to swing the Spiritual Longsword in his hand, which glowed with a faint golden Spiritual Light, hacking with all his might at the countless vines closing in on him.

SNAP...

SNAP...

SNAP...

Emerald-green sap splattered everywhere.

Infused with Spiritual Energy, the Spiritual Longsword easily severed the vines with every strike.

But there were simply too many of them. Moreover, after being cut, they regenerated almost instantly. It was endless.

As time wore on, the man in black clothes, under constant attack from the surging vines, grew short of breath. His stamina was failing, and a great deal of his internal Spiritual Energy had been consumed.

The man in white clothes, who had been waiting for his chance, saw the man in black’s movements begin to slow. The delight in his eyes grew more intense. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Hah... You despicable coward! If you have any guts, stop using your Superpower and fight me one-on-one!" the desperate man in black clothes shouted, panting heavily.

"If I can win using my awakened Superpower, why on earth wouldn’t I?"

The man in white clothes chuckled at the man in black’s desperate struggle. At the same time, he directed a new wave of subverted vines to join the siege.

"You bastard! You’ll die a horrible death...!" Besieged by a sea of vines, the man in black clothes let out a final, desperate roar before he was completely overwhelmed.

Heh heh...

A triumphant laugh echoed at the foot of the quiet hillock.

Countless thorny, emerald-green vines coiled around a figure. At first, agonized wails could be heard from within the tangled mass.

But as time went on, the wails grew fainter and fainter, until soon, there was only silence.

A look of assured victory on his face, the man in white clothes saw that all movement had ceased. He waited unhurriedly for several more minutes.

Then, he waved a hand at the vines he had subverted with his Superpower, and they immediately pulled back.

When all the vines had retreated, the once tall and robust man in black clothes had become a shriveled husk, like a Mummy. His body held no trace of a Spiritual Energy Wave or any sign of life.

As it turned out, the subverted vines were not as simple as they appeared.

After ensnaring the man in black clothes, they had actually been able to drain his blood.

It would be more fitting to call these subverted vines Blood-sucking Vines.

Phew...

’I took out this guy and his entire group all by myself. When my brother gets here, he’d better give me some proper praise.’

The man in white clothes had used his awakened Superpower to kill the man in black, and while the process had seemed effortless, it had not been easy for him. In fact, he had paid a price.

Normally, his Superpower could only subvert a single wave of vines. But when he realized one wave wouldn’t be enough to finish off the man in black clothes, he used his power to create a second.

Under normal circumstances, controlling even one wave of subverted vines was the limit of his current strength.

But in his haste to take down the man in black, he had subverted a second wave, and now the side effects were kicking in...

For the next month, because of these side effects, his power would stagnate, no matter how hard he trained.

"To kill you, I paid the price of being unable to train for a month," the man in white clothes muttered to the corpse before him. "But for that ’thing’... the price was worth it."

With that, he squatted down, reached into the dead man’s robes, and pulled out a small, square wooden box.

The wooden box was about half the size of his palm and utterly unremarkable. If tossed on the side of the road, it would likely be mistaken for trash and swept away.

Yet, this plain, unremarkable box contained the very item for which the man in white clothes and his companions had been willing to murder and rob the man in black’s entire party. It was clearly something incredibly valuable.

’Mission complete. Once we get back and find a buyer for this, we’ll all be able to live comfortably in the city for the next few years. No more risking our necks out here for money.’

The man in white clothes gazed at the plain wooden box in his hand, perceiving the Spiritual Energy Wave emanating from the item within. He instantly imagined the huge sum of money he would get, and an involuntary, happy expression spread across his face.