Chapter 15: Even Though Your Defense Is Strong
Viya's reply plunged Lloyd into sudden silence.
He had originally thought Buster's symptoms of Mild Madness were just a matter of speaking too directly, but he hadn't expected it to be like this.
"So his mental state has been like this from the very beginning... Did you all know about this?"
Lloyd asked in a low voice.
"I knew. This is just a very common situation. In the realm of mystery and the transcendent, we constantly walk hand in hand with madness and danger."
Viya's reply sounded exceptionally cold.
"Can he still get better?"
"Perhaps, but he won't be coming back... Are there any other questions?"
"No, thank you."
With that, Lloyd left Viya's office, rubbed his face hard to adjust his mood, and then walked briskly toward the notice board.
If this sort of thing couldn't be changed, then he would simply have to work hard to grow stronger and gain the ability to change the status quo.
That was what a responsible, outstanding young man ought to do.
When he approached the notice board, he discovered that those 'acquaintances' from yesterday were still there. They were gathered around the board, each holding a key to Floor -1, leaving only the keys for Floors -2 and -3 on the board.
Someone nearby stepped closer and asked if they could observe their execution process.
"Sorry, I don't really like having people around when I do these things."
"Same here, you can ask someone else."
Until they saw Lloyd walking over, one of them stepped forward and took the initiative to greet him:
"Your name is Lloyd, right? I heard you're a newcomer with extraordinary talent?"
"Sorry, you have the wrong person. My name is Eisenhard."
Lloyd replied casually, then plucked a key to Floor -2 from the notice board and strode away.
It wasn't that he particularly disliked these people; he just didn't really want to deal with them.
The people left behind exchanged awkward glances for a moment before someone spoke up:
"Looks like he doesn't want to know us."
"Hmph, another guy with his nose in the air. Picking Floor -2 right off the bat, he's a bit like that Buster fellow."
"Doesn't matter. We just won't interact with each other in the future."
"Wait... Did he just take number '211'? That's a really tough one to deal with."
"Oh? Then I can only wish him luck."
……………………
Holding the cell key, Lloyd first found the military supplies office at the corner, handed over his identity card, and applied for execution tools.
The Cleric managing the place inspected his identity and asked with some surprise:
"Weren't you just here a few days ago? You're heading down already?"
"Yeah, I'm a bit impatient."
"Suit yourself. But as a newcomer, how did you manage to snatch a Floor -1 key?"
"I got here rather early."
While the two were talking, the Cleric produced a dagger-like Psionic Blade, reached out, and slowly brushed his hand over the hilt, where Lloyd's name was instantly engraved.
He handed the Psionic Blade to Lloyd and reminded him:
"From now on, whenever you use it, your name will be left behind, so don't use it for other things."
With that, he took out a pair of earplugs and a small wooden stick to bite down on.
"Take these as well. A newcomer will still find them useful."
"Thank you."
After collecting his equipment, Lloyd took the elevator down to Floor -2 and arrived at Cell 211.
Inside was imprisoned a giant snail, as large as a real ox. Its entire body was retracted into a heavy, dark-colored shell, and it was anchored in place by a series of chains, occasionally spewing a disgusting mucus from its mouth.
On the surface of that dark shell were scattered dark green lines that together formed a pattern resembling a human face. If one stared closely at it, the face seemed to writhe and deform, gradually taking on the features of yet another person, looking exceptionally bizarre.
This was the first time he had seen this type of Yao-gui outside of books.
"This is a Human-Faced Snail? Though its movements are sluggish, it is renowned for its impenetrable defense and powerful Mental Pollution. The acidic mucus it secretes is extremely corrosive. A special Ritual is required to seal its acid-secreting organs, and it must be executed as quickly as possible, otherwise it tends to disrupt the Ritual..."
"During execution, one must first use Inspiration to scan through, lock onto the organ that secretes the acid, and destroy or excise it as quickly as possible, to prevent its blood from mutating into strong acid, destroying the Ritual, and harming personnel..."
Recalling the knowledge from the library, Lloyd took out the Psionic Blade and muttered to himself:
"This thing feels a bit tricky, doesn't it? Its shell is hard, requiring a massive amount of Spirit Power to be injected into the weapon just to break it open, and the acid organ must be destroyed immediately, otherwise the sprayed blood will pull off a counter-kill;
"And it requires the use of Inspiration, but with those bizarre patterns on its shell, using Inspiration makes it very easy to suffer excessive Mental Pollution..."
"It really is tough to deal with. No wonder this thing is classified as a Level 2 danger Yao-gui, yet the bounty for executing one is as high as 3,000 general coins—putting it in the same tier as Level 3 dangers, and yet I've never seen Buster pick this thing..."
"Based on my conservative estimate, the humans killed by this kind of Yao-gui could probably circle the City of Brilliance half a time, right?"
Since the opponent's defense was very strong, Lloyd poured half the Spirit Power in his body into the Psionic Blade in one breath.
The entire Psionic Blade instantly became as dazzling as an incandescent lamp, beginning to emit a low, buzzing sound.
The name engraved on the hilt mysteriously vanished.
"Should be enough, right?"
Lloyd flicked the blade, walked up to the Human-Faced Snail, activated his Inspiration, granted his eyes the effect of 'Spirit Vision', and looked at that layer of dark shell.
A series of prompts immediately sounded in his ear:
[Ding ~ Madness Value +2]
[Ding ~ Madness Value +2]
[Ding ~ Madness Value +2]
Comfortable!
However, the internal structure of this fellow was truly too disgusting; staring at it for too long might make him lose his appetite, so Lloyd decided to strike quickly.
His Spirit Vision locked onto three eyeball-like organs inside the snail. The blinding, incandescent-bright blade in his hand thrust out decisively, slicing through the shell—which could withstand even cannonballs—effortless as a utility knife cutting through rubber.
Then, with skilled and crisp movements, he swept the blade along the edges of the eyeball organs, cutting out all three special organs in just three seconds and tossing them onto the workbench nearby.
Finally, the blade smoothly turned, pointing straight at the snail's heart, which bore a slight resemblance to a human's. He drew an elegant arc and cleanly excised the entire heart in one go.
The snail died instantly, losing its vitality. The tissues inside, which looked like human muscle fibers, stopped writhing and rapidly crystallized, turning into a quartz-like texture.
The entire process took five seconds—even faster than Buster's movements.
Even though Your Excellency's defense is indeed very strong, how will Your Excellency deal with my Precision Dissection?