69novels Chapter 90 : The Strongest Strike! Golden Entry!
Chapter 90 : The Strongest Strike! Golden Entry!
Chapter 90: The Strongest Strike! Golden Entry!
Outside the heavy iron door, Zoro and the Dragon-Elephant locked eyes.
The Dragon-Elephant instinctively halted—it sensed a trace of danger emanating from the man before it.
Zoro immediately recognized that the large horse in front of him belonged to Leo.
Seeing the Dragon-Elephant appear at the dungeon entrance, he confirmed that Leo was inside. A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.
Originally, his plan last night had been to summon a Calamity.
Using the chaos created by the calamity, he would complete this ritual.
As for Leo, he was merely a small dessert to be casually consumed along the way.
But he hadn’t expected that this “small dessert” would ruin his entire plan.
He could never have imagined how this guy possessed such formidable archery, nor how he could discover the Three-Eyed Crow in the middle of the night without sleeping.
Originally, he thought that with the disappearance of the Three-Eyed Crow, the calamity had ended.
Yet this morning, the Beast Calamity still descended upon Blackstone City.
Although the plan had encountered minor setbacks, it hadn’t been significantly affected.
Now, as long as he allowed this ritual codex to absorb enough power of the dead, and then sacrificed himself, he would successfully obtain power.
He currently carried the second volume of the Divine Sacrifice Method.
The so-called Divine Sacrifice Method was a powerful technique used to obtain strength from the ancient Black God.
The first volume had required sacrificing his sense of taste and lust.
This dark method had allowed him to gain strength comparable to a knight overnight.
And now, the second volume required sacrificing his sense of smell and all emotions.
However, the ritual still required the souls of ten humans as keys.
Though the cost was high and troublesome, the power gained would allow him to directly step into the threshold of a High-tier Knight.
This shortcut to immense power in such a short time had almost driven him mad.
Coincidentally, nearly all the knights and Quasi-Knights in Blackstone City had been drawn toward the town by the Centaurs.
He could take advantage of the chaos to let the codex absorb the power of the dead and prepare for the ritual.
Before that, he had already chosen that troublesome “small dessert” as the first sacrificed soul.
Looking at the Dragon-Elephant watching him, Zoro lowered the sword he had originally raised.
Leo was inside—killing the horse might alert him.
Kill the man first, then the horse.
Sensing that the Dragon-Elephant seemed suppressed by his killing intent, Zoro turned around, gripping his sword with one hand, preparing to open the dungeon door.
The door wasn’t locked—someone was inside.
But the moment his hand touched the handle—
Zoro heard a slicing sound so sharp it seemed to pierce his eardrums.
Tsunami! Sixfold! Giant Elephant’s Fang!
In that instant, a tremendous force pierced through the iron door, slashing horizontally across his body.
Zoro saw that on the palm-thick iron door before him—
A blade mark had suddenly cut straight through.
The hand he had extended to open the door was severed cleanly at the wrist.
Not just the wrist—
A violent slash also appeared across his waist.
And his other hand—four fingers, along with the iron sword he held, fell to the ground.
Clang, clang, clang—
A series of crisp sounds echoed.
Then he felt a wave of coldness and intense pain.
The world before his eyes flipped—
His upper body lost balance and rolled down along the cut at his waist.
Just now, Leo had used Level 4 armor-breaking to find the optimal angle to strike.
Without the slightest hesitation, he had delivered the strongest strike he could unleash—
Through the iron door.
His immense Strength Attribute, stacked with six layers of Tsunami, combined with the most powerful attack variation of the Mountain-Cleaving Cross Sword—
“Giant Elephant’s Fang.”
The terrifying force directly cleaved through the iron door—and bisected Zoro’s body behind it.
“So powerful…”
Leo panted heavily. Even he hadn’t expected his strike to be this devastating.
At this moment, through the Dragon-Elephant outside the door, he confirmed Zoro’s condition.
Creak—
The iron door slowly opened, pushing aside Zoro’s severed body parts.
Leo first picked up the broken-hilt sword, then the scattered limbs.
Finally, he used his blade to lift Zoro—who was not yet fully dead—and tossed him into a small cart.
Leo quickly shut the iron door.
Inside the cart, Zoro’s upper half stood awkwardly atop a pile of his own severed limbs, still unable to process what had happened.
He tried to use his half-severed arm to climb out—
But Leo efficiently made a few more cuts.
At this point, Leo was like a seasoned butcher—his movements swift and practiced.
It had to be said, the vitality of Blackstone City’s number one Quasi-Knight was indeed formidable.
Now reduced to half a body like a statue, he could still speak.
“You… why…”
As he spoke, blood and bits of flesh poured from his mouth.
“Why… why… on what grounds?!”
Zoro struggled wildly in the cart.
He didn’t feel much pain, but he could clearly feel his life slipping away.
At that thought, he suddenly went mad and began shouting.
“On what grounds?!”
“What do you mean ‘on what grounds’?” Leo didn’t stop moving, quickly pushing the cart toward the Gnoll’s cell.
“On what grounds… you get to ruin everything? Do you know how much I’ve sacrificed to get here?!”
“On what grounds do you nobles get everything handed to you, while I have to risk my life for merit points?!”
“On what grounds are you born with what we could never obtain even with our lives?!”
“On what grounds is this so unfair—”
As death approached, Zoro roared in agitation.
But his words grew increasingly slurred due to the blood filling his mouth.
Meanwhile, Leo continued his work, signaling to the Gnoll inside—the one he had already beaten senseless earlier.
For the final step, Leo checked Zoro’s body for anything that might interfere with feeding.
He pulled out a small cloth pouch, then pushed the cart toward the cell.
“No! On what—” Zoro tried to continue shouting—
But with a crash, he was dumped directly into the feeding slot.
“Everyone is risking their life just to live.” Leo slapped the cart twice, shaking off the remaining bits of flesh. “Back then, I nearly died just delivering a meal box—I didn’t complain this much.”
Zoro’s muffled screams were drowned out by the tearing sounds of the Gnoll.
The Gnoll inside the cell was quite satisfied with this extra meal.
Watching Zoro gradually disappear, Leo began cleaning up the scene.
Just now, his emotions had indeed fluctuated somewhat.
He couldn’t understand it—he had been quietly cultivating, honestly doing small business.
The last time Zoro came to repair his horseshoes, Leo hadn’t shortchanged him even a single nail.
Yet for some reason, these people always targeted him.
The kind get bullied, the obedient get ridden.
Leo recalled the third principle in the Knight’s Code.
It spoke of Mercy—not kindness.
Mercy meant that true strength lay in restraint and compassion.
It meant restraining oneself toward the weak and civilians—not abusing power.
Not being a coward who shrinks back when a blade is pressed against one’s throat.
Thus, the prerequisite for mercy—
Was possessing the strength to control everything.
So everything began with becoming strong.
It seemed the knight sages had long understood this principle.
At that moment, Leo suddenly felt something in his hand vibrate.
He looked down—
It was the cloth pouch he had taken from Zoro.
Hidden within his inner lining earlier, it was thin, about the size of a palm-sized card.
Opening it, he found a square bronze plate covered in green patina.
“Divine Sacrifice Codex — Volume Two
To the Black God, I offer my world.
Power of the Dead.”
Leo noticed that behind the words “Power of the Dead,” there were ten small grooves.
One of them was faintly glowing—like a firefly trapped in a cage.
It seemed this was what had caused the vibration earlier.
Leo stared at the bronze plate.
“Divine Sacrifice Codex?!”
An eerie feeling rose within him.
It looked like some ancient artifact excavated from a museum.
There were only a dozen or so characters inscribed on it.
“To the Black God, I offer my world?”
But at that moment—
Leo noticed a line of extremely dazzling small text appear on his panel.
【Divine Method: Curse of the Black God Saga (Gold)】
“My god…” Leo almost blurted out his native language from his previous life. “Gold!”
It was the first time he had ever seen golden text appear on his panel.
These few golden characters stood out instantly among the dense entries.
From his past life experience—
White, Green, Blue, Purple, Gold.
Gold—
Represented the ultimate, supreme tier.