Chapter 120: Tearing It Apart!

Having his true identity exposed by Su Cheng, Yasuo Shirakawa’s expression turned instantly grim. Murderous intent surged in his eyes as he stared with uncertain alarm at this human of mysterious origin.

In truth, Su Cheng had only been guessing; he had not been entirely certain of the castle owner’s identity. He had deliberately stated the Knight of Fear’s name with conviction, hoping to bluff him. Now it appeared his hunch was correct: the shadow possessing Yasuo Shirakawa was indeed Clovis, the Knight of Fear.

As for how he knew the name, it dated back to his previous mission. At that time, coerced and tempted by the uncle GM, Su Cheng had agreed to help him collect sealed items within the game world. In return, the GM had granted him limited access to certain internal game data. Through these files, Su Cheng had basically identified the NPC factions and several key figures. Clovis, the exile, had once been a high-ranking general of the Chaos faction.

Unfortunately, during the War of the Zenith a century ago, Clovis had been struck down by the Goddess of Order, his soul shattered. Only a sliver of his lingering spirit remained, which the Goddess had seized and banished to the Endless Abyss. However, Clovis was a restless, dangerous figure who refused to fade away. After a century of recuperation, he had finally regained enough strength to cast countless shadow clones into the mortal realm, collecting the source of fear in a desperate bid to escape his prison.

A minute earlier, when struck by the shadow’s fear energy, Su Cheng had vaguely sensed his identity. Combining this with what he had encountered in the Terror Castle, he immediately deduced that the master of the manor was harvesting the essence of fear. There were few figures in the NPC roster who used fear as their power source, so Su Cheng had quickly settled on the Knight of Fear.

The secret of the Terror Castle was finally revealed: the entity possessing Yasuo Shirakawa was a shadow clone the Knight of Fear had projected into the human world. After taking over Shirakawa’s body, he had transformed the manor into a place of terror specifically designed to harvest fear. However, a mortal human body was far too fragile, and given Shirakawa’s advanced age, it could no longer sustain the possession after a few years.

Thus, the shadow had devised a plan, using Shirakawa’s inheritance as bait to lure Su Cheng and the others to the castle, all for the sake of acquiring a healthy new vessel. His original plan was for only one person to survive the trials, while the others would perish, becoming part of the castle itself. The successful heir would then be possessed by the shadow, becoming the new master of the Terror Castle.

Regrettably, his perfect plan had been shattered by a player from another world. Now, he had only two choices: abandon the Terror Castle, or kill Su Cheng, seize his body, and continue his reign as the castle lord.

"You lowly mortal, since you have discovered my identity, then die."

Eerie blood-red light flickered in Yasuo Shirakawa’s eyes. His physical body was technically dead, but under the control of the shadow, it had been "resurrected" in a different form. Much like a reanimated corpse, it could not exist in this state for long, necessitating a fresh vessel as soon as possible. Su Cheng was the perfect candidate; his physical prowess far exceeded that of an ordinary human. Once he claimed this body, the shadow could endure indefinitely.

Black energy surged continuously within Shirakawa’s body. The weapons scattered across the cellar floor were drawn together by an invisible force, fusing into a monstrous steel beast that charged fiercely at Su Cheng.

At that moment, Su Cheng’s eyes turned into deep, dark abysses, as if a savage beast had awakened within him.

"Demonic Light Wave Slash!"

"No!"

A look of disbelief crossed Yasuo Shirakawa’s hideous, twisted face. In his vision, a massive black sword aura instantly tore the steel beast into shards, passing through his own body with impossible speed like a flicker of light.

A flash of obsidian blade-light.

Still wearing an expression of incredulity, his withered body cracked inch by inch like a decaying, dying tree. Pieces of flesh peeled away, falling to the ground and melting into pools of black pus. Yasuo Shirakawa’s body had long been pushed beyond its limits by the shadow of the Knight of Fear; Su Cheng’s strike had, in a sense, granted him release.

A dark, pitch-black shadow squeezed its way out of Shirakawa’s corpse, revealing the true form of the Knight of Fear before Su Cheng. The monster’s skin was covered in layers of dark red scales, its cavernous mouth slightly agape to reveal four terrifying, beast-like fangs. Great demonic horns sprouted from its head, and its lower body ended in cloven goat hooves. Through his Eye of Sin, Su Cheng saw countless vengeful spirits swirling around the shadow.

"Invader from another world, I shall claim your body!"

The horrific roar exploded like thunder. Stripped of its vessel, the shadow lunged at Su Cheng, its razor-sharp fangs dripping with terrifying fear energy. Under the shadow’s influence, Su Cheng felt as if gripped by an invisible, crushing hand, unable to move even a single finger.

Fear, descend!

Su Cheng gritted his teeth, a look of grim determination in his deep eyes. If he were bitten, the shadow would act like a virulent plague, destroying his mental world and claiming his body. He would become nothing more than a puppet, a walking corpse. Yet, held fast by an invisible force, he could only watch helplessly as the shadow pounced.

Between life and death, Su Cheng slowly tilted his head back, flashing a strange, eerie smile at the terrifying shadow.

"What is this?"

The shadow felt a chill. This human should have been under his control, so why did he suddenly feel danger? An illusion? No!

An indescribable power erupted from within Su Cheng’s body like a volcanic explosion, shattering the shackles of fear that bound him instantly. Sensing the aura radiating from the human before him, a look of panic crossed the shadow’s hideous face. He could not understand where things had gone wrong. The script was not supposed to play out like this.

"What exactly are you?"

The shadow shrieked, but as he tried to pull away, Su Cheng moved with lightning speed, plunging his black-clad hand straight into the shadow’s chest.

"Aaargh!"

A painful howl echoed. The shadow’s blood-red eyes widened; he never dreamed he could be wounded to such an extent by a lowly mortal. In his Ghost God mode, the rampaging spiritual energy within Su Cheng surged like a tidal wave. He was like a volcanic eruption, unable to contain his overwhelming power. Yet, his emotions remained chillingly calm, dark lights shimmering in the depths of his eyes.

This state could not last long; he had to finish this quickly.

"Damn you, mortal! Let me go! If you dare kill me, the Chaos Legion will not let you off!"

The shadow struggled incessantly in Su Cheng’s grasp, but such struggle was meaningless against his overwhelming power. Although he was merely a shadow projection of the Knight of Fear, his survival instinct was potent, and even now, he tried to threaten Su Cheng by invoking his superiors. Su Cheng, however, ignored the threat, and, mirroring the actions seen in melodramas, plunged his other hand into the shadow’s chest.

With a violent tear!

The horrific shadow screamed as Su Cheng ripped him in two. Blobs of black energy gushed from his shredded form. Having experienced the sensation of tearing a demon apart, Su Cheng grabbed a handful of the black energy. He watched as it transformed into various shapes in his palm like cotton candy. His intuition told him that this energy was a potent supplement for him.

He slowly opened his mouth and swallowed a clump of the black energy. The next moment, it transformed into a surge of pure spiritual power, nourishing his body.

"Wait... the Chaos Legion will avenge me!"

In the cellar, the shadow, torn in two by Su Cheng, scrambled to escape right under his nose.

Heh, thought you could act tough and just walk away?

A cold, cruel smile appeared on Su Cheng’s face. He opened his palm, and a blast of spiritual energy fired from it, slamming into the fleeing shadow.

[Rock-Paper-Scissors: Paper]
Skill Type: Fist Technique/Spirit Art
Effect: Condenses all spiritual energy into the palm, firing it as a spiritual cannon. The power of the cannon is based on the player’s Spirit Art mastery and spiritual energy intensity.

Under the bombardment of the spiritual cannon, the shadow’s eyes flashed with resentment and unwillingness before he was annihilated, body and soul, in an instant. As the shadow dissipated, a black ring dropped to the floor.

"Did I get loot?"

The shadow of the Ghost God faded from Su Cheng’s body, and he lunged forward to scoop up the black ring.

[Ring of the Shadow of Fear]
Type: Accessory
Quality: Heirloom
Attribute: Dark
Skill 1: Charge – Absorbs the fear energy within a 1000-meter radius of the holder and converts it into spiritual energy.
Skill 2: Shadow of Fear – Inflicts the Shadow of Fear on a target, causing them to fall into a state of terror for 10 seconds.
Skill 3: Soul Summoning – Summons the demonic soul of the Knight of Fear to fight for the holder. Consumes spiritual energy continuously while the soul is active. Only one Knight of Fear can be summoned at a time.

An Heirloom item!

Seeing the stats of the [Ring of the Shadow of Fear], a look of pleasant surprise appeared on Su Cheng’s face. Although this mission had been perilous, the rewards were quite substantial. This heirloom-grade ring alone made the effort worth it.

"Terror Castle plot concluded. Horror stories collected (2/4)."

Just then, the eerie, chilling voice of the game echoed once more.