Ch. 3 - Propagator

The Pillar of Star had the appearance of a tree and radiated a silvery light that the dark creatures hated.

In theory, there should be no residents of the Inverse Universe near this place, but the Inverse Universe was a world full of variables.

The so-called common knowledge was a theoretical system established by scholars in the fortress after decades of exploration.

However, the history of the Inverse Universe went much further than just a few decades. Therefore, deviations and even errors in common knowledge were not surprising.

Facing the passage, Tianyang retreated towards the Pillar of Star, and the holy silver radiance from the tree gave the young man the courage to fight against the darkness.

Finally, it appeared.

Black hair floating in the air like floating seaweed, supported by some unknown force, this entity radiated malice.

Underneath the black hair was a young and beautiful woman's face. She had delicate and fair skin, as well as a beautiful overall appearance.

Her neck was long and straight, but unfortunately, the area below the neck was hidden in a deep gray cloak that shielded her entire body.

The five pitch-black fingers scraped against the wall of the passage and made a sound that Tianyang had just heard.

Tianyang almost thought he had run into a human.

Nevertheless, smoke shot from the strange woman's stunningly smooth face as she approached beneath the Pillar of Star's silvery radiance.

Then, a small piece of its skin fell off, wriggling on the ground; it looked like a white worm!

If the woman was composed of the same when her body disintegrated, the scene would make him faint.

He felt nauseous, to say the least!

The feminine-shaped thing cautiously took a step back with its burned face. The white, milk-like liquid flowed from the wound and filled it, and the ”woman” quickly recovered.

It’s not a she!

It looked at the Pillar of Star, eyes filled with hatred, and then reached out from under the cloak. An exceptionally slender and beautiful hand.

However, in the next second, the hand turned ugly.

The arm first swelled, the muscles under the skin wriggled, and the skin turned from white to red. Finally, the skin burst and the hand bloomed like a flower.

But instead of soft petals, tendrils of flesh and blood adorned it. They plunged into the wall, tore off the wall's surface, and pulled down a block of concrete measuring more than a meter long and wide.

It launched towards the Pillar of Star!

The stones were as fast as bullets, and Tianyang instinctively fell to the ground. He heard the dull sound of collisions and the sound of pebbles smashing and falling.

The young man hurriedly looked towards the Pillar of Star; this crystalline tree had lost a small piece of "bark."

Seeing the Pillar of Star unharmed, it let out an infuriating scream. The scream was filled with hatred, as if it and the Pillar of Star were mortal enemies.

It suddenly lifted its cloak, but the body under the cloak and it's beautiful face were two extremes! It was terrifying! Even nightmares didn’t get this bad. Descriptions such as ugly and hideous were pale and powerless in front of it.

Tianyang quickly averted his gaze, unable to look for another second. Fear gripped his heart, akin to a cold, giant snake. When trying to recall what he saw under the cloak, only several mouths came to his mind.

From the corner of his eye, he could vaguely see a small mist-like substance spraying from those mouthparts like poisonous snakes.

The black mist and the silver radiance of the Pillar of Star competed for space in the tunnel.

When they collided, the silver light swam in the black mist like electric lights flickering in a summer thundercloud. Then the black mist disappeared, the silver radiance retreated, and the two had neutralized each other.

Tianyang breathed heavily; he now knew what he had witnessed.

The Hundred-Mouthed Woman!

Or, it could be called the Black Mist Propagator!

It was mentioned in the "Inverse Universe Safety Manual" as a dark creature considered as a mobile plague, a humanoid nightmare, and an enemy of light…

One of the few dark creatures able to resist the light from the Pillar of Star, the Propagator disperses a dense mixture of black mist. Once it discovered a Pillar of Star, it would do everything to destroy it.

Its danger rating was level three, with the rating criteria being based on Ascenders' rank.

In other words, only Ascenders with a rank of three or above could fight against the calamity. As for common folk, the handbook suggested that you run if you could.

So, when he regained his senses, the young man turned and ran, but the nightmare didn’t intend to let him go.

Before he could get around the Pillar of Star, Tianyang’s heel tightened, and a force suddenly pulled him, causing him to fall to the ground.

He turned around to look.

The “woman” had emerged from under the cloak with tendrils sticking to his left foot, covered with nerves and blood vessels.

"No no no!"

Tianyang stopped and attempted to sever it with his alloy dagger, but it had dulled due to the prowler's acidic liquid.

Although the tentacles of the Propagator looked soft, its skin was extremely hard. The blade emitted a high-pitched noise upon contact.

Suddenly, the tentacle shrank and dragged him towards it. The disgusting body just kept expanding in the young man's eyes. Even if he tried his best, he couldn't stop himself from being pulled into the nightmare.

Tianyang hung in the air, his eyes locking with the beautiful face of the Propagator. It opened its delicate lips, but instead of a tempting red tongue, a mosquito-like mouthpiece, magnified countless times, came from its mouth.

The black, tube-like object lightly touched his helmet’s faceplate. The strong polycarbonate material that could withstand over a ton of pressure unexpectedly had a small crack.

The young man’s pupils dilated slightly from fear. With a slight sound, the deadly syringe pierced through the faceplate and his eye. There was nothing to stop it from getting to him.

Tianyang was only left with one eye filled with terror. He clenched his dagger tightly and jammed it into one of Propagator's eyeballs. Eye for an eye!

Surprisingly, the Propagator's eyeball was soft, and the blade easily cut through it. Its mouthpiece suddenly contracted and Tianyang saw the black mist that emerged from the needle's tip.

His heart immediately sank halfway. Did the Propagator inject something into him when the needle entered his eye just now?

Before he could comprehend what happened, his body was thrown into the air by the Propagator's reaction. With a fierce swing of her tentacle, Tianyang was thrown out fiercely. He crashed upon the Pillar of Star and rolled down under the big tree, falling onto the knotty roots.

Pain! Extreme pain!

In his head, it seemed as if molten lava had been poured in. It streamed between the grooves and lobes of his brain, roasting it all!

The face inside the helmet quickly turned red, and the still-intact eye of Tianyang began to blacken, covering the world in front of his eyes with an indelible darkness.

Tianyang felt himself sinking. His seventeen years of life played before him like an old-school movie.

As his mind sank into darkness, he saw his mother's eyes and Qin Wu's grimacing face flashing. They were the two extreme emotions intertwining—the one he loved, and the one he hated.

Finally, a strong urge struck Tianyang’s nerve.

I do not want to die...I do not want to die...I want revenge!

The second thought surfaced, and it was overwhelmingly strong, covering the first one like a sharp blade cutting through the dark.

The boy saw light—silver, pure, holy, and hope. He reached out and grabbed it with all his might!

Dang!

The Propagator pulled the dagger from its eye with its tentacles, ignoring the bleeding eye socket, as it focused its only eye on the Pillar of Star.

It continued to attack. It wouldn’t stop until the crystal tree was destroyed.

It didn't notice that the boy lying under the Pillar of Star had clenched the tree’s root firmly.

The silver glow radiated from the tree root, penetrating through Tianyang’s glove and falling onto his fingers, then...

It disappeared.

However, his fingers gradually shone like the galaxy—stars and voids blooming in his flesh.

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