This villain is too popular.

Chapter 444 The True Form of the Pyramid [4000 words]

[Early morning of the sixth day on Changsheng Island, the unknown pyramid area]

boom!
Mi Yao's game console screen flashed red light, and a large number of green pixel blocks exploded in front of him, turning into game props such as roadblocks, iron nets, and energy barriers.

These gamified props surrounded him in layers, protecting him.

Even with all these preparations, the game props were still shattered by the eerie dark purple vines in a very short time.

Seeing this, Mi Yao's expression became very solemn, and his arms began to tremble uncontrollably during the intense battle.

My palms were rubbed red by the game console casing, and sweat dripped down my cheeks, splashing onto the game console screen and spreading into a small water stain.

Unlike the 'vine tentacles' he had encountered elsewhere, the vines in front of him were as thick as buckets, with a metallic sheen and covered in pale gold patterns.

Moreover, the changes in these vines are not just in their appearance; their internal structure has also undergone a qualitative transformation.

Because when he hit it with the pixel warhammer, not only did it leave a shallow white mark on the surface of the vine, but the warhammer itself also had some energy absorbed by the vine, making it appear both real and illusory.

This indicates that these vines are not only extremely tough, but they can also absorb the star energy of the attacked entity.

It was utterly disgusting.

Fortunately, the main targets of these vines were not those of them who were currently on the outside of the pyramid, but rather the Heavenly Dao standing at the top of the pyramid, as well as other people who had entered the pyramid.

Although Mi Yao couldn't see what was happening inside the pyramid, he could vaguely sense the scorching flames emanating from within, as well as powerful and iconic information such as dreams and quantum data.

It was obvious that Jing Liuli, Chen Xing, Caroline, and others whom they had not encountered before were now inside this mysterious pyramid.

It is precisely because of the existence of people like Tiandao that this strange 'pyramid' has devoted more than 99% of its energy to them, and can only deal with these 'small fry' who suddenly intruded when it has time.

Even so, they still couldn't easily get rid of the three 'unknown vines' that appeared in front of them.

"Damn it, what the hell is that?!"

Just as Mi Yao was pondering a way to break the deadlock, Liu Ma's roar came from the left.

Limited by his own fighting style, Liu Ma was used to using his powerful physique to engage in close combat with his enemies.

It's hard to say whether this fighting style is good or bad, but it can be effective when encountering someone whose strength far surpasses one's own, or someone who can easily break through one's physical defenses.

Liu Ma could easily find himself in a passive position, and at this moment, he undoubtedly encountered such a 'dilemma'.

His golden skin was now mottled with black marks, and dark purple vines coiled around his limbs like giant pythons.

The barbs at the end of the vine pierced deep into his skin, rapidly transporting a large amount of eerie, dark green sap into his body along the barbs.

During this process, Liu Man could clearly feel his star energy being frantically pulled away by the vines.

As a result, the energy that was originally abundant in his body became depleted in a very short time, and the golden light on his body faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Even more terrifying is that the eerie dark green toxin on the vines seems to be very effective against 'star energy'.

As it spread along his blood vessels throughout his body, it even affected the flow of stellar energy within him.

Liu Ma did try to mobilize his star energy to resist, but his resistance not only failed to work, but also triggered a sharp, intense pain, as if countless needles were piercing his body.

Despite the excruciating pain, Liu Ma told everyone the intelligence he had gathered.

"Be careful! It not only absorbs stellar energy, but it can also lock the stellar energy circuits within our bodies!"

Upon hearing Liu Ma's words, Chen Kong, who was not far away, felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Before he could even respond to Liu Ma, he felt a chill run down his spine, and a strong sense of crisis welled up inside him.

The next second, a new dark purple vine shot out from the space-time rift behind him and launched a sneak attack.

This new vine was twice as fast as the previous ones, and the golden patterns on its barbs gleamed with a cold light.

Fortunately, Chen Kong was highly focused and immediately instinctively dodged to the side.

In an instant, the newly appeared dark purple vines brushed past his tactical backpack.

After the light and shadows intertwined, the tactical backpack on Chen Kong's back was instantly torn to shreds, and the energy magazine, healing spray, and the last Sweet Dream Candy inside were swept away by the vines.

Click!

In Chen Kong's narrowed pupils, the newly appeared dark purple vines quickly devoured the scattered supplies, visibly growing larger.

These vines seem to possess a kind of 'devouring everything' ability, and any substance can become nourishment for them to become stronger.

"Be careful, these vines and the golden chrysanthemum share the same origin and can absorb any substance containing star energy and life force."

Vivian suddenly came to Chen Kong's side and spoke up, expressing her judgment.

Then, her android pupils suddenly froze, and the second hand spun on her fingertip, precisely deflecting a thin vine that swept towards them.

“They can locate us through the ‘life marks’ on our bodies. We must destroy the marks, or we will never be able to get rid of them.”

As she spoke, Vivian suddenly sped up and rushed to Chen Kong's side, her rapier thrusting unhesitatingly at the back of his hand.

"hiss!"

Vivian's sudden attack made Chen Kong gasp in pain, and the faint golden marks left by Jin Ju on the back of his hand made a 'sizzling' sound.

However, as a large amount of fine white smoke rose from the back of his hand, Chen Kong suddenly felt that the 'watchful gaze' he had felt earlier had disappeared.

At the same time, it is unclear whether it was Chen Kong's illusion or if it was indeed true.

He felt that along with the 'sense of being watched,' the 'heaviness' brought about by the unknown toxin in his body had also disappeared.

Without a doubt, Vivian's judgment was correct.

After helping Chen Kong, Vivian immediately wanted to help Liu Ma also get rid of the special life mark engraved on the back of his hand.

But just as she set off, the vines that had been binding Liu Ma suddenly tightened their grip.

boom!
The dark purple vines slammed Liu Ma, who was bound, to the ground like a flail.

When Liu Ma's back collided with the stone slab, it immediately produced a dull, loud thud.

He coughed up a mouthful of black blood on the spot, the gold coloration on his skin completely faded, and his arms hung limply at his sides.

At the same time, the unknown toxin in his body had spread to his chest, making it impossible for him to even move a finger.

Now that the prey has lost its ability to resist, the eerie dark purple vines naturally go to collect the 'fruits of victory' that are about to be obtained.

The first half of the vine slowly rose up, and the sharp end suddenly split open, revealing a structure resembling a snake's mouth, which lunged at Liu Ma's heart.

In the critical moment, Isabel disregarded her depleted star energy and forcibly condensed an ice cone.

The icicle sliced ​​through the air and landed precisely on the 'snake's mouth' at the end of the vine.

As the ice spike pierced the outer layer of the vine, it also froze a small area nearby, slowing the vine's movement by half a second. Not far away, Mi Yao seized this opportunity, lunged forward, grabbed Liu Ma by the collar, and with all his might flung him towards the outer edge of the pyramid.

When Liu Ma rolled out of a certain area outside the pyramid, a strange scene unfolded.

The strange vines that had been relentlessly pursuing Liu Ma were now blocked by an invisible wall. Despite their frantic twisting and turning, trying to grab Liu Ma back, they could not cross the boundary.

"Indeed, their activity range is limited to a certain area around this pyramid."

Mi Yao looked at this scene with a very confident tone.

But no sooner had he finished speaking than a vine lashed out at his back, causing him to stumble and crash into a stone pillar.

Meanwhile, Liu Ma's loss of what he had almost gotten his hands on completely enraged the surrounding vines.

Enraged, the vines split into countless finger-thick vines, lashing out at the crowd like a torrential rain.

The vines were so fast that everyone could only dodge them in a sorry state.

Furthermore, to prevent them from leaving their attack range like Liu Ma, these vines completely blocked everyone's retreat.

Moments later, Chen Kong's tactical uniform was torn in countless places, and his skin was covered with tiny scratches, with toxins seeping in through the wounds.

However, he was not the most disheveled of the four; the one who was truly disheveled was Isabel.

After a long period of dodging, Isabel, who was already of average physical strength and lacked agility, soon revealed a weakness.

Her legs felt like they were filled with lead, and her breathing was rapid, like a bellows.

So when another thin vine lashed out, she could only watch helplessly as it grew larger in her field of vision, her mind going blank, with no time to dodge.

"careful!"

To Isabel's astonishment, Chen Kong rushed over and pushed her away, preventing her from being severely injured by the vines.

However, Chen Kong was struck on the back by a thin vine, his tactical uniform was torn on the spot, and a deep wound that exposed the bone was instantly stained black. The numbness rushed up his spine to his brain, making him almost faint.

"No, if this continues, we'll all be wiped out here!"

With just a quick glance, Mi Yao understood everyone's predicament and what the consequences would be if things continued to drag on.

His game console's power bar was almost empty, the screen was flickering, and it could shut down at any moment.

If even he, the strongest of the four, was in such a state, one can only imagine the plight of the others; despair overwhelmed them like a tidal wave.

Chen Kong leaned against the stone pillar, feeling his body getting heavier and heavier, and his vision began to blur. He could even see that the thin vines had wrapped around his ankles.

Without external intervention, they might really have died here.

Just then, a dark figure suddenly darted out from the shadows of the pyramid.

Stab it!

The dagger made a clear sound as it sliced ​​through the air, and dark golden liquid splattered out.

Then, the vine that was wrapped around Chen Kong's ankle was cut off on the spot by the newcomer, the cut so clean it looked like it had been laser-cut.

"cold?!"

Mi Yao looked up, his tone filled with astonishment.

In mid-air, a girl wearing a black, tight-fitting combat suit, her waist-length black hair fluttering in the wind, her face expressionless, only her black pupils as cold as stars.

That's right, the one who came was none other than Yagami Rin, ranked fifth among the stars and possessing 'Star Core: Shadow Raven' and 'Star Source: Shadow of the Past'.

The dagger in her hand gleamed with a dark purple sheen, and juice was still dripping from it.

Without wasting words, adhering to the principle of efficiency, Yagami Rin suddenly transformed into a phantom black shadow, teleporting to the second vine. With a horizontal slash of her dagger, another vine snapped in two.

Dark golden liquid splattered on her combat suit, but she didn't even blink before disappearing again.

Those vines that seemed indestructible to others were like fragile noodles in front of her.

The remaining vines seemed to sense the danger, and no longer wanted to fight. They twisted their bodies and fled back into the surrounding spacetime rifts, disappearing without a trace.

With the crisis averted, Chen Kong and the others collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, their eyes filled with shock as they looked at Yagami Rin.

The fight just now took her less than ten seconds. Her movements were clean and efficient, without a single unnecessary move, as if she were simply clearing weeds from the roadside.

Yagami Rin landed on the ground, the dagger disappearing from her palm. She walked up to the crowd, her tone as calm as if stating a fact.

"Get out of here; this is not a place for you."

Her gaze swept over the wound on Chen Kong's back, her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and she tossed him a black vial of medicine.

"This is a specially formulated antidote. Applying it will inhibit the spread of toxins in the body."

Chen Kong caught the medicine; the bottle was still slightly cool to the touch.

Just as he was about to express his gratitude, he heard Yagami Rin continue, "This is the domain of Libra's laws, and its core principle is 'equivalent exchange'."

“Those vines are the embodiment of laws. Once touched, you will be forced to make a deal with them, exchanging your star energy and life force for their ‘right to attack’.”

"You can't even get close here without finding a way to 'reject' this deal."

Upon hearing this, Vivian's android pupils flashed with data light as she spoke, "You mean, our battle just now was essentially a trade of injuries? It was only because the opponent's vitality was so immense that we were the only ones who were injured from beginning to end?"

"Ah."

"Then do you know how to refuse?"

Isabel couldn't help but ask, her voice still trembling with lingering fear.

Rin Yagami shook her head.

"I don't know, because all this information was given to me by the Heavenly Dao. He said that Libra is an existence independent of star beasts and star messengers, and its origin may be traced back to before the old era."

"Before the old era?!"

Vivian stood up abruptly, the light in her android pupils instantly becoming blinding.

"That's impossible. There were no star sources or star energy in the old era. If Libra really existed in that era, why is there no record of it?"

Seeing Vivian's expression, Yagami Rin hesitated for a moment before saying, "I only have a vague understanding of the specific reasons behind this. The only thing I know is that the Heavenly Dao says that Libra is a unique existence that exists independently of Star Beasts and Star Envoys."

"Actually, you might not understand if I just say the three words Libra, but you'll understand immediately if I use another word."

"The so-called Libra is actually the 'Exchange' one of the twelve miracle stones."

(End of this chapter)