Mystery: The Last Shepherd

Chapter 239 Don't Take My Child Away! (Two Chapters Combined)

"Wow."

The sewers were collapsing, and Lanius's twisted and enormous body raged in the narrow space, violently and frantically crashing against the walls and the dome.

Luze leaped to his feet and, through the gap in the sewer's ceiling, saw the somber, deep black sky of Backlund. Suddenly, two points of blue light flickered and shone from the darkness above the gap.

what?
A crack appeared in the thick clouds in the sky, letting in crimson moonlight. By the moonlight, Lu Ze could finally see clearly that it was a small, entirely black cat. Its body was thin and pitiful, covered in dust, except for its pair of bright blue, clear eyes, which were exceptionally beautiful.

Its eyes were emitting light, and it was curiously gazing at Luze.

"Rumble"

Before Luze could even get a good look at the kitten, Lanius started making a ruckus in the sewer. He twisted his massive body, turned around in the narrow passageway, and aimed at Luze again.

The sewer shook violently, and the vibrations reached the top. The little black cat was startled and quickly withdrew its head, disappearing without a trace.

"Child, let's eat him."

Lanluus stared at Luze and murmured, his wet, blood-soaked upper body appearing horribly terrifying in the moonlight. The mass of flesh in his abdomen was writhing, gradually taking on the basic outlines of limbs and a torso. Unlike the mother Lanluus, this mass of flesh was becoming more and more like a human.

Luze, enduring the excruciating pain in his head, looked at Laneus.

"Roar--"

Lanius let out a screech unlike anything a human could make, and his massive body charged forward with astonishing speed, defying his cumbersome form. Numerous arms sprouted from his worm-like lower body, aiding his rapid crawl.

He traversed the mere dozen meters between them in an instant, aimed at Lu Ze's neck, and opened his gaping maw to bite down!

"boom!"

His swift attack missed its mark; Luze's body instantly disintegrated, turning into a dark shadow that scattered across the ground and vanished. Lanius, biting at the air in vain, crashed into the wall on the other side, letting out an angry and painful roar.

Lu Ze opened his eyes and looked at the strange world before him.

He was still standing in the sewer, but everything around him had changed. The sewer, the broken bricks, were all black and white, floating in a chaotic and indistinct void, like small islands. Their shapes had become flattened, like projections of the real world from some angle.

This is a world of shadows, flat, gloomy, monotonous, and disjointed. The only thing with color is Luze himself. When he becomes a shadow, his body comes here, only his shadow remains in reality.

Reality and illusion overlapped before his eyes; the world reflected reality to some extent, yet was not entirely the same as reality.

On the other side of his line of sight, Luze saw the dark shadow cast by Lanluus. He maintained a human form in this world, with something the size of an infant in his arms, entwined around him, almost merging into him.

Luze looked at Laneus and drew his bright red "Pain" dagger.

After taking a step forward, his figure flickered and appeared in the projection of another shadow, without passing through the void. However, to his senses, it felt as if he had traveled a distance.

A very peculiar experience.

"brush"

A dark shadow spread from Lu Ze's hand, enveloping the dagger, turning the originally bright red dagger dark and dull.

"Shadow Shaping," one of the hermit's abilities, allows him to create weapons or animals from shadows, inflicting damage with coldness and corruption. Here, he has directly attached shadow to the dagger. As he gradually gains mastery of potions, the shadow abilities he can use become increasingly diverse.

And so he kept "jumping," from one shadow to another, gradually approaching the shadow of Lanius.

In the real world, Lanius crawls back and forth in the sewers, searching for his location. But in the shadow world, Lanius's shadow remains stagnant.

Luze quickly arrived in front of Lanluus, raised the now-black dagger, and stabbed it towards Lanluus's shadow.

The damage he suffers in the shadow world will also be reflected in reality, thereby weakening his power!
But just as he rushed towards Lanius, the shadow suddenly changed. The originally pitch-black shadow instantly gained color, and the blurry outline became clear, delineating a complete human form.

"caught you."

With bloodshot eyes and a cunning, maniacal smile on his lips, Lanius spoke to Luze.

He can actually infiltrate the shadow world!
Lu Ze was startled and was about to move away when he saw Lanluus open his arms and reveal the thing in his arms to him.
"boom!"

I saw it.

Lu Ze saw it.

Blasphemous yet sacred, deformed yet perfect, the innocence of an infant and the pure divinity, the twisted madness and repulsive limbs.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

Luze emerged from the shadows, clutching his head and screaming in extreme pain.

"Heaven was opened for him, and the Spirit of the Lord came down on him."
A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased; he will reign over the earth.”

Ancient and obscure hymns echoed in his ears, his eyes melted, and blood mixed with pale blue vitreous fluid flowed down. But the pain this brought him paled in comparison to the spiritual impact of that moment when he gazed directly at the offspring of the gods!
Even though the illusory tide blocked most of the mental erosion, the remaining aftershocks were still terrifying enough!
"Hahaha!"

Lanius was laughing wildly. He crawled and rushed to Luze, wrapping his body tightly around Luze like a snake.

“Crack.”

Luze's bones cracked and popped as Lanius leaned closer, watching his pained expression. A cruel smile spread across his skinless face. He gently stroked the fleshy mass in Luze's abdomen, a hungry glint in his eyes. His lips parted, and he opened his mouth wide, biting down on Luze's head!

"puff!"

In the moment of crisis, Luze twisted his body sharply and turned his head. Lanius failed to bite off his head, instead biting into his right rib!

"Crack!"

A crisp cracking sound followed, and most of Luze's right chest went into Lanius's mouth.

"Go to hell!"

Luze, his newly grown eyes wide open, roared at Lanluus, gripping a crimson dagger and plunging it deep into his twisted, bloated body.

As if oblivious, Kranius continued to bite, his teeth digging deeper, tearing away flesh bit by bit. The wound where Luze had stabbed him writhed, engulfing the arm Luze had pierced, as if trying to merge his body into his own.

Want to eat me?
Luzer's mind was boiling over; in his madness and chaos, he grew increasingly ferocious. Without hesitation, he immediately released his dagger and unleashed flesh magic, intending to transform Lanius's body into a flesh bomb!
"Bang bang bang!"

Lanius's body exploded, turning into a spray of blood mist, and the explosion spread downwards from where Luze's arm had been stabbed.

"Wow"

However, Lanluus's body was too large, and the explosion had little effect. In the blink of an eye, Lanluus had completely bitten off one of his ribs and swallowed it.

"hehe."

He laughed indistinctly, as if savoring the sweetness of Lu Ze's flesh and blood. "Get out of here!"

Luze spewed shadows from his left hand, creating a jet-black dagger that repeatedly stabbed at Lanius's face. But even so, he did not release his grip.

Hey!
The mad ramblings of the true creator and the filthy cries of an infant echoed in Lu Ze's mind without ceasing, causing him mental anguish and delirium. The sound of the ocean tide was also drying up, and he could not hold on for much longer!
Damn it, I'm going to explode!
Lu Ze frantically thought, preparing to dissolve his body into a river of blood and entangle with Lanluus. Although that would consume a huge amount of spiritual energy and might even lead to irreversible madness and loss of control, it was still better than being eaten by this bastard!
"Wow—"

But just then, he suddenly heard the illusory sound of the ocean tide, clearer and louder than ever before.

Lu Ze looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ms. M appear at the edge of his field of vision.

In the filthy, dark sewers, she appeared as if illuminated by a soft light, her white robe spotless. Beside her bare feet, murky, deep black seawater lapped and flowed, like the tide. With a gentle, serene smile, she met Lu Ze's gaze with her golden eyes.

What are you doing out here at a time like this? Get out of here!
Lu Ze cursed and was about to ignore her and continue her self-destruction when he saw Ms. M move.

She opened her arms and spoke softly to Lanluus, who was biting Luze's body.

"Come here, kid."

The voice was full of love.

"Guwa. Gu?"

In Lu Ze's mind, the constant, incessant crying suddenly stopped, as if an invisible gaze was sweeping over him, spying. It was like a crying child suddenly spotting a novel toy, examining it with curious eyes.

Lanius, who was devouring Luze, suddenly stopped and abruptly raised his head.

"Who is speaking?"

He seemed to hear something and looked around nervously and anxiously. Even though Ms. M was standing right next to him, he ignored her, continuing to search as if he sensed danger.

"is it you?"

He asked Lu Zedao.

Lu Ze stared coldly at him, raised the shadow dagger and stabbed it towards his eyes, but he dodged it.

"Child, come here quickly."

Ms. M spoke again, her voice filled with endless tenderness and pity, as if she were softly calling to the mother of her child, preparing to give her child boundless love and care.

However, it seemed as if something was brewing behind that voice.

Unconsciously, a certain immature and unusual being focused more attention on her, like a baby putting its finger in its mouth and thinking with its little head what to do.

"I already told you! Stop shouting!"

Lanius cried out in panic, throwing Luze aside, clasping his arms together, and cradling the fleshy mass in his abdomen, screaming at it, "Child, look at me! We are one, you are the child I carried for ten months to survive!"

His massive body thrashed futilely through the sewers, trying to destroy the unknown, invisible threat surrounding him. At that moment, he looked like a woman about to have her only child taken away, filled with despair and terror.

Unfortunately, Ms. M showed no mercy. She approached Lanius further, her golden eyes gleaming with a captivating light, and once again gently called out:
Come to your mother, my child.

"Wow—"

The illusory ocean waves echoed beneath her feet, intertwining with her calls in layers, making her voice extremely captivating and exuding a unique and powerful allure.

Thus, under Ms. M's influence, the offspring of the evil god made the final decision.

Lu Ze had just struggled to sit up when he saw Lanius's desperate struggle.

"No! Don't take my child away!"

On his abdomen, the bulging mass of flesh rapidly deflated, and something invisible was peeling away from his body, drifting up and spreading toward Ms. M.

"Child, don't abandon me!"

Lanius screamed shrilly, reaching out his arms to grab something. His massive body was decaying and collapsing, turning into loose chunks of flesh and flowing blood. The more he had wanted to get rid of this evil god's offspring, the more he wanted to keep it.

However, the gods are merciless. After sensing a better and more suitable mother, the offspring of the evil god abandoned him without hesitation and drifted towards Ms. M.

"My child."

Tears of blood streamed from Lanius's eyes as his body disintegrated, collapsing onto the sewer floor and gradually fading away. Even in his dying moments, his eyes remained fixed on the direction the evil god's offspring had gone. There, in that direction, an indescribable radiance of light was drifting towards Lady M, towards her open, warm embrace.

Ms. M faced the pure light, her hands slightly closed, as if embracing something.

The tides lapped at her feet, and she looked so loving and holy that even the filthy and mad beings felt peace and happiness.

Then, she suddenly moved.

"Click."

Ms. M acted decisively, her fair hand grabbing something fiercely and ruthlessly, as if she had easily snapped something invisible.

"Wow"

A panicked, terrified cry suddenly rang out, like an invisible force uttering a weak and helpless plea, but Ms. M's movements were swift and decisive. The tide rose abruptly, submerging her thighs, and then continuing until it reached her arms.

A loving mother suddenly transforms into a cruel stepmother in an instant!

The already faint cries were swallowed by the tide, quickly becoming so faint as to be inaudible, as if they had sunk into the depths of the sea.
Lu Ze suddenly woke up.

Ms. M was long gone, and he suddenly realized that he was still in a hugging position, with his arms clasped together.

The dampness slowly disappeared from his feet, like the receding tide, never to return. At the same time, it seemed as if something had been submerged and destroyed by the tide, leaving only a vague image slowly rising and flooding into his mind.

Luze sensed that thing; it seemed somewhat familiar to him. Just now, he felt as if he had experienced it himself through Lanius.

That was a touch of pure divinity.

"Well!"

He instinctively covered his head and screamed again.

Because that divine aura spread uncontrollably and merged into his body!
　Thank you to reader 2024090510_Cb for the 100 reading coins!
　　In the original work, Klein faced Lanruus, who had lost his divinity and was no longer as dangerous. Luze, on the other hand, faced Lanruus, who possessed divinity and was about to be born as a divine child. Lanruus was also at the top of his own sequence, so Luze naturally had a stronger advantage over him.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)