Our Family Has Fallen

The flesh had no reaction after Lance sliced through the heart.

Everything was so calm, so calm that it made Lance uneasy.

After a few mishaps before, Lance dared not hesitate this time and immediately unleashed his ultimate move.

Sacrifice, activate!

Determination passed, bringing Void Might, but there was a momentary pause when facing this heart, though fortunately, it was devoured the next second.

The offering was not spiritual essence, but... Power of Flesh and Blood.

Enlightenment!

His understanding and control over flesh rose to the pinnacle; in his perception, the flesh seemed to speak, revealing no secrets to him.

If earlier he could only control within limited flesh without creating something from nothing,

now he could guide the flesh to complete complex treatments like regenerating severed limbs; as long as the person wasn’t dead, even a severed head could grow back.

But that’s not the most important part; from the void emerged a heart similar to the dark red one earlier, but shrunk to normal size.

The eerie part was that the blood vessels extending from it seemed connected to the void, pumping incessantly, as if possessing infinite life force.

Lance removed the Black Armor, reaching out to grab it, and upon touch, he froze in place as a flood of information poured into his mind, thrusting him into a bizarre state, causing him to suddenly shout frantically.

"Wrong! Wrong! Everything is wrong!"

Lance wasn’t truly mad; the vast amount of information laid bare some unknown secrets to him.

The old ancestor didn’t lack the ability to handle this Formless Flesh; he did it deliberately.

The Pigman and Devourer weren’t used by the ancestor to restrict the Formless Flesh, but to feed it specially.

The Pigman was like a meat pig, providing fresh flesh to the heart for growth.

And the Devourer, due to the effect it had to accelerate the heart’s development, was part of the ritual.

All of this was to cultivate a Giant Heart, crucial to the old ancestor’s attempt to usurp the Primordial God’s power.

It’s also the material for his ascension ritual — the Heart of Flesh!

The old ancestor was indeed a genius; from the God of Pigmen’s summoning ritual, he glimpsed the flaws of a vessel harboring divine power, hence crafted this with utmost effort.

But now it had fallen into his hands.

Lance held the heart seemingly connected to the void, perpetually pumping, and his mood inexplicably lifted.

The power contained within was enough to make an ordinary person’s life force extraordinarily strong, so much that they wouldn’t die, even without bleeding from multiple cuts.

Just like how the Siren Conch amplified Enchanting Voice, aside from the apparent power, the hidden effect, the Heart of Flesh augmented his Power of Flesh and Blood exclusively for him, tailored to him perfectly.

More importantly... had he managed to pick the fruit before the old geezer?

Intercepted, joyous!

Lance’s spirits soared, sweeping away the accumulated pressure in his heart during this time.

Seeing the old ancestor fall into misfortune always delighted him; Lance was easily satisfied like that.

However, this joy was fleeting, and there were still tasks to be done.

After seizing the heart, the Formless Flesh seemed to lose its response, even showing signs of collapse.

Lance didn’t have the time to consider more; he directly sacrificed.

Void Devourer began spreading, consuming everything left behind by the Formless Flesh.

The space filled with flesh began revealing its true form, but Lance neglected this, forgetting an important matter — how much flesh the old ancestor used to nurture the heart.

Since he stepped onto the Champion path, the sparse spiritual essence from sacrifices of hundreds of corpses hardly caused any fluctuations.

But this time, Lance felt the spiritual essence surging like rivers, continuously impacting his consciousness, quickly replenishing the previously consumed spiritual essence.

It’s about to overflow...

Lance had to exert all his power to Bless himself, consuming the excess spiritual essence.

Flood-like spiritual essence washed over him, the impact capable of instantly destroying any Transcendent’s consciousness, but this man was called Lance.

Steadfast!

"Ouch~"

Even Lance couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain, his face contorted with clenched teeth, revealing the taut muscles of his bare body, like interwoven steel, with skin reddening, even steaming.

The power surged!

But the skin couldn’t hold, the pores oozing crimson sweat, even some muscles burst through the skin, exposing raw flesh.

On the verge of losing control, Lance didn’t hesitate, re-donning the Black Armor to enclose his body, using its power to maintain his form.

The condition inside was unclear, yet the infinite spiritual essence still battered him. A different Transcendent approaching might be distorted by such astonishing spiritual essence.

But Lance persisted, yet even the Black Armor, capable of bearing the void, began fracturing, cracks spreading like forced open by something.

Yet the man’s will was not crushed, and the traits of the Black Armor were activated under the spiritual essence’s wash, don’t forget it was alive.

Suddenly, Dark Flame exploded from the Black Armor, and the sinister armor began dissolving, reshaped by a powerful will, as if forged in blazing fire.

The helmet resembling that of the Limping Walker was removed, reshaped; the eyes of varied sizes arranged into a diamond pattern.

The armor appeared thicker; the uneven meteorite scars vanished, and the tentacle-like reliefs and connections smoothed, with the stray flesh remnants all gone.

Retaining its characteristics while being more humanly pleasing, rather than a person stuffed inside a monster.

The overall look shed a bit of eerie charm, highlighting majesty and dominance.

Gradually, the offering weakened until it disappeared, and Lance enveloped in frenzied spiritual essence survived.

After removing the Black Armor, and as the armor dissolved into Dark Flame, Lance re-emerged.

Baptized by fire, reborn!

His already formidable physique now looked like an artwork, utterly perfect, his serene face carrying a unique allure, inspiring a compelling urge to worship just at a glance.

"Is this the power of Legendary?"

Lance felt the surging power within him, beyond human imagination. What in this world could resist it!

But before he could relish it, subtle disturbances caught his attention.

Something’s amiss! What’s this commotion?

Then dust and bricks fell from above, prompting him into action.

Hamlet’s sewer, modified and excavated by the old ancestor, unmaintained for years, supported by flesh, collapsed once the flesh vanished.

"Damn!"

Lance cursed before scrambling away, as the rumbling sound grew louder, behind him the noise like cascading dominoes triggering a chain reaction.

Thus, a man without clothes sprinted madly through the sewer post-flesh disappearance...

Ahead, Grendel suddenly received a message, with Lance’s desperate roar from the other side.

"It’s collapsing, run!"

Without hesitation, she grabbed Paracelsus, busy dissecting the Giant Devourer, and ran outside without looking back.

"My stuff!"

Only able to shout once before being dragged away, the doctor lamented.

Unsure if Lance buried would die, but they certainly wouldn’t endure, it’d be better to escape rather than cause more trouble.

Being near the exit, they soon crossed the portal, escaping.

Then they involuntarily glanced at the northern rising dust; no doubt, massive collapses already affected the ruins.

Luckily it hadn’t opened yet, otherwise adventurers rushing inside, then buried in the collapse, would directly feed the old ancestor.