Chapter Ninety-Nine: When the Flower of Sin Blooms (Twelve)
A sudden jolt of surprise shot through me.
My mind was still a bit foggy, but the moment I sensed the movement, my body reacted instantly. The crimson glow in my eyes faded away, replaced by an icy blue. I swiftly raised my right hand, and the temperature of the air around me plummeted, a chilling frost rapidly spreading out from beneath my feet!
Whoosh—
The biting cold rushed forth, instantly covering the flaming cluster of fire on the ground. The tongues of infernal fire flickered and danced in the frost for a moment before being extinguished, plunging my vision into a pitch-black void. The darkness swallowed those writhing vines whole; I couldn’t see if they were all frozen solid by the Power of Frost Order…
So, I took two steps back, cupped my ear to listen closely.
…Hmm?
It seemed quiet…
Did I freeze them all?
I guess so…
Even though I hadn’t meant to exert any force, it was enough to instantly turn an average person into a popsicle… dealing with a few plants should be more than enough.
Hmm…
Indeed, there were no more sounds.
“Tch…”
I scoffed, curling my lip.
Is that all? Just a bunch of plants, nothing to be afraid of…
With that thought, the blue light in my eyes gradually faded away.
I tilted my head and glanced at the torch in my hand—of course, it was already extinguished. If it could put out infernal fire, then regular flames stood no chance. Now, the surroundings were utterly steeped in darkness.
Wow, it’s really dark here…
I shivered involuntarily and, without thinking, I aimed the cotton at the end of the torch and let out a small flame, blowing it forward.
“Pff!”
A bright, bl**d-red glow suddenly erupted from my puffy cheeks. With a whoosh, the cotton at the torch was reignited. The instant the light surged forth from the darkness, my heart finally felt a bit steadier.
…Aha!
I can actually use infernal fire like this; no one ever thought of it before… What a little genius I am!
Spitting fire like this has to be pretty dramatic… If I ever get the chance, I’ll imitate that fiery kid from the Wu-Ah-Lu-Ha-Lu or Godzilla, scorching Angels to a crisp—
Flickity flickity flick….
!
Suddenly, while I was lost in my daydream, the crimson flames just kindled on the torch, and before I could even ascertain my surroundings, the rustling sound, reminiscent of serpents slithering, came back from all directions.
!?
Vines…
My heart skipped a beat.
Those pesky things, are they not frozen at all?!
I hurriedly focused, fixing my gaze ahead. Those vines hiding in the dark corners suddenly began to wriggle again. They had certainly undergone a freezing baptism; some leaves still sported ice crystals, but it seemed to make little difference. Like countless winding serpents, they quickly converged toward me.
The Power of Sin…
In haste, I swung my right hand once more.
Whoosh—
The biting frost expanded from my feet again, and this time, it was much more intense than before.
Crack crack crack!
The terrifying frost swirled around me, accompanied by the crisp sound of ice compressing. The floor immediately crystallized into all sizes of diamond-like ice blocks. Ice crystals fluttered through my line of sight, and the ultra-low temperature seemed to freeze even the air in an instant.
In my peripheral vision, the previously bl**d-red vines creeping out from the darkness were swiftly engulfed by the chilling air. The white frost began to creep up their delicate branches, their movements visibly stalling. Yet, to my surprise, the extreme cold still couldn’t completely freeze them; they continued to inch closer at a slow but steady pace.
What’s going on…
The Power of Sin within these vines was alarmingly thick…
I frowned, my expression turning serious.
Why is this happening…
They had stopped moving earlier…
Why the sudden shift…
Do these plants have a thing for light?
No…
Wait a minute.
They seem to have reacted to the infernal fire…
I pondered for a moment and immediately tossed the torch away.
The torch, ablaze with infernal fire, traced a bright parabolic arc in front of me and thudded down onto the bluestone slab not far from my feet. Instinctively, I began to back away. Almost simultaneously, those bl**d-red mosses lurking in the crevices of the stones twisted and squirmed like grotesque insect appendages, coming to life as they desperately sought the flame.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the countless bl**d-red vines that had originally been converging on me abruptly shifted their direction, all slithering towards the torch’s glowing scarlet light.
Just as I thought…
These plants seem to only react to infernal fire…
Is it because the power of infernal fire shares a common origin with them?
I stood my ground, letting my right hand fall to my side as I slowly retracted the released Power of Order.
Let’s observe the situation…
The dancing ice crystals fell around me, and the power of frost dissipated with the wind. I stopped trying to obstruct the strange vines’ movement, maintaining a safe distance and watching quietly as they navigated around the various ice blocks on the floor. One vine, then another, relentlessly lunged towards the burning red flame…
It was quite a bizarre scene.
Like moths to a flame, these simple plants were leaping forward without care, eager to meet their demise in the fire; yet they seemed unscathed, as if the infernal fire—far hotter than regular flames—yet left not a single scorch mark on their delicate stems, feeling completely indifferent…
Moreover, it appeared they were absorbing the flames.
Countless vines pressed onto the fire, and in mere seconds, the infernal fire was on the verge of collapse. The burning light transformed into something alive and dynamic; as more vines came rushing in, the very first few to touch the flames extracted countless scarlet fire points from the dwindling flames, those points racing along their elongated “bodies” into the distant darkness, slowly vanishing…
Hiss—
With a light sound, the fire was completely extinguished.
Around me…
Once again, I was plunged into utter darkness.
…Uh-oh.
I’m out of torches…
After dazing for two seconds, the first thought that popped into my head was that I absolutely needed to create a new light source; it was more important than anything else.
Infernal fire is definitely off the table…
Guess it’s back to the old methods.
Crack crack crack!
The sound of shattering ice echoed once more in the dark. I quickly conjured five fist-sized ice orbs floating above me, emitting a faint blue light of order, barely illuminating a radius of four to five meters.
This weak light, of course, couldn’t compare to a torch…
But at least it allowed me to see a little clearer, my sense of safety shooting up instantly.
“Phew—”
I took a deep breath.
After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the dim light and I stepped forward again. A few steps in, I could vaguely make out those plants.
After the infernal fire was extinguished, they seemed to have completely lost their ability to move, freezing in place as if still lunging for the flames. Some even held their tips up like poisonous snakes ready to strike, but suddenly froze there, completely still.
On the stone slab beneath, dozens of vines tightly coiled around the already extinguished torch. They weren’t moving anymore, and they looked oddly ordinary—just some strange red plants.
