17: Chapter 17 The Emperor's Wrath! The S-Rank Ghost Kneels On the Spot

This statement sounded less like mockery and more like the disdain a superior being holds for a sewer rat.

The Skin Flayer's fragile nerve instantly snapped.

The obsession in his eyes instantly transformed into furious rage at being humiliated by an ant. A non-human roar erupted from his throat, and the obsidian scalpel in his hand slashed out a mournful black line, aiming directly for Pei Duo's face!

Fast! Too fast!

Pei Duo could even clearly see the bleeding muscle fibers beneath the human skin mask.

Am I going to die?

Instinct overtook thought. She squeezed her eyes shut, and her hands, like a drowning person grasping driftwood, fiercely thrust the dirty black jade pendant on her chest forward!

"Clang—!"

A crisp, resonant clash of metal and gold exploded!

There were no flashy light effects, only hard-on-hard absolute defense.

The Skin Flayer felt as if his wrist had struck an indestructible sheet of fine steel. A massive recoil force surged madly down his arm.

"Crack!"

The obsidian scalpel, rumored to be capable of cutting souls, shattered into dust on the spot!

"Ah—!!"

The Skin Flayer screamed, his protective ghostly aura dissipated, and his mortal flesh was completely exposed.

The entire being was struck as if by a cement truck driving head-on, flying back over three meters before smashing violently into the full-length mirror in the dressing room.

The livestream instantly exploded, dense bullet comments covering the screen.

[ (IP: Dragon Country) Holy crap! Is this the value of the Ancestral Dragon?! This isn't just defense, it's armor with built-in hundredfold counter-damage! ]

[ (IP: USA) This is unscientific! What level of sacred relic is that broken stone? Even the Shield of God is no better than this! ]

[ (IP: Japan) Baka... That's obsidian! It actually broke? ]

The Skin Flayer climbed out of the pile of broken glass. His mask was shredded, but he did not retreat.

The pain completely ignited the ferocity of the S-rank monster.

The ragged trench coat on his body suddenly puffed out. Bizarre flesh tumors bulged on his back, and his limb joints twisted backward with a "crack-crack" sound. The entire figure crouched on the ground like a giant mutated spider.

"Perfect skin... Even if it's shattered... I must peel it off..."

The next second.

"Whoosh!"

He left four deep bloody finger marks on the wall and transformed into a gray-black afterimage, bouncing crazily between the ceiling and the wardrobe, moving so fast that the naked eye could only capture a blurry black line.

Lean Tall Man and the others hiding in the corner were so scared their teeth chattered. Was this really something humans could handle?

"Die!"

The Skin Flayer dove down from the dead corner of the ceiling, carrying a strange spiraling force, aiming directly for the back of Pei Duo's neck!

"This is the moment."

Xu Mo, behind the screen, pushed up his remaining half-frame of glasses. His eyes were as calm as if he were dissecting a frog.

Right on the Skin Flayer's inevitable path of landing, a nearly invisible transparent thread suddenly tightened in the air.

It was the high-carbon steel string he had just removed from the dilapidated piano.

The Skin Flayer was completely focused on Pei Duo and paid no attention to his feet.

"Puchi!"

The immense kinetic energy from the high-speed dash instantly severed his left calf muscle with the thin piano wire, embedding it deeply into the bone facing him!

"Aooo—!!"

The Skin Flayer's movement suddenly stalled. Losing balance, he fell heavily in front of Pei Duo like a kite with a broken string, landing flat on his face.

"Move!"

Xu Mo hissed.

Lin Sa, who had been poised and ready, plummeted from the ceiling beam like a hawk. Her pitch-black dagger aimed straight for the Skin Flayer's knife-wielding right wrist!

If they disabled his hand, half the threat from this monster would be gone!

However, the brutality of an s-rank instance monster was far beyond imagination.

Even with a broken leg and stunned from the fall, the Skin Flayer's combat instinct remained terrifying. In a flash of lightning, he endured the intense pain, turning his left hand into a claw, carrying a foul, fishy stench, and grabbing back towards Lin Sa's throat in mid-air where she couldn't brace herself!

This was a mutual destruction tactic!

Lin Sa's pupils contracted violently.

She could sever his tendons, but her own neck would instantly be torn apart.

There was no time to change moves!

The breath of death rushed toward her.

Just at this critical juncture.

A seemingly joking line from her brother's letter flashed through Pei Duo's mind— "Shove the jade pendant toward your face, and they will show some respect."

What if they don't show respect?

A desperate courage originating from the depths of her bloodline made Pei Duo fiercely raise the black jade pendant and shout with all her might at the monster just inches away:

"Kneel!!"

Boom—!

These two words, though trembling slightly, seemed to invoke some ancient, grand rule.

The black jade pendant suddenly grew hot, and a dense imperial pressure swept across the entire area.

That was not ordinary ghostly energy; it was the severity of Qin law, the dominance of "standardizing script and axle widths"!

The Skin Flayer's ghostly claw, which was about to touch Lin Sa's throat, froze stiffly in mid-air.

His pupils trembled violently. It was the instinctive fear in the soul of an inferior facing a supreme superior.

His originally hunched spine seemed to be pressed down by Mount Tai, cracking audibly.

"Thud!"

Without any room for resistance.

The Skin Flayer's knees buckled, and he crashed heavily to the ground, pressing his once arrogant head firmly against the carpet!

Taking advantage of this momentary freeze.

"Sizzle—"

Xu Mo flashed out from behind the screen, flicked his wrist, and poured the murky liquid from the wide-mouthed bottle in his hand over the monster's head!

It was strong acid!

"Aaaahhh!!"

The Skin Flayer let out a piercing scream. The strong acid instantly corroded the human skin mask, and the rotten face beneath it sizzled as it burned.

Lin Sa landed and rolled, brandishing her dagger.

"Thwack! Thwack!"

Two muffled sounds: she precisely severed the tendons in both wrists!

Immediately after, she circled behind him and stomped her tactical boot hard into the back of the Skin Flayer's knee pit.

"Crack! Crack!"

In just five seconds.

The S-rank evil spirit, which had been ferociously rampant moments ago, now lay like a pile of mud paralyzed at Pei Duo's feet, its limbs disabled and its face festering. It could only twitch, having lost all power to resist.

The entire area fell silent.

Lean Tall Man and the others had their jaws practically hitting the floor.

Three seemingly frail humans disabled an S-rank evil spirit without injury in under two minutes?

Did that make any sense?!

[ (IP: Dragon Country) 66666! This coordination was amazing! Xu Mo's brain, Lin Sa's knife, and Pei Duo's aura! ]

[ (IP: Sun Never Sets) Too brutal... But I like it! One word of 'Kneel,' and the Ghost King bows! ]

[ (IP: Dragon Country) Who said Duo Duo was just a pretty face? This is top-tier crowd control! A full-field support C, understand?! ]

Xu Mo dropped the empty bottle and pulled out a bloodstained handkerchief to cover his nose and mouth, blocking the acidic stench.

He walked up to the Skin Flayer, placed his leather shoe on the monster's chest, and pushed up his glasses from a superior height.

"Now we can have a proper talk about the secrets of the manor, and... how you want to die."

However.

The bloody, mangled monster did not beg for mercy.

His eyes, reddened by the strong acid, stared fixedly at the jade pendant in Pei Duo's hand. A frantic, bellows-like laugh escaped his throat.

"Heh heh... Heh..."

"Idiots... You group of... damned sacrifices..."

He used his severed wrists to tremble and point at his own jacket pocket, roaring with all his might:

"How dare... How dare you be rude to the Count's honored guest..."

"I have... an invitation! I was invited to the banquet!!"

What?

Xu Mo frowned, stomped down with his foot, and bent down to pull out a pitch-black, gold-stamped card from the monster's bloody pocket.

He opened the card, and a faint scent of blood wafted out.

It was written in elegant cursive script:

[ Sincerely invite the great Skin Artist to attend tonight's "Carnival Feast." ]

The hand holding the card froze.

He suddenly looked up at Lin Sa and Pei Duo, his face instantly turning pale.

This wretch, covered in filth and only hiding in secret passages... wasn't actually a rat sneaking in?

He was the real guest!