Floating Island - Triple S Talent - Chapter 473

Chapter 473: Divine blood
A thunderous impact echoed within the pyramid. But unlike what he had hoped, the attack produced nothing more than a faint tremor on the barrier’s surface. Durnhardt clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He scanned the area, searching for a crack, a way out. But before he could form a plan, something appeared before him—or rather, someone.

Valerian stood there. His black robe rippled softly, as though merging with the surrounding darkness. His silver eyes gleamed, and at the corner of his lips, a victorious smirk took shape.

“Now, you really won’t be able to escape,” he said mockingly.

His eyes shone brighter, revealing the deep satisfaction of someone relishing his enemy’s despair.

Without delay, black energy condensed once more in Valerian’s hand. He stepped forward, and with a swift motion, thrust his hand through the air, aiming straight for Durnhardt’s chest.

Durnhardt didn’t stay still. In a flash, he opened a rift and teleported to another location. Though he couldn’t escape the pyramid, he could still move within it.

In an instant, his figure appeared at the top of the pyramid. But before he could catch his breath, his eyes locked onto Valerian—already standing right in front of him, as if he had predicted the move from the start.

Tsk!

Durnhardt flinched. Something sharp had pierced his chest.

He looked down and saw the tip of Valerian’s sword protruding from his back. But instead of pain, a smirk curled at the edge of his lips. Slowly, he stepped back, leaving Valerian with his hand now drenched in purple blood.

“Blood curse?” Valerian muttered, narrowing his eyes. He chuckled, cold and mocking. “It’s useless.”

Without hesitation, he raised his left hand and sliced off his right. Black blood spurted for a moment, but before the first drop touched the ground, a new hand began to form—whole and perfect. Dark energy swirled around him once again, the law of darkness pulsing within his grasp.

Durnhardt watched with a serious expression. His brows furrowed, thoughts racing as he began to formulate a new strategy.

Strands of green energy suddenly burst from Durnhardt’s body, slithering through the air like worms racing toward Valerian, who stood not far away. In an instant, the strands wove into a complex net, wrapping and binding Valerian like a spider’s web ensnaring its prey.

However, Valerian only sneered. “Pointless!” he shouted. With a single slash of his black aura sword, the entire web was severed effortlessly, scattering into fragments of energy that vanished into the air.

“You’ll die if you don’t get serious,” he continued. Without hesitation, Valerian dashed forward, his sword swinging powerfully, aiming straight for Durnhardt’s chest. The slash was so fast the surrounding air trembled.

Durnhardt attempted to open a spatial rift, and his body vanished instantly. But, as had happened before, Valerian was inexplicably always there—waiting like a shadow that could not be outrun. As soon as Durnhardt reappeared at another location, Valerian’s black sword had already pierced through his body.

Purple blood sprayed into the air.

“Ugh!” Durnhardt coughed, the metallic taste filling his mouth. His chest was split cleanly, almost as if his body were nothing more than a thin sheet of paper effortlessly sliced through.

Yet instead of crying out in pain, Durnhardt smiled faintly. “You’re right…” his voice rasped, but still carried a calm undertone. “I’ve been at the top for too long.”

Facing Valerian, who still looked at him with triumphant eyes, Durnhardt’s halved body slowly began to knit itself back together. The process was so swift, it could be seen clearly with the naked eye. His flesh stitched itself seamlessly, leaving only a few drops of blood falling to the ground.

“But it seems you forgot who I am,” Durnhardt added, this time with a small, almost mocking smirk.

Valerian’s expression, once filled with satisfaction, began to shift. His face hardened, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

His pupils contracted as he looked down. There, right beneath his feet, a strange pattern began to glow faintly—a ritual circle, adorned with a massive skull at its center.

Valerian felt a chill run through his entire body.

“Heh… now you realize?” Durnhardt asked casually, as if they were merely chatting.

A human skull appeared before him, floating in the void. His pale fingers touched its forehead with a motion that was almost gentle.

In an instant, time seemed to slow for Valerian. His breath caught. A terrible premonition surged through him, forcing him to act without thinking.

“No…” he muttered, then shouted in a panic.

Without hesitation, he opened a spatial rift, shattering the square-pyramid prison he had created himself.

Crack!

The pyramid fractured, then shattered into pieces. Dark smoke exploded outward, spreading rapidly.

Outside, though the scene was still obscured by dense darkness, everyone watching could feel the drastic shift in energy around them. The tension in the air thickened, as if something monumental had just occurred within the black mist.

In the void, Valerian reappeared. But his form was now vastly different. His body, once a faint shadow without a face, began to grow. As though the boundary between soul and flesh had vanished, he transformed into a terrifying giant.

Valerian’s chest pulsed darkly. A large black stone slowly emerged from his body, floating in front of him, radiating a dense aura that weighed heavily on everything around it.

Lein, watching from a distance, swallowed hard, feeling something he had never witnessed before. “What is he doing…?” he muttered, eyes fixed on Valerian’s drastic transformation.

Luxador, standing beside him on the ship, observed the scene with a tense expression. “I told you, Lord Lein. Durnhardt’s curse isn’t something to take lightly. If you ignore it, your body will be cursed to death,” he said in a low voice. Though he wore a faint smile, the worry in his eyes was unmistakable.

Beneath Valerian’s spirit form, a strange pattern began to form in the void. The ritual circle glowed faintly, and in its center, a black vortex slowly spun, growing larger. The sight reminded Lein of a raging whirlpool in the middle of the sea—except this one existed in the emptiness of the cosmos, without end.

It didn’t take long before something emerged from the vortex.

A massive skull slowly surfaced from the darkness, its eyes glowing with intense purple light, shaking the very fabric of space around it. In an instant, purple chains shot out from within the vortex, rattling and moving like living creatures in search of prey.

“You won’t be able to escape,” Durnhardt’s voice echoed through the void.

Lein turned and saw Durnhardt standing not far away, watching Valerian with a satisfied gaze. His eyes reflected absolute certainty that Valerian would not escape his fate.

“You may have purged your blood essence from your body,” he continued, his voice filled with confidence. “But you forgot something.”

With a calm motion, Durnhardt raised a small vial filled with thick red liquid.

Valerian’s eyes widened at the sight. “Divine blood?! Where did you get that?!” he shouted, his voice laced with shock and fury.

Lein, who had been silently observing all along, now began to understand what was happening.

Divine blood…

If Durnhardt truly possessed divine blood, then the situation was far worse than they had imagined. Divine blood could amplify any blood essence it was mixed with. That meant the drop of Valerian’s blood that Durnhardt had previously taken had now been enhanced many times over. With it, Durnhardt could activate his curse with no way for Valerian to escape.

“Damn it!”

Valerian growled, his rage exploding. His first instinct was to attack Durnhardt immediately, to slash him into nothing. But he held back—something else was more urgent.

His gaze shifted downward. Durnhardt’s curse formation was nearly complete. Now he understood—not just his body was trapped, but his entire existence had been locked in place. No matter how far he ran, even to the edge of the universe, it would be meaningless. This curse would chase him down, no matter how fast he fled.

Slowly, the purple chains began creeping along his body, binding him tightly like serpents closing in on their prey.

Valerian only snorted.

With a burst of his power, the chains snapped and broke off with ease. But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, the same chains reappeared—more of them, stronger than before. And not just that—black orbs began to emerge around him, relentlessly absorbing his dark energy.

Slash!

A strike from his black sword shot out, slicing through one of the black orbs in midair. But instead of being destroyed, the orb split in two, then four, and kept multiplying.

Valerian clenched his jaw, his colossal spirit form beginning to lose stability. The chains wrapping around him grew tighter, and the black orbs continued draining his energy, weakening him little by little.

In the distance, Lein watched sharply. He noticed that the curse skull of Durnhardt was taking a long time to fully activate. “Why is it taking so long?” he wondered silently.

But before he could think further, a voice spoke.

“We must go. Leave this place.”

Lein turned. The elder of Skete Invictus—a man in a purple robe who had been silent until now—spoke in a calm tone, as if he already knew what was about to unfold.

“They’re going to fight to the death after this,” he murmured, before raising his hand.

In an instant, the space around them distorted. Lein felt his body pulled by an invisible force. In the blink of an eye, the scenery around him changed. They were still in the vast void, but this time, the intensity of Valerian and Durnhardt’s battle was no longer present.

Lein was stunned. “What…? We’ve left the manifestation zone?” he thought, slightly panicked.

He turned his gaze to Luxador, who now stepped forward, addressing everyone aboard the ship.

“We are currently far from the manifestation zone,” Luxador explained firmly. “But the Elder remains vigilant for our sake. So stay ready, no matter what happens.”