Peaceful Life System: I only need to live peacefully-Chapter 138: Endgame (5)

"Why does it sound eerily familiar?" Clara whispered in Riku’s mind.

Riku already had more or less confirmed his early hunch based on Clara’s reaction, yet he did not say anything and silently eyed the projection.

"Your journey ends here, Riku," the Hooded man’s projection continued. "For this door cannot be opened. No one has been inside for millennia. Behind it lies the beating heart of a fallen god, a being from another world, sealed away by forces lost to time. We of the Society do not control it. We merely... study it. We collect the faint aura of power that bleeds through the seal, amplifying it, refining it into the glorious gift of the Creep."

"And what of the people you sacrificed for this ’gift’?" Riku’s voice was cold. "The families torn apart, the lives destroyed by your plague? Is that a worthy sacrifice for your ’knowledge’?"

The hooded man let out a soft, condescending laugh. "Humanity? Morals? Such quaint, fleeting concepts. hahaha."

"Boy, you see a plague; I see a crucible. A necessary trial to weed out the weak and elevate the strong. The suffering of a few thousand insignificant lives is a paltry price to pay for unlocking the next stage of human evolution. I am not destroying humanity, Riku. I am forging it into something greater, something that will not fear gods, but become them."

The man gestured grandly. "This is the end of your road. There is no key. There is no entrance."

Riku listened patiently. When the projection finished its speech, he simply shrugged.

"That’s a shame."

Then, he reached into his satchel and pulled out the Mysterious Key. It pulsed with a soft light, a perfect counter-harmony to the pulsating runes on the door.

The projection of the hooded man went rigid. The calm, condescending demeanor shattered, replaced by a surge of pure, unadulterated alarm. "That key! Impossible! Where did you get that?!"

He didn’t wait for an answer.

"Vyon!"

"He has the key! Stop him! Stop him now!"

And with that, the projection vanished.

"I knew you would find your way here, ’Healer’."

A chillingly familiar voice echoed from the tunnel behind them. Vyon stepped out of the shadows. He looked haggard from his defeat at the bell tower, but his eyes burned with a new, terrifying obsession.

"Shouldn’t you be on the surface, helping with that giant?" Riku asked calmly, turning to face him.

Vyon laughed, a wild, unhinged sound. "The giant is a diversion! A beautiful, chaotic spectacle to keep the flies busy. But my Lord granted me a singular honor. He knew you were the true threat. He gave me one final chance to eliminate you myself. I left the chaos above for the others. You... you are mine."

Riku smirked, a look of pitying amusement on his face. "Another chance? Let’s review your record, shall we, Vyon? First, you run from me in the Cistern after getting a taste of real power. Then, you fail to execute a ten-year-old girl and get thoroughly dismantled in front of a crowd. Your Lord must have great faith in your ability to fail upwards."

"Silence!" Vyon snarled, his face contorting with rage at the reminder of his humiliation. "You know nothing!"

"Oh, I know you talk a big game," Riku continued, his tone light and mocking. "But every time we’ve met, you’ve ended up broken and bleeding. Is this your last chance before your ’Lord’ finds a more competent dog to do his bidding?"

The taunt hit its mark. Vyon’s face flushed a deep crimson, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists. "I will show you the true meaning of power!" frёewebηovel.cѳm

He pulled out a small, pulsating, crystalline vial filled with a thick, swirling crimson liquid—the same pure essence powering the giant.

"You think you fought the Creep’s true power?" Vyon snarled. "You fought a diluted poison meant for cattle! This... this is the Lord’s blessing. The power of evolution!"

He uncorked the vial and drank the entire contents in one go. He screamed, his body convulsing violently. His muscles bulged and tore through his uniform, his skin cracking and re-forming into hardened crimson plates. He was no longer human; he was a smaller, more agile, and far more intelligent version of the Creep Giant.

The abomination that was once Vyon roared and charged, his attacks now incredibly fast and powerful. He didn’t bother with his old sword. The crimson plates on his arms extended into jagged, bone-like claws. He swung them wildly, each slash cutting through the air with a vicious hiss, leaving trails of red energy. Riku, unarmed, was immediately on the defensive.

He fired a quick Mana Bolt, but the magical projectile sizzled and dissolved as it entered Vyon’s swirling crimson aura, just like his Solar Flare had against the giant. It was absorbed without effect.

"Damn it," Riku was frustrated.

"Haha, see that? This is the true power of the Creep. Something the likes of you would never understand."

"Your magic won’t save you here!" Vyon roared, lunging again, his speed terrifying.

Riku was forced to rely purely on evasion and defense.

"Take this."

Holy Bind [-50 Goodwill Points]

Chains of light sprang forward from Riku, aiming to bind Vyon; however, they sizzled and dissolved the moment they touched Vyon’s new, potent creep aura.

"Haha, is that all you got?"

Vyon immediately countered with a lunging attack, his claws aiming at Riku’s neck.

Blink [-10 Goodwill Points]

Riku was forced to rely on Blink to evade, but this time, Vyon was able to keep up. Riku raised his Mana Shield to block, but each blocked blow sent cracks through his shield.

[A/N - for some of the skills that are used in the course of battle, the goodwill point calculation will be off-screen]

"Is this all your ’divine’ power can do?" Vyon taunted, his voice a monstrous rasp. "Run and hide? I will tear down this door and become one with the Source! I will be a god!"

Riku realized he was in a deadlock. He could not harm Vyon directly with his current spells, and his defenses were beginning to wane under the relentless assault.

Vyon, enraged by Riku’s constant evasion, decided to end it.

He feigned a powerful overhead slash with his right claw, forcing Riku to raise his cracking Mana Shield to block. But it was a feint. Vyon’s left claw, moving with blinding speed, whipped around in a low arc, aimed directly at Arnold’s protective bubble.

"If I can’t kill you," Vyon shrieked triumphantly, "I’ll kill your fellow human."

"Let us see how you like that!"

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