After picking up the Stormhawk King's ashes, Bai Shi walked through the door on the terrace.
This door connected the terrace to the second floor of the starting room. At the far end of the second floor, a treasure chest sat, emitting a cool white light. Bai Shi walked up and opened the chest. Inside was another set of ashes, Stormhawk - Tine.
Stormhawk - Tine was the second-strongest warrior in the Stormhawk clan in the distant past, a fierce old hawk that accompanied and served the ancient king until his last moment.
Bai Shi pondered. The items were all collected, so next, he had to face the terrifying Grafted Scion.
Bai Shi turned to leave, but suddenly he heard a rustling sound. It was like something was crawling and rapidly approaching... Before Bai Shi could react, a massive figure crashed down in front of him.
The huge body was a patchwork of countless limbs. To support itself, it had many legs, each with more than one foot. Some legs were even made of several arms twisted and fused together. The grotesque body, made of the fused body parts of different races, was covered by a deep blue peacock feather cloak, looking like a giant arthropod. Only the head and one arm of this bizarre body belonged to the original owner. The handsome, pale noble face on this ugly body looked incredibly bizarre. Two right arms tightly gripped a pair of ceremonial straight swords, while a thick left arm held a beast-engraved golden shield in front of its body.
Bai Shi swallowed hard. He instinctively wanted to run, but he felt his legs had stopped obeying him. The Grafted Scion, which should have been stationed behind the statue of Marika in the distance, why did it come looking for him?
'Was it the storm just now? Or the noise of me breaking the door?'
"Swish," "swish." The Grafted Scion's rapier stabbed without giving Bai Shi time to think. Bai Shi instinctively raised his shield to block, but the immense force knocked his shield aside. The sword in its second hand followed, stabbing directly into his left shoulder armor. Although this strike didn't pierce Bai Shi's armor, the impact instantly made half of his body go numb. Bai Shi drew his straight sword and slashed at the Grafted Scion, but it was firmly blocked by the greatshield.
'The power gap is too big! I'll die if I keep fighting like this!'
He couldn't continue like this. The Grafted Scion was blocking the doorway, preventing him from luring it to an open area. He definitely couldn't beat it in a direct confrontation. In that case... Bai Shi leaned back against the second-floor railing, fully focused on the Grafted Scion's movements. He had to wait for an opportunity. The second move, a horizontal slash with both swords, was dodged by Bai Shi who crouched down to use the difference in their body size. The third move was a powerful shield bash that made the floor tremble. Fortunately, Bai Shi rolled in time, avoiding being turned into a pulp. Amidst the close calls, Bai Shi finally got the move he was waiting for.
The Grafted Scion stood sideways, raised both swords high and pointed them straight at Bai Shi, then suddenly charged forward, thrusting its twin swords like a torrential rain. But Bai Shi was prepared. He rolled and dove beneath the Scion's legs, getting behind it. Using the momentum of its charge, he delivered a 'Shoulder Barge' into it. This hit sent the Grafted Scion crashing through the railing and falling to the first floor.
The Chapel of Anticipation was very cramped, especially for a large-bodied monster like this. The Grafted Scion couldn't get up for a moment after falling. Seizing the opportunity, Bai Shi took out his halberd and, from the second floor, continuously stabbed at the Grafted Scion. Black, foul-smelling blood splattered, and the axe blade occasionally severed some small limbs. The window for a full assault was brief. The Grafted Scion used its shield to protect its vital parts while using its arms and legs to flip itself back up. As it turned over, one of its sword-wielding right arms was exposed from behind the shield. Without a second thought, Bai Shi swung with all his might and managed to chop off that arm. Seeing the Grafted Scion lose an arm, Bai Shi was overjoyed, finally seeing a glimmer of hope for victory.
However, this joy was short-lived. The Grafted Scion, perhaps in anger or pain at losing an arm, let out a loud roar that was filled with power and went straight into Bai Shi's mind. This single roar made blood gush from Bai Shi's seven orifices, and he couldn't even stand steadily. To make matters worse, the Grafted Scion used its huge body to climb back up to the second floor by grabbing onto the floorboards.
Watching the Grafted Scion slowly approach, Bai Shi despaired. Through its furious eyes, Bai Shi had already foreseen his fate: being torn limb from limb and grafted onto the Grafted Scion's body. Bai Shi retreated, wanting to jump off the cliff so he could still find a sliver of hope, just like in the original story. But the roar from before had rattled his brain, and he stumbled back two steps and fell. Lying on the ground, Bai Shi felt a mix of pain and despair. He didn't want to die, but he couldn't live. At the end of the day, he was just too weak. If he truly had the fighting skills of the Tarnished, he wouldn't have been at a disadvantage in a head-on fight, unlike now, where all his calculated moves couldn't lead to victory. The Grafted Scion came before Bai Shi, raised its single remaining sword high, vowing to pierce him through. Bai Shi closed his eyes in despair.
"Swish." "Clang." The anticipated pain of his body being pierced didn't come. Instead, there was a familiar sound. Bai Shi opened his eyes, and a black panel appeared before him. It was the interface of the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow trainer! And the rapier was now blocked by his body, unable to go any further.
'Function 1 - Invincible Mode (Auto-activating, remaining time 2 seconds).'
Bai Shi smiled with relief. He knew he was going to live.