Chapter 214: Template Reversal — Ghost Rider
The biological war vehicle, the "Mammoth," quickly deployed through rapid deployment, had a strength attribute of 35 points, noticeably weaker than Prince Allen's 45 points. One could even say there was an order of magnitude difference between them.
However, Cheng Tian had exploited a small bug when preparing to use rapid deployment: he had the Mammoth, which had already received Cheng Tian's attack signal, accelerate its run in advance within the confined but sufficiently spacious void garage, which was large enough for war chariots and elephants to move around.
Then, without braking, as it ran from one end of the garage to the other, he quickly released it.
With acceleration against a stationary target, and a prepared mind against an unprepared one, Prince Allen, who was caught completely off guard, took a powerful Elephant Knight Kick.
The Duke was sent flying, but the war elephant was not entirely unscathed either. After all, it was 10 points weaker than Allen in strength, and it was a physical confrontation against Silver Armor, so it inevitably suffered some backlash.
Cheng Tian's prostrate position was perfectly within the gaps of the war elephant's four legs, allowing him to avoid being trampled. Before either side could stabilize, Cheng Tian's next command was issued.
The war elephant Mammoth's nasal cavity churned, its trunk contracted, and then a large mass of colorless, translucent liquid sprayed out from its trunk, targeting the rolling Prince Allen.
The liquid splashed onto the Silver Armor, and soon a slight smoke, as if from a chemical reaction, appeared, accompanied by a pungent odor—
Strong Acid Nasal Gun: Deals 25 points of acid damage per second to targets continuously exposed to the war elephant's stomach acid, and is more likely to cause irreparable corrosive effects on metal constructs.
Because the Silver Armor's attack target transfer effect was still active, the Prince's face was spared the terrible consequence of being disfigured by the strong acid. However, his Silver Armor inevitably developed various ugly and dark corrosive marks!
As the saying goes, every object has its nemesis. The Prince's Silver Armor had defense so strong against light weapons and bladed weapons that it was almost immune to damage, but it could not resist the Mammoth's highly concentrated stomach acid, which could digest most substances.
Allen's title was Prince Allen, and his Silver Armor indeed contained some magical mithril, a necessary component for accelerating magic conduction and facilitating enchantment. However, the main material of the armor was primarily magic steel ingots, which offered both strength and toughness.
Theoretically, ordinary acidic substances would not easily corrode Allen's armor. However, this was the war elephant Mammoth's stomach acid, which could even digest ore.
This Strong Acid Nasal Gun caused little damage but was extremely humiliating. It directly transformed Allen's Silver Armor, which also symbolized his perfect princely demeanor, into an unsightly mess that could not be presented in public.
Allen! Furious!
Although the armored Allen had a strength attribute of 45 points, the structure of his armor made it difficult for him to perform certain movements like a normal person.
It was like some people who, after long-term training or medication, develop abnormally strong upper body muscles, which then hinder them from reaching a small piece of paper stuck to their spine on their back.
One of the things Allen couldn't do was get up like a normal person… As Allen lay on his back, he suddenly pressed down with his hands, still gripping his weapons. A powerful burst of fighting qi erupted beneath him, and his incredibly heavy body actually shot up to the height of a small three-story building!
Then, as Allen arced downwards, he once again assumed the Aerial Crushing Strike posture with his knees together, heading straight for the war elephant.
Although disadvantaged in strength, the Mammoth showed no fear, directly raising its neck and thrusting its pure white, incredibly hard tusks directly towards Allen's knees.
Buzz!
A powerful impact airflow spread out in all directions from the center point of the Aerial Crushing Strike and the tusk impact!
And Cheng Tian, who had just rolled out from beneath the elephant's belly, was once again blown away for the third time!
Being too light was like this; when strong power holders dueled, lightweights like him were destined to be knocked back repeatedly.
But just as Cheng Tian adjusted his body position in the air for the third time to ensure a safe landing, a halo suddenly appeared beneath him, then rapidly expanded and enveloped Cheng Tian. The halo also quickly changed from white to purple.
Prince Allen, who had the upper hand in the strength judgment and won with a skill against a normal attack, shattering the war elephant Mammoth's tusks on the spot with his knee crush, aimed the meteor hammer, which should have landed on the Mammoth's skull, at the flying Cheng Tian, and activated "Purifying Light" the moment he landed.
Allen, whose Silver Armor had been corroded, had regained his composure. He now realized that his entanglement with the war elephant and wyvern was a waste of time; only by killing Cheng Tian as quickly as possible was what he should be doing.
[You have been attacked by Prince Allen's 'Purifying Light'—]
[Detecting that you possess 5% Sun God Gem Shard, Pseudo Sunfire Blessing, sunfire mask—]
[You have partially offset the attack effect of 'Purifying Light'. A random piece of your equipped gear will be affected by 'Silverization' and temporarily lose all its ability effects.]
[Your equipped "Balfour's Pride and Obsession" has entered a temporary silverized state. In this state, the weapon will temporarily lose all its additional effects for 5 minutes.]
Although the Purifying Light effect attached to the Sun King's Crown had lost its ability to turn people directly into gold coins, and had even transformed into a silvering technique that could only decompose equipment, it exchanged for faster casting speed and an effect that was difficult to resist.
Cheng Tian, who seemingly rolled out of the purple light's embrace but was actually hit, found his twin swords had turned a pure silver color, like precious objects. While they retained their durability and attack panel, all their additional effects were sealed, turning them into plain twin swords with decent attack power.
He could no longer use them to parry.
Cheng Tian even suspected that the Prince might have used some cost to change the random effect into a targeted one.
"No more tricks?"
Glancing at the unconscious war elephant, Allen, knowing he couldn't completely kill such a powerful creature in a short time, spoke to Cheng Tian as if letting out a sigh of relief.
However, Cheng Tian, whose weapons were unusable, sighed, plunged his twin swords into the ground, and then said,
"Hmm, indeed, there are none left, but I want to take a gamble."
Cheng Tian, who had a fleeting thought of using the Fire Moth Wings but then dismissed it, said,
"Gamble?"
"Yes, a gamble."
Saying this, Cheng Tian raised his hand towards Allen, and 50 points of his mana bar instantly drained—
Hundred Demons' Night Parade.
Allen, still maintaining his vigilance, only felt a mental impact that lasted for just an instant before disappearing. With his magical expertise, he immediately recognized it as the backlash from Cheng Tian casting a skill on himself.
The Hundred Demons' Night Parade, which was originally ineffective against leader units, caused immediate backlash when forcibly cast on Allen as the target. At this moment, the effect of the Hundred Demons' Night Parade had already acted upon Cheng Tian himself.
Under Allen's gaze, Cheng Tian's body began to twitch uncontrollably, and it was the kind of twitching that clearly indicated he was in some kind of pain.
Hot!
So hot!
Cheng Tian, suffering as if every cell was enduring a baptism of flames, moved forward with trembling steps, one foot after another, letting out uncontrolled, agonizing cries.
But to Allen, this scream was quite familiar—it was the sound made by criminals subjected to immolation just before their death.
Thick smoke and fierce flames began to erupt from within Cheng Tian's body, from the inside out.
Allen, who had initially intended to intervene, couldn't help but stop his movements, because he saw Cheng Tian's exposed hair, skin, and muscles all being gradually consumed by the flames bursting from within. He even smelled the scorched odor of a living person burning.
What is he doing!? Self-immolation?
Allen couldn't understand.
And when the sunfire mask covering Cheng Tian's face also "burned away," revealing a terrifying face beneath—a pure white skull with no trace of flesh, yet enveloped by a ball of fire—even the well-traveled Allen couldn't help but take half a step back.
"HELL~~~"
This was the first sound the flaming skull made when it opened its mouth.
[You have suffered the backlash effect of 'Hundred Demons' Night Parade'. You will be forcibly transformed into a 'Yokai' or 'Demon' consistent with your current state.]
[Detecting that you possess additional skills 'Soul Salvage' and 'Chariot Master'—]
[Detecting that your currently loaded template is 'Holy Grail Knight', which primarily uses Holy Light to dispel evil—]
[Detecting that you have actively developed the physical ability 'Whip Mastery' from template loading remnants—]
[A template reversal phenomenon has occurred.]
[You have reloaded an unknown-grade unknown template from the blueprint of the 'Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite' world — Ghost Rider / Johnny Blaze.]