The Innkeeper

Chapter 1740: Second form

“You’re really, really annoying, you know that?” Lex asked as he forced himself to stand up. Although he wanted to give Kaemon his privacy, in order to give him his privacy, he was forced to spread his awareness.

The first thing he saw was Kaemon, his entire hand grasping a chalice much too small for his actual hand. He was frozen still, as if locked in some kind of invisible or mental battle, and clearly wasn’t in the state of mind to defend himself against any attackers.

Lex admitted he was fairly impressed with Kaemon’s guts, that he actually touched the chalice. Lex was fairly certain that thing could just suck the soul right out of them.

“Did you think you could win from me, earthling? Did your momentary wins grant you a sense of security? Don’t you realize you can’t escape me, no matter how many times you defeat me?”

Lex turned back and looked at the Dark Knight with the most disgusting expression. He couldn’t care less about the knight’s increased aura and power, nor did he care about the threats he was making. Lex was just annoyed because he now had to deal with this stalker while he fought off the remains of a migraine, as well as endured the burden of resisting the chalice’s influence.

The Dark Knight, however, seemed to think that Lex was incensed at the timing of his approach. After all, he had arrived when Lex was the weakest.

“Come on, earthling. Prepare yourself. We shall spend an eternity here together, once you become one with Abaddon.”

Lex groaned.

“Just shut up already,” Lex said, and studied the Dark Knight more seriously. Over the years of fighting Z, both the Dark Knight and Z had grown stronger. The aura he showed now, however, was much stronger – almost as if deeper within Abaddon he unlocked more power. He was still within the realm of Earth Immortal, but if he faced Z now, Lex did not think Z could win.

“Being angsty won’t save you,” the Dark Knight said, chuckling, almost as if he could taste victory on his lips. His form began to change as he fused with his mount, who was walking behind him. The Dark Knight started to grow larger, as if finally revealing his true form as a monster.

Lex didn’t move, nor did he care to attack the Knight. Compared to Kreel, he was nothing. Instead, he was content to stay in front of Kaemon and protect him. Who knew if some other enemy would sneak behind him if he moved away.

Oh right, there was also the fact that Lex’s mind was not only under the strain of the chalice, his clone was also under the strain of the Well of Forgotten Dreams.

In the place where his clone was, the world was monochrome. An endless sea raged underneath him and a furious storm roared above him. Flashes of lightning were the only source of light in this world, and even that did not seem to last long.

Everything… everything was fading, losing its essence, one could even say everything was losing its soul as long as it was in proximity of the Well of Forgotten Dreams. Lex’s clone had to deal with the temptation of claiming the well for himself, and he wasn’t sure what thoughts were his own and what thoughts were seeping in despite the protection of the reading glasses.

According to Lex’s original plan, he would have dismissed the clone now that the system surely recognized the location of the Well. However, now that the clone was actually here, he couldn’t help but wonder if he could gain a little more information about it. It wasn’t like he wanted the well or anything – no, not all. But just learning a little more about it might help him in the future.

The monstrosity that the Dark Knight had turned into lunged at Lex, becoming agitated at Lex’s lack of response. To the knight’s immense surprise, however, it was swatted back by a single sword strike.

Yet it was not harmed, so he attacked again. Like that, for a short few minutes, a strange balance was reached. It wasn’t that Lex couldn’t kill it, but that he was genuinely struggling to completely recover from the mental strain on him.

He also didn’t dare to let down his guard around Kaemon at all. He was too close to completing the quest to mess up now, so a majority of his focus was on protecting Kaemon. Lex couldn’t even spare the necessary attention to read his notification, despite knowing they were extremely critical.

A sort of unusual balance was reached with Lex balancing his fight against the Knight, maintaining his vigilance, and allowing his clone to explore a little.

The balance didn’t last long, though. A few minutes later, Kaemon’s aura changed, becoming deep and unfathomable. Lex even detected a hint of Dao aura on him, or at least he detected the signs that accompanied Dao aura.

That triggered a change. Just as he had suspected, countless invisible enemies lunged towards Kaemon, hungry, greedy, aiming to rip his soul into pieces and steal his connection to the chalice. Their movement revealed them, each one of them as strong as the Dark Knight.

“You all really are picking the worst timing,” Lex said, a hint of anger and irritation creeping into his voice as he summoned a shield around himself and Kaemon, resisting the attacks.

The Dark Knight started some kind of twisted monologue. Didn’t he understand that Lex was battling a headache? He really couldn’t be bothered to deal with him.

Yet as the knight and all the other monsters banged and battered the shield, it felt like they were in sync with Lex’s throbbing head.

The longer it continued, the more irritable he became. Losing control of his emotions wasn’t really something Lex did very often, but with his will power mostly used up resisting the temptation of the chalice, and of the Well, so very little was left to spare.

“This is really getting out of hand,” Lex said, as he tried to activate his Lotus form, trying to gain back some self control. Unfortunately, Lotus itself had not recovered from the suppression it had faced, and had no spare energy for Lex. The form failed to activate.

With no recourse left, Lex had to do the thing he had been really trying to avoid for a long time.

Lex activated his second form – not the one he got from Lotus. No, the second form was the one he got… from his dragonheart!

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