CHAPTER 207: NEW RETAINER! BORN!

With one strike falling short,

The withered giant tree instantly felt terror creeping up its bark.

"Gotta bolt! I’ve gotta get the hell out of here!"

But to escape, it would have to rip itself free from the earth.

The trouble was,

That freaky phantom overhead was glaring down like death itself.

The moment it tore loose from the ground, losing its grip on solid earth, that thing would probably suck it right up!

And what would happen if it got dragged in?

The withered giant tree didn’t need to think twice—

With its life hanging by a thread in someone else’s hands, the writing was on the wall!

Just as dread settled into its roots,

"BOOM!"

The inverted double-horned chalice phantom’s light stuttered and flashed, and the devouring force suddenly cranked up to eleven.

"Oh, crap!"

"BOOM!"

The withered giant tree threw everything it had into the fight, desperately driving its roots deeper into the ground.

But it was still torn free by that ungodly devouring force!

"Whoosh!"

"NOOOO!"

The massive withered giant tree—dozens of meters tall—got swallowed whole by that aerial phantom in the blink of an eye, powerless to fight back!

Mission accomplished, the inverted double-horned chalice phantom slowly faded away...

The gaping crater left behind told the whole grim story.

The prostrating Black Sinners stared up at the sky in complete shock:

"Lord... Lord Withered... he’s gone!"

"No way! This can’t be happening!"

"How the hell is this possible?

Lord Withered’s a False King-level powerhouse!

How’d he get taken down so damn easy?"

"What do we do now?

Sweet merciful darkness, what do we do?"

The Black Sinners were losing their minds. One of their heavy hitters

Had just vanished into thin air.

They couldn’t wrap their heads around it, didn’t want to believe it—their world was crumbling!

"Search parties! Get word to the other tribes!

We’ve gotta rescue Lord Withered!"

The elderly Black Sinner barely kept his composure, pointing his clan toward their only hope.

"Yeah! The other lords!"

"There’s still a shot!"

"..."

The elder’s words threw the panicking clansmen a lifeline, even if it was a pretty thin one.

"Damn it all, is this the curse coming home to roost?"

The elderly Black Sinner let out a heavy sigh, watching his frantic people with despair eating at his heart.

...

Material Realm, Three-Fork Mountain, in the cave behind the sand waterfall,

Carlos’s prayer whispers kept echoing through the cavern.

"Hell, three hours down the drain,

And still nothing."

But the retainer ritual wasn’t backing down—if anything, it was sucking up psionic energy like a man dying of thirst.

All of a sudden,

The inverted double-horned chalice phantom materialized again!

A whole size bigger than before!

From inside that thing, bone-chilling screams kept pouring out:

"Let me go!

A king doesn’t bow to anyone!

No... no way!

My source power!

Give it back!

My bloodline!

...

This aura, you... you’re..."

The desperate screaming cut off like someone had flipped a switch.

Carlos scratched his head:

"Where the hell did it disappear to?

What’d it chow down on out there?"

He sure didn’t remember giving that phantom a hunting license.

"Hopefully this whole mess turns out alright."

Carlos tried to get his racing heart under control.

He was dying to see what this thing would cook up!

With the phantom back in business, the ritual kicked into high gear again...

...

Time crawled by.

"**!@##*!"

Until some god-awful sound that no human throat could make

Rang in his ears.

"Finally!"

The retainer ritual was done and dusted!

The mysterious vessel’s phantom slowly melted away.

At the ritual’s ground zero,

A withered yellow creature in female human form appeared!

Nearly six and a half feet tall,

Decked out in withered leaf armor that reeked of decay.

Every leaf making up that armor was unique,

But they all had one thing in common—each one bore a tulip flower pattern with leaf veins for stems.

Life and death were dancing together on every single leaf!

The originally crimson giant shield now had razor-sharp withered leaves spinning around its edges, looking like they could slice through steel!

In her right hand,

A withered yellow greatsword was covered in vibrant tulip patterns—shouldn’t have worked together, but somehow it did.

"Did we actually pull this off?"

Carlos could feel an unbreakable soul connection between himself and the creature standing before him.

Whatever tricks it had up its sleeve, this was definitely a brand-new retainer!

"What in the—?"

The newborn retainer was out cold, withering aura spreading like a plague.

The four closest Black Sinners started aging fast as lightning.

In no time flat,

They looked ancient as dirt, hanging on by a thread, like candles guttering in the wind.

At the same time,

One leaf on the newborn retainer’s withered armor got a shade darker.

"Holy hell!

That’s one nasty trick!"

Carlos put two and two together from what he was seeing.

Right then,

The withering aura pouring off the newborn retainer suddenly went completely berserk! Dozens of times stronger!

"This is bad news!"

Carlos’s face went white as a sheet. He’d just watched those four Black Sinners get the life sucked out of them.

Firing up his Dawn Flame, he threw up protection around himself and his ’weaker’ shield guards.

Purple Vortex and Red Spirit both felt the danger coming

And hauled ass to their master’s side, throwing up their own defenses!

...

The withering wave rolled through the entire cave like death itself.

In a heartbeat,

Every Black Sinner in that cave

Felt their life force getting drained faster than water through a sieve. Wrinkles carved themselves into their faces right before everyone’s eyes.

Within minutes,

The originally tough-as-nails Black Sinners

Were dropping like flies, one after another turning into white-haired, sagging-skinned husks on death’s doorstep!

Moments later, they started kicking the bucket left and right.

"No freaking way!

This is Lord Withered’s power!"

High-tier Black Sinner Jeff felt the life getting ripped out of his body,

Completely blown away!

As a high-tier Black Sinner, he’d been lucky enough to witness Lord Withered’s terrifying mojo.

He’d know that power anywhere!

"Lord Withered’s come to save us!"

High-tier Black Sinner Jeff was over the moon.

The way he figured it,

He was just caught in the crossfire of Lord Withered’s rampage.

Once Lord Withered finished kicking ass, he’d definitely come rescue him!

"Lord Withered!"

Clinging to that hope,

Jeff felt his eyelids getting heavier, his dying brain shutting down piece by piece...

"Lo... Lord Withered, you..."

At death’s door, Jeff thought he saw Lord Withered coming to his rescue...

...

The withering wave finally died down.

The newborn retainer’s eyelids fluttered.

She opened her eyes.

Jet-black pupils looked around all confused, landing on Carlos first.

"Sir!

You saved my bacon again!"

Her voice was bright and cheerful, face lit up with gratitude!

"Di... Diliya?"

Carlos said, not quite sure.

The newborn retainer looked puzzled:

"It’s me, sir. Don’t you remember?

Rock Sand City garrison investigator!"

Carlos made a weird face

As he pointed to the unconscious woman nearby who’d been coughed up by the phantom.

"Then who’s she?"

The newborn retainer looked over, eyes going wide as she yelped:

"That’s me!"