Chapter 232 Yum yum yum!
Under Alina's incessant query, Alex's only reply was,
"Since it was already given to me, then I will of course use it to its fullest." Alex said as he cricked his neck.
"Alex, are you sure that if you use this Abyss Monster to evolve, that you won't suffer from any kind of trickery?" Alina worriedly asked Alex as she looked at the Abyss Monster. "Are you confident about that?"
"Yes, I am." Alex replied as he shrugged his shoulders
"Are you really sure?"
"I am sure about that." Alex replied, this time with exasperation.
Before Alina could say more to him, Alex looked at Alina directly as he told her,
"If you still suspect this gift, use your eyes to detect anything malicious inside this monster. Try to see if there's anything on this monster that was not supposed to be here."
"Fine, I will do that."
Alina followed what Alex told her to do, and to her surprise, she found nothing wrong with the Abyss Monster below her.
With Alina's All-Seeing Eyes, she was able to see anything hidden inside the Abyss Monster right now.
If there's really something hidden inside this Abyss Monster, then this whole 'gift' will easily be deemed suspicious.
But just like what Alina had found out, there's nothing hidden inside the Abyss Monster right now!
"Aside from the Abyss Energy and its abnormally large biomass, I can't see anything else inside this monster." Alina replied as she shook her head. "From what I can see… there's really nothing malicious hidden inside this monster's body…"
"See? I told you the Abyss Plane is serious about this." Alex said as he let out a wry smile. "There's no way they would want someone like me dead."
"Well, I suppose we can accept this monster willingly now." Queen Mother chimed behind Alina as she gave Alex a nod. "So, will you kill it now?"
"Heh, I have a better idea than that." Alex replied as he stared behind him. "There's someone else fitted to do the deed."
After Alex said these words, he suddenly snapped his fingers, which in turn deactivated the light and sound barrier, reconnecting Alex and the other with the Symbolists.
"…" Once this had happened, Alina and the others quickly closed their mouths as they knew who will Alex talk to next.
"Grand Symbolist, we have just finished talking." Alex said as he stared at the muscular old man looking at him defiantly. "And after our talks, my teammates have agreed with my proposal to them!"
"And what would that proposal be then?"
"Well that's a secret~" Alex replied as he placed a finger on his lips. "Can't afford telling you about it right now!"
"You!"
"Oh come on, don't be that worked up." Alex said as he interrupted the Grand Symbolist. "We still need you to do the execution of this monster!"
"Execution? Are you telling me that you want me to kill that monster?" The Grand Symbolist incredulously asked Alex as his eyes landed on the Abyss Monster.
"Who else should kill it but you?" Alex replied as he tilted his head. "Well, if you can't do it, then I will just do it myself…"
"Hmph, who told you I can't do it huh?" The Grand Symbolist almost shouted out as he rolled the sleeves of his pants. "Let me show you my might!"
"Boom!" After the Grand Symbolist ascertained his convictions to Alex, his body glowed golden again.
Countless symbols appeared all around the Grand Symbolist's body, and these symbols rearranged themselves until they formed a 9-layer Symbol Array.
As the Grand Symbolist started to fine-tune the Symbol Array, the Abyss Monster, who was in front of Alex earlier, was suddenly thrown by Alex towards the Grand Symbolist.
"Hey you monster, don't resist his attack." Alex telepathically said to the monster as it continued on sailing towards the Grand Symbolist's Symbol Array. "You know what will happen if you don't!"
With Alex's status as an Abyss Monster, he was able to communicate telepathically with other Abyss Monsters, just like what he just did now.
In reply to Alex's telepathic advice, the Abyss Monster let out a faint roar towards him.
"@*)(\u0026%@)...."
The roar that came out of the Abyss Monster was faint and also sounded resigned, as if it was already accepting its fate.
The Grand Symbolist did not dwell on the sight of the monster sailing towards him as he activated his Symbol Array.
"Hong~"
The whole Symbol Array started to change shape until it's appearance emulated that of a pagoda.
With the transparency of the Symbol Array, one can see that the 'pagoda' had 9 floors on it, with each floor being represented by a Symbol Layer.
"…" Alex could not help but feel chills as he stared at the pagoda, as if he just saw something that should have not existed.
It was not a pleasant feeling, and Alex was not sure if he can withstand more of that feeling from now on.
"I call this Symbol Array as '9-Layered Pagoda of Destruction." The Grand Symbolist muttered as the Abyss Monster made contact with the Symbol Array. "I hope you will have some fun with it."
"Boom!"
At the instant that the two opposing bodies collided with each other, booming sounds appeared from the Symbol Array, as Alex felt massive amounts of Mind Power being consumed by the Symbol Array.
Alex watched in fascination as he saw lightning, fire, ice, plasma, magma, gravity waves, poison, shockwaves, and swords coming out of the Symbol Array, covering the Abyss Monster's body entirely.
"…"
The Abyss Monster seemed to not care on what was happening to it, even when its body was starting to break down from effects of the Symbol Array.
The Symbolists who saw what was happening started to cheer, as they saw the fearsome monster being slowly killed by the Grand Symbolist himself.
They seemed to have ignored the words uttered by Alex earlier, as all of them were just focused on watching for the Abyss Monster's demise.
"…"
After 5 minutes of non-stop blasting, the Abyss Monster was no more, with none of its body visible.
It was obvious from this sight that the Grand Symbolist had succeeded on what the Symbolist Army failed to do earlier.
He had killed the final monster.
"…" A few second of silence occurred, before the whole field was filled with shouts of praise.
"Long live the Grand Symbolist! Long live the Grand Symbolist! Long live the Grand Symbolist!" The Symbolists shouted as they raised their voices to their limits. "Long live the Grand Symbolist!"
"…."
While all of this was happening, something unexpected was occurring in front of the Grand Symbolist.
A black pearl, around the size of a marble, suddenly materialized at the spot where the Abyss Monster had died.
This black pearl looked extremely harmless, although its ebony sheen and its perfect roundness were things that triggered the alarms inside the Grand Symbolist's head.
With the festivities below, it was only the Grand Symbolist who noticed the conception of this black pearl.
He tried to reach out to get the pearl, but before he could even approach it, the black pearl started to make its move.
Like a meteor streaking through the night sky, the black pearl launched itself away from the Grand Symbolist.
The take-off speed of the black pearl was so high that the Grand Symbolist was unable to stop it from moving at all.
It sliced through the air seamlessly as it assumed a projectile path towards the ground.
"…" The Grand Symbolist could only watch helplessly as the black pearl landed on Alex's hands, who gave the Grand Symbolist a wide smirk.
"You…" As the Grand Symbolist started to grumble, he saw Alex and his teammates sneaking out of the field towards the direction of their residence. It was quite obvious from the way that they moved that they were up to something right now.
"…"
With the current atmosphere on the field, it was only the Grand Symbolist who saw them sneaking out.
The Grand Symbolist, who saw obviously unhappy with what he just saw, started to raise his hand in an attempt to stop them from moving.
But a glare from his daughter Astria stopped the Grand Symbolist from making any move.
"…" And with that, the Grand Symbolist could only hopelessly watch Alex and the others leave.
**************
5 MINUTES LATER
"Now that the Abyss Monster is dead, it's time for me to evolve." Alex said as he stretched his body.
He and his companions were currently outside Alex's room, with Alex's body halfway through the door.
"…"
From the expression on Alex's face, it was quite obvious that he's itching to do what he had been aiming for since the start of the Calamity.
Alina and the others could not help but sigh as they saw Alex's urgency to be done with it.
"…" Undeterred by their sighs, Alex started to slowly close the door as he stared at his Companions.
"This attempt of mine to evolve is extremely important, so there should be nobody that will disturb me." Alex said as he gave a serious look to his companions. "As such, I can only shamelessly ask you all to guard this room from any possible intruders. I promise that I will treat you all to a good cooking place once we are done here."
"I'll be taking note of that promise." Alina replied as she leaned back on the wall beside the door. "If you forget to fulfill it, you know what will happen to you."
"Hahaha, I know, I know…"
If Alina had this grim reminder to Alex, Queen Mother and Professor Frances did not say anything as they stood still on their spots.
"…"
Anyone who will see Alex's Companions right now might scratch their heads from the way that Alina, Queen Mother, and Professor Frances had position themselves. It just looked… wrong.
"…"
Alex chose to not comment on how awkward his 'guards' looked as he fully closed the door of his room.
"Click." He carefully activated the lock system on his door, just to make sure that he followed the etiquettes of a secluded cultivation properly.
"Yosh, now that the calamity had been dealt with, it's time for me to be reborn." Alex muttered to himself as he sat cross-legged on the floor.
The black pearl, which had been sitting on his hands since earlier, now started to float in front of Alex.
It was as if this pearl was waiting for Alex to make a move, and it will not leave until Alex wanted it to do so.
"Hmm, this pearl is the accumulation of all the Essence and Powers inside that Abyss Monster's body." Alex muttered to himself as he stared at the black pearl intently. "If I want to evolve, then I should integrate the contents of this pearl to myself."
As Alex muttered these words, a small figure materialized behind him silently.
"And in order for me to do that, I must use an ability that will let me eat the black pearl." Alex muttered as he cupped his chin.
The small figure behind Alex slowly approached him as Alex continued talking.
"I'm sure that Greed is not the one suited for this thing, since he is more attuned on stealing skills." Alex said as a small smile started to show on his face. "If I need someone for 'eating', then there's only one Abyss Sprite that comes to my mind…."
Alex then looked behind him as his eyes landed on the small figure that was still approaching him.
"Gluttony, you will be the one who will eat this pearl for me." Alex said as he stared at Gluttony's small frame. "I hope you are fit enough to do that now."
"Master! I can do that properly of course!" Gluttony replied excitedly, perhaps a little too excitedly, as Alex saw some drool dripping out of Gluttony's mouth. "Don't worry about me! Just watch me eat!"
"…As long as you don't make this an eating show, then I will observe you." Alex replied wryly as he gave Gluttony a narrow stare. "You don't do that, right?"
"Well Master, I do it sometimes with Greed…. "Gluttony hesitantly replied as he gave Alex an apologetic smile. "Eating is just too good you know, especially when others watch you eat. Making them feel hungry makes me feel good!"
"…."