Chapter 457 - Echo

While leaving the treasure room, Virus contemplated the possible consequences and benefits that will now result due to obtaining a new sword, a spectacular one at that.

The main 'disadvantage' that Virus was currently thinking about was the fact that now that he didn't have a longsword, his previous Twisting Tempest Thrust attack technique would become totally useless.

On the plus side, at the end of the day, the Twisting Tempest Thrust had been merely a Mid-Human technique which at most required four liberated pathways alone, denoting that its usefulness had already ended when he had broken through from the Fifth Level of Liberation.

Right now, Virus was at the seventh level of Liberation which was considered the first taboo of Liberation. Furthermore, he was about eighty-eight percent finished with that level and even hoped to break through to the eighth level provided some luck and the right circumstances.

Thus, when the bigger picture was taken into account, it was really a good outcome rather than a bad one.

Now, what Virus required was a Peak-Human class 'attack' technique to balance his might in nearly all aspects. Unfortunately, without even needing to check, he was aware that he had no such technique in his database.

However, frankly, that didn't mean he wasn't capable of getting his hands on such a technique. All he needed to do was begin the procedure of decrypting his attack techniques before sparking the development process of his own personal and peerless Peak-Human class skill.

Unfortunately, what was stopping Virus from doing so at the moment was the other operation that was occupying his mindscape as he was busy deciphering thousands of techniques in order to create the ultimate Peak-Human Movement skill.

Focusing on that subject, Virus noticed that there was already enough data to put together the second form of his unnamed movement technique. Moreover, with a little bit of time, he would be prepared to even put together the third form!

'The first form is called 'Impulse' and it requires five liberated pathways.' Massaging his chin in a passing, Virus went on with his deliberation process. 'My second form will now naturally make use of six liberated pathways, there's no doubt in that.'

'However, which attribute do I select and how should I take advantage of it? That is the question.' Whilst already having some ideas on the topic, Virus needed more deliberation period to come to a final decision.

Focusing his eyes on the path ahead, Virus realized that he was upon the exit gate by now. So, after a momentary pause and a glance at the treasury one last time, he took a step forward and materialized in front of the two ladies and the sphinx once again.

"Ah, that took you long enough." The veiled lady said with her clearly wronged eyes as if she was asking, 'How could you leave us alone with this ugly thing for so long? What if we were ravaged and slaughtered?'

"Well, I had to be careful with my choice. Anyway…" 

After a brief clarification, looking up at the Sphinx, Virus demanded the riddles to continue.

Suddenly, a rather evil grin took shape in the Sphinx's eyes while its expression screamed 'You're dead now.'

However, outwardly, its tone was the same as before as it merely started elaborating a slightly different game design and rules.

"THE FOLLOWING RIDDLE GAME WILL BE A BIT DIFFERENT." 

Rumble~

Just as it was done blaring the sentence, abruptly, the tiled floor began quaking as a huge tablet of stone sprouted into the trio's sight while the Sphinx proceeded.

The tablet was filled with a rectangular grid of white-shaded squares.

"THIS IS A RIDDLE GAME I INVENTED. I CALL IT THE 'RIDDLE ME TOGETHER'! THIS TIME, OUR LITTLE RIDDLE GAME SHALL BE EVEN HARDER!" The Sphinx announced.

Meanwhile, looking at the tablet filled with squares, Virus speechlessly thought, 'Isn't that a crossword? He thinks he invented that?'

'Well, it's understandable though. This small space is the entire world of the Sphinx, so whatever he comes up within his own closed space, he considers himself the first creator…'

Running his fingers through his metallic silver hair, Virus wondered the profound question, 'That makes me wonder whether the human race of my future world was like that as well… could there be another race out there in the infinite multiverses that is even more advanced than the human race of my future world.'

With an unfocused gaze, Virus listened to explanations of the monster while pondering to himself. 'Though this game of hers is indeed a bit different than your common crossword since I see no black-shaded squares, only white ones. That means one also has to accurately guess on their own how many letters the answer to a question contains. Hmm, that elevates the difficulty to a higher level I guess.'

"IN ORDER TO WIN THE RIDDLE GAME THIS TIME, YOU NEED TO GET ALL THE FOUR RIDDLES RIGHT. IN FACT, NOT ONLY DO YOU NEED TO GET THEM RIGHT, THE HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL WORDS NEED TO CONCUR OTHERWISE-"

"No need to elaborate more, I got the rules already. Let's get to the game." Raising his arm, Virus interjected the beast. He wasn't going to waste his time and keep listening to something he was already aware of.

"IS THAT SO? THAT'S BETTER FOR ME ANYWAY, DON'T CRY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE KILLED AND SAY THE GAME WASN'T FAIR THOUGH… YOU OFFERED THIS AND STOPPED ME YOURSELF."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, let's begin." Waving his palm around, Virus signaled the Sphinx to move on. 

Displeased by his arbitrary behavior, the Sphinx continued with newfound vigor while looking forward to the time it could finally kill Virus. "OKAY. SO, THE FIRST RIDDLE FOR THE FIRST VERTICAL SQUARES IS THIS… MY THUNDER COMES BEFORE THE LIGHTNING. MY LIGHTNING COMES BEFORE THE CLOUDS. MY RAIN DRIES ALL THE LAND IT TOUCHES. WHAT AM I?"

Inspecting the first column, Virus saw that ten squares could be filled, signifying the answer either had ten letters or less. Therefore, with no delay, Virus prompted the monster to fill it with the word 'Volcano'.

"ARE YOU SURE? YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T EDIT THEM LATER ON WHEN YOU GET TO THE SUBSEQUENT RIDDLES. ALL OF THEM NEED TO CONCUR."

"I'm sure, tell me the next riddle." Waving again, Virus urged it to proceed.

Beside him, the veiled lady was absolutely silent as she had no intentions of opening her mouth in the slightest since she had already learned a dangerous listen at the earlier riddle game.

"ALRIGHT, YOUR UPCOMING ANSWER NEEDS TO FILL THE HORIZONTAL SQUARES WHILE CONCURRING WITH THE LETTER 'A' OF 'VOLCANO', SO THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE RESPONDING."

"WHAT CAN YOU HOLD IN YOUR RIGHT HAND BUT NEVER IN YOUR LEFT?"

'For real?' A little dumbfounded, Virus replied without any delay. "Left Hand."

Grrrr~

A low growl reached the trio at this time, forcing Virus to grin at the clearly frustrated behavior of the Sphinx. 'I'm beginning to think this titanic creature is somewhat idiotically cute, haha…'

"NEXT ANSWER SHOULD FILL THE VERTICAL SQUARES WHILE CONCURRING WITH THE LETTER 'H' OF 'LEFT HAND'."

"Sure…"

"I SPEAK WITHOUT A MOUTH AND HEAR WITHOUT EARS. I HAVE NO BODY, BUT I COME ALIVE WITH THE WIND. WHAT AM I?"

"Echo."

"…"