NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 102 - Gray Shadow appeared
“An unexpected bonus, huh…”
Running along the road, YouYu glanced at the golden card in his hand, pondering.
After all, the appearance of this card wasn’t something he had anticipated.
Originally, his plan was simple: give Liu Meng a plausible reason to fight, plant some “hidden dangers,” and then activate them at the right moment to achieve their desired effects.
But instead of setting any traps, Liu Meng had handed him this card.
This card… Based on what he could sense, the power radiating from it wasn’t destructive. It leaned more towards protective energy.
While it could influence him directly, given his current strength, the effect was negligible.
Of course, if it were just based on this trait, the card wouldn’t qualify as an “unexpected bonus.”
What truly surprised him was…
His body was gradually adapting to the card’s power.
In other words, he was beginning to attune himself to Liu Meng’s mana.
“Because Liu Meng doesn’t have any real intent to harm me, the card she provided is more about protecting me.”
“And as a result, influenced by her thoughts, this card hasn’t caused any effective harm to me. Instead, it’s continuously adjusting its mana, merging and adapting to my own.”
“Interesting… This is something I’ve never encountered before.”
“If this development continues over time, I might even be able to wield Liu Meng’s mana to some extent.”
“…Indeed, quite the unexpected bonus, YouYu.”
“However…”
At that moment, Mamba, residing within YouYu’s body, spoke up, its tone tinged with dissatisfaction as it felt the flowing yellow mana.
“However, what role this power could play with the negative emotions you possess remains uncertain.”
“If this power suddenly runs rampant… or if it responds unpredictably to Liu Meng’s will and spirals out of control, your body could sustain serious injuries.”
“YouYu, if possible, I’d prefer you limit your use of this power.”
“My strength should suffice to fulfill your needs, YouYu.”
“Uh… thanks for the warning, Mamba.”
Hearing this, YouYu seemed to realize something, responding awkwardly, “But this mana can be crushed anytime by the negative emotions in my body. It’s not like it can hurt me.”
“Besides… I’ve just thought of a plan regarding this power.”
“So, you don’t need to worry so much…”
“But relying on a magical girl’s power is hardly an ideal choice, YouYu.”
“I respect your decisions, but…”
“Please try to minimize its use.”
After a brief pause, Mamba finally spoke its next words.
“Fine.”
YouYu nodded in agreement, and with that, Mamba fell silent.
“……”
“Quite something…”
Walking along once more, YouYu replayed Mamba’s words in his mind, feeling a mixture of emotions.
Fortunately, he didn’t dwell on the matter for long.
Because he had arrived at the centipede Negative Beast’s location—the mall’s central area. The elevator lay smashed on the floor, railings on the second and third floors were wrecked, and chaos reigned throughout. All of it was the creature’s doing.
However, there were no human corpses at the scene, a small blessing amidst the calamity.
Letting out a sigh of relief, YouYu furrowed his brows and directed a grim look at the giant centipede Negative Beast.
At the same time, he began covertly scanning for Gray Shadow’s position and Liu Meng’s current location.
After completing his assessment, YouYu took a deep breath, lowered his head, and looked at his hands, as though making a firm decision.
In the next moment, with a burst of ghostly green light from his body growing brighter and brighter—
“Boom!”
An explosion erupted from YouYu’s body, accompanied by a powerful aura that drew the centipede Negative Beast’s attention.
“Ssssss——?”
Noticing the sudden explosion, the centipede Negative Beast warily turned its body toward the source, only to see smoke from the blast.
As the smoke cleared, what emerged before its eyes was a figure cloaked in ghostly green, its chest protected by some kind of vine armor, and a red “hood” covering its head—a bizarre figure.
The figure—YouYu—glanced at his new form and nodded as if satisfied with his current appearance.
“Since the setup is temporarily in ‘Negative Beast’ mode… once I figure out the card’s power, I’ll ‘evolve’ it.”
With that, YouYu lifted his head, fixing his gaze on the centipede Negative Beast—on the “eyes” hidden within its body.
Without hesitation, he clenched his fists, crouched down, and punched the ground.
“Boom!”
In an instant, sharp trees formed from concentrated negative energy burst from the ground like desert worms in a movie, shooting straight toward the centipede Negative Beast.
“Ssss!!!”
Caught off guard by the swift attack, the centipede Negative Beast, despite its vigilance, couldn’t evade in time and was pierced by the sharp trees.
With a pained screech, it fell from the upper levels of the mall, crashing to the ground and creating a massive crater.
“Did I defeat it so easily?”
YouYu approached the fallen centipede Negative Beast cautiously, still on guard as he observed it.
After confirming its death, he “breathed a sigh of relief,” feeling “immense joy and satisfaction” at his victory.
Everything appeared perfectly natural—rejoicing over defeating a Negative Beast was indeed a normal and natural reaction.
After all…
YouYu had no time to waste on small fry.
“Now then, Gray Shadow should show up soon.”
“Heh, it seems Night Demon was right after all.”
As YouYu thought this, Gray Shadow appeared behind him.
‘Surprised,’ YouYu turned to look, only to see a mechanical insect-like humanoid with glowing green eyes.
So, this was Gray Shadow’s proxy puppet.
Looking at YouYu, Gray Shadow spoke in a menacing tone:
“So, you’ve been modified by that Ouja, haven’t you… turning into this form.”
“But… whatever you are, whatever happened to you, it doesn’t matter.”
“Because today, you must die here…”