Laws.
They were the most fundamental thing for any powerhouse.
No matter what kind of power you had, or how many variations your techniques possessed, your laws would not change.
Laws were also the best evidence for judging a person's strength.
Even if you hid your strength, changes in your laws were extremely difficult to conceal.
Doing so required an astonishing degree of control over one's own laws.
It was not something ordinary people could accomplish at all.
Let alone humans.
Even many god-level beings who had existed since ancient times barely possessed such a distorted ability.
After all, the general situation in this world was basically like this.
Everyone was obsessed with brute force.
The fight came down to whose strength was greater and whose laws were stronger.
As for precise manipulation, that was purely a matter of individual talent.
With that much effort, one might as well increase one's strength instead.
Shuma-Gorath and the others did not believe that Karl was an exception.
"I'll test this kid with laws first."
"This kid has learned many laws."
"I don't know which law it is that is actually suppressing me."
Shuma-Gorath's huge eyeball stared at Karl as he spoke with great caution.
"Use your own law and test him. Then you'll know."
"Your law exists precisely for this kind of situation."
Mephisto said.
"Hmph, you insects."
Shuma-Gorath let out a cold snort.
Shuma-Gorath was an extremely twisted creature.
He came from a certain twisted dimension.
Not only was his body somewhat contrary to the aesthetics of most intelligent lifeforms, but the laws he had comprehended also controlled divine power.
Control, devouring, and curses.
These were the three aspects Shuma-Gorath was best at.
All of them were aspects derived from the Abyssal Law.
Since he had made his decision, Shuma-Gorath showed no hesitation.
He gritted his teeth.
One of his tentacles snapped off at once.
The fallen tentacle suddenly exploded, turning into a pile of indescribable liquid.
The area around Shuma-Gorath's body seemed to darken directly.
Whispering voices rang out around him.
It was as if some evil creature were lurking nearby.
Dense black runes were injected into that strange liquid.
The next moment,
the huge eyeball in the center of Shuma-Gorath's body widened.
A tyrannical surge of psychic power emerged directly.
That strange liquid was poured straight back into his body.
Meanwhile, Karl, who was thinking on the other side, suddenly felt a chill behind him.
It was as if something were about to attack him.
But when he looked around,
the three of them were more than ten thousand meters away from him.
If not for his powerful psychic power, they probably would not have been able to get within even three inches of him.
How were they attacking him?
"A curse? Magic? Or some unknown method?"
Karl thought inwardly.
However,
Karl did not ponder it carefully.
The power throughout his body trembled, forming a precise and powerful protective barrier around him.
Pfft!
Karl heard a faint sound.
Then he saw that a palm-sized black stain had appeared on his foot.
It looked like a splatter of oil from a repair shop.
However,
that oil stain seemed to be alive.
An evil will radiated from it, constantly trying to burrow into Karl's body.
Only,
this thing had clearly underestimated the strength of Karl's body.
Even after a long while, it made no progress at all.
Karl frowned.
A powerful platinum-white flame appeared in his hand.
This was the manifested power of the Vishanti's divine force.
Karl grabbed the black stain in one motion.
"Screech!"
An ear-piercing sound rang beside Karl's ear.
That black stain was burned to ash directly by the Vishanti's mighty power.
Karl was still feeling puzzled when he heard the system's voice ring beside his ear.
[Detected that the host has been cursed by the Abyssal Law. God-Tier Talent has triggered a hundredfold critical strike.]
[You have comprehended the Abyssal Law.]
Karl immediately felt that he now had a fairly deep understanding of the Abyssal Law.
The Abyssal Law sounded like an evil law.
But laws had no distinction between good and evil.
Laws had no consciousness.
They were like a brick lying by the roadside.
Some people used it to build a house and make it useful, while others directly used it to smash someone to death, or even crush them into pulp.
Did that mean the brick itself was evil?
Of course not.
A brick was merely an inanimate object.
Laws were the same.
The ones who comprehended laws were people, so naturally, they added all kinds of meanings to them.
Karl simply would not use it to harm innocent people.
"However, Shuma-Gorath shouldn't count as an innocent person, right?"
"Then I'll give him a taste of his own medicine."
A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of Karl's mouth.
He pointed with one hand.
A few strange runes appeared and formed a shadow, then vanished directly in front of Karl.
He did not even need a sacrifice.
He could still use this kind of curse.
This was the power of God-Tier Talent.
He could learn what others specialized in in the blink of an eye.
And what was even more infuriating was that
he could use it far more powerfully than the original user.
Meanwhile,
the trio still had not noticed anything wrong.
"Shuma-Gorath, didn't you say you launched a curse?"
"From what I'm seeing, that kid hasn't been affected at all."
"Don't tell me your curse failed?"
Kaluu asked with some suspicion.
"That's absolutely impossible."
"My curse is extremely powerful. Not many people are stronger than me in this field."
"You'll see in a moment."
"The Abyss Maggots born from the curse will devour him inch by inch and let him understand what true agony is!"
Shuma-Gorath said with an incomparably savage expression.
"Abyss Maggots?"
"Are they about twenty centimeters long, covered in scales, with a pair of goat horns on their heads, and look something like puppets?"
Kaluu asked.
"Hm?"
"You actually know this kind of abyssal creature. Not bad. Looks like you aren't completely useless."
Shuma-Gorath said arrogantly.
"Cough, cough."
"That's not it."
"It's because I just saw one of those things actually crawl out of my chest."
Kaluu said awkwardly.
"What?"
Shuma-Gorath's voice changed.
His psychic fluctuations became incomparably violent.
More than a hundred tentacles waved continuously, and his three eyes twisted wildly at the same time.
An ordinary person would lose their Sanity score just by looking at him.
Abyss Maggots.
They were a kind of terrifying creature.
No, they were not creatures.
They were more like a gathering of malicious thoughts, resentment so twisted that it had warped again upon itself.
Silent and invisible, devouring everything while bringing immense pain.
And that thing was inside his body?
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
Shuma-Gorath felt a burst of intense pain.
It was as if his soul were being torn apart inch by inch.
"Damn it! It's a curse!"
Shuma-Gorath let out a desperate roar.
That violent agony nearly tore his sanity apart.
There was only one thing supporting him.
Why was Karl fine?
Where had the curse on his body come from?
Could Karl also know the Abyssal Law?
(End of Chapter)
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