A foreigner's journey

The Star Painter's mask fell to the ground, along with a few spots of blood.

With pale hair falling, the Star Painter covered the bloodstain on his chest that was expanding, and blood was flowing out of his mouth and nose.

Hidden behind the mask was a face covered with scars. Only the facial features could be seen, and the rest were covered by terrible scars.

Not far away from him, there was a strange figure standing.

This was a strange humanoid with a height of exactly 180cm. He looked like a ranger with a cloak, and wore a bard-style and exaggeratedly large hat. His face was not a human face but a rough human face made of ceramic, with a smile on his face. There was an inverted triangle mark on his forehead.

There was no doubt that it was the new stand after the transformation of [Expedition].

At this moment, the new stand was tossing the blood-stained spike in his hand, and the rough eyes made entirely of ceramic were "looking" at the Star Painter.

"Huff...Huff...What kind of ability is this..."

The Star Painter couldn't understand what had just happened.

He had clearly covered this area with his conceptual power, transforming this battlefield into a world in the painting. All the uninvited guests who stepped into this world were like ink dots suddenly drawn on a blank painting, which was extremely conspicuous.

With this ability, the Star Painter quickly found the strange thing that had escaped from the expedition's body, and waved his life tool [Magic Pen] to give it a fatal blow.

This magic pen was a precious treasure he got from a world called "Magic Pen Ma Liang". It originally belonged to a young man from the Celestial Empire named Ma Liang. Only the user recognized by the magic pen could use its power at will - to turn the things drawn into reality.

Swords and spears, violent storms, raging waves, millions of soldiers... As long as you can use the magic pen to draw things you can understand, you can turn them into real things.

Theoretically, there is no time limit for the things created, and their fate is completely controlled by the pen holder. It is just like a small special edition wishing machine.

There is no doubt that this is already at the level of a life tool.

In order to successfully obtain this extremely rare life tool, the Star Painter patiently built a good relationship with Ma Liang step by step. It took three years to finally make Ma Liang have absolute trust and admiration for him, and agreed to hand over the magic brush to the Star Painter, the world's number one painter whose painting skills far surpassed his own.

Ah, life tool! How many foreigners can only dream of the ultimate treasure, and I got it!

After having this life tool, the Star Painter not only did not act recklessly and arrogantly, but also concealed his strength more and more, shaping himself into an image of neither strength nor weakness.

He was waiting, waiting for the moment to make a splash.

Now, the Star Painter has waited for this astonishing foreign war. He wants to use the Great Doll and the Mercury Snake as stepping stones, and step on their corpses to achieve his glory of reaching the peak of foreigners.

But why can't he even pass the level of the Great Doll's substitute!

He clearly remembered that he had launched a fatal blow with the magic pen at the substitute. Just when the attack was about to hit, the opponent's figure suddenly disappeared, and at the same time, a terrifying piercing wound appeared on his chest.

The Star Painter endured the pain and launched a second fierce attack on the substitute, but still could not touch the opponent, and instead suffered another serious injury on himself.

The previous ambitious victory declaration now seemed like a clown's funny line.

"I don't believe it! I have the life tool, I am the choice of destiny! You should all be my stepping stone!"

Forced to put in flames to curb the injury, the Star Painter's angry roar brought out a lot of blood foam, and the magic pen in his hand became brighter and brighter.

Swish! He waved the magic pen again:

"【Drawing Soldiers Thousand Swords Mountain】!"

The tip of the magic pen brought out a lot of illusory ink out of thin air, and each drop of ink extended a sharp magic weapon, which attacked the substitute overwhelmingly.

This strange substitute just held the brim of his hat slightly down, and his porcelain face was filled with a cold smile.

Tsk!

Everything in front of the Star Painter was instantly fast-forwarded to the next paragraph, the weapon was stuck upside down on the ground, and warm blood was gushing out from his throat.

This time, the Star Painter finally saw it clearly.

The time in the world outside of himself was fast-forwarded by several seconds, about 4 to 5 seconds.

No, that's not right, it's not that the world time was fast-forwarded, but that his time was paused for 5 seconds.

He covered the hollow throat that was gushing out blood and looked down with difficulty.

He was stepping on a black inverted triangle mark.

Is it that mark? It looks similar to the mark on the substitute's forehead. What are the additional conditions... It must be stepped on by a living being to trigger the effect of time suspension... Damn, my head is getting more and more dizzy.

The Star Painter knelt down in a pool of blood with a plop, and blood continued to flow out from the gaps between his fingers covering his throat.

This is the norm for many outsiders. Although they have extremely strong conceptual power, their bodies are not good at fighting. They are pure glass cannons.

The substitute did not intend to step forward to end the life of the Star Painter. It just stood there and looked at the Star Painter with a smile.

What a cautious bastard... The magic pen in his hand fell to the ground with a snap. He no longer had the strength to fight back.

As soon as the magic pen landed, it ignited and soon burned into a pile of ashes.

As his vitality quickly drained away, the Star Painter's head, which had been a little groggy since the start of the war, became clear.

I clearly intended to stay in the team and let Mercury Snake and the Great Doll fight, so why could I not restrain my greed and jump out?

It was just like a foolish adventurer bewitched by the dream of greed...ah, dream, yes.

The corners of the scarred mouth of the Star Painter twitched, revealing a helpless and desperate smile.

I had been tricked by Mercury Snake from the beginning and became his cannon fodder to explore the power of the Great Doll's substitute.

He had no intention of leaving his own life and Miao Chi's life behind. The generous reward would only be the spoils of him and Storm Bird.

Mercury Snake even hinted that he would destroy the life tool before he died, so that the Great Doll would not have a chance to get it... What a bastard who harms others and benefits himself.

Sorry, magic pen...I dragged you down.

Plop! The Star Painter staggered and finally fell headfirst into a pool of blood. His lifeless eyes tried to look at the substitute, and he made a hoarse sound in his mouth, and his lips trembled.

Judging from the lip movements, it should be ‘What is your name?’

Before he dies, he at least needs to know what killed him.

The stand-in held the brim of his hat with his hands, swung his legs in a slightly weird posture and did a short tap dance, then put his hands on his chest and bowed slightly, and a crisp sound like the collision of porcelain sounded:

“Dead Can Dance, I wish you a good death.”

PS: Dead Can Dance is a band formed in 1981 and released an album of the same name in 1984. “Anabasis” comes from the album “Anastasis” released by the Dead Can Dance band in 2012.