Chapter 101

The Nine Hells, an Outer Plane drifting outside the Material Plane.

It is also the place where the "Devils," the most evil and treacherous beings in the mouths of the world, reside.

Comets falling from the firmament, broken weapons and rotting corpses, swamps and magma, tundra wilderness, jagged stone peaks, and dead, silent wastelands...

Amidst the rushing sound of the River Styx filled with the scent of death, you can almost find every imaginable, most harsh environment in this territory.

And the highly concentrated magic particles in the air, which differ in composition from the Material Plane, breed countless dangerous and deadly monsters.

Growing up in slaughter and death matches, one needs to deal with the high pressure from the extreme environment outside at every moment.

Compared to the monsters struggling to survive in this bad land, the vast majority of living beings in the Material Plane are like flowers in a greenhouse.

Fragile and delicate.

Spined Devil, one of the lowest-level monsters in the Nine Hells.

Just like those annoying flies, flapping their wings and screeching non-stop, high-level Devils often only need to wave their hands lightly to drive thousands of Spined Devils, turning them into the most insignificant drops of blood in the countless massive meat-grinder battlefields within Hell like cannon fodder.

But after coming to the Material Plane, they transform into powerful monsters capable of wiping out an entire adventurer squad.

The extremely harsh environment in Hell, those surging and boiling rivers of lava, and the lethal poisonous gas filling the air allowed the Spined Devil race to gain immunity to ordinary fire and toxins at birth.

Along with a certain resistance to slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage from ordinary weapons.

Those pale bone clusters covering its joints and the nail spurs on its spine tail capable of flying out like arrows.

Make it like a killing machine purely built for the battlefield.

Xia Nan maintained a vigilant posture, standing in place, his body tense.

The decapitation longsword was held diagonally in front of him, his attention highly concentrated, guarding against the bone spurs that might shoot over at any time.

His expression was solemn.

Clearly, the Spined Devil's immunity to fire damage disrupted his combat rhythm.

He had wanted to take advantage of the gap while the other party was being burned by the flames to step forward and attack to expand his advantage.

But now he could only retreat for the time being and wait for another opportunity.

At the same time, this also meant that the other two fire oil bombs stored in the pocket at his waist had already become useless in the subsequent battle and could no longer be used.

And what made Xia Nan even more vigilant was the exaggerated reaction ability the other party had just displayed in an instant.

This Spined Devil in front of him was clearly already severely injured.

Not only was its whole body infected by spores, but its combat ability had also dropped significantly.

Even half of its wings were broken, losing the most troublesome ability to fly.

Yet it still possessed physical fitness far exceeding his own, exaggeratedly using the bone clusters growing from its elbows to forcefully block his 【Spinning Slash】.

This couldn't help but make Xia Nan break out in a cold sweat, and he dared not even imagine what the battle between them would be like if the other party were in a perfect, uninjured state.

I'm afraid he wouldn't even have the ability to fight back; if the other party just flapped its wings and hung in the air to fire bone spurs, he could only flee in a sorry state like a living target.

"Swish!"

Thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

A sound of air bursting suddenly came to his ears, and the Spined Devil's hunched, lean body suddenly turned into a phantom, disappearing from its original spot.

Carrying the pungent sulfur stench, the long tail embedded with sharp bone blades whistled over like a whip from the corner of his eye.

Facing the attack capable of cutting his body in half, Xia Nan did not dodge or evade, gripping his longsword with both hands and charging forward head-on.

Hum—

An ochre-red energy field, accompanied by the energy particles suddenly gathering in the air, shrouded his whole body.

【Dead Line】 Ring: Deflection Field!

The powerful force turned into nothingness in an instant, just like touching an absolutely smooth curved surface, accompanied by translucent ochre-red ripples, the pale bone blade slanted upward, deviating from its original target.

And with the help of this precious magic accessory that could only be used once a day, Xia Nan was able to approach the Hell monster in front of him.

The surface of the iron-grey blade flashed with cold light.

The sulfur smell mixed with pungent blood became increasingly thick, and he could even see the dark-colored long tongue, forked and wriggling like a snake, in the Spined Devil's mouthparts, which were dripping with sticky saliva.

In the next second, his arms exerted force, and the decapitation longsword stabbed straight forward.

Knowing that the other party's skin was tough, he had to expend a bit more effort to break through its defense.

Within an extremely short reaction time, Xia Nan nimbly aimed the tip of his sword at the wound in the center of the Spined Devil's chest.

Thrusting it hard!

"Swish!"

Thin smoke rose, and yellowish-green pus blood with a hint of corrosiveness splashed out from the wound.

Xia Nan only felt as if the longsword in his hand had been inserted into a mud puddle, the force constantly weakening and diminishing in the dense muscle tissue, with bursts of sluggishness.

"Ding."

Finally, accompanied by some hard object similar to bone, the tip of the sword could no longer go deeper.

"Still a little bit off!" he thought to himself.

Just as he thought about exerting force a second time to drill the longsword through the cartilage and pierce the monster's heart.

A sharp, harsh screech sounded, as if it were about to pierce his skull.

The Spined Devil's palm, gaunt as a withered branch, swept an insidious and deadly arc in his blind spot, stabbing toward Xia Nan's side ribs.

A bone-chilling cold air brushed past the back of his head.

The force originally gripping and pushing the longsword forward suddenly leaked, his left hand let go of the hilt, and his arm subconsciously blocked to the side.

"Bang!"

The claws driven by the Spined Devil's powerful explosive force landed heavily on the smooth Snake Scale Arm Shield.

It failed to break the defense.

The tough scales from the giant snake of another world could never be broken by this kind of attack.

It didn't even leave a mark.

But on the other hand, the rapid force transmitted from his forearm also caused Xia Nan to pause, his center of gravity shifting.

Feeling that something was wrong, he exerted force with his feet, wanting to take this opportunity to pull away from the other party again, to get rid of the continuous offensive and win a moment of breathing space.

But just after retreating two steps, the bone spur from the Spined Devil's long tail had already pierced the air and shot straight over.

The exchanges in the previous few rounds had given Xia Nan a rough idea of the speed at which the bone spurs flew.

The blade that had been blocking in front of him while retreating lifted slightly, just wanting to parry.

In his vision, firelight suddenly erupted around that bone spur.

While its speed soared, its flight path also changed faintly.

Unable to dodge in time, Xia Nan only had time to tilt his body slightly.

Hum-bang—

Flickering firelight, the bone spur in a molten state landed obliquely on his body.

The light plate armor, on which ordinary blades could only leave scratches, was pierced in the blink of an eye.

Just like an iron skewer for meat, the bone spur sank into the plate armor instantly.

"Ding!"

That was the sharp sound of the bone spur colliding and rubbing against the buckles of the chain mail shirt beneath the plate armor.

A burning pain suddenly came from his chest side.

Looking again, the bone spur had already been nailed straight into the ground, carrying blinding fresh blood and broken, melted iron filings.

It was fortunate that he reacted quickly and tilted his body temporarily.

Otherwise, this bone spur would probably have nailed him through on the spot.

And even though he had dodged in time as he was now, this killing weapon from the Nine Hells still pierced through the double-layered armor on his body and left an injury of unknown severity on his chest and abdomen.

Before Xia Nan could even catch his breath, a screech mixed with the sulfur stench came from his side amidst the terrifying momentum shrouded in shadows.

That was the other side of the Spined Devil's back, a thick, tough membrane wing more than twice its body length.

"Bang!"

A chilling, muffled sound of collision rang out in the air.

The figure holding the iron-grey longsword flew backward and fell to the ground.

In his mouth was a thick, bloody taste like rust.

Xia Nan only felt intense pain all over his body, although it wasn't like the time with the Shihua Xiyi where he felt like he was ascending and completely lost his combat power.

But it was definitely not pleasant.

The battle situation was urgent, and there was simply no time to judge his specific injuries, nor did he know how many bones were broken.

He just endured the unspeakable pain, using the decapitation longsword to support his body, and struggled to stand up.

"Spit."

Spitting a mouthful of bloody phlegm onto his feet.

His pitch-black eyes reflected the hunched figure crouching on the ground like a venomous snake in front of him.

"Already severely injured, is the gap... still that big?"

The tactics and techniques that could determine the direction of the battle and even easily solve enemies in the past were no longer effective in the face of the substantial gap in combat power.

For a moment, it even made him feel a bit bewildered.

His only remaining trump card was the "Fate Coin" that could still be used 3 times; the only 100% effective usage he had figured out so far was to use the coin to trigger the physical damage immunity of 【Copper Tendons and Iron Bones】.

But...

The damage immunity could only last for an instant, for one attack.

Could he really use this short time to tip the scales of victory in his favor?

"How to win?"

"Where is the weak point?"

"How can I survive?"

And it was at this moment that the long wolf howl coming from the distant rear suddenly became incredibly high-pitched.

Kalanfur, outskirts.

The once quiet and peaceful wooden house and flower beds had long since turned into debris in the scorched mud.

No vegetation, no buildings, as if everything around had been ground into dust under the collision of massive, great power.

On the open ground, only a piece of pitch-black scorched earth radiating residual heat remained.

A little further away, the fearful and panicked screams and wails of the town residents were like being isolated by the purple spore mist that had become extremely thick in the air, blurry and unclear.

Ice storms howled, and the crystalline snowflakes emitting bone-chilling frost didn't even have time to fall to the ground before they were melted into tiny water droplets by the residual scorching heat in the soil.

Making the surface of the ground appear to be filled with a thin layer of water mist.

"Roar..."

A low wolf roar sounded abruptly.

Its body size had grown countless times, its translucent silver-white fur swayed slightly, and its vigorous, slender limbs stepped onto the ground, condensing ice crystals.

A Winter Wolf, which seemed to be in a soul state and had an elegant posture, floated lightly to its master's side.

Its sharp fangs, flashing with icy light, were biting a tattered corpse that had been chewed and torn into a thousand holes.

One could faintly see the remnants of robes on the surface of the corpse, and the golden Sun Holy Emblem stained with blood fell silently to the ground, getting stained with scattered mud spots.

"The helper you found isn't much either."

Fugang stroked the head of the Winter Wolf beside him with his left hand, and the surface of the obsidian hatchet gripped tightly in his right hand had already been stained with a layer of transparent ice crystals.

Under the protection of frost and ancestral spirits, his physical state seemed to be no different from just now.

Only on one side of his arm, the slight scorch marks on the surface of his skin revealed the battle he had just experienced.

"The Sun God's radiance is no more."

A voice as old and hoarse as tree bark rubbing together came from the front.

The tone strangely carried a sense of approval, as if the one who died in front of him wasn't an ally who fought alongside him, but just an dispensable stranger.

"These followers of His only know how to exert effort against civilians who don't understand anything."

Surrounded by thorns and purple mist.

The gravedigger of Kalanfur, the Wild Druid of the Spore Society, "Bartholomew," said so.

Dark purple tiny particles shrouded his face, and one couldn't see the specific expression on his face.

One could only faintly see another, younger face beneath that old skin covered in wrinkles and grey spots.

As soon as the voice fell, a biting cold wind blew suddenly from an unknown place.

A cluster of black thorns that had arrived behind the Barbarian from a blind spot at some unknown time was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture.

"How many years of old tricks, hmm?"

The Druid only chuckled.

"As long as it works."

"Back then on the ice sheet, I met an old man, a Frost Priest, who was almost touching the edge of 'Legendary,' and didn't he also fall for the trick and get entangled on my totem, watching with his own eyes as the people in his tribe died out before he closed his eyes."

"Oh, almost forgot, you should know him too, hehe."

Fugang's ice-blue eyes, like cold lakes, stared at the dark purple figure emitting a scent of decay in front of him.

The cold expression on his face did not change in the slightest because of the other party's provocation.

He only lifted his left hand that was stroking the Winter Wolf's head.

To his mouth.

"Swish."

A section of his little finger fell onto the ground frozen with frost.

The scarlet blood at the wound, under the guidance of some invisible force, formed a beast claw pattern with five fingers curled on the snow surface.

As if sensing the gaze of some hidden existence from outside the plane, in the God Kingdom.

The Druid's aura changed suddenly, and the spores in the air trembled violently.

"Why bother... is a soul close to the Legendary level really worth it?"

The wound was covered by frost, and the bleeding stopped quickly.

Since passing through River Valley Town a few days ago, since coming to the Servia Kingdom three months ago, since walking out of that ruin amidst the wind and snow many years ago.

For the first time, Fugang smiled.

Between his frost-white teeth was the scarlet blood remaining from biting off his finger.

"Worth it."

Roar—

A shrill and high-pitched wolf howl, along with the gradually intensifying ice and snow storm, erupted suddenly.

Roar—

The wolf howl coming from afar seemed to possess some kind of peculiar power.

Drilling into the skin, piercing through flesh and blood, deep into the heart.

The originally chaotic thoughts were swept away in an instant.

Only silent coldness remained.

His Adam's apple rolled, and the last half bottle of healing potion was gulped down, the empty glass bottle rolling to the ground.

A sharp, fierce screeching sound, accompanied by the pungent sulfur scent, came head-on.

In his vision, the Spined Devil's hunched, jagged body had already turned into a phantom, approaching his direction at high speed.

Xia Nan did not move.

His eyes were even a bit dazed.

At this moment, amidst that long, deep wolf howl, he seemed to have arrived at the snowfield on the highlands.

Becoming a Winter Wolf crouching in the snow, preying on its catch.

The muscles wriggling and expanding under the thick fur, the fangs refracting cold light in the cold wind... even those cold beast eyes that had no emotion and only slightly contracted.

Frost suddenly condensed on the mud under his feet.

That was the Northern wind the Barbarian had supplemented for him before leaving.

Not far behind him, at the tip of a towering oak tree, a drop of pine resin fell quietly.

"Bang!"

Under his leather boots, a miniature depression suddenly appeared on the ground.

The micro-dust floating in the dim light suddenly solidified.

The roar of rushing blood made his ear canals tremble, his brain filled with buzzing; the instantly solidified air was as thick as water, and the tearing of muscle fibers felt faintly painful.

The chain mail links pulled against each other, and the crisp metallic sound of the scabbard colliding seemed to invisibly coincide with the rhythm of his heart pumping.

Open eyes, close eyes.

A moment of blur.

Pine resin dripped onto the meadow.

The hot blood bead sliding down his cheek made Xia Nan suddenly come to his senses.

In his ears, the screech from the Spined Devil was no longer there at some unknown time.

Turning around.

Filled with leaf fragments and debris, the grass exploded and spread along the trajectory, as if split open by an invisible plow, revealing the dark brown, moist mud beneath.

The headless corpse with wings on its back, splashing yellowish-green pus blood, lay quietly on the ground.

In front of him, translucent characters flashed past.

"Proficiency +1"

"【Tooth Hunting】 lv1: (1/100)"

(End of chapter)