Chapter 275: Snake Eyes, Shell

"Proficiency +1"

Accompanied by the translucent characters flashing before his eyes, the ochre-red light that had been brewing on the iron-grey sword body the moment his hand grasped the hilt suddenly brightened.

The decapitation longsword, which had pierced straight into the long snake's throat, was instantly swallowed by a force field energy that exploded like fireworks.

Ignoring physical defense.

From inside to outside, bones, muscles, scales, skin... the physical body that could easily withstand the full-force strike of a professional-level powerhouse had no resistance at all under the impact of this ochre-red force field energy erupting from within.

Like a time bomb installed deep in its throat, the powerful impact force caused the vertebrae to shatter into powder, and pus and blood mixed with broken flesh exploded toward the surroundings.

Boom—

The mummy, which had been stiff in place after being stabbed in the throat by the longsword, turned back into the headless remnant body from dozens of seconds ago in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the wooden sword in his right hand continued to exert force, and with a turn of his wrist, the two snake heads that were tightly biting his arm were also scorched and cut off, falling to the ground twitching and writhing.

Enduring the intense pain in his shoulder, he learned the lesson from just now; even though all four long snakes protruding from the mummy's body had been blown up, he didn't withdraw his sword.

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

The black wooden sword wreathed in crimson flame light swung continuously in the air, reflecting the noise of sharp objects tearing flesh and flames scorching, and the shriveled body of the mummy, which was already more incomplete after the transformation, turned into a pile of scorched, pitch-black corpse pieces that couldn't distinguish body parts in an instant.

It seemed that the monster's "second-stage" transformation just now left Xia Nan with lingering fears, and this process lasted for several minutes.

It wasn't until every piece of flesh and blood on the ground had been pierced and scorched, and the flame flow on the surface of the 【Pine-Green】 sword body gradually dissipated, leaving only a faint residual warmth in the surrounding water mist.

He panted and stopped the movements in his hands.

"If there could still be a third stage... no, it shouldn't be."

His gaze swept over the wooden sword in his hand, which had already returned to its normal state, and Xia Nan stepped back two steps, thinking to himself.

On his right shoulder, the emerald-green natural energy of "Spring Pulse Cleansing" flowed continuously, healing the wound rapidly amidst bursts of soreness.

His decision was very successful; this fourth-ring healing spell from the 【Tears of Spring Breath】 necklace, which could only be used once every seven days, did not instantly restore physical strength; its healing was a continuous process.

This caused the two snake bites on his shoulder, which might have caused a serious injury affecting the normal movement of his arm in the first place, to continue to be treated by "Spring Pulse Cleansing" even after the snake heads were cut off by the flame sword and turned into charcoal.

The deadly toxins that should have spread throughout his body with the blood flow were turned into pus-green smoke by the natural energy and forced out of his body, and the granulation on both sides of the torn and pierced flesh wriggled, touching and fusing with each other.

In just a few seconds, the hideous wound on Xia Nan's right shoulder, which had been dripping with blood, disappeared, replaced by a smooth, undamaged piece of skin that showed no abnormality other than the damaged clothing on the surface.

It didn't even count as a minor injury; other than being slightly tired mentally, his body had almost returned to its best state.

For Xia Nan, the fight with the snake-scaled mummy could be said to be the most intense battle in recent times.

He had only one trump card left, the 【Fate Coin】, which hadn't been revealed; everything else had been used.

Facing the enemy's exaggerated physical fitness and weird special abilities, he had used almost everything he currently mastered, combining specialties, combat techniques, equipment, and his own experience and inspiration to the extreme, before finally achieving victory in the battle.

And the price paid...

Excluding the charge counts of some combat techniques and equipment, and that fire oil bomb used for testing.

It was the fine equipment "plate-chain composite armor" made of Malan-pattern steel from the Rock Hammer blacksmith shop, and...

【Evergreen】 the wooden sword quietly returned to its sheath, and Xia Nan looked at the decapitation longsword held in his left hand.

Mixed with regret, emotion, and sighing, an extremely complex look appeared on his face.

Although it possessed an outstanding "50% durability bonus," in the final analysis, it was just an ordinary weapon of white quality.

This old partner who had accompanied him for hundreds of days and nights since Xia Nan traveled through time, the source of his adventurer title, and a partner more reliable than any teammate.

In an evenly matched, extremely thrilling battle, it made its final contribution.

With its ordinary white-board body, it forcibly withstood the pus-green venom capable of melting steel, pierced into the long snake's throat, and earned a glimmer of survival for him.

At this moment, the enemy was completely dead.

And the originally smooth and tough iron-grey sword body of the decapitation longsword was left with corrosion dents of various sizes on its surface.

In a high-level, high-frequency, high-rhythm battle, any omission would be infinitely magnified, especially for a main weapon that needed to be relied upon for long-term combat.

The decapitation longsword seemed to be at the time to leave the team.

At this moment, Xia Nan's mood was even worse than the night he broke up with his first love in his past life.

Inhale, exhale... inhale, exhale...

Standing in place like this, it took a long time for him to recover.

His fingertips brushed lightly over the sword surface, carefully feeling the warm and cool sensation coming from his fingertips.

His expression was deep.

He carefully and solemnly inserted the decapitation longsword back into the scabbard behind him.

As his most reliable comrade-in-arms, Xia Nan would never leave it alone just because it had briefly lost the ability to continue fighting.

He wanted to take the longsword back.

Whether it was a hundred gold or a thousand gold, it didn't matter; as long as he could repair it, even if it meant clearing his bank savings, he was willing.

Xia Nan might be particularly sensitive to numbers regarding money at times, but compared to the contribution the decapitation longsword had made for him, these gold coins were indeed just numbers.

And if there was really no possibility of repair, he wouldn't leave the decapitation longsword alone in the scrap pile in the corner of the blacksmith shop, or on the shelf of a grocery store.

He hoped to give his old partner a decent ending.

It was just a pity that the 【Snake Scale Arm Shield】 wasn't by his side; otherwise, with its 300% corrosion damage resistance bonus, perhaps the situation wouldn't have reached this point.

Xia Nan shook his head gently, no longer thinking about it.

Packing up his emotions, he ignored the other few corpses on the ground and turned to walk toward the altar.

His pitch-black eyes reflected the grey-black staff embedded with an orange-red gemstone at the top, emitting a luster like ash embers.

He only hoped that the harvest this time would be worth the price he paid.

Moving his feet, Xia Nan focused his attention, guarding against possible traps in the surroundings, and approached the altar carefully.

But just like the experiences in the two secret realms before, there was no sign at all.

Just as he stepped on the ground with his right foot and lifted his left foot slightly, intending to get closer to trigger the attribute panel to view the staff's information.

Extremely abruptly, as if stepping into the void, his body's center of gravity lost balance strangely.

While the surrounding scenery changed rapidly as if time were passing, his whole body leaned backward, and his line of sight also shifted from the staff under the altar to the blurry goddess statue behind it.

It still maintained its previous posture of one hand upward, holding out a plea, but those details that had lost their original appearance under the scouring of the river of time emerged on its surface again in a state of time reversal. ===== CHAPTER 276 =====