Chapter 467: Bitter Battle

"Careful!!!"

Time and space seemed to fall into stagnation at this moment.

The intense sense of crisis that suddenly surged in his heart made his attention subconsciously highly concentrated, his keen perception ability quietly exerted to the limit.

At the same time that the loud shout from Luo Lin at the front of the team entered his ears, he could even hear the surging, powerful heartbeat of the Barbarian Aken, and the thin, hoarse hissing sound instinctively made by Sawa beside him when a feline encountered danger.

His right hand gripped the 【Ember Meteor】 straight sword tightly, the muscles in his forearm bulging with force, stretching the dark-colored shirt inside until it was high and taut; his right foot lifted, attempting to step forward to complete the pre-charge action of 【Tooth Hunt】 released on the ground.

The reaction ability endowed by 11 points of Agility made the flow of time in an instant seem to be slowed down.

It was precisely because of this that his gaze, which had been fixed on the Shashou since detecting movement from the pool, captured all of the opponent's actions in this less than one second.

In fact, the Shashou did not move its body.

That huge body filled with exaggerated, steel-like muscles just stood there quietly, with crystal-clear water droplets even dripping from its rough skin, and a pair of cold, pitch-black fish eyes that looked like an abyss without a single bit of white stared straight at the group on the field.

What truly moved was the human male melted into its body.

The head that had been drooping downward suddenly lifted, revealing that pale face without a trace of blood.

Two hollow eyes that had lost focus and were like those of a corpse included the group of six on the field ahead into his field of vision.

In the perspective that seemed to be slowed down to 0.5x speed under Xia Nan's high mental concentration, he could even see the contour trajectory of the muscle movement under the skin on both sides of the man's cheeks, and the jawbone that was pulled downward as a result.

The dead-white lips were slightly stuck together due to being closed for a long time, but were forced open under control, revealing the necrotic oral flesh inside.

Vroom—

The air around the man's mouth distorted for an instant.

There was no time to react at all.

The next second, when Xia Nan truly stepped onto the ground with the step taken to release 【Tooth Hunt】, and pitch-black energy appeared around his body.

The sharp noise emitted by the man opposite also crossed the air and swept over the bodies of the group.

"Vroom-rumble..."

It was clearly formless and intangible, but when this sound wave brushed across the surface of the skin, one could feel a certain tangible power.

Just like when he was carsick in his past life, Xia Nan only felt a sense of inexplicable dizziness and nausea erupting from his heart; countless messy evil thoughts toward his teammates surged in his mind, and the emotions that had been suppressed at the bottom of his heart by reason during the battle were quietly hooked, and the bloodthirsty, malicious parts were extracted, attempting to manipulate and influence his body with this.

The passive feat named 【Staring into the Abyss】 from the Evil God Secret Realm took effect instantly—when resisting mental control spells such as charm, fear, and hypnosis, your saving throw gains a bonus (affected by the Perception attribute).

Although the outstanding Perception attribute of 12 points made Xia Nan more sensitive when facing mental attacks, it also greatly strengthened 【Staring into the Abyss】.

As thoughts flowed, the distracting thoughts in his heart had just surged before being completely suppressed, and his brain became clear.

Then, the second effect of 【Staring into the Abyss】 was triggered smoothly—when you successfully resist the mental control effect, the caster must forcibly make a saving throw; if they fail, they fall into a 【Brief Stun】 state and suffer certain psychic damage.

It was a pity that the "caster" backlashed by the feat was not the Shashou main body, but the human corpse on it.

Let alone whether it passed any saving throw, there was not even a bit of feedback, as if a stone had sunk into the sea.

The next second, Xia Nan's right foot landed.

A wolf howl erupted, and a pitch-black phantom condensed around his body.

His perception ability was already the most prominent in the entire squad, and he also possessed a feat with resistance to mental control spells; he was now the first to pass the enemy's saving throw and regained the ability to move freely.

Up to this point, from the sound wave spreading to now, it had been less than two seconds.

The rhythm of professional-level combat was unimaginably fast, and there was no room for careful thinking at all; many times, it was simply relying on muscle memory, past experience, and occasionally bursting combat inspiration to fight.

Although Xia Nan passed the mental control check by relying on his past accumulation, he also needed to know the situation of his teammates beside him before making further plans.

So, while stepping on the ground with his right foot, he suddenly twisted his ankle, relying on the excellent control ability over his own body honed by countless days and nights of training.

Flesh, shifting his body's center of gravity.

While rushing forward wrapped in pitch-black energy, he spun three hundred and sixty degrees in an instant, his gaze sweeping rapidly over the group behind him.

His heart sank involuntarily.

The situation was even worse than he had imagined.

After all, not everyone could have a double-digit Perception attribute and resistance feats at lv3 like himself; for the vast majority of adventurers, mental attacks were undoubtedly the most difficult type to deal with.

Right now, facing the screeching attack from the enemy, he was actually the only one who could complete the resistance and pass the check in an instant.

Even Captain Luo Lin, whose professional level had already exceeded lv5, was in a state of frowning and struggling.

Aken and Sawa reacted even more intensely, and their bodies were even trembling violently.

And on the other side, the huge Shashou that had just come to the shore from the pool had already bent its knees, its body leaning forward, making a charging posture as if it were about to sprint forward.

No!

Xia Nan's heart suddenly tightened.

Judging from the unrestrained posture the opponent had just displayed, it was clear that a similar process had been repeated many times.

First use the mental control effect to make the enemy briefly stunned, and then take the opportunity to launch an attack.

If he let it be, his teammates behind him would likely be instantly crushed like a pile of pins under a bowling ball when facing the charge of this behemoth that was nearly twelve feet tall.

Must buy time for them!

Thinking this in his heart, Xia Nan did not stop his steps, and had already driven the Winter Wolf phantom with swaying mane around his body, turning into a pitch-black streak and shooting toward the Shashou.

Clearly not expecting that someone could break free from mental control at such a fast speed, a flash of human-like surprise appeared in the Shashou's dead-black fish eyes.

But facing the Winter Wolf that was pouncing straight at it, it did not show any sign of wanting to dodge, still maintaining its original charging posture.

Then...

"Boom!"

The thick, short calves that seemed to be cast from steel suddenly exerted force!

Muscles expanded in an instant, and the exaggerated physical strength gathered at one point in an instant.

As mud splashed, two webbed footprints, one deep and one shallow, were left on the ground.

And the huge figure that had been in place had already disappeared.

Replacing it was the miserable wail emitted when the air was torn apart, and the crystal-clear water droplets that were smashed into powder under the ravages of the strong wind.

The burly figure, taller than a floor, was like a train made of flesh and blood, crashing straight into Xia Nan.

"F*ck!"

Gritting his teeth, Xia Nan cursed in his heart.

At this moment, only he, who was facing the impact directly, could feel the terrifying oppressive force that was almost suffocating.

Even if he hadn't had direct contact with the opponent yet, the strong, fierce wind that scraped his face painfully like blades, and the danger alarm that kept echoing in his heart, were telling him— ===== CHAPTER 468 =====