Chapter 471: Desperate Situation

"Bang!"

Carrying a viscous liquid mixed with seawater and blood, the Shashou's iron fist, which could almost cover the entire chest of an adult human, slammed onto the Barbarian Aken's chest cavity with a terrifying force that could pierce rock and steel.

Pop—

The first thing to explode was the layer of rich red light covering its skin surface following the anger in its heart; this was the external manifestation of the Barbarian profession's core "Anger Force" taking effect.

Right now, it was shattered by the Shashou's punch.

And at the same time, this layer of seemingly fragile red light without substantial shape also weakened part of the power of this heavy punch to a certain extent, slightly alleviating the pressure that Aken's flesh needed to bear.

Then, it was skin, muscle, and bone.

The Barbarian profession was not unable to wear equipment; in fact, there even existed a combat branch that specifically used heavy "nail-spike armor" as a means of attack, hitting enemies through close-quarters combat.

But clearly, Aken was not this combat style.

With a giant axe as the main weapon, since the day Xia Nan met the other party, he had never seen this Barbarian from a remote island wear an upper garment, just exposing his upper body in a wild and primitive posture, showing the flashy and dense tattoos to everyone.

Now, when the fist from the Shashou landed in the center of his chest, naturally there would be no extra protection from armor, but let the flesh and blood body bear all this.

The relatively soft skin buckled inward under the immense force from the fist, the muscle tissue beneath acting like a water-soaked sponge, crushing and rupturing blood vessels, and the erupting blood stained the skin above a bruised, dark blue.

And when the skin and muscles were squeezed to the limit, the bones used to support the entire body inside also broke, snapping in a series of "crackling" sounds.

The power from the fist bone continued downward, and the next target affected was the fragile internal organs located in the deepest part of the chest cavity.

And just at this time, the skin of the Barbarian, which was dented to the limit and almost exploded under the iron fist, suddenly flashed a layer of blurred red spiritual light again.

The Shashou, which had already entered a state of frenzy, naturally could not hold back, and its own strength and constitution, which could be called strong among monsters, could be seen from its huge body.

Under normal circumstances, being smashed firmly on the body by a punch at close range like Aken, even those veteran adventurers with higher professional levels, if they were not the type good at defense, would likely have to return to the kingdom of heaven on the spot.

But now... the actual situation had changed.

Why did the Barbarian profession always give people the impression that they didn't even wear light armor, often wrapped in a piece of beast fur and waving primitive weapons, roaring and rushing at the enemy.

On one hand, it was the influence of the "Anger Force," the core source of professional power, on combat style;

On the other hand, it was also because of the special feat of this profession itself.

Perhaps it had different names in many branch professions, and even occasionally had other special effects, but the essential characteristic of this feat could be called "Unarmored Defense."

To explain it in an easy-to-understand way, when a Barbarian was not wearing armor-type equipment, his physical defense ability could gain the adjustment bonus of "Agility" and "Constitution" attributes.

This was also the fundamental reason why many high-level Barbarians, who clearly wore no equipment, could stand in the front row of the team and be more durable than those low-level warriors wearing heavy armor.

Although Aken's professional level was not very high, and his own Agility and Constitution attributes were still far from the qualitative change level of high-level Barbarians.

But his actual physical defense was far less fragile than it looked on the surface.

Of course, this was far from enough for him to survive after the Shashou's iron fist smashed into his chest cavity.

What truly took effect at this moment, protecting Aken's life, was the red light that suddenly flashed on his skin surface.

—"Path," just like the Druid's "Circle," was a branch change of the Barbarian profession in combat style, and a special manifestation of different anger.

When a Barbarian raised his professional level to lv3, he would gain an opportunity to choose his own path.

【Storm Herald】 who manipulated fire, thunder, and freezing, driving elemental magic power with an outstanding physical body; 【Path of the Beast】 who drew power from beast spirits and transformed into wild beast forms like a Druid; 【Ancestor Guardian】 who inherited the great power of ancestors and summoned tribal spirits to fight...

These different paths each possessed their own unique and distinct abilities, expanding the power domain of the Barbarian profession.

And Aken, as a lv4 Barbarian, naturally had already completed the choice of his own path.

—【Indomitable Soul】.

One of the inheritance paths from the tribe he came from.

Only those tribal elites who had experienced the edge of life and death, been knocked down countless times and stood up countless times, and possessed the most firm will to survive, could step onto this indomitable path.

In normal times, except for providing some bonuses in Constitution and Strength, there was no extra special manifestation; it could neither manipulate magic particles nor transform into a beast to fight.

But when a Barbarian of the 【Indomitable Soul】 path encountered a heavy blow sufficient to endanger his life, the anger force from the depths of his bloodline would be transformed into defense and healing ability far exceeding the ordinary under the guidance of his steel-like will, winning that line of survival in a desperate situation.

"Vroom-rumble..."

Coming from nowhere, an ethereal and high-pitched roar suddenly sounded in the air.

The flashy tattoos covering Aken's naked upper body actually suddenly moved in an instant under the nourishment of the red light on his body surface; those waves and sea beasts turned into living things at this moment.

If one could start from the micro perspective inside this Barbarian's body at this moment, one could see that at the moment the roar sounded, the fragile internal organs inside his chest cavity were also wrapped by a layer of extremely rich red light.

Allowing the organs that should have been smashed by the Shashou's punch to gain the last layer of protection after the skin, muscles, and bones were broken one after another.

The next second...

"Bang!!!"

Aken's sturdy body flew backward like a cannonball, and the surging force from the Shashou's iron fist caused his body to almost form a "bow" shape in the air with his head and feet outward and his waist and abdomen inward.

"Pfft!"

His mouth couldn't stop opening under the effect of severe pain, and scarlet blood sprayed wildly from it.

After landing, his body rolled more than ten times on the ground until it finally hit the exotic architectural fragments nearby, and then it barely stopped.

His chest cavity sank, and he sprayed two more mouthfuls of blood.

One could see Aken's arms scratching on the ground, trying to support his body to stand up again.

But even if the power from the 【Indomitable Soul】 path reserved a line of life for him, after suffering such a heavy blow, he had no possibility of getting up and fighting in a short time.

After struggling twice, he rolled his eyes and fainted completely.

"Damn it!"

A curse from Captain Luo Lin came to his ears.

Xia Nan landed leisurely under the effect of 【Tide Shaping】, and at the same time, his arms relaxed, putting the Halfling Alton back on the ground.

A pair of pitch-black eyes stared at the behemoth on the field ahead, his face had no expression, but his heart couldn't help but become increasingly heavy.

Clearly, the Shashou, which was increasingly struggling under the siege of the crowd, had entered a second stage of significantly enhanced combat power.

The ground between the canyons was like just after an earthquake, covered with dense cracks, and the already moist mud was soaked by the strangely colored water flow that surged from underground before, becoming muddy and leaving water puddles of different sizes.

The Shashou stood in the very center of the field.

Compared to before, the wounds on its body surface that were difficult to heal due to the scorching effect of 【Scale-Fire Scimitar】 were now covered with a layer of translucent, mucus-like water flow, and one could vaguely see the flesh buds intertwining and entangling inside.

The already huge body suddenly expanded a few more circles, and its height was likely already over four meters.

It didn't sound like much, but when such a muscle monster taller than a floor stood in front of you, covered in blood, and looked at you with those pitch-black, lightless shark eyes, the suffocating oppressive force brought by it would be unprecedented.

That was to say, Xia Nan's will was firm, and the extremely rich experience after crossing over could be considered to have allowed him to see some big scenes.

Otherwise, if it were other bottom-level adventurers who had only been in the industry for less than two years, facing this intensity of enemy, they might not even be able to stand steady.

"Careful!"

Luo Lin's warning came to his ears again.

The Shashou, which had already entered a state of frenzy, naturally would not leave any chance for the few people on the field to breathe.

Almost within the time of a breath after Xia Nan landed after the water impact, the Shashou standing in place disappeared.

Replacing it was the thick sound of air compression when an object moved at high speed, and a terrifying black-and-red shadow that was shooting over. ===== CHAPTER 472 =====