Chapter 472: Heavy Injury

The situation on the field had reached its worst point.

The balance of victory, which had been faintly tilting toward the *Blade of Vengeance* squad just a few minutes ago, was now completely tilted to the other side.

Xia Nan could even hear the heavy breathing of the Barbarian Aken from the distant architectural ruins, which sounded like a bellows, and the painful light groans emitted by the Tabaxi Sawa under the cliff wall in a fainting state.

The continuous attrition in a short period of time had completely caused the entire squad to lose the possibility of using numerical superiority to siege and gradually consume the opponent's life force as before.

Not to mention that the overall combat power intensity of the Shashou entering a state of frenzy now was one grade higher than before; after losing Aken and Sawa, the only two and a half melee combat forces left could not realize the possibility of constantly pulling the opponent's attention.

Rashly approaching to siege would only be caught in a flaw under the Shashou's high-pressure attack, causing the already bad situation to fall into an irreparable state.

What should be done?

Xia Nan stood in place, looking at the behemoth covered in blood on the field, his brain turning rapidly.

Was there a possibility of retreat?

This thought was denied by him almost the moment it surfaced in Xia Nan's mind.

He considered himself at least now, he was not the kind of character who could abandon teammates who had good friendship and fought side-by-side to run away alone.

Moreover, where could he run to?

Right now, they had been trapped in the Twin Canyons; being able to fight this water-dwelling Shashou on land was already the most favorable situation for the few people on the field.

But if they went into the water, even if they were on a ship, changing the combat environment to the Shashou's home field at sea would be handing their lives to the opponent.

Unless the opponent took the initiative to retreat, the battle could not be avoided.

With this as a premise, it must be clear that although the battle situation was precarious right now, as far as he himself was concerned, it was far from the point of exhaustion.

He still possessed two trump cards that had not yet been revealed.

The 4th Circle healing spell "Spring Pulse Cleansing" enchanted on 【Tears of Spring Breath】 could greatly improve Xia Nan's fault tolerance; basically, as long as it was not a serious injury where limbs were cut off or even consciousness was instantly dispersed, it could be safely recovered;

【Ember Echo】 went without saying; as the trump card among his trump cards, it was the core he relied on to turn the tables right now.

But...

Xia Nan had no obvious emotional fluctuations on his face, but he couldn't help but fall into deep thought inside.

The effect of 【Ember Echo】 was incomparably powerful; not only could it quickly recover injuries in a very short time, but the 33% comprehensive increase in five-dimensional attributes also doubled his actual combat power.

And the "Stamina Overload," "Toughness Enhancement," and "25% Ember Damage Bonus" attached to the Ember state meant that Xia Nan could pour his firepower onto the enemy without any worries.

He was confident that he, who had opened 【Ember Echo】, could turn the tide of the battle.

The only limitation was time.

The Ember state could only last for sixty seconds after being opened, and then it would enter a cooling period of up to one month.

Could he truly turn the tide in this one minute of short time and completely kill the Shashou in front of him?

Regarding this point, Xia Nan was not sure.

Especially when the Shashou looked seriously injured, but in reality, except for the human head position smashed by 【Gravity Etching】 on the side of the chest, other places were ordinary wounds that did not affect actual activities and were healing rapidly.

The previously resumed zither sound quietly dissipated; knowing that melee power was urgently needed after the continuous attrition of the squad, Alton consciously tied his lute back to his back, holding two daggers and approaching rapidly to provide support for Xia Nan and others;

Haian also recovered to human form from the albatross state to avoid the Shashou's targeting, and was currently standing on the top of the exotic architectural ruins slightly further away, holding her staff tightly with both hands, her eyelids drooping slightly, her lips moving, and magic particles around her body were turbulent.

And at the same time, as the only melee member left besides Xia Nan, Luo Lin naturally felt the suffocating pressure brought by the Shashou.

Her status as the captain of the squad and the bonds established with the members over so many years made her watch as the teammates she lived and died with suffered heavy injuries, life and death unknown.

Right now, Luo Lin's mood was only known to herself.

Luo Lin didn't know that the black-haired young man with no expression beside her still had the final killing move, nor did she know that the little dwarf beside her, who was not even as long as the Shashou's arm, was the chosen one of the Goddess of Luck.

What she saw was that the squad she led had suffered heavy injuries due to the Shashou's sudden outbreak, two teammates had completely exited the field, and the "Blade of Vengeance" seemed to have reached the critical moment of survival.

Facing such a desperate situation, Luo Lin did not give up.

Those worries about the seriously injured teammates, anxiety about the future of the team, and even the unavoidable fear of death...

All negative emotions were suppressed at the bottom of her heart by this captain who had roamed the sea for many years at this moment.

In those brownish-red eyes, only the fire of fighting spirit burning vigorously remained.

She suddenly turned her head and glanced in the direction of the black-haired young man beside her.

She didn't speak, but at this moment, Xia Nan understood the other party's meaning—let him act according to the situation.

"Boom!"

Scorching flames erupted abruptly from her body surface, and heat waves rolled and surged.

The temperature difference generated instantly caused the air around her to "sizzle" and emit water mist, vaguely distorting in the blur.

【Scorching Temperature Domain】!

A combat technique she had used against the Sahuagin group before was released by Luo Lin again.

Xia Nan had seen the other party use this move and knew it was a range-type skill aimed at group enemies.

Worried about being affected, he thought about taking a step to retreat after feeling the surging heat flow.

But just the next second, those scorching flame flows spreading outward seemed to be controlled by some invisible force and were suddenly compressed inward.

It was as if an air shield was covering Luo Lin, and the high temperature and scorching flames that should have expanded outward were firmly restrained by her, sticking tightly to her body surface.

Looking from the outside, it was like a layer of translucent orange-red light was pasted on her whole person, collecting all the heat and scorching inside her body.

—【Flame Body】, the companion feat of the 【Oath-Flame Helmsman】 profession.

Its own effect was actually not very strong, but it was just that the possessor of the feat could passively absorb some of the heat energy when using flame-type combat techniques to replenish physical strength and slightly improve physical constitution, belonging to an auxiliary-type feat.

But for a veteran adventurer like Luo Lin who had extremely rich combat experience and had a deep understanding of her own profession after taking it for many years, she could always exert the seemingly ordinary abilities to the extreme in the continuous development of her own combat system over the years.

Using her extremely high proficiency in combat techniques, she controlled 【Scorching Temperature Domain】 to stop expanding outward, but to shrink inward and restrain her body surface.

Let the high-temperature flame flow that should have scorched the enemy stimulate herself, so as to improve her physical constitution and combat ability to the greatest extent in a short time, making this feat that should have been auxiliary become a certain implicit state-type combat technique of hers.

But it was definitely not a combat technique that could properly improve the professional level, and such use of flames would cause a great burden on Luo Lin's body, and would also produce considerable side effects on the main body after use.

It belonged to a backhand in the absolute sense.

The change on the field was just an instant.

That vicious Shashou with a huge body that had already entered a state of frenzy would not leave any chance for Xia Nan and the others to breathe.

Almost at the same time the flames rose, it dragged its huge body like a small mountain and pounced straight at them with an astonishing explosive speed.

Vroom-rumble-rumble—

Heat waves rolled.

The fiery red long hair swayed violently due to the surging airflow around her body, as if every strand of hair was wrapped in condensed flame light.

Letting the angry emotions stirred by the 【Scale-Fire Scimitar】 in her hand surge only in her heart, Luo Lin forcibly maintained the calmness of her brain in the flames.

Her legs bent slightly at the knees, dragging flame light behind her, and she shot toward the Shashou ahead.