Chapter 357: The Bet

Ding-guang ding-guang ding-ding-guang——

Metal clashed without pause, smashing wildly against each other.

Sparks, residual waves from sharp blades, and crimson air currents spilled out continuously, ravaging the surrounding trees and soil, turning everything they touched into pulp.

The fire spirits who had fought Gray earlier chose to watch from the sidelines.

On one hand, they hoped to profit from others' conflict; on the other, the stray energy was terrifying—especially that black-sword man. Even scattered sword qi shattered anything it touched. Better to stay out of it.

Gray gritted her teeth hard, gripping her spear with both hands to block the overhead slash.

Ding!

Her palms trembled violently, her arms went numb and weak.

She nearly lost her grip on the steel spear.

How many times had she openly met this man's strikes now?

She had no time to count such trivial things. That slender black blade, glowing faint purple, delivered each swing with absurd, monstrous force.

It felt like a dragon wielding a toothpick to chop at you.

But now she was certain.

This man was indeed at the peak of the sixth tier—same as her own rank.

Though hard to accept, her cherished title of "undefeated below seventh tier" clearly no longer fit.

But.

Don't expect me to just surrender!

Gray snorted, thrusting her spear forward with her right hand, forcing him back.

Then she pushed her spiritual energy and 【Hero Amplification】 to their absolute limits.

As a former frontline assault general of the Heavenly Court's Flower Nation, she knew no flashy spells and understood little of spiritual arts.

Since she began fighting, she had only ever used one spiritual art.

——The simplest, easiest to learn: 【Spear Thrust Art】.

Facing the menacing steel spear lunging straight at him.

Crimson air currents swirled and spiraled, radiating an overwhelmingly dominant aura.

This was military might.

Luo De had seen it before on Isabella Argyle—the eldest daughter of the Argyle family.

But to be fair.

Gray's aura was strong, and though her power surpassed Isabella's, her technique was lopsided—overly forward, lacking balance.

Her fighting style made this clear.

If a mage faced this kind of reckless close-quarters brawler, they'd be shattered in mere rounds by such pressure.

Specialists have their strengths, but they're also easy to target.

Like Luo De.

He didn't even need to raise a shield. He simply stomped one foot.

——【War Trample】.

The ground cracked; fissures spread like shockwaves beneath Gray's feet.

The intense tremor acted like a tripwire against charging cavalry.

She was momentarily stunned rigid, her face twisted with frustration and shock.

Luo De spun around, slashing away the emerald straight blade that had struck from behind, then exploded forward with tremendous leg power.

The ground erupted into a deep crater as his body slammed into the silver-armored woman's chest.

Crack—

The armor dented inward.

"Ugh—"

Gray groaned, shot into the mountainside like a cannonball.

Rocks tumbled down like a waterfall, burying her.

"Lady Gray!"

The half-deer woman Kira cried out and rushed to assist.

Is this a tournament match?

Lose one battle, and you get a chance to rest and recover?

Luo De hurled a 【Slime Bind】 at the half-deer woman—just like before, tightly bound, every contour of her body clearly outlined.

Kira felt the black ropes of the slime subtly rubbing against certain parts of her body, and instantly panicked, blushing furiously.

"Let me go!"

Don't you understand the situation?

Why would I ever let you go?

Not only won't I let you go—I'll grab even more.

"Ah! You're disgusting! You filthy bug!"

Luo De shrugged, utterly unfazed.

His slime, Little Black, activated 【Multiple Transformation】 and 【Form Solidification】 again.

It stretched into a long black spear.

He weighed it, then stomped hard, twisting his waist like a whip.

Boom!

The black spear pierced the air barrier, exploding into a white mist—before the eye could track it, it shot straight into Gray's position.

"Ah—"

Another muffled cry of pain.

Mixed with the grating sound of teeth grinding.

Kira turned pale, lips trembling, unable to speak for a long while.

Luo De loosened his arm with a twist.

Fighting this candidate hero, Gray, was mainly to test the power of that crimson air current—and to see if he had even a sliver of a chance.

Look.

He hadn't even used a spiritual art—purely blade-to-blade combat.

But this thing seems tied to the 【Hero Giver】.

Even with the insight boosted by a dozen or so spirit seeds, he couldn't grasp even a single thread of its nature.

It's awfully high-level.

Since he knew he couldn't forcibly take it, Luo De stopped caring.

Kill her?

No thanks. Since ancient times, killing those destined by fate has never ended well—especially someone foretold by that old elder's prophecy.

As long as she's not dead, isn't that just part of the hero's trial?

Besides, this place is ten thousand miles from Shiying Town, and his disguise field hadn't been exposed.

I won't invite that bad luck—certainly not by my own hand.

Luo De thought for a moment.

Then he walked over and hurled a 【Slime Bind】 at Gray as well.

The black spear had pierced her chest; she spat blood, but her eyes still stared coldly at Luo De.

Luo De didn't care about that.

He only regretted that this woman wore full armor—the slime bindings hadn't left any cute, sexy contours, unlike the half-deer woman beside her.

Luo De bundled the two together and tossed them before the watching fire spirits.

"Let's make a bet, shall we, fire spirit friends?"

These were fire spirits Gray had single-handedly broken through—let alone Luo De, who had easily defeated her.

So they exchanged glances, knowing they had no right to refuse.

As a primitive tribe of fire spirits, they revered strength above all.

After a moment's silence, a fire spirit with orange-red flames spoke:

"Great one, what do you mean by 'bet'?"

Luo De grinned, spreading his arms toward the sky.

I will become your firewood husband—I offer myself as firewood for you to warm yourself with in winter.

The orange-red fire spirit's eyes widened. A powerful spiritual warrior volunteering to be firewood?!

Damn, I'm drooling.

But he hesitated: "Great one, do you know what 'firewood husband' means?"

"Of course! That's why this is a bet! You can let every female fire spirit in your tribe try to melt me—but don't interfere with what I do. Hehehehe—fire spirits, I need your help to cultivate!"

As he spoke, Luo De pointed to the bound half-deer woman and the female hero below.

"No matter whether I survive or not, these two are yours!"

The orange-red fire spirit fell silent, judging whether Luo De was lying.

In recent years, many wizards had died trying to learn special spells from fire spirits—but a spiritual warrior? First time ever.

In his view, it was a surefire profit with no risk.

Even if he lost, he wouldn't lose a pound of flesh.

If he won, he'd get three Spirit-quality Warrior Logs of quite decent quality.

As for this lord's condition—that he wants only a female Fire Spirit—

Heh, humans being lustful creatures isn't something new, and besides, Fire Spirits don't care about such male-female matters anyway.

If not for their chieftain holding them back, and if not for the fact that few carbon-based beings could withstand a Fire Spirit's body, these fiery, lust-driven female Fire Spirits would have long ago ravaged men across the continent.

(End of Chapter)