[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies":3,"chapter-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-318":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Notes on Kraft Anomalous Studies",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2283796,4467,"Chapter 318: Beyond-Line-of-Sight Combat","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-318",318,"\u003Cp>A terrifying idea, cast into the spirit-body, stirred a rhythmic ripple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the ripple once triggered by digitalis injection in deep biological samples, summoned from memory when needed and transformed into a concrete rhythm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mimicking its sensation was like playing omnipresent piano keys with hundreds of fingers, yet the mind did not comprehend the “score”—it merely replicated the recorded pattern mechanically, as if an illiterate person traced symbols he could never understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actual execution was far harder than imagined, no less than holding a container with no weight feedback, its surface overflowing yet held taut by surface tension, rippling dangerously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Consciousness strained to confine it to a tiny region outside the spirit-body—a thing far more terrifying than the strongest acid or deadliest toxin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reality wrinkled slightly under its seepage, becoming hazy, obscure, and contrary to reason in certain aspects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a pathogen invading reality, waiting only to make contact with its target to twist physiological laws in a specific direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No living body would wish to touch this thing; even if he doubted its effects, Kraft did not wish to test it himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he needed now was an opportunity—to recontact that spirit-body at a moderate distance, preferably through a sudden, active strike, while the other was unprepared, and cast this “incantation” of ripple into it, like a lethal arrow shot from behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for one at a disadvantage in mobility and information, this was too difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would have to spend vast amounts of time groping through this labyrinth before gaining a chance to counterattack, deprived of initiative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both his physical and spiritual states indicated time was running short. Maintaining the “incantation” while managing other tasks was as hard as performing surgery and whistling a tune after running a thousand-meter test—and he had always been poor at music and rhythm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Someone needs to lend a hand.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Almost as the thought arose, he caught a distant metallic clinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was someone moving among the rocks, their waist-hung weapon occasionally striking the stone walls—a jarring noise like a coin bouncing down a street, drawing every ear involuntarily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including Kraft’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He caught the signal in time and reached an unspoken consensus with the source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only one person would have the courage and mental clarity to act this way under such conditions—fulfilling their promised role without caring whether the other understood or cooperated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A resolute will does only what it deems most reasonable, undisturbed by anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To be honest, I must admit the Church’s standards sometimes far exceed the average.” Kraft moved, using his newly gathered strength to close in on the metallic sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even in his most absurd, ridiculous dreams, he could never have imagined such a thing: perfect coordination between a Medical Academy professor and a Tribunal priest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His torso arched, hiding himself within the shadow cast by the rock’s angle, controlling his pace like a large feline placing each paw precisely on the quietest, most cunning landing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The advantage of not wearing armor became clear—he could become a silent shadow whenever he wished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clinking metallic sound came and went, like a lighthouse beam flickering through rocky waves, offering direction to the blind, circling consciousness—an irresistible vortex of attraction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had nothing to do with intellect or logic; if only one button lay before you, you would press it, even if you didn’t know the outcome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Movement and choice were instincts of life; perhaps only death could make them refuse this instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirit-body brushed through intricate corridors, Cengcengbaoguo , spiraling in long arcs; the darkness above curled and rotated with its movement, giving the illusion of walking within a fingerprint, as if some vast, distant will watched the desperate performance of tiny things beneath its fingertips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His sense of gravity faded, blurring the distinction between up and down; his feet no longer felt like his own, moving like a puppet on strings, crouched and shuffling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t sure if this was due to exhaustion—everything was receding, like sinking in clear water; senses beyond his spiritual perception grew hazy, soft darkness creeping from behind, muffling his ears, turning the crisp metallic clangs into thick, dull, muffled tones like dough being kneaded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The burning pain in his trachea turned into heavy numbness, severing the sensation of air flowing in and out; had his chest not still risen and fell, his consciousness might not have been certain he was still breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The spirit-body, by contrast, stretched wide, accommodating the dangerous ripple while reaching outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green appeared in his perception, tapping the rock wall with the metal cap of his scabbard, murmuring something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It must be a prayer—his lips moved without hesitation, fluent and practiced, as natural as breathing, requiring no deliberate memorization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His arms trembled uncontrollably; his knuckles, fused to the weapon, bulged; fear flowed across his taut skin, surging from every angle of the dark unknown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft knew where he was, but Green did not know Kraft’s position, nor could he be certain the plan was still underway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The high pressure of the unknown, distortion, fear, and death could turn battle-hardened veterans into trembling quails, devout believers into mad heretics; reason was fragile before this force, more brittle than worm-eaten timber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not this man. Not now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green took another step, fully entering the range of perception; his scabbard struck the rock again, the sound crossing the high walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft almost thought he saw the air vibrating, pressure waves rippling outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then it came.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound of galloping hooves, as if four gates had opened, monstrous messengers emerging, bearing symbols of death and ending.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It made no attempt to conceal itself—perhaps the fragility of these mortals, no different from the last group, had given it enough confidence; after all, crushing a few insects with a finger requires no disguise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green slowed his pace, fumbling inside his collar for something, finding nothing, shaking his head in resignation, tracing a circle in the air over his chest, then drawing his sword and planting it upright. His task was done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A phantom sensation invaded the spirit-body’s perception from the direction of the hoofbeats; the ripple within it brewed, poised to strike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, the other had sensed the contact; after a brief pause, it immediately shifted its target, invading the perception field, the ripple rapidly taking shape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a step too late, unaware it had touched not still water, but a treacherous rapids surging with alien currents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While hesitating whether to withdraw or seize the opportunity, the current wrapped around its “fingertip”; the pure, clear ripple was fully reflected back through contact, spreading like an ink drop darkening toward it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was astonished—it should be astonished. This was a technique shaped by profound cognition, far surpassing crude, primitive usage, bordering on revealing the deepest mysteries of life, an art deemed the delusion of madmen by its age.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How many had delved so deep only to glimpse a fraction? It preferred to believe the ripple in the spirit-body was merely a hollow imitation, born of desperation—after all, when such a ripple contacted a body, it caused no pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it hesitated—for an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An eternal instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The galloping hooves halted; before the heavy crash, Kraft heard a scream abruptly cut off—more like the cry of a terrified human than those things.\u003C\u002Fp>",1210,"2026-06-20T02:15:56.940Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","0768acbd3a4c0623d12e7ef8cbd10afa05f1eb7cbd659f84b479e40e0da0e79a","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-319","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-317",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]