Chapter 738: Can't Get In

Its body is covered with a dark‑golden shell, and the shell's seams are studded with countless red eyes; the eyes have no eyelids, each rotating independently.

From each shoulder sprouts a thick bone spike, its surface covered with spiral‑shaped reverse hooks.

Its head lacks a defined facial structure; the face bears a vertical pupil occupying two‑thirds of the area, a vertical golden fissure whose rimmed iris fades into dark red.

It wields a long‑handled blade, its curvature a hybrid of a curved sword and an axe, the edge sheathed in a flowing gold‑red light film; just by the edge's reflection you can tell the kilometer‑long blade flash earlier came from this thing.

Boss.

The word sprang from Qingque's mind; she even felt the term alone wasn't enough—it must be the boss's second form.

The bone‑blade humanoids and centipede monsters from before, compared to the one before her, could only be called elite monsters.

That Abundance aura, so dense it seemed about to solidify, weighed heavily over the entire battlefield, even the surrounding Bubbles cluster involuntarily pushed outward a few paces.

Qingque's expression showed no fear.

She cleared her throat, gave a brief cough, and wiped her mouth corner with the back of her hand.

Then she flashed again.

Almost the instant she moved, the tall figure vanished from the pit before the tree trunk and, a second later, reappeared where she had just stood.

The long‑handled blade had already been swung, and as it materialized it sliced out several beams of blade light.

The blade lights fanned outward, each stretching hundreds of meters, leaving gold‑red ripples in the air.

The ripples lingered, like molten iron solidifying in the air.

A wave of pressure struck in front of Qingque before the blade light arrived.

She was pushed back several steps by the impact, her boot soles leaving two shallow scratches on the blue‑fish's back.

Yet as she retreated, she raised her right hand, thumb and middle finger clasped, and snapped it toward the still‑wielding figure.

A jade‑like token transformed into a streak of light and shot out, its speed so great that it made no sound slicing the air.

It passed through a gap between two blade lights, pierced the monster's arm raised in Blocking, and exited its back without any resistance.

A through‑hole now appeared at the monster's chest, its rim smooth, with cyan‑colored light threads spreading around the wound, preventing it from healing.

Qingque hadn't even had time to breathe a sigh of relief.

The rim of the pierced hole immediately began to writhe, dark‑golden shell growing outward from inside the wound; the new shell was darker than the old and glistened with moisture.

In a few breaths, the fatal through‑wound shrank into a shallow pit the size of a fist; after a few more breaths, the pit flattened and the shell was whole as new.

Qingque stared at the now‑pristine chest, a twitch pulling at the corner of her mouth.

The accompanying counterattack left her no time to make a snide remark.

Several branches suddenly erupted from the monster's shoulder blades, the same species as the limbs that had previously flown from the tree trunk, but these were thicker, faster, and their joints bore reverse‑spike structures resembling those of arthropods.

The branches swarmed from both sides at a speed faster than the ear could catch, their motion slicing the air with a shrill, piercing whine.

Qingque raised her hand and swung.

Using the palm as the center, she unfolded a cyan‑colored Light Screen; its surface swirled with layers of rune arrays, weaving the entire screen into an airtight defensive net.

Crackle—

The branches hammered the Light Screen like a raging storm, each strike spawning a violent ripple on its surface.

The reverse spikes scraping the runes produced a sharp, ear‑piercing sound, like fingernails on a blackboard amplified a hundredfold.

The branches retracted and lunged again, repeatedly; the frequency was such that new ripples overlapped before the previous ones faded, making the whole Light Screen look like a pond boiled by a torrential rain.

Yet not a single branch managed to pierce through.

Qingque crossed her arms, standing at the center of the Light Screen, chin slightly raised, a unabashed grin curling her mouth.

Can't get in—

Puff—

Her senses triggered the alarm again.

It wasn't from the front, but from the side.

From the direction of the tree trunk.

She instinctively leaned back slightly as a golden ray brushed her cheek, close enough for her to feel the scorching heat of the air it burned.

It felt like a sharp object slicing silk.

She felt a faint sting on her left cheek, followed by something warm seeping out from beneath the skin.

The golden ray didn't vanish after passing; it arced toward the monster, hovering at its left hand—a long spear.

It was entirely dark‑gold, its shaft etched with the same pattern as the tree trunk's surface, and its tip still dripped with Qingque's blood.

And this spear came from the distant direction of the tree trunk, not thrown by the melee boss.

Qingque lifted her hand and touched her cheek.

A fingertip brushed a speck of blood—little in amount—but the wound was sprouting something: a tiny golden flower, its bud pushing out from beneath her cheek skin, its petals still dotted with her blood droplets.

Abundance Corrosion.

When the golden ray passed, it also carried the Abundance aura into the wound.

She brushed it away; cyan light threads from her palm covered the wound, the flower instantly withered to ash and fell from her face, the wound healed, the skin smooth as before.

Qingque narrowed her eyes slightly.

Can pierce her Light Screen.

The spear's material was unknown; the Light Screen in front of it was like paper, pierced cleanly through without resistance.

Moreover, the spear came directly from the tree trunk side, meaning the melee boss wielding the long‑handled blade and the tree trunk itself could launch attacks simultaneously, and the tree trunk's attack had higher defense‑piercing power than the boss's branches.

One versus two.

No, it's two versus one.

She watched the tall figure catch the spear with its left hand and hold the long‑handled blade in its right, dual‑wielding.

Bone spikes above its shoulders began to extend outward, arthropod‑like branches unfurling behind it like a bird‑catching net being opened.

"Since that's the case…"

Qingque narrowed her eyes slightly, and within the depths of her emerald‑green pupils the few azure light particles began to accelerate and swirl, "Then I have no choice but to get serious."

As soon as the words fell, the tall figure flashed into view again.

It instantly appeared directly above Qingque, raising the long spear in its left hand high, holding a sharp blade horizontally in its right hand, the spear tip aimed at Qingque's crown, and drove it straight down with the force of its whole body plus the acceleration of the fall.

If that spear actually struck, not only Light Screen but even the fish under Qingque's feet would be pierced together.

But!