Chapter 101: lv1

The Nine Layers of Hell, an outer plane drifting beyond the material realm.

Also the dwelling place of the most evil and deceitful "devils" in the world's eyes.

Comets falling from the firmament, broken weapons and rotting corpses, swamp magma, frozen tundra, jagged stone peaks and dead wastelands...

In the River Styx's surging sounds filled with death's aura, you could almost find in this territory all imaginable most vile environments.

And the highly concentrated magic particles in the air with proportional compositions different from the material plane bred countless dangerous and deadly monsters.

Growing in slaughter and death struggles, every moment needing to cope with extreme environmental high pressure from the outside.

Compared to monsters eking out existence in this harsh land, the vast majority of living beings in the material plane were like hothouse flowers.

Fragile and delicate.

Thorn demons—one of the lowest-tier monsters in the Nine Layers of Hell.

Like those annoying flies, flapping wings and calling constantly, high-tier devils often just lightly beckoning could command tens of thousands of thorn demons, like cannon fodder transforming into the most insignificant drop of blood in hell's countless massive meat-grinder battlefields.

But after coming to the material plane, they transformed, becoming powerful monsters capable of wiping out an entire adventurer squad.

Hell's extremely harsh environment—those churning, boiling lava rivers and lethal toxic gas permeating the air—let the thorn demon race at birth obtain immunity abilities against ordinary flames and toxins.

Along with a certain resistance to general weapons' slashing, bludgeoning and piercing damage.

Those pale bone clusters covering joints all over their bodies, and nail-like spikes on spine and tail surfaces that could shoot out like arrows.

Made them like pure killing machines crafted for battlefields.

I maintained vigilant posture, standing in place, body tense.

The beheading longsword held diagonally before me, attention highly concentrated, guarding against bone spikes that might shoot over at any moment.

Expression grave.

Clearly, the thorn demon's immunity to flame damage disrupted my battle rhythm.

Originally wanted to take advantage of it being scorched by flames to attack and expand advantage.

Right now could only temporarily retreat, waiting for another opportunity.

At the same time, this also meant the other two fire oil bombs stored in the pouch at my waist had become waste in the upcoming battle, no longer useful.

And what made me even more vigilant was the exaggerated reaction ability it displayed in that instant just now.

This thorn demon before me was clearly already severely wounded.

Not only infected all over with spores, combat ability greatly decreased.

Even half its wing was broken, having lost the most troublesome flying ability.

Yet still possessed physical fitness far exceeding mine, exaggeratedly using bone clusters proliferating from its elbow to forcibly block my 【Whirlwind Slash】.

This made me break out in cold sweat, not daring to imagine if the opponent right now was in perfect uninjured condition, what kind of scene the battle between us would be.

Probably I'd fundamentally have no counterattack ability. The opponent would just need to flap wings, hanging in the air shooting bone spikes, and I could only flee awkwardly like a living target.

"Sizzle!"

Thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant.

Suddenly came the sound of exploding air in my ears. The thorn demon's hunched, thin body abruptly transformed into a phantom, disappearing from its original position.

Wrapped in pungent sulfur stench, the long tail embedded with sharp bone blades whistled over like a whip from the corner of my eye.

Facing that attack capable of severing the body at the waist, I neither dodged nor evaded. Both hands gripping the longsword, I directly closed in head-on.

Whooom—

Ochre-red energy force field, accompanying suddenly gathering energy particles in the air, shrouded my entire body.

【Deadline】 ring: Deflection field!

Powerful force instantly became void, as if touching an absolutely smooth arc surface. Accompanying translucent ochre ripples, the pale bone blade all the way diagonally upward deviated from its original target.

And borrowing this precious magical accessory usable only once per day, I was able to close in on the hell monster before me.

The iron-gray blade surface glinted with cold light.

The sulfur smell mixed with choking blood became increasingly rich. I could even see in the thorn demon's mouth full of viscous drool, a dark long tongue forked and stirring like a snake.

The next second, both arms exerting force, the beheading longsword thrust straight forward.

Knowing its skin was tough, wanting to break defense required spending more effort.

In extremely brief reaction time, I nimbly aimed the sword tip at the wound in the middle of the thorn demon's chest.

Fiercely pushing!

"Sizzle!"

Thin smoke rising, yellowish-green pus with some corrosiveness splattered from the wound.

I only felt the longsword in hand seemed to insert into a swamp. Force continuously weakened and diminished in dense muscle tissue, waves of sluggishness.

"Ding."

Finally accompanying some bone-like hard object, the sword tip could no longer go deeper.

"Still a bit short!" I thought inwardly.

Just about to exert force a second time, drilling through cartilage to pierce the monster's heart.

Sharp, piercing shrieking as if to pierce through my skull.

The thorn demon's withered, branch-like palm traced a sinister and deadly arc in my blind spot, stabbing toward my side ribs.

The back of my head suddenly brushed past forest-cold air.

Originally forward-gripping force on the longsword instantly released. Left hand released the sword hilt, arm instinctively blocking to the side.

"Bang!"

The thorn demon's claw driven by powerful explosive force fiercely fell on the smooth serpent scale arm shield's surface.

Couldn't break defense.

The tough scales from the otherworldly giant serpent definitely couldn't be broken by this kind of attack.

Didn't even leave a mark.

But on the other hand, the swift force transmitting from my forearm also made me pause, center of gravity shifting.

Feeling something wrong, I exerted force with my feet, thinking to take this opportunity to once again pull distance from it, to break free from that continuous offensive and gain a moment's breathing chance.

But just retreating two steps slightly, the bone spike from the thorn demon's long tail had already penetrated air shooting straight over.

The previous rounds of engagement made me roughly understand in my heart the bone spike's flying speed.

The blade already blocking before me while retreating slightly lifted, just about to parry.

In my vision, around that bone spike, flames suddenly burst forth.

Speed surging while the flight path also vaguely changed.

Unable to dodge in time, I only managed to slightly turn my body aside.

Whooom bang—

Flickering firelight, the bone spike in molten state diagonally fell on me.

The light plate armor that ordinary blades could only leave scratches on was penetrated in the blink of an eye.

Like an iron skewer for meat, the bone spike instantly sank into the plate armor.

"Clang!"

That was the sharp sound of the bone spike colliding and rubbing with the chain mail's lock rings below the plate armor.

Burning pain suddenly transmitted from my chest side.

Looking again, that bone spike wrapped in glaring fresh blood and shattered, melted iron filings was nailed straight into the ground.

Just because I reacted fast, temporarily turning my body aside.

Otherwise this bone spike would probably have pierced me straight through on the spot.

And even dodging timely like right now, this killing weapon from the Nine Layers of Hell still pierced through the double-layer armor on me, leaving injuries of still-unknown severity on my chest and abdomen.

Before I had time to catch my breath, shrieking mixed with sulfur stench came from my side under the terrifying momentum shrouded in shadows.

That was the tough membrane wing on the other side of the thorn demon's back, exceeding twice its body length.

"Bang!"

A chilling collision thud sounded in the air.

The figure carrying the iron-gray longsword flew backwards, falling to the ground.

In my mouth was rich bloody taste like rust.

I only felt intense pain transmitting throughout my body. Although not like the petrifying lizard incident where I seemed to ascend to heaven, completely losing combat power.

It definitely wasn't pleasant either.

Battle situation urgent—fundamentally no time to judge my specific injuries, also didn't know how many bones were broken.

I just forcefully endured unspeakable pain, using the beheading longsword to support my body, difficultly standing up.

"Ptui."

Spitting a blood-tinged gob at my feet.

Pitch-black eyes reflecting ahead the hunched figure crouching on the ground like a venomous snake.

"Already severely injured, yet the gap... is still this large?"

Tactics and techniques that could previously decide battle momentum, even easily resolve enemies, no longer worked before substantial combat power gaps.

For a moment, made me even feel somewhat lost.

The trump cards on me only had the "Fate Coin" still usable 3 times remaining. Currently the only usage I'd figured out 100% effective was using the coin to trigger 【Iron Bones】' physical damage immunity.

But...

Damage immunity could only last an instant, one attack.

Could I really use this all-too-brief time to tip victory's scales toward myself?

"How to win?"

"Where are the weak points?"

"How can I survive?"

And just at this time, the long wolf howl transmitting from far behind suddenly became incomparably high-pitched.

......

Karanfor, outskirts.

The once peaceful wooden house and flower beds had already transformed into debris in scorched muddy soil.

No vegetation, no buildings—as if everything around had been ground to dust under magnificent power's collision.

On the open field, only remained a patch of pitch-black scorched earth emitting residual warmth.

Slightly farther away, town residents' fearful, panicked shrieks and wails seemed isolated by the extremely rich fungal spore purple mist in the air, blurred and unclear.

Ice storm howling, crystalline snowflakes emitting bone-piercing frost cold—before having time to fall to the ground, they were melted by residual heat in the soil into tiny water drops.

Making the field surface appear to be permeated with a thin layer of water mist.

"Growl..."

Low wolf growl abruptly sounded.

Body size swelled countless circles, semi-transparent silver-white fur lightly swaying, nimble, slender limbs stepping on the ground, condensing ice crystals.

A winter wolf seemingly in soul state with elegant posture lightly floated to its master's side.

Sharp fangs glinting with ice light were biting a tattered corpse riddled with holes from gnawing and tearing.

Could vaguely see robe cloth remnants on the corpse surface. The bloodstained golden sun holy symbol silently fell to the ground, stained with scattered mud spots.

"Your helper isn't much either."

Forgan's left hand lightly stroked the winter wolf's head beside him. His right hand tightly gripping the black obsidian small axe's surface was already dyed with a layer of translucent ice crystals.

Under frost and ancestral spirit protection, his body condition seemed no different from just now.

Only slight scorch marks on the skin surface at one side of his arm revealed the battle just experienced.

"The sun god's radiance is no more."

A voice old and hoarse like tree bark rubbing came from ahead.

The tone strangely carried some sense of agreement, as if the dead before him wasn't a jointly fighting ally, just an insignificant stranger.

"His followers only know how to exert force against commoners who understand nothing."

Surrounded by thorns and purple mist.

Karanfor's gravedigger, Spore Society's swamp druid "Bartholomew," said thus.

Dark purple fine particles shrouded his face—couldn't see specific expression on it.

Could only vaguely see beneath that aged skin covered with wrinkles and gray spots, another younger face.

As soon as he finished speaking, sharp cold wind suddenly blew from unknown places.

A cluster of black thorns that had at some unknown time come behind the barbarian from blind spots was instantly frozen into ice sculptures.

"How many years' old tricks, hm?"

The druid only chuckled lowly.

"Works if useful."

"Years ago on the ice plains encountered an old man, frost spirit priest, almost touched the 'Legend' boundary, didn't he also fall for it, bound by me on the totem, personally watching tribe people all die before closing eyes."

"Oh, almost forgot—you should also know him, hehe."

Forgan's ice-blue eyes like cold pools gazed at the dark purple figure emitting decayed aura before him.

The ice-cold expression on his face didn't produce any change due to the other party's provocation.

Just raised the left hand stroking the winter wolf's head beside him.

Placing it at his mouth.

"Sizzle."

A section of pinky finger fell on the ground frozen with frost.

Fresh red blood at the wound, under some invisible power's guidance, formed a beast claw pattern with bent fingers on the snow surface.

As if detecting attention from some hidden existence in a divine kingdom beyond the plane.

The druid's entire aura suddenly changed. Spores in the air violently trembled.

"Why bother... is a soul approaching Legend level truly worth it?"

The wound was covered by frost, rapidly stopping bleeding.

From passing through River Valley Town a few days ago, from coming to Servia Kingdom three months ago, from walking out of that ruin in wind and snow many years ago.

For the first time, Forgan showed a smile.

Between frost-white teeth was crimson blood remaining from biting off his finger.

"Worth it."

Awoooo—

Mournful yet high-pitched wolf howls, with gradually fierce ice and snow storms, suddenly burst forth.

......

Awoooo—

The wolf cry transmitting from afar seemed to possess some peculiar power.

Drilling into skin, penetrating flesh and blood, deep into the heart.

Originally chaotic thoughts were instantly swept away.

Only soundless cold remained.

Adam's apple rolling, the last half bottle of healing potion was poured down. The empty glass bottle rolled to the ground.

Sharp, fierce shrieking sounds, accompanying choking sulfur smell, came head-on.

In my vision, the thorn demon's hunched, jagged body had already transformed into a phantom, rapidly closing toward my direction.

Yet I didn't move.

Even my gaze was somewhat dazed.

At this moment, in that long, profound wolf howl, I seemed to arrive at the snowfield upon the highlands.

Became a winter wolf crouching in snow, hunting prey.

Muscles squirming and swelling under thick fur, fangs reflecting cold light in cold wind... even those emotionless, only slightly contracting forest-cold beast eyes.

The muddy ground underfoot suddenly condensed frost.

That was the northern cold wind the barbarian had replenished for me before departure.

Not far behind, at the tall oak tree's crown, a drop of resin quietly fell.

"Bang!"

Under leather boots, the ground suddenly showed miniature indentations.

Floating motes in dim light abruptly solidified.

The roar of surging blood made eardrums tremble, mind filled with buzzing; instantly condensed air sticky as if in water, muscle fiber tearing vaguely stinging.

Chain mail links pulled each other. The crisp metallic sound of scabbard collision seemed to invisibly overlap with the heart's pumping rhythm.

Eyes open, eyes closed.

An instant of blur.

Resin dripped onto the meadow.

Scalding blood drops sliding down my cheeks made me suddenly return to awareness.

In my ears, the thorn demon's shrieks had at some unknown time already ceased.

Turning around.

Permeated with leaf fragments and debris, the grass along the trajectory exploded and scattered, as if split by an invisible plow blade, exposing the dark brown moist soil below.

The headless corpse with wings on its back, splashing yellowish-green pus, quietly lay on the ground.

Before my eyes, semi-transparent text flashed past.

"Proficiency +1"

"【Fang Hunt】 lv1: (1/100)"