Danger!
The Resentment-Devouring Serpent sensed an immense threat.
As a species from the Dark Continent, it didn't appear particularly powerful, but to survive in such a treacherous place, it must possess sufficient peculiarities. In its infancy, it grew within resentment and hid within it. Even in a place as perilous as the Dark Continent, few creatures could pose a threat to it. In its larval stage, it had a keen perception of danger, which allowed it to avoid risks in time.
And at this moment, its danger perception system was frantically sounding alarms.
The source of this danger was precisely the seemingly ant-like, minuscule creature before it. The Nen erupting from the opponent's body was like burning flames, carrying extremely high temperatures that distorted the surrounding air. Under such high temperatures, it was even difficult to clearly see his face.
The hot wind, carrying surging malice, was clearly directed at him.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" The Resentment-Devouring Serpent let out another sharp hiss, once again intensifying the curse's pull.
Come protect me!!
Whoosh!
A sound of pure air being pierced rang out.
Kevin's speed was faster than even he had anticipated. Propelled by the hot wind, he appeared before the Resentment Serpent almost instantly. With a light leap, he jumped onto the serpent's face.
"Shut up!"
Kevin roared, smashing a punch heavily into the giant serpent's chin.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
This punch carried an extremely high temperature, like a red-hot iron branding flesh. This punch might not have caused immense damage to the giant serpent, but it certainly caused it immense pain. The giant serpent's massive head was forced upward by the punch, and its body stretched backward. Pain caused it to emit bursts of hissing, its enormous body writhing from side to side.
Immediately after, the massive serpent tail struck again. This time, an invisible resentment, like a powerful hand, tightly gripped Kevin, preventing him from dodging.
Bang!
The giant serpent, from top to bottom, fiercely chopped down, heavily striking Kevin and leaving a large crater in the ground. But even so, it was still not appeased, continuously whipping Kevin with its tail.
"Don't look. He's fine—our trouble is coming," Bisky reminded Menchi.
At this moment, loud rumbling sounds were already coming from outside. Under the moonlight, dust rose everywhere.
Roar!
The roars of monsters rose and fell. One after another, giant creatures, completely disregarding the village's boundaries meant to protect against them, crashed headlong into the village.
"Hunting Party! Disperse onto the rooftops and stop those monsters!" Rabik immediately gave the order.
The villagers, who had been stunned by the battle at the center of the festival, snapped back to reality. Some obeyed the order, quickly rushing toward the rooftops, various weapons appearing in their hands. The villagers were familiar with each other's Nen abilities and quickly divided into different teams, standing on the rooftops, directly facing the rapidly approaching giant monsters.
[Chili Pepper Blazing Arrow] .
Menchi fired with both hands. Two red chili-shaped arrows shot out, accurately hitting the face of a wolf-like creature charging at the front and the face of a gorilla-like monster. The scorching, irritating chili instantly made these two creatures wail in pain, frantically trying to wipe their faces with their claws. However, the monsters behind them paid no heed, crashing directly into their attacked companions.
For a time, Nen bullets flew everywhere. Dust rose, and houses collapsed under the impact.
Buhara directly leaped from the rooftop, like a falling meteor, smashing heavily toward a bizarre-looking, giant goat-like creature. Upon landing, the fat on his body instantly diminished, his arms swelled, and he embraced the goat's legs, swinging it forcefully, using this goat as a weapon to smash into the monster pile.
Numerous houses collapsed as a result. Regardless of the final outcome of this battle, it was clear that not many intact buildings would remain in this village.
The outer battle had already begun fiercely, and the inner battle continued just as intensely.
[Branding Iron] !
Kevin used his new move, punching the giant serpent's waist. Accompanied by sizzling sounds, like a branding iron burning skin, a hexagonal burn mark appeared on the giant serpent's scales.
Kevin could make his Nen appear hexagonal and generate high temperatures upon collision with an opponent. Each punch was like a red-hot branding iron. For these biological enemies, while not necessarily fatal, the pain it inflicted was real.
Such pain drove the Resentment Serpent to its limit. Chains formed from various resentments, like black lightning bolts, flew toward Kevin. Facing such attacks, Kevin could only constantly dodge. The sudden confinement just now had truly made him uncomfortable. Although he endured it, his body still sustained some damage.
"Blade!"
Kevin's hands transformed into blade-palms, swinging and slashing rapidly forward. Nen transformed into wind, forming invisible wind blades that, wrapped in wind pressure, swiftly attacked the giant serpent. However, the wind blades struck the giant serpent's scales, only producing "ping-pong" sounds, like blades striking steel plates, failing to leave many wounds on the giant serpent.
No. This will only lead to a war of attrition. The potion only lasts for half an hour.
Kevin thought to himself while dodging the flying invisible chains. Time was extremely unfavorable for him; the longer it dragged on, the more difficult their predicament would become. But the problem was, he couldn't break through the giant serpent's defense. The opponent's scales were too sturdy; even with high-temperature attacks, he could at most cause burns, only inflicting pain.
This is just a hatchling. How powerful must an adult serpent be?
Kevin shuddered at the thought. At that moment, he gained a more intuitive understanding of the Dark Continent's dangers.
Looking at the giant serpent's gaping maw and its occasional angry hisses, Kevin suddenly had a bold idea.
Several chains flew again. This time Kevin did not dodge, allowing one chain to tightly wrap around his right leg. Taking advantage of the restricted movement, more chains flew over and wrapped around his body.
This time, the giant serpent did not strike with its tail again but opened its mouth wide and swallowed Kevin without hesitation.
With a clanging sound, Kevin forcefully propped himself up with both hands, stubbornly blocking the giant serpent's bite.
"Want to eat me? Then try it, you little brat!" Kevin cursed, then roared.
The Nen on his body began to erupt uncontrollably. This time, the erupting Nen carried extremely high temperatures, frantically burning inside the giant serpent's mouth. At the same time, invisible resentment enveloped him. These resentments were like a biting cold winter—rather than low temperature, they felt more like a perceptible chill, though this could still inhibit Kevin's high-temperature attack to some extent.
The giant serpent's mouth continued to bite down, and Kevin remained in a stalemate with it.
"Ahhh!"
A scream came from below. A chain flew to the outer perimeter, binding a villager. Visibly, the chains formed from resentment were draining the villager's life force.
Trouble.
Kevin hadn't expected the giant serpent to have this move. Immediately after, several more chains flew out, trapping more villagers. In this situation, it was simply unrealistic for the villagers to dodge. With a large number of monsters in the outer circle and the giant serpent in the inner circle, they were caught in the middle, making it even harder to dodge.
"Courage!"
A powerful roar resounded.
Gowen, gripping his greatsword tightly, made a dazzling appearance, charging toward those chains. The giant serpent naturally wouldn't let others ruin its plans, and more chains rained down on Gowen.
"Slash!"
Gowen roared, swinging his blade. The invisible and almost indestructible chains were instantly severed. This was Gowen's [Sword of Courage] , capable of severing objects made of Nen. These chains, being purely made of Nen, were cut as easily as a hot knife through butter.
Gowen did not pause. His goal was to rescue the trapped villagers. Although he hadn't been in contact with Nen ability for long, and had only studied it deeply for half a year, he could see that these chains were extremely troublesome. At this moment, Kevin was fully grappling with the giant serpent, completely unable to spare any attention.
Gowen swung his sword, and the chains binding the villagers snapped in response, dissipating as resentment into the air.
The giant snake angrily thrashed its tail, but it had no better option for now. Just as Kevin had to concentrate his strength to deal with it, it also had to concentrate most of its strength to try and swallow Kevin, so the chains it shot out had limited power.
"You like to eat, do you? I'll let you eat your fill."
Kevin had accumulated enough strength. He suddenly pushed upward, and the explosive power instantly unleashed made the giant snake's biting force unable to contend. In this moment of advantage, Kevin did not retreat but directly opened his satchel, grabbed half of the potions, and scattered them into the giant snake's mouth.
"Super large dose. You must have some reaction, right?"
The giant snake swallowed six or seven super-large-dose potions. The potions Kevin made had a characteristic: their effects were instantaneous, with no delayed triggers. After all, this was essentially a product of Nen ability. Under normal circumstances, the effect of taking the potion could only last for fifteen minutes, and even poisons were no exception.
Even with the giant snake's enormous size, swallowing six or seven potions was a bit much for it to bear. Its entire body began to sway uncontrollably, then slumped down, heavily hitting the ground.
Poison it. Poison it mercilessly. What kind of righteous principles do you talk about with this kind of creature?
"Phew. Good thing I was well-prepared." Kevin shook his somewhat weak hands.
For a player like him, who focused on numerical enhancement, encountering an enemy with equally powerful stats and a defense higher than his attack level was indeed tricky. If he couldn't break through its defense, and the opponent also couldn't do much to him, continuing like this would only benefit the opponent, making him feel very powerless.
The giant snake's chaotic and limp body brought the resentment snake's unease to its peak.
"Hiss!" It let out a special hiss.
In an instant, the resentment in the entire area began to surge wildly.
Seeing this, Kevin frowned deeply.
"I knew creatures from the Dark Continent weren't that simple." The information recorded in the notebook was limited because the recorder had never truly fought an adult giant snake. And this cub, during its infancy, was instantly killed by Vipere with absolute power every time, so he didn't know much about it. Two hundred years had passed, and although it was still in its infancy, its strength was clearly not what it used to be.
The appearance of some unknown power was within their expectations; the problem was not knowing what kind of power it would be, and what impact it would have on them.
As the resentment sharply increased, "Evil Spirits" appeared—invisible to ordinary people but clearly visible to Nen users. They looked similar to ghosts in the general sense, with faces that vaguely resembled human features but were already twisted and deformed. Some had their hands clasped in front of them, while others had no hands at all, and their lower bodies were legless and misty.
"Evil Spirits?!" Bisky's surprised voice came, and she clearly recognized what these things were.
"How do we deal with these things?" Kevin asked loudly.
At a time like this, he felt it was better to ask a professional, as he knew nothing about these things. He hadn't even seen them, let alone knew how to deal with them.
"Use what you're best at!"
What I'm best at?
Kevin looked at the Evil Spirits appearing before him, raised his right fist, and charged forward fiercely.
What I'm best at is brute force.
A large amount of Nen sprayed out like a fan, and the fierce gale, wrapped in heat, formed a scorching hot wind blowing forward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
As the strong wind blew, a large number of the emerging Evil Spirits were instantly scattered.
"So they're just paper tigers. You scared me." Kevin began to quickly clear out the constantly appearing Evil Spirits.
They looked eerie and deceptive. He hadn't paid much attention before, but now he felt that after these Evil Spirits appeared, his stamina and Nen were rapidly draining. And this effect was area-based—not only he himself, but also the surrounding villagers and Menchi would be affected.
"Wake up quickly."
"Everyone needs you."
"For freedom, sorrow no longer lasts."
"Melusine, wake up."
Ever since being rescued, Melusine had fallen into a coma due to the interrupted ritual. At this moment, in her mind, it was as if several maidens were calling out to her. She woke up in a daze, only to find herself in a pitch-black space. Around her were pure white orbs of light, and she seemed to be able to see young, beautiful maidens trapped within these orbs, their ages seemingly similar to hers.
The moment she awoke, before she could react, the pitch-black space instantly dissipated. Immediately after, bone-chilling cold winds and scorching hot winds collided and tore at each other around her, with the wails of battle and cries of pain rising and falling. She suddenly felt as if she was in the midst of an intense battlefield. Based on her surroundings, she immediately assessed the current situation.
"Kevin!" she shouted, extending her left hand and shaking her bracelet, seemingly conveying some information to Kevin.
Kevin, who was fully engaged in annihilating the Evil Spirits and trying to approach the giant snake, heard this reminder. He turned his head to look behind him and immediately understood Melusine's intention.
[Date in Progress] —
This was a buff that both parties could have, and it would change based on the current dating environment and specific circumstances. But activating this state required him and Melusine to hold hands.
However, now was clearly not the right time.
"I can find an opportunity," Kevin muttered to himself.
After Gowen assessed Kevin's situation, he immediately revealed his trump card.
"Leave it to me for now!"
Gowen roared, taking Kevin's place, holding his greatsword, and quickly attacking the giant snake's body. This was an extremely dangerous move, but Kevin chose to trust him.
Kevin was enveloped in a gentle breeze and rushed toward Melusine at an extremely fast speed.
"To face overwhelming odds, to live through death—this is courage!"
Gowen roared, his greatsword wrapped in fiercely burning Nen.
"To face a formidable enemy without flinching—this is glory!"
A pair of bracers appeared on his wrists, but they looked very ethereal, not like truly materialized objects.
"With women and children behind me, I cannot retreat—this is compassion!"
A large bow appeared on his back, also in an ethereal form.
"To face death, yet not retreat—this is sacrifice!"
A set of armor clasped onto his body, also incredibly ethereal.
"To protect my Lord, I cannot fail—this is loyalty!"
A cloak materialized from his back, gently floating, its ethereal appearance adding a touch of brilliance.
At this moment, Kevin had rushed to Melusine's front, their hands clasped together. The red heart-shaped gems on their bracelet and wristband emitted a pink glow and pulsed once.
[Date in Progress - Snake Hunting Fun] .
Kevin immediately felt that his combat ability against snake-like creatures had been enhanced. This ability to change based on the environment was truly amazing.
Time was short. Kevin turned to prepare to return to the battlefield, but saw Gowen's current state. The ethereal metal equipment on Gowen looked somewhat peculiar, but the real greatsword in his hand appeared incredibly sharp.
"Evil, disperse!"
Gowen shouted, swinging his greatsword. The Nen gushing from the greatsword was like real flames, incinerating large areas of the Evil Spirits as he swept it across.
"Gowen—aim there."
At this moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice seemed to echo in Gowen's ear.
"Sis... Sister?"
Gowen suspected he was hallucinating. But he seemed to genuinely see an ethereal figure, appearing at the midsection of the giant snake that had collapsed on the ground. That hazy figure was guiding him.
At this point, the giant snake had begun to struggle—clearly, the effects of the large dose of potions were not enough to completely incapacitate it.
Gowen put away his greatsword and grasped the ethereal bow on his back.
[Arrow of Compassion] .
He followed the guidance of that voice and shot out an arrow made of Nen.
That was all of his Nen.
"This is my last strength—hit it!!!"
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