The ink-black fog churned madly, like a living evil spirit, greedily devouring the group’s ever-weakening Life Force. After pulling Winnie back from the desperate Abyss, Raine’s gaze swept across the area. He noticed that Kaelin and Sodden also looked as if they had just snapped out of their respective nightmares, with lingering terror on their pale faces. It seemed the seemingly endless struggle within the illusion had lasted only a few heartbeats in reality. This brought a measure of relief to Raine. At least the loss of Life Force had not reached an irreversible point. However, the situation remained critical, allowing no room for respite.
"Listen to me, everyone!" Fighting back waves of dizziness, Raine spoke rapidly, informing his three teammates of the weak points located at the bases of the Ash Flower’s four petals.
"In other words, we just need to hit that spot with everything we have, right? Leave it to Old Sodden!" Sodden’s voice carried an undisguisable weakness, but there was not a trace of hesitation. Dragging his heavy footsteps, he took the initiative to head toward the farthest petal.
Kaelin and Winnie immediately caught on. They gritted their teeth and trudged through the viscous black fog, rushing toward two other petals. Raine also strove forward, disregarding everything else as he approached the final target.
"Let’s tear it apart together!"
Once everyone was in position, Raine gave the command, and all four erupted into action simultaneously. Sodden let out a roar, his War Axe fiercely slicing through the black fog and chopping viciously at the pitch-black core at the petal’s base. Kaelin gritted her teeth, her Longsword drawing a bright silver arc that buried half of its blade into the target. Winnie bit her lip, brilliant Arcane Radiance bursting from her fingertips as her Colorful Ball whistled through the air and exploded loudly against the core. Raine abandoned his bow for his sword, pouring all his Power into the tip of his blade and Piercing it ruthlessly into the Energy Core in front of him.
SQUELCH!
The massive Ash Flower spasmed violently. The four petals and their bases instantly disintegrated amidst a piercing screech, turning into black ash that scattered across the sky. The Flower Bud, which had been continuously spewing black fog, suddenly stalled, and the flow of the fog slowed along with it.
They wondered, "Did we succeed?"
An irrepressible joy had just risen in everyone’s hearts when it was extinguished by cold reality in the next second. The black light at the Flower Bud suddenly surged. The surrounding black fog seemed to answer an invisible call, beginning to frantically roll back and reverse its flow. The viscous black Energy of the four shattered cores gathered rapidly like worms, actually reconstructing itself at a visible speed!
"Damn it, how is this happening?!" Sodden widened his bloodshot, light-brown eyes, his face full of astonishment. Kaelin and Winnie also had faces as pale as a sheet, their hands and feet turning ice-cold.
The erosion of the black fog had almost reached its limit, making it extremely Difficult for the group even to stand. The rapid loss of Life Force, combined with this unexpected sight, caused a cold despair to silently wrap around the trio’s hearts like a venomous snake.
In the instant this despair spread, Raine had already reactivated his Eagle Vision. He keenly caught sight of a faint light, more obscured than the other cores, circulating madly in the deepest part of the Flower Bud, right in the center of the churning, viscous black fog. Had the squad’s synchronized attack not triggered its hidden self-healing mechanism, this fifth core would have likely remained hidden forever.
"It hid so well." Cold sweat continued to slide down Raine’s temples. He swallowed hard, staring fixedly at the faintly discernible light.
He thought, "We must destroy all five cores at the same time!" But this had already exceeded the squad’s limits. He had already verified that the viscous black fog inside the Flower Bud formed an invisible barrier; neither Arrows nor Magic could penetrate it. For four people to destroy five cores simultaneously seemed like an unsolvable problem.
He told himself, "Give up? Absolutely not!"
A crazy idea instantly took shape in Raine’s mind: Wind-Seeking Piercing! This new Combat Technique, which sought ultimate Penetration Power, might just be able to pierce through two cores at the same time! However, if executed from the outside, the churning black fog inside the Flower Bud would definitely put up a desperate resistance to block it. The only method was to charge into the Flower Bud, destroy the innermost core first, and then use the remaining momentum to destroy the outer core once the internal black fog thinned out!
"Everyone, it’s not over yet!" Raine roared with all his might. "There’s a fifth core inside the Flower Bud! You all do your jobs, and leave the rest to me!" Before his voice had even faded, he gritted his teeth, stepped over the slowly recovering petal edges, and charged toward the Flower Bud.
"Raine, what are you doing?!" Kaelin immediately realized his intention, her voice pitching up with urgency. "The concentration of Negative Energy in there is too high! Going in is suicide!"
"If I don’t go in, we’ll die anyway," Raine said, speeding up his steps as much as possible. He clearly understood that this was the only path that gave both him and his teammates a chance to survive. Seizing the brief window before the petals completely closed, he used every ounce of his strength and dove headfirst into the darkness surging with the thickest aura of death.
THUD!
The moment he entered the Flower Bud, an unimaginable agony instantly swept over his entire body. If the external black fog was a viscous black sponge, then this place was a storm made up of countless black blades. The black fog was frantically Piercing his skin, muscles, and even his bones. Every breath felt like inhaling boiling gravel, sending a tearing pain through his lungs. Tiny wounds began to burst open consecutively on his exposed skin. His Life Force continuously evaporated from the wounds into white mist, which the darkness greedily devoured. For a moment, Raine’s consciousness was like a candle in the wind, liable to be completely extinguished at any second.
"Urgh." He let out a muffled groan of pain. His vision rapidly blurred, and his legs gave out, causing him to involuntarily fall to his knees.
The increasingly freezing darkness swept over him like a tide, threatening to drag his soul into the Eternal Abyss. Right before he lost consciousness, he used a hand that was trembling so violently it was almost uncontrollable, struggling to reach into his waist pouch and take out the Healing Potion he had been saving. The faint fluorescent light emitting from the bottle seemed to become the last spark of fire in the darkness.
"I hope... I can hold on..." He unstoppered the bottle without hesitation and poured all the cold red liquid down his throat.
BOOM!
Warm Life Energy instantly exploded within his dried-up body. As his Life Force slowly flowed back, his blurry vision abruptly cleared. His kneeling legs supported his body once more, and the bone-corroding agony brought by the black fog was temporarily suppressed. Raine took large, rapid strides and quickly charged right up to the fifth hidden Energy Core.
"Now!" He adjusted his attack angle and let out a roar toward the outside of the Flower Bud. This shout greatly invigorated Kaelin, Sodden, and Winnie, who had been teetering on the verge of collapse outside, prompting them to launch another fierce assault on the Energy Cores before them! At the same time, Raine raised his Short Sword, assuming an attack stance.
"Wind-Seeking Piercing!" The tip of his blade gathered all his will, Power, and desire to live, instantly transforming into a dazzling, silver Flowing Light that thrust viciously at the continuously pulsating hidden core ahead.
HUM—
The tip of the sword met with unprecedented resistance. The viscous black fog seemed to possess a mind of its own. It instantly turned into countless black tentacles that tightly coiled around the blade, desperately resisting the edge’s forward progress.
"A futile struggle!" Veins bulged on Raine’s forehead. Even though every muscle in his body trembled violently from overexertion, his momentum only grew fiercer.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
The black tentacles wrapping around the blade were swiftly and forcibly torn apart, and the sword’s edge once again advanced with unstoppable momentum.
SQUELCH!
Accompanied by the jarring sound of tearing cotton, the blade instantly pierced through the hidden Energy Core situated at the center of the Flower Bud. The frantic pulsation of the hidden Energy Core abruptly stopped, and it completely shattered right before Raine’s eyes! Following the core’s destruction, the thick black fog in the center also rapidly dissipated like a receding tide, instantly alleviating the suffocating pressure.
Seizing this opening, Raine violently twisted his wrist. Riding on the lingering might of the Combat Technique at the tip of his blade, his body surged forward. The sword light flashed once more, accurately Piercing the corresponding outer core at the petal’s base.
Killing two birds with one stone!
At almost the exact same moment, the other three cores were also annihilated by the full-force strikes of Kaelin, Sodden, and Winnie!
HOWL—!
RUMBLE—
Losing the support of all its Energy Cores, the enormous Ash Flower let out a mournful, shrill cry. Immediately after, its entire form collapsed like a crumbling mountain. Along with the churning black fog, it rapidly disintegrated in front of the four people until it completely disappeared. The life-draining force that had been continuously enveloping the group vanished without a trace, like a severed thread.
"We... we succeeded..." Sodden dropped to his knees, leaning on his Shield. He was almost entirely drained, but an ecstatic joy of surviving a catastrophe burst from the depths of his eyes. Kaelin and Winnie also slumped to the ground together, their chests heaving violently as they took large gulps of the long-lost fresh air.
As if by prior agreement, all three pairs of eyes turned toward the figure slowly emerging from the dissipating Flower Bud. His black hair was plastered messily against his cheeks, covered in blood and dust. His skin was riddled with fine, dense wounds, but those pitch-black eyes remained as bright as ever. Raine gasped for breath, every inhalation carrying a faint scent of blood.
Just as he tried to calm his wildly beating heart, the Hunting Chapter in his mind flipped open silently.
[You have defeated a Special Demon: Negative Energy Demon Flower.]
[The Negative Energy Demon Flower has been recorded.]
[Recording a new Special Demon for the first time triggers an additional reward.]
[Your body has been enhanced: Physique +1.]
[Enlightenment achieved in the Specialty: Negative Energy Resistance.]
[Current number of Demons recorded: 6.]
[Next stage reward for the Hunting Chapter requires: 10 Demons recorded.]
"A Special Demon? There’s an extra reward for recording it for the first time?" Raine’s eyes lit up, a fleeting sense of unexpected joy crossing his mind. Immediately after, a gentle, warm current emerged from within his body, rapidly flowing through his entire frame. Wherever this Power passed, his previously nearly depleted Life Force began to recover. The tiny wounds on his skin, eroded by the black fog, also began to heal at a visible speed. The muscle soreness, nerve stings caused by overexertion, and the lingering Effects of the Negative Energy across his body quickly faded by more than half. They were replaced by a long-lost sense of lightness.
But what truly pleasantly surprised Raine was the change brought about by the increase in his Physical Attribute! A profound and heavy sense of Power seeped from deep within his bone marrow, rapidly merging with his flesh and blood. He could clearly feel his heartbeat becoming steadier and stronger, and his breaths growing longer. Clenching his fists, he could distinctly feel that his muscle fibers held a more enduring stamina and resilience than before. These were all the Effects brought by the enhancement of his Physical Attribute!
He rolled his shoulders slightly, his joints letting out satisfying, soft pops. The increase in his Physical Attribute was not just an enhancement of his Life Force, endurance, and recovery capabilities, but also a slight elevation in his level of life. This brand-new sense of Power made him believe that if he were to face another desperate battle like the one just now, he would definitely be able to hold out much longer!
Amidst his joy, Raine turned his attention to his newly learned Specialty.